Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

To Duel With Fate	By : Mihkail Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Itachi/Sakura Views: 4864 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not profit from this fanfic.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
The late afternoon rays of the sun beat without contest onto the quiet village below. A cloudless sky with a cool breeze made for the perfect weather to spar in, which the kunoichi was very grateful for as she barreled down the main road. Moving with quick purpose, she was sure not to be late this time, despite how part of her wanted to keep procrastinating so she could avoid him longer. That impulse wasn't as strong and interfering as it was in the past, but it was still there, deep down. Until the day came that she spilled the beans to Sasuke, it was always going to be. Today wasn't going to be that day, but soon...
Her pace had been a swift jog since the moment she stepped past the hospital doors, as she needed to stay a bit later than expected, and then change clothes, but she wasn't winded. There was no cute yukata this time. No point in dressing up when she was about to get sweaty and dirty...and possibly bloody. Today, it was the tomboy outfit, as Ino would call it. She didn't consider it very tomboyish. It at least had a skirt in the mix...but whatever. Leave the blonde to obsess over her looks. Her sex appeal in battle was the least of Sakura's worries, just as it should be.
Head turning as she ran past the sprawling Uchiha home she was slowly growing familiar with, a flicker of hope held fast to the prospect of catching a glimpse of her new favorite person. As usual, the clean porch was vacant, and not a sign of life could be detected from her short observation as she whizzed by. Perhaps, if she was lucky, she would get to see Itachi on her way back home. If she was even luckier, Sasuke might be less of a cold prick than he usually was, and invite her in.
Haha... Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen.
With a shake of her head, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself for even thinking that could be a possibility. Not once had she been invited into that house at her own teammate's request, and she doubted that was going to change any time soon. People don't change overnight, and in Sasuke's case, she was starting to think he might never change at all.
So be it. She had better things to occupy her time with now.
The home wasn't as vacant as she presumed it to be, however. A small, dark eye blinked slowly as it followed the head of short pink hair bobbing down the street and around a corner. Lifeless and still for hours like an insignificant and easily over-looked statue, it enlivened only when she came into view.
When she broke through the last of the houses and continued across the opening to the line of trees beyond, it crooned and shuddered. Glossy black feathers ruffled briefly, and then it took to the crystalline sky. Abandoning its protective perch on the Uchiha family's roof, its wings carried it in the opposite direction, toward Konoha.
"Ha!" She yelled triumphantly, popping out from the maze of tree trunks to land onto the soft, dry field where she was scheduled to meet Sasuke. "Right on time!" Gloved hands rested on her hips as she looked around, expecting to see him standing before her, or leaning against a tree somewhere. Behind her, the leaves rustled quietly and birds chirped happily, yet she otherwise stood alone.
"Sasuke!" Yelling after a short moment, her thin brows knit in confusion, and she twirled in slow a circle, looking for him, before facing the open field again. "Oh Kami...don't tell me you're late." She mumbled to herself, and then sighed. Lean arms stretching up high, she bent each at the elbow and pulled them behind her head, arching her back slightly as she moved. Might as well use the spare time to loosen up and get ready. Black sandals trudged her through the wild grass further from the dense forest to give her ample room to warm up.
She was feeling good today. Somehow, much of her anxiety about everything began to slowly melt away after she last spoke with Itachi. The weight was lessened, now that some of the unanswered questions that had been hovering over her head and tormenting her were resolved. There was still much to figure out, but she had an idea where she stood with him now, and that was a big step. The rest could be demystified in time.
She could honestly say she had no regrets. A year ago, the thought of getting herself tangled up in a mess like this would have been out of the question. A troublesome and horrific roller coaster to avoid at all costs. It swept her off her feet in full force, so stealthy and determined, whether she wanted it to or not. But now she could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and she was realizing how much she was learning about herself in such a short amount of time. That was something to be thankful for, even if everything else exploded in her face. Hopefully it wouldn't, but she was a firm believer in what didn't kill her made her stronger—and holy shit, she was starting to feel the extra boost of strength now.
Now, all you have to do is find a way to casually mention, 'By the way, I'm kind of screwing your brother. You don't mind, right?' She lost an intense stare into the ground at her feet while she was bent over, stretching her legs and back.
Or maybe, 'Hey Sasuke, good news! Your brother's way cooler and I'm gonna chase after him now, so you don't have to worry about me anymore!' Her eyes narrowed slightly. That didn't sound like a good one either. A bit less blunt, but too pitiful. Chase after him, really? She should be done chasing anyone.
'Okay look, there's no easy way to say this. I know it's sudden, but...is it alright if I date your brother?' Well, that one sounded nicer...but there was no need to ask for permission. That was dumb. Sasuke didn't own anyone.
'I'm fucking Itachi, and there's nothing you can do about it...so suck a dick, baka.' Kami! No! Wow, she was bad at this.
"Uhg!" Grunting loudly in frustration with herself, she was now hanging limply from the waist down with her eyes closed. Her arms swayed gently as they relaxed, hands no longer touching her toes, and her hair blew in the light breeze around her face like the frail branches of a willow. Why was this so hard to figure out? Maybe she should just blurt something really fast before she could have time to over-think things, and just be done with it. Well, no... After that last try, blurting something off the top of her head was probably a terrible idea.
A soft noise of something hitting the ground behind her caused her to peek between her legs upside down while she continued stretching. The kneeling figure of slate gray and black made its appearance yards away from her, close to the trees. Posture suggesting he just dove from one of the high branches, shrouded in shadows and leaves above. She snapped upright and turned to face him, returning her hands to her hips as she smiled faintly.
"I didn't expect to show up before you."
"I've been here." Eyes closed as he stood, she sensed an aura from him that was calm and indifferent. The kind she was used to. Much unlike the one that felt a little volatile and confusing, the night she ate dinner at their house.
"Oh yeah? For how long?" A playfully quirked brow suggested she didn't believe him, considering he took his sweet time in emerging from the trees. Unless he was just being a jerk by ignoring her, which wasn't out of the question.
"Almost an hour."
"Eh...? But we agreed to be here at six! Did you screw up that time, too?" Really, first giving her the wrong time to show up for dinner, and now this? How unlike him. Sasuke wasn't known for being a forgetful person.
"I showed up early." Simple and to the point, without offering to elaborate.
Her tongue caught between her teeth in a painless bite, as she stopped herself from trying to pick his brain any further. If he wanted to be early, then fine. So long as he wasn't going to blame her for making him wait around.
"Well...you sure took your sweet time answering me when I showed up." She chided him, though didn't actually expect him to care, or feel guilty.
The breeze picked up in a gust, flitting through the grass at their feet, and ruffling his gray shirt and the Uchiha crest at his back as he stretched his arms high above his head. Catlike in his fluid movements, he exhaled a contented sigh as he felt a couple joints in his spine pop. The motions reminded her way too much of Itachi when he last opened their front door for her, and it teased her with a funny feeling in her gut. When his eyes finally opened, she was met by the sharingan she'd seen so many times before, with three tomoe encasing each pupil.
"So impatient to get your ass kicked." He muttered coolly, almost too quiet for her to hear.
There was something curious about the way he was looking at her. It was hard to place her finger on it, but she couldn't help but feel like he was paying her closer attention than she was used to. Usually when she caught his eye, he seemed uninterested, if not distracted. Though it was a half-lidded gaze, and one she'd seen a thousand times before, this one was honed and alert. Watching her with something hungry and expectant sealed beneath the surface. Like an animal waiting to be freed from its cage, pacing beyond the rigid bars that separated them. Slightly contradictory to his languid pace as he walked slowly towards her.
"Oh, please. The only one who has to worry about their ass around here is you, buddy. I've been getting faster, ya know." Sakura smirked, her hands rising in front of her chest to crack her knuckles in a fist.
Her energy was so different when she was sparring with someone. Training always blessed her with an unrivaled method of rendering whatever she could possibly be worrying about in her personal life obsolete, if only for a short time. Even with this being Sasuke before her, she could feel her gears finally begin turning in a different direction. Shifting from their anxiety and concern over matters she was still trying to navigate, and into an attitude that was more confident and focused on the present moment. To call it liberating was an understatement.
Once their battle was over, things would return to normal...but until then, she would enjoy this brief reprieve from her incessant inner ramblings. She was excited and ready for a new match. It was a long time coming. A part of her had been looking forward to throwing some punches these past few days, and it didn't matter that she already knew deep down she wasn't going to come out on top. She almost never did...not with him...but there was always something to learn from the experience.
