Dark Paradise

Chapter 6 – Pushing Me Away

'I've lied, to you. The same way that I always do. This is, the last smile – that I'll fake for the sake of being with you.'

Sasuke was well aware that he was smart. Ok, yeah - more than smart. Uchiha Sasuke was a rare genius - and he knew it. It hadn't taken him very long to figure out that his body seemed to have a will of its own and however impossible it seemed - here, in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, his body was attracted to Sakura. Admittedly, it had taken him slightly longer to accept that he actually might have had...feelings for her. But he wrote that off as a flaw in the jutsu - what else could it be? He'd never felt any of these feelings for her outside of the jutsu, not that he'd ever given himself the chance to, but he highly doubted that he could have felt anything like this for her. Definitely a flaw in Madara's so-called perfect jutsu.

During those first few weeks, Sasuke had become aware of something else. Sakura knew, maybe not that this was the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but that this was not the world she knew. Sasuke, knowing this, never once considered talking to her about it. Not that they spoke a whole lot. Most times Sasuke kept his lips firmly on hers. Not that Sakura ever complained, even when it seemed like she was losing her mind. It seemed like she took some kind of comfort in the moments that he kissed her. And to be honest, Sasuke would have continued to play the part of her boyfriend, maybe he wouldn't have even minded it. And all Sakura had to do was accept her situation and move on. But she couldn't even do that right - and Sasuke knew it the moment he stepped out of the bathroom. Yes, he might still have been a little disoriented from...doing it with Sakura and he only noticed once he'd taken three steps into the room. Something was wrong. The drawer was open. And Sakura was gone.

Sasuke cursed lowly. He yanked the towel off of his hips and tossed it aside angrily before pulling on his clothes, grabbing the Kusanagi blade and following her. He could tell she hadn't left Konoha yet and he needed to stop her before she did and ruined everything. Sasuke leapt over the building tops with only the night to cloak him. No one would find their behavior suspect, since it was known that Sasuke and Sakura had often and elaborate fights. Which he could very well believe. Sasuke jumped from the rooftop, landing with a soft thud on the green grass of the training grounds.

"Sakura!"

Near the edge of the grounds, she froze. Sasuke walked over to her calmly, taking his time as he went. She still had he back to him, and through his shirt on her he could see the tense set in her shoulders.

"Sakura." he said again and this time she spun around. Her eyes caught sight of his sword and narrowed.

"You knew!" she exploded. It wasn't a question and he didn't bother answering her, though she did wait a beat for him to say something, maybe defend himself – he did not.

"Let me get this straight," she seethed, her fists shaking next to her. "You knew. From the start you knew what this was," she indicated that 'this' was the world around them by flailing her arms around. "And, you knew that I knew. So why? Sasuke-kun? Why did you lie? Why did you go along with this? Why did you-" she cut off, realizing that all the whys would get her into an embarrassing situation, and then, suddenly - it dawned on her, her jaw dropped slightly and she stared at him in disbelief. "You don't want to leave."

Sasuke said nothing. He just stared continued to stare at her with those bottomless eyes.

"You are utterly and completely crazy." she said, sounding shocked.

"Am I?" he asked, stepping closer to her. "Here I have everything I ever wanted. A family. A name that actually carries honor." he paused, looking down at her. "And you, Sakura. If you want."

Sakura stumbled away from him. Her heart was betraying her mind at a mile an hour. "W-What?"

Again, Sasuke closed the space between them. "Here, we can have whatever we want." he murmured, leaning down to kiss her and Sakura almost, almost, almost kissed him.

"No!" she yelled, shoving him away. "This is insane!"

Sasuke snapped. "Is it?!" he grabbed hold of her arms and shook her. "What would you know about it when you've always gotten whatever the hell you wanted?"

"That's not true." Sakura said, shoving him off of her.

"Oh, I forgot. Is this the part where you tell me that I'm the only thing you never got?"

"Don't be ridiculous." she told him, her voice suddenly hard. "This isn't about 'us'."

Visibly, Sakura reigned her anger in. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.

"I understand." she said tensely. Sasuke could tell that she was considerably less comfortable around him since she'd found out that he wasn't under the control of the jutsu.

"I get that a lot of things here are better. For me, as well. But...this isn't right. You can't seriously believe that."

"What I believe," Sasuke said, staring right at her. "Is that everything I ever lost, is given to me here. There is nothing for me going back."

