Finally the story copncludes, as mentioned before this is more of an epilogue than an actual chapter so it's farily short.

I'd like to thank all of you guys that stuck throughout these few weeks tha tha story was in progress, it was fun getting back into writing ater so long so I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Thanks one last time to all that reviewed and/or added this story to your favorites or followed!

Chapter 7

Lightning and Thunder

He opened his eyes, it was darker outside now but the storm continued to rage on with the wild flashes of lightning and earth rumbling thunder. He hadn't realized that he had been that deep in thought while looking into the crackling fire but judging by how things looked outside the cave it must've been at least a few hours.

Sakura was still asleep, her back now completely resting against him and her head leaning on his shoulder, her chest moving slowly with even breaths. He noticed her light shivers, probably from the cold breeze that entered through the cave now that the storm had picked up even more.

He let out a deep breath before carefully dragging his pack closer and pulling out one of his shirts, he managed to put it on top of her as a makeshift blanket before dragging his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to him. The movement made her stir slightly and she unconsciously turned more towards him in search of warmth, her head now almost buried in the crook of his neck.

He didn't dare move until she was still again for fear of waking her up, her shivering had stopped and she wasn't holding onto herself as tight now that she had the shirt for cover along with his arm around her.

He leaned down to rest his own head on the crown of her head, relishing in the warmth of her body and the feeling of her heart against his. He turned mismatched eyes over towards the entrance of the cave, entranced by the powerful storm.

He remembered back when he had returned to the village after almost two years of traveling, he had gone to see Kakashi first for his report and just happened to stumble across Sakura on his way out of the building.

She had been happy, excited to see him again after so long. Sasuke had been happy to see her too, noticed how much she had changed, how she was taller and her hair was shorter once more.

That night Naruto had pulled the two of them into dinner at Ichiraku, he let the other two speak most throughout the night. Naruto seemed happy now that he was married and Kakashi had started to slowly show him the ropes around taking care of the village in preparation for him to become the next hokage.

Sakura spoke of the progress with her clinic, how she had managed an agreement with Suna to open there as well, resulting in constant exchange of information and experiences.

When both of them asked about his journeys he summarized his answers saying that he had been 'around' and that despite having several encounters with rogue ninja and other dangers it had never been much of an issue.

After dinner each of them went their separate ways and once he got back to his apartment he was glad to see everything the way he had left it, albeit covered by a thin layer of dust.

After being on the move through isolated lands and mostly camping on whatever flat ground he could find, the sight of his bed was rather welcoming.

For the first week he was working on filing reports of important encounters and getting used to the village life again, it wasn't until half way through the second week that he finally was completely done with paperwork.

Starting then and the two weeks that followed he began to get closer to Sakura, despite still not having his feelings entirely sorted out he had managed to clear a good amount of his doubts and fears. He didn't know where things would lead, but he was at least willing to try.

Slowly their relationship progressed to the point where they were slightly more ahead than where they were before he left for his journey. It wasn't until the end of that first month back that he told Sakura he would be leaving again, her disillusion had been evident until he brought up the promise he had made to her before he first left.

She didn't seem to understand at first but soon her expression changed, she understood what he had meant by that. For a second he feared that she would reject his offer when tears brimmed at the corners of her eyes, it lasted only a moment, she threw herself at him a second later and accepted his offer.

Another flash of lightning, the earth shook with thunder.

Obsidian and lavender scanned the curtain of rain that fell across the entrance of the cave, rustling trees adding to the cacophony of sound from the heavy downpour and wind.

Sakura stirred in his arm and he raised his head to look at her form, she was still fully out and her face relaxed which eased his fear of her having a possible nightmare.

He watched the steady rise and fall of her breaths through the shirt he had used to provide her with some warth.

He hadn't realized when he picked it up but now he noticed that the shirt covering her was one of the few that ported the Uchiha crest. The symbol rested against her side and Sasuke couldn't help but think that the red and white didn't look so bad in combination with cherry blossom pink.

Despite that only two months had gone by since she joined him in his travels their relationship had developed more and at a faster rate than before. Out of the confines of the village he felt like he had more freedom, there were less eyes judging his every action and no need to hide anything from anyone considering that they rarely came across people other than rogue ninja or whenever they were near a village or town.

He knew she had noticed his change in mood while wandering through the different biomes that each nation had to offer, he knew it too, his normally furrowed brows were more relaxed and the tension was absent from his features. He had found it easier to be himself with her without the prying eyes and judgement-filled looks that were a near constant presence while in Konoha.

Not long after he resumed his travels with her he realized that her constant presence was already making things feel different, her occasional bump of her shoulder against him or teasing and brushing of their arms never failing to bring a smile to his face.

He knew that she was strong, perhaps even more than him when it came to physical strength, so he was never worried about her when it came to battles. This didn't stop him from feeling protective of her from time to time, particularly on an occasion where a decently skilled group of rogue shinobi attacked them.

One of them had been using a poisoned blade that had managed to graze Sakura's arm at one point and as the battle wore on she began to be affected by it. He vividly remembered knocking down the three shinobi that had been focused on him before throwing himself over Sakura when he saw her collapse.

The remaining eight shinobi surrounded them with kunai and shuriken at the ready, for both protection and intimidation purposes he had summoned the Susano'o ribcage around them, seemingly caught off guard he was able to quickly finish off the remaining threats with simple jutsu or his own shurikens.

He had carried Sakura for a while until they reached a safe place where he took care of her for the following two days. She had good poison resistance and the effects began to subside quickly after he used one of the several general antidotes that they carried around so she wasn't in any grave danger.

This didn't stop him from worrying though, he hadn't slept those two nights to watch over her despite her saying that it wasn't necessary when she woke up a few hours before night fell on the first day.

The fire crackled, embers rising from the orange core as one of the larger pieces of wood cracked under the heat.

He wasn't sure how well into the night they were but by now only a dark void was the only thing visible at the entrance of the cave, orange and yellow from the fire reflecting on the curtain of rain.

It had been quite some time since he had managed to get so lost in thought that time seemed to just fly by, in these couple lapses of memories and thoughts he estimated that he had gone through until past the middle of the night. Maybe it was good that they had been forced to take shelter, it gave him time to clear his head properly and without interruptions or dangers lurking around each corner.

He had said before that he would be willing to try and see if his relationship with Sakura would be able to go anywhere, he had really meant it back then and now that his mind was cleared and he had more of his thoughts and feelings sorted out he was beginning to think that maybe they could make it work...that he could make it work.

He had no doubts that Sakura was putting in all her effort, she always did no matter how small a task she took on, but he was also unsure as to if he was doing enough or if he could do more. He took a deep breath, the smell of rain and damp earth being overpowered by a sweet scent that was very distinctly her.

He had made up his mind, he would be staying by her side no matter the hardships or challenges life threw at them and he would do everything in his power to protect her should any harm come her way.

He shifted slightly to turn towards her a bit more and get closer together, adjusting his hold around her to carefully move her to not be sitting as upright without waking her up. She unconsciously went with the motion and unwrapped her arms from her legs, resting her head on his chest one of her arms moved up and took a hold of the hem of his shirt.

A smile tugged at his lips at the sight, he leaned his head back to have it rest against the cave wall, it wasn't the most comfortable position in the world but he didn't want to disturb Sakura. He didn't mind, with her this comfortable around his presence he knew that she didn't have a single doubt about him.

The sound of thunder reverberated in the distance and flashes of lightning coated the entrance of the cave in white, despite the chaos the storm only helped pull him closer to the edge of his consciousness. Closing his eyes he finally allowed his exhaustion to take over, his mind was clearer now, he had made his choice.