Chapter Eight

Breathed

A few rosette strands fluttered openly into her eyes, blocking her view of him. She was glad for the change; she even welcomed it. His face had been impassive. And she hated it when he pushed a concrete wall down on himself, blocking her any entry into his feelings.

"You're worth it," he muttered. She felt like jumping from her skin when he spoke. It had been so long since one of them had even uttered a single sentence, that the action seemed almost unfamiliar.

"I feel it. Every single minute of every day I can feel your doubt. Out of all of your emotions, that one is the strongest. It eats you alive; even making you feel weak. I saved you and there is nothing to regret. So stop feeling and thinking such pointless things."

"I can't help it," she said, just as quietly. "When you look at me…I feel this regret." She clutched at her heart for emphasis. "Your emotions don't lie, Sasuke."

He spared her a glance when he answered, "But you do." At her affronted face he scoffed. "You have tried to shove all of your emotions into one huge mess so you can deny to yourself what you really feel. You love me."

Sakura was speechless. Inside her chest, her heart was thundering against it, threatening to go into overload. Literally, she felt sick. He rose to his feet and reached inside his left pocket. He tossed her something small; it was in a box and quite plain to the eye.

She was still facing the opaque moon above them, not seeing it at all, when he spoke. "Inside there you'll find the reversal to the jutsu." She knew which jutsu. Their jutsu.

"I thought it wasn't reversible, but it is. Don't worry," He added at her panic stricken face. "You won't die. It will be painful though. Keep your emotions," And she knew which one he was referring to. "I don't want them."

Sasuke, tired from carrying most of his possessions, leaned against the archway of his former childhood home. All of his hard work had paid off; he had restored it to its former authentic beauty. Selling his townhouse had presented him with very little of a challenge; a couple had already offered to buy it.

He was freezing, the rain from above drenching his clothes until the dark blue resembled black. Yet his mind kept wondering back to where it always seemed to stray. Sakura.

It was impossible not to go a single day without thinking about the girl. Her emotions were constantly in flux. They went from happiness to fury in the milestone of a second. He was to blame for that, he supposed.

He'd be damned if he had to feel another minute of her hesitant, affection. It was always there, clouded beneath a multitude of other feelings. And yet, miles from where she was, he could feel it. It was pulsing through him like a second heartbeat.

So she hadn't used the reversal jutsu yet. What the hell was taking her so long?

"I thought I would find you here."

Sasuke turned disinterested eyes onto the approaching figure. Soaked from the morning rain, Genma stopped just short of the front porch. His normally happy face was twisted slightly into a frown. "And here I am. So what do you want?"

"Moving back in, eh?" The brown haired shinobi glanced around the manor with appraising eyes before turning back towards the Uchiha.

"What – do – you – want?" Sasuke repeated, his breathing coming just a bit sharper. It was overly safe to say that he was annoyed. But then again, it didn't take much to irk him. Genma shuddered when a few raindrops fell into his eyes, and then blinked twice. "Well I came to talk to you."

Sasuke turned around from the porch and set one of his boxes down. "That much was noticeable."

"Hm, you are a ray of sunshine aren't you? Tsunade-sama warned me about that temper of yours though I think now that her description doesn't do you any justice. But I don't want to hold you up so," His bright eyes turned suddenly cheerless. "…I'll get to the point. What do you intend to do?"

Sasuke's eyebrows rose, urging him to elaborate. Genma laughed quietly, shaking his head to himself. "As if you don't know. Sakura."

It was almost comical how, at the mention of his rosette haired ex-teammate, his dark eyes flashed to life and narrowed simultaneously. "What about her?" He scowled.

"I'll be frank. I like her and she…" He paused. "…is willing to move on. Hell, before you came back, she was Konoha's most eligible sweetheart. And then poof, she wakes up and you're there. And now she's too focused on leaving you alone that she is becoming more and more like you." He smirked when the Uchiha's obsidian eyes closed briefly.

