Chapter 28.: Pain is for the living

The young witcher was never one to take a long nap. On the contrary, as soon as the first rays of sunlight broke through the darkness of the night, his obsidian eyes opened.

The night was more pleasant and closer to him, there was no doubt about that. His soul was bound to his past, of which he was not proud; maybe that's why he sought refuge in the shadows since childhood.

With a soft sigh, he closed his eyes again. At least for a short while longer, he wanted to keep the strange calm that surrounded him. He grunted uncomfortably as he felt a certain weight on his chest.

He mentally rolled his eyes.

He didn't like the mornings when the specter created by Itachi's lines would sneak into his room. Mikoto always jumped up on the bed and sat right in the middle of his chest.

He didn't want to open his eyes and have to look at her smile again, calling him to the start of a new day.

Suddenly, his nose was buried in the soft texture of her hair, which tickled his cheek with its subtle citrus scent. The uneasy feeling he woke up with disappeared as quickly as it came when he realized where his oasis of calm came from. He reached out an arm, then wrapped it around the young woman's narrow waist, pulling her even closer to him.

Who was he to deserve this creature in his arms?

Sasuke buried his face in the sleeping girl's pink hair.

His life of sin was no match for the virtuous one reflected in her hidden jade eyes. While her hands created and brought joy, his were stained with blood and brought destruction to all they touched.

He couldn't change who he was. He should not have dreams, he should not have desires. Well, at least that's what he thought until a few weeks ago when this divine creature overflowing with joy and love came into his life again.

Sakura squirmed, her hand resting on his chest cupping the fabric of his black t-shirt between her fingers, whimpering softly. Sasuke's hand resting on her slim waist traveled up her back; he gently touched the top of her head and stroked her pink hair. At his action, the girl squirmed in his arms and her tense body relaxed, her breathing slowed.

When did the future heir of the Uchiha clan become what he is today?

His clan was respected, revered, and virtuous because of the deeds of his ancestors. Only a few, usually only the oldest or those whose ravages of time failed to mark, remembered a time when witcher were common Downworlders. It was a time when they also met with other species under the roofs of the bar called Three Warlockses. Even Sasuke was once a child who had dreams; he wanted so badly to become a great witcher like his father and brother, to follow in their footsteps and one day step out of their shadow. Witchers of old could once be compared to the police among humans, representing the extended arm of justice in the world of the Downworld. It was only during the war when Madara accepted the devil's offer and gave him his allegiance, that the curse of darkness was cast upon the witchers as such, marking many lives forever.

Mikoto took his place in the afterlife. And now that he was an adult, he bore the consequences of his actions, which he had mentally reckoned with, so to speak.

Ever since he found the Genie's lamp and made his first wish, he knew that no secret could stay a secret forever. Maybe he just hoped in the back of his mind that the moment would never happen, that it wouldn't catch up with him. He would never admit it—and God forbid he ever thought it or said it aloud—but The Uchiha, despite his aloofness and unkindness, looking into the sky blue eyes as Naruto rejected him felt as if something broke inside him. But he didn't see anger or hatred in them - no, that would be a hundred times better - he saw disappointment in them.

A low and grumpy growl escaped his lips.

Human wisdom passed down from generation to generation said something about opposites attracting. But, was it so? He didn't know that—he just knew that he didn't agree.

The day his best friend fell to Earth, Sasuke didn't feel like opposites attracted. The touch of their palms as they first shook hands as they introduced each other said otherwise. The Uzumaki was happy with each passing day; his soul fell in love with everything the world was willing to offer him. Uchiha was not like that and could never be. Yet they spent their lives together, grew up together, fought side by side, and supported each other in battle accompanied by their signature insults.

' Usuratonkachi, get off me.'

'Don't call me usuratonkachi, Teme!'

'Screw you, Baka.'

'You twice, TEME!'

Opposites did not attract; The Uchiha wished it from heaven. Opposites complemented each other, just as the sun complemented the moon and together they made the day – as the Uzumaki completed him. And now the witcher knew he had lost his opposite.

Sasuke has been known for years for his unchanging facial expressions. He was almost certain they were bulletproof - except for Itachi and Naruto, of course, who had long been the only ones who could read him like an open book.

Onyx eyes opened to look at the disheveled mess of pink hair, a calm expression playing on the demigoddess's face. She was the one who joined Itachi and Naruto. The one that broke through all the barriers built up over the years. Worst of all was the fact that she didn't need Itachi's wisdom to bring them down, nor Naruto's enthusiasm and unwavering character; Sakura destroyed his shield only with the help of her two shining and unique jades.

