Trapped
Team 7 had been split into two teams to intercept a low level black market weapons sale. It had been a C rank mission that somehow turned into a raid on the sale. Thieves and thugs alike swarmed the factory after working hours to steal the weapons rather than pay the exorbitant black market prices.
Sasuke and Sakura were paired together and Naruto and Kakashi. Sasuke and Sakura were sent to close off the entrances. Naruto and Kakashi were to secure as many Konoha grade weapons as possible to keep them out of the reach of the thieves.
Sasuke and Sakura had closed off four out of the five entrances. On the fifth they managed to block it off but not before they ran into a skirmish with three of the thieves.
"Huh, a couple of Konoha nin are gonna stop us? Ha!" The biggest and burliest of the three laughed aloud while Sakura and Sasuke spoke through their eyes to confirm a plan to get out of this situation. Out of all of Team 7 Sakura and Sasuke were the best at nonverbal communication. Naruto had claimed their weird secret language was 'super annoying'. Especially when they seemed to be poking fun of him.
The three thugs in front of them were going to be a challenge. The two genin had used a large chunk of their chakra on the other four entrances. Sakura nodded her head to point out a small storage closet that could fit the both of them albeit, a tight fit. The closet would come in handy for what they were planning. Sasuke held three fingers up behind his back and they moved in sync.
The three thugs came at them head on. Sasuke did not move from his spot where they were charging at him. He weaved the signs for his fireball jutsu and blew a large fireball towards them. They all dodged it of course but it was a distraction for Sakura to enable the trap. She had cast a simple genjutsu on the wall that Sasuke was standing in front of to make them think they were running towards a long corridor. Before they had run into the three thugs Sasuke had set up metal wires to trap anyone from going farther into the factory. With them almost to Sasuke's feet Sakura dropped flash bombs behind Sasuke.
She had succesfully released the flash bombs at the correct time interval thus sending the men stumbling into the metal wires, trapping them. She had also added a light sedative coated on the wires that seeped through the skin to knock out anyone who comes in contact with the wiring.
While the flash bombs were still going off Sasuke had run to where Sakura was standing close to the storage closet they had agreed to convene at wordlessly. Sakura had opened the door already and ushered Sasuke in by his arm because they could not see each other but only feel and hear in the bright environment.
They heard the men stop their struggling against the wires and their bodies go limp, they successfully trapped them. Now Sasuke and Sakura were in this storage closet. Sakura slumped to the floor taking deep breaths. The door was closed and Sasuke was still standing, he was fumbling around the cramped space trying to find a light source, to no avail. He then reached for the door knob to exit the storage room and jangled the door for a few seconds.
"We're locked in." Sasuke said, from what Sakura could make out he was hunched with his head resting on the door in defeat. The room was stifling due to the severe lack of airflow. There was enough to breathe but not enough to keep the room a comfortable temperature.
"There has to be a key or someway out!" Sakura said exasperated, desperately wanting to get out of the stifling room. She was so exhausted, and hot that she did not care half as much as her normal self would, that she was in a room alone with Sasuke.
She stood abruptly and realized there was no space. They had to be back to back to manage around the small space.
"Ow!" She had hit a sharp corner of some shelving unit with her abdomen. Sasuke let out a sharp breath. It seemed as though he had hit the doorknob with his hip.
"Alright, sit down on three." He ordered and they counted together.
"One…Two…Three." Both their bodies fell to the ground. They sat back to back.
Sakura could feel how sweaty he was through her own back. Great, he can feel how sweaty I am too then. She noticed how labored his breathing was.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"I'm fine. I used a lot of chakra today, that's all." He replied, taking a few deep breaths to regulate himself.
"Do you think Naruto and Kakashi will come looking for us?" Sakura asked while trying to find a way out, and or looking for any tool to use to get out.
"I would hope, but they may be a while. You know how they are."
It was quiet for a moment.
"Oh, good work back there! We did well together." Sakura blurted out to ease the awkward quiet. Idiot he is going to be weirded out. Shut up!
He gave a 'hn' in affirmation.
They sat back to back, watching the shadows from the hallway outside showing where the sun was now lowering in the sky. It had been from what she could guess two hours trapped in the tiny space. Sakura was getting antsy and she knew her body would not be able to sleep in this seated position. Now that she had settled into her spot, even though her bottom had pins and needles from disuse she decided to take advantage of the situation.
