Our Journey (Sasusaku)

Chapter 17: "Connected Thoughts"

  Sasuke was able to reach their lodge house while carrying Sakura safely. But he felt that there was someone following them.

" If it's following us with the intent to attack, it has all the opportunity when we were outside. Is there someone following us? Or it's just my imagination? None of my senses are impaired from Sake so I'm sure it's not my imagination. Whether there is or none I should stay alert." Sasuke locked Sakura's windows and door. He turned off the lights and he covered sleeping Sakura with a blanket.

"I will stay here for a while..." he whispered. He stood near the window and peered outside.

       A shadow behind the trees was peering behind the darkness not too far from Sakura and Sasuke's boarding house. When it noticed that Sasuke started to get suspicious it vanished in the thin air.

       The old scientist was reading from the old scroll that he borrowed from the records. It was almost dawn but he stayed in his lab for his research. He was reading about the different species that the Ninjas encountered during the Great Ninja War.

      His eyes broadened wildly when he read about the Zetsu's compound. He started to lift the pages and read more.

"I knew it!" the old man cried. He runs towards a machine container and puts the code to unlock it. He took out the material from the monster that Sasuke and Team Moiro encountered. He suddenly heard steps from behind him. He slowly turned around to check but no one was inside the laboratory except for him.

  "Who's there?!" he asked but his voice just echoed back to him.

       He suddenly heard a sound near his desk. The scientist runs towards it and finds a shadow standing there while holding the scroll he was reading a while ago.

"W-who are you Sir? H-how can I help you?" the old scientist asked.

      The shadow just growled and lifted its hand made of stones. It suddenly stretched toward the old man and choked him. The shadow lifted him to the ceiling until the old man lost his breath.

  "It seems like it's gone..." Sasuke said to himself. He walked towards Sakura and checked her, she was still asleep. He stood up and noticed a scroll on the table. It's the scroll Sakura took from Orochimaru's hideout. Kakashi gave her permission to keep the scroll. Sasuke checked it "Teleportation Jutsu."

      Sasuke proceeded to the door to get out of Sakura's room when he heard her calling him.

"Sasuke..." she mumbled.

       Sasuke approached her and kneeled beside her mat. "What is it?" he asked.

  "Please stay here... Don't go." she whispered. Sasuke didn't speak. He just looked at her face.

       Sakura holds Sasuke's left sleeve. "Please stay... don't leave me again."

"Yes." Sasuke muttered. He pulled her blanket upward and covered her shoulders. "Now go back to sleep..." he whispered.

       Sakura let go of Sasuke's left sleeve and lifted her hand. She poked Sasuke's forehead. "I love you." she whispered.

  "Thank you..." Sasuke smiled at her.

      Sakura smiled back then she closed her eyes and slept peacefully.

       Sasuke sat near the window and leaned against the wall. He watched Sakura sleeping. He felt a strange calmness stealing over him and it grew deeper and deeper until he fell asleep.

      Sasuke woke up from a long sleep. He found himself inside a large test tube filled with liquid. He was wearing a mask that allowed him to breathe in the liquid. He looked around and saw Suigetsu on his left side he was also inside a test tube and was sleeping. To his right was Karin. She's sleeping inside a test tube too. The place looked familiar to him. It was Orochimaru's hideout!

       Sasuke immediately noticed Naruto outside of his incubator. He was lying on the ground unconscious, and next to him was Kakashi bleeding to death. Behind them was Sakura. She looked much younger and her hair was shorter. She had bruises all over her body and her left eye was swollen.

"Tell me who did that to you?!" Sasuke shouted with rage.

      Sakura heard him and approached him. She leaned her hands on the glass test tube and smiled at him. "Don't leave me again..." she whispered.

      Sasuke smiled back at her but he suddenly saw a shadow with a pair of red eyes behind Sakura.

  "My foolish little brother..." said the familiar voice. Sasuke started to feel horrified. "Sakura behind you!" Sasuke tried to scream but Sakura couldn't hear him anymore.

"Run!" Sasuke was screaming trying to find a way out.

        A sword came out from Sakura's chest. The shadow stabbed her from behind while its pair of Mangyeko Sharingan which are identical to Sasuke's eyes were staring at him.

"S-sasuke-kun..." Sakura whispered. Blood came out from her mouth and she fell on the ground while trying to catch her dying breath.

     Snakes and Crows suddenly appeared and feasted on her body. Her eyes are looking at him.

  "No!" Sasuke was screaming and was trying to break the glass. He tried to take off the mask but he couldn't remove it.

      Sakura's body was devoured by the snakes and crows.

"This is not a dream anymore...this is a genjutsu!" Sakura whispered. She concentrated on her chakra and made a hand sign then she said, "Release"

       Sakura stirred from her mat panting. She was soaking from her sweat and her mouth was dry. She suddenly heard moans beside her. When she looked around it was Sasuke. He was sitting near the window and sleeping. His right eye was bleeding. Sakura ran towards him and woke him up from sleeping. She shakes his shoulders, "Sasuke-kun wake up!"

      Sasuke opened his eyes full of terror and pulled Sakura to him. His body was shaking and he was breathing heavily. He clutches his hand around her waist while pressing his head on her chest.

       Sakura handed Sasuke a cup of water. He came back to his senses and his eye didn't bleed anymore.

  "Is that the reason why you don't sleep much when we take guards?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke just nods.

"Are you always having them? Those nightmares?" she asked again.

"Occasionally. I had them since the slaughter of my clan. But I never had anyone under my genjutsu  unconsciously..."

"Why am I having them too?" Sakura whispered. She was asking it to herself and not to Sasuke.

"Because our thoughts are connected..." Sasuke whispered while looking down at his cup of water.

       Sakura looked at him with a slight surprise. She thought for a moment. She suddenly remembers that Sasuke would always sleep away from her when they were in the forest. Now she understands why. She looked down and clutched her hands together on her lap.

"You cannot stay like that forever because eventually...we will have to share the same bed when we get married." she whispered. She was not looking at him.

"I know..." he whispered. He was still looking at the cup he was holding.

"No one really fully recovered traumas that people suffered during childhood especially those deprived by death of their loved ones..." Sakura remembers telling it to the Suna Council.

"You have to tell them to me... your nightmares, how they started. Do not keep them to yourself anymore. You have to let them go and we will start with you telling them to me..." Sakura smiled gently at him. Assuring him that she will take his pain away.