D/C: I do not own any part of Naruto.
Thanks to all my readers!
(This chapter is more like a pre-setting till they leave and start the journey to the Hidden Light. There's light …fluff… between Sasuke and Sakura)
Waiting to Leave
Sasuke awoke early the next morning, and after eating breakfast, immediately opened up his drawer where he kept everything he would need for a journey. Ninjas had to be prepared, and with light supplies. Calmly and quietly, he packed everything into his brown backpack. At eight, he walked to Sakura's house, and knocked on the door. He was greeted by Sakura's mother.
"Ohayo, Haruno-san." (sorry if the grammars wrong I'm just doing this by ear) he said politely.
"Ah, Sasuke. Sakura will be right down." Sakura's mom said. She smiled at him, recalling her daughter's crush on him. Apparently, she didn't know things were up and running with Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke let it stand.
A few seconds later, Sakura appeared with her own black backpack.
"Hey, Sasuke." She greeted him, smiling happily. "Let's go, eh?" She turned, and gave her mom a hug. "I said bye to Dad already. I'll be back soon!" she said to her mother, who was beginning to sniffle.
"Don't get into trouble, okay, Sakura?" she called after them.
"I won't!" Sakura promised.
"Hmph, you never promised that to me, did ya?" Sasuke joked. However, Sakura's eyes flashed.
"I'm a kunoichi… ninjas do get into trouble sooner or later. Don't be stupid. I said that just to calm her down." She snapped.
"Sorry, sorry." Sasuke cringed. But after a moment, Sakura took his hand, and they walked close together.
"So… can you tell me why you changed…now?" Sasuke asked Sakura, hesitantly.
"Like I said before, to become a better me." Sakura said stonily, and Sasuke fell silent. A minute later, she added, "Fine. That night you told me to shut up, and just work harder, I felt devastated. I had liked you for a long long time, and my first chance to really get to know you, you made it clear that you didn't want to get any closer. It hurt me." Sasuke frowned, feeling embarrassed at himself.
"Sorry."
"No, don't be. It was for the better, actually." Sakura's voice was soft. "I went to bed and I lay there. It felt like my heart was being torn in half. All my dreams and pictures of us together were ruined. Then I fell asleep, and forgot it all. I woke up the next morning feeling different, so different from last night. It was a little alarming… I couldn't figure out the extent of my improvement, and most of all why. Tsunade-sama just told me to take it and go. She said I would figure out later. I guess she was right. The moment I… kissed you… it all came back to me. Before, I was afraid to tell you that even after I changed, I was still in love with you, although that was what I thought was my largest improvement. After all, it is kind of weird. You made me change because you rejected me, so any hopes with you were crushed, and I didn't have the self esteem to try and keep them up. My crush on you disappeared, and with that, the blindfold on me that kept me from doing anything well. I wanted to let you feel powerful, but I ended up proving myself worthless. Anyways, I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid that if I truly admitted to myself that I was in love with you again, it would hold me down again."
All of this came out, slowly, but steadily. Sakura had nothing to fear, she was talking with Sasuke. He was silent for a moment, absorbing it all.
Then…
"Thanks for telling me, Sakura." He said, gently. Sakura really sounded a little confused, and he didn't want to make anything worse. He turned to her, and tucked a piece of her pink hair behind her ear, and looked at her.
"You really are pretty, Sakura. You know that? A flower." He said, smiling at her, and kissing her nose. She giggled.
"Thank you."
After a few more minutes, they arrived at one of the Village Gates, where people were beginning to gather. Naruto and Jiraiya popped up a few minutes after Sakura and Sasuke arrived. There weren't too many people, as many villagers still disliked Naruto, and would as long as they lived.
Naruto came over to talk to Sakura and Sasuke a few minutes before he had to leave.
"Ero-sennin's gonna train me for next two years or so! So when you guys get back from that Village of Light or whatever, there's only gonna be the two of you! I'll see you guys in two years, you know. Long time… I'll challenge you guys when you get back, and I'll win."
"Hmph." Sasuke gave that non-committal sound that all ninjas knew him by. "You wish, Naruto."
Naruto ignored him and continued on, "Though by the looks of it, two of you alone won't really bother you two, would it, Sakura-cha-aaaa…. Yeah." Sakura's eyes were still a bright emerald but they had gone a shade darker.
"If in two years you come back and you still call me Sakura-chan… ooooh you're going to lose that fight." She snarled, waving a fist.
