Posted: 10/19/2019

After parting ways with Sasuke, Sakura continued on her way around the nurse's station towards the staff exit, passing various assistants and other providers as she went.

"Thank you, have a wonderful holiday, as well!" Sakura said politely as yet another nurse bid her farewell for the weekend.

She had just about reached the automatic double doors when one of the older midwives rushed in, frantically shaking a thin layer of snow from the lining of her hood. It was only when the woman looked up that she noticed the young cardiothoracic surgeon standing nearby, staring wide-eyed out at the snow laying down steadily on the sidewalk outside.

"Good evening, Haruno-sama!" she chimed, sliding her heavy coat off of her shoulders and hanging it in her assigned locker.

Startled out of her reverie, Sakura looked back at the woman and replied with a smile, "Oh! Good evening, Sana-san."

Sana smiled warmly at the young doctor, having already noticed the woman's cautious glance outside.

"Haruno-sama," she asked, smiling knowingly at the pinkette. "Didn't you know it was going to snow?" Sana chuckled when the woman in question answered with a sheepish smile. Shaking her head, the nurse opened her locker and pulled an unopened package of hand-warmers from her coat pocket. She then held them out to the pink-haired medical provider with an encouraging smile.

"Oh, Sana-san, you don't need to do that!" Sakura exclaimed, waving her hands in an attempt to dissuade the older woman. "Won't you need those in the morning?"

Sana Keiri smiled. She had always admired the young doctor for her kindness and willingness to help, but there were moments when she wished the woman learned to lean on others a little more. Shaking her head, the brunnette stepped forward and carefully placed the package in Sakura's hand and closed her fingers around it tightly. When Sakura opened her mouth to argue, Sana gave her a stern look.

"Nonsense, my husband has the day off tomorrow so he can come and pick me up," she said with a smile before wagging a finger at the petite woman. "You, however, walk here every day. So, just take these and don't complain."

Laughing softly at the kind woman's pushiness, Sakura bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, Sana-san."

Sana smiled fondly. Then, as if remembering something important, she asked, "Oh, that's right! Haurno-sama, don't you have the next few days off?" When Sakura nodded, the midwife grinned slyly, "So then, do you and the mister have any plans?"

Blushing slightly, Sakura waved her hands placatingly. "Sana-san, please!" she cried softly, glancing left and right to make sure no one else was around to hear. "I'm trying to keep the engagement on the down-low. At least until we've had time to tell his grandmother."

Sana rolled her eyes at the fidgety practitioner. "I still don't understand why you won't just call Chiyo-sama to tell her."

Sakura shrugged, focusing her attention on opening the package of hand-warmers Sana had given her. "Sasori wants to tell her in-person," she said, rubbing the pair of square hand-warmers between her hands, "We even had plans to visit her in Suna this weekend. Now, however..."

Sana nodded in understanding before glancing at the clock. "Well, I have a date with Mr. Takaguchi in room 416, but you had better hurry-on home to your handsome man before the snow starts to pile up."

Laughing lightly at the playful wink Sana sent her, Sakura gave the nurse a quick wave goodbye before turning towards the door. Hand-warmers tucked under the palms of her gloves, Sakura tightened the straps on her bag and zipped up her coat before stepping out under the awning the shielded the small staff entrance from the weather. With the chaos of her unconventional workday over, Sakura could already feel herself longing desperately to be at home, snuggled up on the couch with a cup of spiced apple tea and her favorite man. Taking one last glance up at the dark skies, the young woman took a deep breath before entering the steady snow.

Hearing the call end and the bluetooth signal disconnect, Sasori spared a doubtful glance at the gray Konoha skies. He wasn't usually the type to worry about his companion, Sakura was an adult after all, and he knew better than most that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. However, she had been called into the hospital for an emergency early that morning, and he couldn't help wondering if he should have pushed her a little more into accepting a ride home. It was true that the weather forecast hadn't predicted the chance of snow that morning, but December in Konohagakure was nothing if not fickle and the weather was known to turn on a dime.

Turning on the radio as he maneuvered his car down their street, Sasori listened carefully to the new weather update.