"Tch. Don't make promises you can't keep, Sakura..." The way he said her name made her pause. The syllables slipped off his tongue like a swath of luxurious silk drenched in kerosene, ready to ignite into a blaze that promised it would engulf them both indiscriminately.
The glistening jade of her eyes was always easy to pinpoint from a distance. There was nothing unearthly about them, unlike his activated sharingan, but they were naturally striking. He watched them twitch as she ceased with their snide bantering, and consider him with new curiosity.
She could sense it... She didn't know what it was, but she was aware of something alien weaving its web between them.
"Alright, I have to ask..." She began, wondering where this abrupt tickle of unease came from, like something key was out of place. "Why me? You're always training with Naruto, or your brother, or someone else from your clan. Why did you ask me to spar with you today?"
"Is it that surprising?" His deep voice asked calmly, still making his sluggish trek in her direction. "I gain nothing from fighting the same people over and over again. It's been a while. I want to see how you've changed."
The choice of words he used added to the curiosity that was creeping around in the back of her mind and fueling her suspicion. A very aggravating suspicion, since she was clueless as to what was causing it exactly.
"What makes you think I've changed?" She posed the question evenly, though she was now paying closer attention to his movements, as if she didn't quite trust them to be predictable and placid for much longer. Steadily, her guard was inching up around her, and yet she couldn't explain why. All she did know was that the man across from her wasn't the same teammate that used to make her sigh dreamily one minute, and then want to bang her head against a wall the next. Something was different...a new variable she didn't understand well enough to give a name. It manifested as an unfamiliar divide between them, consequently painting him as more of a true opponent she needed to be careful of, and less of someone she was about to play-fight with.
"I know you've changed."
The wind was harassing the leaves and grass into an enduring, faint roar around them. Ribbons of pink flickered over her vision as she stared down the unblinking red gaze that was sinking its anchor deeper and deeper into her. This was no mangekyo, but there was something undeniably hypnotizing about his eyes nevertheless. The longer she lingered, the harder it was to pull away. Its effect was stealthy, reeling her in so slowly it was barely detectable, and that made it all the more potent. Unbeknownst to her, this duel had already begun.
Her keen senses and heightened wariness dulled so quickly, it was as if he'd found a way to not only read her mind, but then reach inside of it and distort her perception and level of awareness. Influence her own thoughts, and subdue her nerves. Her guard dissolved alarmingly fast, and she felt inexplicably peaceful as he drew closer. The edge she had on him snuffed out before it could cement its roots, and urge her to stay on her toes.
The shoulders easing back down a millimeter or two as she relaxed didn't go unnoticed, and when she smiled slightly and closed her eyes in a slow blink, he smiled right back for an entirely different reason.
"Well, I can't say y—gahhk!" She felt her stomach cave and wedge up between her lungs. His fist, alight with its own erratically dancing current of electricity, buried into her before she could reopen her eyes a fraction of a second later. Pain seized her with a ripple of searing knives through her nervous system, and almost succeeded in locking her into place, but she managed to spring herself backwards to avoid another punch that came as fast as the first.
His pace matched hers, and the lightning that flashed past one ear with a loud crackle as she jerked, reassured her that catching him with her palm might not be the best idea. She ducked out of the way, missing another streak of light that was aimed for her throat as his fingers flattened out of their fist with a swift chop.
Then she hit the ground. The warm grass smashed against her back like a steel wall, hard enough to rattle her clenched teeth and squeeze a salty drop from her eye. His foot swiped under her while she was busy watching his hands in those fleeting moments.
As he descended on her, the glint of three shuriken nearly sank their razor teeth into his face before he whipped his head back and bounced away from her. Sakura flipped onto her feet and darted after him with a blurring fist veiled in glimmering blue chakra. He evaded one, then two, feeling the shockwaves of raw power beat into the air so close to him, and vibrate over his skin.
He moved so fast, she had no time to think. Of course they came here to spar, but this caught her off guard. There was now warning. He never told her they were starting, just closed that gap between them in a blink and tried to take her head off.
A dull ache throbbed through her torso, bruising under the fist hit he landed. It startled her, but then it made her angry...and that was because she should have known better. He did give her a warning, didn't he? She'd just been too distracted to heed it. As soon as he opened his eyes to meet her with a sharingan—a goddamn loaded weapon—she should have been ready for him.
In all fairness, he did trick her. He could do a lot with those eyes, more than she would ever get to experience, and one of those techniques did include mental manipulation.
"You wanna fight dirty, huh?" She seethed with a growl, chasing after him as he continued to evade her deadly blows that assaulted the empty air with cracks of thunder.
"A real fight is never clean, Sakura. I didn't think you were that naïve."
"Hah! Fine. Try not to cry when I catch up to you, then. I won't hold back."
He smiled at that threat, eyes narrowing as he spun around behind her in a burst of speed. The mirror-like blade of a clean and freshly sharpened kusanagi flew from its sheath at his back and came down on her. She turned with him, catching the blade between her flattened palms. His eyes twitched a hair wider in surprise.
The sole of her foot snapped into his chin from below both of their locked arms, at the same time a loud bang and flash of light shot through the sword and into her. He grunted as the blow jarred through his skull and sent him skidding backwards. Stumbling and readjusting his stance, his sandals raked through the grass and sent it flying up around him in shredded clumps. The kick was hard enough to distort his vision and make his ears ring while he fought through the pain resonating in his skull.
She was knocked back several yards, and hit the ground with two charred and smoking gloves that matched the burnt patch on her red shirt. The thin trickle of blood that seeped from the slit in her gloves when she caught his sword evaporated, the small bit of flayed flesh shaved off by the blade cauterized.
Her hands were tingling wildly, sending bursts of pain up her arms in complaint. A passionate and determined glare settled sharply on him as she climbed to her feet and raced towards him without hesitation. A stream of blood dripped from each corner of his mouth when he raised his head to look at her, leveling his calculating sharingan on the heated emotions that bubbled to the surface and flit all over her face. His were locked away, except for a tiny sliver of excitement he could no longer hold hostage. She recognized it, just as he propelled himself forward to challenger her in a game of chicken.
The glowing blue returned to lap over both fists, prepared to turn that flawless, milky skin of his into all sorts of horrid colors. Waves of electric chakra fluttered over his sword, but it disappeared with a spin and quick sheath as he neared her. Leaping into the air high above her reach, he cupped a hand as he flew overhead, and a wall of neon flames bathed her in a relentless stream from his mouth. She was caught in the center, fading into a black shadow engulfed by the unforgiving heat.
He landed with a roll a safe distance away, skidding into the first row of massive trees, and spun to face what should have been her crispy remains. In their place, a single burnt log thumped to the ground while a puff of smoke drifted away with the wind, surrounded by a wide black circle of smoldering earth.
The quiet tap of her feet launching off a tree trunk alerted him, and he freed his blade while twirling into her. Tiny pink hairs fanned over him as the streak of metal cut through her locks, tickling his face. She managed to duck just in time to avoid a decapitation, and shrieked in a spike of genuine fear. Feet guiding her to slide around him and jump out of the way of another slash, she stared at him with wide eyes.
"Damnit, Sasuke! Are you trying to kill me?" Her chest heaved as she panted, in awe of the wisps of hair that danced around him in their slow descent to the mossy floor. It wasn't a significant amount that he cut off, just a close shave that caused her pores to open in a trickle of sweat down her back. But still... That was too close for comfort.
"If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it a long time ago. Don't be dramatic." He countered calmly, watching her with the most infuriating look that promised he was unaffected by her outburst.
The uninvited flash of a memory distracted her. She could see Itachi seated at the table in the tearoom from her peripheral, while the exotic colors of the garden flickered under the onslaught of rain burned into her. Her chest heaved in anger while he regarded her just as calmly, ironically fueling her own fire. The first time she ever met him, when he insisted she let Sasuke go, and that things would never change between them. It had made her so mad...she had felt so indignant...
This was eery. She didn't like it. That unfamiliar variable budding between them tapered into focus. The kind of tension that was tugging on her nerves here reminded her now of her fight in the tearoom.
She shook her head quickly, as if to fling the memories out of bounds. No, these were coincidences. They were alike because they were brothers. They looked alike, acted alike, and had similar mannerisms because that's just who they were. This match was a true one, like any other she had before in her years of training. This wasn't the tearoom...and it wasn't going to become the tearoom, ever.
"Don't be so cocky! If I thought I was really fighting for my life, things would be different!" She hissed, and slammed a fist into the ground at her feet. The impact shattered the earth into chunks of spinning rocks-turned-shrapnel, busted roots flailing into whips, and a cloud of spewing dirt that rocketed towards him in an earthen wave.
