(Another update soon after last because I know I owe you guys a lot of backlogged updates. Sorry again. Kinda unsure about this chapter but I decided to post it anyway. I also might revise this chapter later on, if so, I'll notify you guys. Thank you for being so patient!

Huge author's note at the end for those that read these things lol.)

Sasuke really didn't expect a simple lingerie piece to cause such turmoil.

After they made up from their last argument, Sasuke and Sakura had reconciled over a sweet breakfast of congee, natto, tofu and tomato tomagoyaki that Sakura cooked for them; she had still not confessed to him about how his cooking triggered her ptsd -one battle at a time- and Sasuke didn't seem any bit the wiser as they made plans for after getting out from work.

After some contemplation, Sakura suggested a mall date since it had a grocery store at the base level and they were coincidentally out of groceries. Sasuke Uchiha had never stepped in a mall before in his life so he was just as curious as he was excited about doing anything with Sakura.

Konoha's Great Mall was a 7-story retail center filled with clothing, groceries, toys, a movie theater and more. Sakura liked shopping for seafood the most from them because the seafood granny peddler was kind and sweet as well as honest, telling her what was fresh and not fresh.

In a white t-shirt and black sweat pants, Sasuke followed behind Sakura with silent observant and curious eyes as they traversed first through the grocery department located on the giant basement subfloor. They bought red snapper for tonight's dinner as well as enough food to last them for the rest of the week: assorted vegetables, protein, a little dairy etc. Sasuke watched with curious eyes as Sakura expertly perused every subsection to find the best ingredients to purchase. She seemed very accustomed and in her natural element as she mentally crossed off things on her mind's list.

He'd had no experience whatsoever in this style of life since everything he ate up till recently had been either foraged or purchased by his subordinates in Team Hebe, too busy with his revenge and training to do mundane things like this.

Sasuke easily carried the 5 bags of groceries in his hands whilst Sakura carried the box of fruit cream cake she'd decided to buy on their way out.

"It was always my favorite growing up," Sakura had exclaimed excitedly as they made their way out of the basement sublevel by using the escalators.

Sasuke nodded his disinterested acknowledgment, not at all invested or getting Sakura's hint that she bought it because she wanted to share it with him.

Sakura self-consciously bit her lower lip before timidly stating: "Sorry, I imagine today has been boring for you, I just didn't h-h-have time to go out on a full date after work and the fridge was already empty…"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks to turn fully facing Sakura, dropping the bags he was holding to the ground quietly. His unreadable gaze piercing Sakura and giving her anxiety that he might flip his lid potentially in front of everyone. Had she said something wrong?

Sakura hurried to apologize: "Sasuke, I'm sor-"

Her words were cut off by a casual tap on her forehead from his index and middle finger.

"Baka," he teased her with a handsome white smile, "I enjoy spending time with you. Even if it's just buying groceries, I don't mind."

Sakura was paralyzed in her shock at his little action for a moment, and then she laughed too, rubbing her forehead at where he poked.

"That's the least romantic action I've ever seen anyone do," she commented with a chuckle after they were once again walking with their hauls in tow.

Sasuke chuckled too and explained about how it was something his brother used to do with him growing up. He always thought of it as an affectionate gesture.

Unbeknownst to him, that last statement had caused a strong fluttering sensation to ignite across Sakura's chest that made her cheeks flush a shade redder.

All seemed well and fine until nearing the end of the exit of the mall (which was also the entrance), the large plasma screened electronic billboard that ran different ads nonstop all day showed a commercial Risa Absorle, a popular mid-priced lingerie and sleepwear shop often frequented by suburban housewives and teenagers.

The ad showed this new innovative push up bodysuit that was both body shaping as well as slimming, made entirely of translucent silk with tiny 3D satin roses embroidered across the entire bodice. It came in 6 colors.

Sakura's gaze seemed transfixed by the plasma screen; her jaw dropped in shock. Sasuke followed her gaze to the commercial and thought it was nothing special. Did the lingerie appeal to her? Did she want to go back and buy it?

But before he could question her, Sakura was already moving at breakneck speed with her head lowered facing the ground, rushing out of the mall.

He could tell something was wrong and therefore decided to keep his space from her until they were back in the confines of her apartment, lest they give the gossip hungry grannies more fuel with a public fight.

When they entered the apartment, Sakura absentmindedly set the boxed cake in the fridge before moving to her bedroom-

-or so she tried.

"Sakura, what's wrong? You've been weird ever since you saw that ad," he asked her with a firm grip on her wrist that stopped her from exiting the kitchen.

Sakura stayed silent, her gaze focused on the ground as she gently pried her wrist out of his grip; he let her do so, not wanting her to get any further upset.

Sakura hugged herself as she kept her eyes on the ground. "I…"

Sasuke waited for her to finish speaking but when she didn't, he moved to hold her again -only to have her immediately recoil at his hands.

