Sasusaku: The Road Back To You

Hello... Roomie?

A small flame flared to life as Sasuke lit a candle, eyeing me carefully.

Orochimaru's comments lingered awkwardly in the air, so my dumb self decided to pretend like I had no idea.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you in your sleep."

We both knew that wasn't why we were frozen, but he gladly accepted the subject change, seemingly just as uncomfortable with the topic.

He snorted. "As if you could."

"Oh, I definitely could. I just don't want to." I shot back, annoyed that, yet again, he was underestimating me.

"Why shouldn't you? I betrayed you. What, do you still have that stupid crush on me or something?"

I tilted my head. "Don't think so highly of yourself, Uchiha. You're just a former teammate. And besides, I'm not one to kill people in cold blood," I added, and the implication that he was the type was not lost on him.

"If that's all it is, why did you agree to come here? You had to know I was here."

I looked down guiltily. Traitor or not, I hated hurting people's feelings.

"I... Uh... I kinda forgot, to be honest. Sorry."

He snorted in disbelief. "You forgot about me. I highly doubt that, Sa-ku-raa."

The sound of him saying my name sent nostalgic waves throughout my entire existence. I hadn't heard the unique pronunciation of my name in so long, and it was something nobody could ever quite replicate or replace. As much as I longed to get those days back- where his voice held a comparatively softer tone when he said my name, I knew there was no use. I couldn't get the old Sasuke back. I couldn't reunite my broken team or my broken life. All I could do was sit back and watch as it fell apart around me.

I sighed, suddenly tired. "I'm sorry that your fragile ego can't handle the thought of being forgotten, but it's not my problem. I'm tired, so I'm just going to go sleep in the corner or something. You can keep the bed, I don't want it."

Sasuke let out a low grumble and grabbed my arm, not quite gently but definitely not as harshly as I expected. "Take the bed, idiot."

"No," I wrenched my arm out of his grip and crossed my arms.

He sighed through his nose, clearly annoyed. Good, I thought smugly.

"You're as stubborn as always. Just take the damn bed."

"Why do you care where I sleep?"

"Because you're helping Orochimaru heal. The faster he heals, the more he can train me. But you can't help him if you can't sleep."

I scoffed at the automatic answer, as if that was truly his only reason.

"Whatever. It's not like you can train without sleep, either."

He thought for a moment before grabbing my arm again and tossing me over his shoulder and onto the bed. I let out a short, startled cry as I flew over him and landed perfectly on the bed. It wasn't the softest landing, but all in all, I came out pretty unscathed.

But pissed off. "What the hell, Sasuke?! Did you seriously just throw me?!"

I couldn't see him, but I could feel the proud smirk on his face as he grabbed a blanket and headed over to the corner.

Oh, this wouldn't do. I sprung off the bed and yanked his blanket out of his hands, throwing it back on the bed.

"Sakura," he growled, growing frustrated. "Stop it."

"Make me," I taunted.

In hindsight, this was probably a bad idea.

Sasuke lunged forward, fed up, and grabbed my arms, pinning them to the wall above my head. My eyes widened at the foreign look in his eyes, an intenseness I'd never seen before. We were so close that I could smell his familiar scent that hadn't changed in three years. His long bangs hung around his face, brushing mine as he tilted his head down to look me in the eyes. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I was sure he could hear it, if not feel it. For a long moment, we were silent, the air charged with electricity.

I gulped. Maybe I shouldn't push him, because he might be dangerous now, but I still couldn't bring myself to believe that Sasuke would ever hurt me, no matter how much I got on his nerves.

"How about you make an agreement with me," he spoke lowly. "How about we just share the damn bed, and stop acting like the children we used to be. You're gonna piss me off, Sakura, and that's not something you want to do."

"Why not?" I bit back, searching his face for any sign of the boy I used to know. I focused on his eyes, now red with his kekkei genkai, forcing the sudden tears out of my eyes. Where was the Sasuke I fell in love with? Why couldn't I find him? After three years of searching, he was right in front of me. But I still couldn't find him. He couldn't be gone. A stupid rebellious tear rolled down my face as I remembered Sasuke's rare genuine smile he saved for just us three. There was no trace of it now.

"Why can't I piss you off, Sasuke? Hell, you've been pissing me off for three fucking years! It's about time I return the favor, don't you think?!"

"You wanna talk about favors? Then do me one. Shut the hell up and get on the bed."

My face turned instantly red, all the anger flooding out of me, replaced with embarrassment and fluster. Although I knew he didn't mean it like that, out of context, the suggestion would've been something I would've expected to accidentally read over Kakashi Sensei's shoulder.

He saw the blush on my face and scoffed, pushing away from me and laying down on the farther side of the bed. I couldn't tell in the dim light, but I thought maybe his face was also a little red. I guess we were both still weird about things in that department. I almost smiled. Of course Sasuke was still a prude. To be fair, so was I, and now we had to share a bed and a room. How was I going to change...?

I rested my head against the wall, closing my eyes as I started to feel overwhelmed by the whole situation.

"Just lay the fuck down," Sasuke said exasperatedly, and I decided to just do it so I could hopefully get some sleep. I was definitely going to need it.

Sighing, I slowly sunk onto the bed and laid down, every nerve in my body shot.

"I'm not going to kill you as long as you don't continue to annoy me. So just go to sleep."

"Okay, okay. I'm going," I grumbled. I closed my eyes, too tired to argue anymore. I shivered in the cold room and reached for a blanket. Once I found one, I pulled it over me with far greater ease than I expected due to the odd positioning of my arm.

Unconsciously, I scooted into the new, yet familiar warmth, all my nerves magically melting away as I drifted off to sleep faster than I had in years.

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>END OF CHAPTER<