Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter VII: Spirit Me Away
"It's raining," she murmured softly for herself as she stared out of the window.
It truly was. Fat raindrops smattered against the windows, exploding into tiny fragments of hardly seeable water as they met the transparent material, blurring the view. The sky was a dark-grey color, and the streetlights lit up specific parts of the pavement, like dim spotlights in a long deserted theater; Sakura felt almost melancholy as she watched the raindrops.
I'm not crying, it's just the rain –
"Ugh!" Her hand flew to her head at the sharp, piercing pain. Damn…
More and more of those mysterious, familiar voices lately, saying sentences that seemed so precious, but yet so insignificant, had appeared, each time making her dizzy or giving her a proper headache. Why now…? After seven years!
Seven is my favorite number. Don't you have a favorite number, Sa-
"ARGH!"
Bending down on her knees, she pressed two hands to her head. What the hell is this?
Just then, somebody rang the doorbell. Arising slowly, she brushed off some non-existing dust from her red evening gown. "Coming…," she called as cheerily as she could, before opening the door.
"Hi, Sai," she beamed. He seemed strangely discomforted; he wasn't dressed up much, just a black shirt that was only the slightest open and newly bought dark jeans. He did, however, look slightly flushed. Staring puzzled after his hardly hearable greeting, she asked: "Have you run or something? Your face is all red."
"… Yeah…"
Sakura shook his head and decided that Sai was acting really weird.
"Sasuke-san… may I ask you something?"
Her still voice sounded sad. Sasuke sneered. As calm and still as always, Hinata. Too vulnerable… I wonder what Naruto sees in you.
"Aa. Go ahead," he replied smoothly as she checked his bare back for any wounds; it was too common among 'prisoners' in the asylum to damage themselves, even if there hardly were anything they could damage themselves with. But they always found some way.
"Why… why do you want to hurt Atsuino-san?"
"Izumi? That pink-head?"
"Yeah…" A sorrowful, soft smile appeared on her lips, as she checked his right arm.
"… Hn. She seems quite strong. A true challenge."
"But… the hypnosis…" Hinata hesitated. "… it…"
"It what?" Sasuke snapped, irritated.
"Isn't it to protect people?"
Sasuke stiffened.
Sasuke-teme, why are you hurting her that way?! She loves you! She needs you… she wants you to protect her!
What a fool you are, dobe. More foolish than I anticipated; if she truly loves me, she should understand. I don't care about fools that can't protect themselves. Unlike you…
Bastard! I protect Hinata because I love her! You don't even care to protect her anymore!
Why should I? She's so weak. She needs to get stronger –
BASTARD!!! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? YOU DIDN'T SEE… YOU DIDN'T SEE HER TEARS… HER FUCKING TEARS… HER SMILE, THE WAY SHE COUGHED UP BLOOD, YOU DIDN'T SEE A FUCKING THING –
He winced.
… in the end, I couldn't protect her.
"Sasuke-kun…" Tears.
It wasn't because I didn't WANT to…
"Sasuke-kun… h-help…" Whisper.
… it was because I COULDN'T…
"S-S-Sasuke-kun…" Helplessness.
I couldn't protect her…
"Sasuke, I haven't taught you that hypnosis for nothing. It is to protect you and those that are precious to you, from Itachi's hypnosis."
"Onii-san? What is it with him?"
"Well, he's a bit psy –"
"Shut the fuck up!" he growled menacingly, his eyes ablaze as he glared at her fiercely. "You don't know a fucking shit, so don't go around talking a load of crap!"
Hinata smiled sadly. "Hai, Sasuke-san…"
Sai could only thank God that Sakura was so dense.
For being a world-renowned psychiatrist, she sure was dense when it came to interacting socially with her friends; she could analyze and tear just a sentence to pieces and tell everything about it; the speaker's intentions, true opinion, whom it's directed to, the tone, the emotion, and so on.
But… it's just so weird.