A flickering shadow pierced through the organic debris at her face, lead by the tip of the sparking kusanagi, with his body protected by a shield of fire that fully encased him. She dove out of the way, and the sound of cracking bark signaled the demise of one of the ancient trees as he sliced into it behind her, splitting it in two with a single swing.
"How would they be different, Sakura?" His stony face returned, betraying the animal that patiently waited inside, out of sight. It observed the hairline fractures spreading through the bars, weakening them over time, and purred in anticipation.
She hopped out of the way of a barrage of kunai. One by one they sank into the ground, their tags exploding on contact to fill the shadowed forest with incinerating clouds that stripped the thick branches off trees and left pockets of barren, smoking ashes in their wake. His silhouette emerged from the last blast, a black shadow born from the wall of expanding flames, as if they couldn't touch him.
A gust of wind rustled her as she dodged that blade again, feeling him whip past her shoulder and land behind her. He was getting faster...or was she getting slower? She didn't like either idea.
"You told me you wouldn't hold back. Aren't you going to make me cry?" A voice so thick and velvet could have soothed anyone under the most chaotic circumstances, and in the past, it had done just that for her. Right now, however, it was nothing but grating. She wanted to punch him in the mouth before he could open it again.
This should have been a fun challenge...humorous, even...but it was starting to leave a sour taste on her tongue. She was getting angry again, and she didn't know why.
Teeth setting into a light clench, a bead of sweat rolled from her tussled hair and down her cheek, streaking the soot with it in a mock tear. Her arm felt warmer than it should be, and she spared a quick glance to see a streak of red flowing freely down her bare bicep and coiling around her forearm. That was unexpected. She lifted her arm to get a better look at her shoulder, and found the clean slice he had landed with his blade. It was so sharp, she didn't even feel it cut into her. As she moved it around, the sliver yawned into a mouth, blooming like a bloody rose, and allowing it to gush faster.
The Uchiha half-expected her to pause long enough to stop the bleeding, but she didn't. A single eye targeted him through her hair, and he recognized for a split-second his own beast staring back into him. A sight she never presented him with before. Inside, the first bar of his self-inflicted cage shattered.
"Fine." She whispered through her teeth, turned, and disappeared amongst the pillars of bark.
The blade hung at his side while he stood motionless, waiting. His ears traced her fading footsteps through the moist earth protected by the dense canopy, and then out into the soft crackling of the dry grass that belonged to the field.
Did she want him to chase her? How cute.
"Hm.." The gleaming sharingan narrowed in the darkness, and he pushed after her, keeping his sword at the ready as he flickered in and out between the trees.
A loud rumbling shook through him, almost throwing him off balance. The leaves above shuddered violently, freeing some to flutter down past him. His curiosity was sated when the bright sunlight bathed him at the entrance to the forest, just in time for a boulder a few square yards larger than his own house to come barreling toward him like a roaring meteor.
Sakura panted in the middle of the field behind a deep and ragged crater, the source of the massive rock she unearthed with pure strength. The juggernaut spun loose earth in every direction as it crashed into the ground, bounced once, and demolished the trees like helpless bowling pins. They snapped and cracked like bones, flinging splinters of wood, torn branches, and jerking free centuries' old roots from the soil.
Her knees bent and sprung her over the gaping crater, where she landed on the opposite edge and continued at full speed back to the shredded mess of trees left behind. The boulder was still churning its destruction deeper into the forest when she found him, bruised and bloodied against an upturned tree he appeared to have been pancaked against. Sasuke fell forward amidst the haze of dust, blood spurting from his mouth as he coughed, and he braced himself on one knee with an arm around his waist.
Their eyes met when he looked up, each reflecting the pale blue glow of her fist as she punched him square in the nose. His head flung back, painting her in a spray of crimson droplets before his back hit the ground. Knees crunched down on either side of him, he looked up into her blurry figure, haloed in chakra as she started beating him senseless. Batting his head from one direction to the opposite like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. A very large, violent cat, with sledgehammers for paws.
"Let me know when you've had enough." Sweat dripped from her snarling face down onto his, mixed with his own blood and remnants of ash. The hilt of his sword fell from his grip as he turned limp, and she felt the muscles flexing and twitching under her loosen, as if he was fading from consciousness.
"You're forgetting something..." He gurgled through a pocket of frothing blood and spit, vacant gaze focusing on nothing as she landed another blow. Her eyes narrowed on him, but she didn't budge.
Knuckles slick with perspiration and smeared dirt, a light shower of pulverized wood chips sprinkled against her face. She blinked, and the disfigured pulp of a man beneath her suddenly became a prone tree. A giant one, as she then realized the ground she thought her knees were touching was in fact gauged bark. The broken cheekbones that she was batting around were mere dents in the rough brown surface, and slivers of wood were sticking out of her fists like small porcupine needles.
He'd never been there. It was that goddamn sharingan again...
The fallen tree groaned and creaked as she lurched to her feet and turned around. Blazing red greeted her, inches from her face, and then he returned the blows she thought she had given him. A knee to her stomach lifted her into the air, a kick shot her higher, and an uppercut snapping electric heat launched her through broken branches and into the blinding light of the sun above the very tops of the haggard forest.
He sprang off the highest, stable branch after her, chasing her into the air with no intent in letting her touch the ground anytime soon. Another punch sucked the last of the oxygen from her lungs. Her mouth gaped soundlessly, feeling her insides cramp under the strain. A watery eye peeked open at him, and the coldest fire burned her as he stared back, right below her.
For a moment frozen in time, she was sure she could read him for once in her life. Nothing but the wind touched them up there. The last golden rays of summer warmed her back, and over his shoulder, a stretch of green and wisps of distant smoke warned her of the rough landing they were in for...but none of it really mattered. Right now, she was seeing into him, past the ringed tomoe and into an abyss that cloaked every one of this true thoughts, perceptions, and intentions...just like they did to someone else she knew.
She saw her own anger and determination mirrored back. A few nights ago when she encountered him on his own porch, blocking her exit, she had glimpsed traces...but he locked them away and shut her down, like he always did when something was bothering him. They were still held captive from her, their true intensity unknown, but she could see the evidence of their existence seeping through the cracks now.
This was more than innocent play-fighting after all. This meeting meant...something. She didn't know what, but she had a feeling she was going to find out soon.
His next fist stopped short of its target, and the back of his hand ached when her fingers dug into him. She caught him, bloody arm quivering under the force and currents of his chakra that blasted into her palm. Their eyes narrowed on each other, hair fluttering as they loomed even higher, propelled his assaults.
She was stronger than him. She always was, and she always would be. If she did manage to hit him with a makeshift meteor, or one of those fists, he knew he would regret it. In the back of his mind, he also knew that one day she was bound to reach a level of ferocity and power that would indeed challenge Tsunade, but she wasn't going to discover that here. It was easy to trick her into feeling weaker than she was when he had that sharingan in his arsenal, and he needed that. The point of this wasn't to test themselves in a fair fight. He couldn't care less what she was physically capable of right now, even if she did impress him.
"What is it, Sasuke? Why are we really here?" The question forced its way through clenching resistance as she fought to catch her breath. Her hand shook as it refused to surrender to his fist, even as wire-thin bolts of lightning contorted around her arm, and the rest of the current took advantage of the blood, and followed its crimson path to shock her. Burning her from the inside as steam trailed faintly from the wound on her shoulder. Her muscles were seizing, arm recoiling gradually as he sapped the strength from her, but she wouldn't let go.
"You think I have a hidden motive." He gave voice to her suspicion, watching her as light shuddered between their hands, growing in intensity as the power built. Struggling against her blue flames that tried to swallow it whole.
"Yes... I don't like it." She admitted a quiet truth, paying far more attention to the beautiful, deadly pair of red in front of her than the wild clash of chakra battling next to their heads.
"You don't like it when something is kept from you?" His cool voice bathed her ear as he ripped her forward and caught her in an embrace. The sudden closeness dazed her, and she stared at the scenery below through the feathery black strands of hair touching her face. Heat burst into her palm with little warning, like a solar flare breaking free from a source he was losing control of, until she could no longer feel her individual fingers stubbornly gripping him as if her life depended on it.
His other hand secured around her waist, digging into the back of her shirt. The fabric twisted in his fingers, pressing her tightly into his chest. She listened to his breathing tremor lightly, and it sparked another memory to rise from its neglected depths. One that involved Itachi smothering her as he pinned her to a wall. The tension was palpable between her and her teammate, just like it was back then.
"I don't either..."
