Chapter 38

Ino was a red vision of rage when she found out I'd convinced Sasuke the way I had. She quickly got over it when Sai asked her if she'd still be interested in teaching me a few fighting techniques as well as accompanying us to Ame. Getting married did little to dull their obsession with one another and she jumped at the opportunity to fulfill a request for him.

Sasuke wanted to leave Konoha immediately, but the newlyweds convinced him to wait a few days so I could be taught some basic self-defense. I also wanted to keep an eye on Madara.

The way he acted in the laundry room when he gave me the lead was just too out of character for me to wrap my head around. Ever since he attacked me in his room the week of the wedding, it's been like he's suffering from an identity crisis. I got the feeling that he was just as confused as me by it all, but hell would likely freeze over before he'd sit down and have a conversation with me about it.

The Uchiha twins spent a lot of time out of the castle in the few days I was training. They were meeting up with some of their family's contacts to verify no one had heard any rumors that would delegitimize Madara's statement. When they were home, Sasuke barely acknowledged my presence.

Both of us were focused on the oncoming trip, but even when we were in his room at night he barely even glanced in my direction. It was too late to change his decision, but he obviously seriously regretted telling me I could come along. The prince was not happy with me or himself. Honestly, I was too exhausted from Ino's rigorous training to pay too much mind to his pouting, instead using every chance I could get to rest.

My sister told me she thinks I'm a natural at all the things she was teaching me, going as far as to bet I'd be able to easily best her after I've turned. A prideful and excited hum rose in my chest when I thought about actually being decent at something. All my life, I've been average at best when it came to literally anything, so her encouraging words lit a fire under me to work even harder.

Finally, after cramming as much training as possible, the day of our departure arrived. A strange mixture of excitement and fear brewed chaotically in my chest during breakfast, which made it hard to stomach any food. We were set to leave shortly after the meal.

Despite the serious nature of our trip, I've always been eager to see the world. To help myself cope with the terrifying possibility of having to face either of the awful vampires we were hunting, I focused on the traveling aspect of the situation. The king and queen knew the details of our plans, but didn't speak much on the subject other than Mikoto fiercely declaring that we'd all suffer her wrath if anyone came home with even a hair out of place.

Madara holed himself up in his room except for mealtimes and even then he was oddly silent. The entire table noticed the difference in his character, but no one was brave enough to bring it up so meals have been pretty awkward.

After the meal was finished and the other three were grabbing their luggage and loading it in the large vehicle outside, I decided to chance one last conversation with the suddenly reclusive Uchiha. The decision was either incredibly reassuring or idiotic, maybe even both.

I paused at his bedroom door and waited until I heard Sasuke reach the end of the steps with our bags before lightly knocking my knuckles against the heavy wood. It made me uncomfortable, but I told the prince I wanted to freshen up before leaving instead of being honest about my plan to speak with his uncle. There was no way he'd let me even try, so I had no choice.

The door opened after a moment and our eyes locked. For some reason, I couldn't force myself to say anything or look away, instead staring wide eyed at his equally-stunned face. After a long pause, he gingerly stepped to the side and gestured that I was welcome to enter so we could speak without the chance of someone seeing us. My brow furrowed because I had to physically stop myself from walking straight in.

"I'll behave."

I still felt apprehensive, but entered his room and leaned back against his desk so we'd be facing one another after he closed the door. My arms crossed over my chest and I frowned up at him. When I opened my mouth to speak, he cut me off and made me lose my train of thought, "I've done a lot of thinking over the past few days."

I bit my tongue to keep myself from interrupting him. Even if he said that he's grown fond of me, he's also said that he simultaneously wants to kill me and protect me so it wouldn't be smart to immediately start giving him attitude.

"I've lived over nine hundred years and I've never encountered someone who has as strong an effect on me as you," he paused for only a moment, but not long enough for me to get a word in, "I can admit now that you've terrified me since the first time I lay eyes on you."

My eyes widened in disbelief and my arms fell lifelessly to my sides. He was terrified of me? I've been genuinely fearing for my life for months, at least half of that time because of him. There were times I even considered taking my own life so I wouldn't give him the pleasure of doing it. If Ino hadn't joined me in the castle, I can confidently say I would've gone through with it.