"Well, folks, it looks like we have a fast-approaching storm system coming in from the northeast. Wind speeds have already started picking up to 20kmph and heavily snow should be soon to follow. The Hokage has already issued a statement urging residents to seek shelter before the storm hits and to avoid driving if they can until the roads are cleared tomorrow-"

Sighing softly under his breath, Sasori turned into the inlet for their apartment complex's parking garage. Then, glancing at the dashboard clock as he waited for the metal garage door to finish its ascent, Sasori frowned. Sakura wasn't supposed to be getting off for another two hours and the storm would be in full-swing by then.

Grumbling under his breath about the stubborn woman, Sasori pulled into the parking garage and climbed to his parking spot on the fourth floor. Then, after backing the small sedan smoothly into its assigned spot, Sasori shut off his car and grabbed his work bag off the floor of the backseat. Locking the car behind him as he walked towards the stairwell, Sasori pulled out his phone to check if Sakura had texted him. Seeing nothing new, Sasori tucked the phone back into his coat pocket and swiftly made his way down towards the lobby. It was already starting to snow when he stepped into the lobby and, like any decent fiancé when a major storm was on its way, Sasori paused to shake the light dusting of snow off his hair and pull his phone out.

"Storm's coming-on quick. Let me know." He wasn't really expecting a response, she was most likely either with a patient or ignoring her phone in order to focus on her work. He was surprised when his phone chimed soon after with her response.

"Thanks, but I'm already on my way. Sana-san lent me some hand-warmers." Well, at least she wouldn't come back shivering and hypothermic.

"I refuse to marry a snow-woman."

Sasori smirked the moment a kissy-face emoji popped up beside a snowflake. She could be so childish sometimes... but he loved her.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Sasori strode towards the stairwell and began the climb to the fifth floor. When he reached the landing, he slipped into the hallway and strode down the hall towards their apartment. Shifting the weight of his bag on his shoulder as he stopped in front of their shared apartment, Sasori pulled his keys out of his pocket before unlocking the door and letting himself into the dark living space.

After spending a moment feeling for the light switch beside the door, Sasori flicked on the lights and set about removing his shoes. He then slid his bag off his shoulder before stuffing his feet into his house slippers and venturing deeper into the apartment. A quick glance at his watch told him that he'd have at least twenty minutes until Sakura got back to the apartment, which was just enough time for him to get dinner started before she arrived.

A man on a mission, Sasori quickly deposited his work bag by their desk in the master bedroom before heading to the kitchen, stopping briefly to plug in the lights on the Christmas tree in the living room as he went. Flicking on the lights as he entered the kitchen, Sasori moved over to the sink to wash his hands before turning his attention to the refrigerator, his mind drifting to the busy pinkette on her way.

"'Tempura?'"

Rolling his eyes at his financée's love for fried foods, particularly shrimp, Sasori grabbed the package of thawed shrimp Sakura had been planning on making during her long vacation, along with the various other ingredients he would need for his lover's favorite meal. Setting his small bundle on the counter, Sasori dug a knife out of the silverware drawer and sliced open the package of shrimp. He then grabbed a bowl from one of the overhead cupboards and wrinkled his nose as he poured the prawn into the bowl, realizing only then that they would need to be de-shelled before he could cook them.

"The things I do for that woman," he said with a small sigh as he pulled one of the kitchen chairs over with his foot and settled himself down with the bowl of unpeeled shrimp beside the trashcan.

Sasori was just about to drop the small, breaded sea-morsels into the pot of boiling oil when he heard his phone chime from its place on the counter. For a moment, he considered ignoring it in favor of focusing on making dinner, but it had already been twenty minutes since he'd heard from Sakura, so perhaps it was her? Frowning, the red-head turned the heat on the stove down and wiped the same hand on towel he had slung over his shoulder earlier before picking the device up and unlocking it.

To his surprise and mild disappointment, it wasn't a text message from Sakura, but a calendar notification. Tomorrow was their five-year anniversary as a couple, the first that they would celebrate together since becoming engaged.

Setting the phone back down, Sasori returned his attention to frying the battered fishbait and getting dinner finished before Sakura walked in the door. It didn't take much focus, though, he'd made shrimp tempura on multiple occasions because it was Sakura's favorite food, just as she had grown accustomed to making chicken stew. And so, he found his mind drifting to when he'd first met the exuberant, pink-haired cardiothoracic surgeon.

It had been at a charity event for individuals, particularly children, who were in-need of prosthetics. His engineering firm had specialized in prosthetic limb technology research, development and manufacturing, he had only been there as a mechanic, though. His job had been to stay behind the scenes and make sure everything went smoothly and that their company's prototypes and demonstration models didn't malfunction. Realistically, he never should have had the chance to meet her.

