AN: You guys~ *sniffles* All this support and feedback literally makes me so happy! Thank you so much!
Unsurprisingly, Sakura didn't sleep well at Sasuke's house. She knows he doesn't own it, but she didn't know how else to refer to it yet, so that's what she called it. The woman hadn't slept well at her apartment, either. The paranoia wouldn't allow it. The thought that the object of her terror could burst through the door at any moment constantly kept Sakura on her toes. She even sleeps with a knife under her pillow. That wasn't something she just picked up.
Ever since the woman woke up a few years ago to- 'Don't think about that now. You'll start panicking. Focus on cleaning.'
It's been two weeks since she moved in, and despite the lack of rest, Sakura could honestly say she appreciates Sasuke for hooking her up with this job. Sure, most of the people she ran into were intimidating, but they left her alone, so she followed the rules and kept her head down and mouth shut.
The only thing that'd happened was Hidan made a grab for her backside when she was scrubbing a particularly difficult stain on the kitchen floor. When she yelped in surprise and scurried away from him, Sasuke, who'd been doing schoolwork at the table, gave the silver-haired man a terrifying threat to back off.
If she'd been on the receiving end of those words, Sakura might've peed her pants. Apparently, Hidan felt the same way because he apologized shortly after and hasn't tried anything like that since.
A few of the men here, Sakura liked more than the others. For example, Sasori and Deidara, art majors at school, didn't frighten her as Hidan, Tobi, and sometimes even Sasuke did because they were too obsessed with their work and one another.
Blushing, the woman shook her head and tried to forget the image of the two in a very indecent state in the den. She'd been so stunned and embarrassed that she nearly fainted. Sasuke laughed at her face so hard that he was in tears.
On the sixth day of her residency, she came to understand why they made her sign a non-disclosure agreement.
While removing cobwebs from the ceilings with one of those long-handled dusters, she overheard Yahiko, Sasuke, and Nagato conversing. Though she couldn't make out everything they said, the words "exsanguination" and "got the message" were enough to make the girl scamper away from the area. She didn't want to know because then she'd be even more uncomfortable and on edge than she already was.
On the topic of Sasuke, the man was so hot-and-cold that it gave her emotional whiplash. He's annoying and flirty when they're alone, but he's icy and terrifying when anyone else is around. Sakura was too afraid to ask about it. After a few days of the odd occurrence, she picked up on the pattern and tried to adapt so things would go smoothly between them.
Their relationship, if it could be called that, was toxic, and Sakura was well aware of the fact. When Hidan laid eyes on her in the hallway and asked the Uchiha man if he had a death wish, she knew he'd brought her there for purely selfish reasons. That, plus the fact that he barely pulled back on the flirting when she'd requested it, was all she needed to see to understand how his mind works.
In his eyes, he owns her until that contract runs out.
That meant, to a certain degree, that he'd say and do whatever he wanted. It also meant he didn't care if her feelings were hurt or if she was scared. Either she catered to his personality and desires, or she'd likely have the worst year of her life.
So, Sakura did it even though it left her more disheartened by the day.
The moment any other person came into a room they were in, she'd lower her head, close her mouth, and focus solely on whatever task she was working on. When they were alone, it's not like she spoke much, but she didn't have to physically make herself appear meek and could work more leisurely.
Sasuke was becoming irritated by her increasing silence, no matter the setting. Of course, he didn't say anything because that would mean he cared if she wanted to converse with him, but his temper became shorter with each passing day.
The aura of anger constantly hanging in the air made Sakura feel similar to how she had back home, living under the same roof as her ex and having to tip-toe around him.
'It's just one year. That's it. Survive for one year, save as much money as possible, and then move to another new city. Make another fresh start.' With the amount of money she was making, it wasn't as hard to do. All she had to do was keep her resolve strong.
That's what Sakura thought until Thursday night on week three of her stay. In the dead of the night, a loud crash downstairs woke her with a start, followed by muffled, panicked voices. She recognized Sasuke's and Kisame's. Don't ask what possessed her to grab the knife under her pillow and sneak downstairs to investigate because she won't have an answer, but she did it.
After meeting the floor level of the house, she could finally understand their words.
"-do we do?! He'll bleed out, and Zetsu's not here!"
"Should we risk taking him to the hospital?"
"The police will investigate this kind of thing."
"If we don't do something soon, he'll die, Kisame!"
Inching closer, Sakura peeked into the den, only to gasp and rush out when she realized they were holding up Itachi, who was bleeding heavily from some type of wound to his abdomen. The conscious men looked her way, Sasuke barking, "Go upstairs!"
This was her first time seeing Itachi in person because he'd been on an assignment out of town all this time, but she'd seen photos of him.
'If what they said is true, then I have to help! I can't just sit here and let him die!'
"Sasuke, I-" "I said fuck off, Sakura!" He was putting pressure on the wound with shaking hands, obviously panicking.
