Trigger warning! This chapter contains explicit descriptions of sexual and physical

assault. Continue with caution.

A soft sigh flowed from Sakura's chest as she slowly began to wake, 'I'm so comfortable; I wish I could stay in bed all day.' Suddenly, the warmth against her shifted, and her hair was brushed from her face. Eyes fluttering open, she saw a bare chest. Terror flooded her entire body, ice shooting through her veins.

~Flashback~

Groaning, Sakura's brow furrowed. She'd been asleep but was roused by a weight atop her. When she opened her eyes, they locked onto blue ones and widened. That was when the poor woman realized what'd woken her up.

"Wh-What are you doing? Stop! Are you insane?"

Her boyfriend didn't stop. Something tied around her wrists kept them from moving more than a few inches off the bed. His hands pressed against the backside of her thighs, pressing them roughly apart and down against her chest. Holding them still as she tried to kick and fight him posed no challenge.

Sobbing, the woman squeezed her eyes closed and tried to make her mind go somewhere far away so she wouldn't have to experience the disgusting act he was forcing upon her. The tempo of his movements hadn't even stuttered since she woke.

"Look at me, Sakura."

"Fuck you."

The relatively rough way the man moved became violent, obviously intending to cause pain. Green eyes shot open in surprise, a cry leaving her mouth.

"That's better." He didn't become much gentler and spoke in a forced voice, tense with effort as he continued, "Why are you crying, Saku? You're my girlfriend, and I'm your boyfriend. If you woke me up like this, I'd be thrilled."

"You're hurting me! Stop, it hurts!"

Again, the man didn't stop.

~End Flashback~

A cry of fear left the woman, and she shoved against his chest, trying desperately to get away from him, "N-No, don't! Get off!"

Sakura fumbled, reaching under the pillow and grabbing the knife she hid there, opening it as she cowered against the wall with tears running down her face and trembling from head to toe. The weapon was pointed threateningly at the man in her bed.

"Hey! Hey, it's okay! It's me!"

Green eyes widened as she recognized the handsome, bewildered face before her. The man stood, holding the blanket to cover his lower body with one hand, the other lifted up in a calming matter.

"...Sasuke…?"

'But it…. It was him! He was here, in this bed! He was…!'

"Sakura, hand me the knife." Gasping, the woman dropped the weapon in her hand, and he picked it up without moving his attentive gaze from her face.

"I-I'm so sorry! I-I-I swear, I…." She trailed off, eyes glazing over as she recalled how realistic the memory that'd played across her vision had been. It'd been weeks since she'd had that dream. That experience, plus the fact that he'd thrown her through that window, was the event that made Sakura run away from Konoha.

Sasuke knelt by the bed, tilting his head as he studied her cowering appearance, "Were you-" "N-Nightmare. It was just a nightmare; I'm sorry!"

She knew he didn't believe her, and he knew she knew it, but neither acknowledged that.

"It's alright. Are you good now?"

'God, he's going to tiptoe around me now, right? This is exactly why I didn't want anyone to find out. Well, that and the shame. Who wants to be around someone so pitiful and weak? I trusted a monster that betrayed me in one of the worst ways possible. I'm a fuckin' idiot.'

The blood began to return to Sakura's face as she nodded. She accepted some of the covers as he laid back down, cautiously snuggling into his side. It wasn't as scary after last night, and the night she'd spent crying in his room. The woman was also in desperate need of comfort after that little episode.

Sasuke wrapped an arm around her bare waist, thumb brushing her hip as he lay on his back with his other arm bent behind his head, "You keep me on my fuckin' toes, I'll give you that."

'He's trying to lighten the mood. How is he such a nice person at times like this and an asshole at other times?'

Sakura scoffed, "Sure," she paused, voice becoming softer, "I really am sorry. I feel like an idiot. You probably think I'm crazy now, right?"

"Oh, I knew you were insane the day I met you. That ship has sailed."