But when one of the kids, whom he had recently helped fit for the prototype of a mechanical knee, fell and bent part of an exterior supporting rod, it was Sakura whom he had found sitting beside the inconsolable little boy and his frantic mother. And he'd thought she was beautiful from the moment he'd set eyes on her in her sleek teal blouse and fitted black dress pants, her hair pinned up in a smart bun. She hadn't even noticed him until he'd knelt down in front of them with his toolkit. She had been so focused on keeping the boy and his mother calm that she had hardly paid any attention to him at all while he examined the boy's leg.

After all had been said and done, and the boy's mother had apologized profusely for the five or ten minutes it had taken him to straighten out some of the bent metal and reassure the boy that it was all right, he had been more than prepared to return to his post when she stopped him with a gentle hand on his elbow. She had given him a once-over look, seemingly perplexed by his crisp, red dress shirt and slacks and the contrasting grease and oil that covered his gloves and a small part of his forearms. She hadn't been turned-off by his appearance though, just curious.

What he had liked the most, though, was that it had shown in her eyes.

He had, in some way or another, caught her interest and he would never forget how her green eyes had sparkled with curiosity and her endless amount of questions about his work. It had led them to having dinner together that very night, to him asking to see her again and her agreeing, time and time again, until they moved-in together and he put a ring on her finger. Now, three years, they were preparing for the rest of their lives together.

Breathing into the thick wool of her scarf, Sakura did her best to cover as much of her exposed face as she ducked out in to the growing storm outside. In reality, the walk from the hospital to apartment she and her fiancé shared wasn't far, located only a few blocks away from both of their workplaces in Center City Konoha, which is exactly why they had chosen it. Although, on days like today, when the wind blew so hard that the tears in her eyes made it nearly impossible to see and the snow was quickly piling up on the sidewalks, making the normally sensible fifteen-to-twenty minute walk was akin to tempting fate. Which Sakura, determined to return home and curl up in a thick sweater and the arms of her beloved, was fully prepared to do. However, after traversing nearly a block of snow-covered sidewalks and slick concrete, she paused when a strange noise reached her ears.

Standing silently for a few moments, Sakura listened hard for the strange sound. Her general rule-of-thumb was, if she heard a strange noise more than once, she would investigate. And when she did hear it again, it was so soft that she had almost missed it amidst the sounds of the wind blowing snow all around her, but it was there. A soft, high-pitched cry.

Suddenly alert, Sakura spun on her heel and back-tracked, green eyes searching desperately for the source of the noise. Feet moving as quietly as possible back towards the hospital, Sakura shut her eyes and urged herself to focus solely on the noises around her. It was difficult to hear anything over the rushing wind, but Sakura had already made her decision. Ignoring the baffled stares of a few passing strangers, Sakura came to halt in the middle of the walkway and closed her eyes.

The snow was cold and wet and heavy, and she was absolutely freezing; but, after standing in complete silence for several more seconds, Sakura just about cried in relief when she heard what she was looking for.

Head snapping to the side Sakura moved in the direction of the tiny cry, her heartbeat racing as the noise grew just a little louder. Fresh snow crunching under the thick soles of her boots, Sakura walked back towards the staff entrance to the hospital, stopping short to skirt around the corner of the parking garage kiosk. Looking around, she was just about to step further into the parking structure when the trashbin beside her squeaked. More specifically, the tiny, half-frozen and shivering creature hiding behind the trashbin squeaked.

Eyes wide, Sakura immediately crouched down to inspect the little critter. Patches of dark fur clung to its body like a second skin while others stuck out in odd directions, the little layer of snow encasing most of its visible body and its slow movements indicating that it wouldn't be long before it froze to death in the growing blizzard. It broke Sakura's heart to see the helpless little kitten take a shy step away from her, its beautiful ember eyes dilated fearfully at the sight of a human as it attempted to hide further behind the trashcan. However, when she saw the glisten of dark red liquid stretch along one of the tiny animal's back legs, Sakura knew she couldn't leave it.

And so, ignoring better judgement, the pink-haired woman quickly, but carefully, scooped the weak kitten up and cradled its cold body against hers inside her coat. Then, slipping both of her hand-warmers into the glove that held the kitten, Sakura took one last glance at the tiny animal before taking off in a sprint towards her apartment.

