A/N: Sup. Here's the update officially three months after the last one (pls forgive me).
Thank you to all the people who reviewed the last chapter and brought a smile to my face. My professors honestly couldn't be worse this semester so I guess that's placing a bit of pressure on me as well, and when you're knee-deep into organic chemistry and physics, let's just say there's no creative bone left in my body to open up this page and start writing a new chapter. Not to say I'll leave this story, but if you guys see me taking a little while to update, please be patient, I read all your "please update" reviews loud and clear and I'll never leave this unfinished. :)
Also, so my friend apparently made a tumblr account just as a fan page to my account where she'll be posting stuff like updates and whatnot. If you wanna follow her she's amrakloveofficialfanpage. I have no further comments about her ridiculousness lmao.
And talking about her, this chapter goes out to her as well. It's Chiqui's bday! Here is the heartfelt, cheesy author's note she deserves (and made me include here), which you guys can totally ignore and skip to the break line:
You have always made me a better person and I thank you for that. Thank you for encouraging me to finish my fanfics, supporting every crazy idea I get about life, and sticking by me even when we're at our worst. I admire your enthusiasm about the little things and I love your attention to detail, the way you laugh at my jokes and always bring a smile to my face, and the childish nature you carry that makes everyone around you so happy and carefree. I know you're always saying I'm talented but you're just as—or more—talented than me! You can play guitar and piano like a QUEEN, you can draw anything and it'll come out flawless, you've always beaten me at chess, you have more functioning neurons than Sir Isaac Newton, and you might dance like a dying chicken, but at least you try lmao. You might have lived two decades already, and you'll live double, triple that and more, but never change! (She knows what this means: ILYBIAGESLYB). *Inserts a very specific total of 20 hearts*
Enjoy!
Sakura opens her eyes a little before the sun comes up over the horizon. It's a rather chilly morning, she notes, compared to all other recent mornings—especially, she thinks, since it's plain summer and the weather should be anything but.
She pulls the covers closer to her body before something pulls them back with greater force, and she stills. With her back turned to her husband, it doesn't take more than a few seconds for her to realise he's the one appropriating the blankets all to himself. And in his sleep, she knows, she can't really blame his body from warding against the cold seeping through the thin paper that covers the only window in the room.
She decides this is a sign for her to get up. After all, the last remnants of sleep she should be getting have left her body, and she's nothing else left to do on this too-large of a bed.
With this in mind, she turns to face her slumbering husband, and with the utmost care, she lifts herself up and places a light, butterfly kiss on his forehead. She retreats almost immediately afterwards, smiles at someone who isn't awake to see it, and forces her bare self out of bed.
.
.
.
After taking a quick bath and choosing her attire for the day—a blue and black simple kimono with a wool jacket over her shoulders for the cold, her hair back in a more complex but relaxed bun—she heads to the gardens just in time to greet the sun; really, it's the sun which greets her.
She walks around her favourite bench, along the castle's walls, until she reaches the edge of the castle's perimeter on the far right. The white wall reaches way past her shoulders, but she lets herself look down at the middle point, between the ground and the edge of the half-constructed roof, where there's a rhombus-shaped hole overlooking the village, big enough for her to look down into the abyss the edge of the castle provides her.
Below her, thousands of large, polished rocks are piled up in the expanse of at least ten metres, making it almost impossible to climb up the architecture—especially because the base of the castle's barrier is made up of irregular, unpolished rocks all pushed together to make a jugged, raw surface. The people below seem like small, insignificant spots in the grand scheme of things, after all.
She's not prone to come here, stand in front of one of the greatest, protective barriers in the entire nation, and look down toward the village she lives upon but never really in. There are different shaped holes along the wall, placed always in the middle, and always allowing any regular person to stand without hunching and be able to look to the outside. This is done here and in all the other Samurai castles over the country, and has been done for years and years on end to ensure the safety of the Daimyō or other important officials residing in the building—by having carved holes strategically placed all around the castle, Samurai can shoot arrows down the large expanse of rocks and stones before anyone can really reach the top. Barely anyone even tries to climb nowadays.
There are a total of two entrances and exits at the castle; one facing East and one facing West. Each entrance is comprised of a gate, an intricately, complex array of hallways and stairs that lead down, a few bridges, and traps to stall intruders as they come in. From what Sakura remembers the last time she walked all the way to the top of the castle from the bottom—back on her wedding day, really—no step that leads up to the main building is built the same. Every consecutive step of any stairs is built at different heights and shapes in order to trick unwelcome people who usually rush up the stairs and make them fall. From what she remembers, there are bridges that overlook halls one has to take to ascend; bridges where trained warriors can shoot and strike down the already tired, climbing opponents. A very complicated, very well thought of labyrinth that has kept most castles safe over the past centuries, and which has always kept hers.
In a way, she shouldn't be scared of what's to come next, if there is even something to expect. After all, it's only speculation from her husband, and yet the country has always remained safe under his command solely due to his preventive tactics and protective mindset. So, even as she thinks of the tall gate that lies at the summit of the castle, and of the system of traps and helpful decoy strategies to lure the enemy out, she can't help but know better.
