-13-
„Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 'Gift From the Sea'
„'Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive."
John Sheffield
„The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."
Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)
Sakura came back home and slowly walked up the stairs. She headed to her room as silently as she could. She stopped in front of a closed door which she knew led to not her room. Sakura looked to the floor for a while then continued heading to her own room. She entered the dark space and lit up the light. Well, guess it's not much left for me here.
Sakura changed from her nephrite green dress to red night-gown and opened her luggage. She collected her clothes, her jewelry, her other things. Sakura then silently headed to the attic and collected her drawing gear. When everything was packed, she sat on the bed and sighed, looking to the full luggage, ready to be carried…
Jules jumped on the bed by her side and rammed his forehead into her elbow. Sakura brushed her hand through his head and the cat purred. Then a muted rattling sound disturbed Sakura. When she turned to the direction of the sound, the woman spotted a little light brown rat, standing on the back paws and rapidly moving its little black nose.
"Lightening Macqueen, huh? Pleasure to meet you" Sakura said in silent sarcastic voice. Jules still purred by her side "unfortunately, your master doesn't want another renter" she added sadly. The cat rose his clever yellow eyes up at her and stared until Sakura sighed and laughed a little.
"I can't believe I'm being scolded by a cat and a rat" she then stood up and walked out of her room, leaving the door open. She closed to the door, further from her own and after exhaling a breath of air, she pushed the door knob down and entered the dark room.
Sakura found Sasuke sleeping at one side of the bed. The woman watched his body rising and falling frequently for a while, then walked closer and sat on the other side than him. She sat like that for a while, looking at the darkness, then laid down and put her tired head onto the pillow.
"What?" a silent, but firm and cold demand came form behind her.
"I didn't want to wake you up" Sakura said.
"You didn't. What do you want?" Sasuke's voice acted like a razorblades for Sakura's soul.
"To talk" she whispered.
"About what?"
"Anything"
"The weather?" a sarcastic tone slipped from Sasuke's invisible lips.
"That would be nice"
Silence…..
"What do you want to say?" Sasuke finally asked.
"Ever played the Twenty Questions?" Sakura asked.
"I feel like doing it now"
"Why don't we then?"
"I have beer"
10 minutes later…
Sakura and Sasuke were sitting at the kitchen's table, she only wearing a red, short night-gown and he – a pair of dark blue pajamas pants. Each had a bottle of beer in front of them.
"One question at a time" Sasuke stated the rule.
"Fair enough. But ladies first"
"Deal"
"Did you go to public or private school?" Sakura asked and took a sip of beer.
"Public. You?"
"Public. College or straight to med school?"
"College. Art academy, I presume"
"Yeah, and a year in France. Ever studied abroad?"
"Europe once. Few times in Japan. Why did you become an artist?" Sakura stared at him for a while, then smiled vaguely.
"It's a long story"
"I have time" Sasuke leaned back in his chair and gulped some bear.
"Well, I had this friend when I was in primary school. If he wasn't studying or playing with me or other kids, he was drawing. Lots and lots of it, always saying he needed to improve his skills" Sakura laughed a little, looking at her fingers on the table "and then one day he showed me how to draw a little branch of cherry blossoms. Since then, all I wanted was to…draw. Lots and lots of cherry blossoms" Sakura lifted her eyes to Sasuke "how did you become a doctor"
"I…" Sasuke fell silent after this one letter. He thought for a while, then bit his lover lip "I once was in Japan when I was about…thirteen years old. And it so happened that I was looking for a way to repay debt. You could call it luck, you could call it a turn of fate, but…" a moment of silence "one man, a doctor, said that the more loved the person is, the more lives it is worth. So, being a doctor is my way of…repaying the debt I owe" he looked straight at her "have you got any debts to pay?"
"I'm still paying it. To the person I owe my talent" Sakura gave him a warm smile "who is it that you pay your debt?" Sasuke opened his mouth then shut it up again. He took another sip of beer, as if hesitating if he really wanted to share it with her.
"My mother and my father. Is it your friend?"
"Yes. They're dead?"
"Yeah. How did they die?"
"In a fire. My mother didn't feel well that day and she took a sleeping pill to help her sleep. She…was working hard at work those days and she was already at her limit. However, she always said that she'll rest when she's dead" a little pause. Then he continued after another sip of beer "father was just coming back from home when the fire spread…out of nowhere. He carried me out and told me to wait. But the fire spread so fast that it caught the garage in no time. The car's gas tank exploded and took them away" he sighed mutedly, as if a heavy rock was just taken away from his chest "where are your parents?"
"Along with yours" Sakura smiled sadly "they died in a car accident. It was winter. The truck driver in front of us just lost control of a ten tone-weighting truck and hit our car. I was supposed to die there as well. But I was sitting in a middle of the back seat and when the truck hit our car, I just fell out of the window to the snow. Lucky" Sakura smiled to emptiness "you still feel guilty?"
"I guess I am. You?"
"Yeah, me too" both gulped some beer, looking at each other. Few moments passed in silence.
"How about your brother?" Sakura finally asked.
"He was out in the Europe then. He didn't even come to the funeral" Sasuke smirked faintly "if he was sane, I'd say he just felt too terrible to show up. But he isn't so….I don't know why he didn't show up" he looked straight into the eyes of Sakura "what do you think?"
"I think he did feel terrible. If you knew him closer, you'd know" she frowned a little "what happened between you two?"
"Itachi took over our father's company and went to university at the same time. He became distant and cold. We argued a lot. And the older I grew, the worse were the arguments. We even got into a fight. I don't know. It seems like a giant wall of China grew between us. What makes you think I'd know anything about him?"
