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17. She woke up in a cocoon of wonderful warmth that …. .

She woke up in a cocoon of wonderful warmth that provided momentary safety, "Tobi…?" she murmured softly.

A sleepy low voice murmured: "Hnngh.. good morning…"

She jolted abruptly upright, startling the man next to her. The cape fell away and the cold morning air cut through her. With a shock she realised where she was and the sadness came back with a speed that sent a sinking feeling through the pit of her stomach into her legs.

Waking up in Sasuke's arms fooled her brain into believing she was back home in the arms of Tobirama. The cruel reality caught up with a vengeance.

When she saw Sasuke's raised eyebrows, she realised her mistake and she quickly steeled her emotions, hiding behind a pleasant mask. He was a shinobi after all, but at least she was with a friend and not an enemy. If she had to fight Sasuke in her current distraught state, she would most likely lose.

Thankfully, he did not pry and she did not elaborate on her obvious distress. They put out the remnants of the fire and started moving through the trees at an easy pace. Direction: Konoha. She felt his eyes on her occasionally.

After a few kilometres she asked: "How far is Konoha?"

"A week, maybe eight days."

She fell silent at his response. Eight days. How was it possible that she ended up so far from Konoha! What did the Kaguya goddess have in mind? Her train of thought was interrupted by the one question that she dreaded.

"Sakura…. What happened to you?"

She had anticipated it, but it caught her off guard nevertheless. It must be weird for him to encounter her here in the forest after she was reported missing. Would he think she deserted?

"First tell me. How long ago did we win the war?"

"A year."

A year? Her mind tried to make sense of the events, but she couldn't figure out what happened. The logical thing to happen, or at least what she expected would happen, was her return to the exact moment she had been cast into the past on the battlefield. A battlefield that would be changed for the better by her actions in the past. She disappeared from a certain moment in time. It felt logical that she would return to that exact spot when she was returned but this was not the case.

There seemed to be no logic behind her disappearance from the past and reappearance in the future. There was no plan behind it or maybe Kaguya's defeat caused the plan to go haywire? If her time travelling condition was dispelled then only chance hurdled her back through time. The mastermind behind it disappeared.

Through all her inner turmoil, she noticed Sasuke studying her face.

What would she tell him? He wasn't an enemy, she wanted to see him as her friend, but in truth, she did not know him at all. He left when she was just a pre-teen. Yes, she fought alongside him in the recent battle, and she fought against him in the fights they had in her youth. But she did not interact with him in any other way. For her, Uchiha Sasuke was an image and an idea, stuck in time and only more time could change that.

She didn't feel compelled to tell him about Tobirama. The grief she felt was too fresh and it all felt too private to share with him. She only wanted to disclose that information to Tsunade, the one she longed to talk to.

Also, it felt weird to talk to him about another man. She suspected that he remembered her feelings for him, and there was no doubt that there had been some bond between them. She wanted to close that chapter with him before she would tell him of her mariatial state.

She decided to keep her story simple and leave out Tobirama.

"Well, Kaguya managed to throw me back in time. I lived in the Warring States Era and met the Shodaime, Nidaime and Uchiha Madara and his brother Izuna. I was there for a little over two years until I was cast back here only the other day."

His eyes widened a fraction. "How?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It just happened. Kaguya manipulated space and time." And then she told him everything that happened to her, excluding her relationship with Tobirama. She lost Tobirama and could not change that fact. There was time to get used to her old life before she shared this part of herself with her friends and eventually with Sasuke. She was not ready yet. Her hand wandered towards her belly; but the village would find out sooner or later.

Sasuke knew she was withholding information. He was an intelligent shinobi after all, and he read her well enough. He figured it was either classified and only for the Hokage, or too intimate in which case she would share it when she was ready.

Her story was incredible, he could not fathom the amount of confusion and trauma she experienced. And now she was back home. It was disturbing to hear her talk about Madara in such an easy manner. From her tales emerged a man that was powerful, but a good clan leader; and honourable. Madara had been able to take away her doubts and fear of his person and build peace together with her and the Senju brothers.

