AN: Still hooked on the Uncharted game series! So I decided to write a sequel to TO THE MOON. If you haven't read that one yet, please do and tell me what you think!
Warning: OOC Sasuke
Oh, Sasuke Uchiha... Sakura thought, surveying her surroundings once more with a growing grin. What have you done now....
"Well?" The man in question asked from behind her, sounding a bit impatient.
They had arrived to the location fifteen minutes ago and Sakura had yet to say anything. Needless to say, Sasuke was starting to worry he had done something wrong. Again. Shifting from foot to foot he tried to calm his already jumpy nerves with calming thoughts. It did not work.
He was not good at these sort of things. He was a man of adventure, live action, shooting, jumping off things. Not planning first year anniversaries.
Sakura knew she was being annoying having him wait for her response -but she couldn't help it! It wasn't everyday her husband went out of his way to be romantic, or make her feel like a regular girl. Made them feel like they were just your average, ordinary couple.
The place Sasuke brought her to was atop a hill overlooking the city of Cape Town, South Africa. The scenery itself below was impressive, but what really caught Sakura's attention were the hundreds of twinkling lights that decorated the trees, surrounding them in a glittering mass of light.
So what if the trees were also adorned with the wreckage of their earlier battle? And maybe the reason it looked so bright was because the bullet's shell casings of said battle were also reflecting off the light, causing the ground to glow. And okay, the dead bodies were still noticeable, even if Sasuke tried hiding them deeper into the foliage...
On second thought, not quite so romantic, after all.
But it was still the thought that counted, and Sakura meant it as she whispered, "It's perfect, Sasuke," and launched herself on him like a bomb had just gone off and and she was taking cover.
The unsuspecting Sasuke had been drawing random patterns in the dirt with the toe of his boot, using the casings too, when he was suddenly propelled backwards by the force of her body. Sasuke immediately drew out his gun, thinking they were under attack.
"You brought your gun to our anniversary party?" Sakura's eyes shinned under the force of the lights.
Sasuke didn't know what to say, fumbling for the right words, before Sakura chuckled and drew out her 92FS-9mm. "If I have to be seen with you, Sasuke, I gotta need all the protection I can get." She winked down at him before getting up and extending a hand to help him up as well.
He took it, shaking the dirt out of his hair. "Paranoid much?"
"Better paranoid than dead. So why all the trouble with this?" She waved around to incorporate their surroundings. "You didn't even make our wedding into this big a deal."
Sakura continued to gaze around the small space and missed Sasuke's guilty flinch at her words. She also missed the way he dug into his coat pocket and, after quickly making sure his gift had not been damaged during the fall, said, "I got you something."
She tucked her pink tresses behind her ear as she bent over slightly to inspect the cliff's height. "Oh, yeah?" she asked casually enough, but nearly pitched over the side in shock. "What'd you get me, soap?" She tried to calm her racing heart. "It's soap, isn't it?"
It was small and wrapped ham-fistedly in dull brown paper with extra tape on each folded section, as if to keep it safer somehow. She wasn't sure whether to be dismayed or excited. Small box equaled not shoes. Which, after traipsing halfway around the world, she was sorely in need of, badly.
She unwrapped it with touching care and held the contents up to the light. "A box," she stated. "So it is soap." She shook it gently but heard nothing. "Is there even anything inside, Sasuke?"
"It's a himitsu-bako, a puzzle box," he supplied, as eager as if it was his own present. "Nineteenth Century Japanese. And look-" he reached out for it, but Sakura held it out of his way.
"What's inside?"
"You've gotta solve it to see." Sasuke crossed his arms and looked smug. "Some of them take fifteen hundred moves. Good luck!"
"No, luck was me not standing your ass up at our wedding. This is an empty box you gave me." Suddenly a better question popped into her head. "Did you steal it from somewhere? From when we stopped in Osaka last week?"
"Not exactly..."
"I'm not even gonna ask. So, fifteen hundred moves, huh? This is gonna take me 'til next Christmas!"
"It won't take you that long," he assured. "No more than seven moves, I'm sure of it."
Sakura examined the box –it was beautifully patterned with chrysanthemums in great detail, and completely locked. It apparently wanted to stay locked, no matter what she did, right up until she pressed on one corner. It pushed inwards, then to the left. She grinned triumphantly.
