Sakura waited at the kitchen table for he audible clink of the mailbox once more. She was eager to get that invitation. The moment she heard it, she flew out of her seat and ran out the door, slowing to a halt in front of the metal box. She opened it, pulled out a small pile of mail and closed it. She walked back towards the house, sorting through the mail. She finally saw a small envelope with both of their names on it and squealed.

"Cha! Finally it gets here!"

On her way to her office, she placed Sasuke's mail on the table, and then seated herself at her desk. She opened the envelope gently and looked at the white and gold invitation. She opened it quickly, her eyes scanning the information.

Neji and Tenten Hyuuga would like to formally invite Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha to attend their wedding ceremony..

Sakura held the card to her chest and smiled. She placed it down on her desk and pulled out the small rsvp card. She signed her name and Sasuke's and checked the Attending box. She sealed the envelope and placed it in her bag to mail on her way to work. Then she went back into the kitchen and stood the invitation up on the table where Sasuke would see it, and hopefully (and probably grudgingly) agree to attend. She had already signed his name anyways.

She was about to reach up to get a cookie from the box in the cupboard, when the phone rang in the hallway. She jumped and went to answer it.

"Mrs. Uchiha." She might as well use her name a little bit more. She heard a feminine laugh on the other end of the phone.

"Jesus, Sakura, when Tenten said that you answered the phone formally, she wasn't lying. I mean seriously, 'Mrs. Uchiha'? You're proud to be it I see." Sakura let out an awkward laugh and rubbed her neck.

"Well hello to you too, Ino."

"Hey pinky. Is Sasuke there?" Sakura frowned. ,

"Uhm no, he's out on an ANBU mission for the day, why, what's up?"

"Nothing. Wanna come over and hang out? Shikamaru is out with Chouji and Shin, so I thought maybe we could get down some girl time."

Sakura froze. Shit, she thought, realizing what this was about. She had almost forgotten overhearing Ino's promise to Sasuke to talk to her. She bit her lip and sighed. She guessed that she should come clean about the nightmares she'd been having. And if it was just her and Ino, she could trust that it stayed between the two of them. Hopefully Ino wouldn't tell Sasuke.

"Sure, I'll be there in ten minutes." She looked at the clock in the hallway.

"Bring some lemons, Shimaru showed me how to make a mean margarita the other day." Sakura bit her lip again. The last time she got drunk it turned out awful and she ended up making Sasuke mad. But she figured that she wouldn't be alone, and one drink couldn't hurt.

"Fine fine. See you soon, Ino-pig." She hung up before her best friend could remark back and headed towards her room to get dressed.

She had only been sat in Ino's living room for five minutes before Ino flounced out the kitchen, holding two, large margarita glasses. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Kami, you alcoholic." She muttered and Ino stopped dead in her tracks, glaring at Sakura.

"What did you say, pinky?" The two glared at each other before starting to laugh and Ino handed her a drink, plopping down on the couch next to her. The two sipped their drinks in silence before Ino took a breath and sat her drink down on the coffee table. She turned to her friend.

"Sakura, is everything okay? Like in your life, with Sasuke. Are you.. are you doing okay?" Sakura shrugged and put her glass down next to Ino's, trying to pretend that she didn't know what the blonde was talking about.

"What do you mean?" Ino bit her lip.

"It's just.. ah... oh Kami, fuck it", she took a deep breath and continued, "Sasuke came into my store one night the other week and he told me that you had a nightmare and woke up and were scared of him. And then he said something about you not coming back to bed, and being- well acting.. weird I guess?" Ino looked at her friend, waiting for Sakura to answer. Sakura let out a small sigh and accepted that Ino had told her what Sasuke did.

"Sasuke and I have an... odd marriage. It's rocky. I speak to him, he responds in grunts. I cook for him, do the laundry, clean the house, and he just... leaves and comes back every day. I don't know where he goes, and I don't know when he'll come back until he does. It's driving me insane, Ino. Some days it's almost like a regular marriage, almost, without the talking, we have wonderful sex, and he treats me nicely, and then the next minute the sex is just him fucking me, or I do something wrong and he instantly leaves without saying a word. I never know what to say, how to say it, or if what I do even so much as affects him. It's like walking on eggshells I can't even see until I step on one and hurt myself."

She sighs, and continues.

"And the dreams, well nightmares, I honestly don't know. They're gory as hell, and they won't go away. They've been happening since Sasuke 'proposed' to me. I-I just keep seeing myself through his eyes, getting killed by him and thrown aside as if I'm nothing. And you know that when we were younger, and I tried bringing him back, he tried killing me a few times, and it's really affected me. I feel like I don't even know the man I married. Mostly because he's just this big box of unopened secrets and I don't have a key."

