Howling Love
Chapter Nineteen xx Blanket

He hadn't really noticed before, but this girl within the tangle of arms smelled just faintly of strawberries. He inhaled the intoxicating scent slowly before exhaling, watching with a dejected interest as his bangs parted to let his breath pass through their midst. Then, gently, he moved to rest his chin on the crown of her head, his dark eyes turning to stare distantly out over the large expanse of garden.

He supposed that he wasn't really seeing the garden, for his eyes seemed to just brush past its surface, not really taking the time to look and take it all in. His mind was too overwhelmed with everything else that any attempts at compacting more into it would prove useless. So, for the first time in a long while, he stopped analyzing, stopped calculating, stopped thinking. He merely let himself go, choosing to willingly allow himself to be overwhelmed with his many senses as they took swarmed to take in this amazing girl just that he could finally call his own.

She was his. Just as he was hers. She had picked him, out of all of the men in her life, and though he knew in his heartest of hearts that it would have been better for her to pick someone else, he was elated over the fact that she hadn't.

He let his lids flutter shut as her tiny hands slowly moved down from his hair to hang loosely around his neck, and from there brushed down to his chest where they met up with her cheek that pressed itself just beneath his collarbone. He felt one of her soft sighs escape her lips against him, felt her soft breath murmur across his neck, felt her thick lashes brush against his skin when she blinked, then again when her eyes fluttered shut.

A brief, pleasurable shudder ran through his body.

And just like that it was over. He'd been so perfectly content that he hadn't even felt it, but with that tiny movement the pain swept back with a renewed strength. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he let his hands fall from the kunoichi's waist so they hung, trembling, at his sides. He felt Sakura, frozen against him, pull away softly. He wanted her to return and wished to tell her that he was perfectly fine and that she was overreacting as always, but seeing as how he was fighting to stay on his feet, he gloomily supposed that might have not have been the best option.

"Sasuke-kun, you should lay down, I-I'm sorry I completely spaced—"

He felt himself sway dangerously, and felt her small hands grasping his in her useless attempt to keep him balance. His eyes flicked to her legs, narrowing slightly when he noted that she was balancing awkwardly on one leg to keep her weight off of her healing leg. He watched with suppressed horror as she reached out to thread her small fingers through his, trying to help him before she fell on it, and she flinched harshly.

"Sakura—"

And then she was hopping away from him precariously, arms spread out to keep her balance as she swung forward on her good leg. She reached her crutches shortly and snatched them up before hauling herself back to him with them tucked beneath her arms, expression brilliantly defiant.

She tucked herself beneath his shoulder easily, sliding his arm around her width with a simple nudge. He was at first hesitant to lean on her, but after another stab from his spine he reluctantly complied, ignoring the toll it took on his tattered ego.

She towed him back to the hammock slowly and gently, and he loathed himself the whole way for being so weak and so completely useless and vulnerable—

The kunoichi stumbled suddenly, triggering yet another, stronger wave of agonizing pain. It blew him out like a candle, and his whole body was left to fall limp against the kunoichi's shoulder, his dark orbs fluttering shut without any warning

"Sasuke-kun, what—?!" She fought to stand upright as his full weight leaned against her shoulder, struggling to keep her crutches from slipping.

She finally located a rock near the end of her crutch which she used to brace herself, thus restoring some balance. She then heaved a sigh before turning her attention to the boy whose head rested so limply near her own, her eyes widening with concern. He looked fine on the outside, but he'd probably set back the healing process of his spine back a good couple of days.

She peered wistfully up at the lonely hammock, hanging only few yards off. There wasn't a way in hell she was going to be able to make it that far carrying him, so she instead she slowly began to lower herself onto her knees while gently sliding the Uchiha's head onto her open lap. She set her crutches down beside her as she slipped her legs out from beneath her so that the dark-haired boy could lay more comfortably against her, smiling smally to herself at her handiwork.

The Haruno felt awful for her inability, however, to get him under decent shelter. He was going to get sick; staying out in the cold rain as they had for a while now. So she did her best to shield him from it by curving her body protectively over his head as she threaded her fingers through his dripping hair, content just to watch him as he lay sleeping in her lap.

She brushed a stray look of hair behind her ear as she gazed down at his perfect porcelain face, tilting her head slightly to the side. He was so....

"So cute...."