Only from her lips did his name not seem like something reprehensible, something that didn't need to be immediately burned to ashes to save the world from certain and impending doom. Her jade eyes looked at him like a pure, unblemished soul. He could almost believe it, at least for a small moment, that he might be worthy of her.

But how would it have turned out, he often wondered, if he had told her the truth then?

I'm a witcher who will ruin your life. I will take away the only thing you have - freedom.

Sasuke closed his eyes again. No, he couldn't, not after he felt free for those few minutes. He was selfish, he knew that, but the feeling she left him then haunted him as much as the memories of the massacre of his clan. He needed to feel it again, that relief, to see her eyes looking at him.

He didn't want to see the glow in her eyes disappear the moment she realized the witcher she was so afraid of was sitting next to her. He wasn't stupid, he wasn't faking anything. He knew well who he was. And therefore he knew where his place was.

He remembered racing through the streets of nighttime Konoha from the sentient house.

' Sasuke, go!'' Ino shouted as she opened her blue eyes with horror on her face which she didn't even have time to fix on the witcher as he had long since shot out of the room through the window to get to the Uzumaki's house as soon as possible.

He made his way to the door he originally planned to break open, only to find that someone had already overtaken him; he stepped in and his onyx eyes rested on the white-haired shaman, the Goddess of Love, and the blond lying unconscious on the ground. The Uchiha frowned, looking around carefully at those present. He had no doubt then that Jiraiya was the one who knocked Naruto to the ground as Tsunade was staring blankly into space. Bending down to check on Uzumaki's condition, he activated his innate ability, blood red flooding his eyes. It wasn't his place to meddle in family matters, even though he caused them - he broke up another family, only this time he didn't take a family's father by impaling him with his Chidori-charged katana. This was a million times worse because they were all alive.

The dead felt no pain. Sasuke understood as a child that pain is for the living.

' Uchiha ... I... Just... Don't hurt her.'

He felt like screaming.

How could he?

He wrapped his other arm around the pink-haired girl as well, being careful not to wake her up from her peaceful sleep.

The goddess of love did not see in him even an iota of the light that her daughter had sown in him. How could he, how could he hurt the only creature in the world that meant his salvation from the darkness?

*.*.*.*.*.*

After Sakura woke up, a chill ran through her body like a crawling snake.

At first, she was confused because she didn't understand where the pleasant warmth that surrounded her all night had gone. That was until she moved her arm. She then landed on the cold mattress; she ran her hand over the cool sheets a few more times until she admitted that her first thought was true. Sasuke wasn't there.

If it weren't for his scent filling the air in the room and the few pleasantly sore spots on her skin that had appeared from his rougher touches last night, she might have believed there wasn't a single piece of evidence of his presence.

She blushed as the memories flooded her mind. The sensation she constantly felt on her skin as his hands traveled over her body, exploring every bit of her; his tongue conquering their lips, his lips tracing her curves. And despite the recent facts that shook the foundations of her world, she felt somehow magically happy.

She found it almost ironic. Her happiness came from someone who caused a change in the direction of her life. She loved the Uchiha Sasuke, she loved the witcher. There was no longer any reason to deny it.

She fell in love with his cold nature, his arrogant smirks, his insults to Naruto, and his outlook on life as such. Sakura fell for the beauty of his darkness. Scowling slightly at his style, she pulled the blanket closer and draped it over her head as she remembered her earlier views on witchers.

The worst of the worst.

However, she was not the one to refute these previous claims. It was he—it was he who disproved every single assumption about this layer of the downworders.

She felt a foreign weight on the bed next to her trying to climb up. After that, the tiny figure demanded access under her covers.

Eyes still closed, Sakura lifted the arm that held the corner of the blanket. Just a second later, a tiny body snuggled up to her, long raven hair tickling her body. She wiggled the fingers of her right hand slightly, causing the blanket to rise into the air as if on command, creating an imaginary bunker over the two girls.

She lovingly wrapped the little girl close and stroked her raven hair.

"I miss you and you don't even exist"

Mikoto took her hand, pulling her off the bed and bouncing in place. Sakura bent down to take her in her arms, and then Mikoto wrapped her arms around her neck and stuck her index finger out in front of her indicating the direction. She watched tenderly as the little girl put her palm to her eyebrow area as if she were looking into the far horizon imitating a pirate on a ship.

Sakura accepted the small girl's innocent play, they moved seamlessly from ship to plane as she held her around her waist and expertly maneuvered her through the air at a slight trot. As soon as their plane entered the living room, Sakura froze at the sight of Itachi's serious face.

"What's wrong, Itachi?" she asked.

Itachi turned his face away and walked over to the window as if he were impatiently waiting for someone. Sakura walked up to him with a frown.

