The In Between

Chapter 11

By: RobinSparkelz

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Sasuke finds her almost instantly. She has barely settled into her new home in Shurui when he pitches up one morning. She finds him, perched on the rickety three legged stool that was left in the house by the previous owners, in the kitchen. Sakura is not shocked that he found her, she is however surprised that he sought her out. She would have expected him to hover, in and around town or perch himself in a tree with a good vantage point to observe her. She didn't think he would be so blatant.

She observes him, chewing on her lip for a minute before she decides that she has absolutely nothing she wants to say to him. So she bypasses him, makes herself a cup of coffee and leaves the kitchen.

This happens over the next four months. Sometimes she finds him in the kitchen, other times against the porch railing in the backyard. One morning she finds that the overgrown grass in her backyard has been trimmed, another morning, she discovers a beautiful wing backed rocking chair replacing the mould riddled one on her back porch.

Throughout these months, they don't speak to one another, neither of them willing to utter a word.

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The pregnancy is hard on Sakura, her ankles and legs swell, she is perpetually tired and she has recurring heartburn. Sasuke notices, he brings her tonics and bunches of greens, to soothe her heartburn and as much as she wants to prove to him that she can take care of herself, walking all the way to town is daunting, so accepts the groceries and the vitamins and wonders if she'll ever be able to look him in the eye again.

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On a breezy Tuesday afternoon, she decides to take a walk through the forest that lines her backyard. The walking helps with her circulation, and it is pretty much the only exercise she gets nowadays.

She walks slowly, speaking to the tiny human that is growing in her belly. She tells him about the color of the forest around them, how the green is lighter and less dense than forests of Konoha, she describes the sunshine yellow and pearly white petals of the wildflowers growing at the base of the trees.

Her pace is slow and relaxed as she meanders through the dense brush, her final destination, a muddy little stream that she discovered about a month into her stay. She hasn't seen Sasuke today but she knows he's probably in the vicinity, maybe even in another part of the forest, training, she had stumbled upon him one morning, meditating in a clearing full of pale lilac and white flowers, he had looked so calm, his exterior such a contrast to the storm she knew that lived inside.

Ten minutes later she is almost to the stream when she hears voices, this is not an odd occurrence as the forest lines the back of numerous homes in this area, still she is cautious. The fact that she is carrying the heir to the Uchiha clan not lost on her. She wishes she could send some feelers out to determine weather the individuals are shinobi or civilians, but using her chakra when pregnant disrupts the baby too much.

Instead she continues to make her way closer to the stream, it's probably some teenagers frolicking about or a couple picnicking she tells herself. The ninja in her can't help but calculate the possible dangers, of entering an area with unknown variables, but Sakura has been living as a civilian for months now and she has visited this stream multiple times, and so wrapped in the comfortable thought that the likelihood of danger is close to zero she steps out from the thicker brush that surrounds the stream.

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As soon as she steps out she realizes she's made a mistake.

There are two men across the stream from her, they look travel worn and dirty, neither of them sports a headband and if it weren't for the kunai holsters strapped to their thighs or the fact that one of them was washing a blood slicked sword in the stream, she would have thought that they were ordinary travelers.

Sakura wants to step back, disappear back into the forest and into the safety of her home, rigged with numerous traps courtesy of Sasuke and herself, but just as she steps back, one of them looks up, it is not the one with the bloodstained sword. He has close cropped black hair and a forgettable face, but as soon as his eyes land on her, they widen and then light up, with a malicious glee that she doesn't think she' ll forget anytime soon.

Years of shinobi instinct and training kick into place as her entire body senses the danger and it is those instincts that have Sakura smiling and stepping forward.

"Ohayo." She says, as the other man looks up, she purposely ignores the sword in his hand. She meanders forward, keeping a soft smile on her face as she plays the role of an ignorant village girl.

"The flowers here are so beautiful." She continues speaking, even though neither of the men have responded to her greeting, they both watch her from across the pond as she bends down to pluck some of the violet flowers that grow there.

Hoping to convey a level of authenticity in her actions, she picks the flowers slowly and with an air of concentration,

"You only find these violet flowers here, I don't even know their name." She calls from across the pond.

Both of the men are now standing, and slowly she stands too. She can't predict what they thinking and she decides to make her way out of the clearing, hoping that they'll think she is just some ditzy village girl too unobservant to notice a bloody sword and what are obviously two rogue-nin.