Especially, she thinks, because now she knows a way in and out the castle that has been present for who-knows-how much time. She knows of a set of tunnels that lead straight down the outskirts of the village or right outside the base of the castle on the Southern border, she knows Kabuto has used it, and she suspects Orochimaru has used it to communicate with Kabuto as well. She never trusted the snake man, but now that Sasuke has told her he's been meeting the Council of Elders in private, she trusts nothing more than the high possibility of having both Kabuto and Orochimaru sneaking in and out the castle without a soul noticing the act.
And if this is true, it would be part of her duty as wife of the Shogun to let her husband know of such tunnels. She should let him know of this escape route that she has used once before, and of the dangers it can bring with it. In a moment of uncertainty, she imagines countless of traitors marching up the tunnels, ready to fight Sasuke at first light from within the castle without him even expecting it, making everyone in his kingdom fall at the poor planning skills and the unexpectedness of it all.
But at the same time, she can't help but feel selfish. She can't help but think, and reason with herself, that if Kabuto really wanted a war, he would have started one long ago. She can't help but rationalize that he wouldn't share his secret, and only he knows of its existence. She can't help but be selfish and want to keep this secret for herself too; this big, possibly catastrophic secret that she wants to tell no one about.
Sakura sighs as she rests her head on the side of the opening, overlooking what seems like trees below, people walking, and not much else. A foreboding sense of guilt threatens to fill her, but she pushes it down and lets the worries pass by her as the breeze blows through the opening and makes a few strands of hair leave the updo on her head. At such a higher altitude, there's always wind around the castle.
Maybe if she ignores her raging thoughts, she'll eventually forget about the consequences of her actions.
As she closes her eyes and feels the breeze around her, she thinks she hears her name being called in the distance. She opens her eyes when she hears it again, from a familiar voice, and turns around toward the sound.
It's the Emperor, waving his hands up in the air to greet her, with a smile on his face so big it could blind the sun.
"Sakura-chan! It's been so long!" He yells from the back entrance of the building, walking alongside the wall just like she had before, and the guards that stand by the doors raise their curious gazes up to him more often than they're really allowed to.
"Naruto!" She exclaims—not really realising she's not addressing him with any honorifics or by his formal title—as soon as he reaches her and she feels her feet being lifted off the ground. "Put me down, there may be people watching!"
He still spins her a total of three to four times, laughing at her complaints without a care in the world.
When he finally puts her down, even though she has been complaining and giving him death stares, she doesn't even bother to keep appearances and do so much as straighten down her fine attire. She just laughs at his highly inappropriate behaviour and he laughs back, the blue of his eyes somehow more intense each time she sees him.
"Oh please, who's gonna assume of us?" He snorts, thinking of her statement as ridiculous. "Everyone knows you only have eyes for your husband."
She feels herself blush, for a moment, and tells herself it's because of his suggestive wink and not due to the actual words he said. She looks away before she looks back, almost as if she'd never heard him.
"So, what brings you here so early?"
"Well, yesterday, Sasuke and I had a meeting with some other people and it ended pretty late, so I decided to stay in one of the guest rooms here," he scratches the back of his head, looking up while thinking back. "And let me tell you, I tried to find you but you were nowhere to be found! So I obviously just went to sleep; I'll be heading home in a few hours, actually," he says, looking at her with a smile that almost makes her ignore the fact that he hadn't found her because she had been sneaking out the village.
She doesn't really tell him where she'd been.
"You're leaving soon?" She asks, a small pout making itself appear on her lips. "I wish we had more time together, I haven't seen you in so long. How's your wife doing with her pregnancy?"
Naruto literally beams at the mention.
"She's doing great! She's been out to clan meetings lately, but she should be back by the time I get there."
And then, in the short stretch where nobody speaks a word, she watches as he gets this dreamy look over his face; his eyes gloss over and he looks away from her, thinking back to the pregnant, lovely wife of his she has never met. And in that very short moment, she compares. She shouldn't, but she does. It's not her fault; the differences are striking and it would be a miracle if one didn't compare to something so obvious.
After all, has Sasuke ever got that look on him when thinking of her? Has he ever looked so irrevocably in love with someone such as her? Has he ever been so lost in thought for someone he holds dear to him like Naruto is doing now? Will he, if at all?
Sakura seems lost in thought too as she delves deeper than she ought to but, thankfully, Naruto snaps her out of both of their reveries.
"You know what, let's talk right now!" He says, then takes her hand and leads her to a bench that's more off-side from the castle than any of the others. There are a few flowers around them, the castle's border to their right, and the castle to their left.
"Talk about what, exactly?" She inquires, smiling at him and turning toward him with a newfound sense of excitement. Talks with Naruto were always so much fun.
"I have so much to tell you! Alright, first of all, are you excited about your mission?"
And then, Sakura's smile dims slightly as she stares at him with a small frown in place.
"Mission?"
"Uh, yeah! I know it may seem too overwhelming at first, but we're gonna prepare you for as long as you need! Not sure if he's mentioned it, but a few clansmen will be stepping in and getting you ready in the next upcoming days. Oh man, I wish I was here to see it. I think that your-"
"Wait, wait, Naruto. Who's coming to get me ready, and for what exactly are they coming?"
It's a second before Naruto actually realises she has no idea what he's talking about, and she sees it in the way the gleam in his eyes is replaced by unexpected concern and fear.
