Sakura's eyes fluttered open as blurs of colors became visible. Slowly her eyes became adjusted to the light and she tried to sit up but felt a stiff pain in her neck. She hesitated in her motion but straightened herself up into a sitting position and used one of her hands to massage the throbbing part of her neck. She remembered Sasuke knocking her out but and she remembered why he had done that too. She had, after all, destroyed his kitchen. She couldn't remember, however, what she had been thinking at the time. All of her thoughts just seemed to be jumbled and mixed up and redundant. Trying to sort them out now made her head hurt and her anger rise. Sakura quickly decided it would be best to concentrate on something more productive.
It was then that Sakura remembered why she was even here in the first place and she quickly searched the room for a clock. She sighed in relief when she located a digital clock on the nightstand next to her and it read in red letters: 9: 10. She still had fifty minutes. Sakura looked around the room she was in and assumed it was Sasuke's room. His walls were navy but the wood work and crowning were white. He had polished wooden floors and a very simple and plain navy bed setting. He didn't have a window in his room: only a door to Sakura's right.
Sakura, for some reason, wasn't surprised to find his room spotless and clean. She had taken him as the O.C.D type. She was surprised to find that he had let her stay in his room while she was unconscious and in his bed for that matter. She had not taken him for the compassionate type. Sakura heard his voice out in the hall and she concentrated on ease dropping. Soon she could hear Naruto's voice as well.
"Teme I don't think…" Naruto began to say but Sasuke cut him off.
"I promise you Naruto. She will be okay." He said exasperated. Sakura could almost feel Naruto's worried vibes and she actually felt bad for working him up the way she did. She didn't mean to upset him.
"Dobe, you can trust me with her. She means a lot to you and I won't let anything happen to her." Sasuke said reassuringly and Sakura was shocked to hear him speak with such emotion. Naruto wasn't exaggerating when he said they were close. She couldn't imagine Sasuke speaking to anyone else in that manner.
"Okay Sasuke. I'll go." Naruto said defeated but Sakura heard his foot steps and soon heard the front door open and then close after only a few seconds. Sakura could hear Sasuke's footsteps and she forced herself back into a sleeping position, ignoring the stiffness in her protesting neck. She could pretend to be unconscious until ten o clock and then she could wake p and say she was going home. It would be perfect. She closed her eyes and listened as she heard the room door open and Sasuke walk in. She heard him close the door and then his footsteps were heard as he walked over to the bed. For some reason Sakura could feel her heart beat speed up and she wanted to hurt herself for acting so childishly. She couldn't help but let her heat pound, however, when she felt the end of the bed move and knew he had taken his seat there.
"I know you're awake." She heard his voice say and she tried her hardest not to gasp. How did he know? Sakura pushed herself back up into a sitting position and let herself wince at the pain in her neck. He didn't say a word or make a move. The room was silent as the grave and still as the dead and the only sound that could be heard was the beep of the clock switching from minute to minute as it reached nine fifteen. That was when Sakura decided to break the ill quiet.
"I'm sorry." She tried to say it loud and clear almost nonchalantly but the lack of use of her voice made her tone come out in a quiet rasp. She felt her cheeks heat up and looked away but there was no reason to because the Uchiha sitting at her feet had not even spared her a glance.
"He cares about you a lot: the dobe. I don't know why. It's always just been me and him and of course he would meet knew people and I would hang out with them too but you…" Sasuke paused and furrowed his eyebrows in a pained expression. Sakura was shocked to see him letting her see him like this: hurt. Then he looked frustrated and confused and Sakura relaxed knowing he would go back to his normal self. He didn't and he never would now. The worse part was that it was all her fault.
"You mean so much to him. You almost mean as much to him as I mean to him. He really cares about what happens to you and that means I have to care about you to!" He yelled and Sakura flinched but smirked. He was the one losing control now. He was going to do something stupid and she wouldn't be the only one hear going insane. To her surprise though he calmed down again and that made her mad. It seemed as though one of them was always going to hate the other. They would never be at peace with each other and that was because they would never be at peace with themselves.
"You don't have to care about me! I don't want you to care about me you selfish fuck!" Sakura spat back at him and he narrowed his eyes in anger.
"Naruto would die if something happened to you and I can't watch him go through that." Sasuke said with attitude more then blind aggression. Sakura was even more enraged since he was managing to stay so calm.
"You don't care about him and you know it! If you had to choose who would live between the two of you he wouldn't walk out alive!" Sakura yelled gripping the sheets with her curled fists. Sasuke seemed to calm down even more. In fact he even smirked.
"You're right." He stated simply and Sakura looked at him confused.
"What?" She stammered panting slightly from yelling earlier. He finally looked at her and she almost drowned in his coal black eyes. He looked serene and almost happy and Sakura couldn't figure out why. He was telling her she was right: he didn't care about Naruto enough to die for him so why was he so happy?