"She's secluding herself and is now a bit socially awkward. So either make a move or get out of the way. I don't despise you for coming back. You saved her life and she feels drawn to you. I get that."

Sasuke crossed his arms wearily. "If you get so much then get the hell off of my property."

"I'm not done."

"Then get done."

Genma smiled, absentmindedly pulling the senbon from his mouth. "Well from what I see, you act like you don't like her yet you have a history together. That's undeniable. You saved her life. That too is undeniable." He was now ticking down the facts on his fingers one by one. "You are bonded to her, that is well known, and you even went as far as visiting her when you could when she was in a coma. Does any of this imply anything or am I missing something?"

"Go the fuck away."

"I know, this is terribly upsetting to hear. But I think that you should know that she's perfect. And I don't intend to lose her to someone that doesn't even have his eyes open."

"Aiming a little low on the age bar, aren't you?" He spat. "How about you take your own advice and leave her the hell alone," Sasuke hissed and then picked up his things. "You can disappear the same way you got in."

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ears, out of nervous habit, Sakura stopped just in front of the Hokage's office. Her eyes widened and her knees buckled slightly when the person she least wanted to see came from around the opposite corner.

"Why didn't you do it?" Sasuke hissed.

Sakura bit her lip and pretended she hadn't heard a thing. Ignore him and he'll disappear. Ignore him and he'll disappear. She chanted inwardly to herself. "Well?" He asked.

"I'm not ready." She whispered truthfully. They had to talk in low voices, Tsunade was having a meeting.

The raven haired boy snorted disdainfully. "This isn't a wedding, Sakura. There's nothing to prepare for, you don't just get cold feet! I'll do it if you don't."

"Like hell you will," she whispered harshly.

"I will-" He started to say but was cut off by the husky bark from within the office. "I can hear you!" Tsunade growled behind the doors. "Now get in here."

Glaring at each other, they both sat in opposite chairs once inside the study. Tsunade glanced between the two of them and rolled her eyes. "Uchiha," she chided. "Be the bigger person."

Sakura started to complain but stopped when the blonde fixed her with an even look. "And I expected more out of you." The pink haired girl glanced down at her interlaced fingers. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Tsunade waved it off. "Just don't let it happen again. Now, I have the results from your tests with Dr. Akemi and he said you should look at them. I reviewed them earlier and I must say it doesn't please me. Oh, please, Uchiha get over yourself." She was referring to the dark looking he was shooting at her.

She slid the manila folder across the desk towards them. Sasuke, being the faster out of the two, snatched it up before she could even glimpse the specifics. "What does it say?" Sakura asked.

"This Akemi guy seems to think that the more time we're in contact, the stronger the seal becomes, is that true?" He asked Tsunade.

She nodded, grim.

"And that the reversal won't be effective the longer we wait?"

She nodded, again. "Actually, it is too late." She pressed a red painted finger onto the bottom script of the scroll. "It said within a month's timing of the initial jutsu that the seal could be broken. And almost two years have passed. I'm sorry."

Silence commenced before she spoke again. "But I do have a mission for you two. And no complaining. Sakura needs some practice and she needs a guardian. I figured that you would be up for it, Sasuke."

"I am." He answered slowly, still unnerved by the previous news.

"Good."

Sakura jumped to her feet. Okay, she was happy to be actually given a mission outside of delivering stupid sleeping pills but did it have to involve him?

"Not a word," The blonde growled. "Now off with the two of you," She handed them the instructions.

"Tomorrow you need to investigate outside of an inn that has been experiencing loitering troubles. It seems that renegade nin from Rain are taking money as they please and the elderly couple is helpless to fight them off. They should be no match for the two of you. It should only take a couple of hours and then you should be home in time for dinner."

Great, she would be exhausted by the time they returned home. Her lungs were still not used to strenuous activities but she would have to cope, it seemed.

The next morning, they both stood outside of the gates, waiting for the guards to change their shift so that they could leave. Sakura pretended to look in the other direction while she watched Sasuke watch her.

