A/N: I know it's early, but Happy Valentine's day, everyone! The title of this fic has been changed from "Through the Golden Years" to "Life's Winter" because I felt that it was too long. Here are the simple definitions for the Japanese words I used in this chapter: ryokan(inn), genkan(entryway area), uwabaki(indoor slippers), tatami(mats), chabudai(low table), wagashi(confectionery), tokonoma(alcove), ashiyu(foot bath), kashikiri-buro(reserved bath) and kaiseki ryori(multi-course meal). Happy reading!
Chapter 2: Anniversary
Through the cool breeze of the spring afternoon, Sasuke and Sakura reached their destination somewhere in the Land of Hot Water for their accommodation, which their own daughter arranged for their anniversary. Amidst the trees over the hills which were surrounded by the light dappled waters, a traditional ryokan stood before them. Together, they made their way by crossing over the red bridge into the genkan of the building. They both took off their shoes onto the lower floor before they set their feet off towards the brown-haired receptionist, who appeared to be younger than them by a few decades.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Uchiha and Mrs. Uchiha. We are so pleased to see you two again after a very long time. I've received word from the Hokage that you two would be spending time here for a night. Please make yourselves at home. You must be weary after such a journey." Said the receptionist, who bowed low before them before they checked into the hotel. Another dark-haired woman was bowed beside the older brown-haired woman.
"Good afternoon to you too, and thank you," replied Sakura beamingly whereas Sasuke simply nodded and agreed with an "Aah".
"This is my daughter, Fae, and she'll take it from here." And the youth responded with a simple nod to her parent.
A hospitable younger woman with a painted face greeted them gracefully and offered a bow of courtesy "Welcome, Mr. And Mrs. Uchiha. I'm Fae, and I'll be your attendant during your accommodation here. Please follow me while I escort you to your room."
The couple were led to their prepared suite, as Sakura walked with her hands clasped in front of her while Sasuke carried their long-strapped shoulder bag. The silver fox could feel his wife's anticipation growing ever more for the celebration of their anniversary - as well as himself.
After a few minutes of walking in the hallway, the hostess reached to a halt before a shoji door, as she slid it open and stepped aside with her head bowed so the pair made their way into the room after they took off their uwabaki.
"This is where you'll be spending your time here for the day." Declared the hostess, following after them into their prepared room.
The room was simple, where tatami covered almost the entirety of the floor, and the centre of the room had a chabudai with two cushions placed on the opposite sides of it. A parchment and a pen were already laid upon the low table along with a tray of two tea bowls, a small plate of wagashi, and a teapot. A tokonoma was seated on their left as it directed towards the chabudai. On the right side of the room was the sleek television that was positioned on its own vanity table, and a small refrigerator stood next to it. Ahead of the large room was the small adjacent sitting room, where it contained two western chairs and a small table.
Fae treaded to the low table on the tatami, gesturing with her head and uttered, "and here's the check-in form to fill it in."
"Fae, you don't need to trouble yourself just because we're old," said Sakura, as she followed the attendant to where she sat, taking her time to settle down into one of the cushions by the chabudai and filled in the check-in form.
Sasuke settled the shoulder bag into the corner of the room, away from the tatami and he padded over to where his spouse sat by taking the opposite cushion.
"But Sakura sama, it's part of my responsibility to-" the hostess started hesitantly.
"We're just here to enjoy ourselves again at your family-owned ryokan," Interrupted the elder woman cheerily. And she continued with a smile, "besides we're shinobi."
"Very well," a pause before she inquired, "when was the last time you were here?"
Fae started preparing the matcha tea by whisking the fine jade powder with the hot-steaming water from the teapot in each of the tea bowls before she placed them in front of the gray couple along with a small plate wagashi amongst them.
"After our marriage," answered the silver fox before lifting the filled tea bowl to his lips with his lone hand, but not without a nod of gratitude towards the young hostess.
The elder woman picked up the tea bowl and thanked the hostess before she drank the matcha tea. She also consumed her sakura mochi from the wagashi plate while Sasuke hadn't touched his.
"I see." Upon hearing that, the hostess realised that it must be such an honour for the parents of the current Hokage from the legendary clan, such as the Uchiha, to accommodate themselves again in this ryokan.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha," said the attendant in which she took the parchment and continued, "If you do need anything, please let me know and dinner will be served at seven." After that, she excused herself with grace and courtesy towards the shoji door at the entrance, and exited the suite.
