Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Forced Fate ❯ Unplanned ( Chapter 10 )

What a strange feeling. It felt like pieces of him had been lost, scattered about, and he was being forcefully shoved together by dozens of strong tiny hands. They pushed at him, putting more and more pressure on him, stealing his breath; and he thought he'd explode and be crushed at the same time.

The pressure was unbearable. It hurt so much he wanted to scream, and just when he thought he'd die from the pain it stopped.

Sasuke took a long cleansing breath, blinking and adjusting his eyes to a gray moonlit room. He was whole again, freed from his strange prison of hearing and feeling but not able to speak, see, or move.

He sighed in relief. 'I'm free.' He had thought himself dead, killed by the Sand's poison and sent to hell.

Only in hell would he be forced to hear Sakura crying in heart wrenching pain and be unable to do anything but feel and listen. What's worse is every time she cried it was for him or because of him, and he was helpless to stop it.

So many nights he could feel her warmth against him; hear her intermittent crying as she pleaded for him to wake, to not die… Then, like always, she curled up against him and slept.

She sobbed quietly for what seemed an eternity to Sasuke, until she draped herself over him, cupping either side of his face with her hands. 'You can't die, not without knowing love again. You were so hurt when you left. You've been hurt for a long time… I know. If I could take it from you I would.' Her voice was a soft whisper, and he could hear the truth and desperation in it. She really loved him. He felt her rest her head on his chest, letting her hands fall limp from his face.

'Please don't leave me. Don't die. You can't die. At least with Orochimaru I had hope of seeing you again, of finding you, a hope of touching you, but if you die I'll never find you. I'll never see you again, talk to you. You'll never know how much I love you.' Her body shook against him with her soft cries. She sounded so broken.

What torture it had been to feel her hand caressing his face, hear her soft voice whispering sweetly in his ear, her heart felt sobs… and he'd been able to do nothing. As much as he'd demanded his legs move, his mouth speak, his eyes open, they never obeyed; and so he was forced to listen to the pink haired girl, and endure the touches she so liberally bestowed on him.

He shivered at the memory. For the first time he had wanted to put his arms around her and soothe her. That thought pissed him off and scared the shit out of him.

His mind recalled all those nightmares where she violently died, her accusing eyes focused on his face, spotlighting how weak he was. She always died with the same words on her lips, 'why didn't you save me?'

He didn't want any weaknesses. She was leverage against him, something to be lost, taken away, something he'd be responsible for but unable to protect… Not to mention he didn't want anybody that close to him. If he let her in she would know things about him, be able to manipulate and hurt him. She was a liability he didn't want and couldn't afford to have. That's what he kept telling himself anyway.

He turned his head against the pillow, catching a whiff of hyacinths as he leaned toward Sakura's side of the bed. He closed his eyes, reveling in the beautiful smell he associated with the pink-haired girl. After this long of having her beside him every night could he ever be without her again?

'You'll never know how much I love you.' Her musical voice played in his head. "Sakura."

"Stop!" His eyes snapped open at the voice. It was Sakura. She sounded panicked and scared.

Instinct took him over and he "launched" himself from the bed, intent on rescuing her. The results of his "heroic" impulse hadn't turned out at all like he'd planned. His muscles had refused to support him, and he'd crumpled indelicately to the floor with a loud thump.

Realizing he'd made an incredibly loud noise, he'd tuned his senses to the room her scream had originated from. He heard Sakura's voice in an angry tirade, a few good thumps, and Naruto's name screamed none too gently.

A memory of his old teammates assaulted him; Naruto screwing off followed by Sakura pounding him good with a short barked command. She always had been the best one at controlling the blond disaster.

Smiling, Sasuke no longer feared for the pink haired girl's safety. They were probably arguing, as usual, and Sakura had had to get physical with him.

Sasuke had feared his fall would draw attention to himself, but with all the racket they were making he doubted either had heard his fall. Just the same though he wanted to make sure.

