Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only the parts that I'm adapting into the original story line.
Fated Encounter
CHAPTER 20
A part of Sakura was over joyed with the fact that these men and women were getting out. They were free to leave the hideout and try to live their lives as normal as possible. But how many of them could ever try to start doing that?
Many had to have traumas that probably couldn't be cured ever, and the mental strain in this place put on them has had some sort of effect. It was an honest truth that none of these people will ever return to their homes as the people they had been before getting kidnapped. No one was getting their idyllic life back. Some would get nightmares and others just fear of the unknown.
Who knows if another one like Orochimaru comes and takes them away again.
They won't feel safe ever again.
"Aish!" Sakura snapped out of her thoughts as she turned to look at Suigetsu.
He was rattling the doorknob violently and trying to pull the door open. Karin had actually locked the door, but for what reason?
"That bitch locked us out!" He hissed loudly and growled while pulling back. The door didn't move anywhere. It barely even moved and it was made out of metal. Sakura wasn't sure of what metal it was made out of, but clearly it was meant to keep someone out.
"Stop cussing."
"You're not my ma."
"Suigetsu, calm down." Sakura said sternly.
"It's your man that's locked with that psychotic bitch!"
"Suigetsu! I don't need you telling me that! So, shut up and break the door!" Sakura didn't like the idea of Karin locking the door from them. Sasuke was alone with her in that room and Sakura had no idea what was going on.
She was nervous to the degree that her hands were almost shaking and her heart was beating faster. They hadn't talked about their relationship at all with Sasuke and in reality, Sakura had no clue where they were standing. Until that was covered, they weren't officially together in any sense except maybe in her own head. Who knows what Sasuke had done while on his missions away from her.
It really wasn't as if she was a couple with him. So why the hell was she this nervous?
She could barely even think anything else as they let the prisoners go.
"Fine! Fine!" Suigetsu huffed finally pulling the Throat Cleaver from his back.
The metal broke under the blade easily once again leaving only small pieces lying on the floor.
Karin wasn't, to Sakura's mild surprise, anywhere near Sasuke. She was pacing the wall with a trouble look on her face and her shoulders were tense. Something had happened and Sakura was sure of it.
Sasuke on the other hand hadn't moved at all. He was still casually leaning against the couch as he gave her the 'look' of sitting down.
Small part of Sakura wanted to obey his words, but somehow, she ignored the almost habitual thing that she would normally do. Shaking her head at him she remained standing with her arms crossed over her chest. Sakura wasn't going to be a push over. If Sasuke thought that he could play with two people at the same time, then he was wrong.
Sakura still kept her eyes on him and noticed the flash of annoyance in his eyes. At the same time, he seemed puzzled, but he hid it pretty well.
"So, are you coming with us?" Suigetsu asked crossing his arms.
"It appears she is coming." Sasuke said casually and stood up.
"N-no! I'll only travel part of the way with you! I¨m not 'coming' coming with you!"
"Part of the way?" Sakura raised her brown in interest. Karin's face looked flushed as she fixed her glasses.
Yes, only a part. Then we'll go separate ways and I'll go to my own destination."
"And where would that exactly be?" Suigetsu grinned.
"That's none of your business, asshole!"
"I think it is because you'll be going there with us!"
"Shut up!" Karin yelled infuriated and smashed her hand through Suigetsu's head. His upper body turned into water with that contact and water splashed everywhere. Karin was heaving from annoyance as she glared at the white-haired man.
Suigetsu's body formed back into its original shape as he scratched his head, "Damn, woman!"
"I guess, Jūgo's up next?" Sakura looked towards Sasuke.
Sakura's words caught Karin's attention, "Jūgo! Are you crazy!"
"This is none of your business since you're only tagging along for a while." Suigetsu mocked Karin with a high-pitched voice.
"Yeah, it's not, but it's okay to ask about it or do you want to fight about this, too, you asshole?" Karin glared at Suigetsu once again with venom.
Sakura felt like her head was exploding from all the yelling. Why the hell did she want to leave Orochimaru's hideout? It was so much quieter and nicer there than compared to being with there two bickering people.
"Let's get moving." Sasuke commanded and walked to Sakura. He gave her a pointed look of wanting to talk to her in private, but that had to still wait. The day was still young and they had to reach the next village near the Northern Hideout before the sun sets. There wasn't time to stop for a conversation, but Sakura knew it was coming.
Once they stopped for the night, Sakura would have to confront him about this situation. They needed to talk about it now that they were surrounded by other people. Things weren't as simple as they were back in Orochimaru's hideout. At that time, they were alone with just the two of them, but with other people around, they had to set some rules.
Part of Sakura dreaded the idea of having that talk with Sasuke, however she couldn't just postpone it for much longer.
"I'm not going to sleep anywhere near you!" Karin seethed from the corner as she pulled her futon with her. She scooted all the way across the room to get as far away from Suigetsu as possible. Suigetsu was laughing his ass off in the other corner making suggestive gestures towards the red-head. This only infuriated her even more, but for Sakura's surprise Karin only glared at him and slipped under her own cover.
Huffing in annoyance she turned her back to face Suigetsu.
"You know, you should never turn your back to an enemy." Suigetsu mocked from his futon.
"As if you're any threat to me." Karin mumbled and pulled the cover closer to her.
Sakura laid on her own futon with the cover only half way covering her. She was having a hard time keeping her face straight as she took in the two bickering teenagers. This situation was getting more and more ridiculous by the minute.
Sasuke didn't seem that bothered by anything as he leaned against the wall across the room. Since they were a bigger group now, they decided to have someone on watch all the time. Sasuke was the first one and after him Sakura. Then it was Suigetsu and lastly Karin before they woke up and continued their way towards Orochimaru's Northern Hideout.