She sees him swallow.
"The bastard hasn't told you yet?"
By now, the upcoming news are starting to make her feel anxious. She just wants to know what he's talking about. Mission? Getting her ready? Clan heads helping her? Helping her do what?
"Told me what?"
"Naruto, that's enough."
They both look behind them to the image of a very pissed off, angry Sasuke standing a few metres behind the bench, arms crossed over his chest and lips pursed in a straight line. What really surprises Sakura is the murderous look he's shooting Naruto, and it only makes her want to know what he had been talking about even more.
Naruto immediately stands and holds his hands up in the air as a defensive stance, as if he hadn't done anything.
"I didn't say anything, I swear!"
Sasuke clicks his tongue. "You were about to."
"Hey, it's not my fault you haven't told her yet!"
Before this constant bickering can stretch for hours, she stands and gives her husband a questioning look. "Sasuke, what is he talking about?"
With a sigh heavier than she has ever seen, the man in question looks at the blond with promise in his eyes. "Leave us, I'll be seeing you inside later."
She can tell he wants to say something else from the way he opens his mouth, but she watches as he closes it a second later with resignation all over his face. "Fine, fine," he mutters, already walking away. "See ya, Sakura-chan!"
Sasuke's gaze follows him as he leaves the scene, and his eyes get lost on an indefinite point after he's long gone, something that is close to driving Sakura insane.
"Sasuke," she presses on.
He looks at her and uncrosses his arms after yet another dejected sigh, surrounds the bench, and sits next to her.
"I... The clan heads gathered yesterday upon my request. We discussed the fate of Fire, and I told them everything," he but almost whispers into the cool morning, eyes trailing the outline of the forest trees way up ahead and refusing to meet her questioning gaze. Even as he hears her gasp upon the realisation of what this could entail, he does not turn toward her.
"Everything? But, surely you must have thought about the risk in doing so. I mean, what if one of the clan heads is behind this? What happened to not trusting anyone?"
At that, he can't help the slight upward tug of his lips in reverence to her intellect and quick wit. From what he's noticed already, in all these years, he could even say her brain could rival Shikamaru—a genius himself. Of course, never out loud, but he's ever-so aware.
Thankfully, he had already thought about that possible setback before even conducting the meeting.
"If one of the clan heads is a spy, we will know in due time. I have disclosed information no other living soul knows, except Orochimaru. So if this gets out, or there is a move made against me from something I've said, we'll know who it is. I would not worry about that."
Sakura nods and looks in front of them, mimicking his stance, and laces her hands together on her lap. "It was a bold move from your part, and very risky at that."
A few seconds pass before he answers.
"We have no time for anything less than that."
Sakura takes this opportunity to ask about Naruto's words, lest she wastes more time and he decides it's time to get up and leave.
"Sasuke... What was Naruto referring to? What mission do I have?"
He has been clenching and unclenching his fists on the material of his lap, but now the movement is halted at her words. He clears his throat, ready to relay the news only because he sees no other smooth way out of this, and also because he's bound to tell her one day anyway.
"At the meeting, we reached an accord to find out more about the threats in our country," he starts, and she listens intently. "The majority of the clan heads agreed that you should infiltrate the Council's headquarters, gain their trust, and unveil their secrets."
Sakura feels her heart skip a beat, but otherwise keeps staring at the landscape before her. When she hears him speak again, it's with a hidden rage underneath that she catches on to.
"You will be trained in the art of espionage, manipulation, deceit, torture, and stealth. Training will begin as soon as the clan heads send their chosen mentors," he finishes.
"I suppose you were not part of that majority vote?
"I do see the reason behind it."
Sakura almost laughs at the obvious Sasuke-like way of avoiding the question by answering something else, but the tension is almost palpable around them, so she limits herself from doing any of that.
"But you don't agree with it, right?"
After there is no answer from the man, she sighs and places a hand on one if his own tight fists. It eventually gives way and she interlaces their fingers together, and he doesn't make a move against it.
"I will do my best for the country, for you," she feels him give her hand a squeeze. "And I will train until you deem me ready to go. Please, have some faith. I can do it."
He nods a little and takes his hand away, then gets up to leave as quickly as he had arrived. She would offer him to stay seated there next to him, but the news are still being processed in her brain and she needs some time alone.
Sasuke looks at her before leaving and turns around a second later, starting to walk and feeling something weighing down on his chest.
I know you can.
Sakura watches him leave and thinks it ironic; thinks it almost like a joke from the universe. For when she finally finds a way to sneak outside of the castle after years of entrapment, he tells her she's going to go outside due to a highly dangerous, important mission for the country. All almost in the same day, too.
She's left with nothing but different thoughts coursing through her mind at the implications of this mission. Would she stop sneaking out the castle, then, if she's given this important role? She would train and, eventually, go to the Council's quarters, not her mother's house. She arrives at a conclusion that gives her more of a headache than any possible relief, but she's doubtful she would exchange seeing her mother and visiting her friends and father's grave for anything else.
So she watches him leave and he, in turn, feels a bigger lodge in his throat with every step he takes. Saying it, somehow, has made it more real than it was the day before, and he has a constant worry inside him that is hard to ignore for the better part of the trip to his main office.
