title: 7:31
prompt: SASUSAKU MONTH ON LJ! 2012
rating: T-M

summary: oo6: "Where's Sakura?" he asks. Itachi can't help but give him the same answer. "She's not coming, Sasuke."

REVISED 6.30.14

.oo6.
Quarantine

Sasuke shivered as the room's cold air blew at him. They only gave him thin clothing. It wasn't enough.

He curled up into a ball in the corner of the room and rocked slowly, savoring as much body heat as he could. He didn't like it here—it was dark, scary, and frightening. He wanted his friends. He wanted his family.

He wanted Sakura.

Sasuke didn't understand why he had to be locked up. He didn't know why he was placed in a loony bin. But they said, "It's for the best, Sasuke," and stripped him of his clothes and dignity and put him in a padded room with no windows or any source of real light.

He missed Sakura's touch, the softness of her kisses, and the smoothness of her skin. He wanted nothing more than to have her in his arms and make sweet love to her as she called out his name.

Closing his eyes, he struggled to think of Sakura's face in order to get past the hell he was facing. Instead of seeing her sweet smile and her silky pink hair, he saw nothing. Only darkness.

"I'm think I'm going insane," he muttered to himself as he put his hands to his head. "I can't—I can't understand anything anymore…"

He kept rocking himself in the fetal position, brooding about how he couldn't see Sakura, how it seemed as if she didn't exist, how she left him…

The thought of her leaving him made him angry. He immediately stood up and shouted, punching the padded walls with his fists.

"Bleed! Bleed, already!" he cried out as he struggled to cut his knuckles through the cushiony walls. "Bleed," he begged, almost in tears as his punches became weaker and weaker, until finally, he panted and gave up, sliding back down onto the floor.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura…" he said, repeating her name constantly. "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura…"

Sasuke sat there in frustration and disappointment for a few minutes before the echoing stopped, and his eyes fluttered shut.

.

.

.

"Sasuke-san? You have a visitor," one of the nurses said as she opened up the door to the padded room. Sasuke woke up, looking to see who on earth would visit him in this state.

"Hey, otouto," Itachi said as he walked towards Sasuke with a bouquet of cut flowers. "Thought you might be lonely and dropped by to say hi."

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, refusing to meet Itachi's gaze. He never got along with his brother, who was always number one in everything that Sasuke tried to do. Plus, he was always wary around Itachi when Sakura was around, because he knew that his brother also liked his girlfriend…

"Can't I just come by and visit?" Itachi sat down next to Sasuke, placing the bouquet in between them. "I miss you," he said, putting a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke shrugged it off. "Hn."

"We all do. Mom, dad, and especially Naruto. Hell, I can't tell you how many times he's knocked at our house and asked, 'Is teme home yet? Is he better yet?'"

"Hn."

"Sasuke…" Itachi began. "Talk to me."

Sasuke didn't respond. He was wondering if Sakura missed him too, but he didn't want to say anything.

"So how are you feeling in here? Comfortable?"

"No," Sasuke said. "I hate it here."

Itachi sighed. "I probably would do, if they put me in quarantine. But you're doing a great job of keeping stable. The nurses say if you keep it up, you might be out within a few months."

"A few months?" Sasuke asked, incredulous.

"Well, yes, but…it's better than we expected," Itachi said.

Itachi wrapped his arms around Sasuke, who didn't budge. He was still trying to comprehend living in a lonely cell for much longer.

"What about Sakura?" Sasuke asked out of the blue. He felt Itachi stiffen, and unwrap his arms around him.

"Sakura…" Itachi began. "Don't you know what happened?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No."

Itachi looked obviously uncomfortable, and was trying to find a way to word his phrases as well as he could. "Sakura…isn't here anymore."

"Why? Why isn't she here? Doesn't she miss me?"

"She misses you a lot," Itachi said, calming Sasuke down.

"Then why won't she come visit me?" Sasuke's voice rose to a shout, and one of the nurses came to check if Itachi was still alright.

"Sir, is everything—"

"It's fine, miss," he said, waving her off. "Please leave."

The nurse unwillingly shut the door as Itachi put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke, listen…"

"No! Tell me why Sakura won't see me! Is it because I'm a monster?"

"You're not a monster—"

"LIAR!" he shouted, shoving Itachi with his hands. Itachi stumbled, falling onto the padded cushions of the floor.

"Don't you remember, Sasuke?"

"Remember what?"

"Don't you know how you got in here?" Itachi asked as Sasuke loomed over him with a murderous glare in his eye. It wasn't the first time he had seen that look.

"Why should I? They put me on so many drugs I can't even remember yesterday."

Itachi got up and slowly approached Sasuke. He cupped his cheeks and said, "Sasuke, you killed her."

"I…killed Sakura?"

Itachi looked like he didn't want to admit the truth, but there it was. "Yes."

"That's impossible—" Sasuke began, his eyes turning glassy. "I can't have killed her. I love her. I don't…I don't understand…"

"I'm sorry," Itachi said. He looked at his watch. "I have to go." He kissed his brother's forehead softly and put the bouquet in his lap before having the nurse help him out.

"I…killed her. I killed Sakura," Sasuke repeated, staring at the hands that had apparently caused the death of his most beloved person. "I can't—"

He began to hit himself, hard, feeling small trickles of blood slide down his cheeks.

"Hey! Hey! Sasuke-san, stop it! Stop!"

Several nurses had come in and two held his wrists together while he struggled to break free, kicking. "Let me go!" he shouted. "I have to see Sakura!"

He felt a sharp prick in his neck, and then nothingness.

His limbs stopped moving.

.

.

.

"I miss Sakura," Sasuke said, rocking in the corner of the room again. "I want to see her." He struggled to remember her face, but saw only blackness.

"Sasuke-san! You have a visitor!"

Itachi walked in, slowly approaching Sasuke. Just yesterday, he had gotten into another fit of rage hearing about Sakura's disappearance. It always happened whenever Itachi tried to tell Sasuke.

"Hey, otouto," he said. "How are you doing?"

"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi opened his mouth to say what he normally said to his brother. Instead, he said, "She's coming, Sasuke. She told me to tell you she misses you a lot."

"I miss her, too."

"She loves you."

"I love her, too. So when is she coming?"

Itachi didn't have the heart to tell him that she would never be coming. Instead, he put an arm around Sasuke and held his hand tight in his own while Sasuke looked eagerly at the door in hopes that she would come for him.

Slight changes!