Her eyes narrowed skeptically, and then she cried out and tumbled wildly through the air. He released her with a shove, and kicked with both feet into her hips to fire her away from him. Her ascent was painfully redirected into a descent. He fell with her as a small dark figure, much too far away now for her to ever reach. She would have to wait until they landed for a counter attack.
Hands clasping in front of his chest, she saw them form a single sign while a wicked smirk twitched above them. The lightning bolt was thicker than anything she'd seen yet, and it manifested with a deafening clap from the sky above her that shot her equilibrium, and wracked every cell in her body with agony. It traveled through her and struck the ground below, turning her vision white, and shutting down the rest of her senses. The whistling wind faded along with gravity, and her body fell limp and hurdled downward helplessly.
The leer followed her all the way, waiting for a twitch of life to return. Limbs dangled without purpose, picking up speed the closer she got to the chaotic mess of jagged, broken forest. Her eyes remained closed with a look of vague concern and sadness marring her face. She would never wake up in time.
When the tops of the trees shot up, he kicked off one of them to launch at her. He grunted roughly, catching her dead weight in his arms just before she hit the mountain of debris, and landed with a crouch that billowed a cloud of fresh dust and ash up around them. The scent of burnt flesh hung in the air, steam rising in ribbons from beneath her hot clothes. Miraculously, her hair didn't combust into flames, but the sweat on her face was gone, and the fresh blood that was pouring from her shoulder was now an ugly smudge of black. Tiny flakes of it broke apart and disappeared into the wind.
The sharp glint of mischief in his eyes melted gradually as they traveled the dirty creases of her parted lips and up to her streaked eyelids. Her breaths were shallow, and somewhat irregular. Part of him wondered if he seriously injured her, but he didn't take the possibility to heart. He was always mindful enough not to unleash the full extent of his abilities when he was training with someone...even if this wasn't exactly what he would call training. Surely she wasn't that fragile...
"Sakura..."
Silence met him. She was a doll in his arms that he could bend and shift at will, but he kept hold of her in his lap and listening intently, waiting for her to come to. The unnatural heat of her skin prickled his fingertips as he glided them delicately over her chest to her neck. They pressed lightly, feeling her pulse. A bounding, fast rhythm peaked his curiosity, and yet she remained dormant.
Cautiously, his fingers left her throat, and brushed up the curve of her jaw. A thumb touched her bottom lip for the first time in all the years they spent together. It gave easily under the barest pressure, and he stroked along its length and then traced over her top lip in the same manner. Breath beating gently into him, he stopped and let it hover there near the corner of her mouth.
A sigh burst from him that was somewhat angry and defeated, and he pulled his hand from her face as he snapped back to his senses. His eyes slipped closed, and he hung his head over her. He could do nothing if she was unconscious. That wasn't part of the plan. Maybe he didn't hold back as much as he thought he did.
"Idiot. I thought you were stronger than this." He growled in annoyance, unsure of how long he should wait there with her in a sea of mutilated and dying vegetation.
With a loud smack and crunch of cartilage, a force struck his face violently. His grip on her vanished, leaving her in his lap as his back hit the ground. Blood gushed from his nose and mouth, and then he felt the once limp body on him disappear. His feet were moving before he could gain his bearings, meaning to jump backwards and far away from his assailant, but another hit caught his cheek. The joints in his neck popped under the pressure as his head ripped to the side, and then he was struck in the gut, and lifted off the ground. He landed feet away, bits of wood and cracked rocks biting into his flesh as he skid and scrambled to his feet.
The blood was very real this time, having been truly caught off guard. An amazing feat to pull off with someone like him. Framed in throbbing pain, his eyes cracked open and found her standing across from him atop a small collection of branches. Body shaking lightly, she fixated a triumphant glare on him that caused him to instantly freeze. His eyes sharpened in return. Another invisible bar crumbled to dust within him.
She didn't need to speak. His own words were written all over her face mockingly.
A real fight is never clean...
"When did you wake up?" He asked in quiet skepticism, hand blocking his mouth in a loose fist as blood dripped over it, and from his hidden chin beneath. The disturbed dust sifted around him as he knelt on one knee, leaving the kusanagi in its sheath.
"Right before you caught me. Thanks for breaking my fall." Her smirk made his eyes narrow into red slits, but he didn't move, and neither did she. A stillness claimed them, filled with nothing but shafts of sunlight illuminating the insignificant particles of brown and black remnants of their destruction.
She breathed more heavily than he did, especially now that she didn't have to fake that erratic, shallow breath anymore, but she wasn't the only tired one. He never expected her to pull something like that off so convincingly. If she wanted to wallow in this victory—for he knew she perceived it as one—then so be it...but he would not underestimate her again. This cheekiness of hers was destined to be short-lived.
That seemed to be the least of her concern, however. Her smirk, smudged with dirt and tingling wildly with the recent memory of the pad of his thumb exploring her, sank back down into nothing. Exhausted, she relaxed into a more natural posture. Arms falling to her sides, feet shifting to stand plainly before him, she withdrew from her fighting stance to carefully watch his crouched form in the sea of clouds.
"You touched me... Why?" The muscles in her throat flexed and tightened nervously. The sensation had been so soft, yet amplified by its implication, and she knew she was never going to forget it. The fact that she hadn't jerked or gasped in the process, and betrayed her own false unconsciousness, was amazing to her. A touch like, that from him, of all people... That needed an explanation, and everything else in the world was going to halt until she got one. He wouldn't back out of this, or play it down. She was going to grip it and whittle it down to its raw, naked core, regardless of what the result could mean.
There was nothing he could say to her. While her throat closed up and made swallowing difficult, his suddenly felt dry. Then again, he was inhaling an awful lot of dust, but that wasn't the true culprit to his discomfort.
Sneaky bitch... Next time he'll let her hit the ground.
They stared silently at one another. Her heart continued to thump harder than it should, and he debated what his next course of action would be. Meanwhile, his gaze broke from hers without revealing a single thought or emotion, and traveled over her from head to toe. Immersed in the tears, stains, and charred marks of her battered uniform. The tan skirt she wore was now shades of dark brown, gray, and black. Red shirt now ripped where his first, charged punch burnt through the fabric, creating a window to the discolored flesh of her stomach. The hand that blocked him in the air was black and red, and looked swollen. The only trace of her black glove was the frayed band around her wrist, hanging on by a thread. Her other glove was intact, though most of the fabric over her palm was burnt off.
Compared to her, he was in good shape. Bruised and swollen in some place, notably around his mouth and nose, but otherwise without complaint.
A flash of green light ignited in each hand when he failed to move or speak, feeling it was safe to let her guard down enough to heal herself a little. The warm light in her mangled hand concentrated on itself, mending the skin and deeper structures back into painless, healthy tissue and bone. Her opposite hand clamped over the crusted gash over her shoulder.
His face might have been calm, but the rest of his body language ensured that she wouldn't keep her eyes off of him for more than a second at a time. The way he huddled close to the ground, soundless and mysterious, reminded her of a wild animal. A feral beast that could only be trusted at a safe distance, so long as it wasn't let out of sight. She still didn't believe those eyes, either. They were hiding something from her, she was sure of it. But he definitely confused her...
Why did he do that? He surprised her once when he saved her from splatting into the ground. Maybe she didn't think he really wanted her dead or debilitated, but she also didn't expect him to go out of his way to help her...especially when he was the one who put her in danger initially. Then he touched her, and there's no way in hell he could claim that was an ordinary touch. After the first swipe of his thumb, she half-expected him to lean down and kiss her. Thank Kami he didn't, or she would have lost her shit.
Before she could finish tending to her wounds, he stood. The movement was slow and casual, yet her hands instinctively flared into that brighter, threatening blue. They both paused and eyed each other warily. Even her hip tilted back a degree to widen and angle her stance.
Flecks of blood dripped from his short fingernails as he started towards her, brushing his caked mouth against the sleeve of his shoulder to soak up the worst of it. Twigs and rocks crunched under his feet in their languid movement, sounding so much louder than they should. They were likely the only two living beings for a kilometer, with how ruthlessly they shook up the earth and sky. No creature that valued its life would dare to linger too close to them.
He never took his eyes off her, and the fact that his sharingan was still activated made her reluctant to drop her glowing fists. If he thought she would use them against him, it didn't deter him from boldly closing the gap. He still hadn't said a word, and that bothered her, but she wouldn't be the first to strike if they resumed their fight.
"You liked it, didn't you." His dark lashes inched lower into what she thought was a glare. Smoldering and accusing eyes considered her, as if he knew her so well.
