Mei for the first time in a while felt fully at ease. Perhaps it was the fact that Sasuke had returned to her and was currently also content holding her, or perhaps it was the sake they consumed in between their heavy make out sessions. Sitting on Sasuke's lap, his hand on the small of her back, staring into the beyond of the city of Kirigakure was oddly relaxing.
Sasuke himself was also completely at peace, with Mei's arms wrapped around his neck and constant sake in his cup. It was nice to rest his eye and muscles, he was looking forward to some time off with Mei. It did briefly give him pause and reflect on how far the sociopathic, lone avenger and the marriage-obsessed nymphomaniac had come together. They had begun to learn each other's little habits and the instant that he returned, they could absorb all the relative information from their time apart, with a single glance.
For example, Mei could now tell which areas Sasuke had travelled to, how many opponents he had faced, his mood, and whether he was excited to be back based off one look at his outfit and face. Well, the last one was always pretty much guaranteed to be a certainty.
In turn, Sasuke would estimate how Kirigakure was doing and how much she missed him. He... may have been slightly less perceptive than her and the irony was not lost on him, there were certain things even his eyes couldn't notice. Though he did have his moments:
If he had told her a date when he would return and she was at the gate to greet him, it was apparent that she was looking forward to seeing him. Or if he spontaneously surprised her by infiltrating her office and she didn't hit him for scaring her, she was generally happy to see him. Then again, she tended to hit him even if she wasn't happy to see him, he hoped that was because she was just easily scared...
A gust of cold wind caused Mei to squeeze Sasuke tighter for any extra warmth he could provide. Though the affection was appreciated, Sasuke detected a very small point of tension in Mei's lower back. He reached over and poured another cup of sake for both of them, irritated to find that the bottle was empty.
"You're not going to become an alcoholic on me, are you? If I'm being honest with you, it's not a very desirable trait."
"Is that what has you stressed?" Sasuke asked.
"Stressed? From all reports of your last drinking endeavour, you're a bit of a lightweight. So I don't think I have to worry too much about you becoming dependant on alcohol." She teased.
"Rumours can be so hurtful."
Mei laughed awkwardly at this. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in response, in nearly all of their interactions Mei had exuded nothing but pure confidence to him, it was one of her most attractive traits to him.
To tell the truth, Mei was feeling uncomfortable, well perhaps anxious was a more accurate word. She had decided that her time with her sexy boy toy had been fun, but Sasuke was getting, slowly but surely, older and here they were in the same familiar position. While she had enjoyed the way he made her feel young and beautiful again, the way those predatory eyes of his trailed the length of her body before he ravished her, she couldn't help that same familiar feeling she had a year ago. As fun as those feelings had been, she needed a man who wanted to make love as opposed to have mindless sex all the time, not that there was anything wrong with the latter now and again.
"So if not my non-existent alcoholism, what is it that's bothering you?"
"Have you ever have any dreams Sasuke?"
Sasuke took the time to ponder his words while mentally grimacing, this could only end horribly. He could already feel the weight of the impending conversation on his shoulders and with the sake in him, he was already at a disadvantage. This wasn't fair! He was just home and completely at ease, he just wanted to relax with her in his arms. Was that too much to ask?
"Dreams were something I always felt were unobtainable, just out of reach. I feel that if you use the term "dream", you're referring to the impossible, an idea that was simply unachievable in your life."
"What?" Mei laughed, genuinely this time. "How did you turn such a simple question into such a complicated answer?"
"What I mean is, dreams, in my eyes, can only be experienced when you are in just that, a dream. That is when you aren't bound by the physical restraints of reality and thus, have the power to experience it."
"I... think I see what you're saying. That doesn't answer whether you have any or not, though."
His face and tone softened. "Of course I do, every night I dream that the horrific acts committed by my brother weren't real and that I'll wake up and everything will go back to the way it was fifteen years ago."
Mei placed a tender, comforting kiss onto his forehead as he slowly stroked her back. It genuinely did warm her heart that he now felt comfortable enough to share these things with her, as opposed to shutting the conversation down. She wasn't opposed to him being stoic at all, it was just refreshing to have him express emotion instead of always bottling his feelings up.
"So, you don't have any current dreams?"
"Like I said, the only time I experience my dreams is when I am asleep, it's the one moment when I can actually see them again. A lucid reverie is transformed into a reality, that's the sensation I get anyway."
"With that line of speech, you're starting to sound like Madara."
"Hardly, I'm not foolish enough to go live in some fantasy world. It's just a nice change of pace to not wake up in a cold sweat from a horrific nightmare."
"You haven't had that many nightmares recently?" Mei asked curiously.
