"C'mon now," Sasuke called in a quiet amusement, standing in the clearing while his team panted after him, kunai clutched in their hand. They were completely tired, their ragged breathing was the only thing that filled the air. "You've gotta be quicker than that if you want this." He accentuated his words with a soft flick of the wrist that gave the jinglebells a pleasant tinkle. The sound seemed to perk the kids up, in Sasuke's mind he knew they were memorizing that sound, for the next time they would hear it meant victory. If they would just work together already.
It was getting late, but he didn't expect any of them to come close just yet. Afterall, back in the day he and the rest of Team 7 had only gained Kakashi's approval on a technicality ― they had completely failed to work together and had only seen the point of the exercise when choosing to mercifully share their food with Naruto. At the time, teamwork wasn't a word in his vocabulary and it was only after Sakura's gentle suggestion that he even thought to share his meal. Even back then, Sakura had been the best part of him.
It was by her careful coercion that Tsunade had allowed Sasuke back into the village and by her insistence that he explained the entirety of his defection and what he had learned along the way, which ultimately led to the extinguishing of the Council of Elders entirely. There was outrage from many, but Sakura was the only one able to silence the crowd, as she could say it best, "We've relied too long on our elders. If it weren't for their foolishness, these tragedies would have been completely avoided."
Once again, Sakura had quite considerably saved his ass. He thought back guiltily of moments in time where she had embraced him or told her how she felt from the deepest pit of her heart and he'd been completely unreceptive at times and downright rude at others. His thoughts of revenge had kept him from truly living and that was a damn shame.
"Sensei, y-your wife is here." One of his genin (the only girl of the group) piped up, pointing down the path that lead out of the Third Training Ground. Sasuke didn't make any inclination of looking in the direction she had pointed, his eyes locked solely on her. He noted she was smiling rather happily, however.
"That trick won't work on your enemies, Sachi." Sasuke said with a smirk, spinning the bells quietly around his finger.
The darker haired boy genin turned to the girl in complete awe. "Someone married Sasuke-sensei?! I feel bad for that poor woman..."
A quiet laugh sounded down the path Sachi had once pointed and Sasuke finally turned to see that his wife had indeed come strolling down the path, looking over his exhausted and beaten up genins with soft eyes. Sasuke met her halfway. "Is something the matter?"
Sakura shook her head, smiling at her hardworking husband. "I just wanted to let you know I've been assigned to a big mission and won't be coming home for a while." Her jade eyes stared into his with such confidence it was hard realizing that this was the same pink-haired girl he'd once thought of as weak and annoying. "I know how long these training exercises take, so I didn't want you to go racing over the countryside looking for me if you didn't find my note like last time."
Sasuke gave her a pointed look but said nothing. They'd had this conversation many times before but he stood by his convictions without complaint; he'd already lost his family once, never again. She understood to some degree but liked to point it out occasionally to make an example of how "dramatic" he could be ― he preferred "over-cautious". "Thanks for letting me know." He said genuinely, nodding at her. Taking this as a signal for her departure, Sakura leaned in to give her husband one final kiss before they'd be apart for an undetermined amount of time. This one would have to last them.
Sasuke leaned in to meet her lips halfway but before they were able to connect, he was bombarded from behind and as a result, plowed into the ground at her feet by three genin that seemed to be very happy with themselves.
"That's very rude." Sasuke barked, leaving his pupils to scramble up off of him at hearing the frustration in his voice though to his surprise, they were holding the bells, Sachi and the darker haired boy holding a shared bell in their interlocked hands. The power of teamwork had obviously not been lost on them. As he climbed to his feet he said at last, "Well done." He couldn't help but be proud.
"Does that mean today's training is over?" The dark haired boy cried gleefully, "Do we finally get to eat?"
Sasuke caught his wife's eyes and saw that she too could see how alike this boy was to a certain teammate of theirs ― no wonder he gave Sasuke such a hard time, with a personality like that pin-headed Naruto. It was endearing at best and downright annoying at worst. Still, he couldn't help admire his spirit. "Yes, I think we're done for the day. Don't forget to practice your tree climbing and water walking! Ah, damn ― there they go."
"Now then," Sasuke said, closing the space between them with a soft kiss, "How about we have dinner together?"
"Sasuke, I ― " Sakura began in protest.
"I'd just like to spend a nice evening alone with my beautiful wife before she leaves me for an undetermined amount of time." Sasuke replied blandly, placing another soft kiss on her lips. "Indulge me."
Sakura looked back at him with soft eyes. "Alright."
― ― ―
Sasuke had always thought candles were cheesy and occasionally dangerous but he thought they fit the mood just right. They sat here and there on the table between them, lighting up Sakura's face in a soft glow. Dinner lay forgotten on plates pushed aside but their hands reached one another across the table, meeting halfway in interlocked fingers.
"I wish I could've spent more time with you." Sasuke said forlornly down at his fork. He squeezed her hand tighter as if to anchor her here where they sat.
"Sasuke, I'm not going away forever." Sakura said with the breath of a laugh, squeezing his hand back, though the concern didn't leave her eyes.
Sasuke shook his head slowly, rubbing his thumb along Sakura's hands. "I was so horrible to you," He admitted, perhaps more to himself than Sakura, "But you still went through hell and back to bring your Sasuke-kun back to you."
Words seemed to be escaping Sakura, for she said nothing on the subject, but listened carefully. Sasuke continued. "I had so many chances I could've cut the act and appreciated what I had but I never did. I could've been loving you for so much longer. It scares me so much to think if I had died out there being reckless, I would've never gotten this chance. I hate that time in our lives where I wasn't loving you with every fibre of my being."
This time the words came easily, Sakura shook her head gently at his words and answered, "I don't hate that time." She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, "Back then I would've done anything for you to notice me, but... It was a time that taught me that I truly loved you and something in me told me you liked me too."
The thought struck him hard and fast ― how could he have not noticed that beautiful pink-haired girl back then? Had his eyes been so clouded by revenge that he'd gone blind? Sasuke stood suddenly, parting the space between them with an abrupt kiss, deciding that it was better late than never to make up for lost time.
A/N: I don't know why this took so long to write... For some reason I got really stuck on it ;-;