Sai had told her it wasn't a date. But to be honest, he hadn't really expected her to dress up like that. They had gone lunching plenty of times, but she always wore casual clothes. To see her in a red evening gown…
Well, she does look nice.
He scowled as he noticed that he wasn't the only one thinking so. Other men were staring their way, lustfully. And women enviously when not giving him flirty glances.
Yes, so Sai knew he was good-looking, except that he had abnormally pale skin. And he liked to boast about it, jokingly.
But tonight, his mind was elsewhere.
He studied Sakura's face. But she seems to be distant, too. "Hag?"
"H-huh? What?" Sakura tore her gaze away from the large, billowy royal-red curtains of the restaurant, and laughed forcedly. "Sorry. I was just… thinking."
"Okay…" Sai raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you know, ugly, I know you. There's something on your mind."
"Well… I just think I saw a shadow. Don't you?" She nodded in the direction of the large glass windows and the red curtains. "I mean, it's evening, so it should have shadows, but still… it looked so… human. Now look, there's it again!"
Sai's eyebrow arose higher. There was nothing; just the slight shadow of the curtains. But other than that – nothing. "Hag, you're kidding, right?"
For a moment, Sakura's eyes widened… frightfully? Sai couldn't make out the emotions. Then she closed her eyes and seemed to force herself to relax, and she smiled. "Yeah. You really thought I was seeing shadows? I'm not crazy yet, Sai!"
Sai grinned back. But he knew her smile was fake; after all, she had been the one who taught him how to smile for real…
Sasuke was pissed.
For real.
Like it wasn't bad enough with the flashbacks. Now he was staring pathetically at this rose quartz gemstone, and waiting for that goddamned woman to appear.
"You," he snarled as a nurse passed by his little room. With a frightened 'eep!' she came to a halt, and hesitantly, and with shaking legs, stared into his hateful onyx eyes. "Where the fuck is Atsuino?"
"A-Atsuino-san? U-um… well… she seems to be… late…"
Sasuke growled. I hate waiting.
"Yare, yare! It sure was a long time ago since I last could enjoy such a meal," Sakura exhaled happily. (A/N: I'm sorry, guys! I really tried to resist the temptation to write something in Japanese other than the suffixes… but 'my, my' just doesn't sound the same as 'yare, yare'…)
"Uh-huh." Sai smiled. "So you're going back and watching Spirited Away, then?"
"Nah… actually, I've something to do tonight… but –" Sakura stopped short, and then clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh no! Sasuke's appointment!"
"Sasuke?" Sai frowned. "As in Uchiha Sasuke?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Aren't his appointments in the morning?"
"Yeah, but today it was moved. To… oh my god, 6:05 pm. I hope Uzumaki-san won't kill me."
"Wait a minute. Uzumaki as in Uzumaki Naruto?"
Sakura stared at Sai as though he had just asked her if the moon was made out of cheese. "Uh, yes?"
Sai wrinkled his forehead. "Oh. You've talked to him?"
"Um… well, not much. He just phoned me to tell that Sasuke's appointment is being moved. Why, you know him?"
Sai heaved a sigh. "Nope. Nothing."
Sakura arched an eyebrow, clearly disbelieving him. Sai grinned, and then bent down and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, ugly."
And with that, he disappeared into the shadows of the night.
Sakura could just stare.
"Why the fuck did you make me wait two fuckin' hours? Do you know how long that is? It's a fucking 120 minutes!" A vein popped on Sasuke's temple. Sakura grinned apologetically.
"Eh… sorry…"
"And why the hell are you wearing that thing?" he added, spitting out the last part. Sakura eyed her own outfit.
"This? Well, uh… I was having dinner…"
"You were on a date?" he snapped. "And for that you made me wait?"
What the fuck is her problem? Doesn't she realize that she's making me wait?
Sasuke glowered at the pink-headed psychiatrist. Then his frown deepened, as he added in his thoughts: Why the hell do I care anyway? She's just one big idiot.
… Even if she is pretty in that dress –
No, she's fucking idiotic. Never mind her.
