Deeming that the public had forgotten all about him, Sasuke was allowed by the council to find a living space that wasn't a doctor's office. One requirement though, was that he live with a Jounin or higher for safety reasons. Naruto had offered his place, but 10 minutes there established that no, that was never going to happen.
So instead he moved into Sakura's place.
He guessed it would be much like before. He would sleep on the couch and train and read all day. She also had an impressively size bookcase, stuffed full of just about everything he could imagine. It was really chaotic though, and on the first day there he organized it so he could easily identify what he wanted to read. The weird romance novels were banished to the bottom shelf.
One thing he had not factored into his new life, was the fact that she showered. And changed clothes in the bathroom. And when she was in a rush, she would leave her clothes there.
So he spend quite a bit of his time getting acquainted with Sakura's underthings, and then pointedly ignoring them. He also decided she had a suspicious amount of lacy things for a working professional.
So that is how Naruto found him one morning, picking up one of Sakura's bras off the bathroom floor with a hanger and walking it to her room like it was poisonous.
"Heeeey. What are you doing with that Temeeeee!" Naruto shouted as he spotted Sasuke, who only glared at him intensely before throwing both the hanger and the bra into the room.
"It's not going to kill you, you know. In faaaact, it might make your life very good if you tried treating it better. I mean, you are living with a very available girl right now. You could be getting down every nighttt. Oh lalaaaa!" Naruto danced around the living room.
Sasuke grunted in frustration and walked out of the apartment in the direction of the training grounds.
"Your loss. And probably someone else's gain. Sakura is veeeery hot you know?" Naruto continued, but a glare from Sasuke made him shut up with a huge grin on his face. Oooh yeah. He was so good at this.
Sasuke had honestly not considered her in that sense. He had been much too focused on isolating himself from everyone, the words from his interrogation ringing through his head every day. Lately though, he was starting to forget them. Sakura didn't seem to despise his presence like they had promised him, and Naruto's promise of a happy return seemed a lot less like complete lies.
The nightmare that was his return was starting to fade.
And when he considered it, empirically of course, Sakura was very attractive. She had filled out nicely and it was a lot easier to tell when she wasn't constantly wearing scrubs. She had also stopped being annoying, though Naruto was still exactly as irritating as he had always been.
He almost beat Naruto today in training, and when Sakura came to heal him during lunch he secretly wished he had more injuries so she would stay close to him longer. He also smirked when she kicked Naruto in the head for insulting her cooking.
That night, when he cleaned the dishes in her tiny apartment, she brushed past him to put a glass in the sink. It had probably happened before, but this time he was acutely aware of where and how long their maintained contact.
He also noticed she was shorter than he remembered. In the hospital, she had been an embodiment of strength and healing. She had always come to him on the windowsill, standing taller. Now that he stood too, she smaller, more delicate.
That sent a confusing mix of emotions through him, and he decided it was best to just ignore it.
Sakura on the other hand, was excited every time Sasuke did anything new. When he offered to do the dishes three days ago, she had beamed at him like a lunatic. Yesterday he had done the laundry and she had come home to fresh new sheets. She had snuggled into them happily, mentally patting Sasuke on the back.
She also noticed his muscle tone was coming back, and that excited her in different ways.
Ways that were not proper to discuss in her medical report.
Sasuke was still struggling with controlling his chakra, and frequently burned his hands while training. So today, Sakura, was sitting in front of him as she slowly dragged chakra-cooled fingers down his forearm. It was causing a tingling sensation in him that wasn't unfamiliar, but he wasn't quite ok with.
Wanting to stop her, he grabbed her fingers with his opposite hand. Instead of stopping the feeling, his brusque movement made a larger charge course through his arm and he let out an undignified groan as his entire body shivered.
Sakura stared at him with wide eyes, frozen in place. Her chakra had abruptly cut off, and when he opened his eyes, his cheeks were tinted slightly pink.
Naruto decided that this was the right time to add his two cents.
"And whaaaat are you two children up to now?" he said, mocking Kakashi's tone.