"You…don't recognize the lingerie in the ad, do you…" Sakura asked him without looking at him.

Sasuke had no idea what she was talking about initially. He moved to try and hug her only for Sakura to backup a step away from him, her eyes finally lifting to gaze into his, showing her silent tear streaks.

And that's when recognition sowed across Sasuke's mind.

Oh shit.

Sakura wept as she straddled a completely naked Sasuke, his shaft inside her because the cloth covering her crotch had been pushed to the side to expose her core. She was currently wearing a translucent ov ne-piece bodysuit lingerie outfit made of green translucent silk with pink satin roses embedded across the bodice that left nothing to the imagination because she had zero undergarments on underneath. She was even wearing matching thigh high stockings and a hair net with gold hair stick ornaments that had her hair pinned upright with just a few alluring strands falling down to frame her face.

With tears streaming down her eyes, Sakura reluctantly obliged the man's order to 'ride him' as she moved up and down on his core. His hands had a bruising grip on her hip to semi control her movements when she went too fast or too slow as his continually thrusted into her quivering heat.

Sakura shrieked with every thrust, tears already falling from her eyes. She wanted more than anything to dismount from her perch but one look at the man's authoritarian imperious eyes dissolved any such courage to do so. She hated making him angry above anything else.

By now, Sakura was well aware of the two different "temperaments" that Sasuke had whenever he chose to couple with her. If she had not provoked him, he was rather gentle and affectionate, even caring when he took her body. However, if he was in a bad mood or if she had provoked him somehow by either disobeying, saying the wrong thing or trying to escape, then he would punish her with very aggressive and painful sex, uncaring of how she felt as he worked for only his own release.

If she was going to be forced either way, of course Sakura preferred the gentler route.

And so she preferred to always just comply with him whenever he gave her a request, no matter how debase or horrifying the action was.

Sakura kept her palms together, balanced on his abs so that she could have leverage to push up and down on him. Every downward movement forced his formidable girth right against her cervix and caused her discomfort but Sakura bided the pain as she worked, wanting him to find release as soon as he could, so that he would leave her alone.

Soon, Sasuke's pace quickened to short quick bursts before she felt him release inside. Her upright posture and position naturally made the fluids seep down from where they were still connected as the man refused to let her separate from him even when they finished.

He kept her on top of him with his palms still locked around her hips while he hungrily sucked in oxygen through his lungs to regain his lost breath.

Sakura hated everything about this current rape. The position, the posture, the outfit. Everything was so degrading and the complete opposite of what she had been conditioned to abide by in order to be a "lady" or "good girl."

The teaching was always something she reviled and wanted to contradict but in the end was unable to prevent it from shaping her psyche and how she looked at herself.

No access to her chakra. No medical nin practice. No shinobi work…was she nothing but a whore to a madman now?

Sasuke's eventual separation from her did nothing to alleviate her worries because he only withdrew himself so that he could flip her so that she was lying on her stomach. She felt him elevate her butt so that it was sticking right out into the air-

"No! Not this pose, please!" Sakura begged when she realized what he wanted to do. Among all the positions they had tried, she hated this one the most, because it made her feel like a horse being mounted.

In the end, nothing she said or felt could deny the man of what he wanted from her.

Sasuke's recollection was interrupted by the sound of a fierce slam of Sakura's bedroom door right before he heard a chair being moved to brace the broken door lock, a futile attempt to block him if he really wanted to enter.

Shit.

Sasuke swore to himself as he laced his hands in front of him to rest against the kitchen countertop while he rested his face in the V space formed by his forearms so that he was essentially hunched over now against the kitchen.

Dammit! Why did they have to see specifically that ad on their way out? They had been making so much progress too! He cursed the day he randomly bought the lingerie garment from a backdoor street kiosk when he was still fuming from Sakura's words about his family.

Now looking back, Sasuke found her words innocuous and ultimately forgettable but the things he'd done to her in retaliation…he realized now he'd just been wanting to punish her for how much he couldn't stop thinking about her…

Sasuke shook his head in self-loathing now as he made his way to stand right against Sakura's closed bedroom door; through the flimsy wood he could hear the faint sound of sobs. His heart sank even further in regret at these sounds. He'd promised to stop hurting her but just him being near her seemed to be a constant source of pain…

"Sakura…I'm sorry," he spoke gently through the wood. "I know nothing I say or do can…make up for the past. I know I'm…always saying sorry to you…I…I'm just really sorry for everything."