"No, and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge your role in that." He admitted.
Mei smiled and twirled a strand of his hair. "What do you remember, or dream, about them?"
Sasuke gave a small smile, happy that she had not noticed how subtly he had changed her definition of "dream", and by subtle he meant speak asinine nonsense until she engaged in his new topic.
He had no doubt that with that initial question, she fully intended him to lay out any future "goals", "aspirations" or "ambitions" he had, as opposed to his literal dreams, but he was simply in too good a mood to engage with the line of conversation that would inevitably follow. So instead, he twisted the definition of the specific word she used for his benefit. And who said there was no such thing as a functional alcoholic?
"The Uchiha? We had our own district in Konoha, my father was in charge of the clan and the Konoha Military Police Force."
"What was he like?" Mei asked.
"Harsh." He said simply.
An uncomfortable silence lay in the cool air for a few moments, as Sasuke looked dead ahead with an emotionless face, and refused to say anything further. That one word said a lot more than it probably ought to, Mei decided to change tact and move on to his other parent.
"What about your mother?" Mei was relieved to see a small smile tug at Sasuke's lips as he began to recollect the memories of the one who gave him life.
"Gentle and... warm. She always did her best to cheer up Itachi and my father, even when things got tense between the family. She tried to encourage me at every chance she could, told me my father often talked about me when they were alone. I don't know how much I believed her, but I appreciated her efforts nonetheless."
"Do you think mama Uchiha would approve of her son being with a woman such as myself?"
"Would my mother approve of me being in a relationship with a Mizukage? I think she'd say I was doing well for myself." Sasuke smirked.
"That just leaves us with the sibling rivalry."
"Hardly a rivalry." Sasuke scoffed. "Even when he was dead, Itachi was working hard to protect Konoha. We stopped the Reanimation Jutsu, did you know that?"
"Oh, you've only mentioned it about ten or so times." Mei rolled her eyes.
"Hn. I guess I feel I like I'm the only one left to defend Itachi's legacy, which is ironic, given that I've spent the majority of my life trying to escape his shadow."
"He does tend to cast a long one, doesn't he?" Mei grinned, causing Sasuke to narrow his eyes at her. "Don't worry Sasuke, I'm more than happy with the Uchiha I've got."
"Well, I'd like to say I was worried about your running away with another, but..."
Mei laughed and leaned down, locking her lips to his. She made a small noise as he stood up and carried her inside as the sun was coming down and it would inevitably become quite cool soon. He elegantly placed her on their bed and went to open a second bottle of sake.
"You may want to hold back on the alcohol if you intend to copulate tonight. The last time you got tipsy, you passed out and I had to tuck you in. It was very dignified." Mei said sarcastically.
Sasuke turned to look at her splayed out form and gave her that animalistic look that sent a jolt of excitement through her veins.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Sasuke grinned.
He stalked towards her, drinks already forgotten. He unzipped his jacket as Mei rose to her knees on the bed, so she was face to face with him. She helped him pull his shirt over his head and ran her eyes over the muscle hidden underneath.
"I see you're still taking good care of your body." Mei said coyly.
"I'm so glad you've noticed."
Mei brought his face to hers, and began planting kisses before nibbling his lower lip. Running her hands across Sasuke's torso, Mei moved to shower his chest in kisses.
Sasuke closed his eyes and gave a low chuckle as her kisses trailed lower. "I can't even begin to describe how much I missed you, plus I always thought actions spoke louder than words." Sasuke said before tilting his head back.
After their little reunion session, Sasuke's curiosity was raised when he contemplated on their conversation earlier. Mei was so eager to learn about his family, yet he could hardly remember her mentioning anything about her own. Now while he could very easily be blamed for this by showing a lack of interest, he felt that she shared in some of the responsibility of not revealing anything about her family. What if it was a sensitive topic for her? As far as Sasuke was concerned, she should thank him for not bringing it up.
While his conscience may have been partially cleared, his curiosity was still unappeased. Turning over to her resting form, Sasuke placed an arm around her and interlocked their fingers.
"You now know a lot about my family, but I don't think I've ever heard you talk about yours once."
Mei turned around and shifted into his arms. "What do you want to know?"
"Well, what were your parents like?"
"I never met my father, and my mother never spoke of him. She raised me on her own, did her best to encourage me when I enrolled in the academy. She always tried to keep a cheerful disposition but there were times that I could tell that she was desperately lonely. It was difficult to see her like that, it's probably part of the reason why I am the way I am now, just determined to not end up alone. Even when I was in Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi, I dreamed I was at my wedding."
"It sounds like your mother did everything to support you, even on her own." Sasuke said, stroking her arm.