Why am I still thinking about her?
"A date?" Sakura's cheeks turned scarlet. "N-no! It was just a dinner with a friend…"
"And you dressed up for that?" He sulked. Sakura blinked in astonishment. Is he jealous?
Wait a moment. This is Uchiha Sasuke we're talking about. Mr. Ice Cube Psychopath. There's no way he's jealous.
No way.
Right?
"Well, we were going to a fancy restaurant," Sakura shrugged. "So I just figured I should dress up. You know, he had won those ticket things, free dinner for two or something –"
"Who the hell was it anyway?" he snarled, his eyes narrowing even more.
Why do you care? Sakura was really tempted to ask, but decided not to. "Just this friend. Sai. He's an art teacher." A disgusted grimace crossed Sasuke's handsome features.
"Art," he snorted. "That's for women."
"No, it's not!" she countered. "By the way, he's not homosexual if you're trying to say that. He just kissed my forehead, if you want to know."
Kissed her forehead?!
Sasuke could feel his temper arising. What the fuck? Why do I even care? But what the hell…
"Maybe he was aiming for your lips," he muttered with a smirk, "but your forehead was so wide that he kissed your forehead instead." Dodging a well-aimed punch, he chuckled: "Quite the violent type, aren't you? It should be the other way around. Me being violent, you calming me down. Maybe you should go see a psychiatrist."
"Tch! I'm so talented that I can take care of myself," Sakura snorted. "And who said psychos had to be violent? You aren't violent! You're just an ice cube!"
He rolled his eyes. "Just because you talk too much. It's like your mouth doesn't know when it's supposed to shut!"
"Hey! I'm a psychiatrist! I'm paid to talk!"
"… That's why you became one to begin with?"
"Well, uh, I do like to talk – hey, wait, that's not what I was supposed to say! I mean, no!"
Sasuke smirked. "Contradicted."
"Who, me?! Hey! I'm your psychiatrist! You shouldn't insult me like that… you should've respect!"
"… Tch. Respect for you. Now that's something laughable."
"What?! Hey! Just because you're so… so… respectless!"
He arched an eyebrow. "Oh? And you've much respect?"
Naruto smiled for himself as he heard the half-bickering, half-teasing voices from inside the room, and then exhaled heavily.
Sasuke-teme…
Sakura-chan…
What've you gotten yourselves into?
A melancholy look crossed his features, as some bypassing nurses glanced at him, blushed, and then started to giggle and whisper; Naruto just ran a hand through his untidy, blonde hair.
"Naruto-kun?" he heard a familiar voice beside him utter quietly.
"… Hinata-chan?" He turned to the young woman beside him with the milky, soft eyes.
"Is anything wrong?" she asked, looking at him with worry.
"No, it's nothing." He laughed silently as he stepped away from the room's closed door, with the tiny window with bars, Hinata following him. "Hinata-chan… you worry too much about me for your own good. You're too kind."
A faint tint of pink appeared on the pale-eyed nurse's cheeks, and she bowed her head so that she stared at the ground – a familiar habit Naruto recognized from their adolescent days with a smile; her silk-like, long dark hair that looked just a little navy-colored fell down from her shoulders, and the strands that covered her forehead almost fell into her lovely eyes. "W-what are you saying, N-Naruto-kun… I'm not that kind…"
"Of course you are." He chuckled slightly as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. "You're my beloved kind Hinata-chan."
Her cheeks just turned redder. "Mou… Naruto-kun… we're still at work…"
He grinned. "True. You want more action when we come home?"
"N-Naruto-kun!"
"Just kidding."
"God! You're so stubborn!"
Sasuke's smirk only widened. "… I know."
Sakura rolled her eyes and fell in silence, as well as the raven-haired patient. Then, she asked quietly: "Do you think that meant something…?"
He frowned. "What meant something?"
"The… kiss?"
Sasuke seemed to be thoughtful for a while. Then, he said: "It probably meant something."
