Chapter 28-Mature Content

Sakura's POV-

After hours of searching the asylum for supplies, all of us returned to the house with our backpacks full. Heavy sleet had started to fall mid-day and by the time we arrived, it was difficult to walk on the slick pavement.

As we started unpacking them in the study, which served as a storage room as well as a makeshift bedroom for Kiba and Konohamaru, Kankuro arrived to make an announcement, "I'm taking a tally! Some of us want to start sparring again to brush up on our fighting skills. If you agree, please raise your hand so I can count your vote."

Even if I personally hate violence, the amount of injuries our group has gotten over the past week from being out of practice was irrefutable.

Thinking about fighting brought back the memory of that awful day at the asylum when I'd lost my temper in the worst of ways and my mood automatically dampened. Keeping myself physically and mentally distracted has been tedious beyond belief, but my distress would still pop up every once in a while and I'd have to quickly find something to do to take my mind off it. I told myself the night I cut my hair that I had to shove the entire memory of the event to the back of my mind until we all somehow fixed this alien situation and then I'll turn myself in for the terrible crime.

With a frown on my lips, I raised my hand.

When I looked around, the only person who didn't have their hand up was Hinata. The look on her face said it all. She was still trying to deal with her fear from fighting Hidan last time. If I'd been beaten as brutally as Neji had described it, I'd probably be feeling the same way.

"Okay, got it! That makes nine for and six against sparring. Shikamaru said since there's so much ice out now, we'll stay here tomorrow and spar in the yard," the loud Subaku man spoke as though he were a referee before disappearing down the hall to inform everyone else.

My eyes danced covertly over to Hinata again before my attention was pulled to Naruto as he spoke in an excited voice, "I hope we get paired up, Sasuke, so I can finally prove that I'm the better fighter!"

I tried not to smile at the annoyed expression on the Uchiha's face, but couldn't hold it back. "You're only going to embarrass yourself," the man in question retorted in a deadpan voice. The two continued to bicker, but I let the sound fall into the background as I focused on my task again.

I really hope I don't get paired with a guy tomorrow, but I also know very well that I need to be for that exact reason. Making out with Sasuke has definitely helped me stay more calm around men in a casual setting, but hand to hand combat wasn't a casual setting.

Once I was finished, I tried to go upstairs to grab the book I was reading from the room, but the doorknob had a tie hanging from it meaning I needed to stay far away from there. After the incident with Temari and Shikamaru being walked in on by Kiba, there was a house meeting where it was decided that hanging an item of clothing from the doorknob would be a signal to others not to enter, regardless if something sexual or not was going on inside.

Feeling a bit embarrassed and defeated, I descended the stairs and looked for something to do to fill the time until Ino and Sai were finished up in the bedroom. When Ino told me in the bath the first night here that she and the Uchiha twin had been messing around, she hadn't elaborated on the extent of what they were doing, but I'd told her with a cherry red face that they'd better not do anything on the bed because other people are supposed to sleep there at night.

Those two had better listen. Just the thought of finding a stain or something on the sheets made me want to gag.

After not being able to find a single thing that I wanted to do, I sat on the sofa in the family room with a defeated sigh, head falling back so I could stare up at the ceiling with tired eyes. Physically, I've recovered from the overexertion that'd left me bedridden days ago, but I still haven't been sleeping that well.

I wake up multiple times a night, every night, in a cold sweat from nightmares that sometimes I could remember and sometimes I couldn't. When I do remember them, it was almost always centered around that dead security officer, so I preferred the times that I didn't.

Suddenly I felt someone lift my legs slightly and sat up straighter to see that Sasuke had sat cross-legged on the floor in front of me, his back against the sofa, and had pulled my legs over his shoulders so my feet rested in his lap. A week ago I would've fled due to an intense mixture of fear and embarrassment, but the fear was barely even there anymore so I managed to remain seated.

His warm hands wrapped around my ankles and I ruffled his hair with both of my hands, "What're you doing?" A few others were nearby playing cards at the dining table through the open archway that led to the dining room, but they weren't paying us any attention so I didn't mind.

"You were stressing out so I came to distract you," His voice was half-teasing and half-sympathetic.

My fingers stopped messing up his thick black hair and I let out a soft sigh, "I guess I've gotten so used to feeling you in my head that I forget about it sometimes."