She didn't like his silence; rather, it made her feel a certain kind of dread. At this time, he should have been standing by the window with a cup of coffee, looking somewhere in the street, and an aura of calmness should have been radiating from his surroundings. If he hadn't been giving them a look a moment ago, it would almost seem like he wasn't even aware of the presence of the two girls in the room.

His dark pupils were looking somewhere in the distance ahead of him, his body was tense, and his fists were clenched and pressed against the window sill.

"Where's Sasuke?"

"He went for the others," he growled in a grumpy tone.

"The others?" she repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Before the elder raven could even answer her, the front door flew open and a handful of fully armed downworlders entered the interior of the house with Sasuke leading the group.

Everyone present gathered around the spacious dining table. Sakura instinctively pulled Mikoto closer to her and watched the scene before her with a frown.

The downworlders spread out around the perimeter of the large table and fixed their gazes on Sasuke, who reached under his black cloak, pulled out a map, and then spread it across the entire length of the wooden surface.

The strained silence was broken by a woman's exasperated, deafening scream, which was heard again from the door just a short while later.

"I told you we'd be late, zombie fish!"

Sakura instinctively turned at the sound. She caught sight of Karin who had just headbutted her companion Suigetsu and the huge redhead werewolf Juugo who was sighing resignedly with his arms crossed over his chest.

Shikamaru cleared his throat to draw attention to himself.

"After a few hours, I managed to narrow the number of possibilities down to these," the sentient, who for a change did not look bored but instead was serious. "Possible places are here, here, and here." He pointed to the red crosses on the map. "I suggest we split up."

Shikamaru paused and looked at Sasuke. The onyx irises oscillated from one point to another as if considering the most likely location for mission success.

The black-haired sentient cleared his throat again. " Sasuke."

All the downworlders looked up at the witcher who just nodded curtly. Shikamaru took this gesture as an agreement to his idea and thus, decided to continue his speech.

"We will divide into teams. Strategically, it would be best if each team had one representative from each type of underworld, but since our options are limited, we have to make do with what we have.''

Everyone nodded at his words.

Ino rushed into the house like a hurricane; she was dragging Hinata behind her. "We're here, we're here!"

No one reacted to their presence other than a glance back to the map or Shikamaru.

"Like I said, we'll make teams. And since this mission is supposed to be successful, we'll start with a lucky number," they all nodded and stood to attention. "Team Seven – Sasuke , Kakashi and Sai ."

Itachi approached Team Seven to add his person to it. No one dared to protest or object even though this meant that Team Seven would be made up of two witchers and two vampires. They all decided to accept this fact without any complaints. Either that or feel the Chidori Nagashi in his guts or spend the rest of his life in the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Sakura narrowed her eyes to get a better look at Kakashi, who was holding his signature orange book. A tall silver-haired man was leaning against the wall in the distance. The mask he had on his face didn't reveal too much. It was only when the silver-haired man approached and the sun's rays fell on his figure that she noticed his skin shimmering softly.

Team Seven stepped aside.

"Gai, TenTen, Neji, and Lee," he turned to them. "You will be a team—"

"Team Gai!" shouted the man in the green jumpsuit, giving a thumbs up. "We will beat you, Kakashi!"

Sakura blinked to make sure the resemblance between this man and Rock Lee wasn't a coincidence. He looked like an older version of himself to her, even his eyebrows were thicker.

"This isn't a contest, Gai," Kakashi muttered absently.

"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru muttered and Team Gai stepped aside following Team Seven's lead. " Kiba, Hinata and Shino will be Team Eight."

After Shikamaru nodded his head to them, Kiba howled happily.

"Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou, you're used to working together, so I suppose it wouldn't be beneficial to split you up. And finally, team ten will be me, Chouji, and Ino."

"Hey, what's this combination, two sentients and one wizard?" Kiba complained.

Shikamaru sighed tiredly. "The Ino-Shika-Chou formation is advantageous together. It's been this way since time immemorial, moron.'

"Yeah, barely. Just admit that you like blondes." The werewolf continued to prod.

Sasuke growled in warning. He began to ask himself what was on his mind to summon all these imbeciles.

"I'm into blondes too!" Suigetsu exclaimed cheerfully, but with each word, his tone of voice grew quieter as he noticed Karin's menacing look and clenched fist. "Well sorry, I'm not interested in a woman with a broom on her head!"

Karin braced herself to thrust at him, but her action was halted as the younger Uchiha's menacing voice echoed through the room, turning on them with his Sharingan activated. Looking at the witcher, Suigetsu shouted, circling Karin's figure and crouching behind her.

"I don't have time for your bullshits," he growled, "We're leaving."

As if on cue, the split teams scattered to the front door and disappeared, save for team seven who was still there to be the last to leave.

