Sinless
Chapter Two

“Sasuke,” Sakura said, sounding very far away. “Wake up.”

Sasuke blinked, then straightened. “I wasn’t sleeping,” he said, trying not to slur his words together. He rubbed his eyes, then glanced at the clock on the mantle above the fireplace. It was nearly three in the morning. He wasn’t used to staying up late. The latest he ever slept was two, and even that was rare. He liked to wake up early.

Sakura, sitting on the couch beside him, smiled. “Go to bed, Sasuke. Gaara will keep me company.”

Gaara was sitting on the leather recliner across the room from the two on the loveseat. He didn’t acknowledge Sakura’s words. His eyes were on Sasuke, cold and dark-rimmed from not enough hours of sleep – kind of like Sakura.

When Sasuke hesitated, Sakura sighed and shifted to all but shove him out of the seat. “Seriously, Sasuke,” she said, frustrated, “I can survive without you for a few hours. It’s not healthy to stay up so long. You’ve been up since this morning! You need sleep or you’re going to totally crash.”

Sasuke snorted. “You’ve been awake longer than me,” he reminded her.

“I’m used to it,” she said. “I’ll sleep in the morning. But you sleep now.” And with that final word, she succeeded in pushing Sasuke out of his seat to stumble to his feet. He shot her a glare, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the yawn he could barely stifle. Sakura smirked up at him, swinging her legs up on the couch so he couldn’t sit back down. “Bed, Sasuke,” she said, and, with one last look at Gaara, he walked out of the room and down the hall to the guest room he would soon be sharing with almost half a dozen other people. He might as well enjoy one peaceful night of sleep while he could.

When Sakura heard the door close, she turned back to Gaara.

“So,” she said.

Gaara blinked. Sakura fidgeted.

She and Sasuke had arrived over an hour ago. Temari and Kankuro had waited up to greet them, but had shuffled off to bed soon after. Only Gaara had stayed up, as he always did, and only Gaara had stepped right up to her, fingered her choppily-cut locks of hair, and snapped a glare onto Sasuke.

“Naruto called,” he had growled, almost too low for them to hear.

“I thought he might,” Sakura had replied, stepping back and out of his reach. “I’m okay, you know.” She had looked to Sasuke, who was watching the two of them closely. “Really.”

“This hasn’t happened before,” Sasuke had said, and the three of them retreated into the den, leaving their bags in the foyer of the single-story summerhouse where a dozen teenagers would be spending the next two weeks of vacation.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Sakura had said. Then she asked Gaara to make her some coffee, and that was that. Sasuke had dozed off not long after, and Sakura had polished off her too-sweet coffee. Now she lay back on the couch, head against the armrest, playing with her new spikes of hair. She could feel herself getting drowsy, but didn’t dare go to sleep. Not after what had happened.

“So much for my relaxing summer vacation, huh?” she said suddenly, breaking the silence. She could feel Gaara watching her, but didn’t turn to meet his gaze. “I thought I’d be able to sleep at night here, maybe. I mean… he’s never found me so far from my bed before.”

She turned to him now, cheek against the cold leather. “What if he can get me during the day, too? What am I going to do, Gaara?”

He was quiet for a moment. Then: “Maybe we can catch him.”

Sakura sat up. “Huh?”

“Sleep in my room one night,” Gaara said. “And if he comes, we can catch him.”

Sakura scoffed and flopped back down. “That’s not going to happen. You can’t catch him. He’ll kill you,” she said flatly. “And he’d probably know you were there, anyway. I mean, it seems he doesn’t live under my bed, after all. Maybe he lives in my mind. I can’t get rid of him.”

Gaara didn’t reply.

Finally, Sakura sighed. “Can you put a movie on or something? I’m falling asleep.”

Gaara got up to put Die Hard on. Sakura liked that movie. Then he disappeared into the kitchen.

Sakura sat up, pulling her knees to her chest, to watch. Her eyes were itching with tiredness – she had been up for more than twenty-four hours, not counting her short nap in the van – but she couldn’t sleep. She was too scared to even consider sleeping. She didn’t know how she’d manage the next day.

Gaara came back just as the opening credits were finishing. He carried two cups of coffee with him, one of which he handed to Sakura, before taking the seat beside her.

“Don’t let me sleep,” she said. When he nodded, she added, more forcefully, “I mean it, Gaara.”

“I won’t,” he said. “Shut up and watch.”

-x-

Temari rolled her eyes when she entered the den the next morning to see Gaara and Sakura slumped on the couch, bags of cookies on the floor in front of them, coffee mugs littering the coffee table, the ending credits for The Lion King rolling on the TV screen.