Sasuke immediately let go of her hand and got up as quickly as possible, while Sakura still sat there shocked.
"Well, training's over now. I guess I can go annoy Tsunade-baa." He said as he wander off in turn.
That night, dinner was tense. Neither was willing to look the other in the eye, and moving about the small apartment was jerky and overly cautious. The next morning, Sakura hesitated before starting to head a cut on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Just do it already and get this awkward sexual tension over with." Whined Naruto from the ground a couple feet away.
Sakura glared at him before placing her hands on his shoulder, but she didn't miss the small shudder that went through Sasuke upon contact.
By the time the monthly 'girls' night' came around, nothing had been resolved. If anything, the tension had only gotten worse.
"Ok, spill. You look like you forgot to wear underwear today." Ino said gracefully, sipping her drink.
"Ugh, now I have that to worry about forever. Thanks." Sakura said, as Tenten wrinkled her nose at the idea. "It's just Sasuke. He's doing so well, I don't want to ruin it."
"Ruin how?" Hinata said softly.
"Why does he have to be so pretty and so broken." She mumbled into her cup.
"Ohhh. The good kind of ruining. Trust me, that won't hurt him at alllllll. For example, with Shika-"
"No. I work with him regularly. I have no intention of ever knowing what you two do behind closed doors." Tenten interjected.
"And in training field. And his back yard. And on missions." Ino said smugly.
"Ew no. That is gross and I now hate you forever."
"Also how do you approach that subject? I can't just say 'hey, wanna bone?"
"Yes, you totally can. And I guarantee you that would work." Ino nodded vigorously.
"You're no help at all. And the rest of you aren't any better at relationships. Why are we so lame."
"A). I'm not lame. B). It's because we are bad bitches, getting money." Ino said, downing the rest of her glass.
"What does that even mean?" Inquired Tenten, always confused about the latest slang.
"I'm just gonna get drunk. Works for Tsunade when she has problems." Said Sakura, indicating to the waiter she wanted another round.
"Works for me" said Ino as she happily accepted her new drink.
Later that night, Sakura was unceremoniously dumped on her front step by Tenten, who was tired of carrying her. She rang the doorbell, and said "I brought you a present." When Sasuke opened the door, pointing at Sakura collapsed on the welcome mat.
Picking her up, he dragged her inside and went to get her a glass of water.
When he came back, she was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch. "You're beautiful, you know that right?" She asked him, staring intently like only a drunk person could.
He frowned at her and gave her the glass of water.
"Like, I don't think you understand. You are suuuuuper duppper pretty. And your muscles are like; BAM. Hotness." She nodded to herself, spilling water on her shirt.
"Oops, hehe." She mumbled before deciding to remove her shirt.
Sasuke decided it was definitely time to leave the room. Possibly forever.
When Sakura had a late shift at the hospital, Sasuke would sometimes come and wait for her before going home. She had seen him in the nurses breakroom earlier, and knew to go there when she was done with her work.
"He's a murderer! Who knows how many Konohans he has killed during his service to Orochimaru. He even is known to have killed his own brother. That speaks to a deeply twisted mind, and as a mother I do not want him anywhere near our city, much less our schools!" A smartly dress woman exclaimed, her face deeply concerned.
Sakura didn't want to watch this. Anchors rehashing the most gruesome and violent depcitions of him again and again to garner views. It had been months since people thought of him like that, but the end of the year brought all kinds of 'top ten news stories' and 'recap of the year' type programs.
Disgusted with the public at large for feeding into these shows, she turned to Sasuke, ready to tell him that they could go home but something stopped her. He was still staring, mouthing words. Her hand came up to cover mouth as she realized that he was mouthing the words from the tv. Verbatim.
"Sasuke…" She said softly, hesitantly reaching out to him. But he didn't pay attention, he was still staring. Still repeating.
"Sasuke!" she yelled, and that finally snapped him out. He looked startled and more than a little bit afraid. Seeing the fear in his eyes when he turned to her made something inside her snap, and she tugged him into an unwilling hug as tears came from her eyes.