He could see a sliver of panic in her green eyes. "How can you just stand there? Do you really feel nothing?" Sakura licked her lips nervously and her eyes darted away. "All this time, you kissed me - knowing it was really me. Why didn't you stop? How could you go so far-"

"Sakura." he only said her name but her jaw snapped shut immediately. "Don't accuse me when you were the one who went through with it thinking that I wasn't exactly...myself."

Sakura swallowed audibly and her face paled. "It's not the same." she said, sounding shell shell-shocked. Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow.

"It's not the same," she repeated. "I didn't lie to you. I couldn't tell anyone." slowly, those green eyes looked up at him and almost broke his mask by the sheer rawness in them. "You lied to me. You pretended and played along. I had no choice but you..." she shook her head. "I just don't know you anymore, Sasuke-kun."

He said nothing. What could he say? That he wanted to play along all this time? No. That wasn't an option. Did she ever really know him? Sasuke knew that there were times when he'd let his guard down around her. She'd always had the ability to do that to him.

"Don't worry though, I won't hold it against you when we get back home." Did he hear the pain in her voice or did he imagine it?

"We aren't going home, Sakura. Now, for once, do as you're told and forget about that place. The Infinite Tsukuyomi is designed to make you forget eventually."

Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "Let me out." Sakura grabbed his shirt and yanked him to her. "Let me out of here right now." Sasuke had never seen Sakura this angry, least of all at him. She's never been truly angry at him. Not even when she'd faced him on the bridge.

"No."

"No?" she hissed out. "You will let me out, Sasuke-kun. Now."

"I don't know how."

Sakura gave a harsh laugh. "Uchiha Sasuke doesn't know something? Don't screw with me."

Sasuke's hand covered her's and he untangled her fingers from his shirt.

"Sasuke-kun. You don't want to push me any further." Sakura said, staring up at him, the anger still burning in her eyes.

"I know you love being here, but I will ruin everything for you if you don't let me out."

Sasuke turned away from her and walked away and after a breath, she followed only two steps when Sasuke spun around and in a flash, her back hit the ground and he was on top of her.

"Don't threaten me, Sakura. I don't think you've forgotten who I am." and then his hand circled her throat, he didn't squeeze or even hold her. It was just a reminder.

"How could I." Sakura said, turning her head away and Sasuke stood smoothly and continued to walk away.

x-x-x-x-

Of course, when Sasuke got home, Sakura was sitting in the kitchen with his mother. That alone should have pissed Sasuke off. But it didn't. It seemed Sakura was finally accepting life here after their little talk. Or that's what he thought - until he saw the ring on her finger.

"Sasuke-kun! You're back!" Sakura jumped up and was across into room and latched on to him in a second.

Sasuke met his mother's eyes and the happiness in them made him cave. For the moment. Sasuke pulled Sakura to him, much to her surprise, and kissed her.

Mikoto laughed. "Sasuke! Not in the kitchen."

Sasuke smirked and disentangled himself from Sakura's evil hold.

Fugaku walked into the room then, "What's all this commotion?"

"Sasuke proposed to Sakura-chan!" Mikoto told him happily, going around the room to kiss her husband's cheek.

Fugaku turned his eyes to Sasuke and Sakura, who was grinning broadly next to him.

"Well done." was all Fugaku said, and it was automatic, a childlike pleasure that shot through Sasuke at his father's approval. Regardless of the situation.

Itachi walked into the kitchen and immediately saw the ring on her finger, Sasuke saw him throw Sakura a questioning look before he turned to face Sasuke. "About time, little brother." Itachi clapped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

Throughout dinner, Mikoto could not stop talking about the wedding.

"Elephants." Sakura had said, "I want us to ride in on elephants."

Sasuke kept his glare on his dinner so that if Amaterasu activated by accident due to his anger, Sakura wouldn't catch fire and die.

"That's a bit extreme," Fugaku said and he actually looked amused.

"Thank you for the dinner, mother." Sasuke said, grabbing Sakura's wrist and pulling her up. Sakura made useless excuse to his family as he dragged her from the room.

x-x-x-x-

Sasuke yanked Sakura into his bedroom and as soon as the door was shut he attacked, but this time – she was ready for him. Sakura dodge swerving around the room, but she should have known that Sasuke would have a counter for her counter. Sasuke knocked her back hard, and Sakura fell, her back hitting the bed and before she could jump up, Sasuke was on top of her, holding both of her wrists captive above her head.

