Title: Whose Girlfriend?
Summary: Sakura and Sasuke bring back the ninja kind of souvenirs from the war.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Prompt: Souvenirs
Rating: T
Warning(s): None.
Comments: I couldn't think up anything else. Hope you like it!
Ninjas don't travel for pleasure. They don't leave their villages just to go somewhere else and sightsee, so then they could return, relaxed and all smiles, to show their family and friends photos from the beach and other tourist spots.
No, ninjas travel as a part of their job. They are messengers, scouts, peace-keepers, bodyguards and everything in between. They are tools, they are weapons – they don't leave on the excursions away without a purpose, without orders, without permission. Otherwise, they would be no better than rogues.
But Sasuke was a missing-nin. The same rules didn't apply to him. He wasn't bound by a village anymore, Sakura mused as she was healing Naruto after the final battle and the blond jokingly said that they all deserved a vacation. However, she couldn't imagine Sasuke going somewhere just for pleasure, without any ulterior motive, like thirst for power or vengeance. He sure hadn't gone to the Sound just to take in the sights, she ironized. The meaning of ninja was too ingrained into him and he was nothing but dutiful to his cause, whatever it may be at the moment.
Ninjas travel light and are taught to not get attached to meaningless trinkets and baubles. Material possessions can all be discarded by them if the mission requires that. The only things truly necessary are the clothes on their backs and their weapons. But that doesn't mean they don't bring anything back with them. The memories, experiences – they would always stay in their minds. And on their bodies, these would be represented by the wounds and scars – healed but unforgettable.
Sakura finished healing Naruto who got up with more energy than he should have after the most draining battle of his life.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" he grinned and she smiled back.
"Maybe you could finally introduce us, Naruto," a voice suddenly coming from behind made the blond jump, startled.
"Dad?! You're still here?" Naruto gawked at the Fourth Hokage, who smiled sheepishly.
"My soul still isn't at rest, so I suppose I'll hang around for a while longer," he explained.
"That's great!"
"So, mind introducing me to your girlfriend?"
"Sure!"
Unknown to the three conversing ninjas, Uchiha Sasuke was observing them within an earshot and heard everything, especially the lack of denial on Sakura's part to being called Naruto's girlfriend. Already healed by Karin from his injuries, none of which had been life-threatening, he was still too exhausted to activate the Sharingan, however his black eyes glaring at the three expressed his inner turmoil more than adequately. While he was glad to see his old teammates alive and relatively unharmed, the rising sense of betrayal rose in him indignantly, causing his fists to clench in silent fury when Naruto took Sakura's hand in his for some reason.
Drunken with the victory, overwhelmed by the powerful emotions, Sasuke didn't think much – he just acted.
"Dobe," he said icily, interrupting their cheerful introductions.
"Sasuke-teme, you're here!" Naruto exclaimed happily, but sobered up as he spotted the murderous look on his best friend's face.
"Just what do you think you are doing?" Sasuke growled menacingly.
"Eh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked, then caught just what Sasuke was looking at with so much scorn. A realization made his prankster nature to take over. "Hey, teme, you should say proper hello to Sakura-chan. You know, my girlfriend."
"Naruto, you idiot, what are you saying..." Sakura started irritatedly, but Sasuke didn't hear it through the angry pounding of his pulse.
He reached down and yanked her hand out of Naruto's grasp, rendering her silent for a moment, then turned her by her shoulders to face him.
"Sasuke-kun, what..."
But he cut her off with an aggressive kiss, his hand at the back of her head keeping her in place as he angled his face to hers to possess her more thoroughly. A gasp followed by a choked moan involuntarily left her and was swallowed by his inexperienced but quickly learning lips.
The kiss ended all too soon in his opinion due to his urge to breathe. Before Sakura regained her bearings, he swooped down again with even more determination to brand her with his mouth as his and only his. He nibbled on her lower lip and when she didn't open, bit down, drawing a few droplets of blood which he licked off with a gentle swipe of his tongue. Then he slid it boldly inside, tasting her flavour deeply. She moaned throatily and her own tongue shyly met his.
Once again, only the risk of suffocating (and what a nice kind of death it would be) caused Sasuke to part from the kunoichi. This time, he looked at shell-shocked Naruto with a victorious smirk.
"Sakura would never be your girlfriend, dobe. She's mine," he announced as if he was stating that the sun was yellow and the sky was blue.
But it wasn't Naruto who gave him a reply.
"You... teme... How dare you?!" a shriek of feminine fury was the only warning Sasuke got before Sakura socked him in the jaw. With a chakra-infused fist.
From the final battle of the Fourth Shinobi War both Sakura and Sasuke brought back a souvenir. She – a bite on her lower lip. He – a cracked jaw and large purple bruises on his face and back, the latter from painful landing on hard rocks after the punch he received.
In the end, such souvenirs were worth a little pain, they surmised a few months later, when they recalled their first kiss as they lounged together on a couch. After all, without that first step, they would have probably floundered around each other forever.
The young couple shared a loving kiss, knowing there would be many, many more to come...