"What...?" She whispered quietly, concern flaring her nose and flitting her gaze over him quickly, trying to decode his intentions. Waiting to see if he would lunge for her with that sword again.
The legs in front of him bent as he crept closer, her fists tightening and drawing in reflexively. It was obvious she was ready to defend, yet currently had no desire to attack him. She was at odds with herself, as she couldn't understand what he was doing. If he would just seal away those patterned red eyes, she would feel an immense relief, but he didn't.
She held her breath when his hand stretched for her, and the balls of light humming around her fists shined brighter in warning. He didn't even glance their way as he reached above them, staring into her eyes while a bloody thumb brushed over her bottom lip without explanation. A smear of red painted as it tickled her gently, following the same motions it had when she was limp in his arms. He never wavered, or blinked...he merely held her in a firm, unspoken challenge.
He stopped when his thumb reached the corner of her mouth, and kept her cheek in his palm. Her eyes were startled saucers, unable to move as she watched him lean into her, and block out the dusty rays of sun beyond. They were tingling again, and she felt herself jump when his thumb smoothed away from her mouth, and was replaced by the lightest touch of his lips against hers as he tilted his head. A drop of blood pooled between them, but he didn't kiss her.
The chakra hovering so close to his waist, that he was seemingly fearless of, began to fizzle out as her concentration shattered. Its dying light sputtered and blinked, and then disappeared into nothing. Carefully, her hands opened and brushed against him, as if she meant to push him away, but she couldn't move any further once the fabric hit her palms, molding over the defined lines of his chest beneath.
"I said... You liked it." Words murmuring into her lips, she distinctly felt each syllable massage her as he spoke. She looked up at him, and the tomoe masked him as he stared back.
Inhaling a shaky breath, she abruptly flew backwards, regaining the space she desperately needed to keep between them before he overwhelmed her so much she was left without a single logical thought to help her.
She did, though. She did like it, and they both knew that. She allowed him to get far too close than was appropriate for someone who didn't. Blame it on curiosity, or confusion, or whatever the hell else she thought would explain her reaction, but it wasn't the whole truth. The fact that he had just touched her intimately for the first time in his life was exhilarating enough to feel like a potent narcotic had just flooded her veins. And just like a narcotic, it loomed with its own dangers under the high of euphoria.
But it didn't matter. She didn't want him. That was another first... She didn't want him to touch her, even if there was something exciting about it. And that, she could honestly say without a shadow of a doubt. Not because she no longer found him attractive, or because she stopped caring about him, but because she found someone better than him. She found someone who made her happy, instead of constantly making her feel like an annoying pest. He had the past decade to acknowledge her feelings for him, but he brushed her off too many times. She wasn't about to be tricked by him now.
So yes, she did like it...but she wasn't prepared to let it happen again.
"Sasuke, what's gotten into you? You're not making any sense." Disarmed with shock, everything she thought she understood about him was now up in the air. This was one of the last things in the world she thought would happen to her, though she used to waste so much time wishing it would. Then again, she could recall thinking a similar thing when his brother surprised her so unexpectedly in the tearoom months ago.
For fuck's sake, her life was just beginning to turn right-side up again! Fate sure liked to mess with her head.
Weak. Her voice was so weak it disgusted him. It was nothing like the power she asserted when she was fighting him minutes ago. Her mannerisms shed some light on her psyche, though. No matter how strong and smart she was, there was still that naïve and vulnerable little girl hiding inside that he could trip into the open. He knew how she was wired...he always knew...but her reaction just now reinforced that knowledge.
The rest of the gate inside him dissolved into nothing, and he was unable to keep the corners of his once boring mouth from creeping up in a grin that was saturated in implications.
"Is it a fetish?" He asked curiously, head cocking as he watched her curiously.
"What?!" She choked on the word.
"Do you have an Uchiha fetish, Sakura?" He started towards her again, and her mouth twitched wordlessly. The littered ground tangled around her clumsy feet as she backed away from him, refusing to let him get so close to her again. Did she hit him too hard? Had she caused him to lose his damn mind?
"An Uchiha fetish? What the hell is that supposed t—"
Something rough chafed into her scalp when he slammed into her, moving at a speed that was typical for a member of his clan. Faster than she could keep up with, when he really wanted to gain the upper hand. One of the massive, toppled trees was at her back, with his arms caging her between them. They didn't hold her down, not even when her face lit up with the reflection of her chakra-infused fists again. Close enough that they could easily inflict serious damage, but he chose not to acknowledge them.
The warmth of his body encased her, careless of the threat she possessed while her eyes quivered unblinking into his, and her fingers clenched and released in uncertainty. She wouldn't hurt him. Not now. She was too baffled yet to get a hold of herself.
"You annoyed me for years. Always following me around like a lost puppy..."
Her skin burned under the heat of his gaze as he inspected her closely, but it didn't last. Flames turned to ice, and then clouded doubt, and then anger, and even sadness...too fast for her to keep up. They clamored for control inside of him, probably because they were so used to being smothered out of sight and neglected. Always forbidden from being expressed. Now they were breaking free, and bit by bit, starting to consume him.
"I almost believed you, towards the end, you know. You insisted so many times you loved me that I took your word for it. I started to think, maybe it's not just an obsessive crush you couldn't get over."
A tiny squeak escaped her throat, but otherwise she gaped in silence. Trying to stomach what he was revealing to her, and too afraid to move a muscle while the rise and fall of his chest pressed into her continuously.
"But now I know you didn't love me. It was just an infatuation, wasn't it?" He paused and waited for her to answer, but she was mute.
"It's okay if it was, Sakura...I just want you to admit it." Fingertips touched her cheek gently, moving a clump of stringy, dirtied hair out of her face. He was unpredictable. Every time his hand moved, it pulled her nerves taut in anticipation. One soft touch contradicted the next hateful glare...one rough shove contradicted a fleeting glimpse of sorrow and regret. It was a peek into his own psyche, in a way. He was a mess. He'd just been so good at hiding it until now.
She forced herself to swallow, and was revolted by the taste in her mouth. Full of copper and dirt, and so scratchy she had to quell a cough.
"What does this have to do with a fetish?" The question whispered into the air, and his gaze fell to her lips as they moved. There were so many things he needed to clarify after those few sentences, she didn't know where to begin, but her chest was beginning to feel very cold and tight.
"I didn't give you the attention you were looking for." He murmured distractedly, and she caught the spark that returned in his eyes. Trained on her bottom lip in fascination, yet in such a way that made her feel unsafe. Like at any given moment, he would rip it off with his teeth.
"So you jumped into the bed of the first Uchiha who would..."
Sakura gasped loudly, and his eyes snapped up to hers sharply. Daring her to deny it.
"Is that all you wanted, Sakura?" His face drifted closer, and her scalp crawled with the sensation of his fingers snaking up the nape of her neck and into her hair. She was pulled into him tightly, allowing room for his hand to fan over the back of her head in place of the fallen tree, with the other secured her hip.
"I thought you possessed more restraint than that, but if you wanted someone to touch you—" She let out a shaky breath, hands snatching his sides firmly to dig her nails into his skin. Pushing at him, but he wouldn't budge, "—you should have just asked."
"What are you talking about?!" Panic trickled with her words. He was everywhere, all over her, overwhelming in his presence as she had never felt so much of it at once. The force of her thudding heart beat through her chest and into his, competing with his own as it hammered at a noticeable, yet slower pace than hers.
"I saw you with him." Needles pricked her when his grip on her hair tightened painfully, pulling her head back slightly.
"I watched him hold you down, and bury his face between your legs." She squeaked at the wet mouth that found her ear as he arched over her, smoothing over her skin in a kiss. Each twitch of his lips, vibrating with his own words, made something coil in her bruised stomach.
"How many times did you fuck him?" Her neck craned further against her will, guided by his hand.
"Sasuke—"
"How many times did you scream for him?" At first she thought it was her own body, but then she realized it was his that was shaking.
"Stop—"
"Why?!" He lost it in a surge of rage. The abrupt roar stabbed her in the ear, and caused her to jerk into him.
He heard the energy erupt from her before it touched him, and released her to blur out of her reach. She lunged after him, aiming for his head with a fist, but when he tried to dodge, she swung with the other at the last second, using a burst of speed. The sharingan caught her intention, but he couldn't move fast enough to avoid this one.
An arm cushioned the blow that would have cracked his occipital bone, and he careened through the columns of rising dust, thrusting them into glittering swirls as he whizzed past. His feet dug into the dirt, slowing him down and kicking earthen debris everywhere.