Under his surly gaze, she wilted.

"Quit looking at me like that."

He averted his eyes. "I was thinking that's all. Now let's go."

It was time; the morning had just broken and they had to depart for their task. The sun had just risen behind the clouds leaving them with some sort of light to go by. "Fine," she muttered.

They kicked off into the trees once they were past the gates and kept to the shadows provided by the canopy of green. In an hour's timing, they had reached the perimeter of the specified inn. Once inside, they recorded the elderly couple's recent account of the events and exited the small building.

"So what do you think?" Sakura asked as she leaned against one of the wooden posts. In all actuality, it was a rather generic scenario that she had seen played out a million times over.

"Rogue ninja attack vulnerable couple. Couple tries to appease said ninja. Said ninja come back for more. Couple has nothing else to give. Rogue nin will get fed up and kill everything in sight and move along to the next scarce town," Sasuke replied flatly.

"My thoughts exactly. So what's the plan?"

He closed his black eyes and mulled over his thoughts. "Since that old couple said there are three of them, we can just kill them all. No need in bringing back pointless prisoners. She said their based west of here in a small cave. Let's go because I have better things to do than this."

They flew through the treetops, following the clumsy trail that the idiots left behind. Sasuke snorted at the senselessness of it all when they found the cave after only ten minutes of looking.

"There," Sakura pointed.

Below them, three men were sprawled out on the ground, flipping random coins into the air. It appeared that they had looted from another civilian family. "Did ya hear that?" The chubbiest of the men replied.

"No." The second man had spoken although he looked nothing like the first. He was dressed in usual ninja attire, sporting a Rain Country hitai-ate.

The third man looked exactly like the second man, leading Sakura to believe that they were brothers – possibly twins. He said nothing, going back to read his scroll.

Sakura looked at the group and then turned to Sasuke. "I say we just drop in since there's really no point in wasting time and prolonging our stay."

"Alright," Sasuke agreed. He replaced the hilt of his katana back onto his back since he really wouldn't need to stain it on a bunch of amateurs.

They nodded at each other before dropping from their shared branch. The sound of their footfall alerted the men and at once they had jumped up to defend their stash. Sakura rolled her eyes as the chubby one made a beeline for the left.

At least his comrades stayed to fight, that was definitely more than she could say for him. "Sorry," Sakura said as she dropped in front of him. "But you're not leaving."

The man was momentarily mesmerized by the attractive female that appeared out of seemingly nowhere before he changed course. To Sakura's intense surprise, he could run faster than his appearance let on.

Not as fast as she would have liked, she caught up to him, her fingers grazing just the tip of his neck. He fell to the ground helplessly, his body twitching. "Your nervous system is no longer under your control," she explained slowly. "Don't resist, you'll make death that much longer away. But don't worry it will be painless."

Her greens eyes watched as he struggled and then came to a stop. It appeared that the poison in her fingertips had slipped through his pores, as planned, and had finally reached his heart.

She turned away once she was sure that he was dead only to find that Sasuke was in the middle of finishing off the last man. The Rain Country nin was on the ground, Sasuke's foot just above his head. Sakura glanced away when she heard the audible crunching sound of the young male's skull.

The last brother lay motionless on the ground next to him – his neck snapped by the looks of it. "You couldn't have done this a little less messy?" Or painful, she wanted to say.

"It was quick," came his quiet response. "I'll burn them and you gather together the couple's things."

She nodded and collected the various coins, bills, and gems from a medium sized stack. Once she was finished, she turned to see that the three men were already roasting under the Uchiha's katon.

"You guys work well together," Tsunade commented as she surveyed their mission report.

Sasuke said nothing, opting to shove his hands in his pockets. Sakura was just pleased that she had made it through the trip without becoming overly exhausted. It would seem that her body was now ready to take on more challenging assignments.

"Can I go?" The raven haired male asked. He sounded irritable but it was hard to tell if it was genuine or not.

Tsunade glanced up at him. "Where's the fire, Uchiha?"

