A knock came at Sasuke's office door in the evening. He answered it expectantly, even though he was exhausted from all the stress of finding a nearly dead Sakura just hours ago. It was almost sunset, so he was sure she wouldn't wake up today but was surprised to see Ino standing there.

She bowed before tensely glancing down the hallway on either of her sides and whispering, "May I speak to you in private, My Lord?"

If he didn't know for sure that Maid Ino and Butler Sai often snuck off to hook up when they thought he wasn't around, the prince would be concerned about allowing an unmarried woman to enter a room alone with him. Instead, he stepped aside, especially since she likely came with news regarding his fiance.

Once the door was closed, she fumbled with her nails before awkwardly gesturing toward the desk, "You may wish to be seated for this."

"I'm fine right here. What is it?" He bit. His patience was thin as a sheet of paper.

Ino searched his face silently for a moment before lowering her gaze and explaining, "Lady Sakura has confided in me what has upset her enough to…to do something so drastic."

'Did she really?' Sasuke thought, completely surprised. He gritted his teeth, looking over the blond maid with fresh eyes, 'Perhaps they're closer than I initially thought.'

The maid seemed genuinely concerned earlier, and now she was obviously uncomfortable with whatever was about to be said. He waited for her to continue, not looking away when she ventured to steal a glance at his face. She sighed, tears welling in her eyes. She covered them with one hand and spoke with a wavering, emotional tone, "She was…hurt, My Lord."

Sasuke waited for elaboration but said when none came, "That much is obvious. Tell me the details." Ino's hand dropped from her face. When he saw her furrowed brows and the very specific look in her eye, everything clicked. "You're lying," he quietly warned.

'The one thing worse than death for a woman…It couldn't have happened, not to her.'

But the Yamanaka woman nodded, wiping at her tears, "I'll prepare a report with all the information she gave, but I thought you'd like to know immediately."

If there was a word to describe the level of discontent in Sasuke's soul at that moment, it hadn't yet been crafted by man because it was impossible for anyone else to have felt such a way and not imploded.

He wanted to shout.

He wanted to destroy everything in the manor. He wanted to tear whoever hurt his fiance apart, one bit of skin to the next, until they begged for death.

More than anything, he wanted to bang his head against the wall because he should've been able to deduce this truth before now. 'That woman suffered abuse her whole life and remained kind. Only something truly awful could destroy her like this, something I was sure she was ignorant of.'

He dismissed Ino because he didn't want her around. He didn't want anyone around for what he was trying to work through.

'It's my fucking fault! I knew she was clueless about sex, and I didn't say a word about it! If only I'd-!' He punched the thick wooden desk's top, cursing under his breath. 'It doesn't matter if she was educated on the matter or not. She'd still be traumatized.'

Now he was picturing all the times they'd been together since he found her in the forest. 'All this time, she's been suffering from something like this? Why didn't she tell me?'

Sasuke's face fell as he recalled her words in the bathroom earlier. Groaning, the prince crouched with his head in his hands. He said aloud to himself, "She thinks I hate her now."

But he wasn't sure what to do to make her understand that that wasn't the truth. He didn't know how to face her at all after allowing something terrible like this to happen. In his heart of hearts, he wanted to blame The Curse for letting Sakura out of his sight the night she was kidnapped, but knew it'd be unfair because he had no way of knowing what'd happen.

'No, it's my fault for not assigning guards to protect her. It's my fault for not preparing her for the worst. It's my fault for not breaking off the engagement before things got to this point.'

He couldn't push her away now, not just because it'd be unbelievably unfair to Sakura, but because he couldn't bear the thought of not being there to prevent something else, anything else, from bringing her harm.

Then, at the least opportune time, that familiar sting of pain erupted on the back of his shoulder, near his neck. A gagged sound passed his lips before The Curse's voice hissed, "What did that servant mean when she said My Sacrifice was hurt? Why are you enraged, Prince?"

Sasuke clutched at his chest, where the fire of the shift and the blazing of his emotions burnt like lava, "Stay away from her. She's not-!" He choked on his words, falling to his knees from where he was knelt as The Curse came closer to completely taking over.

"What will a cowardly insect like you do to something as great as me?"