The woman laughed quietly before letting out a warm hum and closing her eyes, snuggling closer with an arm slung across his midsection and a leg hooked over one of his. 'Somehow, he always makes me smile when I'm at my worst. This guy….'

Later, after showering and getting dressed, Sakura took a cab to the mall, where she did some very last-minute shopping, considering it was Christmas Eve. Classes were canceled today as a result. So, other than buying and wrapping gifts, the woman only had the party to attend tonight with Ino and nothing else on her schedule.

'It's kind of nice to do something normal like this,' the pink-haired woman smiled while walking through one of the stores that sold makeup, 'The snow is only falling slowly, and it looks all soft and fluffy. It feels like a cliche storybook holiday. I hope tonight goes well, too.'

Though all the people in the Akatsuki house had lied right to her face about who they were, Sakura had a soft spot for Christmas and felt it'd be extremely rude not to at least get everyone something small. Initially, she wanted to make homemade treatbags but realized they probably would get suspicious that the food had been poisoned since she now knew the truth. Sasuke told her they no longer wanted her to cook for them after all.

So, the pinkette decided to simply buy premade ones, 'It's easier for me this way, anyway.'

Maybe she was a little sour about it, but she'd never admit that out loud. 'After caring for them like children for a month now, you'd think they'd have a little more faith. Just because I don't want to join their gang doesn't mean I'm gonna try to kill them!'

After purchasing a few things for Karin and Ino, Sakura visited the candy store to get the items for the others and then took a cab home with just enough time to prepare everything and get dressed for the party. Sasuke, Itachi, and Kisame were in the den when she arrived, the two Uchihas looking her way.

The elder one spoke first, "Did you go shopping?"

She nodded, heading upstairs with a mild blush. The last time she saw him, she'd been a blubbering mess in the middle of a random convenience store. It was her desire to thank him for getting her back safely, but she was too embarrassed.

Sakura quickly constructed all the little gift bags and wrapped the few personalized gifts she'd gotten before changing into slightly nicer clothes and going into the bathroom to straighten her hair and put on some light makeup. 'Before that party, I thought Konan was just letting me borrow some of her stuff, but it turns out she'd bought it all for me to keep. She's really stoic, but she's not completely coldhearted.'

A short knock came at the door while the woman carefully applied mascara, and she called, "Come in!" without looking that way.

It opened, Sasuke's familiar voice meeting her ears, "What're you getting all dolled up for? Hot date?"

"Didn't I tell you? Ino invited me to a party tonight at her boyfriend's place. I might end up staying the night there. I'll text you," she responded casually, still not bothering to glance at him.

That is until he replied in a not-so-light-hearted voice, "No, you didn't. Don't you think you should've said something to me before now?"

Sakura's brow twitched, and she closed the mascara to turn and fix the man with a glare, "You don't completely own me. Unless it has something to do with my contract, I don't have to run every little thing by you."

'This is how my ex started off, too. I made the mistake of letting him get away with it. I refuse to let it happen again, so I'll make myself clear now.'

Sasuke's irritation matched hers, dark gaze burning into hers, "I just want to know where you are, Smartass. What if you get in trouble again?"

Sighing, the woman faced the mirror again, this time putting on a thin layer of lipstick that nearly matched the natural color of her lips, "Is that your round-about way of justifying it?"

Her arm was grabbed, and she was forced to turn and look up at the handsome man's angry face. He growled, "If you're gonna be a bitch, then just forget about it. Not everyone's out to get you, y'know." The man fixed her with that terrifying glare for a second longer before leaving, an air of wildfire annoyance about him.

'...Maybe he's right. He probably just wants to know where I'll be in case I don't want to stay the night and need a ride home. I guess I'm so used to being controlled and stalked that I assumed the worst,' she pouted while watching him walk away, 'He didn't have to call me a bitch, though.'

Once finished getting ready for the party, Sakura decided to apologize for snapping at him like she had, but the man was nowhere to be found. Feeling guilty, she placed the gift she'd wrapped in pretty blue paper on the foot of his bed with a little sticky note that said, 'Sorry I was an ass! -S,' before going downstairs.

