Chapter 14

When I came to, I was more comfortable than I've ever been in my life. Something cool and comforting was wrapped around me that perfectly balanced out the warmth of the blankets.

I was on my side, halfway strewn across the cool object and felt someone's fingers gently run through my hair from root to tip, pushing it back out of my face, causing goosebumps to rise on my bare shoulders.

Sasuke's deep and familiar voice rumbling out from under me brought my cozy little world crashing down, "Sakura."

My eyes shot open in terror, all the things that happened with Madara, Obito, and Sasuke quickly replaying in my mind.

My head was resting upon his naked and extremely toned torso so my first visual was of his defined abdominal muscles. His familiar attractive scent finally registered in my senses and I dared to move back slightly so I could look up at his face, unsure of what to expect after what Madara had done to him in the cellar.

His beauty stole the breath from my body. His dark, brooding eyes bored into my soul, but he didn't say a word as he seemed to be waiting patiently, for once, on me to react. My eyes searched the chiseled plains of his face for any sign of acknowledgement that he remembered what happened, but unfortunately found none. In fact, all that was there was the familiar guarded expression he'd offered me when I'd touched his face in the bathroom after the incident with Sai.

I gingerly reached up to feel my neck for the bite mark from Madara and Obito, but knew even before feeling the smooth skin there the injury wouldn't exist anymore. His eyes followed my hand with the slightest hint of curiosity, but he still didn't speak.

Unsure, I tried my luck one last time before giving up on Sasuke somehow recalling the incident completely, "Did you heal it?"

I waited for his reaction so I could study it carefully. His eyes danced between my neck and my gaze a few times before he moved to sit up with a bewildered look, "I don't understand..."

I pulled back with the intent to get off the bed, but when I realized I was in nothing more than a lacy bra and underwear set, I flopped back down with a bright red face, "H-How did we end up in bed together? We didn't...?"

Sasuke put a hand to his temple with a wince, a look extremely out of place on his usually perfect features. He blinked a few times before locking eyes with me once more, "You smell the same, but...I don't know how we got here. I don't know...I don't know what happened after dinner at all."

My body was still burning with embarrassment at both of our states of undress and his casual mentioning of my scent, but I tried to think of a way to explain what happened without accidentally mentioning Madara's actions. The last thing I needed or wanted was for Sasuke to drain me dry of blood whether he wanted to or not. There really isn't a way to make him fully understand without putting myself in danger.

Tears began welling up in my eyes and I tried to crawl off of him before he noticed, but it was no use. His hands clasped over both of my wrists and he pulled me up until I was straddling his lap. I tried to avoid his eyes, but he released one of my wrists and gently yet firmly held my chin so I couldn't turn my head away from him. "You know something. Tell me."

My mind continued to reel whilst trying to come up with a way to tell him what happened and also ignore the heat pooling in my lower abdomen at the sheer closeness of our bodies. Almost like a fish, my mouth opened and closed as I tried to form the words, "Well, um..I-I can't really, uh, I can't tell you or something terrible will happen."

His dark eyes searched my face for what felt like years, only furthering my attraction. My body was beginning to curve into his naturally, as though it knew what to do without my brain's instructions. His eyes danced down to my lips and an unfamiliar dark look crossed his face for a fraction of a second before he suddenly released his hold and gently pulled himself out from under me so he could climb off the bed and head toward the bathroom, eyes burning a dark glare into the floor.

I lay on my back on the bed, stunned. That was the first time I'd honestly been willing to participate and the first time that Sasuke's been the one to pull away. The brimming tears spilled over and I felt them drip down the sides of my face into my messy hair.

Everything's so confusing.

I can't tell him it was Madara or he'll attack me. Even if I somehow negate any other person and leave just Madara as an option, he still won't be able to believe it because of the glowing his uncle had placed upon him. I truly felt helpless, but also felt quite guilty. Sasuke, Itachi, Obito, and who knows who else have all been affected by this evil man and I can't do a single thing to help them.

