Abroad

Prologue

It had started to snow.

The night air cut deeply and thoroughly through the layers of his clothing and it felt as if a naked blade was being pressed to his skin. His breath fanned out from him in visible puffs as he grasped his cup tighter, hand clinging to the what little warmth it provided. The makeshift fire that he had built out of nothing but spindly twigs and a couple of hand gestures was crackling merrily along in the small clearing they had decided to rest in tonight, but even that was a small relief against the omnipresent cold which was characteristic of winters in the Land of Water. He had hoped that the clearing would provide more shelter than it currently did but as the night got colder he reconciled himself to the fact that he would have to stay up all night to maintain the fire. Without it, they would die.

Sasuke looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

She was curled up in a ball near the fireside and shivering, wrapped up in as many layers as she could drown herself in. Earlier that day, he had given her his travelling cloak despite her loud protests. When she had told him she wasn't that cold and that she was perfectly fine with how she was, he had looked straight into her eyes and given her a silent glare. Her resolve had crumbled and she accepted his cloak somewhat reluctantly and that was the end of that. After all the things that they'd been through, Sakura knew that he despised dishonesty and even more so when it came from one of the few people that he cared about in this world.

He felt a pang of guilt as he saw her trembling form. He had been honest to her from the start about what his sojourns into the wild were like so she knew what she was getting herself into, but he couldn't help but feel as if this was his fault somehow. It was an all too familiar state of being, this constant guilt and shame. Sasuke wasn't sure whether his quest for atonement could ever be over. Or whether it should even be over in the first place.

Sasuke got up and walked over to where his travelling companion (his official term for what Sakura was in relation to him and the only term that he felt was definitely accurate) lay by the fireside.

"Hey," he said.

She moved her head ever so slightly to face him. "Hey, you," she said faintly, giving him a small smile. Sakura was always happy to see him. She never did blame him, even if all he could do was blame himself.

Sasuke sat down next to her pillow, setting his cup off to the side. He noticed that Sakura was also wearing all the hats that she had brought along for the trip and quite frankly, she looked ridiculous. The side of his mouth tugged upwards into a smirk.

"Cold?" he asked.

Sakura groaned. "I don't know how you aren't, Sasuke-kun. You can have your cloak back anytime though."

"I am, I'm just used to it. Meanwhile you've been living in Konoha for most of the time." He ignored the part about the cloak.

"Konoha gets too hot sometimes. There's a lot of people who come in for heat stroke during the summer," she said defensively. She'd taken it as an accusation. It was something he'd noticed the more he traveled with her- Sakura continuously trying to prove to him that she could handle everything on their journey together. It was sort of endearing, really.

"Well, keep close to the fire. Looks like we might get a snowstorm tonight," he replied.

Sakura's eyes widened. She sat up and pulled all the extra clothing tighter around her. "Should we- maybe we should-"

"If we keep the fire going, we'll be good. This place should shelter us from the worst of it."

"Oh." Her body sagged in relief and she glanced at their fire, which was still burning at a healthy blaze. After processing what he'd said a little more, she said, "I can watch over the fire tonight Sasuke-kun."

"No," he said.

"I've had my share of overnight shifts at the hospital. This isn't the first time I've done this sort of thing."

"No," he said again.

"Well I don't care what you say, I'm going to do it anyways." Her jaw was set into a hard line.

Sasuke closed his eyes. Sighing, he reopened them after some time. She still hadn't changed much after all the years they've known each other. So annoying, he'd told her on multiple occasions, so damned annoying.

"One of us has to sleep and I'd prefer it to be you Sakura," he said. "You're the medic and it's for the better if you're well rested. Once snow sets in everything gets more unpredictable. We could get frostbite or twist an ankle tripping over something hidden in the snow or-"

"Sasuke-kun, do you think I'm a nuisance?" Sakura blurted out.

That took him by surprise. Then he remembered that this was Sakura, and Sakura was nothing if not forward when it came to these things.

True, there were times when he would get annoyed by her chatter and times where he would lose his patience and snap at her, but he never actively resented her for being there with him. Far from it. Besides, Sakura wasn't to blame for coming to that conclusion. He was so used to being by himself and doing things by himself that having another person around him now at all times made him acutely aware of just how bad he was when it came to people. Sasuke had spent most of his life pushing people who cared about him away but he was done with that for good. He didn't know what sort of relationship he had with Sakura at the moment, but it was a relationship with her nonetheless and thus something worth keeping.

