"Started Without You" Chapter 3
Sakura didn't expect Sasuke to react as he did when those words left her mouth.
It was as if the Uchiha panicked, which was sort of mildly amusing after she thought more about it since he was usually so stone-faced.
What wasn't amusing though was the fact that the bastard had quickly cast a strong genjutsu to force Sakura into a sleep-like state to avoid the conversation she had started.
That was why when Sakura found herself in her bed when she finally woke up, she was ready to punch him so hard.
She threw her sheets off of her body and threw her door open. She stopped herself when she saw Sasuke standing in the middle of the room soothing Momo's cries.
Sakura didn't realize it was the middle of the night until she seen the moonlight hitting the two in such a way that it made her breathless.
Sasuke had been so focused on the child that he hadn't noticed Sakura watching his movements with a careful eye.
He had created a shadow clone to grab a bottle for the baby and feed her since his only arm was being occupied by the infant. It was a clever move on his part, and Sakura couldn't help but be proud of him for being so resourceful.
The clone had looked up and scowled when he met his eyes with Sakura's. Sakura only gave him an amused smirk in response as she walked over.
"You know, I was ready to beat you senseless."
"Hmph."
"How long have I been out?" Sakura asked as she stretched her arms.
"Four hours."
"Ah." Sakura folded her arms and gave the Uchiha another smirk. "I see that Momo has you wrapped around her finger."
"Hn." Sasuke looked away from the pinkette. He hated it when she teased him.
Once the baby had finished her bottle, Sasuke dismissed the clone and quickly put Momo in Sakura's arms.
Sakura proceeded to burp the baby over her shoulder and continued to look at the Uchiha, waiting for him to explain his actions from earlier.
Sasuke quickly glanced at her. He noticed the annoyed undertones in her expression, knowing exactly what was on her mind.
"Tch." He rolled his eyes and flopped on to her couch.
"You can't ignore me forever, you know." Sakura sighed.
"I'm not."
"Then what in the hell was that, earlier?!"
"Annoy-"
"Don't you dare call me that, Uchiha! Right now, you're the annoying one!" She put Momo down into a nearby basket that Sasuke had apparently put together as a make-shift bed for the infant and put her hands on her hips. "You know as well as I do that we need to address some of these things."
She turned around to face him. "Sasuke, our friends are getting married and having children. We're not getting any younger. I'd like to be able to raise my own child at the same time as my friends, and we all know that can't happen until you man up and take charge!"
"Take charge, huh?" Sasuke looked at the woman with an amused look in his eyes. He quickly appeared before her and pinned her to the wall behind her.
Sakura let out a small squeak, not prepared for his sudden movements.
The Uchiha moved his lips to her ear and gave a light chuckle. "Sakura, I don't think you realize just what you're asking for."
Sakura stiffened when she heard the lust that was laced into his voice.
So he's been holding himself back after all.
Sasuke gently nipped at her ear and removed himself from her when he got his desired reaction.
He then turned away from her as if nothing had happened, leaving Sakura in a flustered daze.
"Th-that's not fair, you know." She finally found her words.
"Hn," Sasuke smirked as he went back to his spot on the couch.
Sakura decided that this meant war.
She acted as if she was going to the kitchen as she made her way around the couch the raven-haired man was comfortably lounging on. When she was directly behind him, she grabbed the back of the sofa and flipped herself over to where she was completely straddling his waist.
"Sasuke~" Sakura purred as she brought her face nose to nose with his. "I'm not going to let you run this time."
"What are you doing, Sakura?"
Sakura smirked and wrapped her arms around his torso. "It's called payback."
She boldly came forward and licked his neck, causing the man to shudder underneath her. He wasn't prepared for her to do such a thing.
"Stop." Sasuke croaked out, trying to sound as calm and stoic as he could manage.
That only encouraged Sakura's assault on him more, as she snaked an arm behind his head and lightly ran her hand through his hair. She moved her focus to his mouth, capturing his lips with hers.
He couldn't help but kiss her back at that point.
Sakura lightly bucked her hips over his, eliciting a groan from the Uchiha.
The pinkette teasingly made a moan of her own as she broke their kiss and brought her hips down harder on him.
"Sakura, enough," Sasuke growled as he gripped her thigh, trying to get her to stop.
Sakura looked up at him with lust-filled eyes, causing the man to swallow hard. He really wanted to keep things going, but for her sake, he had to get her to stop.
He lightly pushed her to the side, looking away from her disappointed gaze as he did so.
He hadn't noticed her tears until he heard her sniff a few minutes later.
Sasuke sighed and pulled her back into his chest. "Not now."
"Why?" She choked out. "Am I not good enough to-"
"Sakura, it's not you." Sasuke hissed, catching her off guard.