"Hey, are you awake?"
"Ah." He replied.
"Want to play a game?"
"Sakura, we can't move. What game could we possibly play?"
"Hear me out. No holds barred, what is said in this room cannot by any means leave this room."
"Room is being generous." He interjected.
"For real though, no mentions of anything outside this hell closet. The game is we tell each other things we would typically never tell anyone. You game?"
"I wouldn't call it a game. But who knows how long those idiots are going to be...Fine."
"Ok…hmmm. I would be really worried if Kakashi started reading non-fiction." She could hear him chuckle lightly.
He was quiet so she decided to continue to see if he would even participate or if he just had agreed, to satiate her. She realized too late that they had both spoken at the same time.
"Being the only girl on the team is sometimes lonely."
"I like tomatoes."
Sakura tried to hold back her laughter from both the whiplash of their statements and from his own statement.
"Wait, elaborate? As food or just in general?" She asked, stifling a giggle.
"Food. Why would anyone like them 'in general'?"
"Alright alright, fair. Another one, I said two."
He was quiet for a while. She waited with bated breath.
"I wish I had been able to be a kid for longer."
Sakura felt a punch to the gut with his admission. She had never realized how quickly Naruto and Sasuke had had to grow up. Especially because they both lived alone and had for years now.
"I am kind of glad my hair is short, it was annoying having it so long."
He stiffens against her back, she thinks remembering the forest of death.
"I really liked archery when I was a kid."
"I want to see the ocean and enjoy it at some point in my life, and not be on a mission." She provides.
"I enjoy eating ramen. I just don't understand how the idiot eats it all the time and is still standing, the sodium content alone just doesn't add up."
They both chuckled out loud.
"When I am home I will sleep with an old blanket from when I was a toddler."
"I still have my old stuffed dinosaur in a drawer somewhere."
They continued on for a while longer learning and sharing more and more about each other. She felt herself yawning, realizing her own exhaustion. Before she could feel herself drowsing, she heard him speak.
"Your hair."
"W-what? My hair?" She asked.
"I like your hair. It's a nice color."
Her cheeks warmed. She slowly started drifting. She also felt him loosen some of the muscles in his back.
—
Morning light began peaking in the small space they occupied. Kakashi and Naruto had wrapped up their part of the mission late into the night. They had waited outside the factory thinking they were reconvening with the other half of their team to head back to Konoha. After a couple of hours Kakashi realized something was wrong. It was not like his team to not return.
Kakashi and Naruto decided to look for them. They looked outside, and inside and right when Kakashi was about to summon Pakkun he sensed two familiar chakra signatures. Kakashi had stopped Naruto in front of a small door.
Kakashi turned the knob and upon opening it saw two of his genin back to back asleep. Sakura's head was slumped forward into her chest while Sasuke's head was resting comfortably on Sakura's shoulder.
Naruto's immediate laughter at the scene woke the two sleeping genin. They stood and looked at each other as they began to exit the closet. Sakura's cheeks warmed at the memory of their 'game' while Sasuke's neck warmed at the thought of what all he said.
"Looks like the bastard needed his beauty rest! Haha!" Thwump. "Ow! Sakura-chan!" Sakura smacked him upside the head.
"Took you two long enough! We had expended our chakra, and the door apparently locks from the outside." Sakura exclaimed.
"Well done you three. Let's head back."
—-
As weeks passed and missions came and went. Sakura would add tomatoes to some of their meals when she was in charge of a meal on a mission. He would give her a look each time. They had never spoken of anything said in the room. She thought he had forgotten everything, especially after he defected from Konoha.
When he had finally returned both body and soul, and had completed his redemption journey he had decided to take Sakura along with him on his journeys around the world. One day on their journey he told her she had to close her eyes while they traveled to a place. Once they had arrived at the destination of the day, he told her to open her eyes.
When she opened them she realized she was looking out onto an open ocean. The sun reflected off the calm blue water. Small waves crashed against the coast from where they stood.
She looked at Sasuke then back at the body of water.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"I recall a moment where you mentioned wanting to see the ocean but not on a mission."
Her heart stuttered in her chest.
"You remembered?" Tears began welling in her eyes. He turned to her and took a strand of her hair in between two of his fingers letting it slip through his hand.
"I remember everything. What I said still remains true."
Her eyes widened at the implication.