The following day Sasuke built the fire back up from the night before, glad that the thermostat had finally helped bring more heat to the cabin. More snow appeared to be falling outside, though it was nothing to worry about; he would need to see if he could get the snowblower working to avoid having to shovel all of it by hand. That also meant finding more gasoline... and also taking the time to retrieve the snowmobile that had been left behind.
He knew it was time to make the call he'd dreaded having to make. He'd done the mental tally and knew which one of his old friends would be closest; Suigetsu was away at a swim competition as of last week, and Jugo had gone with him. They were both far away in Suna for the competition and weren't slated to return until next week.
Pulling out his burner phone, he hesitated. Authorities couldn't trace the phone, but would she answer? Hell... what would she even do if she found out it was him? Karin herself worked in law enforcement... sort of. Last he'd heard, she was in prison policing, which didn't bode well for either of them. He'd heard from Suigetsu that she was considering private security, but whether she'd done it or not was another question.
With Sakura still asleep, he dialled the number, half of him praying she wouldn't pick it up, the other half hoping she would.
"Hello?" Her familiar voice came over the other line. Sasuke was silent, contemplative. He had to be careful what words he chose. Cryptic was key. Something only Karin would figure out, just in case someone else was monitoring her phone.
"Miss Wonderley. The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon, which enables it to strike and destroy its victim." Without another word, he hung up, closing the phone without waiting for her answer. Karin would get it. Obnoxious and obsessed as she was, Karin was one of the most clever people he knew.
"Miss Wonderley?" Sakura's groggy voice interrupted his thoughts as she stood from the futon, rubbing sleep from her eyes. His heart stuttered at the sight. She was so adorable with her hair messed and sticking up, a sleepy look on her face as she staggered over. She was still exhausted, and her brain was struggling to wrap around precisely what he'd said. It sounded like a familiar, famous quote, but she couldn't quite understand it.
"Don't worry about it. It's a coded message." He slipped the phone into his pocket. He'd prepared for this day. If his brother had been smart enough to burn down their home, then he was smart enough to have built a following to protect himself all these years. The real question was, how in the hell had they managed to link things to him? More accurately, how had the DNA report stated the victim was related to Danzo Shimura and subsequently pointed to him as the prime suspect? His outburst in the precinct hadn't helped his case, nor had the fact that it was Sakura's old, uninhabited house... but whoever had set this all up knew more than they were letting on.
Something big was happening. Bigger than they'd anticipated. And here he was, on the run, while the rest of their friends were sitting in the eye of the storm like sitting ducks.
"Oh... coded messages," Sakura remarked. "It's too early to speak in codes. Wait, why are you up early?" She glanced at the time. "Disgustingly early, as you'd call it." Sasuke was the worst morning person she'd ever met. He griped and grumbled any time his alarm went off, and he'd had a lot less sleep than she had the night before. She reached for his hand, intending to drag him back to the bed, but he winced and drew away at her touch. Then she noticed his palm; she could see that the top few layers of skin had been ripped away, and there was dried blood on it.
"Your hand, it's injured," she said quickly, grabbing it but doing her best not to touch the wound.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," he reassured, trying to draw his hand away.
"Shut up and quit being tough," she replied tartly, frowning at him. "It's not fine. That's clearly a frostbite injury since you ripped the skin off." Groggy as she was, she could still think medically. She snapped her fingers and pointed to a chair. "Sit. I'll get some disinfectant and something to wrap it with."
"Sakura, it's—" Sasuke was quickly cut off and silenced by the loud clearing of her throat and snapping of her fingers, pointing to the chair again. There was no arguing with her, it seemed. He backed toward the chair, taking a seat and setting his hand palm-up on the table. Sakura came over with a bowl of warm water and table salt, along with a small first aid kit she dug up from a cupboard.
He was silent as he watched her work, watching her face; her expression was riveting. She was so focused and intent on helping him, working carefully to clean the wound. He winced a few times as she did, leading her to apologize profusely every time she hurt him. Once the wound was clean, she carefully spread some antibiotic paste on it and covered it with gauze, carefully taping around so the gauze would hold. Her touch was gentle and warm, and her focus had him mesmerized.
