Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Ghost of Love: Chapter Eleven

Despite the dearth of warmth in her life at the Sound Compound, Sakura found herself unable to immerse herself in delusion to the extent that would be required to actually draw any comfort from this alien embrace. She tried; she closed her eyes and pretended that she was being held by someone who actually cared. For a fleeting second she even fancied that it was Sasuke, healed from his mental and emotional scars and returned to the Leaf Village, whole and unharmed. Reality, however, was not to be denied and she quickly abandoned her futile, colourless fantasies. This is… Orochimaru. And he's playing with me. This is no doubt fun for him; toy with the helpless little girl, give her hope and then rip it away. And then, take the opportunity to completely unbalance her by providing some kindness where there's been none. Oh, such fun for the great snake sannin…

Orochimaru must have felt the tension creep back into her body because he soon pulled back and stared intently into her eyes. For a moment Sakura thought she saw a flicker of concern but it was replaced by amusement so quickly that she immediately attributed it to her lonely imagination.

"Well… let's get to work, shall we?" he drawled in his customary honey-rasping tones.

Sakura blinked. Where's the mocking? Why isn't he prodding me with pointy words and nasty chuckles?

Oh.

This is a much more long-term manipulation, then. Right. Damn.

A sharp tug on one of her pink bangs brought Sakura wincing back to reality. "Sorry. Spaced out a little there."

Orochimaru favoured her with a dangerous snake-slitted glare that quite clearly let her know that ignoring him was a bad idea. Sakura flinched, suddenly dreading the lesson ahead.

"Ow," Sakura groaned as she stumbled back towards her room, utterly exhausted by the 'lesson' she had received from Orochimaru. No wonder Sasuke doesn't like him, she mused bitterly. Her mind shied away from thoughts of the last Uchiha with a violent lurch – or attempted to. But, like a sore tooth you just can't help but prod, her thoughts gravitated back to him despite her desire to ignore the subject. No use thinking about him anyway. Selfish bastard. Still… I guess if this was the path he chose, Naruto and I- maybe we should have just left him to it all along? I mean, aside from the fact that he was basically running off to ally himself with Konoha's greatest enemy… did we really have the right to say what he should do? His need for vengeance was just way too strong to ignore and his friendship with me and Naruto wasn't enough for him to overcome that. He had to do what his heart told him to. I can't really say that I wouldn't do the same in his shoes.

"Ugh, I'm too tired to think about this," Sakura mumbled to herself as she pushed open the door to her room. I'm going to grab a change of clothes and have a nice long shower… Oh.

Hovering in the shadows of her unlit room was a dark figure, his shape only just discernable in the low light that pooled in the open doorway. "H-hey, what are you doing in here?" Sakura fumbled for the light switch, just to the right of the door frame. No answer was forthcoming. That soon ceased to matter as her fingers found their goal and light flooded the room.

Shaggy, dark hair and loose-fitting black apparel held in place by a dark purple rope. He froze as the light hit his face and Sakura gasped aloud, something she had forcibly stopped doing the day he left.

"Sasuke…?" She whispered, afraid that if she spoke normally he would disappear. It was not an unfounded fear; he looked like some forest animal spooked by the sight of a human in its habitat.

He slowly relaxed, the startled expression dying from his eyes. "Sakura."

The pink-haired kunoichi crossed her arms in a strange hybrid of defensiveness and arrested longing. She refused to give in to either of the two urges which rang most strongly within her; run away from him to escape the eruption of painful memories and the too-bright sight of him, or run to him and throw her arms around his stiff, uncertain form. Crossing her arms was an acceptable compromise.

Sasuke mimicked her posture, folding his arms across his chest and staring at her with unreadable eyes.

Like he has every right to be here… which, I suppose he does. But-

"Sakura, why are you here?"

That snapped her out of her half-indignant and no doubt hysteria induced thoughts. "I came here to rescue you…" her voice died off slowly. She picked up the thread of her sentence with a bitter edge, "don't worry, I've given up."

Sasuke eyed her strangely. "It's been seven years. We were teammates for barely one. Haven't you gotten over this yet?"

Sakura tensed, her hands clenching into fists. Her immediate response was something along the lines of 'true friends never give up on each other' but she quickly stifled that useless sentiment. Maybe it's true in some cases but you kind of have to actually be 'true' friends for that to apply. I don't think we were ever more than comrades in his eyes. And now that I'm not so close to the situation – now that I'm not in the middle of some fanciful crush – I can see that.

"Yes, Sasuke, I have gotten over it," her arms fell to her sides and she moved out of the doorway, leaving his path clear. It's kind of a sad irony that I got myself into this situation for someone that I should have forgotten years ago. And that I should realise it now- here.

Cool air washed over her skin as her childhood teammate brushed by and left her alone again.

…he was never going to come home and he never needed rescuing.

AN: Let me know what you think/if you see any mistakes. More Orochimaru next chapter. XD