Sasori chuckled to himself as he extracted the last of the golden-brown morsels from the cooking pot and set them in a festive serving dish, remembering vividly how Sakura had insisted that they buy it after he attempted to serve dinner using various containers because none where big enough to hold the entire meal.

After setting the lid over the container of shrimp and transporting it, along with the rice and vegetable components of their dinner, to the low table in the living room, Sasori quickly moved back into the kitchen to wash his hands. Then, after drying his hands on a clean dish towel, Sasori grabbed his phone off the counter and checked it once again for any new messages from Sakura. Seeing that the lock screen was still empty, and that it had been nearly forty-five minutes since she'd last texted him, Sasori frowned and headed towards the bedroom to change. She was running late and he was starting to get worried. In good weather, it took ten, maybe fifteen minutes to walk from their apartment to the hospital. In bad weather, like today, it took maybe thirty. Never had it ever taken Sakura forty-five minutes to make it home.

Checking his phone one last time, Sasori stuffed his feet into his warm winter boots and quickly tightened the laces, his excitement for their long holiday weekend together diminishing more and more by the second. Ten minutes ago, he had been convinced that Sakura would walk in the door before he had finished making their dinner. Now, however, as he yanked his coat off the rack by the door and shoved his arms through the sleeves, he was simply trying to ignore the voice in his head that screaming that something was horribly wrong.

Gritting his teeth to fend off his growing anxiety, Sasori was just about to stuff his hands into his gloves when he heard a keys jingling. He paused in anticipation and a moment later, the sound of Sakura hastily cramming her keys into the doorknob shook him from his stupor. Kicking off his shoes and throwing his coat back onto a hook, Sasori grabbed the chrome-colored doorknob and pulled it open to reveal a rather frazzled and flushed Sakura. And, if the sight of his out-of-breath fiancée wasn't enough, clutched in her arms and held tightly to her chest was a small, shivering ball of dark gray fur.

"Sakura, what in the-" he began, eyes wide as his future wife stumbled inside and flopped herself down on the floor. He then watched as she proceeded to kick off her shoes and try to wiggle out of her coat, all while keeping the small creature huddled against her breast.

Still incredibly confused by her whirlwind of an entrance, Sasori carefully removed Sakura's keys from the lock before shutting the front door and marveling at the way his wife-to-be skillfully transferred the kitten from one arm to the other in order to worm her way out of her winter coat. It was only once she had finally freed herself that she noticed her beloved staring at her in a mixture of concern, confusion and amusement. After all, any anger or frustrations he felt about their peaceful and romantic evening being ruined by her extremely impulsive decision to rescue a kitten were completely and utterly annihilated when her panicked gaze and tense shoulders immediately relaxed upon seeing him.

Then, she launched into a long, rambling apology.

"I'm so sorry, Sasori! I know we don't have the time right now to take care it, but it was out in the cold and it's hurt and I couldn't just leave it!" she breathed, looking up at him with large, beseeching green eyes as he knelt down beside her and stared down at the tiny creature. Sakura swallowed thickly when she heard him give a sigh of defeat before he gently cupped her cheek and turned her head to face him.

"Sakura," he said softly, his gray eyes swimming with reluctant acceptance as he ran the pad of his thumb over her cheek, "I understand."

Despite her relief over his calm reaction, Sakura felt her chest tighten at the sight of Sasori's surrender to her recklessness. He gave her no time to argue, though, because a moment later, Sasori was pulling her to her feet and guiding her purposefully towards their bedroom. Once inside, Sasori moved away from her and over to their bathroom. He re-emerged with a pile of fresh towels not a moment later. He then sat himself on the carpet by the foot of their bed and arranged the plush blue towels in the form of a makeshift bed before motioning her to come over. Sitting down beside him, Sakura carefully lowered the tiny animal into the small sea of towels and sat back as Sasori set about gently trying to dry the kitten and warm it up.

A few moments of silence passed before he spoke, his attention still focused solely on the helpless little animal, "Call your Inuzuka friend. He's a vet, right?"

Nodding obediently, Sakura took one more glance at the pair sitting on the bedroom floor before getting up and leaving the room to fish her phone out of her coat and call Kiba.

~Soooo, installment number two... thoughts?

It's a little shorter than the first, but it was important to end it here! Until next time!

~Smash