I know you can. That's what scares me.
.
.
.
Sasuke slides close his study door, turning and looking at Naruto as he lies down on the floor. At Sasuke's arrival, the blond opens his eyes and sits up, turning to look up at his best friend.
"So?" He asks, watching as Sasuke comes closer to one of the zabuton cushions in the room and takes a seat directly in front of him.
"So, what?"
Naruto deadpans, giving him a look. "Did you tell her? What did she say?"
Sasuke sighs, running a hand down his face.
"I told her and she agreed. That's all."
"If you say so," Naruto shrugs, then lays down again. "I might leave soon, then. I want to be there when Hinata comes back."
"Hm."
"Hey, Sasuke," he quips, his eyes open and staring up as the light from the window creates different shapes on the ceiling. "Are you planning on throwing a party for your birthday this year? It's in like a month, ya know."
Sasuke shrugs, standing up and looking outside the window at the serenity in the landscape before him.
"Why would I?"
"Well, for one, Sakura-chan could finally meet my wife! And then... Well, I guess it's also important that you socialize with every high official in the nation and show them how well you're handling your affairs but, anyway, Sakura-chan would be so excited!"
Sasuke spares Naruto a glance from over his shoulder and watches as he sports the biggest, most foolish smile ever. Clearly, it's obvious that will never change.
Sasuke thinks about it, though, and really makes out the pros and cons of throwing a celebratory event in lieu of his birthday as he has done once before. On one hand, it might only make sure everyone knows the nation is safe and in good hands, but on the other hand, it might just as much be the perfect opportunity for someone to plant an attack and destroy most of Sasuke's empire in only one single night. After all, every official, clan head, and basically anyone who has a name will be congregated in one place.
"I doubt that's productive," he says. "Whoever's behind this plot against my ruling would be a fool to pass up the opportunity to overthrow me right there and then."
"Not if you have more guards around the castle and inside, and you make sure no one who comes in carries any weapons," Naruto ponders, and Sasuke thinks that he may have a point.
If he were to protect the castle at all costs, he might be able to offer a good time for every guest who arrives. It might just work.
Perhaps, but right now, with all that he has on his plate, there's no time to ponder on matters as trivial as a party.
.
.
.
Apparently, unbeknownst to her, Sasuke's plan involves not only clan heads whom she's yet to meet, but himself too. And, apparently, Sasuke wants his portion of training (which, what is there he can offer that other clan heads can't?) to start earlier than anyone else's, were it for the wardrobe change he's getting into with only a few hours to spare before sundown. Because, even though he has just come back from going over some construction problems in the Southern part of the village, he shouldn't be putting on one of his training outfits if he's not willing to train; usually, after coming home this late, he merely takes a bath.
Sakura has barely woken up from a small nap before he's tapping her awake with his hand on her arm. She barely realises he's shaking her from the subtle touch, but when she hears her name, she opens her eyes and turns to lay on her back in order to look at him.
Sasuke, hair tousled, spiked more in the back than the front, dressed in all black with a fitted shirt and loose pants, leans down on the bed and looks at her as she blinks up at his patient demeanor. It seems she stares for too long, because as soon as he realises she's not going to ask what's happening any time soon, he sighs and straightens his back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Let's go."
Sakura blinks, then sits up and rubs at her eyes as she takes in this command.
"Go where, exactly?" She yawns and flings her legs to one side of the bed, sitting directly before him. She looks up at him, eyes wide and curious.
"To the stables," he nonchalantly adds, as if it was always a given. After a pause, he slides open the door on the wall that leads to their closet, and enters to gather the outfit he specifically got made for her. He walks out and toward the bed again not three seconds later. "Your real training starts today. Get ready and meet me outside."
He leaves the clothes neatly folded by her feet, gives her confused face one more look, and exits the room without even letting her speak one more word.
She gets up and wonders what exactly it is that she has to do at the stables that she hasn't already done, and finds out ten minutes later—when she finishes dressing up in the red, white, and blue attire and puts her hair up in a high, casual ponytail.
When she gets to the stables and sees her white, majestic horse, Eri, already outside and ready to be mounted, she gives her a soft pat on the side of her face and looks for Sasuke in all the other cubicles of the stables. Curiosity kicks in when she finds him with the only remaining black horse left, getting it ready with all the amenities included, and she can't help but speak out when she sees him take out that same horse by a set of reins.
"I thought I only rode with Eri?"
He gives her a look, and she almost openly gapes at the amused smirk he has on his lips.
"That is still true. Eri is your horse, and yours only."
She feels stupid for asking the next question, and a small part of her has already pieced together enough information to know what he's doing for certain, but she really, really doesn't want to hear it.
"Then, why are you taking a second horse out?"
"That's because Seishin is not for you to ride; he's for me," he says, then gracefully mounts on him without a beat. Sakura had never seen him ride a horse before, but he seems as much in his element as he does with a sword.
She shakes her head out of her trance after a second, and lets herself process the words she had so dreaded hearing ever since she stepped foot onto the stables.
He's for me.
Does that mean he expects her to ride alongside him? Worse yet, he expects her to ride completely and utterly alone, unaided by his guide and his hand on the extra set of reins he always pulls from? What is she to do on a horse alone? Is she expected to follow him and know exactly how to tell Eri to go a certain speed without him telling her? Or is he just going to follow her instead, and see if she has this down already after so many months?