The little gift bags the woman prepared were in a festive red bowl with snowflakes on it. Sakura placed it on the dining table with a note explaining there was one for everyone and finally left the house. The sun was setting. Since Sai's place was across town, it'd be almost nine o'clock when she'd arrive.

~Four Hours Later~

Sakura was drunk. No, she was more than that. The pink-haired woman was absolutely trashed. Ino and Karin challenged her to a drinking contest in which she emerged victorious. Despite that, the three inebriated women were having the time of their lives dancing to the blasting music in the dimly lit building. If a hundred people weren't present, it was somewhere close to that.

Sai was behind Ino, the two flirting shamelessly while Sakura and Karin simply enjoyed one another's company. After the whole sleeping-with-Sasuke incident, the two grew closer.

"Do you have a hair tie?" The green-eyed woman yelled over the music, fanning her face with one hand and pulling her long hair away from her sticky skin with the other.

The redhead responded, "Check the bathroom. Ino probably left some here!"

Sakura nodded, motioning drunkenly that she would go do that so her dance partner would know to wait for her to return. Stumbling a little, she giggled to herself, squeezing past dozens of people in the crowded building's halls and rooms until she found the restroom. A couple was making out, but she was too out of it to care.

Still fanning her sweaty skin, she searched the cabinets in the restroom before finally finding what she was looking for. Grinning, she pulled her hair back into a high ponytail that resembled the one Ino often wore.

Upon stepping out of the bathroom, Sakura caught a glimpse of familiar-looking broad shoulders and white-gray hair. 'What in the world is he doing here?'

It was her intention to sneak up on the man but ended up tripping over her own feet and caught herself by wrapping her arms around the man's middle, her cheek to his back. Snickering, too drunk to take much seriously, Sakura gripped handfuls of his shirt and steadied herself.

When he turned and recognized her, offering an amused laugh, she grinned sheepishly, "Mr. Hatake, I swear I didn't mean to do that."

The teacher turned to face her, the few guys he was talking with wandering away and leaving them alone, "We keep meeting like this."

"Yeah, well, why are you at a student party anyway? Isn't it a little weird, Sir?" Sakura slurred, grabbing onto one of his forearms to steady herself when she lost her balance.

"Sai is my godson, actually. So it's not all that weird for me to keep an eye on things," he paused before leaning a little closer and lowering his voice, "And I thought I asked you to call me Kakashi when we're not at school. It makes me feel weird when you address me so formally."

A few inebriated students rushed by, knocking Sakura into her professor's chest. She turned her neck to glare in their direction, yelling comically, "Watch it, Assholes!" They didn't hear her and continued on their way.

"Sakura," Kakashi suddenly said, making the woman realize how close they were because his voice was close. She took half a step back before he cautiously held her waist, brown eyes warm and dark.

'...Why is he looking at me like that?'

She flinched when he suddenly leaned forward so his mouth was at her ear, "You need to quit getting close to me like this. I'm bound to make a very unprofessional decision if you don't."

A bashful heat met the drunken flush of her pretty skin when he moved back to fix her with that intense stare again. The woman nodded, "Okay. I'll go, then." The alcohol made it hard for her to completely comprehend what he meant, but she at least understood that he wanted her to back off.

So, Sakura stepped away, hazy green eyes studying the older man's serious ones for a few moments before turning and entering the crowded hall that leads back to the main room where Karin was likely waiting for her to meet back up.

'Mr. Hatake's kinda hot. He's way too old for me, though,' she mused, snickering as she weaved and dodged other equally inebriated people.

Somewhere between point A and point B, someone's foot made its way in her path, and she tripped, barely preventing herself from falling embarrassingly in front of all these people. Fumbling upright again, she held her hands out slightly to regain her balance.

A raspy voice, male, came from behind her, "Sorry about that! Are you alright?" Long, calloused fingers grabbed her arm to help stabilize her.