He was in enemy territory with no allies. Tsunade, and therefore Konoha, wanted him dead or alive, and he wasn't going to allow either. Naruto was his old teammate and friend, but his loyalty was probably to the Hokage first, and he wasn't in any kind of shape to fight the blond right now.

He lay on the floor, unmoving; waiting to see what results his loud sprawl would birth. After several minutes of silence and no one entering, he began to concentrate on the problems at hand, the first of which were his jelly-like muscles.

His muscles had grown weak from disuse; they'd seemed to forget their programming, how they must perform for him. He'd needed to fix that. He needed to get in fighting condition quickly in case he needed to defend himself. Which was very likely.

He shot small bolts of chakra to his limbs, stimulating his muscles until he was able to stand. He went slowly at first, performing only the most minimal of movements until he felt strong enough to attempt more.

After a few Tai Chi moves and a couple of yoga poses, Sasuke felt confident enough in his muscles to move about the room.

The sound of pained groans intermittently floated to his ears from the other side of the door, and Sasuke couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on out there.

He moved silently toward the bedroom door, stepping toe-heel like any good ninja, not needing to take into consideration the rustle of clothing since he was barely wearing any.

He glided soundlessly to the door, and very quietly, very slowly cracked the door open.

---

"Mmm." Sakura moaned in unison with the man above her. Her plan had worked; she'd made Naruto forget all about the noise that had come from the bedroom. Good thing too. His eyes had flashed bloody murder when she'd tensed at the unexpected boom, and she feared what the blond might do should he find a man in her room. With how angry he looked she doubted he'd even care that it was Sasuke.

Naruto had thought her frightened so he marched toward the bedroom door with stern steps; his purposeful strides leaving no doubt his intentions to pound the door in and crush the offending noisemaker.

Sakura had appreciated his protectiveness of her, it was sweet and admirable; but she'd wanted to knock him senseless. How dare he so brazenly approach her bedroom with every intention of barging in and none of asking?

She'd growled his name and thumped the nearest table a few times to stop his forward momentum, quickly and cleverly informing him that the noise had been nothing more than her bathroom shower curtain falling. She'd followed up stating that it had been falling a lot lately, and though she knew what the noise was it had still startled her.

Sakura was proud of herself for her quick excuse. She'd always been good at thinking on her feet like that. Her excuse was logical, and more than probable. But more importantly Naruto had no reason to question her word.

Worried there may be other noises coming from the room, she'd commanded him to calm down and get back to the couch.

That was the way she had to be with Naruto. She could calmly talk to him, and attempt to reason with him; but he only ever responded to her loss of temper. Sakura had learned long ago that if she needed Naruto's attention and complete cooperation she need only roughly command it and it was hers.

Naruto had blushed furiously at her forwardness, stunned into forgetting that she'd yelled at him, and sheepishly made his way back to her. He'd had no reason to question her excuse anyway; it sounded logical.

She hadn't meant to be so brazen, demanding he come back to the couch; she'd simply allowed instinct to take over, and that was the result. She'd had only a small window of opportunity to gain complete control over Naruto before he found Sasuke, and her mind chose the best way to ensure his cooperation.

She'd needed to renew his distraction. She really wanted to send him home so she could check on Sasuke, but if she asked him to leave now, she feared it would look suspicious. His forgetfulness had already been way blessedly convenient; she didn't want to do something rash and push her luck.

"Come back Naruto." She whispered, proud of how sensual it sounded though inside she was scared shitless. She didn't want to play this game anymore, and she dreaded feeling his intimate caresses, hearing his passion-filled sighs…

Day by day Naruto's touch felt dirtier and dirtier, more and more violating, and her ability to ignore and hide those feelings was severely diminishing.

Naruto of course was the real victim here, but as time wore on she minded even less and less about that. She was losing her ability to care. Bit-by-bit she was being worn down, dying one small piece at a time.

Only one man had ever been able to dismantle her so thoroughly… Uchiha Sasuke.