Sakura looks between him and Eri, back to him, and stands her ground fiercely—and maybe a little too stubbornly.
"No."
Sasuke's face is blank, but his eyes shine with amusement when he looks at her.
"No," he repeats after her, re-stating the same fact with a hint of mirth—utter enjoyment at her plain refusal—in his voice now. With a light kick of his foot, Seishin walks slowly toward where she's standing, and Sasuke circles Sakura before stopping next to Eri.
"Get on, Sakura," he insists, motioning to her horse with his head, but she crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head, turning it away from Sasuke.
"No, thank you. And- I mean, weren't the clan heads supposed to train me instead?"
And the sight is so amusing, so entertaining to watch—seeing a five-foot-tall, angry woman from this angle on his horse, it's no surprise he finds it to be this way—that he almost relents and lets her have her way. But he can't. If he wants to be certain she will be safe out there, he needs to be sure she knows that, were she in the position to escape in an emergency, she knows how to grab a horse and ride it to its maximum potential. As it is, the most he's accomplished is getting her a horse she's not one-hundred percent terrified of all the time.
"Sakura," he starts, his voice low and warning, though he elaborates on the reasons for his spontaneous decision. "The clan heads will each train you on different subjects when the time comes. For now, while we wait, I can at least teach you how to ride a horse on your own."
When he's done talking, he sees a flicker of surrender in her face, but she makes no other movement to signal her defeat, nor does she finally get on the horse. She wants to press further, but there is simply no need; she knows Sasuke only wants to ensure she can take care of herself when she's out of the castle and, ultimately, out of his direct protection.
She understands, and only because she understands does she surround Eri. She puts on her helmet, then grabs the top of the saddle for impulse, places a foot on one of the stirrups, and gets on with no trouble.
She looks at him expectantly, and she feels heat pool in her face at the way he looks into her eyes, only to roam down her body approvingly at her first time getting on the horse and controlling it on her own.
"Good," he comments, nodding once. "Now, make her move slowly, count to five, and start trotting at a light pace like you always do."
Sakura blanks, brows together in confusion. "Where will you be?"
Lips in a straight line and eyes guarded for what she's about to do, he still gives her a reassuring nod.
"I will be right behind you at all times," he explains, and it's the only thing that makes her grab the reins and do as told—as she has seen him do, and as he has told her to do each time they've been out.
As if already knowing the drill, Eri starts walking at a slow pace, then Sakura kicks her feet lightly when she's done counting to five, and she starts trotting just as expected.
Sakura beams at this, holding tighter to the reins as she rides at the normal pace she always goes at every time Sasuke would lead her. She looks behind her for a second and sees Sasuke following a few paces behind her, and in under a minute they are already entering the thick foliage of the small forest of their castle's acreage.
Sakura can barely believe it the more she stays on the horse, and she directs her with the reins through the trees when there are obstacles as if she already knows how to—if she would stop being so scared, she would have already figured out she's capable of this.
After about ten minutes of the same trek as usual through the trees, in the same straight direction, Sasuke instructs her to turn back around to the stables because the forest would end soon, and she does as told. However, when she turns around, he tells her to halt her horse.
She looks at him when he pulls Seishin to her side, and stops.
A look of apprehension crosses his face as he looks ahead of them; the expanse of the forest seems to stretch on indefinitely. He inhales through his nose and turns his head to look at her—no helmet on, only confidence to cover him as he rides as if he's done it for decades, as he probably has.
"Listen to me carefully," he utters, a hint of trepidation lacing his tone. "You are going to start walking, immediately trot, and then increment the speed until you reach a point where you will no longer feel comfortable. I need to see how fast you can go, so I can then target that speed and teach you to gallop appropriately."
Sakura's eyes widen at this information, and she interrupts his next words immediately, a sense of panic dawning on her.
"You want me to go fast? How-"
"Only as fast as you can-"
"-do I even do that? What if I fall? What if she doesn't want to listen to me?" She keeps exclaiming, jabbering on and on about all the ways in which this could fail, but Sasuke remains passive. It's only until she stops asking questions like a lunatic that he speaks.
"This entire terrain is flat enough for Eri to have no obstacles. You're prepared, just trust yourself," he reassures her, and then adds more instructions at the face of alarm she makes. "First, walk. Then, trot just like before. You will get to a point of canter, and the speed will keep increasing for as long as you want her to speed up. Whenever you feel that's good enough, slow her down gradually and stop."
Sakura nods, looking at the horse below her, then at the endless scope in front of her. Sasuke has chosen this patch of land specifically because there's less trees here, and she's grateful for that small detail, or else she would have to take care of too many things at once and she doesn't think she's ready for that.
"Remember: slightly lean forward and squeeze with both legs when you're ready," he reminds her, then waits for her to command her horse to start walking.
She takes a deep breath, tightens her hold on the reins, and doesn't even spare him a glance as she starts walking, then starts trotting almost immediately after. She's used to this; she's done it countless of times. What she's never done is ride at any faster pace than that, but with a little more force on her stirrups, she feels Eri gain speed by the second.