"And I'll take that," said Sakura cheerily, reaching for the other untouched pink mochi.
"Hn." Sasuke snorted amusedly, as he was very much accustomed to his wife's habit. Besides, she didn't even need to take his permission before consuming his wagashi due to him not being fond of them.
After a moment of silence, the gray woman announced, "I'm gonna check out the suite."
The elder man decided to accompany his wife in exploring their current accommodation. The Uchiha's emerged to the farthest left of the room, which contained another pair of shoji. Sakura slid it with ease.
"Our yukata sets," Sasuke observed, handing over the smaller yukata set to his wife before taking his larger one from the closet.
The pair had stripped themselves out of their travelling clothing before they wore their yukata set. The silverfox's yukata was navy blue whilst his other was a scarlet. Of course, the gray woman did not mind helping her husband into dressing him the blue yukata and tying the obi that laid upon his hip.
He eyed her gratefully after she finished positioning the obi knot on the hip, and teased, "you can't help yourself."
The gray medic read the expression in his right eye, and his smirk before she grinned "Hoping that it'll stay in its place."
They placed their folded clothes in their travelling bag before Sasuke effortlessly slid open another shoji door to reveal a sink room, as part of the restroom. The sink room provided all of the toiletries as well as the neatly rolled towels for the onsen. The restroom has also been separated into two other different rooms - a privy and a separate washroom.
Sasuke opened the door onto the left to make way for his wife to step into the washroom. As soon as she set her foot in, she exclaimed "Anata, there's even a bench for us to do our ashiyu! Sarada's so thoughtful!"
Their daughter had certainly kept in mind to have the ashiyu included beforehand when she reserved a room with an indoor kashikiri-buro. A wooden bench was inserted in front of the onsen to appreciate the view ahead of them. Indeed, the Scarlet Spring definitely anticipated that her parents would likely be exhausted due to travelling on foot for a day or so. A foot bath is surely needed prior to the elder couple setting foot on the road after they've been checked out from the inn.
"Yeah, she always is," the silver fox expressed, following close behind her to observe the indoor hot spring. Beyond the onsen stood the window, which loomed the viridian greenery of the trees and the blue lone lake.
"Anata, let's wash ourselves in the onsen," blurted the old lady enthusiastically, whirling around to meet her husband's eyes. She intertwined her fingers, as she inched closer to him.
"I'd rather have us go for a walk." He briefly closed his eyes.
"But we came all this way to enjoy ourselves for our anniversary," protested Sakura.
"We can do it later," said Sasuke.
"Oh! Come on, Sasuke-ku-" she broke off with a bewildered expression, feeling a quick tap on her byakagou seal, "eh?"
Sasuke regarded her warmly with a smirk on his lips, as he assured her, "It won't take much long, Sakura."
Their eyes met for a moment, and the platinum woman observed the promise in his eyes. She felt her cheeks warm when Sasuke grabbed her hand to lead her out of the restroom, into the adjacent sitting room. He headed towards the glass door and opened it. The old man left the door open due to his wife closing it after her. The couple slipped on the wooden slippers just before entering the engawa, and made their way towards the garden with one another.
They both descended from the engawa into the garden to astonish the view. The garden had a koi pond with uneven edging stones surrounding it. As they were crossing over the stepping stone path in the pond, Sakura crouched down to admire the fish in the murky blue waters.
"Sorry, we don't have food to feed you," uttered the old woman apologetically to the surfaced koi fish with their mouths opened, expecting to be fed. She patted them ever so slightly atop their heads.
Beside her, Sasuke squatted down to make out the hungry expression on each of the koi fish, and noticed the contentment upon his wife's countenance.
Sakura, who sensed her spouse's attention towards her, prodded with a grin, "What is it, Sasuke-run?"
"You haven't changed," acknowledged the silver fox with a smirk on his wrinkled face.
"Anata, you know I always wanted them," nagged Sakura, pursing her lips.
He released an exasperated sigh, as he questioned his wife, "But who's going to look after them?"
