Chapter 34

-Sakura's POV-

The first thing I noticed upon waking up was that I wasn't lying down. Terror came through me when I realized I was sitting against someone and their arms were locked firmly, like steel, around my body to keep me in place. Flashes of how similar it felt just before Ino and Karin rescued me had my breath quickening as my eyes shot open.

I was in the downstairs bathroom. My head was resting against someone's shoulder as I sat sideways in between their legs so all I could see was their bare chest and arm. A headache was making my head pound and I tried to recall what happened last night, but couldn't remember anything after playing Spin The Bottle.

When I tried to carefully get out of their hold, the arms around me tightened and they stirred with a deep groan. That's when I realized I was in my bra and underwear and tears rose to my eyes. I brought my hands up to my chest in fists and tried to muster the strength to try and fight past this person, but my entire body was trembling and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

My eyes squeezed closed as the person sat up a little straighter before seeming to finally notice me.

"Hey, it's alright."

My eyes shot open as Sasuke's voice came from the person against me. He was speaking in a much softer and careful voice than usual, but it was definitely him.

I shakily moved back a bit to look at his face, and he removed his arms from around me so I could, before bursting into heavier tears and covering my mouth with my hand to muffle my sobs. Sasuke hesitantly raised a hand to try and comfort me and I shied away, struggling up to my feet so I could locate some clothes and I could leave this room.

My voice cracked as I tried to keep from offending him, "I'm sorry, but please don't touch me right now."

He got to his feet as well, stretching slightly before helping me look, "Don't apologize." The man was being a hundred percent understanding and it only stressed me out more for some reason.

I turned to face him as I wiped at my tears, "Why are we in here like this?" My voice was guarded because it was all I could do to keep an accusing tone from rising. I kept repeating "I can trust him" and "He'd never hurt me" in my head like a mantra.

He handed me a sweatshirt, obviously his from the night before, "We made out. I swear that's all we did."

"Where are my clothes? They aren't here."

He averted his gaze and made an uncomfortable face, "You kinda started taking them off out in the hall." The blood drained from my face and he put his hands up defensively, "Only Ino and my brother saw."

I felt defeated and embarrassed, but I believed him. Sitting the sweater aside, I washed my face in the sink before pressing my face into a towel and speaking with my voice muffled, "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

"It was fun. I'm not complaining," his voice was more akin to his usual one as he responded.

With another sigh, I pulled the sweatshirt on over my head before wordlessly leaving the room. The dining room was an absolute mess. After locating my clothing in the hall and picking it up, I walked out with wide eyes. Konohamaru was passed out with his face drawn all over, and almost all of the twenty or so bottles of liquor were lying empty about the room.

With a shake of my head, I went upstairs, sensing Sasuke a few steps behind me. I froze in my footsteps when I opened the door to our room and saw Ino and Sai in bed. Ino was wearing the man's shirt, but he wasn't wearing a single item of clothing. Luckily, the blanket was just high enough to cover his private bits, but it was still a shock to the system.

My face became bright red as I shook my head and crossed the room to get some clothes to change into. There was a thump from behind me and I turned to see Sasuke had grabbed one of the pillows and hit his brother in the stomach with it, waking him up with a start.

"Put some clothes on, dumbass."

Sai looked stunned for a moment before rolling his eyes, pulling the blanket a bit higher up over his body, and falling lifelessly back to the bed with a groan. Ino stirred, rolling over to toss a lazy arm over him before going back to sleep.

After getting dressed, I headed back downstairs, noticing the door to the Subaku brothers' room was open and it was empty. When I checked the study, I realized Kiba and four of the backpacks were also gone. They already left to head further into town. I was hoping to see them off. Hopefully they'll return tomorrow without issue.

Pushing my anxiety to the back of my mind, I got a washcloth and bowl of soapy water before heading out to the dining room and kneeling beside a lightly snoring Konohamaru. When I gave him a light shake, he stirred before jolting into a sitting position with a red face, "S-Sakura! What's up?"

The boy was only two or three years younger than me, but with his shy personality I couldn't help but find him cute. He didn't scare me in the slightest and I saw him as a little brother rather quickly after meeting him.

"They drew on your face. Let me get it." His blush got even deeper, but he nodded slightly and let me get to work scrubbing the marker away.

Konohamaru's cute reactions had me feeling less shaky and more normal again by the time I was finished and I ruffled his hair with one hand as I got back to my feet. He was so nervous he didn't know how to react and I grinned to myself as I returned to the kitchen to dump out the soapy water.

