My Own Worst Enemy

Chapter 5 - Mistaken Identity

Sasuke heard her door slide open, but thought nothing of it. She often got up during the night and went to the restroom. It was the only time she felt comfortable leaving her room, and as much as he wished otherwise, he knew he was part of the reason. He wasn’t egotistical enough to think he was all of it, but he knew that his presence outside her door wasn’t as calming as he wished it would be. Still, he couldn’t leave. Going so far away as the bed in the next room was difficult when he wanted to be sitting right beside her, making sure she was alright, apologizing for everything, keeping her nightmares away.

And yet, he was only making it worse for her. All she saw when she looked at him was his brother, her tormentor. No wonder she hated him.

His mind continued along that train of thought for several minutes until some small part of his brain pointed out that she wasn’t back from the bathroom yet. Immediately, his attention focused on that and he knew that she could have made the trip three times at least by now.

Swearing silently, he yanked on his shoes, not even bothering about the fact that he was in his pajamas. Running through the corridors, he quickly passed the first guard post, which was empty, though he thought he could see the man down the hall, coming out of a restroom. He knew the trick she had pulled, and a shot of amusement made its way through the haze of worry consuming his rational thought. The second guard, right near the door, was returning as Sasuke ran by, and he snagged the boy before he could leave.

“Just where are you off to in such a hurry?” he asked good naturedly.

The young Uchiha glared, but decided that leaving the guard unconscious would not be the best method of departing, and wouldn’t help his teammate one bit. “Haruno Sakura, the girl recovered from Uchiha Itachi, just slipped by you, and she’s trying to get back to him.”
The guard knew the basic details of the case, though nothing in particular about what had happened to the girl. He had his own suspicions, however, and he did know Sasuke’s connections, both to the girl and to her former captor. Releasing the raven-haired shinobi, he grabbed his cloak from behind the desk and swung it around the young man’s shoulders. “It’s cold out there. Just try to bring this back in one piece.”