At first she'd been happy to have him with her. He was alive, and he was with her. She'd talked to him animatedly every day as if he were a fully conscious willing listener. She'd tell him stories of her training, her most dangerous and exciting missions, her first date with Naruto, her first kiss, though she admitted she'd wanted it to be him. She had countless Konoha stories and she'd shared them all with him.

As days passed and he never woke, her jovial conversations soon became crying pleas. She'd kneel beside his bed, hold his hand and beg him to wake, move his hand, open his eyes, something, anything… But he never flinched. She always said to herself, 'there's always tomorrow'. Tomorrow became the next day, became the next, became the next… and he didn't wake.

Every night she lay beside Sasuke, her body touching his. She would twine her limbs around him, lay her head on him, whisper to him how much she wanted him to wake, and sometimes when she felt especially vulnerable, she'd cry.

It had been the worst torture in her entire life, a mockery of her feelings for him. She'd scorned God more than once for showing her such a cruel irony. Finally giving her the man she'd always wanted, but not actually allowing her to have him.

Last night she'd felt the world collapsing in on her as her heart felt for the first time that Sasuke was never going to wake, and her mind had begun to accept the possibility that she'd lost him forever. She'd racked her mind trying to think of what more she could do to heal him, make him wake.

She'd felt so helpless and useless. She was trained by one of the sannin, the first Hokage's granddaughter, the fifth, Tsunade-sama… Sakura knew she was one hell of a med-nin., but… there was no more she could do for him. She wasn't God.

In that moment the air felt thick and alive, heavy, weighed down by her grief, and it was threatening to crush her.

Looking at his peaceful face she'd felt a throbbing ache in her gut. He might die never knowing how much he'd meant to her. She'd told him she loved him before, had expressed her affection for him, but she didn't think he really understood just how deep rooted her love for him was. She'd felt the need to really and truly confess her heart to him, even if it was only the walls that heard her, but she hoped he would hear.

She traced the lines of his face, wanting to commit every facet of it to memory. "I always thought you were beautiful." She whispered to him softly. "The first time I saw you I knew I wanted you for mine."

Long ago, as a young girl, she'd vowed to do whatever was necessary to make him hers, to belong to him, and she never once relented in her pursuit of him. And though it had started as an infatuation, a crush, it had grown into more.

"I love you." She murmured, lightly brushing some rogue strands of hair from his face.

She'd felt a desperate need to hold him entirely in her hand, wrap her fingers protectively around him letting no one and nothing touch him, not even death. But no one could keep death at bay.

"I will always love you… even if you die." She confessed, kissing him softly on the brow. "But I promise you… If you die, my heart and soul will die with you." Her fingers traced the shape of his lips, and she placed a feather light kiss on them before lying against him and falling asleep.

She felt Naruto's mouth rove her neck and collarbone. She closed her eyes, remembering the feel of Sasuke's lithe body against hers, the sound of his even breathing as he slept with her arms around him, his steady heartbeat as her head rested upon his chest.

She wanted Sasuke to wake up so badly, wanted him to put his arms around her like she did him. But every night it was Naruto's arms that held her. She had to feign intimate interest in Naruto while the man she really wanted laid one room away comatose.

Each day Sasuke didn't wake her hope of ever having him died a little more, and tonight she feared all hope was gone.

She was stressed out; she was tired, and she just wanted Naruto to go away. That was why she'd yelled for him to stop. She'd felt too worn out from juggling Naruto's affections and burying her own to consider his feelings. She'd just hadn't had it in her. She'd wanted to be left alone to curl up next to Sasuke and waste away beside him. Then she'd heard the noise.

Her heart leapt at the thought that Sasuke might have awakened or moved, or something, and her resolve to bear with the false façade she'd built strengthened.

She only needed to pretend a little while longer with Naruto. Long enough to make sure he had no insecurities about her behavior or actions, and then she could send him home and go to Sasuke.

'Just a little more Sakura, just give a little more.'