She still had the taste of him in her mouth, and the scent of him on her clothes. It was intoxicating, wonderful... blissful. She exhaled softly as she continued to run her fingers through the youth's hair, grinning sheepishly to herself.

He stirred in her lap, and she immediately dropped her hands from his hair, her face flushing scarlet. One of his eyes flicked open cautiously, followed quickly by its counterpart, and both of them blinked a few times rapidly before darting up to her face, widening slightly when they took her in.

"Are you okay?" she asked him softly, her tone laced with an urgent concerned.

"Hn." His eyes flickered away from her face slowly, his thin lips turning into a tight frown. She matched his expression with her own, feminine grimace.

"It was my fault; I'm sorry, I should have let you rest...." She too averted her gaze from his face, choosing to look at the small stones of the path that surrounded them.

"Sakura..."

She turned her emeralds on him, surprised to find his deep obsidians intercept her glance, reeling her in as if hooked. They seemed to twinkle as she was drawn closer, and she felt a bout of lightheadedness creep over her.

"Hm?" It was the only thing she could manage to force from her lips through his distracting gaze, and she felt her cheeks grow hot once more.

"Stop apologizing. It's annoying."

She jabbed him over the head with a closed fist.

"You're the annoying one; I nearly killed myself when you fell on me! Give me some warning next time." She threw out her lower lip in a faux pout, her eyes gleaming stealthily.

"Ow." He moved his hand up to the back of his head where she'd cuffed him, frowning at her poutishly.

"No way did that hurt. It was a poke—"

"You punched me." His tone was flat and bland, yet had a thin edge of amusement that sparked the Haruno's playful side.

"Did not!" she retorted, grinning childishly.

"Hn." He smirked, his onyx eyes still locked with hers. She folded her arms stoically over her chest, refusing to let herself be drawn into his eyes again.

"I take back what I said." She resisted the impulse to stick her tongue out after she said it as he threw her a questioning glance from her lap.

"Hn?"

"N-nothing." That you are positively the most attractive person on the face of the planet. And that you're adorable when you sleep. And I'm so madly in love with you I can't even stand it—

"Convincing," he deadpanned sardonically. She bit her lip.

"Are you planning on elaborating?" He cast her an expectant expression, and she hastily averted her gaze.

"Well, I just said that, umm, youareadorablewhenyousleep."

He blinked. She hid her face in her hands, refusing to look at him.

And then he chuckled; like an actual form of laughter. She peeked cautiously through her thin fingers, surprised to find his dark eyes now closed, his thin lips curved into a broad smirk.

"What?!" she snapped defensively. His lids flitted open, and his dark orbs swiveled up to meet her, filled with a devious glint. But then he closed them again, letting an amused sigh pass through his teeth.

"I bet you're cuter." His tone was unusually light, yet it held a sort of I-win-stop-talking undertone. His eyes flicked up to snatch her attention once more, and she found herself reeling with sudden embarrassment. She felt that now familiar sensation of lightheadedness swoop over her, followed by what most would describe as 'butterflies in one's stomach.' Whoever came up with that annoying little phrase had obviously never been lucky enough to experience the feeling, for it was hardly what one would like to compare to those beautiful creatures of nature. No, it felt more like giant, evil centipedes of doom twisting about in her abdomen uncontrollably.

"H-how would you know?!" her knee-jerk retord was hardly what one would call a suitable comeback, but she'd never quite expected the infamous, anti-social, (and that was saying it kindly,) Uchiha could spout things like that without even batting a lash. A rock dropped into the pit of her stomach as she realized that here was no real way she was going to beat him at this particular conversation.

"I've seen it." His tone played with amusement, though to her complete horror a tinge of annoyance.

"Why were you.... watching? There had to be plenty of other things to do..." Again, her obstinate nature was showing.

"Hn." She glowered darkly down at him, her eyes darting to his face and then to one of his hands, which was idly twisting a long piece of glass beside him. He heffed another sigh.

"I was asleep, actually. You were jabbering away in your sleep and happened to wake me up." He slid her a furtive smirk and her face flushed scarlet.

"W-When was this? And what.... did I say...?"

"It was that first night.... and I don't remember what you said." He let go of the plant in his hand and choose instead to move his hand up towards his face to brush his hair from his eyes. She beat him to the punch, however, and moved it away for him. He raised an eyebrow as he let his arm drop back down, though his eyes were appreciative enough. She grinned cutely down at him.