"You would. Itachi is very open when he trusts a person. That's where you both are the same. You wouldn't admit that, would you?"
"I don't know. You said it yourself" Sasuke sipped the beer "is that why you fell for him?" Sasuke felt like this was The Big Question.
I was eager to know. Eager to know why my brother was superior to me. Why she chose that jerk and not me. Also, I was interested what was going on in that pink head of hers. Sakura…cherry blossoms…my life's color.
"I didn't. I…I guess I was only…looking for you in him, because I…couldn't figure you out. I suppose I was scared that you wouldn't let me in your life and your soul…like Itachi was willing to do. But that was my mistake. Do you forgive mistakes?" she asked, with the most hopeless voice Sasuke ever heard from her.
"I do…sometimes. What didn't you find in me?"
"Apparently, now I have everything I could hope for. But I really want to say one thing…can oyu guess?"
"No. What?"
"I'm sorry. I feel I should say sorry. I feel sorry. I feel like I did a very, very stupid thing. For my own misfortune. Can you…forgive me?"
"I don't think I'm in authority. Especially when I'm the one to say sorry. Can you forgive me?"
"For being an ass? Sure thing" Sakura laughed lightly "can I stay here?"
"In this kitchen? Sure. Or do you want to stay in this house"
"No. I want to stay with you. Manhattan is…a cold and lonely place anyway. Can I be with you?"
"You'd perish if you didn't. Artists don't live long" Sasuke teased and leaned forward "can I kiss you?" he asked in a whisper.
"U-huh" Sakura purred and leaned onto his lips. Their kiss started as a soft little touch of lips, but ended as a passionate play of tongues.
"Can we do it?" Sakura asked through the kiss.
"If no one calls" Sasuke noted in an ironic manner, not stopping the kiss "can we stop this question-shot-question thing?"
"Totally"
5 minutes later….
Sasuke and Sakura were rolling around in Sasuke's bed, both naked, kissing. Sasuke roamed around the entirety of Sakura's body, making her moan and ask for more. He sucked into her nipple, biting it and receiving a cattish laughter from Sakura's lips. She had her hands sliding up and down Sasuke's back and chest and her legs wrapped around his torso, asking even more. Sasuke returned his lips to hers and placed a light kiss on them. Then he felt Sakura's body hardening and back arching under him as he slid deeper inside of her. They started moving with a rhythm, both grunting and moaning. They rolled over and Sakura sat on the top, still moving herself up and down. Sasuke lifted himself up and wrapped arms around Sakura's waist, pulling her down upon his member and making her almost scream from both: pain and pleasure. They fell on the bed again and Sasuke was again on top, still not stopping moving. Sakura wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer. They couldn't get any closer or more together than that…
-x-
Naruto and Hinata were sitting at their home, in front of the fireplace, under a sheath.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Hinata asked, her head resting on Naruto's shoulder "Sakura seemed such a nice person. Sasuke cannot dislike her"
"He doesn't, believe me" Naruto smiled distantly "but his thick head doesn't always work the way it should. Let's just hope Sakura can change the way it operates"
"Maybe she'll do what you couldn't" Hinata giggled silently and prepared to stand up "let's go. Time to go to bed"
"Right" Naruto too was about to stand up, but he was left frozen: the moment Hinata got on her feet, she swayed and almost fell. Naruto caught her and laid her back on bed.
"Hinata?" he called while checking her pupils "Hinata, talk to me, can you hear me?" he checked her pulse: it was extremely fast "Hinata!"
-x-
2 hours later…
Sasuke picked up the cell phone that was ringing. He tried to see who's calling (Or rather who I was gonna kill.), but his eyes were too glued for that.
"Who in his right mind would call this early in the morning? It's almost dusk"
"Sorry about that" a tired and anxious voice of Naruto reached Sasuke's ear "but it's Hinata. I have no idea what's wrong with her. She simply collapsed the night before"
"Is she awake now?"
"No. they were trying to wake her up, but…I think…she's sliding into coma"
"Hey, don't do these quite deductions. I'm coming. Stay calm and…don't' do anything stupid"
"I'll try. Thanks"
"Who was that?" Sakura asked as she opened her sleepy eyes.
"My friend. His girlfriend seems to be in a sudden coma"
"Friend? You mean…Naruto?"
"Did you Google my personal data?" Sasuke asked sarcastically and began dressing up.
"No, I met them yesterday, at the exhibition. Hinata seemed fine"
"I know. That's what she looked like to me back then as well" Sasuke showed a few things to his backpack and tossed it over his shoulder "listen, I gotta go. If you want, you can come to the hospital. Somebody has to be with Naruto while I try to figure out what Hinata has. I don't want him to craze out in the hospital" Sakura sat up, covering her naked body with sheath.
"Ok. I'll come" Sasuke leaned over her and kissed her reddish lips.
"See you there then" he said and smirked.
"Sure" she gave him a warm smile.
Five minutes later Sasuke was speeding through empty streets of morning New York City, coffee steaming in his hand.
Damn! She was perfectly healthy just the same night! I, myself, did a full check up on her few months ago. She was perfectly healthy. Shit! Did I miss something? Of…maybe she hid something…Darn! This is one hell of a lovers' morning!
--
A/N: Cliffhanger, he he. I'll have an entire week to decide whether Hinata should die or not…kidding. Somebody still didn't forgive me for the story "Eternally not yours" (points at love4hao) :DDDD anyway, thanks for all the reviews and all that stuff which is about the only thing, getting me through my day recently ;))))) ok…maybe I do want to know how this will turn out, cause I still don't :DDD that makes two things ;)) thanks ;) see ya later ;))