"Basically every nightmare is this: blood, people dead, myself injured and then Sasuke appears, usually with his Sharingan activated and stabs me, or kills me with his Chidori. Which is why, on the night he was talking about, I freaked out. I was still stuck in the nightmare, so when he activated his Sharingan on instinct to make sure I was okay, I panicked and knew I had to get away from him to clear my mind."

She then proceeded to tell Ino everything that had happened in the last week, including everything about her envy of everyone's happy lives and marriages and her desire to have a child. She finished her sentence, and looked away from Ino, letting the blonde take in everything she had just said. Sakura reached for her drink and took a large gulp, before setting it back down. She looked back at her best friend, finding her on the verge of tears.

"S-Sakura I- I don't know what to say-"

"You could help me get rid of my nightmares." Sakura offered, laughing bitterly. She realized what she had said and sighed, pulling her friend in for a hug.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put all of this on you. You have your own happy life to get on with, you don't need me dumping my marriage problems all over you."

"Do you trust him?" Sakura pulled back from Ino, biting her lip. She was almost taken aback from the question. She looked at the opposite wall of Ino's small living room and sighed. She thought about her answer carefully, before responding.

"No, Ino. I really don't."

"Are you scared of him?" Sakura knew this was her psychologist position kicking in. She decided to open up and just answer truthfully.

"Yes."

"Why, Sakura?"

"Because..." Sakura trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. Ino waited for a minute, but when her friend didn't continue, Ino leand towards her friend, attempting to urge her on.

"Because?"

"Because..." Sakura tried again, but still couldn't find a valid answer. She frowned, becoming slightly agitated with herself. Why was she afraid of Sasuke?

"Because what, Sakura? You have to answer the question."

Sakura bit her lip harder. Because..

"Because I never know what he's thinking. I'm afraid of Sasuke because he's my husband and I know nothing about him. He a stranger. I'm scared of him because I open myself up to him, and I just feel naked." She blinked, trying to hold back her tears, but they fell down her cheeks anyways. '

"Sakura.."

"I'm scared of Sasuke because I'm in love with him. I'm scared of him because the same man that tried to kill me many times now shares the same bed as I and the same home." She choked back a sob, and felt Ino wrap her arms around Sakura, pulling her into an embrace. Sakura hugged her back and finally let out a small sob.

"Kami, I hate this feeling. I wish I hadn't married such a block of ice." She said between tears. Ino stroked her hair in a motherly way.

"Somewhere under all that ice, Sakura, is a warm heart-"

"Oh that's complete and utter bullshit, Ino, and you and I both know it." Sakura pulled away from her friends, wiping her eyes. "There's no fucking warm heart anywhere in that man. There's nothing." Ino bit her lip, looking worriedly at her best friend.

"Sakura-"

"I think it's time I got home. Sasuke will be home soon and I need to make some dinner for the two of us."

"Sakura, I-"

"Ino, let's just forget this happened. It was too much for me to say, and perhaps I'm just kidding myself. Go on with your happy life and your happy marriage and leave me to my awful one." Before Ino could protest, Sakura pulled the door closed to Ino's house behind her, and made her way down the street. She huffed out a breath and wiped her eyes.

She was starting to remember why she began bottling up her feelings in the first place.

She finally arrived home, and found the compound empty. She sighed in relief and began to make a small meal for her and Sasuke. She was about to put it back in the oven to keep it warm, when the front door opened. She heard footsteps, and he was in the doorway of the kitchen, clad in ANBU gear and the mask on the top of his head. He crossed his arms.

"Hn."

Sakura turned around and gave Sasuke a small smile.

"I'm just about to serve the food, let's get you out of that gear first." He was about to protest, but Sakura was already undoing his vest, pulling it from his shoulders. She pulled off the mask and undid his katana holster, careful not to touch the hilt of it. She placed the gear on the coffee table while he took off his gloves and pack. He sat down and let out a tired sigh.

Sakura served the stirfry and the two exchanged the usual word of gratitude for the meal and dug in.

"Long day?" Sakura questioned, avoiding his eyes.

"Aa." She shrugged and continued eating. She finally raised her eyes to his face and caught him stealing a look at the wedding invitation, perfectly placed in his view. He frowned, glaring at the little, pretty card.

"Tenten and Neji are getting married in two months."

"Hn."

"Tenten asked me to be one of her bridesmaids."

"Aa."

"I already RSVP'd for us." She bit her lip, waiting for an angry response. She heard him stop eating, and when she met his eyes, they were filled with irritation. He continued eating, swallowing before he continued.