Sasuke's memory of Madara was his blade slicing through his abdomen without hesitation and his empty eyes, chiding him, like he was merely punishing a child for mischief. It felt odd and confronting to hear Sakura recalling fond memories of the same man. She had an important bond with him and seemed to be truly devastated that she would not see him again.

They travelled with ease and during the days, they opened up little by little to each other. At times it was pleasant to be in each other's company even though Sasuke was still a humourless cold Uchiha. But he seemed more relaxed than he had ever been. Giving small smiles here and there. They didn't encounter any shops, hotels or inns on the road, so their intimate sleeping arrangement was repeated every night.

She caught him staring at her several times a day and she started to dread her instincts. Was he expecting her to feel the same for him as she felt as a girl? Could she be honest without destroying their friendship? She tried to keep her distance from him, but that was hard while travelling together.

And then finally, they arrived at the gates of Konoha. She felt butterflies in her stomach. It was just as she remembered. Her legs trembled incontrolable, anticipation soaring through her body.

He seemed to notice and wordless he caught her hand in his. It felt reassuring. His cold calloused hand held her steady and seemed to ground her. The tremor in her legs stopped. She looked at him and smiled.

"I am home"

"Yes."

"Thank you"

He gave an almost invisible smile: "It was my pleasure."

She let go of his hand and prepared to jump the gates and search for Tsunade. But Sasuke caught her wrist and pulled her back. He stared at her intently.

"Sakura…. I wish us to be more than friends." he fell silent, unsure how to continue, a tiny faint blush colouring his cheeks.

She stared at him, then smiled brightly. "We are more than friends, we are teammates Sasuke!"

He kept her wrist in his, insisting. "You know what I mean."

She felt colour hitting her face. And then he vanished over the wall and into the town.

She kept staring at the place where he stood. Wondering.

Taking off into the city, she moved over the rooftops with stealth. She wondered if she successfully snuck past the ANBU or that they already reported back to Kakashi. While running, Sasuke's declaration at the gate kept playing in her head. It confused her immensely and she longed for simple things: her home, her bed, her own shower, and most important: fresh clothing.

She headed straight to her apartment. Her mind was a chaotic torrent of feelings and emotions. She was home, but home felt a bitter consolation for the loss that she experienced. She needed the calm and familiarity of her own things, her own bed. She needed to be alone for a bit before she confronted her shishou or her team or friends. They were waiting for her for over a year now. A day extra wouldn't matter.

Little did she know that while standing at the gates, above her, a figure crouched on a tree branch. Balancing effortlessly and silent as a whisper. Tobirama gritted his teeth when he saw her cheeks changing to a slight pinkish colour. He felt so angry that he almost jumped down to stomp the Uchiha in the ground for his insolence. That brat! How dare he touch his wife and say those things!

He had sensed her chakra the moment it appeared. Since his return he checked the vicinity everyday while training in the forest, squatting down, fingers pressed into the earth, concentrating. He could not believe it at first. And after a while, when his sensory skills seemed to be accurate, he became scared. Fear was not the emotion that he expected. He expected to be thrilled, travelling towards her, testing his mark on her to see if it would still exist. But instead he felt an intense fear that kept him from running towards her immediately.

It was childish, but he was scared to face her. He was scared of her reaction to him. He felt an old man, their marriage was a distant memory. How much was distorted by years of grief and desperation? Did he still love her? Or did he love an idealised memory of her? Would she still love him? Or would she fall for that Uchiha brat that she pined for her whole life? He hated to admit it, but the boy was a formidable ninja and like all Uchiha's too handsome for his own good. Maybe their relationship had been a way for her to cope with the loss she felt during her time in the past?

Fear clung to him and he felt like a teenager. For sheer self-preservation he put his carefully built walls in place around his emotions. He could not afford emotions. He needed to find her to see if she was alright. He would monitor her progress, her physical and mental state. A decision for the best course of action would have to wait after his assessment of the situation.

