Red Velvet Drawstring Bag
"Here"
A drawstring bag half the size of her palm hit her face soundlessly before landing on her chest. Naruto didn't even open her eyes or sit up from her lounging spot next to the crackling fire, just sighed and picked up the small velvet bag and raised it to her face before opening her blue eyes at it.
She raised an eyebrow and looked at the man who threw it at her, questioning the bag's contents. He wasn't looking at her, instead choosing to stare intently at the fire in front of him. The fire's glow lit up the front of his form softly in reds, oranges, and yellows, and cast shadows on the angles of his pale stoic face and ebony black hair shaped into what she teasingly called a duck's ass.
"Gee, thanks. I always wanted a tiny red bag. Maybe now we can destroy Akatsuki and Madara once and for all and end this bloody war-all because you had this tiny thing. Think we can toss it at them and they'll drop dead for us?" Her words were bitingly sarcastic and a tad bit grouchy. They had been on the move for over a month, traveling from country to country, fighting White Zetsus and battling reanimations constantly since the Fourth Great Shinobi War officially went into full swing. They had barely slept the past week, and were currently resting with the rest of their mismatched platoon for a few hours before continuing their long campaign securing the former Land of Sound and moving into the land of Hot Water. They were all tired, hungry, wet from the last storm, and jumpy with frayed nerves caused by weeks of insecurity and facing the unknown. All Naruto wanted more than anything at the moment was some undisturbed sleep…and some ramen, but that was currently unattainable at the moment. Sleep however was just within her grasp before the bastard drew her away from its welcoming clutches. Damn him.
His eyes rolled in their sockets, before he growled and mumbled at her something along the lines of "just open the damn bag."
She slightly smirked in satisfaction at his irritation before sitting up against her pack and fully facing the fire a few feet from him. Looking at the bag more closely, she noticed that it was soft to the touch—like REALLY soft—definitely of high quality and miraculously looking like Sasuke hadn't been carrying it around with him through three countries at war. She had never held something so fine, and holding such an expensive item and seeing the contrast between its finery and her muddy hands, made her want to scrub her dirty calloused appendages before going any further, and had even begun to reach behind her for some kind of decent cloth to wipe her dusty hands on before she heard a grunt of annoyance and the displacement of air and saw that the bag was grabbed out of her hand and back into its original owner's. In less than a second flat, a pale fist was thrust into her face enclosed around the bag's contents tightly. Naruto leaned around Sasuke's arm marginally, again raising a brow at his odd behavior and was amused and surprised to see him hunched and looking away from her blushing like mad.
"Here," he repeated faintly. Truly curious now and fully awake, Naruto cast a quick look around her at all the tense sleeping forms in various positions around several fires, all with weapons within quick reach, pausing a little longer on the sleeping Kakashi-sensei, and the other nin keeping watch around the four other fire pits in the little area they had claimed sanctuary in. They weren't paying the two teens any mind, but she knew they were probably listening in, the boredom of the night watch nagging at them until the top of the hour when they can finally rouse the next group and rest for themselves. Looking back at Sasuke's raised hand, she placed her own smaller one under his, and he quickly released his prize and retreated to his original pose in front of the fire. She squinted at the small metal object in her hand. It was small, round, and warm from its prison of Sasuke's fingers. Naruto, picked up the delicate ring between her thumb and forefinger, and stared in surprise at the little piece of jewelry. The small ring was a fire lily shaped into a circle out of white gold with a well cut and expensive diamond resting in the flowers center. Moving the ring between her fingers, she saw the kanji for devotion, love, life, and faith delicately carved into the small leaves around the flower and tears came to her eyes. The ring was small enough to be a perfect fit for her ring finger, simple in its execution, and in a single word—beautiful. The meaning of the ring wasn't lost on her, but she still raised her watery eyes to ask her companion what it was, her mouth opening and closing without sounding a word. He was no longer staring at the fire, but looking directly at her face. Gauging her reaction, and looking for something in the blue eyes he had grown to love in the years they had gone from rivals to lovers with the beautifully maddening woman in front of him.