"Because I don't want you touching me." She panted harshly, struggling to wrestle her own emotions under control. His inner chaos stirred up hers, the one she thought was finally put to rest. Fury, shock, sadness, lust... She wanted none of it, but it was tangling into her now and making it so hard to think clearly.
"You lying—" He shot forward, the thin blade of his sword hissing close to her ear as she jumped aside, "—manipulative—" thrust a flurry of shuriken after her, which she avoided with a backflip, ''—slut!"
"SLUT!" She shrieked, so surprised by his insult that she stumbled over her own foot and almost tripped to the ground when she landed her flip.
"Who the hell do you think you are?! You have no right to call me that!" Those wrestling emotions fell to the wayside when a swell of rage rose above them all, and her vision faded red briefly.
"You don't tell someone you love them for ten years, and then turn around and fuck—"
"You don't get to tell me what's appropriate to do with my life! Since when do you care, Sasuke?! You ignored me for those ten years and called me annoying every chance you got! It shouldn't mean a damn thing to you if I decided to move on with some other guy—"
"He's not some other guy, he's my brother, Sakura! You don't get to sneak behind my back and fuck my brother like it's no big deal!" He bared his teeth, jaw clenching with almost enough force to crack them.
"Is it your idea of petty revenge? I know you have choices... There have always been guys trying to flirt with you, and you turn them down every time. But you went after Itachi. Why? Because I was too busy training, too busy focusing on my future, to get wrapped up in some stupid romance with you?"
"Oh, you are so full of yourself, aren't you..." The laughter that followed was slightly deranged with anger and damaged pride. She couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth.
"You really think this has anything to do with you? You think the reason I'm sleeping with him is to get under your skin? If that was the case, I would have thrown it in your face in the very beginning!" She glared at him, keeping a generous amount of space between them as they turned in a slow circle, stalking one another and sizing each other up as the secrets they both sheltered for far too long began unraveling.
"Then what is it? Why, of all the guys you could choose from in Konoha, did you pick him? If it's not to piss me off, then tell me... Is it an Uchiha thing?" He seethed quietly with dark intent, but he was patient enough to bide his time and follow her in this dance.
She halted at his last sentence and sighed hotly through her nose like a steaming bull.
"Shisui also seems to be fond of you, did you know? I wonder... Would you let him touch you, too?"
Her eyes bulged, unsure of just how much more she could take from him before she literally exploded into bloody confetti. The resentment and scorn was tearing her apart, and yet she possessed enough rational thought for everything to click into place in a quiet, narrow corner of her mind. He was jealous. He was so jealous he couldn't stand it, and it was reducing him into this spiteful, vengeful state he could no longer reign under control. Who would have thought...
He had to be. He wouldn't be spewing this nonsense if he wasn't jealous. She certainly refused to believe that Shisui would have feelings for her. There was no way. He was making that up, and it was uncalled for.
She didn't answer him, too in awe of this realization. It snagged her focus enough that she didn't catch his change of pace, either.
"Would you? Or maybe you already did..." His breath flooded her face. When she looked up, he was standing uncomfortably close to her again. Dark hair shadowed his accusing eyes. Something was holding him back from his next move. She didn't know what it was, but she could feel it hanging by a thread, ready to snap...and she was determined to beat him to it.
"It hurts to know you think so little of me, Sasuke." She whispered to him, all trace of anger in her voice vanishing. That simple truth tripped him somehow, and he watched her turn and run away. Feet glued at first to the ground, he fumbled with his will to chase after her, but it didn't last long.
"We're not done yet." He growled quietly and sprang to life.
"I know." She responded shortly, before she stopped at the base of one of the countless fallen trees, crouched down, and lifted it off the ground. It groaned ominously, raining woodchips and dirt while its branches rattled. The circumference was broad enough that it would require half a dozen people to link around it with outstretched arms, and yet she dipped to pick it up with the ease of scooping a kitten off the ground.
The broken tree swung around in a half-circle through the air like a baseball bat from hell, and smashed him into its side. Fresh blood coughed from his mouth, forced into the wind by his caving chest. The world spun into a blotchy collage of colors.
"That's for calling me a slut." He heard her snap distantly.
The steady pressure keeping the air from his lungs lessened when she released the tree, leaving it to spin far into the field beyond.
A black speck emerged on the colossal missile while it soared, raced down the length of it, and rocketed back in her direction with a fierce purpose. She flinched, trying to duck quick enough to escape him, but his foot collided with her forehead and knocked her for a loop. They both tumbled and rolled, smashing through a pile of sticks and coming to a rough stop at the base of a living, erect tree.
Blood dripped in swift beads from his chin, his breathing labored and harassed by sharp prickling aches and pain that pulsed in time with the expanding and contracting of his ribcage, but he wobbled upright and came for her again.
Splinters bit into her knees and palms as she struggled to get to her feet. Every time she thought she could pinpoint the ground, gravity seemed to blink away and reappear in a different location. Knocking her around over and over again, until she gave up and collapsed on her stomach in a heap of dust. Her head was pounding and her neck hurt, but at least it was still attached to her shoulders. Arms cradled her skull with a groan. There was going to be a nasty lump above her eyes very soon. She only hoped she could heal it before she ran low on chakra. Walking home wasn't going to be fun after all this.
She couldn't move. Her body was flat against the ground, and yet her equilibrium insisted she was trapped in a tornado. The loud thump that came down all around her caused her to twitch, expecting another attack that she wasn't prepared to defend. His hands and knees straddled her, and a light pattering of steady drops stained her shirt with his blood.
"Sasuke—!" She gasped in pain when he rolled her onto her back to face him, and squinted her eyes as the sunlight blinded her through the crack in her arms trying to shield her face. He pulled them apart with little effort, smacking them down into the dirt. A red welt in the shape of the grooves on the sole of his foot throbbed angrily upon reveal.
The pale arms locked under his quivered faintly. Eyelids creased tightly shut while she concentrated on clearing her mind and fighting through her pain and disorientation. Now that she was turned upright, he eased down over her, and the shadow of his face blocked the harsh light from her eyes. She waited for his next assault in vain.
Opening them cautiously, she stared up at him. He was quite blurry, but a wave of relief found her when she saw his sharingan was deactivated. That was unexpected. There was a disadvantage with those black eyes peering down at her, though. They were harder to read. Either that, or he successfully closed the window to his soul on her. She was once again reacquainted with the more mysterious side of him.
The weight of his hand left her arm, and she saw it drift to her face. She flinched again, sucking in her breath nervously. The reaction paused him for a moment, and then he resumed to grip her chin. He watched the fragile, parted lips he had touched earlier with his thumb. Listened to the tired, haggard breaths that matched his own. The vibrant gaze trying to understand him was unfocused, pupils slightly larger than normal.
A small sound of fearful disapproval came from her when he leaned down, catching her off guard with a tentative caress of his lips. His mouth moved slow as he experimented with her, vaguely surprised when she didn't immediately bite him. Wet with his own blood, the kiss became hungry by her lack of resistance, until his tongue invaded her. Tickling over the tip of her own in a curious sweep, and then lapping deeper. She shuddered involuntarily, and he moved to claim her bottom lip between his, sucking gently and kneading in a curious fashion with the thick muscle. She was dry, sour with dirt, and salty with sweat, and yet he suddenly couldn't get enough. He wanted to suck her into swollen welts and find ways to taste her deeper still.
He had no idea if it was possible to hate and love someone at the same time. Such a clash of opposite emotions couldn't exist for long, without one overruling the other...could it? It was unnatural. But that was the only description he could come up with when he reluctantly reflected on his current feelings for her...unnatural. The urge to ram his chidori under the cusp of her ribs entered his mind, but it was overshadowed by another urge that wanted to ravage her in a completely different way. This woman was maddening. He couldn't decide what to do with her.
"Mmmph...mmm—Sasuke!" Her desperate voice shouted past him when she flung her head to the side, unnerved by his advance, but admittedly taking longer than she should have to escape him. Just like before.
This was insane.
She was relieved when he didn't force her to face him again, and sighed quietly at the feel of him slipping into the crook of her neck. He rested his head there, panting beneath her ear. On either side of her, the dirt crunched into his closing fists as he tensed, bracing himself against the colliding waves of contradicting intentions ripping his resolve.
"How did we get here..." She asked, so soft and defeated he could barely hear her.
Of course, she knew what all of this was about. His outburst made it perfectly clear that he was aware of her relationship with Itachi. It wasn't an official one, but the fact that she did sleep with him more than once was an issue that was long overdue for discussion.
She was going to tell him. This wasn't meant to be a secret forever. It probably shouldn't have been a secret to begin with, but she didn't know what to do back then. She was scared and confused and didn't even know how she felt about what happened for the longest time. How could she breach the subject without first comprehending what her own stance on it was? Goddamnit... It was never supposed to end up like this.