ARGH! Sasuke punched himself mentally. Why the fuck did I say that anyway?!Sasuke punched himself mentally.
Why do I even care?!
"Really?" Sakura lit up. "Well, Sai's a nice guy. I don't think I'd mind dating him… so far he's just a friend, but you never know, I guess…"
"Hn."
Sakura stared, puzzled, at Sasuke. He seems even angrier than usual. "Anything wrong, Uchiha-san?"
Annoyed: "No."
"Oh." Silence. Then… "Are you mad?"
Grumpy, as usual. "No."
"Really?"
"… Hn."
Sakura heaved a sigh. "Uchiha-san, it's my job to see what's wrong with you. What are you so mad about?"
"I won't let anyone spirit you away," his voice blurted out, his tone irritated.
Sakura was taken aback by the comment at first; then, when her astonishment faded away, she smiled, recalling the previous day's events. "… Don't worry, Uchiha-san. I won't be spirited away too easily."
"Hn." His smirk resurfaced. "Good for you."
Wow. That sure was some experience.
Sakura yawned, stretching out her arms as she drank some of her vanilla hazelnut cappuccino. "Maybe I should call Ino and tell her about it," she said out aloud, her gaze wandering to the telephone on the wall of her kitchen. "But I bet she'd just start talking about me liking Uchiha-san or the other way around."
Not that I'd mind that happening…
Sakura felt her cheeks turn warm, and shook her head, as though wanting to shake off the thought.
What am I thinking? I'm his psychiatrist! I'm there to help him… not to fangirl over him!
Walking to her bedroom, she flopped down on the bed out of exhaustion. Geez… not even coffee helps. I don't know why, but every time I've visited Uchiha-san, I get really tired and sleepy.
She felt her eyelids slowly close, and then darkness surrounded her. And as on cue, a raspy, icy voice murmured a too familiar word…
Kill…
Aah, I think I was going a bit easy on you guys, not letting you get some tension. But I'll promise you LOTS of tension and mystery soon... some fluff doesn't hurt, ne? Still stuck on chapter 8. Things are going a bit better now, and I'm getting loads of ideas... the problem is just how to write them...
And am also thinking about adding omake to my SasuSaku oneshot collection. Anyone other than me interested in making fun of Akatsuki and having AL watch Sailor Moon, Itachi getting upset about the lack of Kelloggs' cereal (UGH... I'm sorry all Kelloggs lovers, but I've had BAD experience of these), or seeing Suigetsu and Karin (new manga charas, sorry if I'm spoiling anything) fighting over watermelons?
Reviews Corner (Wow! 120 reviews! You guys are awesome. Please continue to review, it makes my day to read them (be it good or bad :D)... so please click the lovely review button and review, pu-wetty puw-ease? -puppy... I mean kitty eyes-)
Shadowsakura321: Thanks! And I just went to your profile to check it out; it isn't entirely ItaSaku, is it? While I enjoy ItaSaku, I'd much prefer it with ItaSakuSasu. o.x; But I could still give it a try if it is :)
cookiesxnxcream: Great! I love hating Orochimaru XD Glad that I could make others do the same. Lol. XD Sakura is such a Spirited Away addict ;) There should be treatment for Spirited Away addicts, no? XD Yes… Itachi is so evil in this story… T.T –bows for the great Itachi-sama- I'm sorry, Itachi-sama! I shall make you much more laughable in some kind of omake oneshot! –Itachi gets pissed off and blows me off the earth- Waaah… but thanks for the review:D
Freedomstar999: Sorry about that! o.x; Actually it's not a filler; it contains pieces of memories that are extremely important for the plot. But thanks for the review!
honoring death: Hahah, I know XD I love creating disorder. Like beginning from the middle, and take the beginning later. Or writing the first part of the end first. Lawl, weird dreams? Tell me! I just had this REALLY weird dream about being an art-thief chased by a police. Totally gave me inspiration to my new upcoming humor/action SasuSaku fic, Sweet Poison! And thanks for the review!