The statement was true. Our emotions being sent to one another kept happening. The closer we were, the amount of occurrences would increase, but the duration that they were being shared and the strength of them was increasing steadily regardless of our proximity. I came clean to Ino about it and she said she and Sai also felt it between them once in a while, but it wasn't even close to the level Sasuke and I were experiencing it.

"Well I can't forget about it because you're literally always stressing out."

I tried to pull my legs off him, but he held them still and I relented to just removing my hands from his hair, "Sorry, I guess."

It felt odd apologizing for something that's completely out of my control, but I did feel guilty. Most of the time his emotions were relatively calm in nature. The only time they'd flare up into something otherwise was when he was reacting to me in some way or arguing with Naruto.

"What do you plan on doing once we get back to Konoha?"

He changed the subject so jarringly that it took me a few moments to come up with a response. It was easier to answer since his back was turned and I didn't have to look him in the eye, "I haven't really thought about it. I suppose Ino and I might travel to Suna to make sure our family's are safe. After that, though, I'm not sure. It depends on what happens between then and now."

If we come upon a new discovery that helps us find a way to get rid of the weird jelly-fish looking alien leech things, I'll definitely stay with the group to help in any way possible. There's strength in numbers and that strength is even better when you're familiar with the members of those numbers.

"What about you?"

Sasuke didn't respond right away and I sensed his unease in my mind, but he eventually spoke as he leaned his head to the side to rest against my leg, "I don't know. I guess I'll just go wherever Sai goes."

My brow furrowed and I lowered my voice a bit as I glanced to make sure the people in the dining room were still ignoring us, "When you say it like that, it feels like you'd rather let him choose for you rather than make a decision for yourself."

He didn't respond for a long time so I spoke again, trying to lighten the mood slightly, "Isn't there a place you want to go or anything you want to see?"

During M.A.T. I realized that both of the Uchiha twins' parents were dead. They have an older brother, but he moved away and left them in the care of their family's nanny. Because of this, I didn't mention maybe visiting his family home. It'd likely just make him uncomfortable.

"I wouldn't mind seeing Suna," his tone was playful, but I could tell he was trying to distract me from the topic of his ability to make decisions for himself.

My face warmed slightly and I leaned forward to run my fingers through his hair more slowly, in a soothing manner rather than to tease him, "At the risk of you making fun of me for offering, you're welcome to come with us: with or without your brother."

He surprised me by changing the subject yet again, "What do you plan to do once this all blows over? Go to school to become a doctor?"

The image of blood coating my hands as I knelt down in front of that man's corpse crossed my mind and my fingers froze in his hair yet again. I lied, not wanting to address such a serious subject, "I-I guess so, yeah. What about you? You wanted to be a police officer, right? Do you plan on applying anywhere?"

Sasuke remained silent once more. My teeth grit. It was both annoying and concerning that he wanted to know about my future plans, but couldn't answer a single question about his. Instead of letting my annoyance lead me like I usually do when it comes to him, I gently leaned forward to loosely hug my arms around his neck and rest my chin on top of his head, "Well, I think you'd make a really cool police officer."

He released his hold on my ankles and I moved my feet off his lap to the ground on either side of his body so I didn't have to strain as much in my efforts to comfort him.

I could tell he was, once again, feeling a bit bashful and smiled to myself. For someone who acted so confident all the time, he got flustered relatively easily. The young man's able to mask it better than anyone else I know, though.

Kiba suddenly dashed through the family room so quickly that he didn't even look in our direction, mumbling under his breath about how he needed to find his earplugs ASAP. That, paired with the bright red blush on his face and the tie on the door upstairs had my eyes squeezing closed as my cheeks heated.

Kankuro laughed loudly from the kitchen, "I can't tell if he's extremely lucky or the opposite!"

Sasuke's shoulders suddenly shook slightly as he quietly laughed and I shook my head in disbelief as I released him from my embrace, "Can you bring me some clothes when they're done?"

The Uchiha man looked at me from the floor as I climbed off the sofa and moved to stand in front of him, "Are you giving me permission to go through your underwear?"

My brow twitched in annoyance and I knelt down in front of him to glare at his amused face, "It's not like you haven't seen panties before," I let my face fall into a pleading expression, "Will you or won't you?"

He stunned me by leaning forward and kissing me so quickly that I didn't have time to react before he pulled away, "Why don't we take a bath together? You know, to preserve energy and all that."