But that didn't give him the right to go off on her the way he did. You would've thought she committed some horrific offense against him.
Why... Why did he care so much...
At this point, she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"How long have you known?" She asked, finding it hard to swallow again as she closed her eyes. The taste of his bloody saliva lingered in her mouth, coating it in a reminder of how unpredictable he remained even now, how she should stay on guard...and also how she wasn't as innocent as she wanted to claim herself to be.
"That was your yukata under his robe back then, wasn't it..." His deep voice rumbled, much calmer, and much less accusing than it had been not long ago. It would be a mistake to feel soothed by it, though. Her guard wouldn't fall completely around him anymore. That didn't mean she would be able to react as fast as she needed to if he attacked her again, but she at least wouldn't trust him.
"Yes." She peeped, body motionless in exhaustion.
The silence that followed was more agonizing that it deserved to be. It made her feel guilty, and she didn't want to feel guilty anymore. She didn't want to think she did anything wrong. Even if he was out of bounds in the way he treated her, and even if she had every right to fall for another man, the thought that she actually might have hurt him somehow was a thorn in her side. It would only fester and spread if she didn't take care of it.
She was a natural fighter, but she was always much happier healing people than she was hurting them. That was never going to change.
Her cheek brushed into him with a turn of her head. The muscular form slouched over her was creeping into focus the longer she rested, morphing the blotch of red and white on his back into the symbol of the Uchiha crest. Drenched in sweat and rattling with his labored breaths. His hair smoothed against her, and she tilted closer to his ear.
"What are you thinking?"
A dry laugh puffed into her neck. Slowly, he dragged his cheek along hers, and cast her a strange look. She tried to read him, but it was still hard. He did a good job of keeping his expression tame, while he was anything but. Admittedly, it was a little frightening when she was able to explore what lied beyond the stubborn barrier he always guarded himself with, but she preferred not to be left in the dark right now, given the circumstances.
All of this was so surreal. She only wished she had more time to think. There was so much he had thrown at her that she needed to sift through.
"You should have told me." His wrists slid across the ground, closing in on her as he propped himself on his elbows on either side of her head. Caging her and erasing everything but the sound of his heavy breath and the heat of his gaze from existence.
"I know. But it's so complicated, I didn't know how to—ah..." She gasped quietly, muscles in her abdomen tightening. His hips lowered the rest of their weight onto her, and she felt her legs part a little wider at the invasion. The bulge in his pants was mild, but given how tight and thin her shorts were, she could feel its faint pressure slide into the juncture of her thighs.
"Sakura..." He was heavy. Everything from the physical weight of him sprawled over her, to the insistence in his voice. He was tired of fighting himself as much as he was fighting her.
"I would have given you what you wanted, if you had just asked..."
Her mind was numb to what he was implying. Earlier, he mentioned something along those lines, but it didn't quite register. It had the chance to now, but it was such a bizarre statement that she couldn't accept what it meant. He would have to spell it out for her, or it was going to fly through one ear and out the other. And why not? There had never been a reason for her to believe he would one day say or do things like this to her.
"Just asked what?" She took the bait, though her subconscious was panicking and reeling in the background.
"Kami..." He groaned in frustration. A deep ache clenched his insides, and he relaxed fully on top of her. Dead weight slumped down, squeezing her lungs in his embrace. She should be more careful of what she wished for.
The memories wracked him mercilessly. They haunted his dreams, disrupted his concentration during the day, and made it increasingly difficult to get her out of his head. Ever since he saw her in a sweaty, jumbled mess of stained bedsheets and strewn fabric, pink face and pouting lips that made noises he never imagined she could create, he wanted her. It was killing him, and he hated himself for being unable to conquer the temptation she presented. It all came from left field, and he was just as shocked by it as she was.
Days had passed. Only a handful of days, but it was strong enough to fragment his thoughts and desires. He was still angry. No, angry wasn't even close enough...but if he had to be honest, it wasn't all her fault. She lied to him, tried to bury the truth when he started picking up on the little inconsistencies. And yet, he wasn't allowed to feel angry. Everyone kept saying she was the only reason his brother was even alive. His own goddamn brother, who refused to open his mouth about anything that happened the night he showed up to the hospital as a cold, dead corpse, let alone say a word about Sakura. But that was a completely different issue. The majority of his pain wouldn't be shared with her. It was bad enough that he couldn't stop himself from coming undone the way he already had. She didn't need to know the rest.
Nevertheless, he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to claw into his own scalp, rip out his hair and scream. He wanted to murder something. Worst of all, he wanted her.
"I want to feel you shake." He hissed, grimacing as if he was in pain, and she felt his body clamp down around her. Hips grinding up into hers, nuzzling beneath the flap of her skirt. One hand smoothed up her side and clenched his fingers into her ribs, raking the ridges through her shirt.
"I want you stripped bare and dripping for me. I want your thighs spread and bucking into me as I fill you...bury my cock so far into you that I can feel your pulse. I want you trembling under me as you cum, Sakura... Should I keep going?" He all but snarled into her, eyes squeezing shut. Lips claimed her throat in a kiss, leaving his bloody marks to spread over her as he traveled to her clavicle. Face disappearing between the open collar of her shirt to suck rough welts.
She shivered uncontrollably under the wrath of his lustful confession. Her empty core pulsed to life with those raw, primal words. Aching to be sated in the very way he promised to provide. A fleeting look of thready anticipation betrayed her, but was immediately shut down a moment later.
"No." She gasped the word. It sounded so strong and loud when it fired from the depths of her mind, splitting through the budding, carnal excitement he managed to stir ruthlessly within her. But it became a mere wisp of a word on her lips.
In the fog of tension that loomed in so heavily it caused her to consciously regulate her own breathing, she seemed to miss the point in time when her thighs chose to edge wider, and knees bent on either side of him. Allowing him to cradle more snugly into her heating crevice.
His mouth rose and found the shell of her ear, tickling it lightly. He was fully aware of the subtle chain reaction he caused. She burned him when he ground willfully into her, throbbing harder when he felt her squirm.
"But I think you want me to. I think you like this..." He insisted, husky with want. The physical changes taking place in her made him groan in encouragement.
"You're already wet, aren't you?" Steam bathed her when his mouth shifted to hover so close to hers. Looking down at her in such a way she feared he really could read her mind. The thickening bulge throbbing between her legs pulled away, and a shaft of light returned to the dark cave hiding their faces as his hand moved down between them. He cupped her sex through the thin black material, fingers sliding curiously along the small swell of her lips. There it was. The evidence he was looking for, faint but damning. His hand pressed more firmly over her, rubbing in a gentle pattern to coax what he wanted from her. The damp cloth teased him, and he fought the impulse to bunch it into his grip and tug it off her hips.
"Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want me to fuck you." He challenged her with a cruel intensity in his eyes, while whispering sweetly. Candy laced with razors dripping from his sinful tongue.
She didn't try to fight him. There was no use in scrambling to hide the effect his touch had on her. He already knew everything. His fingers pressed and pawed individual strokes down to her core. The fabric caving around them as they dipped against her entrance, finding the source of her heat, and feeling it soak him. Her back arched slightly, and her thighs squeezed lightly against him when a reflex took control.
"I can't tell you that, Sasuke..." She whispered back in truth, teeth sinking into her own bottom lip as the sparks of pleasurable agony raked her raw inside. Begging her to stop fighting him, so she could feel more. Begging her to let him take what he wanted.
"But that's not the point." Her voice was frail, a hint of sadness, and yet coupled with a serene calm he didn't expect. He studied her with rapt attention, letting his hand drag from her quivering wet center and pet heavily up the slope of her abdomen and under her shirt. Joined by his other hand, they pulled the bottom of her shirt up with their movement until the white wraps concealing her breasts peeked into the air.
She didn't stop him then, either. She let his fingers explore her soft swells, breath shaking at the swipe of pressure that awakened a hidden bud to life. Gritty palms reached to cup his face, touching him as gently as he touched her, and for a moment, she merely watched him. The strange gesture slowed his movements absently, chest heaving under his kneading hands.
"If you don't get off of me, I'm going to hurt you." Bright blue burst against his cheeks, swallowing the hands and wrists that held him. The light was near blinding in its closeness, but it flowed over his skin like warm water. In no time at all, she could will the energy to become something menacing and turn it against him, but for now, it was deceptively relaxing.