"HOYYY, Naruto!" Jiraiya called to him. "We're going!"
"Hai, haiii.." Naruto muttered. Then he turned to Sasuke and Sakura. "Well then… bye!" He grinned and walked off backwards, still waving to them, as Jiraiya finished giving the latest … inappropriate book to Kakashi and walked off through the gates.
As the white haired hermit and the blonde kid disappeared, Sakura gave a sigh.
"Konoha's going to be quiet for so long without him." She said.
"No kidding." Sasuke muttered. He didn't say it out loud, but… of course, he too would miss the noisy, obnoxious team-mate. "Where do we go until its our time to leave?"
"Hokage's room."
"Hn."
Tsunade had been at the farewell party, but had quickly dropped off just to say goodbye to Naruto, and tap the necklace she had given him and told him to wear it well. To Jiraiya, she simply snapped at him not to transfer any perverted ideas to Naruto, although she said it was going to wipe off onto him anyways.
Sakura knocked on the Hokage's room door, and opened it.
"Tsunade-sama!" she called brightly.
"SSSSSAAAAAAAAAKKKURRAAAAAAA!"
Shit… no sama…no sama… forgot that…oh dear… Sakura's eyes bulged. Sasuke looked somewhat concerned.
"Eh… Sakura…what's wrong?"
Tsunade seemed to grow in size as she approached the pair.
"Sakuuraa… I said NO HONORIFIC!" she roared. Then she noticed…Sasuke, and raised an eyebrow at Sakura, whose eyes flared with FORGET WHAT EVER I TOLD YOU. Tsunade blinked, then continued.
"Good morning, Sasuke!" she said.
"Hokage-sama." He replied, a note of respect in his voice.
Tsunade scratched the back of her head and said with a tight restrained smile, "No no, Tsunade is just fine."
"That's alright, Hokage-sama, I'll stay with this." Sasuke returned, stubbornly. Tsunade blanched, and her eyes narrowed.
"Tsunade, please?" Sakura interrupted. Tsunade gave a 'hmph' to match Sasuke's and led them both to a side room. It was comfortably furnished, with a bed in a corner, and a couch with a table in front of it.
She ushered them in, and then closed the door, saying, "Be ready at 11:30, remember."
After the door closed, Sasuke said, "So, flower, two weeks with us together. Hm?"
Sakura smiled and said, "It's not just the two of us, okay? We have to remember our duty. We have to protect Tsunade. If its needed, we'll have to forget about the two of us for most of this trip, and treat each other as teammates, because its needed. Okay, Sasuke?"
Sasuke gave a mock grumble, and Sakura poked him playfully in reproach. He caught her hand and pulled her into a kiss. She returned it willingly, smiling into his face, and stroking his hair as their lips touched. She felt his strong arms slide under her knees and behind her back as he lifted her onto his lap, and she giggled, feeling like a child. He smiled back at her, and kissed her again, gently, but with more passion, her head turning sideways to meet his.
Sakura was breathless and she was enjoying herself (who wouldn't?) but she got out, "Sasukee… we're in the Hokage's office! We can't do this!"
"Nahh, what can she do?" Sasuke whispered into her ear. Sakura relaxed back, and leaned on his chest as his arms held her to him. She felt him nibble on her ear, affectionately. But still, they exchanged light kisses, but refrained from anything too big.
"Hn… we still have two hours! What can we do for two whole hours? Maybe we should stop off at home first." Sakura muttered after a few minutes of quiet. She felt Sasuke's body move as he worked his shoulders.
"I'm getting nervous. It's that feeling you get before you go out on a bigger mission other than pulling weeds. Something that might involve battles."
"We're not that weak, Sasuke, calm down." Sakura soothed.
"We're not that strong either." He returned. Sakura sighed, Sasuke could be so snappy when he got worked up. She slid off of his lap, and told him to face the other way. He did so, although hesitantly as though he didn't know what was going on. Closing her eyes, Sakura reached inside her mind and touched on the natural strength Tsunade had told her to master when she had been developing the Full Bloom. Then she laid her hands on Sasuke's shoulders, and began to massage him, feeling the tenseness in him. Wow… when he get's worked up…he REALLY gets worked up.
Sasuke felt the new and powerful strength in Sakura's hands and they rubbed and kneaded at his shoulders. It was relaxing. He didn't know how Sakura passed the time, but for him, it passed by all too quickly before Tsunade popped in through the door and said, "11:30! Up we go!"