"There. That should help it heal." Sasuke pulled back his hand and examined it, clearly pleased with her work. He then reached forward with his other hand, laying his palm on Sakura's cheek as he leaned in to give her a soft kiss. He kept it brief, but it was enough for her heart to race a little and her cheeks to turn bright red.
"Wh-what was that for?" She stammered in a soft, shy voice, eyes glancing away briefly, then returning to look back at him.
Sasuke's head tilted to the side with curiosity as his fingers gently tucked her hair behind her ear. "I need a reason to kiss you?" He asked, looking down at her with affection.
"No, I just wasn't expecting it," she admitted, looking shy. "O-or maybe I'm just not used to it." Sasuke chuckled, a mischievous smirk coming across his features as he put one arm underneath the back of her legs, the other wrapping around her back as he hoisted her in a bridal carry.
"Well... you'll just have to get used to it," he teased, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Come. I'll make breakfast," he offered. Sakura's gaze turned worried, knowing he wasn't the best in the kitchen. He frowned at her expression. "I can make eggs and bacon," he defended, grumbling as he set her down to sit on one of the stools by the island.
"Well, can you blame me after the last time?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "You burned... what even was that you were making?" She could hardly remember.
"Lasagna," he admitted. "I tried to broil the cheese, but I didn't exactly know what broiling was, and then it started to smell burnt, and I panicked, and... yeah." He was embarrassed by that fact. Living alone for as long as he did, he'd never bothered to learn. He never had a reason to.
"Well... that's okay. I like cooking." Sakura smiled at him, leaning on the counter and watching as he prepared breakfast. "Oh, um... so what are we going to, um... do, exactly?" She could tell the groceries were sparse, but they'd been lucky that the contact Sasuke had reached out to had also left some basic essential groceries for them to survive on for a few days. They might have to be careful and ration until they could get more, but between that and the stock of non-perishable foods and canned goods they had, they would be fine for a while.
"Well... assuming my contact understands my message, then we'll be able to get more supplies. For now, we're going to lay low here until the searchers settle down, and then we may have to be on the move again." Sakura didn't like that fact, but what else were they going to do? They had to avoid the authorities at any cost. If ROOT caught them, they were screwed. She wished they'd had time to at least get a full breakdown of the situation before having to resort to this, but from the sounds of things, the situation was bigger than just the two of them.
"Do you think what happened is related to... Itachi's threat?" Sakura had a feeling they were related, but she couldn't pinpoint how. "That, and I know Sai was looking into Akatsuki ties, which had something to do with Ino." Oh, that was one thing that was going to be hard. Ino. There was no way Ino would prosecute them, not in a million years. It was one promise they'd made. If Sakura ever got into real legal trouble where Ino would have to be the prosecution, she'd quit and change sides in a heartbeat.
"I don't know. Naruto wasn't able to tell me anything. He just told me to take you and leave. That being said... I don't think it would be wrong to believe that's the case." He hated not knowing just as much as Sakura did. Finishing with the breakfast prep, Sasuke put together a plate for each of them, setting one in front of Sakura and the other in front of the stool beside her. As he moved around the kitchen island, he stopped behind the pinkette, arms leaning down to pull her into a hug from behind.
"Listen, whatever happens... I'll make sure things turn out, okay?" He leaned down and nuzzled his face into her neck, resting his forehead on her shoulder. Sakura felt warmth spread through her body at his touch; months ago, she would never have expected the detective to show this much affection to anyone, let alone her. She'd noticed his affections were different depending on where they were: when they were at work, he showed little to no affection, which was to be expected, but even in public with just the two of them, his affection was minimal at best. In private, he was very different. He seemed inclined to always be touching her, holding her, reminding her of his presence, and showering her with the gentlest affection any time he could.
"I know you will," Sakura replied softly, leaning back into his chest. "I trust you, Sasuke. I trust you know what to do and that we're doing the right thing... even if it makes us fugitives." That part hadn't quite hit home yet for Sakura. She's been trying not to think about the fact that there was a possibility they'd never make it home.