“Why can’t the two of you just sleep like normal people?” she grumped, leaning over to grab the remote from between Gaara and Sakura and flicking off the TV. “And why were you watching Disney, anyway?”

“It was my turn to choose the movie,” Sakura said sleepily. “And I haven’t been to a theater in a while. It was that or Mean Girls, and Gaara wouldn’t let me watch that.”

Temari shook her head. “I can barely understand you, Sakura. You really need to get to sleep.”

Sakura felt her stomach churn. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head. She could feel Gaara’s eyes on her, but she ignored him. “I just need some coffee.” Her stomach grumbled. “And breakfast.”

Temari began picking up the empty mugs. Gaara leaned forward to help. “No more coffee for you, Sakura,” she said. “For either of you. I’ll make breakfast, but then you guys have to sleep, really. Okay?”

Sakura knew better than to argue. “Okay,” she said.

-x-

Kankuro dropped into the seat beside Sakura with a glass of orange juice in hand.

“Morning!” he greeted cheerily. “Sleep well?”

Sakura lifted her gaze from her breakfast long enough to glare at him.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’,” he said with a laugh. “I’m hungry. What’s for breakfast?”

“Whatever you decide to make,” Temari said, coming over with a plate of toast and scrambled eggs for Sasuke, then taking the seat beside him, directly across from Sakura.

“Why?” Kankuro demanded. “You made breakfast for everyone else!”

“Sakura and Sasuke are guests,” she reminded him. “They’re not supposed to work for themselves. Or at least not the first day.”

“You’re so cute when you’re trying to pretend you’re a good hostess,” Sakura said.

“Well, what about Gaara?” Kankuro said, nodding to the redhead seated at the head of the table with his own plate of eggs, already half-finished. “He lives here!”

Temari shrugged. “I like Gaara better than you,” she said nonchalantly, lifting her own juice to her lips to hide her smile.

Kankuro rolled his eyes and got up to throw together a bowl of cereal for himself, grumbling under his breath all the while.

“So,” Temari said, ignoring her brother and turning to Sakura, “When are the others coming?”

“They said they’d be here in the afternoon, but come on. It was prom night. They won’t even have left by then. You know how Naruto is.”

“I can’t believe you skipped out on your own prom,” Temari said with a shake of her head. “No date?”

She was looking at Sasuke as she spoke, so he replied, “Naruto asked her every day for two weeks. She rejected him every time.” When Sakura kicked him under the table, he added, “Not very nicely, either.”

“Look who’s talking,” Temari grumbled into her drink. Sasuke had once rejected her, years back.

Sakura laughed. “Prom is for losers,” she said. “Might as well just get a head start on vacation, right?” She had been one of the students to petition to have prom after exams, after all. “Besides, I went last year.”

“She got drunk,” Sasuke said.

“And I passed out in the limo,” Sakura agreed, casting her eyes down to her plate.

Sasuke, lifting a forkful of egg to his lips, paused to stare at her. He didn’t remember Sakura falling asleep on prom night. Then again, he hadn’t gone – Sakura had been invited along by a friend of hers in the year above them, Lee – but she had never mentioned falling asleep. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to go again.

He wondered what had happened that night. When he glanced at Gaara, he knew that the other boy knew.

Sasuke put down his fork and pushed away his plate. “I’ll call Naruto,” he said, and got up.

Kankuro came back to the table and raised an eyebrow at Sasuke’s retreating figure. Then he turned to Sakura. “Are you two going out yet?”

Sakura choked on her juice. “No!” She glanced down the hallway. Sasuke had disappeared into the guest room and shut the door behind him. Still, she lowered her voice. “Would you shut up? He’ll get weird. And besides,” she added, gesturing to Gaara, “Not in front of him, please.”

Temari snorted. “Like he cares. You don’t care, do you, Gaara?”

Gaara looked up from the newspaper beside him. “I don’t care,” he said, and went back to reading.

Temari looked back at Sakura triumphantly. “You see that?”

“I think I’m offended,” Sakura said wryly. Then she lifted her plate. “Can I have seconds?”

“No.”

Sakura turned to see Sasuke, glowering at her from the entrance.

“But I’m hungry!”

“You’re a liar,” Sasuke said. “Get up. You’re going to bed.”

“Wow,” Kankuro muttered from beside her, “He doesn’t waste time, does he?”

Sakura reddened, but otherwise ignored him. “I’m not tired right now, Sasuke. I’ll sleep later.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He knew as well as she did that she was lying.

Temari cut in before he could say as much, however. “He’s right, Sakura,” she said. “You need some sleep, and better to get it before the others get here. Then we can start the fun stuff. Night-time swim tonight,” she added with an impish grin Sakura didn’t want to understand.