For a moment, I was mortified by his brazen flirting, but then I remembered his true personality and leaned forward to kiss him just as quickly as he had me, "Okay. Let's go."

A giddy, satisfying feeling came through me when a massive wave of disbelief and bashfulness rushed into my mind from him. The emotions were so strong, but the light pink on his face was barely noticeable as he got to his feet. I rose as he did with a smug grin on my lips.

"Are you serious? You can't take it back if you say yes." He knew what I was doing and was undoubtedly challenging me to back off or he'd actually go through with it.

My own rush of shyness arose and I knew my face betrayed me because he suddenly looked amused. Stubbornly, I grabbed his hand and turned to lead him upstairs, "Fine. Come on then."

Honestly, him seeing me naked didn't bother me that much. He's undoubtedly seen many women naked either in person or online and has already seen me in just my undergarments. The only thing I was nervous about was seeing a very specific part of his anatomy, but if I was careful I could make it through this whole ordeal without looking at it.

I led him upstairs, cringing when I saw the tie still on the door of the bedroom, before pulling him with me into one of the large bathrooms. After locking the door, I released his hand and started the bath, adding some soap quickly so the water would be bubbly and hide more. Then, I turned to face him with a stubborn look on my face and my hands on my hips.

Sasuke looked beyond amused as he smirked down at me with a knowing expression, "You're not really gonna do this."

I cocked my head at him before looking down so I could unbutton my shirt and shrug it off. Then, I pulled my tank-top off and began unbuckling my belt as I gave him an impatient look, "Well? Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna undress?"

His hands reached down and gripped mine after I unbuttoned my jeans and I looked up to see his face was serious, "Sakura, I don't know if this is a good idea. We haven't-"

"If the only reason you're hesitating is because you're worried I'm gonna get scared, then let me assure you that I'm alright. It's not like we're about to have sex in here, right?" My confident voice became less so as I cut him off and spoke, but I meant what I said either way. My face could only be cherry red and I was anxious as hell, but not a single part of me was scared of the tall man in front of me at the moment.

He wordlessly released my wrists and I went back to undressing, pulling my jeans off and tossing them into my pile of clothes nearby. After a moment, he finally unfroze and started following my lead, pulling his hoodie off over his head. He was incredibly nervous, which only reassured me that I truly was okay with what we were doing. We could sense what one another was feeling and I think that's why he agreed.

I didn't break eye contact with him as I reached behind to unclasp my bra before letting it slide off and blindly tossing it aside. His eyes danced down and I continued by sliding off my underwear, finally completely naked before him.

Red and black eyes danced up and down my body before meeting mine again and I forced myself not to look down as he, too, removed the last item of his clothing. The room was getting steamy from the hot water and I already felt warm from being embarrassed, but I snapped out of my stupor when he took a step closer and lifted a hand toward me.

I closed my eyes in anticipation for whatever he was about to do, only for them to shoot back open when I felt him lightly brush his thumb against the sensitive skin just above my right hip bone.

His eyes were focused where he was touching and I looked down when a wave of despair and concern came over him and was sent my way. It was one of my many bullet wound scars. That one in particular was received the day I….The day I killed that man. I realized that he somehow knew that and wondered how, but was distracted from the thought when his other hand ran softly up the curve of my waist to pull me closer to him and then he was kissing me.

We somehow ended up parting and getting into the bath. Once clean, we simply relaxed. It surprised me how much I actually didn't mind that he was in here with me and seeing more of my skin than any other man has in my adult life.

Ever since he stopped hiding his true personality from me, we've gotten a lot closer. While he was annoying as hell, I also found it incredibly easy to enjoy his company. It was different with him than it was with Ino. She's been my best friend for as long as I can remember, but the level of understanding Sasuke's come to have of how my mind works was deeper than even hers.

It was also different because my body doesn't react to the sight of her like it does to him. When I looked up at the young man my thoughts were consumed with, I realized he was looking at yet another one of my scars, this one in between my collarbone and shoulder.

With an uncomfortable and awkward feeling brewing in my stomach, I broke the prolonged silence of the room, "I-I know I'd probably look a lot nicer without all these scars, but I tried healing them and it didn't work. Maybe I should try that cream that's supposed to make them fade…"

Sasuke didn't say anything and I nervously looked away from his face and down to the bubbles with a red face. Up until now, he's never really focused on them, so why was he suddenly unable to keep his eyes from the scars? Even Ino and Sai saw them when we played strip poker, but luckily they ignored addressing them expertly.

