Dark Paradise

Chapter 13 – Beating Heart – Part 2

'I can't face this now, everything has changed. I just wanna be by your side…here's hoping we collide."

There was a horrible ringing in Sakura's ears and she couldn't hear anything but that and her harsh breathing in her ears. Madara was standing on the cliff above them, his arms spread wide, a maniac look on his face. He was speaking but Sakura had no idea what he was saying, his lips were moving and there was a terrible feeling in her chest at what he could be saying. Her hands, crusted with Sasuke's almost-dry blood, clenched into fists at her sides. Suddenly, something changed. Everything around her was bathed in red. As if a red filter had been thrown over the light. Slowly, Sakura looked up. The moon was full and bigger than she'd ever seen it. It was red and had the Sharingan eye right in the middle. Sakura's head fell down, her eyes staring helplessly at her shaking hands. The blood on them looked black. Sasuke-kun's blood. Sakura turned her head to the right, to him. Sasuke's head was thrown back, up - facing the moon. But his eyes were closed. He looked startlingly beautiful bathed in the red tint. As if feeling her eyes on him, Sasuke's head turned to her. Sakura heard the scream 'Infinite Tsukuyomi' from Madara and before she could stop herself, her wide eyes flipped up to the moon.

"Sakura!"

She crashed to the ground in the next second, Sasuke on top of her, his eyes squeezed shut, and he was so close that his hair brushed her face.

"Why..." Sakura whispered, her hands fisted in his shirt.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open and for the briefest moment their eyes met - before the world around her...shattered.

x-x-x-x-

Sakura's eyes snapped open and was burned by the sharp, florescent lighting, she blinked several times in a panic before she recognized the smell. The slight, dull anti-bacterial smell of Konoha hospital, and Sakura relaxed - if only a little. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the bright lighting and the room came into focus. It was about midday, the intense blue winter sky of Konoha could be seen clearly through the window to her left. The sharp white walls stung her eyes so Sakura avoided looking at them. She wasn't sure what she expected - maybe total chaos. Maybe a battlefield. But not this. For the first time, she recognized something warm around her hand and Sakura flexed her fingers experimentally. The reaction she got was a soft snore and slowly, she turned her head. Naruto was asleep next to her. He was bandaged up, a brace around his neck, healing burns on his face, the arm that wasn't holding her's was in a cast.

She tried calling out to him but all that left her mouth was a slight scratchy sound. Sakura tried giving his hand a squeeze, and despite the numbness in her limbs, she managed to put enough power into it for Naruto's blue eyes to snap open.

"Huh, what!?" his eyes focused on her face, blinked, and then widened.

"S-Sakura-chan?"

Sakura gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand again, this time he squeezed back gently and Sakura swore his eyes got a bit misty.

"Do you need anything?" he asked immediately. "Water? Food? Walking around?"

Sakura tried to speak but failed and Naruto's eyes widened before he grabbed the glass and brought the straw to her lips. Sakura took a few greedy gulps her eyes trained on him. A million questions swirled in her head. The war, Madara, their friends, Sasuke.

Sakura pulled her lips from the straw and cleared her throat a few times.

"Where is Sasuke-kun?" she intended to ask, but her voice broke and the only thing that made it through was his name. Naruto's eyes closed briefly before he looked at her. "He's in Suna. We thought it would be best not to bring him to Konoha. He was...hurt badly. After the Infinite Tsukuyomi was activated, all of you just went down. Some of those white Zetsu came out of nowhere and attacked you guys. A lot of the shinobi who got trapped in the Genjutsu got killed as soon as they dropped. Sasuke took most of the damage since he was on top of you."

Sakura thought of Itachi and her heart nearly stopped beating. "Is...is Sasuke-kun...dead?"

"What? No! He's alive."

"We won the war, right?"

Naruto smiled sadly. "Yeah. The losses were huge, but we won."

"...And Madara?"

The smile dropped and Naruto pursed his lips. "In custody in Cloud. He's being interrogated on how to break in Infinite Tsukuyomi. I guess that isn't necessary anymore. He'll probably be executed soon."

Sakura let that sink in. She needed to speak to Madara before that. There was two things he needed to clear up for her.

"Our friends...?" she asked, her voice small and afraid of the answer.

"Other than the ones who died before..." he trailed off and Sakura nodded slowly.

"How long?" she knew that she was in the jutsu for nearly six months. She wonder how that time translated here.

"Almost six months, Sakura-chan."

"Six months...that's not possible. You...you wouldn't take this long to heal..."

"Kurama is gone, Sakura-chan."

Sakura stilled. The Kyuubi...gone?

"What...but...?"

Naruto looked away and shook his head.

"Tsunade-sama. Can I see her?"

Naruto looked back and shook his head. "She's being held at a secret location within Konoha. Her situation is perfect for a hostile takeover. Shizune is acting Hokage."

"Hostile take-over? The other countries wouldn't..."

"No, missing nin have formed and have been attacking."

That did make some sense. "I know where she might be. Will you take me to her?"