"No you're not." he said. "You've never been."

There was a tentative silence between them. Sakura looked at him, expecting him to say more on the topic but when it became clear to her that he wasn't, she began to speak.

"I just want you to be happy Sasuke-kun. I want to help in any way possible. I don't know if I'm doing that or doing the complete opposite, it's… really hard to tell." Sakura pulled her legs towards her chest and looked down at the ground, biting her lip.

She'd always thought too highly of him, her and the dobe. The two of them were so quick to forgive and forget and for some reason, that pissed him off. Perhaps he really was the asshole everyone else back in Konoha thought he was.

"What about you? Are you happy?" he asked her, more sharply than he intended to.

"What? Of- of course I am!" she replied indignantly. "I'm- I'm with you, Sasuke-kun." Her face turned a soft shade of pink, matching the color of the hair that framed her face.

"Are you? Happy with being hundreds of miles away from home, from your friends and family, your job, your patients, your life? Look around you, Sakura. This isn't some damn vacation."

There was a frown on her face now and little of something else too. Sakura shifted from her position and shuffled closer to him, bringing her face close to his own and looking at him eye to eye. When she cupped his face in her gloved hands, Sasuke flinched, instantly regretting it. During the whole entire trip he had physical contact with her maybe around four or five times and in all instances it was either accidental or situational. The last thing he wanted to be was overly familiar and so he always gave her plenty of space. Now, he realized, maybe a little too much space.

Sasuke could tell she was hurt by his reaction from the way her gaze flickered for a second, but her hands still cradled his face steadily. He could feel the warmth of her hands through the coarse fabric of her gloves. Green eyes looked into his own and he couldn't help but notice what a rich shade of jade they were- a small sign of spring in the grey winter that would be around them for months to come. Unable to look at her so directly anymore, he looked off to the side.

"Forget about how I feel about this, Sasuke-kun, I want to be with you and there's nothing you can do to change that. What I want to know is whether you want me around or not." she said softly. "One moment it seems like you do and the next it seems like you don't want anything to do with me. Just a simple yes or no. If you want me to stay, I'll stay, if you want me leave, I'll be out of here by dawn."

At the beginning, Sasuke was pretty sure he wanted her around. Hell, he'd even asked her to come along with him in the first place. But what he hadn't realized at that time was just how unready he was with sharing his nomadic life with another person, and with this person in particular. Sakura was a persistent reminder of just how undeserving he was and how much more he had to atone for and Sasuke didn't know whether to love her or hate her for that.

There were two things he knew for sure though. He was tired of being lonely and Sakura was one of the few people who he wouldn't want to murder after spending a few days in their company.

"Yeah," he croaked out. He cleared his throat and met her gaze once more. This time he did not look away. "Stay."

Sakura studied his face for what seemed like an hour before smiling exuberantly at him. She leaned in and buried her face in the crook of his neck as she wrapped her arms around his chest.

It had been awhile since they'd been this close together. The last time he could remember where they'd hugged like this was back when they were genin. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he'd missed this aspect of Sakura, the one who was generous with her physical displays of affection before she'd grown out of it. He could smell the familiar flowery scent of her hair amid all the other smells that had built up during their trip and feel the welcome warmth of her body spreading from his chest. His hand had somehow moved of its own accord to her waist, half embracing her and half supporting her weight.

This was what Sakura had wanted from him all along. She was probably just as lonely as he was, but unlike him she had the courage to show it.

Words failed to form in his mouth as they held each other. Sakura did not speak as well. Minutes passed before he finally felt her arms fall slack at his sides. When he looked down at her he realized that she had fallen asleep and that she was even snoring a little. Chuckling to himself at the sight, he gingerly moved her back to her place by the fire. When he was sure she was comfortable he reached for his cup and took a swig from it, staring into the fire as he thought about what had just happened.

He looked up at the night sky and at the swirling flecks of snow that would soon settle and coat the earth. Maybe it wouldn't be such a cold night after all.

Just taking a stab at this whole writing thingamabob so constructive criticism is much appreciated! Any positive, negative, or neutral feedback's just as welcome~

This will be a multi-chapter fanfic focusing on Sasuke and Sakura's magical adventures together, there will be mature content later on.

I'll also be doing sketches for each chapter and posting them on my Tumblr art blog. If anyone is interested in checking them out, please visit my profile for the URL. I'll probably post updates on my blog before I post them here.