She thinks she hears Sasuke a few steps behind her as he keeps up, and she does exactly as instructed and leans slightly forward in her saddle, applying more and more pressure until the mare is chomping at the bit, and until the forest is just a blur beside her.
Before she knows it, she's feeling the wind hitting her face, and it almost tastes like freedom, her body moving along with each movement the horse makes, and it feels like she's floating. She can't help the smile that erupts on her face as she laughs, overcome with joy at the feat she's just accomplished—the feat she's just accomplished all on her own.
The fast pace only lasts for about five seconds before she starts slowing down, and she looks behind her when the horse is between trotting and walking once again.
Sasuke catches up to her and walks alongside her, then turns his face to gaze upon her face.
He's struck by her smile, her small giggles as she caresses Eri's mane; so content, so filled with the genuine happiness he has only ever seen her sport with Naruto. When she stops petting the horse and locks eyes with him, it's with the most beautiful smile he has ever seen. Her eyes crinkle and her ponytail is loose from inside the helmet, a few strands already sticking out in a disarray of colours, and with the amber and red tones the sky's bathed in, the little spots that manage to come in through the trees make her look ever the faerie she resembles—completely, absolutely out of this world, and so irrevocably captivating that he doesn't notice something moving a few paces ahead of them.
Sasuke's horse notices the snake first.
And just like that, in a second, he watches as Seishin flicks his ears back and forth and starts bouncing on his front legs up and down on the forest floor, his tail wagging from side to side in distress. He neighs, and Sasuke has to physically force himself to stop looking at Sakura—whose face now shows shock as she watches him—and try to control his horse, but he only starts running away from whatever he had seen in a burst of panic, and it takes Sasuke longer than anticipated to halt him to a stop.
Eri is next.
Unfortunately, while he still doesn't have full control of Seishin and is trying to calm him down as he knows how to, he hears Sakura more than sees her in the flurry of motions. He turns around to find her through the distance between them and sees her struggling way more than he is, panicking at what's happening, and hears her scream of distress in his very being.
Suddenly, he somehow calms his horse down enough to see her clearly, and he's running back to her as fast as he can.
"Stop! I- Calm down- Hey! Hey! Eri, just-"
"Sakura!"
She makes the mistake of looking up to the left at Sasuke coming at great speeds toward her, because in that second she takes to look up at him, she loosens her hold on the reins and slightly lets go of the tight grip her legs have against the animal, and that's what causes her to fall.
Eri immediately takes the opportunity to fully stand on her hind legs, and Sakura cries out as she feels her body tumbling backwards as if in slow motion. She closes her eyes hard and braces for impact, feeling the breath being forcefully knocked out of her rib-cage when her back unceremoniously collides with the ground.
She hears Sasuke yelling her name again and tries to open her eyes, but only manages to see blurry for a few seconds before everything becomes one thing again, and not a thousand trying to merge together. She sees Sasuke getting off the horse and almost tripping in his haste, the alarm in his body palpable when he lifts her upper body with trembling hands and looks at her for any injuries. He takes off her helmet and throws it aside without care.
"Are you hurt? What hurts?" He exclaims, hurriedly searching her body for any scratches, any tears in clothing, any scrape on her face, but she only shakes her head and closes her eyes again. "Sakura!" He almost yells, wanting so badly for her to just answer him and tell him if she's injured. But it's a mistake.
First, she lets out some sniffles, and then it all comes bursting out: the tears, the hiccups, the overwhelming urge to cry at the scare she had just got from the experience. Sasuke's heart breaks inside him just looking down at the scene, her shaky hand coming up to hide her face from him and stifle her cries.
He looks up and watches as her horse has long run away, and feels a heavy weight pressing down on his chest at the obvious feeling that this is all his fault. If he hadn't told her to gallop-
A heartbreaking hiccup under him makes him look back down.
He carefully gets up and takes her along with him, one arm supporting her back and the other under her knees, and his heart skips a painful beat when she clings with one hand to his shirt and buries her head in his chest—and for a moment, he's taken back to when she did the same thing one night unlike any other, with him carrying her shameful body out of a locale filled with geisha, hoping to hide her away from anyone looking and wanting nothing more than to end a certain man's life.
Sasuke decides that it's better if he lets her calm down, and only after will he take her inside the castle again. They're still hidden in the thick of the forest, there's no one anywhere near them, and Sasuke doesn't feel like walking into the castle with a crying Sakura in his arms will give any of his workers a good impression—nor does he want the unsolicited attention. So he makes a split decision and walks up to the closest, sturdiest tree, bending down to let Sakura rest her back on the bark as she quiets her sobs down.
But they're still going as strong as ever, and as he leaves her and prepares to step away to tie his horse to a nearby tree, her hold only tightens. When he looks upon her tear-stricken face, she has the saddest, uncharacteristically vulnerable look in her eyes, and she whispers two words that coerce him into doing something without thinking twice about it.
"Don't, please," she manages to get out in between her crying and then, when he's about to sit somewhere near her, she looks up at him with those glossy, big green orbs, and he feels another pang in his chest.
With just one look, he knows just sitting somewhere near her will not do; he'd do anything right about now to alleviate the pain that settles itself on his chest and threatens to crush it—it's the ever-present guilt that wants to overcome him, because there's no one in the world to blame but himself for what's happened—so, when she's screaming at him to just hold her with her eyes, he does just that.