"Sakura-chan, maybe you should eat and get some rest...?"

"Naruto. I've had enough rest, but I could go for some Ramen."

He grinned. "I'll head to Ichiraku!" he jumped up and jogged to the door but froze with his hand on the doorknob. "You're not just trying to get me out of here so you can leave?"

Sakura gave a small laugh. "Naruto I doubt I'd get very far seeing as I haven't walked in six months."

Naruto considered this before he nodded. "I'll be back soon."

Still, despite what she said, Sakura tried to push herself into a sitting position. Her arms shook under her weight, but shinobi recovered from short-term comas a lot faster than civilians simply because their bodies are used to the strain. She managed to sit up and Sakura swung her legs over the side one at a time. She slid down, bracing herself on her hands until her feet touched the ground. She hadn't lost too much weight, Sakura could see the needle bruises in the crook of her elbow from where she was tube fed, but she had lost a lot of muscle. The floor sent a shock of cold from her bare feet up her legs. Sakura pushed herself off of the bed, testing her weight on her legs before she stumbled forward, hands flailing until she managed to get a grip on the chair where Naruto was sitting. Her knees buckled inward and slammed against each other, but luckily she managed not to fall and after a moment, Sakura pushed herself into a standing position. She stood for a long moment, getting used to her weight before she took one step, and then another and another until her hands found the windowsill. Sakura laid her forehead against the ice cold window, her breath clouding up the window. If anything, no matter what, she needed to stay away from Suna. She owed it to Sasuke-kun to at least stay away from him. No matter how much it hurt.

The door opened and the smell of Ramen drifted to her. Sakura turned around and returned to the bed unsteadily and when she looked up, Kakashi stood in the doorway behind Naruto.

Sakura met his gaze. "Kakashi-sensei..."

Kakashi came into the room and laid a hand on her head. "Welcome back, Sakura."

They ate their Ramen in silence, and afterwards Naruto told Sakura that he'd gotten word from Tsunade that she needed to see Sakura in the morning only.

Kakashi excused himself when her parents arrived - both of them hugging her in snot and tears. The rest of the day passed with her friends visiting, coming and going. Naruto never left.

He fell asleep during the night, and Sakura was glad. She couldn't stand his questioning eyes on her. He never asked what happened but she could tell he wanted to know. Sakura didnt sleep. She was afraid that if she did, she wouldn't wake up. The next morning, Naruto took her home and she took a bath and got dressed before meeting Kakashi and Naruto and heading to Tsunade's office. The Hokage looked like she always had, albeit a bit thin. And extremely drunk.

"We've received word from the other villages." there was only a bit of a slur in her voice.

"Some of the coma patients have begun waking up. Other, who are still recovering, have not woken up. Uchiha Sasuke is one of them. Sakura, I would give you more time to recover but there is no one else I trust in this. Shizune is needed here."

Sakura pulled in a deep breath, ready to tell Tsunade that she couldn't do this but Tsunade didnt give her a chance to speak.

"And I suppose you'll want to see Madara after you've healed your husband." Sakura could see Tsunade regretted the words as soon as she'd said them because Naruto recoiled as if she'd slapped him.

"What?"

Sakura looked down at her feet and Tsunade cleared her throat. No one said anything for a long moment.

"Madara's execution date has been set to two weeks from now." Tsunade continued with a worried glance at Naruto.

"You'll leave for Suna in an hour, Sakura. Naruto, Kakashi and Sai wil go with you."

Still, Sakura wasnt able to speak. Naruto helped her home - not saying a word to her except to tell her he would be back before the hour was up. Sakura packed and said a teary farewell to her parents before meeting Naruto outside.

Sakura spent the three day trip on Naruto, Sai and Kakashi's backs since she couldn't travel at full speed. Naruto's legs worked fine but because of his other injuries they had to rest often. Sakura was all too aware that Naruto was avoiding her and that there would be a blow out soon that she sure as hell didnt have the energy to deal with. She was also aware that they were definitely avoiding asking her about the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The night before they arrived in Suna, Sakura had finally had enough of their stares, so around the camp fire...she told them everything. Leaving nothing out. Kakashi and Sai immediately asked her questions and even Naruto couldn't keep his curiosity at bay. Sakura answered what she could and eventually they only got a few hours again. She attempted to travel some of the way on her own, and they only arrived the following night. Kazekage Gaara gave all of them rooms in the Suna Kage mansion and even came down to have dinner with them. It took Sakura a while to build herself up to the question but when she asked, she was glad that her voice sounded strong.

"Kazekage-sama. How is he?"

Naruto paused briefly before he, too, turned to the Kazekage.

"My medics tell me that he is out of immediate danger, but most of the damage is mental."

Sakura knew what he meant. The same thing had happened after Sasuke met Itachi again for the first time. Tsunade had to come and heal him.

Luckily, she knew the technique.

"He is stable," Gaara continued. "But we are unsure if he will make a full recovery."

Sakura swallowed. "I would like to go and assess him tonight before I start my healing tomorrow."

