Damaged Pieces (SasuSaku AU)

XX. Holding On & Letting Go

DAMAGED PIECES:

What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns. We learn to wring magic from the ordinary.

Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) ______________________________________

When the fog cleared, she saw his face, somewhat lost like her own, in search for an answer in eyes that were focussed only on the abyss in his.

Eyelids fluttered open and shut close rapidly, till she was looking at a very concerned Sasuke.
Hands that were previously shaking flew to the lips he had just touched with his own.

Sasuke couldn't place the expression accompanying her disbelief. He moved back by a little. "I'm sorry. You were in a state. I panicked. I couldn't think of anything else."

Sakura took a few seconds to register what he said. She could only nod slightly. Her eyes lifted up to find him still close. Her heartbeat accelerated again but, with a different excuse.

Sasuke stood up and offered a hand to her. His mind was a jumble. He had genuinely kissed her only to calm her down. There was no second intention behind it. But, if she continued to look at him like that, he wouldn't be able to stop himself. So, without looking directly at her, he helped Sakura up.

Her fresh scent filled his senses. Only then did he register her lack of clothing. Quickly looking away he led her out of the bath and into his room. This was no time for such thoughts, yet, the pin-drop silence, the fact that they were the only ones in his bedroom and the feel of her soft skin beneath his palms was stirring emotions in him, he wasn't sure Sakura was ready for.

"I have to change. Could you give me a minute?" she asked in a voice low enough for him to wonder whether this closeness made her heart skip a beat as well.

It took him a full moment to act on it. And when he returned with water - to a fully clothed Sakura, who was no less appealing in his eyes - she was standing mutely by the bed.

Placing the jug on the nightstand, he made his way to her. He placed his hands lightly on her shoulders.
"Sakura? Sakura, are you okay?"

She visibly snapped back to reality.

"What happened, Sak?"

"It was horrible, Sasuke. It just won't leave my mind," she told him in a murmur.

His gaze softened. "Tell me."

Her eyes lifted, just a little, to meet his face. Her eyebrows came together then fell apart before she began.
"They injected me with a paralysis drug when they first captured me. Then, I was given electric shocks."

Her nimble fingers immediately flew to touch the temples that still held proof of her claim. She cringed.

Sasuke could hear his heartbeat. He wasn't sure he even wanted to find out all they'd done to her. But, he knew she needed to tell him. She needed him to share her ache. And he would. He'd decided that a long time ago.

With a shaky voice, she continued her story.
"When I was kept in the asylum, I was regularly injected with some drug that caused delirium. And it worked. I gradually began to lose my mind. Then I saw.. I saw Tenten's family photo. And I thought of Sarada and .. you," she choked on a sob.

Sasuke's grip on her shoulders tightened.

"And then we observed the routine of the asylum to find our chance to escape. I began acting more mentally ill than I felt so the injections would stop. Finally, we escaped and I needed to go home and then.. I found you," she finished in a breath.