"They made you watch, didn't they?" She said as she cried quietly into his shoulder. He didn't need to respond. The fact that he hadn't pushed her away said enough.
That night they ate in silence, solemnly staring at their plates. When he went to clean the dishes, his movements were mechanical, more like a machine than a man. Looking at him, she could see months of progress gone. A simple 30 second clip of some uninformed idiot had shut him down entirely.
This wasn't the Sasuke she knew from her childhood. She knew that he had arrived in her office changed. He wasn't strong or independent. Still stubborn, but never fighting back. Something drastic had changed in him, and she was determined to figure out what.
So the next morning, she banged on the door to Tsunade's office and demanded a meeting.
"I want you to declassify Sasuke's interrogation tapes." She announced, making Tsunade look up in shock.
"Are you sure you want to see that?" She asked, looking serious.
Sakura hesitated. Did she really want to see what he had gone through? Seeing him now was enough to scare her. But no, she wanted to help him. And you can't prescribe treatment if you don't know what the diagnosis is. "Yes." She said with conviction.
"I'll see what I can do."
Later that afternoon Sakura was called back to the Hokage tower and led to a small conference room.
"I can't declassify them, but I can allow you to watch the tapes in this room only, and they need to be back in custody by closing time. Interrogation is not under my jurisdiction, so this is the best I could get from the council." Tsunade said, unlocking the door.
Inside the room were several filing boxes dumped on the central table. Each box was filled with dozens of tapes, labeled with dates and numbers. Deciding chronological order was probably the most reasonable, she popped the first tape in.
She only watched 2 or 3 minutes each for the first dozen tapes. It was surreal to see Sasuke's usual aloof smugness. He had attitude and strength exuding from every move he made, but he didn't hesitate to answer their question. He told them where all of Orochimaru's bases were, locations of hideouts he had met Akatsuki in. He detailed the strengths and weaknesses of any and all ninjas he had encountered.
Naruto joined her ten minutes in, explaining that he had seen her request on Tsunade's desk.
Around tape 15 things took a darker turn. They stopped asking him questions, and instead started insulting him. Sasuke was compliant, barely. He didn't respond verbally to the jibes, but he glared and grunted when appropriate. Large segments of the tapes now involved watching the news, with his interrogators stressing the anger and hatred people held for him.
"I remember that segment. I was interviewed and I know they aired it. Why isn't it on his monitor?" Naruto said, frustrated by the barrage of hate speak coming from the tv.
Tape 17 was more personal.
"Did you really think that Naruto still care about you? You really thought his promised return would go off flawlessly? You can't have been that naïve, that STUPID. You're a wanted criminal. He is a ninja of Konoha, tasked with getting you to return under any circumstances. You really think anyone wouldn't lie to you after all that you did?"
"No! I would never!" gasped Naruto as they saw Sasuke turn away from the man yelling at him.
On tape 20, they showed him the media coverage of his trial, carefully edited so that only the angriest, most vicious segments were shown on a loop.
"See? No one wants you. You should have stayed out of the village. They hate you. You're only allowed to live for your genes. You wanted to maintain the Uchiha line, well that might just be the only thing you'll ever be thanked for."
Sakura by this point was curled into a ball on a chair, chewing on a knuckle. She had known that this wasn't going to be pleasant, but this wasn't interrogation. This was just intimidation and was completely unnecessary since he had been cooperating the entire time.
Naruto was no better. He sat there, head in his hands. This was not what being a hokage was. This was not what he signed up for. He wanted to help people. Not… this.
Mechanically Sakura got up from her chair and switched out the tapes.
"OK Uchiha. Sit up straight! You're about to finally accomplish your dreams!" Said a masked man, walking into the room with two other people. Sasuke was sitting in his chair, calmly looking at them. Instead of stopping on the other side of the table, like they always had, the interrogators came up next to him.
