Happy Accidents

Chapter 18: Repayment

She was sobbing uncontrollably, burying her face in the pillow in an attempt to stifle the sobs. She wasn't even aware that Sasuke was outside the room listening; she just needed a moment or two to process what was happening. His kindness was deeply unexpected and incredibly touching. She couldn't remember a time—ever—that someone had put this much care and consideration forward for her. That, coupled with the fact that it was coming from the person she least expected, made her both touched and worried. She always had to wonder why he was doing this. Why go to all this trouble, just for her?

Sakura did her best to wipe her tears as he came in with the water, trying to hide her face. She wondered how much he'd heard, or anything; if he had, he wasn't drawing attention to it. She listened carefully as he spoke, glad he'd brought water; the things he was telling her were certainly reassuring. He wouldn't be here, which was disappointing, but the house felt safer in some way. The neighbours being elderly was surprisingly reassuring; people had a tendency not to cause trouble around the elderly, perhaps out of respect.

His joke did make her chuckle. She wasn't even aware he had a sense of humour; if he didn't, then he was doing an excellent job trying to have one. Once he was done he stood up, back to that awkward posture he seemed to be using as of late.

"Yeah, good night," she said softly, green eyes watching as he disappeared down the stairs. She heard shuffling down there before the light clicked off, leaving her in darkness. She carefully crawled under the heavy duvet, glad for the weight; it was somehow comforting to her. And his bed... it was very comfortable. Even just having his scent surrounding her was calming and relaxing, just enough so to lull her to sleep.

Sleep... also meant dreams. At first, she dreamt she was in a field, running through with laughter and happiness, but as she reached the edge, she watched the sky turn black, almost angry. Lightning seemed to strike down from it, threatening to reach her. She turned to run, finding the lightning striking the ground around her, causing it to crack and shatter wherever it landed. She struggled to keep her footing. One struck directly in front of her, splitting the ground wide and leaving her overlooking the edge of a chasm, precariously balanced on the edge.

And then, she fell. The chasm turned to darkness, and she was falling, falling, falling...

A face came into focus. A twisted smile and laugh. Sinister, really. Silver hair, brown eyes; pointing a gun at her. She wanted to move, but she couldn't; her body wouldn't let her. She was laden down with chains, unaware of where they'd come from; the shot rang out, and she soon found herself floating above, looking down at herself as the sinister man laughed and slowly added more and more knife wounds on her torso, meticulously placed as she was clearly dying. Then, he happily removed her eyes, one by one, before leaving her there as just a mutilated corpse.

She woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. It took her a moment to remember where she was; it wasn't familiar at first, which left her panicked until logic caught up with her adrenaline. She shakily reached for the glass of water, taking a few sips to calm herself. Her chest ached; she'd fallen asleep without taking her medication, which meant the pain had flared up in her sleep. She took one of the pills and tried to focus on her breathing, on her surroundings, on staying calm.

She couldn't sleep up here. Not now. He'd be mad at her in the morning, but she didn't care. Picking up the duvet and a couple of the pillows she made her way quietly down the stairs toward the living room. He was sound asleep on the couch; he snored faintly, though not loudly. She shuffled over to the floor in front of him and carefully laid out the duvet and pillows, creating a little bed for herself. It would just have to do for tonight. Bad sleep was better than no sleep, in her opinion.

Wrapping herself up, she went to sleep with the soft sounds of him breathing near her. Just the extra familiar presence alone was enough to keep her dreams at bay... or at least, keep them from being haunting nightmares.