A/N - Hey there! I know it's been an awfully long time since I last updated TPB but I so hope that some of you are still reading this.
It took me a while but I have finally processed how I want this story to go. The updates are definitely going to be more regular from now on. I have gained back my inspiration to write again. Also some of you had PM me and I am so sorry for not replying back, I am kinda lazy when it comes
to logging in on ffnet so if any of you want to talk to me regarding anything (update, anime etc) follow me on Instagram- wilted_cherryblossom. I have started posting poems and all on this account so it will kinda mean a lot if you guys support me. :D

I hope you like this chapter! Thanks for reading! (Warning - its super short, don't hate me)

Find a talisman to protect you against the dark
This wretched night bleeds to devour love

She's an inch apart from thrusting the dagger into his heart, an inch apart to see him wheeze for breath when he ruthlessly captures her wrist and tugs her forward causing her to topple towards him. Her chest presses against his and her cheeks scrap against his sharp jaw line.

She's failed.

Undiluted fear seizes her, holding her fretfully still and captive in his arms. She urges herself to move away from him, to detangle her limbs and finish the job and yet her body remains oddly static. The silence makes her aware of the tempo of her mounting heartbeat. She can feel her body growing warmer and more tense as each passing second feels like an eternity in itself. There's no adrenaline rushing into her veins though, no biochemical mechanism urging her to rescue herself. Instead, her fingers unclench their grasp on the dagger letting it fall with a small thump.

That thump is the sole sound that resounds in her bedroom. The incidental silence is maddening. Unable to take the tension any longer, she glances at the face of the man who she was about to destroy.

Sas-suk's face is effectively blank giving her nothing to read. She had expected his eyes to flash with rage, scorn, most of all with betrayal but they are just dead and hardened.

He lets go of her wrists and she pushes herself back attempting to separate from him when his hands settle on her waist preventing her to make any further movements.

Sakura lets out a choked breath that she has unconsciously been holding back.

"Where did you get the dagger of Anuk from?" Sas-suk's ironically calm voice sends shivers down her spine submerging her with alarm. Instead of answering him, she fruitlessly bites her lower lip.

There is absolutely nothing I can do now.

Her heart is accelerating at an inhuman pace, the blood in her arteries feels like it has molted to burning lead.

Like a fly caught in a spider's web.

That is what her predicament is.

"Where did you get it from Sakura?" he stresses on the syllables of her name as if trying to wake her up from a dream.

"Who gave it to you?" he tugs on the rubber band of her ponytail letting her hair fall in soft waves across shoulders. A cruel smirk melts into his features as he runs his fingers across the strands of her hair. Pure rage burns inside her core – How dare he toy with her with these mocking endearing gestures?

She throws punches at him, hissing like a wild cat – cursing at him for all the life shriveled in her, unleashing all the fury and fear dormant in her. She hits him until her knuckles hurt and turn to a gruesome shade of blue-green.

"Why…." She draws out her question half caught between sobbing and gasping for air. Her tearful eyes critically examine the damage she's done. Sas-suk's cheeks are bruised and he's bleeding from the corner of his lip. She seethes her teeth and clutches the collars of his shirt, her hands shaking.

"Why don't you fight back? Why are you letting me hurt you?" her voice comes out as a rough whisper. Her eyes widen when she feels him press the hilt of the blade into her hand pressing the blade harder against his skin causing her to gasp as she feels the blade sink into his flesh drawing blood.

"Go ahead, take the dagger and strike me" Sas-suk held his gaze firmly against hers.

"You think I don't have it in me to harm you?" She glared at him in defiance. "You seek destruction and war…thousands will be killed…I can't let you do that, I can't…" Sakura spat out in vehemence but her voice quivered with hesitation to her own ears.

"Let your sense of justice prevail then, you won't be getting another chance." He pushed dagger-held hand deeper into his skin.

"Go on. Do it" he was challenging her, mocking her but all Sakura could feel was the warmth of his blood – the wetness dripping down onto her knuckles. It made her numb till her bones.

"DO IT." Sas-suk shouted.

Instead of pushing the blade deeper, Sakura hastily drove out the dagger. They stood still, eyes locked.

"You couldn't do it, could you? How long will you continue to deny what you feel for me?", Sas-suk places his right hand right on her heart. "You feel for me too. Stop Denying. Stop pretending. Stop fighting it back."

Slowly, he closed in on her tilting his head to the side.

"Give in to me, Sakura." he speaks and so she does.

Everything seemed to occur at such a rapid pace that she could hardly keep up. Just a second ago, she had the dagger pressed to his chest and now their lips are fiercely interlocked. The world around them evaporates to naught.

Sakura could feel the rasp of his breath on her skin, his hands sliding and running down her curves, tightening reflexively. With her eyes closed, her body sparked and stuttered. His fingers tangled themselves on her hair, mouth dropping to the nape of her neck. Trembling under his touch, her eyes glazed with reckless fire shimmering in them.

His tongue parted her lips, slipping into her mouth deepening the kiss. She digs her fists on his hair pulling him closer. Without warning, he lifts her up and swaps their positions. Now she was the one lying down on the mattress completely uninhibited and undone by his touch.

His lips roughly meet her again drawing a prolonged throaty moan. Breaking the kiss, he lifts her nightdress as she raises her hands to ease its removal leaving her exposed under his gaze.

He stared at her with inscrutable look. She stared back at him, her eyes flickering at his shadowy eyes, kissable lips and down to his chiseled chest. She lifts her hands to the front of his shorts, resting at the waistband. He looks at her patiently until she curls her fingers into the band and pulls them down to his hips letting him push it off with his feet and then kicking them off to the floor where he had previously discarded her nightdress.

"Do you want this?"

Sakura closed her eyes and then pulls him closer to her naked form.

"I want you."