"That's two!"
The next steps, once the combination had been started, proved to be a lot easier to figure out, and soon enough the polished wood was opening up like a flower at her seventh move –pressing in the center of the smallest chrysanthemum like a button.
Sasuke was watching her eagerly, but she didn't even notice his expression. The contents of the puzzle box caught her attention too well, as he'd hoped it would. Sakura always loved a good puzzle.
"Is that-"
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah."
"I knew it! There's nothing in here but air." Sakura blew out her bangs, which were is desperate need of a trim. Even a pair of rusty scissors were a better gift than an empty box at this point, she fumed. "Trust you to put absolutely nothing inside some sort of ancient puzzle box."
"Well, not that ancient. They were used to keep precious things inside, like-"
Sakura swatted him on the arm. "Nothing. Shut up, because there's nothing."
"Not true. Now give it here."
Reluctantly, she did as he said. In all honesty she wanted to chuck the thing at his head. Or over the cliff. Anything to forget that her husband had given her bupkis on their their first year anniversary as a married couple.
She should slug him.
"Sakura, ever since I met you, I knew that you were the one who was to change my whole life forever."
Slug him hard enough to make him ble- wait. What was he saying?
"I'm not good at these sorts of things." He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I can only tell you the truth. And the truth is you deserve better." Dark eyes sought hers out and immediately the air in Sakura's lungs whooshed out. The emotion in the depth of those onyx eyes were unlike nothing she had ever seen before.
"I never really proposed to you the right way the first time, like you may have wanted. And I regret that. But-" he got down on one knee, "better late than never, right? Sakura Haruno, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?" Sasuke opened the box's top, revealing nothing as before but the meaning was clear. Sasuke wanted nothing more than to make Sakura happy. And if that meant giving her the stars, than so be it.
"Oh, Sasuke..." Sakura sniffed, dabbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "That was beautiful. I don't know what to say."
"This is the part you say yes, love," he smirked.
"Then yes." She kissed him, feeding him her every raw emotion coursing through her soul and into the kiss. Best anniversary ever, she thought once they broke apart. "Does this mean I get a second ring?" She teased, briefly glancing down at her rare and one of a kind engagement ring. Its black volcanic stone seeming to shine even brighter surrounded by the white diamond it was embedded in due to the light.
He chuckled. "Well, if its a second ring you want... I did see this emerald jade ring in one of the museums down in the city. Wouldn't take much to open the case and, it would go great with your eyes."
She laughed.
"Alright, enough stalling. What did you get me?" He wanted to move things along. Hearing her say yes all over again made his heart speed up and his palms sweat. Not that he would ever tell her that.
Sakura let out another burst of breathless laughter as she shook her head. "Fine. But before I hand over the goods, there was one more thing I was wondering. Why did you choose this place?" Sure the place had a killer view of the city below, but not even eight hours ago had it been a war zone between them and some big guys intent on taking their lives. As was evident by the damage seen around.
"I remembered you saying you liked the view when we were staking this place out last night."
"So you do pay attention to me when I talk to you."
"Yeah yeah. So where's my present already?"
"Okay, okay. Here you go. Happy anniversary, darling," and produced a folded up piece of paper from her back pocket.
"That's it? I give you the most heart-wrenching proposal this cliff side has ever seen and you give me dead tree remains? Frankly, I'm insulted."
"Turn it over."
He did. And he almost fell off the mountain from how far he jumped back in surprise. Once he got his bearings again, Sasuke grabbed her around the waist to spin her around. "Do you know what this is?!"
"I am the one to give it to you, remember?" she laughed.
"This is the map that supposedly burned with its ship that held some of the world's most precious treasures! How did you find it?"
Sakura scoffed. "Puh-lease! You think you're the only one capable of tracking these things down? Frankly, I'm insulted."
Sasuke shook his head in amazement, looking down at his map. Then back at his wife. "I can't believe it. I want to marry you all over again."
"I believe you already have, Mr. Uchiha." She smiled, and kissed him.
My husband helped with Sasuke's proposal speech. It was so good I was even crying for real haha. I also included Sasuke's crappy present wrapping skills from to the moon because I laugh every time I re-read it.
R&R
