A/N: also yes all they did was kiss in the previous chapter hehe im sorry but you might say the story is picking up even more in this chapter but at the same time all I care about is ss. anyway, enjoy and icb we're up to 10 chapters! thx for stickin around

The next morning, they woke slowly, lazily, as watery sunlight streamed weakly into their bedroom.

"Hi," Sakura croaked when she became certain Sasuke was also awake. He blinked once then smirked lazily at the way her lips were still swollen from the night before. By way of greeting, he offered to get up and make tea.

Before he could get out the door she called after him, "I want jasmine, by the way."

He half turned so she could see his handsome profile outlined in the gentle light, "I know." I pay attention sometimes. I know you sometimes.

She buried her face into her pillow. She had never felt so grown up but also so girlish.

She managed to shuffle into the kitchen when the warmth promised by tea was a greater draw than the slowly dwindling warmth in their bed. She never realized just how much of a furnace her husband was. She felt more aware of him now than ever.

She busied herself with preparing breakfast, but was unnerved by the way Sasuke stared at her so openly. "What?" she prodded eventually.

He shrugged and took a noisy sip of tea to distract her, "I'm just looking."

It was quiet, it was still just the two of them, but it was far more peaceful than the previous weeks. They really didn't need to run around all the time. Sakura started humming while she did the dishes.

Sasuke started to clean up around the rest of the house, surprised by the way the holes left by two people could be filled with so much dust. When the house was noticeably cleaner and only the dregs remained in the teapot, he suggested they take a walk to stretch their legs now that the storm had passed.

It still smelled damp outside. Sakura had always liked the way rain lingered. Her father's crops always looked so vibrant when they'd been given a good shower.

They naturally started walking towards the center of town, towards the marketplace, towards the hustle and bustle of it all. "Do you need anything?" he asked. She wasn't a particularly needy woman, but maybe that had been his own oversight. He would ask her from now on.

Startled, she waved her hands in front of her face, "Huh? No, no, nothing! I'm fine, really."

He fought to keep a straight face. She was...cute. He feigned nonchalance, "Just asking."

They continued on their walk and right when Sakura felt like she was going to burst if no one started speaking, a stray cat crossed their path, meowing loudly in hunger. She cooed at the black cat and leaned down to pet it, just for it to ignore her completely and make a beeline to Sasuke. It purred while it twisted itself between Sasuke's ankles.

She straightened up and crossed her arms, "I think it likes you more."

He bent over at the waist and spoke softly, "Sorry, I've got nothing for you." The cat stared up at him with wide green eyes and he couldn't help but give it a scratch between the ears. "Try now," he suggested to Sakura. "If it bites you, then it really doesn't like you."

She rolled her eyes and huffed, but still crouched and pet the cat's smooth fur. "Aw, see, you're cute. I wish we had something to feed you. Maybe follow us home and you'll get lucky."

The moment was broken when a series of sounds was heard from further down the path: a crash, a splash, and a shout. The cat ran over to the scene and started sniffing at the peppers that had spilled out of a bucket. It quickly turned its nose up at the peppers and high tailed out of there.

It took a moment, but Sakura finally registered what was before her eyes: a pregnant woman had been carrying a half-filled (but still far too heavy) bucket of fresh peppers and it seemed...that her water had broken! She rushed over to the woman, "Are you okay? How many months along are you? And why are you even out in this condition?"

In tears, the woman seemed more shocked than anything. "I...I don't know. This is just what I do everyday, I didn't think the baby would come this soon." As her reality set in, she started breathing harder and gripped Sakura's arm tightly. "I'm supposed to sell these, but —"

Sakura nodded, "We'll take care of you. My husband can gather the peppers and bring them to your home. You and I will walk there, slowly." Although she was nothing more than a stranger in the same village, her resolve and confidence comforted the woman. She pointed the direction to her home and after gathering the vegetables back in the bucket, Sasuke quickly surpassed them to warn whoever was there.

Sakura asked her a mix of menial and critical questions: What's your name? Will your husband be at home? Do you like green or red peppers more? How about that rainstorm last night? Have you had any troubles with this pregnancy? Is it your first?

The woman almost cried with relief upon hearing that Sakura had been trained in midwifery by none other than Senju Tsunade.

The woman's husband had been making repairs to the roof when Sasuke started asking around a cluster of houses if anyone had a pregnant wife. The color drained from the man's face when Sasuke filled him in on what just happened and Sasuke handed him the pail of peppers. "You're going to need water. And a few washcloths. My wife is very good, so don't worry about your wife." Helping the man prepare was the only comfort he could offer.