If anything, I should at least try and apologize to Itachi for my prejudice and maybe he'll have some advice for me. The familiar sound of birds chirping outside brought me from my thoughts and I rose to get dressed for the day so I could begin my daily routine.

Around nine in the morning, a stoic Sasuke escorted me down to breakfast. Kankuro, Gaara, and Temari were still among the remaining Uchiha family members at the table.

I bowed politely to everyone, as I was supposed to, before taking my seat in between the queen and her son.

Mikoto smiled calmly as she poured me a cup of coffee with steady hands, "Good morning, you two. I hope you slept well."

I offered her a small smile in thanks, adding just a dollop of cream and sugar before taking a small sip of the hot beverage. Kankuro spoke abruptly, something I'd learned quickly was normal for him, "Gaara would like to thank you all for your generosity and kindness while welcoming us into your home and family. As a token of his appreciation, he'd like to invite everyone to a festival in Sunagakure that begins one week from today."

My eyes veered off of Kankuro and onto the redheaded king, only to nearly jump out of my skin when his intense gaze met mine. I gulped and shot my eyes down at the table in discomfort. Something about the young ruler made my skin crawl. He did very little to try and appear human.

I felt another gaze on me and glanced over to see Madara giving me a smug smile. My eyes quickly slit into a glare and I swallowed back a sigh. Dangerous people are surrounding me left and right.

Fugaku spoke in a serious tone although he was discussing business, "We are honored by your invitation, however Konoha is in the middle of an economic reformation that Mikoto, Madara, and I will not be able to postpone. May we send our three sons to our place?" The jam on my toast was beginning to make the bread soggy and I watched it sink in as I listened for a response from one of the Subaku siblings. It was too dangerous to look up into anyone's eyes right now, as I'd learned.

Gaara's chilling voice sent a shiver down my spine, "I request that the Haruno sisters accompany them." My eyes shot up to meet his once again, this time on purpose. The redhead's head tilted ever so slightly at my response and I did all I could to not show him how terrified I really was.

Fugaku replied in his same tone, "I see no issue in that."

Gaara nodded and looked back down at his plate to continue his meal, releasing me from the freezing trance he had me in. Kankuro let out a low whistle over a mouthful of eggs, "You'd better make your move quick, Sasuke. Gaara never tries this hard for a girl." The table became awkwardly silent as the Uchiha in question glared at the Sunagakure prince, but chose not to respond to his teasing vocally. I bit into my soggy toast and tried to ignore the discomfort I felt towards everyone in the room thinking about Sasuke and I having sex.

Why's it so normal for these vampires to talk about sex with each other?

After helping Mikoto clear the table and do the dishes, I snuck away upstairs while Sasuke was preoccupied being a good host to the Suna visitors. Once I was sure no one else was around, I knocked on Itachi's bedroom door as quietly as possible.

A moment passed and I became unsure if anyone was even in there, but the door soon opened to reveal the expressionless elder Uchiha brother. "What do you need, Sakura?"

A bitter taste entered my mouth as I met his red stare head on, trying to prove to him wordlessly that I trust him. "Can I talk to you for a moment, please?"

The door opened the rest of the way and he stepped to the side so I could enter. Once the door was shut behind me, I turned to face him. He stared at my face quietly as I fumbled with the front of my dress anxiously for a moment before throwing my arms out from my sides and deciding to just be honest with him, "I'm sorry…okay? Look, you were right about everything and I know you told me not to come to you when things hit the fan, but I don't know what to do or who to talk to. I'm so scared all the time and-"

Tears were forming in my eyes already when he cut me off mid-rant, "I accept your apology, Sakura."

My mouth clamped shut in surprise. Here I thought he'd be much harder to convince of my regret. He motioned for me to take a seat at his desk and I obeyed, following him with my eyes as he crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed that faced me, "So you have found out about Madara's abilities, I assume."

I nodded, cautious to speak out loud just in case anyone else was listening in a nearby room or hallway. He continued to stare at me blankly, but I could tell his mind was going a mile a minute. "What has he done?"