The water suddenly moved and I looked up to see him holding a hand out toward me. Unsure of his intentions, I gingerly placed my hand in his and he pulled me toward him before maneuvering me in between his legs so my back was against his chest.

"Is this okay? You can move if you're uncomfortable," his voice was much quieter than usual.

I shook my head to disregard his concern and tried to relax against him. The issue was that I could feel a specific body part against the very lowest part of my back and it was incredibly hard to ignore.

A warm feeling was suddenly sent my way and my bashfulness was temporarily interrupted. I tried to turn slightly to look at his face in hopes of understanding what was going through his mind, but his arms wrapped around my waist to hold me still.

"People can still be attractive with scars."

My brow furrowed at his uncharacteristic reassurance and I was finally able to release the tension in my body and let myself relax fully against his front. The room fell silent once more as I enjoyed the feeling of his muscular body against mine so firmly with no qualms about my body-image left to plague my mind for now.

A minute or two passed before he surprised me by speaking again, "Can I-"

A wave of emotion full to the brim with sexual energy came over me from him and I cut him off as it affected my own being, "Y-Yes."

He didn't move despite having permission and spoke after another moment's pause, "Tell me if you want me to stop."

Large hands ran gently over my stomach, waist, breasts, and hips and I let my eyes fall closed as I forced the nerves to the back of my head and tried to enjoy the nice feeling. Both of his hands suddenly ran slowly down to my thighs and he paused to give me a chance to stop him before parting them slightly.

My hands had unconsciously moved to rest on his thighs that were on either side of my body and my fingers twitched when the foreign sensation of his finger rubbing against my lower regions. My eyes shot open and I looked down at the bubbles where just below the surface, something was happening to me for the first time.

His movements froze when he felt my fingers move slightly against his skin, "Should I stop?" I shook my head, too nervous to speak. His finger continued and began pressing slow, steady circles against the perfect spot.

It felt…good.

Not just good, but really good.

The pleasure caused by the movements he made was addicting, I immediately realized, and I knew it was nothing compared to what it could possibly be. I'm not a complete nun, so I've masterbated before, but there was something so much more intense when it wasn't me doing it to myself.

A small wave of arousal dropped in my stomach and when it reached where he was touching I didn't hold back my natural reaction to the amazing sensation and my back arched slightly against his body. The hand that'd been holding one of my thighs came up to cup my breast as he slightly deepened the pressure he was putting against me underwater.

A small moan got caught in my throat and my thighs closed slightly as I struggled to keep my composure.

"Spread your legs," Sasuke's voice was a low rumble behind me and my body obeyed in an instant. He sat up a bit straighter so he could press his lips against the damp skin on the back of my shoulder. I leaned my neck slightly to the side so he'd move to my neck instead and he took the hint immediately.

An incredibly sexual sounding gasp shook me as a much more intense wave of pleasure climbed up my body and I clamped my mouth shut to cut it off, but I couldn't stop my body from pressing against his hand slightly.

Over the next minute or two, he gradually increased the level of his touches and it became nearly impossible for me to both keep myself silent and completely still. I had to alternate between the two until the rhythmic waves of pleasure rolling through my body suddenly multiplied and I knew I was about to climax.

My back arched further and my head fell back slightly as a higher pitched gasp sucked in past my lips. I couldn't stop my hand when I finally met oblivion and it shot down to press atop his against me as my insides tightened and shook. He gasped as well and amidst my euphoria, I realized he and I were sharing emotions once more, but couldn't pay much attention to it.

After another few moments, I finally came down and collapsed against him as I breathed heavily. His lips pressed against my neck a few more times before he whispered in my ear, "That was hot." My brow furrowed at his sudden compliment, but my blush was already at max heat so it was all I could do to not faint.

I could feel that he was aroused against my lower back and turned my head so I could kiss him for a few moments. His hands went back to gently brushing against my waist and hips.

Once I calmed back down from the intense orgasm he'd just blessed me with, I pulled my lips away just slightly, "If you want, I-I can try and return the favor." He made a small sound of confirmation and I felt his lips turn up slightly in a smile, making me grin, too.