At that moment, the pink-haired woman disregarded the contract and the rules. All she cared about was the fear Sasuke desperately tried to mask and that dying man's life. 'I shouldn't give a damn that he's upset, but it really bothers me for some reason. It makes me feel sick.'
"Lay him on his side. Where's the first-aid kit?" She spoke firmly.
The men gave her incredulous looks, but she glared, "Where is it? He needs help right now!"
Kisame answered, ignoring Sasuke's burning gaze, "Above the fridge."
Sakura hurried to retrieve it before returning to the living room. With trembling hands, she tore Itachi's shirt to see that it was a bullet wound causing the bleeding. Eyes glued to the dark red blood, she opened the kit and pulled on some gloves, "Is the bullet still inside?"
Sasuke was knelt across from her, his expression threatening to murder her if she did anything to hurt his brother, "No."
After cleaning around the wound, she asked, "Was it in one piece?"
"Yes."
'That's good. It'd be awful if it'd fragmented. Even a hospital wouldn't be able to save him in time.'
Tears of fright in her eyes, Sakura recalled all her medical knowledge while treating the wound. An hour later, Itachi was still alive with a freshly stitched bullet wound and a cold sweat on his pale skin. By that time, a few others had arrived to oversee her work.
Trembling with blood spots on her face, hands, arms, and clothes, the woman moved away from the injured man, "H-He, um, he needs a transfusion as soon as possible. If you wait until you're at the hospital and give him a superficial head wound, tell them you're not sure how long he'd been injured before you found him, and they'll give him one without even inspecting the wound first, just to be safe."
Kisame and Tobi carefully picked the man up and began carrying him out to one of the cars while Sasuke followed. At the door, he turned to give Sakura an expression she'd never seen before, which she couldn't read even if someone paid her for it. Then, they were gone, rushing to the hospital to save Itachi's life.
Sniffling, the woman tried wiping her tears with the back of her forearm since she was covered in blood before returning all the remaining supplies to the first-aid kit.
'That's the first time I've seen someone else's blood in person. …It was kind of scary….'
Yahiko and Konan remained in the family room, silently watching as she retrieved cleaning supplies from the storage room to begin an arduous attempt to scrub the blood from the carpet. Even if Sasuke was away, the woman knew better than to meet either of the intimidating duo's eyes or to speak without first being addressed, so she worked quietly, letting the tears run freely down her cheeks because it was impossible to keep wiping at them.
Konan's husky, attractive voice met her ears a minute later, "Have you done this type of work before?"
Keeping her head down, Sakura denied it, "I'm going to school to be a doctor. This was my first time...um…."
"I see. I wasn't aware."
She listened as the pair left her alone in the den to continue cleaning. With no one there to witness it, the woman burst into sobs, the thick tears blurring her vision. If Itachi doesn't survive, they will kill her, and she knows it.
Her good intentions meant nothing.
"Your friend's lucky you found him in time. Any longer, and he might not have made it." The gray-haired nurse explained to the group of men in the waiting area of the emergency room at the hospital, "It just goes to show that no wound, big or small, should be ignored. The cut wasn't that deep but left unattended like it was, it could've been fatal."
Relief flooded Sasuke's entire body, and he released a massive sigh, falling exhaustedly into one of the chairs, "How long will it take for him to recover?"
"The doctor wants to ensure he properly wakes up, but if he does that and no other issues arise, I'd say tomorrow afternoon is a sound estimate. Please provide your contact information to one of our receptionists, and they'll call you to come pick him up when the time comes." She gestured at the three divided booths before bowing politely and heading back behind the large doors leading to the patient rooms.
Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. His only living family member almost died tonight. That's enough to scare even the bravest man.
'And Sakura's the one who saved his life.'
He, Kisame, and Tobi left after filling out some paperwork, the latter being dimwitted enough to talk about what'd happened instead of reading the room, "I didn't know Sakura could do stuff like that. Why didn't you tell us, Sasuke?"
"...I didn't know, either," he admitted.
He felt like a fool, not to mention a jackass. That woman was terrified but still stood up to them so she could save Itachi's life. How had he not found out she had first-aid training?
'I guess I never asked,' Sasuke's grip on the steering wheel tightened, 'I don't know anything about her, now that I think about it.'
All the knowledge he had was what he'd personally witnessed in the time they'd known one another, like the fact that she was obsessively neat, didn't eat or sleep much, and was so quiet that he often forgot she was in the same room. It was almost like she tried her best to be as scarce as possible.
'Sakura's scared of literally everything, too.' He thought that but quickly observed, 'She could be terrified and crying, but she'll stay if it's the right thing to do.'
The woman had done it several times already. The day they met, she demanded an apology even though she shook like a leaf. Then, tonight. She had tears in her eyes the entire time. There was that time in the alleyway when she ran away, but there was nothing to defend there except her own safety. Running made sense if he put himself in her shoes.
"She's cute," Kisame suddenly said. For some reason, that sent a thick rage up Sasuke's spine, his glare shooting over to him. The blue-haired man snickered, lifting a calming hand, "Don't worry. Everyone knows that's one toy you won't share. I was just making an observation."