"Wanna go for a walk?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Sasuke suddenly spoke at my side. Now that I'd had some time to calm down, I had no problem agreeing and following his lead as we got our thick winter gear on and stepped outside.

I broke the silence once we were about ten minutes down the road, "I'm sorry about this morning…"

He shook his head, knowing he didn't need to repeat himself from earlier and that I knew he didn't want me to apologize. The air was so cold we could see our breath and it was so silent that our footsteps against the pavement was the only sound.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I feel really bad. You've been a really good friend lately and I know it's not easy to have to put up with all my drama."

Sasuke looked ahead as we walked and I was a bit relieved he wasn't staring at me, "Shut up, Sakura." He was really trying to tell me that I didn't have to force myself to talk about things that made me uncomfortable, but it made him uncomfortable to say those exact words.

Guilt washed over me for the millionth time. Each time he went out of his way to help me, I ended up messing something up.

"Stop it already!" He suddenly stopped walking and faced me with an angry expression. I could feel his aggravation, but he continued, "Everytime I feel something, you're guilty or stressed or fucking suicidal. It's driving me crazy!"

Sasuke's irritation with the entire emotion-sharing situation has been steadily increasing and I was wondering when he was going to snap, but I didn't expect him to say that. Heat rose to my face, but it wasn't because I was feeling bashful. It was because I hadn't known he was aware of how close I've come to giving up. "Y-You knew?"

He wasn't calming down, "Of course I knew. I was there."

My brow furrowed and I tried to blink back my tears, "But you couldn't see anything that happened."

"I didn't need to. I could hear everything, every single time. They tortured you almost every day, Sakura."

I shook my head, struggling to properly explain how I felt, "That doesn't excuse the fact that I-" my voice cracked and I had to swallow back a sob before trying again, "I took someone's life, Sasuke, with my bare hands. He could've had a wife and kids. What if someone's up every night waiting for him to come home?"

I put a hand to my forehead as the memory of the event replayed, "Nothing I do or say is ever going to change that."

"He shot you three times! You were defending yourself!"

I shook my head and dropped my hand back to my side to clench it into a fist, "If I was just defending myself then I could've knocked him out. You didn't see the…" I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"Why are you suddenly bringing this up, Sasuke? What do you want from me?"

He raised his hands up into parallel lines with a glare, "I want you to stop! All of it!"

I glared back at him, taking a step forward, "I'm sorry that-!" A soft bang echoed through the empty streets and my body jerked back a few steps before a blazing, unbearable pain shot through my stomach. A choked sound left my throat and my hand pressed against the area that hurt.

Sasuke's eyes widened when I tried to speak, just for blood to spill over my lips, "Sakura!" I fell slightly forward and he rushed to catch me before picking me up and running for cover behind the nearest house.

He sat me against the wall and his fingers shook as he struggled to unzip my coat and wrench my shirt up out of the way. It was hard to breathe and was only getting harder. Another bullet flew by, just past the edge of our cover and he pulled the handgun from behind his back before glancing back at me with a look of defeat.

"Go," I said. My voice was choked and gargled with blood, but I somehow managed to get it out.

He glared at me, "Shut the fuck up, Sakura! Can you heal yourself?"

I tried to tell him that I couldn't do anything with the bullet still in there, but coughed up more blood when I tried and ended up gasping for breath. He grabbed my shoulders with a frantic look, "Come on, you can do it. Heal it!"

My fingers trembled as I tried to point to his gun in an effort to make him understand, but another bullet came and hit him in the bicep. Whoever was shooting was on the move and trying to get a better angle on us. His hand grasped his arm as the force of the shot pushed his body back.

With an aggravated growl, he tossed me over his shoulder with his uninjured arm and ran a few houses further away before letting me fall, "It's the bullet, right? I have to get the bullet out?"

I nodded.

His brow furrowed as he moved my shirt out of the way again and stared down at the gushing wound before gingerly doing what was needed for me not to die. It was excruciating. I would've screamed if it were physically possible. By the time he got it out, I was sweating and could barely keep my eyes open. I was so tired.

All I wanted to do was rest, but he shook my shoulders, "No, don't do that! Wake up!" He grabbed my hand and pressed it against the wound, but I couldn't muster the strength to activate my healing.

Another bullet whizzed by and grazed the same arm that'd just been shot, making him cuss as he picked me back up and started running again.

"I'm never gonna forgive you if you fucking die now!" Sasuke's voice was hoarse and angry as he carried me and it was the last thing I heard before I lost consciousness.