To that, Sakura remained silent, where she glanced onto each koi carp. They represented good fortune, abundance and perseverance. Good fortune came to the Uchiha's when they attained enough wealth to settle comfortably in Konoha after they tenaciously accepted to strive through their roles for decades, such as Sasuke protecting the village within its shadows whereas Sakura being the head of the medical department.
Countless blessings were bestowed upon them when they had seen the koi fish swarming in this very pond before themselves several years ago. A few months after, they had Sarada during their travels, as she later on accomplished her dream of being the current Hokage while she had two beautiful children from her late husband. The elder pair had never been happier to be spending a tremendous amount of time with their grandchildren, and teaching them the shinobi way while the Spring Scarlet was busy fulfilling her duties as the Hokage. Time had definitely taken its course for the prestigious clan of the Uchiha to have its honour finally restored in which Sasuke had felt pride swelled within his chest, and his wife was more than happy to be there for him throughout this journey. To them, quality only mattered over quantity.
After so much time had passed within a blink of an eye, the old woman still did not know how to express her utmost gratitude to the creation before her, whose symbolisms were a good luck and a blessing.
"We were both so busy to the point that time flew by so quickly, huh." Her gaze remained fixed upon her wrinkled hands with a sad smile. Now in this very moment, Sakura had wondered what blessing lies beyond them at this point upon looking at the surfaced koi carps, especially at the golden age.
"Aah," Sasuke agreed, reaching out to his spouse's left hand and gave a light squeeze. The old lady's emerald eyes softened at the sight of her husband's creased lone hand over hers, and in return she smiled, where she fully understood his gesture.
'Don't we all go through this phase, Sakura?'
"But most importantly, we have made use of our time, right?" Came his statement to which the platinum-haired woman simply nodded at the rhetorical question before they both rose from their crouched positions, and proceeded with their excursion throughout the garden.
Through the crossing over a blackened coral bridge and taking turns, they saw the manicured shrubs and a variety of mosses on display. As well as the moss covered statues and stone-cut lanterns being placed away from the stone paths, where they tread onto. A water basin was positioned beside a green maple tree. There were more viridian maple trees and pine trees here and there. The elderly couple came to a halt by the edging stones, where the beyond was a spectacular view.
Ahead of them stood the mountain being sunbathed in the afternoon sun, and the lake being shimmered from the reflection of the sky. Specks of sunlight sprayed upon the viridian leaves of the trees, and through the gust of wind the jade green leaves from the maple trees danced into the sky. Sakura with an amazed expression whereas Sasuke with his own remarked eyes.
"Anata, it's beautiful." Said Sakura, admiring the view.
"Aah," Sasuke agreed, his expression eased.
Sakura's lips curved into a smile, as she clasped hands with her husband - intertwining the fingers with her ringed hand. This was due to having the opportunity to spend time with her husband for a day peacefully on their anniversary. The elder man simply reciprocated by intertwining the fingers firmly of his lone hand over the back of his wife's left hand. They both knew of how much it meant to them to spend with the other on their very special day.
The silver fox slipped a glance towards his spouse, where she remained looking forth towards the marveled view. Though she had gone old and gray, just like himself; her eyes still remained emerald green as though the greenery before them. She was like the ever-growing nature, who never wavered in her love for him throughout these years - despite his absences from the village due to being occupied with the long-term missions. While he, on the other, was like a wandering hawk who would always return to the tree branch, where his wife would be eager to extend it to him patiently. He had never been more grateful for themselves sharing a life with one another.
The couple returned to their suite, and the both made up their mind that it's time for them to spend time in the kashikiri-buro during the sunset. After they stepped into the washroom, the platinum-haired woman and the silver fox stripped themselves of their clothings. Also the elder man took off his eye patch to reveal his rinnegan for the time being. The Uchiha's sat atop the stools provided in the washroom and began washing themselves. Of course, Sasuke faced an issue of not being able to scrub himself properly with his lone arm, despite himself travelling tremendously during his youthful days. But nevertheless, his spouse was happily there to scrub his back, right arm and scalp. She simply tied up her pale silver hair and set herself to work. In return, the elder man let out an exhale of contentment.
By using the small towels from the sink room, they both dried themselves briefly before slowly dipping their bodies into the hot, steamy waters of the onsen.
"Ah... This is all we needed, Sasuke-kun," Sakura sighed, relaxing herself lower to the warm waters.
"Aah," Her spouse agreed.