"You're right." He stated simply again and then sighed looking away once more. He closed his eyes and every muscle in his body seemed to be relaxed. He seemed so at ease right now and Sakura was just trying to figure out why he wasn't angry. Why he wasn't mad.
"He wouldn't walk out alive because he wouldn't let me die for him. That stupid dobe would stay behind to help me even if it meant he would die." Sasuke said pausing to look Sakura in the eyes again. She let her mouth form an 'o' because she was too preoccupied trying to process what the Uchiha was talking about.
"And with the two of us together nothing can tear us apart." Sasuke said with his eyes shining. Sakura knew right then that like Naruto, Sasuke was an exception to her rules: her stereotyping. He was different and he was special. One day he might even be special to her if he wasn't already that is.
Sakura felt her anger die down and she finally came to her senses enough to ask a question that had been plaguing her mind.
"Sasuke, I have a question for you." She said tentatively, not sure if she should ask. What harm could it do just to ask though? Sasuke nodded and looked back at the ground. Sakura was aware she had his attention though and she let her confidence build for a few seconds.
"Do you know anyone by the name of Itachi?" She asked curiously and watched him grimace. His caring eyes had turned up at the ends and his eyebrows furrowed. His lips fell to a frown and she could feel his whole body tense. He obviously knew Itachi and he obviously didn't approve. The room was silent for a while but soon Sakura got her answer.
"I'm sure the dobe told you I was an orphan." Sasuke stated still not looking at Sakura. She nodded though and he continued. "Itachi is…He's my parents' son." Sasuke said unsurely and Sakura furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"That would make him your brother, Sasuke." Sakura said prodding him for a reason for not using the word brother. She got her answer when he turned to look at her: cold eyes burning into hers: hatred coming from his very being. He looked ready to kill and Sakura thought for a second he would.
"He is not my brother. That murderous fuck could never be my brother." Sasuke hissed and Sakura flinched. She nodded and then looked at him with sympathy.
"What happened?" She asked curiously. She wouldn't give him her pity. That was the last thing he wanted: she knew. The last thing she wanted was for people to pity her because she was an orphan. She had raised herself and supported herself and she did a damn good job. Sasuke did as well and he didn't need her pity. There was nothing wrong with him to pity.
"He was always very distant. He never really treated me like a brother. My parents adored him for some reason but…" Sasuke trailed off and Sakura could tell he was trying hard to fight off unwanted memories and painful thoughts. She stayed silent and kept a blank look on her face waiting to see what had happened between her new escape guide and her new…special person.
"He was high." Sasuke forced the words out in a rush and his eyes glazed over in pain but anger was the only thing he showed with his body language. He tightened his arms which were bare thanks to the shirt he wore: its sleeves had been ripped off.
"I was eight. He was thirteen." Sasuke managed to say and only to a second before continuing. "I was out that night. I got in a fight with my dad and ran away." Sasuke said curling his fist until his knuckles turned white.
"I came home and all the lights were off. I ran into my house and…" He stopped and Sakura could see his body trembling. For some reason she knew that the only person he had told this story to was Naruto. Sakura could only wonder why he was telling her this now. She knew she had asked the question that started the conversation but why didn't he blow her off? Did he trust her? No way. Even if he did: he shouldn't. It was his wrong move. Why should she care? Everyone acted in their own self interest: why should she be any different. This was what she wanted to know and just because he was telling her this didn't mean she was obliged to trust him as well. It didn't mean she had to be his friend.
"There was blood everywhere. It was on the walls and the house was a wreck. I was scared." He said: his voice cracking just a little and Sakura could tell he wanted to cry. She knew from experience that the lump was rising in his throat and she could almost feel it in her own.
"I walked into there bedroom and…" Sakura watched as his eye widened and she knew he was relieving the very moment his life fell apart. She wondered who was luckier: the on who remembered all the time or the one who couldn't remember.
"He stood over their dead bodies with a knife in his hands. I was only eight then and I couldn't tell but now…" Sasuke trailed off and he looked right into Sakura's emotionless jade green eyes. He copied her expression obviously becoming aware that he was getting to trusting.
"Every time I see his face imprinted in my memory I look into his hollow eyes and know he was high. He killed them because he was addicted to drugs." Sasuke spat and wrinkled his nose in disgust. If only he knew. Sakura looked away ashamed. She kept telling herself she shouldn't care that she had to do whatever it took to escape the pain but she could feel the guilt and weakness gnawing at her soul and she almost felt more obliged to Sasuke then she did Naruto. Naruto had shared just as much as Sasuke. All three of them had horrible pasts, so why did she feel closer to Sasuke. She was imagining things: that's why. She needed her escape. She was losing it now. Sakura looked at the clock and grimaced seeing the red flashing letters: 9:45.