Sakura looked up at him, instantly knowing what he meant by that when she saw the pained look on his face. He wasn't ready to take her as he was in that moment. He still had a lot of growth he wanted to achieve before bringing her into his bed.
The pinkette wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry."
Sasuke gently brought her chin to look up at him.
They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before they finally let their lips meet once more. This time it was more of a gentle kiss, almost as if it were Sasuke's way of apologizing.
Sakura sighed contently and laid her head in his lap.
After their little exchange, she decided that she could wait just a little longer.
"You grinded yourself on him?!" Ino gasped, her eyes wide.
She had come over to Sakura's apartment before her shift at the hospital while Sasuke had gone out to train.
Sakura was feeding Momo while she had told Ino everything that had happened the night before. Her face was red with embarrassment due to the fact that she really did tell Ino everything.
"Ugh!" Ino groaned dramatically. "I can't believe you could be so lucky. Do you realize how many people try to get some kind of reaction out of him?!"
"You do remember that you gave up on him for Sai, right?" Sakura reminded her with a smirk.
"Well duh! Still, my younger self would have gone nuts!"
Sakura laughed. She was so grateful that she and Ino had grown past their childish tactics from their past.
"And to think all it took was help from that cute thing." Ino cooed at the milk-drunk baby when Sakura took away the bottle and offered the infant to Ino.
"You still haven't said why you're the one who has to take care of her," Ino noted as she gladly took the baby.
"I'm not sure if Kakashi-Sensei wants me to talk to anyone other than Sasuke about the real reason yet because it's so important." Sakura sighed. "Believe me, when I'm able to tell you, I'll let you know everything."
"You better," Ino smirked, then made cute faces at the baby. "Because that's what friends do, right little Momo?"
Sakura smiled as she adored the way Ino looked with the child. Knowing the blonde, she was probably going to try having one of her own with Sai within a year after their marriage. Sakura was confident that Ino was going to be a great mother.
"So, have you heard anything from Naruto today?" Ino asked.
"Nothing yet." Sakura sighed. "With my luck, I just know that Hinata will go into labor in the dead of night."
"Better yet, probably when you and Sasuke are about to get it on for the first time." Ino chuckled.
Sakura's face darkened. That would be just like the child of Naruto Uzumaki.
"I'm kidding! No need to look so serious."
"I can't help it. Especially with him staying here for a while, it's getting harder for me to restrain myself from jumping his ass." Sakura buried her face into a nearby pillow and groaned. "It doesn't help that he's so good with Momo, and it just makes me go crazy with how sexy that is! It's like he doesn't even realize what he does to me."
"Oh, I think after last night he probably does." Ino teased. "I think openly telling him that you're ready for a baby says it all."
Sakura sighed and sat back up. "Yeah, me and my big fat mouth."
Her mind wandered to Sasuke. She wondered if he was as bothered about the night before as much as she was, and exactly what his thoughts were when it came to their relationship.
She didn't scare him off, did she?
"So tell me again why we're all here?" Shikamaru asked as he and three others sat around a table at Konoha's best BBQ joint.
"I couldn't really tell you. Teme is the one that made me bring you guys." Naruto shrugged.
Three sets of eyes turned to the Uchiha, who had suddenly decided that the meeting was a bad idea and started to get up and leave.
"Is everything okay, Traitor?" Sai cocked his head in confusion.
He looked away and clicked his tongue. How in the world would he be able to even ask them for help when they couldn't even put two and two together?
Weren't his reasons to call the married (and soon to be married) shinobi all together good enough to realize just what he wanted to talk about?
"Oh, I think I get it." Naruto beamed and put an arm around Sasuke. "Sakura yelled at you for doing something stupid, and so you're asking if one of us can let you crash at our houses. Well Teme, Sakura would yell at me if I let you stay again so I'm gonna have to give it a no."
Sasuke glared at the idiot and shrugged him off. That wasn't it at all!
"Jeez, you guys are so troublesome." Shikamaru sighed. "I mean, I could ask Temari if she would be ok-"
"That's not why." Sasuke cut him off.
"Oh, then are you perhaps having issues in bed?" Sai asked, earning an even more intense glare from the Uchiha.
"I'll take that as a no," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his neck. "So out with it, Teme. What's the issue?"
Sasuke looked away from the three men and mumbled something under his breath.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, cupping his hand around his ear. "What was that? We can't hear you!"
Sasuke glared at Naruto again. He was really going to make him say it out loud where everyone was able to hear him.
"Tch. Forget it." Sasuke said as he began to stand up and leave, only to be trapped by Shikamaru's jutsu. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man, who just casually acted like he hadn't done anything.
"You called us here, so you might as well not waste our time," Shikamaru spoke.
Sasuke looked away again and sighed. He knew that the question he was about to ask could possibly damage his Uchiha pride for the rest of his life.
"How... Did you... Propose?"