Sasuke understood the hidden comment of, “make sure you bring her back in one piece, too,” and nodded. Not wanting to waste any more time, he dashed out, called up his bloodline limit, and started tracking his friend. Her chakra signature was recent enough, and distinct enough, that even on the busiest of roads, he had no trouble following her, and he easily found the path she’d used to bypass the gate guards. Once in the woods, it was even easier, and didn’t take long for him to realize where she was headed.

~~~~*~~~~

The vaguely male shape approached her and she froze, trying to figure out who it was. Then he stepped out of the shadows and moonlight illuminated just enough for her to make out black hair, a dark cloak partially concealing his features, and red eyes alive with the sharingan. Tears leaked out at this, but they were tears of joy and fear as she dropped the kunai and shifted to her knees.

He knelt in front of her, reaching a pale hand up to brush one of her salty drops away. She leaned into the caress, then turned her face a little to kiss his palm. He froze, but that was not uncommon for her master, and she continued her attentions, moving her mouth slowly until it pressed against the pulse point on his wrist. She loved the feel of his life-blood rushing beneath her lips, and she was secretly pleased that she’d gotten his heart rate to race with only this. Sometimes, his pulse would not speed up until he was actually taking her, but tonight he seemed different somehow.

Growing bolder, she moved forward until she was pressed against him, her face buried in his chest, listening to the beat it held. He stiffened for a moment, and she was sure he was about to reprimand her for her actions, but his arms quickly came up to crush her to him in a hug. She nearly lost her breath, he held her so tight, but she didn’t complain. He had returned for her. That was all that mattered.

After a minute, she squirmed, wanting more, and he loosened his hold on her, which she took as a sign that he was allowing her to take the lead this time. She wasted no time in showing her gratitude for his return, and moved her head up to capture his lips in a heated kiss. He seemed surprised at first, but she refused to stop. His lips were chilled, as always, and just a little fuller that she remembered them, and she sighed, opening her mouth slightly. He quickly took advantage of this, deepening the kiss and pulling her closer until their bodies were flush from neck to knee.

As their tongues battled for dominance, Sasuke wondered what had come over him. He’d been so happy to see that she was alright, that his brother hadn’t hurt her further. She had started crying, which unnerved him, and he’d reached out to her, trying to help, knowing how alone she must feel. But then… everything had changed.

He’d expected her to slap his hand away and scream, like she had before. Instead, she’d reacted intimately, and he was now lip-locked in his first kiss. Not that he minded. His life-long dislike of sweets evaporated instantly the moment his tongue first touched hers. She tasted like cherries, chocolate, and mint, and he swore he was going to need to eat those three flavors in combination everyday for the rest of his life.

And the way she felt as he held her to him was intoxicating. Every inch of his skin tingled, and his head was starting to spin. Then she moved her mouth along his jaw line and he let out a groan as her teeth nibbled on his ear. “Ung… Sakura…”

He felt her smile against his ear, and then her tongue darted out to caress around the lobe, causing another groan. Shooting her moist pink flesh into his ear for a moment, she felt him clutching tighter, leaving bruises on her already slashed arms. “Itachi-sama,” she breathed across the dampened skin, pleading, not sure if she wanted the pain to stop.

He stiffened, pushed her away, and gripped her arms even more. “What did you call me?” His voice was hoarse.

She crumpled, bowing before him, practically crawling. “Master, this slave is sorry. This slave did not mean to presume upon such a familiarity.” She continued entreating, remembering the last time he had lectured her about using his name without permission. Suddenly, it was more than a memory. She was there, writhing on the cold, onyx-black floor, waiting for a judgment from the man who controlled every aspect of her life.

She heard his voice inside her head, and she responded, just as she had on that day. Wincing under non-existent blows, she began crying in earnest, pleading for forgiveness, begging for him not to beat her too badly for her mistake.

For the life of him, Sasuke could not figure out what had just happened. She thought he was Itachi? The thought made his skin crawl, and her begging, not for him to avoid hitting her, but for him to only hit her a little, sickened him and infuriated him even more. This was what his brother had reduced her to, and he wasn’t sure he had the strength to do anything for her.

He grabbed her, shaking her forcefully, but she didn’t seem to notice and she blocked blows that weren’t falling. “This slave is sorry! Master, please forgive this slave…”

She broke off as she screamed and collapsed twitching under his gaze, sobbing quietly. She’d given up defending herself, and just let the strikes land, surrendering to the remembered pain. Sasuke couldn’t take it. He tried everything he could think of to bring her out of her nightmare; he’d even kissed her again, wondering if that would shock her enough to snap her mind back. It hadn’t, and her jerky movements had already caused her to hit her injured limbs against the tree more than once. Finally, realizing there was no other option, he struck, landing a single blow as gently as he could on a pressure point near the base of her neck.

At last she relaxed as unconsciousness seized her. He scooped her up, cradling her against his chest for several minutes, his mind racing over all that had just occurred, and his hatred for his brother swelled yet again. Itachi was going to pay!

Lifting her carefully, he carried her limp body bridal-style back to the village with the cloak draped around both of them. He walked right through the gates, ignoring the guards’ challenges, but once they saw what he carried, they stopped bothering him. Back at the hospital, he allowed the man at the front desk to recover his cloak, and then Sasuke kept walking. He strode past the ineffective guard, and didn’t stop moving until he was back in Sakura’s room, laying her gently on the bed and pulling the covers up around her. He knew it was wrong, but still he leaned in to kiss her one last time, vowing to avenge the wrongs done to her, and return her to her normal, cheerful self.

Sasuke turned away and stalked out of the room just as the night-shift’s nurses swarmed, intent on caring for their patient. One of them stopped to question him, but he shrugged her off with an “I’m fine. Go to her,” before shutting the door to his own room in her face.
He lay on his bed for hours, trying to figure out what had happened in the woods, unable to accept the truth. Sakura, ever his admirer, the girl who had professed that she would go anywhere and do anything if it meant she could be with him, was twisted into a ruined wreck, convinced that her only salvation lay with the devil himself. The devil – his brother.

And Sasuke knew it was all his fault. If he hadn’t trampled on her feelings like fallen leaves, she wouldn’t have been out in the woods that day, weeping over him. Even if she had been there, she would have been alert, attentive, and able to sense Itachi’s presence. She was the best of all of them at sensing another’s chakra, and with his constant use of sharingan, there was no way for Itachi to hide his chakra trail. She should have been able to defend herself, or run, or call for help, or something. But she had been too upset to notice the strange ninja, and Sasuke’s indifference had cost her the only chance she had of escaping.

He pounded the mattress beneath him in frustration and rolled over, attempting to sleep, though he knew it would be long in coming, if it ever came at all.

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Yes, another chapter already. The reviews have made me so happy that I couldn't wait to post. So please, keep the reviews coming. They warm my heart.
Also, just for your information, it will be a little bit before I post another chapter of my story, "Night, Day and Sunrise" due to some rather difficult happenings this past week. My writing buddy, 'Nera, nearly died from carbon monoxide inhalation on Thursday. The doctors said she had anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes before it would have been too late. She's still feeling poorly, and I'm giving her plenty of time to rest and recouperate before letting her stare at tiny print on a bright screen, especially with the kind of headache she's got. She did, however, ask me to make this PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: get carbon monoxide detectors installed on every level of your home. Make sure you can hear them in the rooms you spend the most time in, especially the bedrooms. Test them regularly, make sure they have fresh batteries, and replace them as often as the packaging says to. (In this case, it really is important; the sensors used to detect trace amounts of toxic gas in the air loose sensitivity over time.)
I can honestly say that I installed my own detector first thing Friday morning. 'Nera has been a dear friend since I first met her back n the late 90's, and we've been writing together from then on. She's co-authored every one of the stories I've posted here, to one degree or another. This particular story is almost entirely her idea, and she has writen most of the parts from Sakura's POV. This story, however, is finished. The other story I've been posting is still in progress, so I'm going to put it on hold until her doctors give her the "All Clear." Thank you so much for your understanding in this matter.
I hope you all had a happy Halloween. I took my friend's kids Trick-Or-Treating and got loads of candy (note: adorble babies in equally adorable costumes = buttloads of candy. Think about it.) She said it was doubly nice, because they slept over with me and my roommates that night (I never did tell her how late we were out) so she and her husband got to have parental time. I swear, though, if there's another baby come July/August, I am never baby-sitting again.
Anyway, that's this week in a nutshell. Have a great day and good reading.

Crimson Iris