HPBabe91: Thanks! And oh yes! They were adorable! –squeals too- But right now… I want a Sasuke plushie… T.T (Beware my randomness. XD) Yes, I know! He's so hateable… -mutters- But wait… do you read the manga? Please tell me if you do. Oh my god. You do know what happened to Orochi a couple of chapters ago, right:D
cherry blossom petals: Update done! D Thanks… and you're great for reviewing:)
Kaydreams: Thank you, and so do I! XD I actually considered adding Orochi in this, ugh, I hate him (except Chibi Orochi – he's soooo cute)!
pinky101: Thanks:)
Elizabeth M. Blackfeather: Thanks:D
SakuraDouble: Thank you! ;)
angel2559: Here you go, next chapter:D What do you think? And thanks for the review!
summerlover1: Thanks! Heheh, well, I kind of got this idea in twilight (if you could call it twilight… have you ever seen it snowing in the middle of the night, the sky being this odd pink-red-amber color, and it's dark but still not?)…
purplecherry5: Actually not… -smiles, embarrassed- Heheh. Thanks for informing me! Nah, it's just that I write so much in the Reviews Corner the chapter ends up looking longer XD I actually write them in separate documents, but I blabber too much, that's why it ends up looking long but isn't. Sorry! And I updated! –makes a ta-dah! pose- :D Thanks for the review!
Poet of the Moon: Thank you:) I feel very flattered at such praise. And depends on what you mean. I don't think I'll change the current SaiSaku vs. SasuSaku (vs. NejiSaku, but that's not very serious… yet) triangle. I like both very much, though, but it's up to you to figure out which one I think I prefer the most! XD
lilxcutexmonstah: Wow, thanks:D And I updated… what do you think?? And tch, I doubt it'd be as bad as you say. Everybody always criticizes themselves too much…
Kunoichi142: Hebbi? –confused- Lol, well, I've grown fond of that little cute artist; he's changed since the beginning of Part II, so I really wanted to add him here. But thanks for the review!
yukibozu: Oh, KH3!!! When is it going to be released? (Even though I STILL have to finish KH1… bah… don't have the time…) I know! He's so adorable. Thanks for the review!
frienz4ever: Thanks:D
Crazy Gal42: Amazingly enough, once I had calmed down from the invasion of SasuKarin fans, I started to LIKE Karin just the slightest!! But she's adorable with Sui-chan. –daydreams- They're SOOOO cute! Read the latest chapter? I love to see them bickering. That's so adorable. Aww… that's so sad. You didn't save them elsewhere? And thanks for the review!
paintupurple: XD Next chapter's heeere! Tell me what you think! And thanks for the review!
LoNeLy-GiRl14: Thanks, and here it is!
Heart's Door: Wow, thanks a lot:D
Mimi the Witch: Thanks! And lawl… aren't cliffhangers evil… -smirks evilly- Thanks for the review!
R o x a s G o e s Q u a c k: Thank you:D
ScarletNinja123: Thanks!
Think-chan: Wow, thanks:D –hypnotizes you- You shall love SasuSaku… you shall love SasuSaku… nah, just kidding. I'm a bit hyper, sorry…
XlOnELy-cHeRrYXbLoSSoMsX: And the update's here! What do you think? Thanks for the review!
Tsukiko's Ultimate Blah-Blah-Blah
Random Topic of the Chapter: Cap'n Sasuke with his Emo Parrot!
I've just kind of thought recently (due to my sister's little speech about her friend's overly talkative parrot)... do parrots really get what they're saying? I don't think they do. And they say parrots are so intelligent. Pwah. And also. Just one thing that kind of got to me. It's a psychologic fact that people's personalities are influenced by their childhood... is it the same with animals, take parrots for example? Do parrots get all squeaky and happy when around hyper owners? Or all aggressive and silent with an emo owner? Then does it mean that all those pirate parrots were all evil? -imagines Sasuke having a parrot and bursts out laughing-