"Stand up please" A feminine voice came from tape. Cautiously, Sasuke obeyed. The smallest of the masked figures then bent down in front of him, and tried to pull his issued pants down.
Sasuke fought back. He bolted backwards, knocking his chair over. The two others in the room grabbed his arms and held him against the wall.
"I thought you wanted to continue your clan, Uchiha. You should be more careful with your words if you don't know what you want." Mocked one of the men, as the presumably female member pushed his pants down.
"Ooh, not bad. I thought you were cute when you were young, but damn. This is going to be more fun than I had expected." The girl said, caressing his crotch. Sasuke tried to move away from her, desperately pulling his arms from the two men's grasp.
"Nuh-huh, Uchiha. The council wants all your dreams to come true. So just enjoy it or shut up." Tutted one of the interrogators before the girl got to work.
Naruto sat, completely frozen in shock, unable to process what what happening.
Sakura had her head in her folded knees, trying to keep back the bile in her throat while her hands pressed on her ears trying to drown out the sounds of Sasuke fighting back.
"No… no... no." she repeared, nearly in time with the video.
Meanwhile on the video, they had finished what they wanted. Scraping off the semen into a cup, they walked out of the room laughing. Sasuke was left slumped in a pile on the floor and the tape ran to black.
They sat in silence for several minutes, the only sound Sakura's attempts to control her hyperventilating and the white noise from the speakers.
The only moved when Tsunade walked in. "You almost done, the drop off desk closes in 5 minutes." She said, poking her head in the room. At the same time, Sakura ran for the trash to throw up.
"No more." Said Naruto, removing the tape while making as little contact as possible with it.
Tsunade's eyes softened. "I'll tell them to come pick it up. Sakura, go to my office to lay down."
When Tsunade came back to her office she sat next the shaking, curled ball of her apprentice on the couch. She put a hand on her shoulder, in what she hoped was a comforting way.
"I hoped you wouldn't make it that far through them." She whispered. She knew Sakura didn't have the stomach for torture.
"Why?" Sakura whispered, burrowing into the couch.
"I don't pretend to understand the council. I disagree with the majority of what they do. When I learned about what they had ordered…. I couldn't let that slide. Immediately I shut down their investigation. But the damage had been done. He didn't respond to anyone or anything. He just sat there in his cell all day staring at the tv. I didn't know what to do." She said as she caressed her apprentice's hair.
"I honestly thought he would never get better. Especially after he left himself get nearly killed the first night out. They had well and truly broken him." She stopped. "But you. You're a miracle worker. Naruto tells me he talks sometimes now. And that was all you, so you can't give up now."
They sat together while Sakura's tears calmed down. Eventually she got up, still shaken and distraught, but something else gleamed in her eyes.
"I'll be going home now." She said with certainty.
Sasuke was confused. Sakura had cried on him yesterday, and he hadn't seen her all day today. He wasn't concerned though. That would be ridiculous.
Right?
And when she walked in the door, tear tracks down her cheeks, he didn't know what to think. She looked so small, somehow broken. She looked at him meekly and when he frowned in confusion at her behavior he saw the tears come back.
This was wrong. She was strong. She didn't cry. Especially not this much. Even when she was young, she had barely cried.
She hiccuped through her tears, and he decided he needed to make her stop. Somehow.
This was too wrong to continue.
Yesterday she had quieted when she hugged him. He could do that again, right? It should work.
Decided, he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. She stopped breathing and her eyes snapped to his. Tears poured out of her eyes with renewed vigor.
Crap, this was not the plan. This was in fact the opposite of the plan.
Before he could abort, she pressed her head against his shoulder and her arms wrapped around his torso and squeezed.
That was good, right?
They stood there for a while, his head coming to rest on top of hers after a few moments. When she stopped sniffling, he heard a whispered "thank you" as she reached one hand to wipe off the last few tears.
Lifting her head, she looked at him. "That night you were released… did you intend to die?" She asked carefully. He looked at her for a moment, his turn to be startled. This is what she was crying about?
She care enough about him to cry?