Finally, her vocal cords caught up with her mouth, "Why would you…what is…what are you—"
"It's an engagement ring, obviously. I want you to marry me. I want you to walk into the temple and come out by my side as my wife. I love you, you idiot. I think I have for years. So I want you to put that ring on your hand, and tell me that when this war ends, you'll be mine and I'll be yours for life, and that we'll grow old together, and bitch at one another like we always do until long after our grandchildren have grown sick and tired of weaving between our legs on Sunday mornings. Marry me, Naru. Please."
It was said so clearly, with nary a stutter or wobble to betray nervousness that anyone who didn't know Sasuke like she did would never had seen the blatant anxiousness in his eyes or urging plead in his voice that yearned for an answer that would assure him that his words and feelings weren't in vain.
She could see the life he was envisioning too. The ceremony that would bind them together as partners for life, him standing there supporting her receiving her Hokageship, the children they would have with black hair and blue eyes growing into strong shinobi imbued with the Will of Fire, and then growing old together surrounded by the laughter of their descendants listening to them bicker and prod each other in loving familiarity.
She wanted that life—one filled with happiness and love.
She wanted to put the ring he had put so much thought into on her hand and never take it off.
She wanted to make him happy.
She wanted…
"I'm sorry…I can't—"
'Why?" His voice was sharp, and she was sure some of the sleeping bodies or the ones keeping watch were roused by the tone he used and faint chakra spike felt when he spoke. His face was still composed, but his hands were now clenched together and squeezing hard, containing his distress. His eyes never left hers, and she didn't try to look away.
"You know why." Her whispered words stopped his hands from continuing to try to break each other, and he understood. He had been told by Kakashi back when they first became lovers.
"The council can't dictate how you live your life Naruto."
"Yes they can Sasuke and you know it. The only way I was able to join the Shinobi program was if Jiji accepted their demands: no spouse, no children. I grow up alone, and I will die alone. Such is the fate of a jinchuriki—a human sacrifice. The council has taken away any chance of happiness I could ever have, and unless they suddenly have a change of heart about me (which is unlikely), I can't accept and be your wife. No matter how much we may want it otherwise."
She thrust the ring back at him, and he didn't flinch or move an inch as her arm, with ring attached, stop an inch from his face. She turned away from him, and let the ring drop from her hand into his lap, feeling a pang of anguish and a tear drop to her cheek as she did so. She lay back down on the ground and turned her back to him.
There was silence between them and in the camp again, and she was beginning to think that that was the end of the matter until—
"I won't accept that. I can't." Her eyes widened, and more tears started to fall, though no sobs or sniffles escaped her. Why won't he drop this? It will just bring them more pain later on.
"Why? The girl you like could never give you the life you want Sasuke. We both knew how this would end when we started this. Just cut your losses now before you end up more hurt and find someone new who can give you the life you want." There was silence again. Her words hung in the air, and they felt almost like a challenge to Sasuke.
"I can't because the one I love can give me that life. It may not happen tomorrow, or in the near future, but I will be getting around that damn edict and when that happens, I'm going to ask you again, and you're going to say yes." She turned her head to look at him and was rendered speechless at the hope and honesty in his voice, as well as they gentle smile adoring his face, it was rare after all, whenever she saw him smile like that it had only happened rarely in private, and never in public like now.
Still smiling he continued speaking, plucking her heartstrings like a well-practiced musician, and never once looking away from her eyes or dropping her favorite smile as he placed the ring in its soft red velvet drawstring bag.
"And until that day comes, I'm going to keep this ring with me. I've held it this long in the war; I can keep it a little while longer right here.
He hid the little bag in his green flak jacket, in the pouch directly over his heart, leaving his hand there a little longer than necessary.
His smile grew a little bigger. "I'll wait, Dobe."
Naruto blushed, and the tears finally dried on her face. She turned her head back around and closed her eyes to sleep, a soft smile now on her own face. "Whatever, Teme."
Sasuke turned back to the fire and continued to stare into it until the end of his watch, surrounded by his sleeping comrades and silent sentinels unaware of the conversation that took place, and the woman he professed to love for the end of his life.