First I want to address AnimeFanGRL's review in SOSM (I'm sorry for not seeing your review questions until now, somehow FFNET actually disabled email notifications for me so I stopped receiving alerts for new reviews, I tried altering my settings but I don't know if anything has changed because it might be a sitewide issue?):

"Wait I don't understand..
Why did Tobi/itachi take her to the land of iron to show her the Uchiha stuff?
And if he was really Itachi then why did he attack Gaara and Sakura?
I'm so confused.
Anyway..
PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS respond bc I'm just that kind of person who loves talking to people online.
I know that you published this YEARS ago from now but PLS see this and respond
Lots of love :)"

So, Tobi/Itachi took her to the Land of Iron/the Uchiha Sanctuary because he actually felt bad about everything Sasuke had done to Sakura. So (and this is kind of my interpretation of the plotline based on what I watched, I apologize if anyone disagrees) I distinctly remember somewhere in the anime, in one of the important plot eps, someone (probably Obito) describing Itachi's entire motivations for everything he did and they more or less used the words "He manipulated and planned for events to unfold so that his little brother would end up killing him, as punishment for himself in murdering his own family" which is WILD because imagine INTENTIONALLY mentally, physically, and psychologically traumatizing your little brother just so you can punish yourself… Like Itachi could have done a million different other methods to punish himself that DIDN'T involve traumatizing his younger bro if he was really feeling guilty….

Personally, I feel like Itachi's chara was initially written with the intention to be a full-fledged Akatsuki villain but then Kishimoto wanted to do surprise shock of 180 degrees like "psych folks, not actual bad guy" and had to retcon explain everything away the best he could…which resulted in Itachi's chara making not exactly the best choices in life…

So what does that have to do with SOSM? Well, I interpreted all of that above to just him kinda making some poor judgments as an older brother and human being, which is understandable because no one is perfect. And since Itachi is technically a good guy in the end, I imagined he would probably feel quite guilty about how the trauma and choices he made against his little brother caused the guy to become so unhinged and subsequently tortured Sakura the way he did. Because, let's face it, if Sasuke had a more well-rounded childhood/life he probably wouldn't have flipped shit the way he did for most of his life lol.

So Itachi, disguised as Tobi, took Sakura to the Uchiha Sanctuary to help her discover her identity as Sasuke's wife, (intending to help her find) her past memories, force Sasuke to have to admit to his feelings for the girl -all that jazz. Because though he wants the best for Sasuke, good guy Itachi isn't just gonna stand by idly as Sakura is blindly tortured by Sasuke. His guilt towards Sakura is also why he helped her regain her chakra near the end of SOSM btw, along with also a deal he made with Gaara to sorta step aside ("for Sakura's best interest") so Sasuke would have full chance in making reparations to Sakura. Because despite everything Sasuke's done against Sakura, Itachi still knows she is Sasuke's only chance at redemption and peace. But he also is trying to get Sasuke to change so that he stops torturing the girl.

So, he's a good guy but also focused on helping his family above others. Which I think is very canon-compliant. Lolol.

"And if he was really Itachi then why did he attack Gaara and Sakura?"

Well for this, he was just trying to force Gaara to break the Sand Sealing jutsu he had placed on Sasuke. Itachi really wasn't giving his full power when he was battling the guy. He was really just trying to force Gaara/Sakura to break the crystal that would unseal Sasuke from his coma because mediation can't really happen if one party of a couple is unconscious lol. He was like pulling the strings manipulating things to the best of his ability but ultimately too many variables for him to completely control. Though he can predict and manipulate his little brother usually really well. Lol

(I imagine there's probably some logic holes in that explanation, which I preemptively apologize for. I am still very much a novice writer and all of my brainstorming/plotting I imagine reflects as such. *apologetic bows*)

I know I've talked about my mental health a lot of times before but I just want to say thank you to you guys again for reading/reviewing when you do because the reviews really help me maintain motivation and keeps my loneliness/depression at bay.

I also suffer from extremely low self-esteem and I have an unhealthy tendency to compare my writings to other way better SasuSaku writers *cough* K-Chu *cough* and I just look at my early chapters of SOSM and just want to die in shame or spend the rest of my life revising till eternity. But you know, one of my favorite reviewers ever, RandomCruiser, once gave me the incredible advice (paraphrased) that all writers will never be satisfied with their own writing and the important thing is to just keep pushing forward in their narrative, not editing old stuff, which is SO TRUE, because I read a lot of "fiction writing how-to guides" and they are all written by professional writers and they all say the same thing. That everyone is their own worse critic and there is no point in focusing on old stuff before a story is finished because you have plenty of time to revise afterwards.

But if RandomCruiser hadn't told me that before I would probably still be editing stuff to this day, with no new chapters to publish.

So you see, reviews really do help! I also remember and hold them dearly to my heart because growing up I never had any friends or family (extremely bullied and isolated childhood to say the least lol) and reading reviews always makes me feel like I have friends that care about me. :D

But no pressure, review or not review of course I still love you guys and will continue to update. I also understand that sometimes chapters just are not substantial (or good enough) to warrant a review, so problem.

I'm gonna focus on finishing all of my old fanfics before I start any new stories this year! If anyone sees me trying to publish something new please slap me lololol.

See you guys in the next update!