He makes her lean forward slightly, and sits in the ample space left in between her and the tree. With a heavy sigh, he accommodates her between his open, bent legs, and pulls her back so she falls back on his chest.
In between her soft sounds and slight shaking of her body, he finds a place in front of him to focus on. His heart aches, and he realises that he has never wished that someone would forgive him as much as he wants it now—and then, he realises he's never wanted to apologise as badly either.
He had seen her ride Eri with such confidence, such lightness, that he had completely disregarded his more rational mindset and opted to see her run. And, for that, he guesses he wasn't wrong—she did run. She ran, flew past him, soared on her mare, as if naturally knowing she can in fact gallop as fast as a horse would ever be allowed to. To say her skill surprised him would be cutting it short.
The fault lay in his obliviousness to the surroundings. He had been looking at her for a long time, and he had foolishly failed to notice the small, squirming snake a few steps in their direction. He could have avoided the entire commotion had he been doing his job and paying attention, but then he remembers the way she had smiled at him like he has craved for so long, and he knows he wouldn't change it for anything. Looking at the top of Sakura's head as her hiccups die down now, he feels conflicted, but he knows that it has happened and he can't take it back.
There's nothing he can do, only wait.
He lets his head rest back on the bark, head looking up at the trees above them, sky already a twilight colour—dusk, definitely.
"I'm sorry," he hears her whisper, and he whips his head down to look at her. He sees her arms come up to her face for what he thinks is to wipe away her tears. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have panicked, that just made things worse. Next time I ride, I'll be more careful."
"You won't ride any time soon," he states, and she has nothing to say to that. "It wasn't your fault," he adds, under his breath.
"I was not paying attention," she says, and he huffs.
"I was the one who needed to pay attention, not you. Now, are you hurt?" He asks again, now that she's well enough to talk, but she shakes her head.
"My back hurts a little, but nothing that won't go away," and with a small smile he can't see from behind her, she changes the subject. "Did you see how I ran like that, Sasuke? It felt so easy, and I thought it was going to take me ages!"
She hears him chuckle, and her heart skips a beat at the light, sultry sound.
"How did it feel?"
Sakura closes her eyes with her smile still plastered on her face, feeling the cool breeze of the night sweep past her face.
"Amazing."
.
.
.
She doesn't know when she drifts off into a light sleep but, sometime after she had last talked to him, her head had fallen to the side and her arms had ended up embracing her middle. Somehow, Sasuke's own arms were around her midsection as well, and she only awakens completely when she feels his hands drawing absentminded figures and shapes into the skin of her arms.
He moves his fingertips along the skin slowly, as if he doesn't even know he's doing it, but it's all that takes for Sakura to open her eyes and look at what he's doing. She doesn't move in fear that he will stop doing it if he realises she's wide awake, but she feels every bit of goosebumps that trail along her skin. She feels his touch like fire on wood; scorching through until all she wants is this torture to keep going and end at the same time.
She's almost had enough and gives him a sign that she's awake when he stops, and she feels him glance down at her.
For a moment, she thinks he's somehow noticed she's awake (maybe her breathing pattern's changed? maybe he saw the flutter of her eyelashes as she opened her eyes? maybe her heartbeat has changed rhythms?), but what he thinks is lost to her as he slides one of his hands down her arm and to her pelvis. His other hand stays where it is for a few more minutes, then slides up her upper arm, shoulder, up the exposed part of her neck, and into her hair. He weaves his hand through, taking off her ponytail and letting her hair free without much of a hassle—if she wasn't already awake, she probably wouldn't have woken up from the action.
Sasuke touches her hair and ghosts over her pelvic region, and when his hand moves a little closer than anticipated to the already desperate heat between her legs, she starts to doubt he still thinks she's asleep. He might not be able to see her face from the angle they're in, but he knows.
In an act of bravery, when she's getting impatient with the drawn-out teasing, she grabs on to the arm of the hand still weaving through her hair, brings it down and places it on her breast, and—heartbeat quickening, breaths already coming out of her nostrils with more force than necessary in anticipation, wetness already pooling between her legs—she grabs his other hand and moves it downward, down, down until he's touching the scorching heat from under her dirty, in-desperate-need-of-a-wash pants.
She bites her lip, hard, not wanting to ruin the quiet moment between them with any sounds other than her laboured breathing. She feels him pause when his fingers touch the obvious state of excitement she's in, hearing him exhale near her ear, a spine-chilling chill coursing through her entire body as she feels the vibration from his chest seep into her own.
She doesn't know why or how she got here, but she only wants it to continue now, and she knows he wants the same when his hand squeezes her breast hard. She has to suppress a moan when his other hand starts moving slowly against the bundle of nerves he's an expert at working now.
When her breaths quicken and his hand starts moving faster, he moves his other hand under the shirt—and its many layers—and flicks a nipple hard enough to draw a pained moan from her already squirming body. And when he enters her with one finger, he's quick to add a second, toying with her reactions and feeling harder by the minute.
