Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows! Here's the latest chapter for now. The next won't be coming out for another couple of weeks because I will be going away to visit family. When I get back, then I will try to update. Happy reading!
When Sakura awoke the next morning, she found herself sprawled out on not one but two futons and underneath part of her body was Sasuke's shirt. 'What happened?' she asked herself with slightly furrowed eyebrows. She tried thinking back to yesterday and immediately heat rushed to her cheeks as she recalled last night. She was a sleep deprived mess and Sasuke had seen her like that. Furthermore, she vaguely remembered him tucking her in to his side, feeding her, and carrying her off to bed. She buried her face in the futon and part of his shirt, trying to hide her embarrassment.
After a good minute, her embarrassment subsided and she shifted her head slightly, taking in the scent left behind on Sasuke's piece of clothing. If she was to describe it she would simply say it smelled like him—cool, wet earth, smoldering embers, the light scent of rain, and his own unique scent.
Speaking of which, 'where is he?' The pinkette lifted her head and looked around the room for the Uchiha. Her eyes landed on his shirtless form several feet away. He was doing hand-stand push-ups with his back towards her. Her emerald green eyes watched as the muscles moved beneath his skin with every move he made. A light pink dusted her cheeks as she settled her head back down and continued watching him.
Sasuke knew she was awake. He had heard her shifting about for the past ten minutes. And now, he could feel her eyes on him. The corner of his lips tugged into a smirk as he continued doing his exercise, knowing what her reaction would be like if he caught her looking. Honestly, there was no way she could avoid being caught unless she looked away. But the pinkette was too entranced by him and his movements to tear her eyes away. And when he righted himself up, he caught her eyes, causing her face to redden to a color that rivaled a tomato. He quietly chuckled as he watched her bury most of her face into his shirt.
Sasuke walked over to her and quietly sat down on part of his futon near where Sakura was sprawled out. "Ohayo," he said. Emerald green eyes peeked up at him. "O-ohayo," Sakura stuttered, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt. He couldn't help but think that she looked cute. Suddenly an image of her wearing his shirt flashed through his mind. He had to bite his tongue to hold back his noise of approval at the thought.
Movement from Sakura brought him back to reality. When she sat up, Sasuke noticed that the intensity of her blush had died down into a light dust of pink across her cheeks. Sakura couldn't look him directly in the eyes. She felt extremely shy. Instead, she focused on his futon which she just realized he didn't have before.
"So," she said, breaking the silence that had enveloped them. "You finally got a futon to sleep on."
"Aa," he replied. "Rio placed it in my room yesterday and I brought it in here last night."
"Oh," she said. Sometimes she was still caught off-guard by the fact that Sasuke now talked more than he did when he was younger and that she and Naruto are the people he talks the most with.
At that moment a small, quiet knock on the door caught their attention. Rio had informed them that their breakfast was ready and outside their room. Sakura was relieved that it wasn't Takiko who brought breakfast for them. She didn't want to have to go through another glaring match between the little sprite and Sasuke.
"Breakfast sounds good," Sakura said to Sasuke with a bright smile.
"Aa," he replied. He stood up and stretched, catching Sakura's eyes. The pinkette blushed but didn't look away this time. Sasuke held out a hand to help her up. She accepted and he pulled her up with ease, almost bringing her softly crashing into his bare chest. Sakura's cheeks flushed a bit. 'God,' Sasuke thought. He loved seeing her reactions to him. It was something he was pretty sure would never change and something he would always love seeing.
Sakura led the way out of the room where they found two trays with okayu, pickled daikon, tamago, and green tea waiting for them. They both sat down, gave thanks, and dug in. The food was delicious and filling and the tea was soothing. As Sakura was finishing the last drop, she briefly thought about last night's meal and an idea passed through her mind. She contemplated hard on if to act on it or not.
But thinking of last night also had her aware that she needed to wash up. She felt gritty and sticky. "I'm going to take a bath," she mentioned to Sasuke, getting up. He nodded right before she entered her room to gather some clothes. Unfortunately, they didn't bring anything with them except for the equipment they had attached to them.
She walked over to the wooden chests in her room and opened it up to rummage through, hoping to find something. Inside she found several yukutas and kimonos. She picked up a red yukata and all the under garments that came with it before going over to her pouch and digging through it to find some gauze and bandages for binding.
