Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Mother's Son ❯ Interlude: Before The Storm ( Chapter 19 )

I lost my temper. Clear and simple. I lost control; let her get the better of me. And in that space of ten minutes, when I let my rage control me, I did some things that I'm going to regret for a very long time. I hurt her. I hurt Sakura.

I effectively killed the small chance that I ever had of getting her back. And that sucks.

But, good news is, I've got the rest of our lives to fix it. That is, unless she kills me when she wakes up.

The thing that eats at me most now, is that the whole time, when I was hitting her, she kept looking at Daisuke. At our son. She was genuinely afraid that I would hurt him. And I know I have no right to feel betrayed, but I do. To think that she would believe that I would hurt Dai…

It's an unimaginable pain; to be so mistrusted by to woman you love. But I deserve it. All I've done is screw her over, ever since I met her.

I made her love me, made her want me. I made her need me. Because I needed her, and I never wanted to be the one who needed something. And I made her believe that I didn't love her, so leaving would be easier. And I thought it had been a clean break, at least for her. Turns out that my leaving left her in the worst position of her life.

She's the strongest girl I've ever known. She kept my baby.

She kept my son.

When Sakura awoke, all there was surrounding her was Naruto. His rage was a white hot intensity, forcing chakra to boil from his skin like flame, and when her eyes opened, she found herself staring not into the blue ocean depths that she loved so achingly much, but instead into the feral eyes of his demon. He was standing above her, his anger pouring itself into the air around her, his eyes burning into her skull, a fractured expression across his face. It was as if he was torn between comforting her and ripping the world to shreds and forcing it to its knees before him.

Sakura was unsure which he would chose, so she tried to speak to him. She opened her mouth, and realized that had been a bad idea. Naruto's fists clenched as a fresh wave of the scent of her blood washed over him, and he saw that a few of her teeth were missing near the back. She tried to speak, but a strangled croak was her best try.

“Naru-” she coughed and in a second he was by her side, holding her, clutching her desperately to his chest, and she thought that maybe he wasn't trying to comfort only her.

“Sakura. I saw you.” He whispered, his voice hoarse with the pain of controlling Kyuubi. “I saw you and I thought…you looked dead.”

“Naru…”

“I thought you were dead.” He sobbed slightly. “I thought you were dead.” He clung to her shoulders tightly, crouching over her body on the stone floor of the kitchen, where her blood was spilled.

“I couldn't hear your heart beat.”

Sakura mumbled something, trying to move her weak arms to embrace him back, to comfort him. She found her body to be unwilling to move, and in quite a lot of pain. She choked back a sob at the sudden, crushing pain that was her face and upper body. She swallowed firmly, trying to speak again.

“Naruto.” She managed, and he pulled always, his red eyes flicking over her face intently.

“Did he do this to you?” he demanded. “Did Itachi do this to you?”

“Itachi?”

Sakura was confused. What was Naruto talking about? What had been done? And why did he assume that Itachi had done it? Above her, Naruto was frowning at her apparent confusion. “Sakura,” he commanded. “Tell me who hurt you.”

Sakura looked away from the crimson eyes that refused to leave her face. “He's a good man.” She said quietly, her jaw moving slowly as she swallowed back bile. A purple bruise had blossomed on the edge of her cheek and Naruto reached out and stroked it, and then took her chin, forcing her to look at him.

“Did Sasuke do this to you?” he asked softly, his eyes fading back to blue, though she knew it was by obvious effort on his part. His hands shook slightly, and the air around his body hummed with now unseen chakra. Sakura stared into the ocean of his eyes, willing her bloody hands to reach out and stroke the marks along his cheeks, to memorize his face, so that one day, she would be sure that she would never forget him.

“I wanted him to be a good man.” Sakura finally replied. her throat hurt to speak, but she ignored the niggling pain. “I wanted him to know, without me telling him. I wanted him to know. I wanted him to be a father. But he was just Sasuke. And I'm just Sakura, and I expected too much. I still do.”

Naruto watched in fascinated horror as she spoke, her voice dull and lifeless. Her eyes were telling a different story, they were sparkling green and aching for him to understand. She could see it in the depths of her color what she meant.

“I wanted him to be you, Naruto.”

His heart ached and his demon rumbled and Naruto stood, pulling Sakura up with him. “Be very, very quiet.” He told her, before helping her from the kitchen. He moved through the halls easily, navigating through the emptiness to where Kakashi stood, outside a door. He took in the sight of Naruto, eyes red once again, and fingernails curved into claws. He looked at Sakura, beaten bloody from the waist up and he nodded to his student. He knew the question, before it was asked. He stepped forward and took Sakura from Naruto, lifting the small woman into his arms.

Before he left, he whispered “Daisuke is in there too.” Naruto's eyes widened, but after a moment, his resolve seemed to strengthen.

Stepping forward, he placed a scarred hand on the wooden door, claws curving slightly to scritch at the surface. He felt the chakra tunnel through his body and into the palm of his hand. The wood burned his skin slightly before it exploded, fire and splinters and thunder in the dark hall. Sakura was long gone, Kakashi racing her back home, to a healer. Soon, Naruto was long gone as well.

His demon had taken over, and he had only two objectives. Above all else, protect the boy. Pack was pack, family was family. Blood was blood. Secondly, remove the threat. Permanently.

As the slight smoke cleared, Kyuubi found himself looking through the eyes of his human prison, and being in control. Two objectives kept him locked, but he marveled at the freedom his limbs felt. He looked past the cloud, into the room, and saw a tall, terribly bored looking man standing across from him.

Looking up, the man spoke. “Naruto. I was wondering when you would come.”

The deep, hissing voice that issued from his mouth pleased Kyuubi very well as he replied. “I am not Naruto. You would do well not presume that you at all familiar with me, mortal.”

Sasuke was tired. He had long realized that Naruto had relinquished his hard earned self control the demon inside him, and was now battling the implications of that decision. Like the fact that Sasuke was starting to doubt that he would survive the battle.