Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its characters, its storyline, or any related trademark.
Genre: Romance
Pairing: SasuSaku
Summary: As the autumn harvest nears, Sasuke and Sakura say their goodbyes once more.
Prompt: Harvest
Rating: T
Author's Note: Based on the myth of Hades and Persephone.
Goodbyes
by: theevilmuffin
x-x-x-x
He gazes down at her resting form and admires her bare shoulders. His fingers trace a path down her shoulder blade, to her spine, and down to the dip of her lower back, where the edge of the blanket rests. He flattens his hand lets his palm rest against her warm skin.
She sighs and her eyes flutter open. She gazes at him from under her messy curtain of pink hair. Sasuke notes how her skin seems tighter, how her bones are more prominent now. She's getting weaker – the food here can't sustain her for much longer. Her time is coming once more.
Sasuke lifts his hand and brushes the bangs from her face. She smiles up at him and Sasuke is left in a very familiar state of astonishment. So much as changed between them since he first brought her here, that it's hard to believe that, right now, he really is the God-King of the Underworld, and that she is his consort – his Dread Queen.
It had been nothing more than his lust that had made him bring her here so many mortal years ago. Their love had grown slowly and unexpectedly after centuries of a hate-filled partnership. Though it pains him, he remembers the first time he realized that she was determined to truly to be his equal. It pains him because he tries not to think of the poor decisions he's made in the past… and that includes his one (and only) concubine that Sakura had literally stomped into the ground in a fit of jealous rage.
Now, Sasuke can hardly believe in a time where they have been anything less than lovers and equals.
He runs the back of his hand gently down her cheek. "How much longer?" he asks.
"Less than a week," she replies. "The summer was harsh on them this year, but the crops are coming up early."
Sasuke leans down and presses a kiss to her crown. "What do you want to do today?" he murmurs.
"Stay in bed?" she answers hopefully. She rolls on to her back and runs her hand up his arm, up his neck, and sinks her fingers into his thick black hair.
Sasuke smirks softly and looks down at her. He sees that small hint of sadness in her eyes. "It's today, isn't it?"
She looks away from him. "Yes, it is," she admits.
He sighs and kisses her forehead. "Okay, we can stay in bed. Guess I'll just have to judge twice as many souls tomorrow… alone."
She lets out a breathy laugh at his playfully disheartened tone. "Don't be so pouty," she teases. "It makes me think you aren't interested in a day full of bedroom romps with me."
Sasuke snorts and moves so he is lying next to her. He lifts his hand and rests in on the curve of her neck. His thumb dips into the hollow of her throat. "Well," he says roguishly. "What are you waiting for?"
x-x-x-x
Evening comes to Earth, and with it comes Sakura's departure from the Underworld. Her guardian stands next to her, prepared to guide her safely back to Earth so the mortals can celebrate their autumn harvest. The guardian nods politely to Sasuke, not bowing like many lesser gods would. While Sasuke would've been angered by such impudence long ago, he has since forged a strong respect for Sakura's guardian.
"Kakashi," Sasuke greets, and inclines his head back towards the masked hunter. "I want her back in one piece – preferably undamaged."
Kakashi lets out a bark of a laugh and places his hand on Sakura's thin arm.
Sakura reaches up with her emaciated fingers to caress Sasuke's jaw. She is even frailer now than she was this morning. "I'll see you soon," her hoarse voice whispers.
"Of course you will," he murmurs as he grasps her hand gently within his own. He kisses each of her fingertips affectionately. "Besides," he jokes. "What's the Underworld without its Dread Queen?"
She smiles and draws her hand back. Kakashi moves his hand to her shoulder and gently begins to guide her out of the Underworld. As she passes through the gates and into mortal territory, Sasuke can see the colour return to her skin and the fullness return to her body. In that instant, she stops being the Dread Queen and goes back to being the Maiden.
/"Sometimes, I wish I had eaten the entire pomegranate," she whispers, during a moment of rest between lovemaking. "That way I would never have to leave."/
But she's not meant to stay. As much as she is known as a feared ruler of the Underworld, she is also known for the life she gives back every year, during the autumn harvest – and for that, Sasuke is grateful.
He turns swiftly on his heel, his robes swishing around him, and heads back to his throne. There is already so much work to be done before she returns at the end of spring, and the autumn harvest has only just begun.
/As they are dressing to prepare for her departure, she turns to him and says – half-teasing and half-serious, "You had better not smell of peppermint when I get back."/
x-x-x-x
END