A bad taste met Sasuke's tongue when he said that, but he averted his gaze back to the road and remained silent. For the first time, Sakura being referred to like pissed him off.
After thinking about it briefly, the Uchiha scoffed, shaking his head at himself. 'I'm a bigger piece of shit than I realized.' Now that she'd done something useful, he saw her as less of an object and more of a person. Sasuke felt so guilty as he thought about how they cohabitated. After all that, she still jumped in to help.
At home, the three men froze in the doorway upon realizing the woman in question was still there, scrubbing blood from the carpet despite obviously being half-asleep. Blood was still all over her clothes, hands, arms, and even on her face. When she saw them, her eyes locked onto Sasuke's, glancing at the others before quickly returning to him.
'She wants to ask if Itachi's okay but won't because she thinks I'll get angry at her for speaking in front of the others. Jesus fucking Christ, Man. I'm a prick, huh?'
"He's fine. They said he'll probably be able to come home tomorrow," he reassured quietly, watching the other two pass by to head upstairs.
The stress on the gorgeous, exhausted woman's face lifted into relief, those pretty green irises watering up as she returned them downward to the carpet so she could continue working. By the looks of it, she'd been at it the entire time they were at the hospital. The massive stain was almost completely gone.
Fueled by his regret, Sasuke knelt before her, dark eyes studying her as though seeing her for the first time all over again. His voice was softer than before, "Finish this tomorrow. We should go to bed. It's almost four in the morning."
Sakura nodded sleepily, picking up all the cleaning supplies and placing them neatly near the stain before placing a big towel atop it so it wasn't visible to all who crossed it. While doing so, she glanced at him, speaking quietly, "I can go by myself. Good night."
'She's uncomfortable,' Sasuke thought but ignored her.
Part of Sakura was panicking because Sasuke was being weird, but the other part was too tired to care. She entered Zetsu's room, which she was using, before stopping in her tracks. With a red face, she turned to confirm her suspicion that the man was standing in the doorway.
"Can you please, um…."
"You want me to leave you alone."
She blushed, averting her gaze to the dresser, "I was wondering if you would grab clothes for me. I can't exactly do it myself right now."
Any other time, Sasuke would use this opportunity to flirt, maybe commenting about her using this opportunity as a roundabout way of showing him her underwear, but he didn't. Instead, he wordlessly grabbed the items she pointed out and followed her to the bathroom, where he sat them on the counter, "Anything else?"
"No. Thank you."
He turned to leave when Sakura suddenly remembered something that made her verbally groan, 'I'm wearing my best bra today.'
It was purchased on one of the rare occasions where the woman treated herself. As a girl suffering in the bust department, she found solace in having a broad selection of super cute bras to choose from. This one was the same color as her hair, lacy, and made her boobs look great, even if they were small.
"A-Actually, I-!" Her mouth closed, blush burning hot as she realized how stupid she'd sound.
'He'll probably think I'm trying to flirt.' Sasuke waited, visually confused. 'Ugh, whatever. He already saw me in my bra and underwear, so who cares?'
"This is a dumb request, but can you unhook my bra? It's, ha…" She sighed, feeling a strong urge to cover her face but fighting it lest she get blood and cleaning supplies in her eyes, "It's my favorite one. I don't want to stain it."
A glimpse of the Sasuke she knew arrived as he lifted a sleek brow, pretending the task was tiring, "This better be one sexy bra." He shut the door in case someone happened to leave their bedroom and motioned for her to turn around.
Sakura did, happy she'd worn her hair in a messy bun before everything happened. Cold fingers brushed against her skin as Sasuke lifted her shirt, making her gasp, "H-Hey, you don't need to do that! Just unhook it."
"I can't if I can't see it."
"Do you really expect me to believe that?"
The man didn't respond at all. He didn't move for a moment, but he finally undid the clasp, and the woman felt the item loosen around her chest.
She turned, "Thank you. Sorry about that." Her head tilted in confusion when Sasuke remained still, staring at her with an oddly severe expression. She didn't have to wait long to understand why.
"What are those scars on your back from?"
A memory of the beautiful night sky passed by her eyes, the one she'd stared at upon landing on her back after being thrown through that window. "I-I was in a car wreck. I have a lot of scars from it." That was always her go-to explanation, and it worked one hundred percent of the time.
His eyes narrowed, "Really?" Sakura nodded, feeling increasingly uncomfortable by the second, "Yes, now, can you please leave? I want to shower and go to bed."
He nodded but still had a weird expression. Sasuke paused in the doorway but didn't turn to face her again, "Thank you, by the way." The woman's eyes widened because that was a phrase she never expected to hear from him.
"If it wasn't for you, my brother would've died. I'm in your debt."
Then, the man left the room, shutting the door so she couldn't watch him return to his room.
Facing the mirror, Sakura saw her stunned expression and nervously swallowed, 'He's acting differently than before.'