She comes and she comes hard, hips bucking and eyes rolling to the back of her head, head thrown back into his chest and letting him see the look she has on as she reaches her high. Sweat rolls down her neck and it makes some strands of hair stick to her forehead, but he's just in the same condition as her; as if, he thinks, he had come with her.
But he hadn't, and the almost painfully hard erection between his legs pokes her ass as proof of that; he knows she feels it, he knows.
Which is why, when she finally comes down from her peak and turns around on her axis to kiss him, he's not surprised. One leg outside and one between his legs from the motion, she rubs the strain under his pants with her knee at the same time she grabs his face and kisses him.
It's almost violent, almost desperate to the brink of insanity, but he's not complaining. If only, he wants more. And when she finally stands and slides off her lower garments, he pulls her down on him with more force than necessary, and takes off all the layers she has on top faster than she has ever seen him.
The sight of her naked on top of him on the forest floor, the moon showing a different shade of her to him, with rosy cheeks and wide green eyes, drives him insane. He wants to fuck the life out of her on this same soil, hard and slow, while she moans his name in his ear.
God, he's so on the edge of going mad, he almost feels the urge to thank her when she kisses him again, teeth clashing for a moment in the mess of it all, and her hands work quick to take off his upper clothing and lower his pants to free him from the tight restraint.
From the way they're both panting and moving quickly to feel, to touch, he half-expects her to just grab him and work him just as quickly.
But then she turns the kiss to a deep, slow, sensuous one, and he feels himself being enveloped by her wet heat, and it's her own kind of torture that threatens to throw him into oblivion, even if it's just rubbing against her heat. Every time she does this, he feels a different kind of bliss wash over him, a pleasure so unlike any other that he never wishes it to end. Nothing—not the battlefield, the wielding of his sword, the strategic books he reads on quiet afternoons—could ever compare to this.
She starts slowly moving her hips, and his hands automatically fall to each side of them, guiding her movements and only wishing them to be faster. He doesn't know where to put his hands on; her ass, her hips, her waist, her bouncing, round breasts, her neck. He settles on having one hand on her hip and the other in her hair.
But then, as she kisses him deeper and touches him anywhere she can get her hands on, she reaches with one hand in between their bodies and, without him noticing what she's thinking of doing, she lifts herself up slightly, guides his cock to her entrance, and moves her body down in a swift, efficient motion.
He stills and pulls back on her hair, looking at her with surprise and—betrayal?—in his eyes at what she's just decided to do. She's broken their unspoken rule, cut the ties that bound it and severed their one, set rule in front of his very own eyes.
But the look she gives him is not one of guilt, nor does she feel the need to apologise or undo the action; as a matter of fact, she looks at him with hooded eyes filled with desire, and a small smile gracing her lips. With her hair in his hand all messy and beautiful, the face she's giving him, and the way she slowly rolls her hips once, he almost gives in to the pleasure that which consumes his being.
Almost.
"Sakura, don't. Why are you-"
He gets cut off by her voice, clearly laced with lust and wanton desire, clearly knowing what she's doing. She leans in, places kisses on his neck, and touches his chest from top to bottom.
"Trust me, Sasuke-kun," she whispers, and something in her voice tells him he should. He doesn't know what she's planning, but his patience can only hold on for so long, and the moment he hears her words, he nods and closes his eyes, grabbing her face with both hands and making her kiss him.
She only responds just as eagerly, her insides closing around him like a vice as she moves up and down again, and again, and again, until there is Sakura and there is Sasuke, and there's nothing else in the world but them. He doesn't care that his reign is threatened, he doesn't care he has a thousand papers on his desk ready to be reviewed and stamped, and he doesn't care he'll be soon sending her into the lion's den. The world could be ending, and Sasuke would be none the wiser.
When she quickens the pace slightly, she moans into his mouth and he only ends the kiss to hear her more clearly. It only leads her to lean her forehead against his own, and with her eyes closed, she bites her lip and stifles her moans, but he hears the whimpers and sighs as if she was whispering them in his ear.
When she opens her eyes and looks into his own, he has a sudden, mortifying, cataclysmic realisation. The intimacy of the moment is heightened by the sudden thought that strikes him. It overtakes him and breaks him, only to make him whole again; it digs deep into his soul as he feels it upon him with crushing weight; it thunders against his chest and short-circuits in his brain.
Her eyelashes are blonde, she has freckles over her nose and cheekbones, and her hair falls around them like a curtain that shields them from the world. And when he looks into her bright, yellow-green eyes, and sees his reflection in them, he knows.
Sakura's in love with him.
And then he flips them around, pushes her carefully into the soil behind her, and fucks her like he's been wanting to for years now. He drives into her with enough force to drive her mad; it has her holding onto him and moaning loudly in his ear; it has him losing his mind inside her and burying his face in the crook between her neck and her shoulder.
The realisation hits him hard, and it's not because she's in love with him.
And when he's about to reach his high, and his breathing gets heavier, she moves her hips outward and finishes him in her hand; and her trick might be risky, but he really could not give a single flying fuck at the moment. He feels her arms embrace him, a kiss on the top of his head after they have both calmed their breathing down, and he feels relief—not dread, but relief.
Sakura's in love with him, and he's just as much in love with her.
.
.
.
A/N: You're welcome (cue gif of Elmo with his arms extended and fire burning behind him like a maniac).