When Sakura finally arrived with a now heaving woman, she met Sasuke's eye apologetically. "See you at home?"

"Ah. I'll make dinner."

After coming home, dead on her feet, Sakura smiled when she smelled dinner. "I'm home. Another healthy baby, luckily enough. Kurenai was a very nice lady. Thanked me way too many times." She even had her husband send a message to Tsunade to tell her to give Sakura the week off.

"Come sit." She nodded, feeling grateful to have someone to return to.

They spoke quietly over dinner, but lapsed into a comfortable silence for the rest of the night. Maybe now they had finally reached that point.

Sakura remarked to her husband right before turning in, "We should do the same thing tomorrow." She could get used to taking a walk and taking her meals with Sasuke everyday. Without his parents. She could see herself looking forward to each day, not just for what new thing she would learn, but for what she could rely on.

"We should."

"A new routine."

"Ah."

"Maybe minus the baby."

"Hn."

Maybe tomorrow someone would decide to respect his time with his wife.

Their life, the most stable it had been in a long while, was disrupted by a single boom at the public market. That damned market.

The couple was trying to incorporate a morning walk into their shared routine, but fate chose not to be on their side that day.

It felt like that day, that day where the fight broke out and everyone seemed to spring into action at the same time. Hearing another crash and a chorus of screams just confirmed Sasuke's suspicion that it was all orchestrated.

At first Sakura thought maybe it was just another bout of unrest and that everything would be jerked back into order momentarily. But then when some of the clouds of dust kicked up by running villagers parted, she saw the soldiers and her stomach dropped. Armed and in uniform, she realized this was not some petty attack, this was a war.

"Why?" she whispered. Should she have seen this coming? Was she too absorbed in her own training to not notice what was going on in her own village?

Sasuke stopped a man sprinting away from the soldiers, "What's going on?"

Eyes wide, the man stopped to catch his breath and told them, "It's the other villages. They must want revenge because they're taking or destroying everything. We all have to get out of here!" And then he was off.

Speechless, Sakura felt rooted to the ground. "I still don't get it," she said helplessly. What did anyone want with Konoha? Couldn't the problem, whatever it was, be resolved in any other way?

Sasuke grabbed her arm lightly, "Come. There's no use in standing here. Whatever it is, we need to leave." This was clearly much bigger than the two of them, staying would mean certain death.

They watched as hordes of people ran around in an attempt to find an unblocked exit. Most of the people trying to escape in the initial wave simply ran for their lives. The second wave stayed behind and tried to carry as much as possible out of their homes, but ended up regretting it when they were slowed down and more easily targeted. Sakura clapped her hands over her mouth when she spotted a man topple to the ground with a knife embedded in his back.

That was enough to spur them both into action as they headed towards the house. Maybe they could grab a few things in time.

But their progress was hampered when a family with several children ran by. One of the little girls dropped her little dolly, but she only glanced back at it once. She seemed to know there was no time to waste.

It hit her like a ton of bricks. She stopped Sasuke, "We have to go back!"

He shook his head, not understanding. "What? Why?"

Her eyes welled with tears, "My parents. My siblings. I have to check. I have to see where they are, if they got out too." She felt like a horrible daughter: she had yet to visit once, and now here she was ready to leave them behind. She turned around, ready to sprint towards her childhood home for the first time in months.

Sasuke grabbed her wrist firmly, "I'm not letting you."

"Sasuke! I need to make sure!" She pulled at him, but he didn't budge. Seeing that he wasn't going to cooperate, she looked frantically between the direction they were originally going and where she felt she should be going.

"I…"

He couldn't wait any longer, panic and dread were flooding him with each passing second. Even if he couldn't make it, he was sure as hell getting Sakura out of their crumbling village. He urged her, "Sakura, hurry, we have to go!"

"But my family!" Sakura pleaded. The sight of smoking buildings in the distance should have pushed her away, but it only pulled her harder. She needed to make sure her family was okay. What if someone had set the fields ablaze already?

"They've probably already evacuated, let's go!"

"And if they haven't?" she asked desperately.

"I can't lose you!" Sasuke shouted.

Her desire to help others and her devotion to Sasuke were conflicting with each other — but the desperation and distress written plainly on Sasuke's normally calm face were enough to convince her to take his hand and run. Bile rose up in the back of her throat, but she swallowed it down and squeezed Sasuke's hand tighter. They would return eventually. It was a promise.