"Sasuke-kun, you don't forget anything. Even with hopeless amounts of morphine you still remembered things pretty clearly..." He noticed how her eyes suddenly darkened, and how her teeth abruptly clamped over her lower lip. He tilted his head to the side, watching her carefully.

"Morphine...?" he asked quietly.

"Well, they weren't exactly coherent recountments.... but you got the point across well enough...." Again she bit her lip, her expression twisting painfully as if she had swallowed something distasteful.

"What did I say?" He glanced up at her, eyes inquisitive. Her expression tightened suddenly at the memory, bitterly regretting her impulsive decision to mention it.

"It was.... just that... I-It doesn't matter, you weren't really yourself. Just forget I said anything." Her eyes darted away nervously.

"Sakura." His hand found hers and he took the oppurtunity to entertwine their fingers, frowning slightly.

"Y-You kept repeating what happened, when you first got to the hospital. You... kept saying it was all your fault and that you..." Her face turned deathly pale suddenly, her expression looking as if it was suddenly sick.

Sasuke attempted to sit up, his expression slightly alarmed as he managed to pull himself up to get at her level.

"Sakura...?" She shook her head simply, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Y-you wished that we'd never met! You kept shouting it, over and over again in your sleep and sometimes when you were awake.... And I have to know... Is it... true?" Her voice was so small and quiet and scared. She glanced towards him, her emerald eyes bleary with unshed tears. A single finger suddenly moved up to press against her lips, and her eyes flicked down as they registered the amused scowl painted across the prodigy's features.

"You were worrying this whole time about that?" He studied her for a moment, brow raised. She simply turned away from him, refusing to look at him. He grit his teeth, his hand abruptly snaking out to latch onto her shoulder. She jerked away at the touch, but he didn't let go.

With ease he pulled her around to face him and pushed her onto her back, watching with amusement as her expression went from shock to confusion, and then quickly to embarrassment as he moved over her so that he held himself up by his hands on either side of her small head, while his knees rested easily on either side of her hip.

He was now gazing down at the kunoichi's petite, heart-shaped face as she stared in confusion up at him, her glittering jades blinking rapidly as they fought to take it all in.

"Sasuke-kun..."

"I didn't say that because I didn't want to have met you, I said it because I hated myself for hurting you!" he almost shouted at her, his voice filled with his copious frustration. The kunoichi beneath the cage of his arms shrank back at the suddenly harshness of his voice.

"But you weren't the person who hurt me, it was—"

"If you hadn't met me at that hideout, that fight would never have taken place. You wouldn't have gotten hurt, Sakura! Why can't you see that?!"

"If we hadn't met, you might be dead!" she screamed, pounding her tiny fists against his chest as small tears wandered over the brims of her eyes as she struggled to continue, this time in a softer tone. "I don't care what happened to me; it was worth it! To be with you, to get to know you; I wouldn't trade it for anything! And you're saying you wouldn't want to have met me?! That would hurt me so much more—"

Again his lips found hers.

And all of her previous anger melted cleanly away, and all of the tenseness she'd been holding in her various muscles ebbed away just as quickly as they'd come. She hated him for being able to do away with it so easily, but at the same time she loved it.

His lips brushed away from hers for a moment, and she could feel him smirking against her skin.

"I could never regret meeting you, Sakura." His lips returned to hers again and she swooned with pleasure.

She then carefully moved her arms up and around the Uchiha's neck as a leverage to pull the rest of him closer to her, feeling a smug expression slide across her blissful features when she felt him smile against her lips.

She felt him lower himself onto his elbows so that their bodies were physically touching, but not to the point where he was crushing her beneath his weight. Though her lungs were beginning to burn from oxygen deprivation, she chose simply to ignore it. She didn't want to be the one to instigate a pause, she was enjoying kissing him too much.

His thin lips brushed away from her own abruptly, tracing a soft trail along her jaw before moving down to the soft skin of her neck. A soft shiver rippled down her spine when she felt his hot breath against float across her skin, and she quietly withdrew her arms from around his neck, choosing instead to ball them into small fists against his muscular chest.