“But—”

Sasuke appeared by her side then, and began tugging her up by the elbow. Temari chimed in with her encourage for Sakura to not be “such a brat,” but as Sakura finally succumbed and got to her feet, she saw Gaara aim a vicious glare at Sasuke.

Sasuke seemed to have noticed too, because as soon as he yanked her into the guest room and shut the door behind her, he asked, “What’s wrong with Gaara?”

Sakura ignored him. “Don’t you realize the kind of impression you’re giving off?” When Sasuke looked blank, she gestured impatiently to the closed door. “Locking us together in a bedroom?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed her, gently, towards the bunk bed on the right. There were two bunks on opposite sides of the room, bought just for the summer, to accommodate everyone that would be arriving later. Sakura noted that Sasuke was ushering her to the lower bunk, the only one with a bag – his bag – sitting on the dark blue comforter and couldn’t help her smile.

“Sleep,” he said again, pulling his bag off the bed. “Naruto and the others will be here when you wake up, and then we’ll talk.”

Sakura’s shoulders slumped in a sigh. “Sasuke…”

“Sakura, you can’t stay up any longer,” he said, cutting her off before she could argue further. At her look, he added, “I’ll be right here.”

“Like you were there last night?” she snapped, then immediately regretted it when Sasuke looked away. Still, she couldn’t apologize, not when her stomach was in knots and all she wanted to do was run far, far away from that room and that oh-so-inviting bed. She couldn’t sleep. Not yet.

“I won’t leave this time,” Sasuke said carefully. “But you have to sleep. You can barely stand up straight.”

Too late, Sakura realized she was swaying, and she collapsed back onto the bed, pulse racing. She drew her feet up off the floor with a jerk, as if she could already feel hands grasping at her ankles…

Sasuke dropped down to sit on the floor by the bed.

“I’m right here,” he said.

Sakura lay down. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

-x-

Sasuke watched as Sakura’s expression smoothed of any wrinkles and her breathing fell into a rhythmic pattern. Then he turned and leaned back against the bed, thinking.

Sakura couldn’t live with this fear; no one could. She had always taken her naps during the day – he had come across her more than once in the library, the nurse’s office, or under a tree behind the school, dozing and completely at peace. If he was honest, he usually went looking for her.

There was a light knock at the door; a moment later, Gaara had slipped in. He took one look at Sakura, then continued into the room to sit beside Sasuke, barely making a sound.

“What,” Sasuke said.

“She’s scared,” Gaara said.

No shit, Sasuke wanted to say, but didn’t. Instead he stayed silent, waiting for Gaara to continue. He was the only one other than him and Naruto who knew anything about Sakura’s situation, after all.

“Last year, when she went to prom, he attacked,” Gaara finally said. “Three horizontal cuts on each arm. Shoulder, forearm, and wrist, just above the vein.”

Sasuke kept his expression carefully neutral. He had never heard about this before. He had thought Sakura had never been attacked at night, not away from her own bed.

She got drunk, he had said earlier. It had been the one and only time Sakura had so much as touched alcohol.

After a moment, Gaara stood up and walked out, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

-x-

When Sakura woke up, blinking blearily, it took her a moment to realize three things: one, Sasuke was still on the floor beside her bed; two, he was talking to Naruto, who bounced up to his feet the moment he saw she was awake; and three, she hadn’t had a nightmare. She hadn’t dreamed at all.

Sakura sat up, rubbing at her eyes, and looked around, as if expecting her monster to jump out at her from a corner. Nothing was there. Had the night before been a fluke?

“Sakura-chan!”

“Hi Naruto,” she said, reaching up to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. It barely reached past her forehead. Her hair was still short. So the attack had happened. She had been hoping maybe she dreamt it.

Naruto pulled her into his arms, whispering soothing words. Sakura patted his back absently, looking over his shoulder to see Sasuke, already on his feet, staring down at them. He looked vaguely amused.

“I’m okay, Naruto,” Sakura said, pulling away. “When did you guys get here?”

“Uh… an hour ago?”

“What?! How long was I asleep?” Without waiting for a reply, Sakura leaned over to grab her purse, lying along with her suitcase at the foot of the bed, and rooted around inside for her cell phone. “Six thirty? I was asleep for eight hours!”

“You were tired, Sakura-chan,” Naruto began, but Sakura was already sliding off the bed.

“You idiots, what if the sun had set before I woke up?” Sakura snapped, already headed for the door. “I can’t risk that right now—”

“We were right here, Sakura-chan,” Naruto said. “The whole time…”

“But you wouldn’t have woken me up, right?” Sakura cursed. “Dammit, you guys, why don’t you understand—”

“Sakura,” Sasuke cut in, “Calm down. Nothing happened.”