I spoke in a whisper, ripping my tearful gaze from his and down onto my lap as I explained all that had happened, everything from the first attack with the tea. Once I was finished with my confession, he let out a slow noise of affirmation, "I ask that you do not make the same mistake with Obito as you did with me. I've known the man for hundreds of years, long enough to know that the assaults he's committed aren't in his character."

I nodded silently. I'd had an inkling that Obito was a victim as much as I was all along, but it made me feel slightly better about forgiving him to hear Itachi tell me it was true.

"As for the situation with Sasuke, I think the only person who'll be able to break the glow in him is you. You're going to have to tell him exactly what happened, regardless of what he may do, and trust that he'll find the strength to overcome his orders."

My nerves only heightened as he confirmed what I'd suspected all along. Somehow I just knew that I'd have to trigger Sasuke's commands in order to open his eyes to the truth. I nodded silently, tears spilling down my cheeks. It felt as though I'd accepted my own death and the clock had begun to countdown.

Itachi offered me a tissue, which I accepted gratefully. "There is a way to lower the odds of him actually killing you, but I'm unsure if you'll accept it, given the conversations between Sasuke and the Subakus."

My heart sank and heat rose to my face, he isn't saying what I think he is, is he?

He spoke calmly, but finally allowed a bit of emotion to enter his voice. I could hear the empathy he felt for me and my situation, "Beginning a romantic relationship with him can only better his odds of overcoming Madara's control. The reason I wasn't able to break free when I'd been ordered to do those atrocious things to Mina was because I'd never met her. I'd been living with Obito and his mother for years prior and had only just arrived back home to be intercepted by Ma-." A look of great pain crossed his face and his hands jumped up to his throat for a moment before he returned to his previous state.

I bravely reached over to lay a hand on top of his, the one that was resting on the bed, to show my understanding. I, too, have felt pain shoot through my body when attempting to break an order to not speak about specific things.

Feeling both reassured and anxious about the bittersweet advice Itachi had to offer, I returned to my duties for the day. I'd told myself a couple of times now that I'd probably end up at least fooling around with Sasuke or something during my sentence because I probably wouldn't be living much longer, but now that it seemed as though the fooling around was going to become much more than that and it was going to have to happen sooner than I'd planned, I was extremely nervous.

We have only known each other for two weeks, even though it often felt like much longer than that. On top of that, it's not like we know a lot about one another. We've had maybe one good and real conversation that didn't end with us in varying states of anger.

Why couldn't I be more like Ino at a time like this? My sister would probably feel blessed to be forced to canoodle with a sexy man to live. She'd call herself lucky, even if she barely knew him. I suppose it could be much worse. At least he is attractive and seems to find me at least acceptable visually. On top of that, it's bound to not be a terrible time judging by the amount of experience he has.

Would it feel like the pleasure I'd felt when Obito had glowed me the night of the ball? That was better than anything I'd ever felt in my life to that point, only dulled by the pain from the Uchiha cousin biting me.

With a sigh, I shook the dirty thoughts from my head and headed to the family room to find Ino, finally finished with all of my cleaning for the day, including the dishes from dinner. I found her cuddled up in Sai's lap on one of the couches as they looked through an old photo album. Sai's eyes locked onto mine as I walked around to sit in front of them on the plush rug by the fireplace.

Ino finally noticed me and easily slid out of Sai's grasp to sit across from me. After he left so we could talk privately, she gave me a small hug, which I gingerly returned, still a little upset with her for not sharing with me that she'd already known about the Uchiha's big family secret.

She held both of my hands in hers and looked me in the eyes seriously, "Sai told me what happened to you the night of the ball and I am so sorry I didn't pick up on something being wrong."

My eyes widened and my face burned in humiliation as I looked down at our hands, "It's not your fault. I didn't tell you so how would you have known?"

She squeezed my hands, making me look back up into her tearful blue eyes, "I am your sister, Sakura. You can come to me with anything, I want you to know that. Sure I get distracted by boys and stuff, but you are a priority and you matter more to me than any of that, okay?" My eyes welled up to match hers and I nodded, unable to speak with the big lump in my throat. She pulled me into a hug and let me cry into her shoulder, "God, you must've been so scared..."