She felt him hesitate when she did this, his lips just brushing the sensitive skin beneath her jaw. As if to reassure him she unfolded her fingers and simply let them trace small patterns against his perfect chest, wiling him to press on.

His lips didn't make any sort of indication that they were going to continue, and much to her distaste, they lifted off completely, his face moving to hover a hairsbreadth above hers.

"Sorry I brought that up..." she murmured, her eyes darting from the two onyx pools above her to his thin lips and back again.

"Hn. You had a right.... to be angry." His voice was uncharacteristically soft, and to Sakura's delight, extremely seductive. His amused smirk was equally attractive, as were his dark eyes as they gleamed down at her. His expression of amusement quickly faded into a frown, however, when he saw the odd face the girl beneath him was making.

She shook her head suddenly, and one of her tiny hands moved up to push the Uchiha's face away as she turned to the side, curling into a ball beneath him as a tiny sneeze escaped her lips. He blinked in momentary surprise at being so bluntly pushed off, though he turned immediately to concern when she didn't uncurl.

"Sakura?"

"Mhmmm." The shut-up-I-don't-feel-like-talking undertone made itself pretty clear.

"You okay?"

"No..." Definitely pouting. "I'm cold. And wet. My fingers are numb, and I am in desperate need of a tissue." He chuckled at her lengthy response of complaints as she peeked up at him warily.

"There's a blanket in the bag back at the hammock..." his eyes flickered to the sheltered space to his left and she followed his gaze.

"I don't want to leave you."

He blinked in surprise, though his expression softened slightly when he noted the small smile the small girl had spread across her lips, full of this reeling care and devotion and trust that filled him with an enourmas sense of duty and pride...

"Take a headstart. I'll be a second..." He took the time to roll off of her so that he was on his back facing the darkened sky, blinking as rain pattered against his face. The kunoichi beside him nodded slightly before taking up her crutches and hoisting herself to her feet. She glanced down at him, a tiny furrow forming between her brows when she took in his unmoving state.

"You sure?"

He nodded slowly before sitting up, grimacing when that familiar spot on his back let out an aching throb. Carefully he brought his knees to his chest and heaved himself onto his feet, staggering when bolts of pain shot through his limbs.

His eyes flicked to the kunoichi who was now watching him beneath the tree, her expression bathed in concern.

He lurched and stumbled his way to the tree, feeling extremely lame and uncordinated when small trivials like roots and slick patches of stone threatened to send him sprawling onto his back, though he managed to make his way all the way to the hammock without killing himself over those obstacles.

He sank into the thick hammock gratefully after the long trudge, the immediate relief from his back audible in the drawn-out sigh he let pass through his lips.

He felt Sakura move in next to him and slanted his eyes to catch a glimpse of her, smirking when he saw how content she was now with the large red blanket wrapped like a cucoon around her body. He lifted his arm to let her snuggle in next to him before placing it gently around her shoulders. She pressed herself warmly against his side, one of her arms unwrapped part of the blanket from around herself before throwing it over him.

He watched as her eyes fluttered shut, felt the hand that she had placed against his chest relax, felt the way her body seemed to melt next to his. He let his head fall to the side so that his chin rested atop the crown of her hair, his own eyes slowly closing.

"Sasuke-kun?" her quiet voice floated to his ears and he cracked an eye open to look at her, only to find that both of her eyes had remained shut, her full lips were curved into one of her small smiles. He let his eye close once more before responding.

"Yeah?"

"I love you." Her soft murmur was barely audible, and full of this tangible compassion and devotion. He felt her tuck her head against his collarbone, felt her smile against his skin, felt her heart beating alongside his own...

I love you too, Sakura. I love you too.

A/N: I tried to get this chapter out quickly, but I was sidetracked by.... life. :D *cough* Okay, I was actually having a Shugo Chara marathon, which is where I got a couple ideas for this chappy anyway, so all ends well, right? ^^;

Err, I know I said I was going to explain a lot of things this chapter, but I wrote fluff instead. D: Expect explanations at some point, I don't really know when....

OMG~ 173 reviews?? I know its nothing to how many the really amazing fics get, but for me that is one big number! You guys are all amazing, thank you soooo much for supporting this whole thing, it means a lot more than I can ever properly describe. :] If it weren't for you, this fic would never have made it this far, so I owe you guys a lot.

Thanks for reading and please REVIEW! Thanks! :D

--xxIndigo