"Well, Sasuke-kun," she said slightly breathless, "Now that you have me here, what do you plan to do with me?"

"Don't fuck with me." He hissed and Sakura smiled slowly. "Funny, that's exactly what I want to do."

Sasuke glared down at her and Sakura pulled her eyes from his, just in case. They traveled down his face slowly and paused on his lips and then Sakura, feeling bold – leaned up and kissed him. Sasuke pulled in a sharp breath through his nose, automatically tensing. Sakura refused to think of this as their first real kiss. It didn't matter right now, what mattered was showing Sasuke he wouldn't win. Sakura wriggled a leg free from under him and dragged it up around his waist and then she rocked up against him just as her tongue licked over his lips, seeking entrance. Sasuke groaned, his lips opening around her's and immediately trying to take control but Sakura didn't let him. She pulled her hands free of his hold and dragged her nails over his back before pulling his shirt up. Sasuke sat up, pulling the shirt over his head roughly before capturing her lips again and this time, Sasuke really kissed her. The kind of his that made her feel like she was might just lose every bit of her mind, especially when he pushed her shirt up and dragged his hands over her bare skin. Sakura felt torn, but the moment she thought of Naruto and Kakashi – the wave of lust dimmed a little. Sakura flipped them over without breaking the kiss and Sasuke tugged at her shirt. Sakura hesitated. How far did she really want to take this? Yeah, Sasuke had already seen her naked but somehow…she still felt kind of inadequate. Sasuke broke the kiss and sat up. "Sakura," his whispered and then he pulled the shirt over her head. Sakura just started at him, feeling completely vulnerable. Sasuke kissed her throat gently and then he kissed a path down her chest. His touch was so soft, so gentle. He made her feel beautiful. Sakura watched him in shock. Did Sasuke really have feelings for her? Sakura felt his touches…almost sweetly and the warm ways his lips dragged over her heated skin. Yes, he did have feelings for her. But it didn't matter. They couldn't stay here. It wasn't right. But in that moment, Sakura wished like hell they could.

She pushed him back down on the bed hard and leaned down to kiss him with everything in her, because she knew that this would be the end of it. After this Sasuke would never touch her like this again. She could feel the tears behind her eyelids as she broke the kiss and trailed more down his neck right up to his ear.

"You can't win, Sasuke-kun." She whispered.

Sasuke stilled beneath her. "Not now that I know your weakness."

Sasuke shoved her off of him and got off the bed, he didn't look back as he entered the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him. Sakura let her tears run down her cheeks, feeling strangely cold without him there. She thought she'd been prepared to for it. For Sasuke's ultimate rejection, but she wasn't. Even if she had no other choice, she'd never imagined that Sasuke would ever truly have feelings for her and the fact that the moment that he did have feelings for her, she couldn't do anything about it – broke her heart. Sakura sobbed quietly as the shower turned on. Miserably she pulled the shirt over her head and crawled off of the bed. Sakura stood in front of the window, letting her tears fall silently as she eyed the ring on her finger. The door opened and Sakura jumped, wiping at her face thinking that Sasuke was back – but the bathroom door was firmly shut. Itachi came into the room and shut the door behind him quietly. Wisely, he chose to ignore her tears.

"Engaged?" he asked and Sakura shook her head. "He knows." She said and when Itachi said nothing, she clarified. "He knows everything. And he's known all along. This is the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

Next to her, Itachi paled. "Madara won?"

"I don't know. I don't remember much from the final moments." But Sakura remembered Sasuke protecting her. For whatever reason. That memory was etched into her mind.

"Sasuke spent some time with Madara before the war, he might have more information."

Sakura shook her head. "No. Sasuke wants to stay here."

Itachi was silent for a long moment and when he spoke it was almost a whisper. "Do you blame him?"

"No, but you and I both know that this needs to end. That we need to go back. Maybe Sasuke-kun will talk to you."

"No. Sasuke cannot know that I do. I want this life we have here to be the memory he holds on to."

The water in the bathroom shut off and Itachi moved past her to the window to open it. "I know of someone who might be able to help you. Leave it to me." And then he jumped through the window, leaving Sakura alone with a little bit of hope and Sasuke to deal with.

x-x-x-x

As promised, another chappie~

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Zana-Lee

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