I hugged her tightly and attempted to vocalize my emotions for my wonderful sibling, "I've been more worried about you being in danger than anything that's happened to me, Ino. Please tell me no one's hurt you." I pulled away and waited for her response.

She gave me a sad smile and shook her head, "No one's even threatened me. It seems so unfair to you…"

A small smile claimed my lips and I wiped away the remainder of my tears, "Ah...I love you, Ino. No matter how annoying you can be." We both laughed before getting to our feet.

Before I could head out of the room, she stopped me, "Oh, by the way, I know how shy you can be and I know you're super uncomfortable with the topic, but I really think that that Gaara guy is going to try and pull something at that festival." My face started to heat up as I knew where she was going with that sentence, "Maybe it's not such a bad idea to try a few things with Sasuke, if you do like him, I mean. So...do you like him?"

I let out an exasperated sigh and finally gave in, "Okay, yes, I might have a tiny crush on him." My sister let out a squeal so high pitched, I'm sure the dogs in the town below were barking in response. I groaned at her, covering my ears so their drums wouldn't burst, "Ugh, you're so annoying." She just giggled as she flitted off toward the kitchen, where she'd told Sai to wait for her to come get him.

I shook my head with a small grin on my lips as I climbed the stairs to the second floor so I could try and meet up with Sasuke. To my surprise, he was waiting at the top with his arms crossed and a glare directed right at me. I gave him a confused look and walked past him, not looking back until we were in his room and the door was closed behind us.

I sat nervously on the side of the bed and looked up at his looming figure, "What's wrong?"

His arms uncrossed and he continued to shoot daggers down at me for a moment before replying, "Why would you go into Itachi's room alone? Are you stupid?"

Panic and anger both sprang up into my chest, causing me to rise to my feet while I attempted to defend myself, "No, I'm not stupid, Sasuke!" Surely he could tell how offended I was by my tone of voice.

The prince shot back, seeming even more irked by my response, "Then explain to me why you'd do the opposite of what I told you and put yourself in danger like that."

My anger flared up and I lost control of my temper, stepping forward to point at his chest, "You don't own me, Sasuke!"

His glare burned wild as he grabbed my wrist and yanked it down away from his chest. I gave him a look of disbelief at his action, but he cut me off with a rising voice, "I think you've forgotten who you're speaking to." I attempted to free my wrist from his grasp with my other hand, but he caught it easily in his own much larger one.

"I don't give a damn that you're a prince, Uchiha, because right now all you're being is an ass!"

We were face to face, bodies nearly touching, both angry and ready to fight some more. My glare burned into his own just inches away as I waited for him to form a response. To my surprise, his eyes dropped down to my lips once again and in the pool of anger that was rising in my chest, a large drop of arousal was submerged.

In one swift movement, Sasuke pulled me against him and crashed his lips against mine hungrily. My body moved of its own accord and my lips mirrored his in eagerness. My hands darted around his shoulders, my fingers wrapping in a tight fistful of his hair. His hands steadily released my wrists and traveled easily down my back until he suddenly pulled me up and moved my legs to wrap around his waist.

A soft moan that I'd never expected to come from my body slipped past my lips against his mouth and he replied with an animalistic growl before sliding his tongue past my teeth so it could begin an intricate dance with my own.

My back hit something hard, a wall I assume, and another moan vibrated my throat, unable to make it past the war going on in between our mouths. Sasuke's hands left my legs and eagerly began exploring the small curves of my body.

A knock at the door broke us apart and my eyes shot open in shock. He moved back a step and let me claim my balance before running a hand through his messed up hair and turning to answer it. The burning look in his eyes was gone in that single moment and the guarded look from before had returned.

I slipped into the bathroom and locked the door behind me, letting myself fall to the ground with my back against the door and a hand shakily at my lips. That was more of what I expected out of a first kiss than what Madara had forced onto me.

That made me want more.