"And I promise to love you fully and unconditionally."
"Do you know where you're from?" Erika shook her head and avoided eye contact with the raven haired man. "Do you remember anything?"The girl didn't reply or move at all.
Sasuke sighed, not sure if the girl in front of him could even talk.
"Sasuke, let's just take her with us. She could be of some use later." Suigetsu smirked. "Karin could bother her instead of us."
Karin twitched and punched Suigetsu on the arm. "Shut up asshole!"
"Take her if you want." The fifteen year old Uchiha walked away from his team mates. "Just make sure she doesn't get in the way."
Erika snapped out of her memories and helped Karin cook. The red haired kinouchi looked over to Erika. "Could you get me some water from the river?" She nodded, doing just as Karin said.
As Erika walked over to the river, she paused when she saw Sasuke and Suigetsu sparring. It had been two years since she joined Team Taka. At first, they used her as a decoy or a distraction whenever they were being attacked. Now, Sasuke protected Erika and made sure she was the first one to be safe during an attack.
"Erika, baby!" Suigetsu waved with that toothy smile on his face. The young Uchiha looked back to see Erika.
The setting sun made Sasuke's skin glow as he sweated and panted. His lips curved up into a small smile, the same smile that made Erika's heart jump in ecstasy. As she grinned back and lost herself in Sasuke's onyx eyes, Karin came from behind and hit her.
"Are you getting water or are you staring at Sasuke?" Erika giggled nervously at the easily angered Karin. She quickly apologized and ran off after stealing another glance at Sasuke.
By the time Erika had fetched water and brought it back to Karin, Sasuke and Suigetsu were on the floor gasping for air.
"Boys will be boys…" Karin mumbled and thanked Erika. Afterwards, Karin handed Erika a cutting board, a knife, and a bag of tomatoes.
"It's kind of gross that Sasuke eats tomatoes with his rice." Karin added with a disgusted face. "How does that even taste good to him?"
"Sasuke, why do you eat tomatoes with rice?" Erika timidly asked the Uchiha who bit down on his tomato and paused.
"Because."
"Because?"
Sasuke sighed and looked over to the shy girl. "You shouldn't ask me so many questions, it's tiring for me to answer them."
"You shouldn't ask Sasuke so many questions, it tires him out." Erika giggled to herself, remembering what Sasuke had told her months ago. Karin squinted at Erika, clearly confused.
"You are one strange girl…" Karin ignored Erika's giggling and scooped up the cooked rice. "Sasuke!" She yelled and the tired out Sasuke soon came walking over. He grabbed the bowl out of Karin's hands and sat down next to Erika.
"Feed me."
At the sound of his strong voice, the girls stopped what they were doing. They both turned their heads to look at Sasuke in confusion. In the background, a loud roar of laughter could be heard from Suigetsu.
"Feed…You?" Erika cheeks were tinkled pink as she looked over to Sasuke as he lightly nodded.
After picking up a slice of tomato with her chop sticks, Erika held it up to Sasuke's mouth happily. "Ahhh." She said before Sasuke shyly bit down on it.
Erika clapped her hands with a bright smile on her face and Suigetsu sat down next to Sasuke, grabbing Sasuke in a headlock. "So it's Erika huh?" Suigetsu teased as Sasuke fought his way out.
"Get your filthy hands off of me." The calm and collected look on Sasuke's face never changed. Suigetsu continued to make kissy faces at Sasuke while Karin glared at Suigetsu.
"Would you leave Sasuke alone?" The red head pointed to Suigetsu. "You're so annoying, I don't even want to cook for you anymore! "
"Awww, is little Karin jealous Sasuke didn't ask you to feed him instead?" Out of everybody in the whole group, Suigetsu knew just what to say to piss off Karin the most.
"NO!" She yelled at the sharp toothed boy. "Stop being stupid!"
"All I did was make Sasuke ask one of you lovely ladies to feed him." Suigetsu smirked at Karin. "Whoever he liked better, that is."
"You little-!" Karin threw a pot at Suigestu who barely dodged it.
"Hey! You know how dangerous that is? I could have gotten burnt!" While those two were bickering, Erika was dancing inside. Knowing that Sasuke preferred her over Karin made her smile in happiness.
"Wait a second." Karin looked deep into the forest and pointed. "Four ninjas coming our way. One jounin, three genin."
Suigetsu and Sasuke got up, knowing they were the ones that had to take care of them. Suigetsu went ahead to stop the ninjas from getting any closer to the girls.
Just as Sasuke was about to leave, Erika stood up and held onto Sasuke's arm. He looked back to see how worried she was, the same look that she always had before he went to fight someone. Erika tried to smile and held up her hand with her pinky up.
"Why are you so worried anyway?" Sasuke yelled and struggled to get out of Erika's embraced as he sensed the ninjas getting closer. "Erika, let me go!"
The girl shook and buried her head into his chest. "You might not come back…"
Although Erika knew Sasuke was strong, taking on three ANBU at once seemed like it was too much for him. If he went now, she might not be able to see him again.
"Erika, I'll kill you if you don't let me go." Those were just empty words. Sasuke was too scared to even push her off of him, worried that he might hurt her. It had been a year since Erika was by his side, taking care of him whenever he was weak. He had grown attached to her, whether he was willing to admit it or not.
"Then kill me." Those words sent shivers up Sasuke's back. Just thinking about it made him sick.
He sensed the ANBU getting closer by the second. He sighed, knowing Erika wasn't going to let him go anytime soon.
"Erika, I'll come back." Sasuke whispered as rain started to pour above them.
Slowly, Erika held up her pinky and Sasuke chuckled at her silliness. He intertwined his pinky with hers, letting her know he pinky promises her.
The rain got heavier and Erika could feel it in her bones. As she lightly shook from the cold rain drops falling onto her skin, she let go of Sasuke. When he saw how upset she was, he wiped the rain and tears off of her face. Right before the ANBU attacked, he gently kissed her and slowly slid his sword out.
"I promise."
Sasuke stared at her hand and smirked. Just like he did last time, he tied their pinkies together. Quickly, he leaned in to steal a kiss on Erika's lips before running off to find Suigetsu and the enemies.
He looked back and mouthed 'I promise' to the smiling Erika.