So tired and drained, wrung hard and withered by the physical and emotional toll this battle put on her...but she had enough life left to show him she meant business, if it came down to it. This was the last thing she wanted to do, but she had to end this before it was too late.
"Do it." He murmured, holding her exhausted, regretful gaze. The command caught her breath in her throat.
A deep exhale that was as disbelieving as it was loud wheezed from her. The corners of her eyes wrinkled with the mask of pain that replaced the calm. She hesitated. It was too easy. He was caught between a pair of weapons he already knew could crush him in a second, if he gave her the opportunity...and yet he wouldn't move. He didn't even bother to activate his sharingan. It was like playing another game of chicken, and she was at her wits' end.
"I don't want to." The sadness contorted her features, pulling at her lips and denting her brows until she looked like she was going to cry.
"Please, Sasuke...I'm tired. I can't do this anymore."
"Then give in." He pushed quietly, meeting the corner of her mouth in a slow, poisonous kiss. Firm in his decision to keep her beneath him, and erode the last of her willpower. The warm glow humming close to them both faded away, captured by his hands and lifted above her head. They were smothered in his grip against the dirt, yet their light never waned. His fingers laced with hers boldly, as if to prove he was fearless of her, and the flickering chakra encased them both.
"Please... We need to talk about this. It's wrong. All of this is wrong, and you know it. I meant nothing to you for so long, and I refuse to believe you suddenly have feelings for me now. You're not thinking clearly. " Fingers pressed into the back of his hands, clutching him as she pleaded. Reaching endlessly into the tumultuous anarchy of his mind for the last of his senses that she knew were lost within.
The body pinning her to the ground flexed rigidly, as if she'd hit him. Hands squeezed her tightly enough that she felt them begin to bruise and ache, causing her fingers to lose their grip. The blue glow burned brighter, but still did nothing.
"When did I tell you...you meant nothing..." The grating, rough voice sounded nothing like him. She froze in wonder. Unsure if she just made a terrible mistake, or was about to make progress.
A croon joined them from somewhere close by. Quiet in its warning, but it was out of place and clear enough in its presence that Sasuke lifted his head. Cold, angry eyes found a small black shape atop one of the piles of twisted logs in their ocean of mangled trees. A crow watched them, thin legs bouncing and flexing as it shuffled sideways along its enormous perch. It bent forward, wings rustling softly as it opened its mouth to caw loudly. Splitting the empty air with a haunting song.
The forest surrounding them hissed distantly. Breeze continuing to flutter the leaves and claim the weightless, pulverized mess of their arena. Beyond that, nothing but silence. He peered into the trees yards away from them, ignoring the confused and suspenseful look she was giving him. Waiting for him to say something that would clarify what he meant, and give her a sense of direction.
The crow's gnawing calls stopped abruptly, just as the empty space in front of him flickered in a blur of movement that came and went faster than he could react. The blood was gushing from a torn gash on his cheek long before his brain registered that he was spinning in space, far away from the girl he had once trapped in his embrace.
Shadows blurred around him, and he was struck again before he could crash to the ground. Another flicker of green and black that never stood still long enough to take shape pursued him. Something crushed into his gut, and smashed his other cheek in quick fury. The beating didn't let up until the open field spiraled into view. By the time he landed with a rough roll into the grass, gasping for air and battling through the pain that wracked him, his sharingan looked up to catch another flicker right in front of him.
He was about to lurch up and meet his attacker, a hand reaching for the hilt of the kusanagi, but he stopped himself. Another sharingan glared down at him, with short black hair rustling around his untouched face like the feathers of a crow. Sasuke let the final hit crush his nose and thrust him onto his back. Gasping for air and reeling from the speed in which the blows landed. One of the abilities Shisui was known for, which he envied a little. He could be everywhere at once, when if wanted to. Kill you with his bare hand, without even showing his face.
He laid there in quiet submission, not daring to raise his hand against his elder. His brother's best friend, who helped trained him for years. Shisui stood tall with his fists at his sides, jonin jacket over a long black shirt and pair of pants.
"When I told you to deal with her later, when there was no one else around, this is not what I meant." The older man's voice was far more calm and collected than his violent actions were, and he stared down at him in frigid, passionate disapproval.
The sprawled, broken body below was speechless. Sasuke's eyes faded to black, fresh blood streaking down his face from his nose and mouth. His shock was evident, but a thought struck him, narrowing his gaze as he met the glaring red towering above.
"Still spying on her? At least I stopped after she left the house the other night." His cool words baited him in anger. As foolish as he was bitter and feisty. Though he would never counterattack, not matter how many times he was hit, that wouldn't stop him from spitting venom.
Shisui's eyes narrowed. The grass crackled under his feet as he knelt over him, a hand shooting to his chest to twist into the stained shirt and pull him closer to his face. It was too similar to gazing into the quiet fury of his own mother, whenever he was dumb enough to piss her off...but if he told Shisui that, he really would be in a world of trouble.
Sakura collapsed at the edge of the forest, one hand bracing her against the side of tree. She stared out at the pair in the middle of the bright field, unable to believe her eyes. His face was turned away from her as he hovered over the limp form. Identity unknown. The short, wavy tresses were much too familiar for comfort, though. And that Uchiha crest of the back of his flak jacket...that couldn't be a coincidence.
Did she just get incredibly lucky? Or was she in trouble? Sasuke was no longer a threat to her now. She didn't need to hurt him to get her point across—if that would even work—but the sense of relief evaded her. She felt almost empty and lost. Bowing her head, she let her hand slip over her eyes in want for comfort. To escape this mess... To sneak back to Konoha and hide in a steaming bath all alone, with nothing but the sound of crickets and flicker of candlelight... To crawl into her bed and collapse into a sound sleep, and wake up the next day realizing all of this was a bad dream... What she wouldn't give for that.
"Shisui!" A voice shouted next to her, startling her. She clawed the tree in fear, snapping to her feet and thumping her back against it to stare at the man that had appeared out of thin air. Just like the other.
The hard lines of Itachi's face were aimed at the two far away from them. Hair pulled back enough that she could see the coal of his eyes, and the unhappy wrinkles under them. He wasn't wearing the uniform of the military police like his friend, but a short-sleeved, navy blue shirt, and dark gray pants.
Clenching fist stilling at the sound of his name, Shisui forced himself to lower the younger man back down to the ground. Shirt stretched and wrinkled as he relaxed his hand, the harsh look lingered on him while his palm flattened on his chest.
"I expected better from you." He stated simply, and then slowly rose off him and took a step away. His back remained turned from everyone, facing the untouched scenery glittering in the gold and orange shades of the setting sun.
With the tension visibly dissipating between them, Itachi spared a glance at the battered and spent girl standing next to him. Beholding him as if he was something to fear. Drying blood caked all over her mouth, ear, down her neck. Disappearing under the flap of her red collar.
"When did you get here...?" She breathed through an exasperated sigh. Held together loosely by the last, stubborn fibers of her sanity. She watched his eyes explore the damage, and watched them return, over and over again, to the blotches of blood staining her lips.
"Itachi... I—"
"Are you okay?" He interrupted her quietly, expression telling nothing of what he thought or felt. A little tired, a little sad, but other than that, he was an enigma.
"Yes..." The green eyes sparkled in front of him as a thin film of tears traced the rims of her eyelids. Whether out of pride, or guilt, or extreme fatigue, she wouldn't let them spill over. She merely looked down and away from him.
The pads of his fingers nudged her cheek, and when she looked up, he was pulling her into him. Wrapping her in a hug with his hands climbing up through her spoiled hair and cradling her. A sharp stinging made her wince when his lips planted on the throbbing welt expanding her forehead. Kissing her hard enough that she wondered if he wanted it to hurt a little.
"Stay here." His command was quiet in her ear as he nuzzled his cheek against hers, and then pulled away from her. She didn't want him to go. It felt good, but then it didn't. Bittersweet and agonizing, as if she feared it would be one of the last times he touched her. She leaned against the tree, too weak and overcome with doubt to want to get in his way as he drifted into the field at a listless pace. Stalking reluctantly toward the instrument of this disaster he inadvertently helped create.
Sasuke was sitting upright, ignoring Shisui's thoughtful, brooding stance behind him. His face was utterly devoid of the spite that dominated him earlier. It was swiftly, brutally smacked back into the deepest recesses of his mind with a surety Shisui would never have been able to deliver with his iron blows or scolding words. Exterminated by the brief, yet pure display of affection his brother just revealed in front of him. Like it was the most alien thing in the world he could have witnessed.
Despite everything that just happened, it wasn't until that singular moment, that he realized he fucked up.
- 10
- 11
- 12
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

To Duel With Fate