Snake

Pairing: SasuSaku

Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own.

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It stunned her to the very core of her being, when she walked into her apartment and found him sealed against the far wall. It shocked her to see him, plain as that. There were no hidden tricks to it.

So as she gathered her wits about her and edged nearer to him, she was surprised that he did nothing; didn't even try to attack her. Then she remembered; he was sealed. Of course he couldn't do anything to her.

Yet his very presence was affecting her, bringing out feelings she had thought buried deep within her. She almost laughed at the cruel irony of it all.

Turning around and kicking the door shut behind her, the medic-nin ran her fingers through her pink locks. Sakura wondered how things would proceed; she had dreamed of this moment for a long, long time, and he hadn't been chained to the wall in those visions. More like tied to her will...

She was jolted out of her musings when his voice, rough and scratchy (as if he hadn't spoken for years) shattered the stillness. "Release me."

The kunoichi whirled around to face him, emerald eyes narrowing at his figure. He looked thinner than she remembered him to be-- almost emaciated-- but then again, the last time she had seen him was when he was walking away.

"Why should I?" So she didn't actually know how to release him. He didn't have to know that. Besides, the bastard deserved it for what he did to her. The memory bit her to the core.

He opened his eyes, and she was almost surprised to see that they were both the golden, slitted eyes of the sannin he had run to. Her blood ran cold at the thought of that evil man inside of her Sasuke; she squashed that nagging thought and didn't want to know how many more of them there would be.

As if reading her mind, he narrowed his eyes at her. "I killed him, years ago." He broke off, coughing harshly as his body shuddered with the force of them, breaking eye contact with Sakura to glower at the ground.

He continued to speak quietly, almost bitterly. "...Look what he has done to me."

Thoughts churned through her hear, at an almost dizzying pace. Shaking her head slightly to rid herself of them, she asked, "why did you come back?"

Sasuke's head whipped up to glare at her venomously, and the look hurt her. "I didn't!"

"So who brought you back? You little Sound friends?" His lips almost seemed to pull back in a snarl at that, but she was too lost in her emotions to really take notice of it. Her anger was bubbling up inside of her, and she was close to letting it all out.

He laughed hollowly, the sound draining most of the fury out of her before it could be released. "I was sentenced to damnation long before I left." Those gold eyes of his seemed to lose some of their lustre at that realization.

The medic-nin continued to study him, finally relenting and sitting down on her couch. "And so that's it? That's all you have to say after... After seven years?" Her remaining anger simmered inside of her. "Do you know how long I've waited for you? How long I've longed for--goddamn it, look at me!"

His head hit the wall from the force of her slap. Sakura's hand didn't move, and she was shocked at her actions. Pulling it back to her side, she glanced down at the shimmering seals roaming over his body.

Neither of them moved.

"Release me," his voice sounded emptier than usual.

She didn't reply; merely fisted her hand and looked away.

"Release me!" Sasuke's voice was growing slightly frantic, and the panic she heard in it made her glance up at him.

Golden eyes bored into her own emerald ones, and she found that she couldn't look away. "I... I can't." She didn't know why she said it.

It was only when his eyes closed in silent agony, could she move once again. He turned his head from side to side, opening his eyes and glaring about her apartment before settling on her once again.

"Release me!"

"I can't!"

"Please..." His voice was as close to desperation as it was going to be, and she stared up at him, startled when she saw tears running down his cheeks.

Sakura wanted to hold him. But she did nothing.

He grinned at her then, an inhuman, animal grin that was more like a snarl than a smile.

Coupled with the tears running down his face, it made him look insane. Possessed. She realized that she hardly knew him anymore.

Sakura wondered what truly happened to him.

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...Just a little SasuSaku ficcie for you all. It kind of morphed and ran away from me... Forgive me for the randomness of it.

Review, please! I'd appreciate it.

...Umm, I need a beta. It's driving me insane.