"I'm not going, Sakura." He said curtly. She frowned.

"Why?" When did she muster up this amount of guts? She had never talked back to him like this before. She finished her food and laid her chopsticks on the side of the bowl, waiting for him to respond again. But he didn't. So she bit her lip, and then decided to try again.

"Is it a crime that I want my husband by my side while I celebrate the marriage of one of my closest friends?" She saw Sasuke frown. He finished his food, stood up and placed his bowl in the sink.

"No." He deadpanned before disappearing from the kitchen. She realized that he was answering her previous statement, and not answering the question she just asked. She sighed and cleaned up her plate, and doing the dishes. She cleaned up the kitchen and turned out the light, heading into the bath room to have a nice, long bath. She climbed into bed early and laid on her side, closing her eyes. Shortly, Sasuke joined her, smelling like he had just come from the shower while she was in the bath.

"Sakura." She opened her eyes and rolled over to face her husband. She raised an eyebrow in the darkness, knowing he could see it, as if to respond to him. Suddenly, she was on her back, and Sasuke's weight was on top of her, his hands on either side of her head. She looked up at him, and she felt his hand slip down to pull at the edge of her nightgown. His head bent down, ready to give her the usual, chaste kiss. She sighed, and wriggled out of his embrace.

"No." She bit her lip, wanting to apologize, but decided that this time, she wasn't sorry. She ignored the heat between her legs that had formed. She heard Sasuke turn back over to his side away from her, and she predicted he had a glare on his face. She bit her lip once more, drawing blood.

As usual, she looked around her, her eyes widening as she saw that Sasuke was right next to her, his Sharingan blazing. His katana was already at his side.

"I love you." Sakura said, thankful for her voice, thankful that she hadn't been killed yet. Sasuke smirked in the darkness.

"So?"

She bit her lip.

"So, I'm not afraid of you-"

He'd already plunged his sword into her chest.

Sakura sat up and swore. She wiped away her tears, and rubbed her eyes.

"Kami fucking damnit." She muttered, and saw Sasuke's head move. He turned to her, his eyes opening, looking slightly worried. Sakura was tempted to let out a bitter laugh, but she didn't. She held a hand to her chest and slipped out of bed, shrugging into her robe.

"Sak-"

"I'm going to make some tea." She cut him off, closing the bedroom door behind her and headed towards the kitchen. She made a cup of tea and sat down at the table, rubbing her eye, trying to hold back the tears forming.

"Even when I do stand up to him or push him away, I get hurt." She whispered and gripped her cup. She stared at the table, and tried to ignore the sound of the teapot being picked up, and the hot liquid being poured into a cup. She didn't even look up as Sasuke took a seat in front of her at the table, and put down his cup. She sighed deeply and took a sip of her tea, before pushing it away from her. Sasuke was silent, but she felt his eyes on her.

"Do you know what I dream about, Sasuke?" He didn't answer, so she continued.

"I dream that I'm somewhere bloody, sometimes there are bodies, sometimes not. Sometimes I'm already injured, sometimes not. And then you're there. You and your damn Sharingan. And then I'm dead. By your hand." She avoided his eyes, not even knowing why she was telling him about this. He wouldn't comfort her anyways. She heard him hiss in a breath. She finished her tea and stood up, heading over to the sink to put it in.

"Sakura-" He started, but she shook her head.

"Don't worry, I won't pester you about the wedding again." She moved to walk past him and out of the kitchen, to get away from him before he could see that she was crying, but his arm shot out and caught her arm, preventing her from moving. She looked at him, his eyes blank.

"Stay." She sighed again at his curt command.

"Why?"

He didn't answer. But that was usual. So she tried to get out of his grasp, but he tightened it.

"Stay." He repeated, and she gave up and sat down across from him again. He released her hand and just sat there, looking at her.

"Talk, Sasuke." She said gently, but he remained silent. She ran her hands over her face, wiping away more tears.

"Why won't you talk?" He still didn't respond, so she just gave up. She folded her head into her arms on the table and closed her eyes. When he finally spoke, her eyes widened, and she lifted her head.

"'Why don't you kiss me when you fuck me, Uchiha?''

"W-What?"

He looked away from her questioning gaze and towards the kitchen window.

"That's what you said when you were drunk." She bit her lip, blushing and look away. She didn't know what to say, other than the two cliche words.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Hn." She realized it actually might have hurt his ego a little bit. She looked back up at him, and realized he obviously planned to say no more. So she stood up, and walked past him, finding no resistance this time.