Sasuke struggled to his feet, trying to get to his closet to lock up the demon, but was too late. Akuma would usually laugh and mock the Uchiha man for failing but was in a particularly foul mood. Yesterday, his sacrifice called him a monster with no shame or regard for her master.

'I've become weak since her arrival. I should've punished her insolence on the spot, not left the room,' he got to his feet and dusted his clothes off while heading for the door, 'Her words and actions have opened my eyes to the truth. I am a monster, as she says, and I should behave as such.'

Truthfully, Akuma was hurt, but he wasn't human, so he wasn't capable of discerning his own feelings. No, as a demon, he only knew that he was angry and that Sakura was the cause. He'd never felt as human as he did over the past weeks, spending all his time with the pinkette, learning her mannerisms and soaking in her obedience with an air of satisfaction.

Akuma had forgotten in his rage that the reason he was in Sasuke's body, to begin with, was because he wanted to experience life as a mortal. His wish had begun to be granted with Sakura's attention, but she took it away last night. Now, he was falling on what was comfortable, what the demonic instincts ingrained in his soul said to do, and that was to assert his dominance so that the woman would never carelessly speak to him like that again.

In reality, he wanted nothing more than to prevent himself from feeling so awful like this in the future. Akuma felt betrayed. As a result, he made his way to Sakura's room, not bothering to knock before barging in. The woman let out a small, terrified squeak, the book in her hands dropping onto her lap on the bed.

"Curse, you can't-!" "Get out, Whore," the demon hissed at Ino, who went white in the face before scampering out of the room like a puppy with their tail between their legs.

Sakura called after the maid, "I'll be okay!" Obviously, to reassure her.

Akuma did not like that. His voice boomed as he ordered the pinkette, "On your feet. Stand before me."

She obeyed with subtle tremors marring her movements.

Once the woman was close enough, he grabbed a handful of her hair before roughly shoving her to the ground into a bowing position. Kneeling and keeping his hand atop her head, Akuma's words bled with poison and hate, "You believe you'll survive a monster like me, Mouse? Where has your sense gone? Have you forgotten who is your master?"

Sakura didn't try to fight him and remained silent and still for a long time, her palms on the floor.

Eventually, he became tired of waiting and tugged at her hair, pulling her face up so he could see the disgust on her features. "Useless. Beg for my forgiveness, or I'll behead you." Akuma thought he meant it but really didn't. It actually tightened his chest when a pang of hurt met Sakura's expression, as though she'd been slapped.

When she spoke, the words weren't what he expected. "Perhaps you'll be successful where I have not."

That was when the demon finally recalled what he'd witnessed through Sasuke's eyes over the past twenty-four hours. The grip on the pinkette's hair loosened, but the demon's glare narrowed further, "Why did you try to end your own life?" Sakura did not answer, instead searching his face with tears beginning to well in her green eyes. Again, Akuma lost his temper, shouting, "Answer me!"

A tiny cry left the woman's mouth as she squeezed her eyes closed, bringing her hands to her lips to try and muffle it. Shaking like a leaf in a storm, the woman shook her head, "I-I can't say it. I'm too ashamed."

Just like that, Akuma's uncontrollable emotions simmered down enough to realize that there was some sort of misunderstanding happening. A strange feeling met his stomach, akin to self-hate but not exactly the same. Red eyes looked over the woman's disheveled appearance before slowly guiding her to her knees before him, where he knelt. The fistful of hair loosened, and Akuma searched her pale face while bringing his fingers to her chin to keep her still.

After a moment of sorting out his thoughts, he whispered, "Tell me, Sakura."

Her green irises widened, still glimmering with unshed tears. The fear faded to be replaced with disgust and sadness. It took the woman a few moments to work herself up, but she eventually squeezed her eyes closed and admitted, "Someone made me theirs."

Akuma's entire body tensed in surprise when she burst into tears and threw her arms around his middle, crying into his shirt. His arms moved on their own to cautiously hold her trembling form while his red eyes glazed over as the truth of the situation sank in.

'Someone forced her to….She was….'

Sasuke's distress during the shift made complete sense now.