The woman grinned, shaking her head and continuing, "No worries; I'm good! Bye!"

Her arm was released, and she almost immediately ran into Ino and Sai, the former beaming with bright blue eyes, "Saku, Babe, who was that hottie?! Are you an idiot? He was totally into you!"

Curious, Sakura turned to look for the person in question, only to glimpse bright blonde hair on a tall, athletically built man whose back was turned as he spoke with someone nearby, "...no…." Complete and utter horror took over her body.

Without sparing a moment, Sakura shoved past Ino, who yelled, "What the hell?!" and tearfully struggled through the loud, crowded house until she found the exit. She didn't stop there, though.

Too alarmed to even search through the massive pile of winter coats by the door, she ran and ran, the snowflakes and icy winter air stinging her skin. The hair tie fell out at some point, so long hair fell over her shoulders when she finally tripped, scraping up her hands and knees on the concrete sidewalk. Whimpering in fright, the woman frantically looked behind her and scrambled around the corner of the nearby alleyway to press her back to the wall.

'It's him! He's here! How did he find me?' Nausea overwhelmed the woman, and she gagged but wouldn't allow herself to be sick because that meant she'd have to close her eyes for more than a second. 'If I so much as blink, he'll get me. I know he will.'

The sound of footsteps met her ears, and she glanced around the corner to see a tall, shadowed figure approaching from down the road. Her vision was too hazy with the crying and the drunkenness to make out any details, but it was enough to send her into a further panic.

For some reason she couldn't explain, Sakura's mind jumped to Sasuke, and suddenly she could only think, 'He won't let that happen. I have to get to him before it's too late!' Pulling her phone from her back pocket, she stumbled to her feet again, breaking into a jog again while looking behind her every so often, thick tears flooding her cheeks.

"Let me guess, you need a ride?" The Uchiha man's irritated voice never sounded so sweet.

Gasping for breath, Sakura skidded around a corner, barely able to speak in her state, "S-S-Sasuke! Please help me!"

The difference in his tone was jarring, then, "Where are you? What's wrong?"

Sobbing, the woman struggled to get upright again, the distant echo of someone else's steps fueling her terror, "I'm sorry for always being a b-bitch, Sasuke. I-I'll make it up to you, so please come! I won't do it again. Please-" Her breath hitched, cutting off her plea.

"Sakura, tell me where you are."

Shaking her head, she looked around, dizzy and confused, "There's a-a, um, there's a big church down the road with a red roof, but I-I don't know what-!" The poor girl's phone slid from her fingers, and despite her tipsy efforts to catch it, she wasn't fast enough, and the device hit the ground hard, the screen cracking harshly and going black.

"Hey, are you alright? I saw you fall." A male voice called from the other end of the alleyway.

Sakura's spine straightened, and she only needed to see a single glimpse of blonde hair to frantically begin running again, abandoning her broken phone there on the concrete.

'Don't stop! Keep going! He'll kill you, or worse, if you stop running!'

'What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck.'

Sasuke's knee bounced anxiously as he steered the car with one hand and continuously tried to get Sakura to answer the phone with his other. It's after one a.m. He doesn't care about that part because he often stays up later than this, but he does care that it sounded like the pink-haired woman was scared for her life. Just before the call dropped, a male voice was in the background, but he hadn't expected it, so he didn't understand what it said.

'That fuckin' idiot! This is why I said she needs to tell me where she's going!'

The Uchiha man's on edge, pissed, and concerned beyond what he considers acceptable. 'She said there was a red-roofed church. I know of only one like that,' he thought, dark eyes glaring ahead at the snowy road. The streets aren't entirely dead despite the winter weather because it's Christmas Eve. That said, not many walked the sidewalks.

Finally, after half an hour of driving over the speed limit, the church came into view. He pulled up to the curb in front of it, slammed the brakes, put the car in park, and rushed inside with one hand on the gun tucked into the back of his jeans.

'Please tell me she was smart enough to come here. Who knows how long it'll take to find her if she's out there running through the alleys.'

