Redemption |complete| (SasuSaku)

The Labyrinth

"What's going on?" she whispered close to his neck.

"It's a dead end."

They maneuvered to turn around, Sakura still holding on onto that sleeve and Sasuke not bothered by it. They walked back on their footsteps. He crossed the arrows he previously graved on the wall.

"If this place is really a maze, it is going to be harder to find our way around."

"Kakashi's ninja hounds would have been helpful here..."

Sasuke breathed a bit louder after what she said. Kakashi wasn't here, this time it was their job to find a way.

"Well," Sasuke started "we don't have a choice but to find the centre of it. We are lost already, the arrows won't make any sense because I don't know when we started taking the wrong turns. Our best bet is to go back to the window and try a different way."

Sakura agreed. She put all her trust in him considering how overwhelmed she felt. Even though she felt oppressed in here and overall felt bad, she still worried about him.

"I'm more worried about the water. We don't have enough and with your chakra issue I don't want you to overwork yourself."

"I'm fine." He dragged her away from the dead end.

They continued like that for a very long time. No matter where they were going they kept facing a wrong turn.

The atmosphere was now haunting the young woman. The darkness was penetrating her mind and she started to feel anxious. Her chest felt so compressed that her lungs couldn't expand anymore. She breathed faster to counteract the feeling in between her ribs but it didn't help. She was suffocating a little. Her brain felt worried at the fact that she might not be able to breathe any longer. She saw herself dying here, in this hallway. She imagined a creature coming over her dead body to eat it.

The blood was now pounding in her ears, her heart exploded in her chest. She tried to take slow breaths not understanding what was happening. Her hands tingled and her legs were shaky. She needed air or she was going to choke in here. She couldn't stay here any longer, she couldn't look at the darkness she needed to feel the fresh air... the fresh air of Konoha. Home. How far was she from home now. She might not even go back. Who would be sad if she died in here? Maybe no one. Maybe she will die forgotten. How pathetic was she. She had survived the Great War but died in a castle.

Her ears felt blocked just like someone put something on them. A wave of cold enveloped her body and a lump appeared in her throat. She took a long deep breath to calm herself down. Her mind couldn't focus on the situation, it was busy showing her images of her traumatic past.

Her nails dug into her palm and something dripped along the tips of her fingers. She saw death, children crying and fear in these memories. Her body and head felt too tight. Breathing was hard, really hard. She wanted to bang her head against the wall to make it shut up. She clutched the sleeve she held, her hand wrapping so tightly around it that it was hurting her. Air... She needed air.

She swiftly felt a hand on her shoulder. It squeezed hard but she felt like she was looking at the scene instead of living it. She heard a voice speaking but couldn't make up words. A hand pressed against her cheek. The same voice resonated into her ears. Sasuke, it was Sasuke, only Sasuke.

She was hyperventilating and felt very dizzy suddenly. She managed to get one word out: "air." Her trembling knees let go of her weight and she fell onto the floor. She felt the tears running down her face. It was getting too warm in here so her shaking hands tried to open her jacket but before she had time to take it off she felt an arm grabbing her sides and lifting her. The hot air was brushing her face but didn't help her breathe. All of a sudden she started to see the outline of the walls, everything was blurry but it was brighter.