“But something could have, Sasuke-kun, and you wouldn’t have been able to stop him—” Sakura suddenly broke off and clamped her jaw shut.

“Sakura-chan?”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Sakura sighed. “I’m sorry. I panicked,” she said in a small voice. She wouldn’t meet their eyes. “C’mon, let’s go…”

She turned on her heel and stalked to the door, movements stiff. Sasuke watched her go, then turned to Naruto.

“Something’s not right with her,” Naruto said, before Sasuke could even his mouth. “I’ll talk to her later. Just… let it go for now. We’re all too strung out. Okay?”

Sasuke nodded. Then he and Naruto followed Sakura out the door to greet everyone else.

-x-

Neji and Hinata were staying at their own summerhouse, along with Neji’s girlfriend Tenten. Lee had turned down their invitation to stay along with Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba in the guest room. Gaara gave his room up – grudgingly – to Shikamaru and Chouji, Kankuro offered to share with (and was turned down by) Shino, who also bunked with Shikamaru and Chouji. Ino shared Temari’s room, and Sakura and Gaara, of course, retired to the den to stay up at night. It was a tight fit.

“Too bad we couldn’t use your summer house,” Temari said to Sakura, over dinner. They were all crowded into the den, eating homemade pizza. The original plan had been to eat outside, down on the beach, but a sudden summer storm had ruined those plans, as well as the plan for a midnight swim.

“Sakura-chan has a summer house?” Naruto asked, wiping at his mouth with his hand. “Where?”

“Next door,” Sakura said. “My dad wouldn’t let me use it alone. I think he thought I would take random guys up to it.”

“Not random guys,” Kiba said,” reaching past Sakura for his can of Pepsi, sitting on the coffee table. He was sitting on the couch behind where Sakura sat on the floor, beside Ino. “Just Sasuke.”

Sasuke smacked him upside the head for that.

“It was probably because of Gaara,” Ino said. Then she snorted. “Like your dad had any reason to worry.”

Sasuke glanced at Gaara. He was ignoring the conversation, focused wholly on his meal.

“Gaara?” Kiba echoed.

“We dated,” Sakura said around a mouthful of crust. “Briefly. Very briefly,” she added, with a quick glance at Sasuke. “Two summers ago.”

“Whatever, they weren’t even cute,” Temari said, getting to her feet and heading for the kitchen. “Anyone want anything?”

“Coke!” Sakura sang.

“This is why you can never sleep at night,” Tenten informed her. “Too much caffeine.”

“I just thrive in the dark,” Sakura said matter-of-factly. Kiba was the only one to laugh, and she turned to toss him a playfully saucy wink.

Sasuke shook his head at them and turned back to his plate – but not before noticing, out of the corner of his eye, Gaara watching him. That was getting kind of annoying.

-x-

Later that night – much later – found Gaara and Sakura in the den once again, on the floor, this time with a deck of cards in between them.

“Did you sleep at all today?” Sakura asked. “And do you have any fives?”

“Go Fish,” Gaara said. When Sakura picked up a card from the pile between them and cursed, he went on, “No. I’m not tired.”

“You always sleep even less than me,” Sakura said with a wry smile.

Gaara shrugged and set down his cards. The game was boring, anyway. “Did you sleep well?”

“Did you hear any screaming?” Sakura set her cards down as well and leaned back against the couch with a sigh. “Were you worried about me?” she asked, a teasing glint in her eyes.

“No,” Gaara said.

Sakura made a face at him. “Thanks for caring. I don’t know, maybe last night was because I was so tired. Maybe I was just more on my guard today.” She shrugged, grinning now. “Or maybe it was Sasuke. He never left my side, you know.”

Gaara rolled his eyes at her reddening cheeks. This was why he had been all too willing to break it off with her. Even when they were “dating”, all she ever thought about was him.

It was only ever him.

Anyway, so sorry for the horrifically late update. I posted, got a fantastic response (seriously, I was expecting maybe a quarter of the reviews I actually got), and then I totally freaked, knowing the next chapter would be a letdown. But it’s even worse to not update for so, so long, right? I suck. I’m sorry. Anyway, a few things: I have no idea what A Nightmare on Elm Street is about, so hopefully this story won’t be too much like it; I actually got nightmares after writing the first chapter, how sad is that?; and I’m actually going on a hiatus after this chapter so, wow, I really suck. So much for being a writing machine, huh?

This chapter isn’t as exciting, I know, because I don’t want to leave you guys with a cliffhanger for two months, but the next chapter, I assure you, is much more interesting. This chapter lays a lot of the framework for further chapters, though, so it is important. But anyway.

Disclaimer: I own none of the movies mentioned, nor do I own Pepsi. Okay, that was the most worthless disclaimer ever.