Sasuke didn't like how Sakura begged him so desperately. For a woman like her to outright ask for help without hesitation, she must be scared beyond belief. Whatever's going on is serious. That's why he didn't call for her when he went into the dark church.

'Why is this place empty anyway? Don't religious people always flock to places like this on Christmas?'

Upon entering the chapel, he realized why no one was around. It was under construction. A massive hole covered by a tarp with scaffolding and supplies beneath it sat in the center of the ceiling.

Keeping close to the wall, the man verified no one was in the large room before cursing under his breath and turning down a hallway he'd seen near the entrance, "Where the fuck are you, Sakura?"

He opened the men's restroom and gave it a once-over before doing the same to the women's. As he turned, letting the door close, the tiniest sound caught his attention, and his neck turned sharply toward the room again. Slipping inside quietly, he pulled his gun out and held it at his side while keeping his steps silent. Three stall doors were ajar, but the last one wasn't, the one furthest from the entrance.

'I swear to fuckin' God….'

In hindsight, he should've realized that his approach was way too violent, but at the time, all he could picture was some dirtbag holding his woman behind that door with a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. Fueled by the rage the image caused, he kicked the door open, pointing the gun inside with a glare that'd kill if possible.

A pathetically weak cry of fear met his ears, and his anger melted into worry when there, in the very corner of the larger, handicapped stall, sat Sakura. Her knees were to her chest, and her hands were on her head as she trembled and squeezed her eyes closed, trying to turn herself into the smallest ball possible and disappear.

"Sakura! Babe, what happened?"

Sasuke's body moved independently. He tucked the gun away, kneeling beside her and prying her hands from her hair to try and get her to lift her head. The woman fought it, sobbing so hard that she couldn't possibly speak.

His brow furrowed as he gently rested his hands atop hers, looking over her appearance more closely. Her jeans were ripped, and her knees were bleeding, as were her palms. Blood dirtied her fingers and hair.

'When I find out who the fuck did this, they're gonna wish they were never born.'

The man checked outside the stall to ensure they were alone before taking off his coat and laying it atop her shoulders, "Put it on before you get hypothermia." Without waiting for her response, he pulled his phone from his pocket and began dialing Itachi's number, only to freeze when Sakura finally spoke.

"...You actually came."

Looking down at her, his teeth gritted, and he moved to help her stand, only then realizing that she was drunk beyond belief. The woman stumbled forward, throwing her arms around his middle and sobbing into his shirt as she thanked him with barely understandable words.

Sasuke didn't know what to think, feel, or do. He placed a hand on the back of her head in an attempt to comfort her while he figured it out, though.

'Is she actually in danger, or is this just her being paranoid again, like when she thought someone was following her home?' He could understand if it only happened that once, but two times….

'Maybe she really is crazy.'

It may seem as though he's judging her, but he only felt bad that she was so scared all the time, and that's all. If it's true that no one was after her that time or this time, and she's been imagining things, it can only be because of whatever trauma she was dealing with. Whatever made her wake up ready to defend herself from an attacker and stress her into being unable to stomach food was to blame.

'She needs help,' Sasuke thought, frowning as he finally came to his senses and guided her to slip her arms into the coat resting on her shoulders, 'It'll only get worse if she doesn't do something.'

He said calmly, "Let's go home. You're alright."

Sakura nodded, allowing him to interlace their fingers and guide her outside to the still-running car. After ensuring she was safely inside, he got in, as well, and began the drive back to the house.

'Yahiko and the others won't care about any of this. There has to be a way to get her out of there without either of us getting killed.'

"H-He found me," the inebriated woman suddenly whispered. Even roughed up and exhausted, she still looked pretty cute in his coat, which was way too big for her petite frame.

Though he was sure by this point that no one had actually been chasing her, he still asked, "Who found you, Babe?"

Terrified, tearful green eyes glittered in the moonlight as Sakura looked at him, her voice cracking, "My ex."