"Come back to bed." She said gently. She heard his chair being pushed in, cup in the sink, and then the lights were shut off. He followed her towards their bedroom and laid back down, watching as she pulled her robe back off, and hung it on the chair. She wiped her eyes once more and got into bed. She turned towards him and looked at his face, as he stared back at her. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips, not expecting his hand to cup the back of her neck and hold her there. She pulled away gently, kissed his cheek, and turned back over onto her back, closing her eyes.

"Goodnight." She murmured.

"Aa."

When she woke up, the sun was just starting to break the horizon, and Sasuke was already gone. She sat up and sighed. She got ready quickly and left the house, heading towards the hospital. She waved tiredly at Hana as she passed through the lobby and dumped her belongings at her desk. She tied her hair up on the top of her head and began her usual rounds.

Everyone seemed okay, the nurses were plentiful and didn't have as much busy work as Sakura expected, and she even had time to call into the Hokage tower to see Tsunade. She caught Tsunade up on everything that had happened, and Tsunade revealed that she too had gotten an invitation to the wedding and was happily planning on attending. Sakura smiled and held her tongue, not planning on telling her mentor about the 'fight' she had had with Sasuke over him attending.

On her lunch break, she crammed in a sandwich and cup of coffee, before heading back to her office. She stared at the flashing light on her phone, that indicated that she had a message. She played it back, finding it was blank, but from Neji's home phone. Sakura raised an eyebrow and hit redial, holding the phone to her ear, proceeding to sip her coffee. Tenten picked up on the second ring.

"Did Sasuke tell you yet?" She appeared very giddy. Sasuke? Sakura frowned.

"No, Ten, I haven't been home yet. And Sasuke wan't home when I left this morning. What is it?"

"Neji caught Sasuke walking through the market this morning and asked him if he'd heard about the wedding yet and Sasuke said yes, and Neji asked him to be on his groom's party and Sasuke agreed!" Sakura snorted.

"Don't lie, Ten." She took another gulp of coffee.

"Oh shut up Sakura, I'm not! Neji told me the whole conversation! Sasuke said he wasn't planning on going at first, but when Neji asked him to be in his party, Sasuke agreed!" Sakura's eyes widened. Was she serious?

"He told me last night that he was dead set on not going." She confided in Tenten, hearing the girl laugh over the phone.

"Then how'd you make him change his mind?" Sakura thought about it. Even she didn't know the answer to that. The two big each other good bye and Sakura sat at her desk, staring at her wedding picture. She finished her coffee, and decided to head out early,; the extra hours she did from last week would cover her. She packed up and left the lobby, making sure to tell Hana to call her if any emergencies happened while on her shift time.

She walked through the streets, lost in thought and saw a man carrying a large bouquet of flowers, a blush on his cheeks. He waled past Sakura and towards a small home. She smiled at the sweetness then stopped. She slapped her head. Ino! She needed to apologize to Ino and beg forgiveness for her horrible attitude yesterday. She hurried towards Ino's flower shop, her mouth open to call out the blonde's name, and stopped, seeing Sasuke stood at the counter. She hid behind the rose bush yet again and listened in.

"Did you talk to Sakura?" Sasuke's voice sounded genuinely concerned.

"I-Yes, I did, Sasuke." There was a pause, before Ino spoke again, but not before letting out a long sigh.

"You need to talk to her, Sasuke, there are things you two need to get out in the open. There are things she needs to say, and I know that if you give her the right attention and talk to her, she will."

Sakura could almost feel Sasuke's frown from where she was hiding.

"We do talk-" He tried to grumpily object, but Ino's sad voice cut him off.

"No, Sasuke, you don't. She talks, and you listen. She loves you so much, Sasuke but she doesn't- You really need to talk to her. Whatever skeletons you have in you closet that is preventing you from opening up to her, get rid of them now. Fix your marriage, Sasuke, don't expect Sakura to do it with a small smile and dinner cooked when you come home. She needs love."

Sakura blushed, and heard the hesitation in the blonde's voice.

"Do you love her, Sasuke?"

He didn't respond. This hit Sakura and she bit her lip, willing herself not to let out any tears. She had expected this, hadn't she? By his actions, of course he didn't love her. She stood up, ready to walk away, to postpone her apology to Ino until later, when Ino's next question stopped her.

"Do you care for her, Sasuke?"

"Y-Yes." His answer was quiet, but Sakura picked up on it easily. She smiled to herself and left her hiding spot, walking the other way to go home. It was something. She could go on with that at least for now. That, and she knew Sasuke had something he needed to tell her about the wedding. Because she had left before the end of Sasuke and Ino's conversation, she had missed one of the most important parts of their talk.

"Wanna buy anything? I think I'm gonna pick up Shin from Hinata's and go home."

"White roses."