"I know that, I'm not trying to make it sound like I don't want to end up like her. It's not a nice thing to see you hero heartbroken, my mother was the strongest person I've ever met and if loneliness could do that to her, well it's something I feel as though I should avoid. Which brings me all the way back to my original question..."
"Oh, fuck me." Sasuke closed his eyes and grimaced.
"I just did, which means you should be in a fantastic mood and give me an honest answer."
"And would the question be, my dear?" Sasuke smirked.
Mei narrowed her eyes at him, Sasuke's smile slowly dissipated and his face took on a sober look.
"Do you really want to do this now?" He asked, staring up at the ceiling.
"I can think of no better time or place, we seem to do a lot of our serious conversations in bed, post-coitus."
Sasuke laughed before sitting up and taking her hands in his.
"Alright then. Look, I care for you, I really do. The past eighteen months have been a time of self-discovery, finding myself without all the hatred, violence and nightmares. Like I said, you have been the most integral part in that, helping me become a somewhat functional member of society."
"That's debatable."
"You're not wrong, but you tolerate me, so that's good enough." He smiled.
"You have a funny meaning of the word tolerate, but do continue."
Sasuke paused. "I would have absolutely no problem spending the rest of my life with you but with that comes one guarantee, and you already know what it is. I cannot, will not, leave this earth and let the Uchiha clan fade into extinction. If this is going to work, you have to be able to bear my children."
"Have I ever given you any impression that I wouldn't want children?" Mei asked, slightly puzzled.
"It's not- can we please talk about this tomorrow?"
"No, come on. Just tell me what the problem is and I'll do my best to help, I know how important this is to you." Mei stroked his cheek in an attempt to soothe him.
Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I have no doubt you'd be a great mother, the type I would be proud to have raising my children. I just need to know if you're capable for the physical aspects."
Mei raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke, I know children can be annoying little creatures who only know how to create messes, and I know our children will be particularly strong, but I'm sure I can handle it."
Sasuke bit his lip and avoided making eye contact. "Not... those physical aspects. I'm referring to what comes before any of that."
Mei's eyes widened. "Are you-"
"Look, I have never ever had a problem with your age, not once. You're more beautiful than any woman I can think, your maturity and confidence are your most attractive features to me, after those alluring emerald eyes. Our relationship had its foundation built on sex, that's just a fact. It grew to be so much more than that over time but that's where it started off, we both find each other irresistible and that takes its form in us fornicating, a lot. We've been using precautions when it comes to reproduction the majority of the time, but given how often we engage in it, there should have been more than enough times where you should already be expecting."
"What the fuck are you trying to say, Sasuke?" Mei demanded, stepping out of bed in order to avoid looking at him.
"Mei." Sasuke tried to calm her.
"You're 20, I'm 32, what the fuck gives you the impression that I won't be able to conceive a child!"
"I'm just being honest with you, you asked." Sasuke found his own voice rising. This was exactly what he didn't want to happen, this cursed line of conversation was only going to end in tears.
"If it came to that, I could- I could stay with you and have children with another woman, you could meet them beforehand-" Sasuke tried to suggest.
"Do you even hear yourself?!" Mei asked incredulously. "You think I'd let you whore your Uchiha genes out with another and just happily remain your diligent wife?"
"Well at least I'm trying to come up with some ideas here, which is more than I can say for you!" Sasuke shouted. "You weighed your options with me, and now you're acting like I'm an asshole for doing the same, hypocrite. Stand in the ashes of an entire clan, then get back to me. I have one purpose left in life and that is to repopulate the Uchiha clan and nothing is going to stop that, not even you!"
Sasuke took a breath and tried to calm down. He looked over to Mei, who had her back turned to him.
"Get out, Sasuke." Mei told him, with a resigned tone.
"Mei-" Sasuke started.
"Just go."
She turned to him, and his heart sank. There were no tears, no anger, no shouting, no emotion at all, just bitter acceptance. This was nothing new to her, he realised, she just brushed it off, brushed him off as if they had only begun dating yesterday. This was not how he expected it to go, not how he wanted it to go. He wanted her angry, attacking and fighting him, he wanted some sort of reaction from her, so as to feel somewhat less guilty.
"This isn't over, not yet. We haven't even properly discussed it yet, or actively tried to have children. I was just enjoying the first, carefree few months of a new relationship, me leaving now won't solve anything. We've both invested too much time in this to walk away now." Sasuke said softly.
He reached to touch her and was more shocked than hurt when she flinched. He looked at her quizzically, not even trying to conceal his hurt. Sasuke numbly gathered his clothes and quickly got dressed. Grabbing his newly reformed Kusanagi, he left without saying another word.