When she emerged from the room, the trays were all cleared courtesy of Rio, and Takiko was hovering in a corner nearby. Sakura bit her lip as she was passing behind Sasuke before she stopped right next to him, contemplating again. "Sasuke-kun," she started causing him to look up. "Thanks for last night," she said before quickly placing a light kiss on his cheek and dashing away around the corner to the bathhouse.
Takiko ran after her. Sasuke just sat there staring before a sort of smirk/smile appeared on his face. His fingers came up to lightly touch the area. He leaned back on one of the posts with his arms crossed behind his head, smirk/smile still on his face as he thought about Sakura wearing his Uchiha crested shirt.
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Sakura leaned against the bathhouse trying to catch her breath. She felt happy and shy at the same time. The only problem she would have though, is looking him in the face without blushing or wanting to cover her face. 'Let's face it,' she said to herself, 'against Sasuke Uchiha, I turn into some sort of mess.'
The sound of tiny feet rushing towards her brought her out of thoughts. Takiko appeared before her. "I can help you wash up," she offered.
"Maybe you can help me with my garments after," Sakura said kindly before entering the bathhouse.
Takiko followed her in, prepared the bath, and took her dirty clothes, saying that she would wash them for her and have them back to her by nightfall. Sakura said her thanks while she washed off with some lukewarm water and soap before going into the tub for a warm soak.
"I'll be right back," the sprite said as she exited the bathhouse with Sakura's clothes in hand. The pinkette watched as the door slid shut before sinking down into the tub.
'This feels so good.' She moved a finger across the surface of the darkish color of the water. Her eyes slid close as she took in the scent of the essential oils and the tea—which made the water dark—that were placed in the liquid prior to her soaking.
Several minutes had passed before she felt something weird by her right leg. Sitting up slightly in surprise, she felt it again, but this time it brushed up her leg and thigh. 'What in the world.' Before she could even do anything, the head of a blue viper popped out of the water and stared her down. Sakura froze, her eyes clashing with the yellow beady eyes of the snake. "AAAHHH," she screamed jumping out of the tub quickly.
Within seconds the door to the bathhouse slid open and Sasuke came bursting in with his Sharingan activated. "What is—." The words died on his tongue and his mouth went a bit dry as he saw Sakura standing there wet and completely bare before him.
Her face immediately turned red and her arms flew to cover herself. Even so, Sasuke still gazed at her. "I-in the t-tub," she managed to shyly stutter out, shaking Sasuke out of whatever stupor he was in. He came to stand next to her and looked down in the tub, his red eye and purple eye scanning through the water. Sakura inched behind him. Honestly, when it came to snakes, she felt iffy about them. Aoda was the only one she felt fully comfortable with.
The pinkette tried to peek over Sasuke's shoulder as she heard his hand break the water's surface. Doing so, however, caused her to inch closer to his body. The Uchiha stiffened a bit at this, being able to feel her flat, wet stomach brushing against his bare back with every breath she took. He tried to maintain some composure as her arm grazed against his skin.
He pulled out the snake from the water, holding onto its head and bringing it face to face with him. The blue viper wrapped its body around his arm. Sasuke's eyes clashed with small, beady, yellow eyes. The viper's features reminded him of Aoda. After several minutes of staring each other down, Sasuke placed the snake on the floor and the pair watched as it slithered out the open door.
"Thank you," the pinkette squeaked out still embarrassed.
"Aa," Sasuke said keeping his back towards her.
They both heard small footsteps coming in their direction as a small, "There's a snake!" reached their ears. Sakura recognized it as Takiko. She swore that the little sprite always appears when she and Sasuke are in questionable situations. Just before the sprite reached the entrance of the doorway, Sasuke flashed out of there.
"Are you done with your bath?" she asked the pinkette who nodded in response.
"There actually was a snake in here," Sakura said.
"Sometimes they manage to make their way in here," Takiko responded. "But usually its either the brown or green snakes. I've never seen blue ones before. Although I do hear they are quite rare which is probably why."
Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch slightly in annoyance as Takiko helped her with her bindings. 'Now she waits to tell me that there can be snakes in the bathhouse.'
Uchihas, am I right? *swoons* If I could marry one, I would.
Okayu – rice porridge
Blue Vipers are rare, aggressive pit vipers mostly seen on Komodo Island. Their venom rarely kills but cause a concoction of various effects
Aoda is Sasuke's snake. (Just a refresher note in case anyone forgot the name of his snake).
Also, I had to write Sasuke with both arms because I mean c'mon man.
