Damaged Pieces (SasuSaku AU)

XIX. Aftershocks

DAMAGED PIECES:

The trauma said, “Don’t write these poems.
Nobody wants to hear you cry
about the grief inside your bones.”

But my bones said, “Tyler Clementi jumped from the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River convinced he was entirely alone.”

My bones said, “Write the poems.

- Andrea Gibson, The Madness Vase: By Andrea Gibson
______________________________________

The sound of the bullet echoed through the large room. But, the target remained still.

Soon, people were shuffling and then the screeching of a chair against the floor was heard. Someone sat before him now.

The person took a deep breath in and exhaled it with a sigh.
"The bullet will not miss a second time, Gaara."

The target stiffened. Of all people to be interrogating him. The voice was unmistakable.

*

Sasuke listened to the voice he'd longed to hear. His grip around Sakura's small frame tightened when he heard what she was muttering against his chest.

"Safe.. home.. Sasuke.. home.. safe.."

His heart muscles felt strained. How had he waited this long for her return? How had he not turned the world upside down in search for her?

After a few short minutes, Sakura found the courage to pull away - to remove herself from the inviting warmth of the raven haired Uchiha. But, she couldn't step back. That kind of bravery had remained unfound. She needed to remain in his safe and protective embrace, where monsters were something of myths - of the outside - because nothing could touch her in here.

"You are like long lost lovers," giggled Tenten, unable to see the pink tinted ears and cheek on the reunited pair, resultant of her declaration.
Her body did move away just a little then.

Ignoring that, Sasuke poured his attention back onto Sakura. She was known to him as beautiful, yes. But at the moment, she only looked ghastly. With mooned cheeks, eyes like a drug abuser and figure slimmed down to half its size, she was the picture of a famish.
He held her shrunken face in his palms for examination. Her skin felt insipid against his own.

Sakura looked at him for a good few minutes while he observed her. He was as handsome as she remembered. The best sight she'd seen in weeks. His facial features were contorted into concern - an expression that never fit well on his face. And before she knew it, her dry fingers were running over his cheek and eyes, trying to ease the worry.

That's when he had the urge to crush her back in his arms and kiss her. But, his selfish wishes needed to wait.

"You lied to me, Sakura," he blurted when his eyes found hers.
And she stepped back, nodding.
"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Sakura, I wouldn't have pushed you away, even if you had told me the truth. I'd have protected you," he honestly told her, earning a surprised look.

"You know you can't."

Sasuke was taken aback at that. More so, when her head dropped and the floor became more interesting to her than Sasuke himself.
Pushing his urges down, he decided, even this needed to wait.

"Sak, when was the last time you ate properly?"

.
.

While Sasuke was in the kitchen preparing meals for her and Tenten, she couldn't feel safe sitting in the living room. To scoot closer to his presence, Sakura placed herself near him at the kitchen table. Meanwhile, her runaway cellmate was asleep on the couch already.