Mikoto wriggled out of Sakura's arms, jumped to the ground, and ran to Itachi. He crouched down to give the little girl a goodbye hug.

"Don't worry, sweetie," he murmured into her hair in a loving hug, Mikoto buried her face in his chest.

Itachi straightened, along with a pale vampire named Sai and Kakashi left the room to leave Sakura and Sasuke alone.

Sakura approached him only to earn a blank stare from him.

" Sasuke, what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Naruto,"

Sakura clenched her fists.

"May I know why I'm not invited to your party?" she gritted ironically.

Sasuke walked around her and headed for the exit. He only stopped when he felt something blunt hit his back. He turned and looked at the ground and saw that there was an open book lying there.

He looked up to look at the pink-haired girl who was still interested in the stance during which she sent the object through the air. Sasuke raised an eyebrow in confusion.

They exchanged hard glances, sharp as knives. As Sakura opened her mouth to speak, she felt a slight gust of wind. Blinking, she realized it was Sasuke's speed who was now standing dangerously close to her.

"Sakura,"

"No, Sasuke," she refused. "I'll go with you."

The raven-haired man tilted his head and closed his eyes. He felt a grip on his cloak as her hands gripped him and she moved closer so he could smell her citrus scent. He lowered his head to look into jade eyes.

"Don't be annoying,"

"Stop being a conceited, egotistical, selfish bastard— "

Her words were silenced, and her breath caught as her lips ended up trapped in his kiss. Sakura's arms fell limply along her body as Sasuke's hands held her face close to his and he deepened the kiss, so desperate and so lustful. His hands slid to her waist and she buried her fingers in his raven hair.

The black-haired man separated from her, resting his forehead against hers. He caressed her cheeks with a gentle movement, Sakura kept her eyes closed for a moment at the touch.

"Stay here in case usuratonkachi comes back,"

He ran his thumb along her lower lip, jade eyes opening to meet two dark obsidian ones.

"Come back," she asked in a small voice.

After nodding briefly, he separated himself from her and left the room without a last look back.

Suddenly this house seemed huge to her, bigger than ever before. But she knew, she had to understand, that the witcher was right—someone had to stay. Sasuke planned a quest to find the missing blond again, to bring him back – to bring him home. Not doubting his experience and abilities, she resigned herself to accepting the role he assigned her in this plan.

She took a deep breath to draw fresh air into her lungs. To her surprise, a strange smell of lavender with a hint of… something hit her nose.

She frowned, but before she could reflect on the previous realization, the silence that had reigned in the mansion until now was broken by a slow, lazy, and almost mocking applause, the sound of which grew closer with each clap. She roused all of her senses as the black marks spread from her forehead to her face, and her neck until they wrapped around her entire body. The jade eyes narrowed, and she flicked her gaze in all directions.

In just a short while, the sound of lazy applause approached and a figure in a gray cloak came from the corridor. The unidentifiable aura emanating from that figure sent chills down her spine.

It wasn't until he pulled the hood off his head to reveal his white hair and cracked, scaly skin that she realized it was a man standing before her.

Sakura's body tensed instinctively. It was the same downworlder that had attacked them a while ago and retreated when Tsunade showed up with Jiraiya.

A half-smirk formed on his face, a snake tongue peeking out of his mouth for a moment.

"You two are so sweet it makes me want to throw up."

White to ashen skin, on which cracks appeared like in marble, not only on his face but also on his exposed hands. His eyes were cat-like with a hint of gold. There was no doubt, this man matched Orochimara's appearance almost identically. It didn't take long for Sakura to reach the unquestionable conclusion that sent chills down her spine - the man in front of her was a warlock.

The white-haired man laughed. A few more small cracks appeared on his face as the corners of his lips lifted slightly and the respective muscles moved. He put his hand on his chest and looked overdramatically hurt.

"Your lover didn't even mention me a word?" he then rolled his eyes in annoyance and his face filled with a dark expression. " Yakushi Kabuto, my dear."

The pink-haired girl got into a defensive stance, her fists in front of her.

Kabuto snorted. Then he slowly raised his left arm and the snap of his fingers rang in her head like a bell.

It was a matter of seconds before Sakura blinked and Kabuto disappeared from her sight. Her body turned to stone, and before her consciousness was consumed by blackness and she hurtled to the ground, she found herself falling into his cold arms, feeling the unpleasant scrape of his musty cloak on her face.

*.*.*.*.*.*

Hello!

I am very glad that the story could come to this point. However, I would be very happy to receive some feedback, some review from those who read the story. Anything, whether you like or dislike something. Or even what you think, how the plot will develop further.

And as always, Thank you for every read, even for every private message!

Kisses,

M.