A small silence hung between them, and the retired kunoichi broke by doubting, "I wonder how the kids are doing."
"They're probably doing fine."
"Oh, how can you know, Anata?" Sakura questioned, inching closer to her spouse.
With that, he turned his gaze from the landscape through the window to meet his wife's emerald eyes, and said, "we've been there for them, Sakura."
The platinum-haired woman saw the tenderness within them and understood the meaning behind his words.
'We've been there with them for so long to the point that they can take care of themselves.'
Another thought spurred within her head, as she inquired, "So you've always trained Sachihirou."
"Aa," he nodded, and his mismatched eyes shifted towards the landscape beyond the window, where he added, "I intend to give him my katana."
Sakura smiled to herself and she murmured, "I always knew you'd pass it to him someday."
"Hn," he snorted, indicating that as an admission before he continued, "same with you and Sayuri. She kept on tagging along with you to your medical lectures."
"Well, not until she started attending the academy."
To that, Sasuke made no reply, for his silence was an agreement to his wife's statement. For a moment, he stared down into the steamy waters, contemplating something within his mind as his over-worn features frowned ever so slightly. While Sakura pushed herself to the side of the onsen, which overlooked the window and beyond.
"They grew up so quickly, Anata," said Sakura with a smile subdued with sadness, lowering her gaze into her neatly folded arms.
In response, the silver fox slightly made his way to where his spouse was positioned. He looked at her for a moment, and briefly closed his eyes before uttering "But they learned many things from us." He assured her.
In lieu, she rested her platinum head against his shoulder and nodded gently as a response. The pair just remained silent as they both contentedly stared into the scenery that loomed beyond the window. The sunset brimmed the entire sky with hues of deep rubies and topaz, setting the clouds ablaze, and creating silhouettes of the trees, hills and the mountain.
After they dried themselves from the onsen and donned a new set of yukata, a knock on the door was heard who turned out to be Fae. She was serving a large tray of kaiseki ryori. The hostess excused herself again after placing the small dishes onto the chabudai, where the Sakura expressed her sincere gratitude while Sasuke simply gave a nod.
The Uchiha's fed on the bite-sized appetizers, broth soup, sashimi, stewing meat and vegetables, grilled fish, shrimp tempura and other various dishes. Two small glasses of sake were served, as well as a small bowl of tart cherries and ripe strawberries for dessert.
"You seem to like the fruits, Anata." Prompted Sakura.
"They're not too sweet."
His old wife hummed in reply, lifting her hand-held napkin to her lips to deposit a pit from cherry into it.
"You haven't drank much." Sasuke pointed out to his spouse.
"I'm trying to savor it with every bite, Sasuke-kun," sniggered the platinum-haired woman, taking a small sip from her sake glass.
"Ah, I see."
Amidst their humble merriment, the pair continued to eat in silence. It did not take much long for Fae to enter again and clear their table, removing the small empty bowls, plates and chopsticks. Indeed, the hostess enquired whether or not their meal was satisfying, and Sakura answered that their dinner was truly enjoyable whereas Sasuke agreed with his wife's statement. Their futon was also being prepared amidst their chatter regarding the tea garden they've taken a stroll through earlier this afternoon. The attendant picked up the tray of dinnerware and took her leave from their suite.
After they prepared themselves for bedtime and laid down on their futon, the elder woman reached out to her husband by nestling her head against her husband's shoulder, closing her arms around his waist. The subtle hinoki wood scent was inhaled from the crook of his neck. Sasuke wrapped his lone arm about his wife's shoulders, where he rested his hand at the back of her head, stroking the platinum locks. His spouse smelled of delicate cherry blossoms, as usual in which the old man cherished this scent so much from her.
"I really had fun today. Happy anniversary, Anata," she whispered, beaming lovingly at him. She placed a kiss on his cheek.
"You too, Sakura, and thank you," regarded Sasuke warmly before he softly kissed her forehead.
Due to the day's exhaustion, they both succumbed to peaceful slumber. It was a long day yet they enjoyed it to the brim. Nevertheless, the pair looked forward to what truly beheld ahead of them on their journey on the morrow.
A/N: After writing this chapter, it made me wanna spend a day at the ryokan! :D Since Persian New Year's approaching, I hope to work on a oneshot soon. Hope to see you soon, everyone! ^_^