"That won't be a problem. Temari can-"

"I would prefer to go...on my own." Sakura told him and after a moment, Gaara nodded. "Of course. I'll send word that you'll be there tonight." he mentioned to one of the ANBU before returning to his meal. Sakura ate quickly before she excused herself. The walk to the hospital took longer than she would have wanted, her legs weren't used to the strain after all the travelling she had done that day. The lobby was quiet and the nurse at the front regarded Sakura with a distrusting glare.

"I'm Haruno Sakura."

Distrusting glare turned into shock. "O-Oh, yes. The Kazekage sent word ahead."

She stood and mentioned another shinobi forward. His face was hard and there was no feeling in his eyes.

"Haruno Sakura?" he asked and Sakura gave a stiff nod. "Allow me to confirm that. Don't worry, this is standard procedure." he did a few hand signs and then Sakura felt his chakra pass over her, checking for any active jutsu or whatever. Of course, he found none.

"Follow me."

Instead of taking her up into one of the rooms, the shinobi led her to the very back of the building, where two more shinobi where on guard in front of a set of heavy-looking double doors.

"She's clear." he told the shinobi. One of them pushed a door open and Sakura followed her escort inside, down a long flight of stairs and through a tunnel underneath the hospital. Another set of guards passed them through another door before the finally reached a long hallway lined with metal doors.

"What is this?" she demanded.

"This is where we keep war criminals."

"Sasuke-kun is not a war criminal."

The shinobi said nothing, he reached out and slammed his hand on the door next to her head. Sakura flinched. The seals popped off of the door frame and Sakura pushed it open, and closed it tightly behind her. Sakura stood like that for a lone moment, with her back to the room. There was a dim tube light above the door, providing the only light for the bare, cold room. Sakura's entire body was tense and stiff when she finally turned her head to look back at the bed. Sasuke was there. In the bed. Not awake. It felt like years since the last time she'd seen him. He was incredibly pale. There was a small diagonal scar that ran through his left eyebrow and another on the same side that ran from the outer corner of his eye down to his jaw.

Sakura let out a shaky breath before she stepped forward. She could still hear his last scream of her name, his face covered in blood, his red eyes staring at her accusingly. Sakura choked on a sob, she reached out for him with a shaky hand but fell short of touching him.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. Sorry that she hurt him. That she had to take something away that made him happy. "I'm just going to heal you. And then -...and then...you'll never have to see me again. I promise."

She lifted his chart and read through it slowly. The most pressing was the straining on his mind and some other injuries that normally wouldn't take her long to heal. She set the chart down and folded the sheet down his body. The fact that he was naked underneath wasn't a shock to her, but it did startle her. His chart had said that he required regular baths because of his fevers but Sakura wasn't prepared to see him naked. Not after the last time. She kept her eyes above his hips and off of that part of his body as she conducted a quick check on his body. No broken bones and mostly shredded tissue and burns on his chest. Nothing Sakura couldn't handle. She returned to the Kage mansion and when she got to her room, Naruto was seated on the bed.

She let out a soft sigh as he stood and faced her.

"You and Sasuke got married." not a question, it sounded more like an accusation.

"Yes. I did what I needed to do to get out."

"You didnt have to marry him to achieve that."

He was right. She knew it. There would have been many ways to sneak into the shrine, marrying an Uchiha was the easiest way.

"I never left your side, Sakura-chan!" he exploded.

"I didn't know!" she cried helplessly.

Naruto deflated immediately. "Would it have mattered?"

Sakura's eyes dropped to the floor, she didnt need to say the words but he heard them clearly. Naruto left the room, closing the door so softly behind him that she'd wished he'd slammed it shut.

x-x-x-x-

The next day she began her healing on Sasuke. When she arrived he was covered in beads of sweat. Sakura placed a cooling cloth laced with her chakra. She brushed away his hair and placed the cloth on his forehead and after a second, Sasuke groaned and relaxed but stayed unconscious.

Sakura started healing him and only lasted half an hour before she was breathless. She sat down in a cold metal fold-out chair and took a short rest before she tried again. This went on for the rest of the day and when she returned to the Kage mansion, she was sure that Sasuke would be awake within a day or two more of healing, so she was utterly unprepared when she stepped into his room and he was standing next to his bed. Sasuke's head snapped up to her and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"S-Sasuke-kun...!" Sakura gasped and before she could say anything else Sasuke slammed her into the wall and she could feel his anger, desperation and hate as his lips fused with hers, hard and unrelenting. She gasped again, one hand fisting the off white hospital gown and the other arm going around his neck, fingers lacing into his wet hair.

His body, still slightly cold, pressed her into the wall and was gone all too soon. He glared down at her.

"I'm sure that proves it to you. Everything that happened between us wasn't real."

"Okay." she whispered. Sasuke's eyes flipped to her swollen lips. "As long as you're clear on that." he turned away and moved back to the bed but Sakura stayed against the wall - trying to catch her breath.

x-x-x-x-

Sorry it's late!

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Zana-Lee

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