---

Sasuke was extremely vexed. He was trying with all his might to control his anger and irritation. Standing still was not an option. If he stood still, he'd kill Naruto. There wasn't a doubt in his mind; he'd kill him slowly and painfully and he'd enjoy it. Or that's what he told himself.

A part of his mind challenged his thoughts, the part that had been happy at seeing the blond idiot again even though he was making out with Sakura. Sasuke was angry, there was no doubt about that; and he was definitely having murderous thoughts, but he knew he wouldn't kill Naruto. He was still wracked with guilt over their last encounter.

'There's nothing saying I won't punch him out though.'

He paced back and forth with angry, purposeful steps. He flexed his hands, swinging his arms from side to side, front to back, giving his muscles a much-needed workout. He intermittently stopped his striding to perform a squat or push-up, or some other strength exercise, only to continue his nervous repetitive gait again.

'Fight it off Sasuke. Ignore it. You don't need her. You don't want her.' He shook his head, then arms, then legs, loosening his muscles as if he were about to enter the boxing ring. Then he jumped up and down a few times, jogged in place a little, and paced some more.

'What the hell was all that shit she said to me? Why did she do that? Why did she…' Sasuke clenched his jaw, leaving the rest of his questions unasked. It didn't matter why. It was done; he needed to move on, but oh he was pissed.

'I promise you… If you die, my heart and soul will die with you.' Sakura's soft voice chimed in his head. He had heard in her voice how much she loved him, had felt in her voice and her touch how much he meant to her. Or so he'd thought.

He sneered, seeing her beneath Naruto, kissing him, caressing him, moaning…

Sasuke threw a few experimental punches and kicks, pleased at how hard and steady they were. He still had a long way to go to be the solid fighter he was before the Sand incident, but he was determined to make a record fast recovery. He needed to get the hell out of here.

His mind recalled the feel of her hand caressing his face, the sound of her soft voice whispering sweetly in his ear, her heart felt sobs…

He'd been able to do nothing. As much as he'd demanded his legs move, his mouth to speak, his eyes open, they never obeyed, and so he'd been forced to listen to the pink haired girl, and feel the touches she so liberally bestowed on him.

She'd brushed the hair from his face like a loving mother, kissed him softly like a wife might her husband, and said sweet endearing words to him like a true friend and sweetheart would. It wasn't fair that she teased him so ruthlessly, painfully reminding him of things once had but lost, dreamed of but now given up on, longed for but resigned to not have.

She'd made him think she loved only him, that she wanted only him. . 'The first time I saw you I knew I wanted you for mine.'

She'd kept loving him, and touching him, and lying beside him. Every stinking day she came to him, talked to him, spent time with him…

'I love you.' She had said.

He'd mentally screamed at her, frustrated and angry. He'd wanted her to go away, to shut up and leave him alone. He didn't want to love her; didn't she understand that? Couldn't she get it through her head that he wasn't meant to love? To be loved?

He'd been so angry with her. He'd wanted to shake her, yell at her, push her away… He wanted to leave and go back to Orochimaru's, do another mission, kill, maim, beat… He would murder countless victims if it would get her out of his system, quiet her crying and pleading, burn away her touch…

He stopped in his pacing and slowly lowered himself to the floor. "Sakura." He whispered; her name painfully ripped from the very core of his being. 'What have you done to me?'

'I will always love you…' He clenched his fists, pressing them and his forehead into her floor, trying with all his might to not punch and kick everything in sight.

'My heart and soul will die with you.' Her voice echoed in his head.

She'd lied. He wanted to roar. There was so much anger boiling inside him he thought he'd explode. 'You lied!' He stood up then and began furiously pacing his same route again, as if he were truly trying to outrun her voice, his memory of her.

The sounds of moaning and panting, though barely audible, pounded in his ears, following his every footstep like a dark shadow as he tread the same pattern over and over again across the floor. He'd had to listen to them for the past god knew how long, but it seemed like an eternity.

'Shut up!' He mentally commanded.