They sprinted as fast as they could. Getting out of the village proved more difficult than expected because of the utter chaos and destruction. It was shocking how much damage could be done in so little time. They finally decided to forgo the main paths and cut through the forests to avoid running into the enemy. Stopping by the house was no longer an option. The couple just needed to get far, far away from Konoha.

Right before they reached a clearing that would hopefully lead them towards a safe village, a man stumbled out of the trees to their right, covered in soot and eyes wide with desperation.

He grabbed Sakura by the wrist and rasped, "Give me whatever you have before I kill you." Only after he spoke did she see his other hand brandishing a large kitchen knife.

Sakura screamed and tried to break away, but before she knew it, the man's fingers were pried from her and he was the one screaming. Sasuke came up behind Sakura and twisted the man's arm, resulting in a horrifying crack. He shoved the offender away, his head knocking against the thick trunk of a tree. He crumpled to the ground with his arm at an unnatural angle. She couldn't tell if he was dead or not.

"Sasuke!"

He stepped back, eyes wide as he realized what he had done.

"I'm sorry, I just..it was instinct. I'm sorry. Are you hurt?" he panted.

She rubbed her wrist where the man grabbed her: sore, but nothing major. "I'm fine. Let's just go." And they took off once again.

In the end, Tsunade saved them again. She'd made plenty of enemies while traveling, but had twice as many allies. She was herding other innocent civilians into the walls of a neutral zone when she saw the couple rushing towards her. She pursed her lips at the Uchiha, but was glad to see her little student. With a sigh, she motioned for them to join her.

Sakura's relief was palpable. He didn't like owing anyone anything, but Sasuke knew he was forever indebted to Tsunade. Hopefully the rage towards Konoha didn't extend this far. Hopefully they were safe.

It wasn't long before they could return, but waiting felt like an eternity. They were stuck in grimy clothes and had limited food. The group anxiety made Sasuke want to crawl out of his skin. The moment a messenger reported that the enemy had retreated, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The worst of it was over.

Sasuke wanted to check on the house first, but he let Sakura slip away so she could visit her childhood home. It wasn't his place to go with her or keep her there. Miraculously, the Uchiha district was practically untouched. Even some of the decorative pottery stayed standing.

He only realized he had dozed off at the kitchen table when the sound of the front door opening caused him to jolt to his feet. Sakura called out and he relaxed immediately and went to greet her.

"Your parents?"

She sighed and shook her head, looking defeated. Her eyes had taken on a distant look. "Fields are completely burnt. They're fine otherwise, I guess." Their entire livelihood was gone, but they were alive. Sakura could breathe again, even if it wasn't easy. How ironic that the source of the Uchiha's livelihood was the ultimate destroyer of the carefully cultivated Haruno crops.

Rebuilding started immediately. There were too many needy families to wait. Sasuke gladly took on labor, it helped get his mind of the creeping guilt that his family was totally fine while others had to suffer. Naturally, Sakura attended to the wounded. Civilians and soldiers alike needed all the help she could give.

Sasuke and Sakura became clingy, even more perceptive of the other than before. Wherever one went, the other followed. They had come too close to losing each other. The traumatic events of the battle had solidified each other's position as a precious person in their eyes.

As much as they had changed as a couple, the village had changed too. "Going back to normal is not an option," Sakura observed as they walked past another ruined building after a long day.

"No," Sasuke agreed, "and it shouldn't be. Normal was what got us into this situation in the first place." They had been too ignorant to see it, but something was deeply wrong with Konoha. The attack had a motive — it was retaliation.

When Fugaku, Mikoto, Itachi, Izumi, and Ishida returned two days later, rumors started to spread. How convenient that they were out of the village and the Uchiha's remained relatively unscathed, houses still intact.

A/N: I really wanted a forest of death-esque moment in here because I think many ss shippers started shipping them then/knew they were endgame during the famous hug/skr who hurt you so I was like T_T when he saves her lolll I hope it came across ok I feel like my brain did not want to come up with as many twists and stuff as in actual canon but at the same time I've always said i want to keep this story somewhat simple so yeah mostly what you see is what you get I guess? So if it wasn't clear the war ish thing was inspired by the general events of the chunin exams, from the FOTD to sound/sand attacking the leaf yeah. They were the ones who were purposely causing unrest earlier in the story lol I hope everything feels Developed enough adjajfsa anyway more chapters to come so I'll uh keep workin on it