Angry and distressed tears rose in my eyes, but I didn't let them fall as I made an effort not to raise my voice, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Normally, he'd either taunt or attack me for speaking so disrespectfully, but instead he studied my face as I struggled to keep my composure, "I understand how you feel-"

My vision was tinted red as I finally lost my temper and closed the distance between us so I could angrily point at his chest, "You understand how I feel? Is this a joke?"

His jaw clenched and I could tell he wanted to hurt me, but for some reason he didn't and I continued, "You've put me through hell and back, Madara! I still have nightmares about the things you've done!"

Finally, he appeared to have enough of my lack of composure and wrapped his hand around my wrist before pulling me closer and firmly holding me against him. I struggled against his hold, shoving and hitting him, but he ignored it, "I realized just how much power you have over me when I heard the news of Gaara attacking you."

My movements froze and I slowly raised my gaze to meet his, shocked to see a soft expression on his face, "It felt like something of mine had been stolen away."

Tears finally flowed down my cheeks and my voice wavered when I weakly tried to argue, "I'm a person, not some item you can own!"

Those words summarized my biggest issue with vampires like him, Gaara, and Orochimaru. Humans aren't seen as anything but a food source. The way they treat us is downright inhumane and nearly tarnished my opinion of their race as a whole.

"I realize that now."

He surprised me by releasing his hold on me and I took several steps back to put some space between us.

"I don't expect you to forgive the things I've done, but consider this my formal apology."

My chest ached as my thoughts raced. Even after all the atrocities he's committed, I completely believed he meant what he was saying. My head suddenly felt light as a feather and I felt myself nearly tumble to the floor.

Madara lurched forward to catch me, but I managed to get a grip on the edge of the desk behind me and keep myself upright, "D-Don't touch me!"

A sob shook my limbs and I let my pride take a back burner. I need to get out of here. My voice was weak as I desperately pleaded with him, "If you have even an ounce of humanity, please tell me if you lied about Amegakure."

A surprised expression rose to his face as he realized I was entirely ignoring his confession.

"Be honest, Madara. If you're truly sorry, prove it."

His dark eyes searched my face as the room fell into a tense silence before he slowly sank his gaze to the floor and nodded, "I wasn't lying, which is why I don't want you to go."

My anger was slowly re-rising and I knew he could tell because he continued quickly as he raised his hands up as though trying to keep me at bay, "You have no idea what you looked like when we found Sasuke trying to free you from the rubble in Otogakure."

I shook my head at him, "I don't care how awful I looked and I really don't care what you want."

The defeated expression on his face was so out of place that he looked like an entirely different person. Having gotten confirmation from him that this whole mission wasn't a trap, I tried to walk around him so I could leave the room, but he blocked the door.

My eyebrows raised in shock, "Let me go."

His jaw clenched again and his dark eyes narrowed, "You could die, Sakura."

I reached for the doorknob again with a red face, "You think I don't know that by now? Move!"

We stared at one another for a few silent moments before he finally stepped away in defeat and I opened the door to the hall. I took a step forward before pausing and turning back to shoot him one last glare, "Don't you dare follow us."

After fixing my frazzled appearance in the bathroom, I met my traveling companions outside and then we were on the road for Amegakure. Our traveling party had two goals. The first one was to locate and either capture or kill Kabuto and Orochimaru. The second one was to procure a lead on my and Ino's mother's whereabouts.

The boys took turns driving for nearly three whole days before we finally arrived at one of the entrance gates of Amegakure. Passing through was easy enough and we soon arrived at the nicest hotel I've personally ever seen. The air was thick and humid as heavy drops of warm rain created an endless curtain over the large industrial city. Ino complained loudly about her hair being ruined as we headed inside. She still looked flawless, of course.

Sai handed his brother the key to our room before leading his wife away so they could find their own. I followed Sasuke in silence, avoiding the curious glances of the few other patrons in the building as we passed room after room until finally the tall vampire came to a stop. After unlocking it, he held the door open so I could enter in front of him. I gave him a tense smile before stepping inside. It wasn't the castle in Konoha, of course, but it was still a very nice room.