'How could she have said those things, and then run straight into Naruto's arms? How could she curl up next to me every night and then seek affections from Naruto?' He hissed through his teeth, throwing himself to the floor and into a violent fit of push-ups. It was another desperate attempt to chase her from his mind, and fight his ever-growing rage.

His arms shook violently, straining to lift his weight in another push-up. The thought that he might be overdoing it crossed Sasuke's mind, but only briefly, and then it only wrought irritation. 'Only the weak quit, only the weak need coddling, only the weak can't do one-more-push-up…' He chanted to himself, a silent drill instructor. He needed to get his strength back, and that wasn't going to happen by cosseting himself.

He closed his eyes, blocking out everything around him and concentrated. 'Do more. Push more. Be more' Pushing his endurance to the limit he performed move after move. Nothing existed but the training, no one existed but him. There were no limits. He had no limits.

He heard Orochimaru's raspy voice in his head. 'She's a weakness, a liability. Look at yourself, willing to expose yourself to your enemy over a jealous fit… over a girl… weak.' Hearing the words he felt in his heart spoken by his master spurred him to work harder, do more.

Sasuke felt a comforting warmth spread through him radiating from his cursed seal. He recognized his master's touch immediately. His master sensed his loyalty, knew he was alive and wanted to make his way back to the Sound, back home. Orochimaru was giving him support.

His master was encouraging him to train hard, to do what needed to be done to get home. His master was letting him know he had faith in him.

Sasuke found Orochimaru's touch reassuring. He was alone deep in the heart of enemy territory; an enemy he knew had an order out for his death or capture, and he was weakened. Sasuke knew his strength had grown immensely since he'd left Konoha, and his fighting skills had exponentially improved; but he wasn't confident enough to think he could bully his way through all of Konoha should he be found out. His master however, thought him more than capable; and he was letting him know. Sasuke was grateful.

The seal was a connection between himself and the sannin; he could feel Orochimaru's desires through it, and the snake in turn could feel Sasuke's. It had been part of him for years now, and Sasuke was used to it.

He closed his eyes, allowing his master's soothing touch to calm his nerves. The snake had trained Sasuke so hard since he'd been at the Sound, pushed him to his limits and far beyond, showed him the power that lay inside him, taught him how to use it, battle-hardened him…

Sasuke concentrated on his past training, on Orochimaru's tutelage. The snake didn't tolerate failure. If the sannin said you had to do something, or ordered you to do something, you did it or you paid the price. And the consequences were very far from pleasant.

Sasuke smiled, suddenly finding the exercises easier. 'I can do this. I have to do this.'

Sure as Sasuke could be praised through the seal, he could be punished. When he'd first arrived at the Sound he'd hesitated to kill someone on a mission. He hadn't wanted to kill; he'd contemplated capture, a painful lesson, but he hadn't thought to end the woman's life. And when the order came to kill her he hadn't wanted to. He'd felt sympathy in his heart for the crying female, and for that moment he questioned his loyalty to his knew master… That was the first and last time he ever questioned whether or not leaving Konoha had been the best thing to do.

He'd been punished through the seal that day, given the most excruciating pain he'd ever felt for hours on end. The snake had delivered sharp stabbing pain after sharp stabbing pain on top of a constant throbbing ache that vibrated from marrow to the surface of his skin. Sasuke had passed out more than once, but the torture never let up. It had started at night, and ended long after the sun came up the next day. Orochimaru wanted to make sure he was understood… He was.

The woman he'd refused to kill had been captured, brought to the Sound and tied up. After Sasuke had been thoroughly punished, he'd been taken to the woman and ordered to slit her throat… He'd done it.

That murder still weighed heavily on him. She'd been tied up, helpless, and he'd killed her. Of all the people he'd murdered, she haunted him the most. Most of the deaths he'd caused didn't bother him in the slightest, but hers did… a lot.

Screwing his eyes closed as tight as he possibly could, he tried to chase off the sound of the woman's pleading cries, eradicate the image of her lifeless eyes, eliminate the feel of the blood on his hands. There had been a lot of blood.