"I'm tired," was all he said.

"Yeah right," The blonde huffed. "You just want to get out of here before I assign you another task with Sakura."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, his mouth pressing into a firm line. "Oh, you caught me," he drawled sardonically.

The Hokage folded her arms together while looking at them both with amber eyes. She seemed to be mulling over something in her head but kept a perfect poker face that stopped them from guessing her true intentions.

"You can leave," They both turned for the door. "But – I expect to see you both at Kiba's get together tomorrow night. Same bar as last time."

Sakura made a face. "You were there last time? You have got to be kidding me…"

Her mentor laughed. "Yes, as a matter of fact I was. Of course you hadn't seen me because I was-"

"Do I even want to know?"

Tsunade's lips twitched, amused. "Maybe."

"Okay, I'm leaving now and I will see you tomorrow night I guess." The cherry haired female filed through the door.

Sasuke glared at the blonde woman.

"What is it now Uchiha? Go ahead and make yourself scarce."

"What are you playing at?" He asked lowly.

She blinked harmlessly. "Nothing." Knowing that he wouldn't be able to pry any farther, he shot her one last distrustful glare, and stalked out into the hallway.

By the time both of them had made it outside – it was raining lightly.

"Why were you so eager for me to use the reversal?" Sakura blurted out. He looked at her sideways.

"Why are you asking such a meaningless question?"

"Just answer."

"No."

"Why the hell not?" She fumed loudly. "Nothing's stopping you from answering!"

"I said no, damn it!" His cool façade had finally broken and his quota of patience had been maxed out. He turned towards her with a swish of his shirt – his katana luminous silver in the moonlight.

"Look, I-I need to know, okay?" She hadn't meant to sound so desperate, really she hadn't.

Sakura did not know what it was or how it happened but it did. There was a change in his expression, very minute, but still very real. It cracked through his face as if it were a barrier on the verge of exploding from the force of pushing waters. Nevertheless, she saw it. There had been wistfulness in his eyes, the first emotion he had shown besides anger.

"You…" He took in a shaky breath. "I cannot feel this right now. It's too much. But I guess I will have to deal with it now for the rest of my existence."

"My emotions?" She asked quietly, her words blurred by the light rain.

"Your love," he corrected in a whisper, almost mockingly.

"I don't want to feel this way, you know." Her voice had fallen to right above a whisper. "I want to be free of this. I do! But you," She shook her head – violently. "No you are always there! Everything I've ever done is because of you! And I want out. I want it bad. So don't you think for one moment that I'm forcing these feelings onto you! All this time…I have only ever wanted to let you go."

"And yet you keep holding on."

"Because if I do let you go…you will only fall that much harder," she breathed.

"I can't do this!" He suddenly screamed. The Uchiha was almost half-crazed, his eyes wildly searching hers. "You make me feel like…like before. Before everything happened."

And she could suddenly see his side of things. It had seemed so long ago that she had dreamed his nightmare in her bed only to wake with heart wrenching sobs. She could feel that intensity of watching her whole world being taken – ripped – and then crushed under the heel of the one you loved most.

"When I'm around you…I feel alive."

She glanced up at him, at his torn expression, and sighed. "Is that really so bad?"

"Yes, because I'm not ready…" Sasuke resumed his walking – in the opposite direction. "…I'm not ready to breathe again."

A/N: If you squint hard enough, there was some crucial SasuSaku lovin'. And in case any of you guys were wondering, I want to end this around twenty chapters. Maybe twenty-two. And yes, I will try to incorporate more Shika/Ino because their freakin' adorable. But I'm seriously thinking of putting some Neji/Ten in here because I am a huge fan of that couple. Besides the fact that Tenten kicks major ass( when she appears that is) and is really pretty. Oh and I just made a livejournal the other day so I could talk to you guys more and post outtakes and drabbles. Friend me and I'll friend you back if you have an account. Go to my profile for the link. Now I'm off to go to work and then continue writing Conceiving With You.

Surmise