Everything that happened with Madara right before we left had really shaken me up. Somehow, I knew he was being completely honest with me in his room and that was more terrifying than most of the things he's done because I didn't know what he expected of me. When he toyed with me all those times, I knew he liked my terrified responses, but this was completely different. He won't ever accept my anger and anguish as a final response and I'm too scared to picture how he'll react if I don't eventually accept his apology.

Sasuke sat our bags down at the foot of the bed and I flopped lifelessly down onto the piece of furniture, earning a blank look from him. I let out a groan, rubbing my temples. Sitting in the car for such a long time with my mind reeling had given me such a headache.

The Uchiha ventured through another door, most likely the bathroom, and I frowned. It's unlikely the prince would warm back up to me until those two monsters were dealt with. I closed my eyes, rubbing my temples once more, only to jolt in shock when something soft and light landed on top of me. I picked up what I realized was a thin bathrobe before looking up at Sasuke with a perplexed expression. He tossed a larger one, obviously for him, over his shoulder and gestured his head to the side.

I silently followed him out of the room and down a few halls until we came to a set of double doors with a small desk to the side of it. The prince handed the receptionist our room card and the young woman motioned for us to continue through the doors. I returned the young woman's polite smile before following my partner, only for my heart to sink when my eyes landed on the big sign directly inside. It explained that this was a uni-sex, indoor hotspring, followed by a short list of rules that mostly consisted of warnings against sexual harrassment.

I let out a laugh of disbelief, more surprised that Sasuke was willing to visit this type of place than anything. He glanced over at me and I clamped my mouth shut as I continued following him into, you guessed it, the uni-sex locker room. My face warmed as my eyes landed on a few men and women in various states of undress in the large room. I averted my gaze to Sasuke's back and followed behind him more closely, not wanting to make eye contact with a single person.

After finding an unused locker, we both undressed before heading into the hot spring. I quickly slid into the water, eyes still averted so as to not unintentionally see someone in the nude. Sasuke sat beside me and I felt my face burning with embarrassment. My body jumped in surprise when he lightly nudged my side with his elbow and I glanced up at him to see an amused look in his eye. My face contorted into a humiliated glare before I rolled my eyes and sank lower into the water.

"I didn't expect to see you guys here!"

I looked over to see my sister shamelessly dropping her towel and folding it up nicely before joining us in the water, her new husband following suit. My entire body burnt with discomfort as I squeezed my eyes shut just in time to not see a part of Sai's body that I never wanted to know about.

Once they were completely in the water and I was a hundred percent sure of that fact, did I reopen them. I discreetly glanced over at Sasuke to see his reaction, but he appeared unbothered as he sat with his eyes closed. The familiar burn of jealousy rose in the pit of my stomach as I once again realized how much nicer my sister's feminine assets were compared to my own.

Ino frowned at me as she tied her long hair up into a bun so it wouldn't get dried out in the hot water, "Have you guys heard anything yet?"

I shook my head, uncomfortably wrapping my arms over my chest when I noticed a few people across the room looking in our direction. Sai spoke in his usual voice, seeming just as unbothered as his brother or wife, "The receptionist mentioned that the king and queen often leave the castle and wander about their city. Hopefully we'll get lucky and run into them."

Ino replied with her lips still downturned, "We have to be careful to not offend anyone while we're here. We don't want to start a war."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, but said nothing. All remained silent for a few moments, the only sound being the running water and light conversation of the other visitors at the spring.

Ino broke the silence once more, reaching across the water to tug at my still-crossed arms, "Christ, Saku. Will you ever just relax? Everyone here's seen a naked body before so you don't need to be shy."

My cheeks heated up with blush and I tightened my grip around my body, but let out an awkward laugh, "I-I'm not used to men being around."

My sister shared a look with her husband before smirking at me teasingly, "You wouldn't even be here if you hadn't gotten into the bath with a man, so come up with a different excuse."

My mouth fell open in shock and I looked over at the prince by my side, distraught as I heard him trying to hold back his chuckles. Sai and Ino both laughed at my expense. Sasuke pulled an arm out of the water so I could bury my face against his chest and wrapped it around me.

I hate him. I hate Ino. I even hate Sai because he witnessed the whole thing.