Sasuke was panting now, feverishly pushing himself, demanding just one more over and over again, as if he could sweat out his inner demons. His muscles were bulging from being worked so hard, trembling as they systematically broke done. Sweat coated his entire body and dripped from his brow, as he threw all his angst into his moves, pushing and pushing, exerting himself to points beyond reason.

His mind successfully chased away the memory of the woman he murdered, only to be replaced by images of Naruto in a passionate embrace with Sakura, roving hands, twining limbs… moaning.

He wanted to scream. She was supposed to be his. She made him believe she was his. He'd relished in the belief that if he had no one, he had Sakura. Some time during his strange sleep-like state he'd grown used to her presence, found comfort in it, looked forward to it…

It seemed an eternity he'd been begging her to leave him alone, to get away from him, but she never did. As a young boy he'd tried to ignore her, as a teen he'd tried to make her hate him, leaving for Orochimaru's he'd had to physically subdue her, and this time… this time he hadn't been able to fight back, hadn't been able to protect himself against her emotional assault.

He couldn't run from her or yell at her… or knock her out like he had before. He'd been forced to hear the longings of her soul, forced to listen to her agonized cries, forced to bare her soft loving touch, and aside from the murdering of his entire clan it had been the most painful thing he'd ever experienced in his life.

She had systematically wrecked him; tore down his defenses, repeatedly touched his heart in places he hadn't allowed since the death of his clan, nor would he have if he could have prevented it. But he couldn't prevent it, and now his soul was bared and raw.

Now he didn't want to be without her. He relished feeling her soft even breathing ghosting across his skin as she lay her head on his chest, the beating of her heart as she lay pressed against him, the warmth of her arm as it rested across him, and the comfort of her presence. To lose her would feel like the death of his clan all over again. He wanted her. He was scared to death of having her, but he was more scared of not having her.

'Dammit. Why couldn't she have just left me alone.'

'Why, why, why.' He could ask why all day long, but the answers didn't matter. They wouldn't change that he wanted her; that he felt that he needed her, and that she belonged to him. Knowing why wouldn't change any of his feelings, so why didn't matter. Nothing did… except Sakura.

'She's mine, not Naruto's or anyone else's.' He pushed himself from the floor, striding toward the door with newfound purpose, determined to rip Naruto bodily from Sakura. After that they could talk, but not before.

---

Sakura kissed Naruto deeply, groping his back as he groaned in pleasure. Her eyes were closed, imagining the man above her had ebony hair, onyx eyes, a deep sultry voice… She melted beneath him, opening herself to him fully for the first time.

She imagined Sasuke whispering her name over and over again, as he made love to her neck with his mouth, passionately caressed the curves of her body… "Mmm." She groaned, feeling the Uchiha's name on her tongue -

"Sakura." The voice shocked her. It wasn't the one she'd been expecting, and the reality of the situation slammed into her.

She blushed realizing how far she'd have let him go before realizing he wasn't Sasuke. That thought was frightening. Before she heard Naruto say her name she'd been mentally begging him to go farther, to not stop…

"Naruto. Maybe we should stop. I think we're going too far too fast. Please. Let's just call it a night. Okay?" She was shaking.

Naruto lifted his head from its burrow in the crook of her neck. He looked at her, blinking his eyes several times as if trying to remember where he was. She watched his eyes deglaze with sudden recognition. It was impossible to miss the disappointment on his face, though she got the feeling it was reflexive and not for her benefit.

With slightly reddened cheeks he removed his hands from some very intimate places. "Alright Sakura-chan." He answered, nodding his head numbly, as if he too had been surprised at how far they were willing to go.

Sakura no more than closed the door behind Naruto when her bedroom door flew open revealing an almost naked Sasuke.

Her mouth gaped at the sight of him. His black eyes looked fierce. His skin glistened with sweat, and she noticed his chest heaving with panting breaths. She couldn't help but find the sight enticing. He certainly was beautiful.

'He's alive!' She mentally celebrated.