The demon felt something he never thought he would at that moment, and that was shame. He should've realized sooner what was going on with his sensitive and vulnerable sacrifice. Even yesterday, when she called him a monster, it was now obviously because she'd been given an inaccurate view of what having sex is. She thought he wanted to rape her. When she first arrived, that was the case, but not anymore. All his flirting and insinuations weren't a lie, but he'd sooner take pride in making the innocent woman succumb to pleasure than harm her.

Sakura eventually passed out in Akuma's arms, exhausted from crying so hard. He carried her to the bed, gently laying her down. He paused when reaching for the covers, eyes roaming over her slender body. Under that nightgown, would there be any signs of what'd happened, or did her strange healing ability get rid of any proof?

Glancing at the still-closed door of the room, the demon verified they were alone before brushing soft strands of pink hair from Sakura's face, kneeling at her bedside. Her already fair skin was pale, and dark shadows plagued the skin beneath her eyes from unrestful periods of sleep.

'To think that I believed this girl would call me a monster when she's been the only person to treat me as though I'm something resembling a human,' Akuma thought while giving in and climbing under the covers beside the pinkette.

He ran a hand down her flat stomach to rest atop the portion of her abdomen where she'd stabbed herself just hours ago. If he was able to use some of his magic abilities, he wouldn't have enough self-control to stop himself from viewing her memories, if only to pinpoint the swine responsible for this mess.

'I'll identify him one way or another, and when I do, he'll wish he'd never been born.'

Hours later, Sasuke woke to the feeling of warmth between his arms. He didn't need to open his eyes to know it was his fiance snuggled into his chest, still sleeping soundly. Last night, he'd helplessly watched the demon attack her, fighting with all he had to regain control of his body before it was too late, only to be stunned to witness him discovering the truth from Sakura's own admission. The self-disgust and angst upon the beautiful woman's face as she broke into pieces before him was gut-wrenching.

Oh, how he wished he could've been the one to comfort her. Unconsciously, the prince's arms tightened around the thin girl. If only his embrace could protect her from all the fallout of being assaulted. He wished only to take away the awful memories so the intelligent, shy, and caring glow could return to her emerald gaze.

It went without saying that he blamed himself entirely for what happened. If she hadn't been left alone, she wouldn't have been kidnapped. He failed her, and he felt as though he owed her the world to try and make up for it, though nothing would ever fully heal such traumatic wounds.

Sasuke soon slipped out of Sakura's room without waking her, hoping she'd continue to rest and recuperate her strength. The maid Ino was waiting outside with an envelope and a sad expression. She handed it to the prince, "My report on what Lady Sakura told me about the attack."

He accepted the envelope with barely contained anger, as eager to read the report as he was dreading, "Do not let her out of your sight. There cannot be a repeat of yesterday."

Ino bowed her head before slipping into his fiance's bedroom to follow orders.

In his office, Sasuke sat at his desk and opened the envelope, reading it two times over to ensure he missed nothing.

'I don't know why I expected her to name her attacker. Either the monster's confident Sakura will never be able to identify him, she was threatened with something even she couldn't bear, she's still too ashamed to point fingers, or, in the least likely scenario, they're someone strong enough to use magic and erase any memories of their face.'

The prince sighed, folding up the horrible report and placing it in the top drawer of his desk. Then, he wrote a letter to his elder brother, explaining what he'd learned and requesting an update on the attack's investigation.

He also sent a letter to Baron Haruno since he'd requested to be kept informed of his daughter's circumstances. As much as Sasuke would like to hide his fiance away from her awful family, he couldn't do that yet because they'd yet to be officially married. Until she took on his surname, the law required him to adhere to the Haruno family's requests.

Once the letters were sent with the manor's courier, Sasuke sat back in his chair and glared at the ceiling as though it were possible to obtain answers from the gods if he appeared intimidated enough. His mind was a wreck trying to ignore the disgusting truth. No matter how hard he fought to avenge Sakura's assault and abuse, it wouldn't mean a thing in the end because the plan was to sacrifice her after they were wed. The prince tried to convince himself it was all to make her last weeks on Earth as comfortable as possible, but he knew it was futile.

As he sat there, restless with anxious energy, he whispered where only he and the demon could hear, "I care for her."