Her warm chakra was beckoning him through the trees, giving him the speed he needed. To his dismay he sensed another chakra, familiar, cold and strong. The Uchiha brat. On a mission for Kakashi no doubt. When he sneaked into the trees, masking his chakra signature as only he was capable of, his breath caught in his throat and jealousy and anger consumed him instantly. There next to the fire he saw her sleeping, nestled under his cape and in his arms.

It was almost impossible to hide his chakra signature being this emotional, so he detached himself from that burning pit of rage that was burning deep within him. Emotionless he watched her sleep, amazed at how small her form was, how tired her eyes were. She wore exactly the same outfit as when she left the house that dreadful day. The senju hitai-ate still on her forehead. He felt hope fluttering. It would mean that the time that passed was not as much as he feared. Her memories of him would probably be fresh still. Then why was she sleeping in his arms? The small voice in his head that told him she did not have a blanket of her own, he ignored.

He took to the distant again. His fear made him decide to just observe them. It was a cowardly decision, but years of grief had broken him emotionally. He told himself that he just wanted to see how their interaction developed. A strange self-chastisement it seemed, but he just could not face reality at that moment. His fear of her rejection was all consuming.

When the days moved on, his fear increased and with it his insecurity. She did not give him any special attention, if any he had a feeling that she kept her distance deliberately. But he kept on watching her constantly with burning eyes. He knew a predator when he saw one. The Uchiha wanted her. Did she realise it?

Sometimes he felt his fear resurfacing with full force: their marriage seemed like a dream. It was so many years ago. Was it even real? Despite her clothing, he kept wondering: where had she been in the past year? Would she have any recollection of him? Maybe her memories were gone?

He tried to remain emotionless, but his shinobi restraint was faltering day by day. More and more often he felt worried and betrayed. He imagined he saw her falling for this Uchiha. Falling for this boy from her youth that hurt her so much. He seemed atoned now, at peace. Naruto had beaten some sense in him at least. He feared that he was losing her with every minute that she spent with that brat. He was losing her all over again. How could he have fooled himself that she would want him still? He was an old man. Old and forgotten. No more than a face in the rocks.

Still he did not leave them. It was sweet self-torture: he kept trailing them, monitoring their interaction from a distance. He didn't trust any Uchiha and especially not this one. He hurt her so many times already. It seemed only logical that this new atoned attitude was only a facade. But when he saw her blushing at his statement at the gate he felt all hope leaving him. She would only blush if she felt something. She must still love him.

Still he could not let go: he was pulled like a magnet towards her apartment. When he landed silently on the roof of her apartment building, he immediately sensed it: two chakra signatures. He stopped abruptly, his mind a blur of thoughts. The Uchiha was with her in her apartment! His fear was real! He did not know what to do. He wanted to kill the brat, break down the building or kill Kaguya for giving him this horrid fate. His mind shattering he fled over the rooftops, silent as a shadow, but internally screaming. His mind and body only came to a halt when he stood in front of the Senju compound.

He had returned there after only a few nights sleeping in Sakura's apartment, but the memories of her kept invading his mind until he could not function anymore. As a solution, Tsunade offered him his old quarters. It made him feel at ease and he could think again. When he thought of her there, it was a conscious choice at least.

He entered his quarters silently, with soft feet over the tatami mats, softly sliding the shoji doors shut. He let himself fall backwards on his futon, staring at the ceiling. Wondering what he should do. What was his purpose here when he had to give up his wife to another man? He slammed his fist into the futon angrily.

Should he just kick his ass and take her home? But if he did that, this issue might always stand in between them, tainting their relationship. What was her real heart's desire? Would she go back to him because he was here, out of duty for her husband or because she really wanted to? He would never find out, not really, and that knowledge would erode their love slowly but surely.

There would be no sleep tonight. He got up cursing under his breath. He longed for her return and now that she was here, the pain he felt was tenfold his past grief. Training seemed the only solution. Training until he could not think or feel any more. He needed to put some distance between himself and the city. He didn't want to attract attention after all.

Beta'd by damnednation