With a little wave to keep up the facade she turns around and starts walking away, every bone in her body rejects turning her back, but she has no choice and she'd rather get out of this situation as quickly as she can. Protecting her baby is her first priority.

She takes about two steps, when a voice calls out, "What's your name doll?"

She is so tempted, so tempted to keep on walking and pretend that she hadn't heard the question, but she can't so she turns around and answers, "Suki."

"You live in the village Suki." It is the man with the unsettling eyes that asks the question.

"Yeah, I do. Lived here my whole life." She says, adding that little detail, to solidify her deception.

"We looking for someone." This time it's his companion with the sword that speaks.

"And since you've been living here your whole life, I'm sure you'd be able to tell us if someone new rolled into town recently, wouldn't ya Suki?"

The question is posed pleasantly enough, but she picks up the underlying malice in his words. It gets harder for Sakura to keep the pleasant smile on her face.

"Sure, you gotta description?" She calls to them, she keeps her smile intact and twirls a strand of her dull brown dyed hair.

"Actually we got a picture."

And before she can blink, they each bound across the narrow stream and are steps away from her.

She can't help herself, and she stumbles backward.

They laugh, "We not going to hurt you doll, just answer our question and you can be on your way."

Sakura lets out a shaky laugh, she feels vulnerable in a way she hasn't in a long time. She can't use her chakra and she definitely cannot get into a physical fight with them.

Instead she says, "You just startled me, is all. Let me have a look at that picture."

Everything happens very quickly after that.

The rogue nin with the unsettling eyes, steps forward with a picture in his hand.

She leans forward to look at it, but before she can glimpse it. He grabs her arm.

She immediately wrenches her arm out of his grasp, but his friend grabs her from behind and slams her into a tree.

Her back barks in pain, a scream is wrenched from her lips, but it's cut off almost immediately as a hand wraps around her throat and slams her head into the tree. She sees stars.

"Your ignorant village girl act was charming, but we knew who you were the second we saw you, Haruno Sakura."

The hand is still around her throat, cutting off her air supply, and if she isn't getting enough oxygen, neither is the baby.

"How?" She chokes out, hoping to distract them, as her hand grapples for the kunai strapped against her thigh.

"Oh we've been tracking you for months doll, do you have any idea how big the boun-"

Her hand closes around the kunai, she pulls it out of the sheath, the awkward angle causes it to slice through her skin and dress, but Sakura has endured worse pain than this. Without hesitation she plunges it into the mans stomach, he recoils, his grip on her loosening.

She yanks her body away from the tree and stumbles away, blindly running through the forest, she can hear footsteps behind her and she forces her swollen legs to carry her faster, but today Kami-sama was not protecting her and she stumbles over a protruding root and falls flat on her stomach, her head slamming into the base of a tree, terror fills her mouth acrid and metallic as the thought of losing her baby paralyzes her with a fear she has never felt before.

She needs to get up. She needs to run. But she's too late.

He yanks her by the ankle when he finds her, dragging her back, before flipping her around. He speaks, his eyes full of ill intent, a sadistic smile on her face. She can't hear what he is saying, the ringing in her ears too loud, but she can feel everything he does.

He kicks her in the face, and she feels her nose break at the impact. He kicks he over and over again, until she is curled up in a ball, her only instinct to protect her baby.

She would lie here and take every punch and bruise over and over again, if it meant she could protect her baby.

But her lack of reaction bores him and he yanks her up by her hair, her back against his chest, her own bloody kunai against her throat. Her hands come to cradle her stomach, and the movement catches his eyes.

"I thought you would put up more of a fight, the legendary apprentice of Tsunade, but now I see why, you've been so meek."

His hand comes around to cup her swelling belly, the touch of his disgusting fingers, so near to her child, has bile rising in her throat, and she yanks herself forward out of his reach, but the kunai at her neck bites into her skin, and pain lances through her, she feels the warmth of her blood drip down her neck.

She cannot die, she cannot lose this child, she cannot leave Sasuke alone again.

It's in that moment, when she thinks Sasuke, that whatever terror that has kept her from even making a whimper snaps, and she screams.

But it's too late, and he takes the kunai and stabs.

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She begins too fall, just as Sasuke bursts through the brush. The nin is dead before her knees hit the ground.

Blood, coats her arms, fingers, seeps beneath her nails. She can't move, she can't breathe, she can't look anymore.

She can't look at her stomach, still embedded with her own kunai.

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Authors note: Probably not what you expected peeps. Dun, dun, dun.