Sakura easily fell asleep under the covers and her exhausted body gleefully took in the relaxing state that even her mind craved. Only at times like these Sakura fully noticed her body's weakness. She easily gets tired and falls asleep even faster when laying her head on a pillow.
Too soon for her, her body was waking up with a gentle touch on her shoulder. Sakura wanted whine and bury her face into the pillow. But instead of that she got up from under the covers and rubbed her eyes.
She knew without even watching that it was Sasuke, who had woken her up. His heated presence was so close to her that she could easily smell him and feel the warmth coming from him.
Straightening her shirt Sakura quickly got up from the soft futon before giving herself too much time to fall back asleep. As she sat down in the same spot Sasuke had occupied when they had gone to bed, a bottle was offered in front of her. She quickly grabbed it and drank at least half of the bottle while watching Sasuke sat back down next to her.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" She asked him quietly and pointed at his empty futon. No one had touched it at all and the cover was lying neatly on top of it.
"No." Sasuke shook his head and took the now empty bottle from Sakura.
"You're not a machine, Sasuke. You should get some sleep, too."
"I think we're having this conversation almost every night." He commented back.
"That's because you're not sleeping enough."
"I don't need that much sleep."
Sakura shook her head and leaned further into the wall.
"What happened when you were with Suigetsu freeing the prisoners?" Sasuke's question caught Sakura off guard. She wasn't ready for him to confront her this quickly, especially since she just woke up.
"Nothing." Sakura shrugged her shoulders.
"Sakura."
"Seriously!" She huffed a little louder, but couldn't help the tiny but of frustration creeping into her voice. How can Sasuke be so ignorant?
"Is this about Karin?" And he hit the nail on the head.
Sakura remained quiet.
"Nothing happened, Sakura." Sasuke said with an oddly gentle voice. Sakura wanted to cover her ears. She wasn't ready to have this conversation yet!
"It's not about that either." She lied partially.
To be honest with herself, she was confused. She had no idea what they were and for all she knew Sasuke might think that being with other people was okay. But on the other hand, Sasuke came from a very traditional and highly respected clan that cherished traditions. Sakura, however, had no clue if the Uchiha clan was in favor of having many concubines.
As far as she knew Fugaku was only married to Mikoto, and there wasn't anyone else. But could that be a secret of the Uchiha clan? Did they actually favor polyamorous relationships. Sakura felt her face flush with that thought. She had to be going way overboard with her thoughts.
Karin was a gorgeous girl. With her flaming red hair and curves in all the right places, Sasuke might actually think she's beautiful. Because right now compared to Sakura, Karin looked more like a woman than she did. All Sakura was, is skin and bones.
"What are you thinking?" Sasuke asked breaking Sakura away from her troubling thoughts.
This thinking wasn't getting her anywhere. Sakura took a deep breath and straightened her back.
She wasn't going to die if she told Sasuke what she was thinking of. Maybe get embarrassed for the rest of her life, but she might be able to life through that.
"Do you like Karin?" Sakura blurted out as if she hadn't even thought of her own words for the past few minutes.
If Sasuke wasn't Sasuke, Sakura would have been sure he would have laughed. Fortunately, he was an Uchiha, who remained his calm even in embarrassing situation unlike Sakura, who flushed red like a tomato. She wanted to kick herself for blurting things like that and not considering them more carefully. Except that is exactly what she did. She did think this through, but it still feels so humiliating.
Was she acting like a jealous girlfriend? Absolutely.
Sasuke's lip twitched from amusement as he scratched the back of his head.
"Sakura," he started with a calm tone, "haven't I made my advances clear enough?"
If Sakura wasn't so troubled with this situation, she would have definitely admired Sasuke calm way of answering her. He didn't seem even slightly bit shaken by his own words. The look of frustration on Karin's face after Sakura and Suigetsu barged into the room, flashed in Sakura's mind.
"You two-"
"Nothing happened." Sasuke looked straight at her with his dark eyes. "She tried, but failed."
"S-she tried something?" She felt even more flustered as she stuttered.
"Yes. But I'm not interested in her."
Suigetsu mumbled in his dream and turned around rather violently. Sakura snapped back in to reality as she quickly scanned both Karin and Suigetsu. Suigetsu was sprawled on his futon with his brows furrowed, and Karin was lying on her stomach completely motionless. The only sign that she was awake was the gentle movement of her chest as she inhaled and exhaled.
Warm fingers touched Sakura chin, bringing her attention back to the man next to her.
"Sakura. You're being annoying." Sakura flushed even more after his words lowering her head in embarrassment.
"And no." He suddenly said.
Sakura's head tilted in confusion, "W-what do you mean?"
Sasuke leaned closer to her face and spoke in to her ear, "I'm not interested in polyamorous relationships, either."
Thanks for reading this chapter! Hopefully the SasuSaku moment was cute enough for you! I just love imagining Sakura being very shy and even flustered with Sasuke, when they talk about their relationship. And who wouldn't if you get your dream guy, you've been drooling after for so many years. ;)
Thanks for reviewers:
Kawaii-niichan
goon
Uchiha Misaki
Emily da great
severito
Peppei
IheartSasuSakuIta
ILoveSxS
FlowSoreto
Lady Rini
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Meech Macko
I love reading your reviews! They give me inspiration and help me write even though I'm exhausted.
I'll try to get chapter 21 up on Sunday this week, but we'll see. I have the evening shift on Saturday and Sunday so I'll do my best at writing in the morning and throughout the week before those. In two weeks I have a full weekend off, and I'm hoping to write a quite a long chapter for you guys then! These 2,000 word chapters seem so short, but I still like to update once a week.
- Jakura