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Covenant
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Synopsis: In a harmonious world, who takes the blame?
What sins are punished and who decides?
Does vengeance leave with the last of its enemies?
As society rebuilds itself, Sakura learns some things can't be restored.
Not all beginnings start anew—not every ending brings closure.
And sometimes, peace isn't always that peaceful.
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3:3. A Reconciliation
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HIS SENTIMENT drew her dormant ire. Eyes narrowing towards the corner his voice came from, Sakura gripped the cell bars.
"Fucking you, Sasuke. Why are you refusing to see me? What did I do?"
"You didn't do anything. Go home, Sakura."
Her vision finally adjusted to the darkness. Sasuke was sitting on a cot, swaddled in a plain, white straight-jacket, a black cloth tied around his eyes. Silver sealing script etched down the dark fabric.
Despite being angry with him, the sight still had her gritting her teeth in indignation. Blinding him—fine. He was probably the strongest dojutsu user alive now. But binding his entire body, when he hadn't once shown any motivation to escape imprisonment, was complete overkill. Considering it was already nighttime, they obviously left him to sleep like this, too.
"No," she said. "I'm not leaving until we talk."
"We have nothing to talk about."
That statement would've wrecked Teenage Sakura's heart. Even trained for this inevitable cruelty, her chest still caved into itself in the face of it.
He was speaking, though. That was half the battle. And caged, bound, under heavy chakra suppressors—he couldn't make her leave.
Today, she was getting answers.
"Is this really how you're going to treat me? By ignoring me again? Closing off the seal and pretending I don't exist?"
He sagged into the wall. Tilted his head back against the rocky earth. Reading his subtle body language was almost impossible with most of him constricted, but she imagined he'd be staring up at the ceiling if he could. Annoyed or exhausted by the slump of his shoulders.
"Can we not do this?" he quietly asked.
"Can you not do this? Why is it always pulling teeth with you?" She watched him slide lower on the wall and frowned. "I just want to talk, Sasuke. I don't understand why you're freezing me out like this. I thought…"
I thought I meant something more to you now.
Her lips sealed in the concession. It was too risky an admission. He'd surely take the opportunity to crush her in hopes of pushing her out of the dungeons.
After letting a beat pass for her to finish the sentence, Sasuke sighed. "...Why do you always appear before me in these moments?"
His question didn't make sense.
"I've been trying to come see you since the very first day."
"I know."
"I know you know," she hissed. "What I want to know is why you refused my visits, and why you're blocking the seal."
Silence settled between them.
He sat there unmoving. Seemingly uncaring. Tight-lipped and stony. If she hadn't already heard him talk, she would've thought he was asleep.
Sakura squared her chest and tapped her foot, waiting for a response. Contrary to what he tried to portray, she knew he wasn't as unemotional as this bedridden statue wanted her to think.
And she wasn't leaving until she got the answers she deserved. She would stand here all night if that was what it took.
The tapping's slow rhythm must've tipped off her resolve; he eventually caved first.
"...You need to get used to the silence."
"Why? You plan to do this to me forever?"
"Not forever." The corner of his lips twitched. "Just for a bit longer."
Her brow furrowed. "Until when?"
"You've probably grown a good tolerance to not having me in your head all the time. You read Orochimaru's log." His voice lost inflection. "It's better that you don't reacclimate before my execution."
Her breath caught in her throat. There was that word again.
From his mouth, however, spoken so firm and monotone—it felt like God carving a commandment into stone.
"You won't be executed," she swore, hoping to overwrite what he'd cursed into the universe.
"It's not up to you."
"I'll make sure that's not the outcome. And even if it comes to it, I'll get you out of Konoha before that happens. Naruto and Kakashi will, too."
Sasuke shrugged. "I'd just get picked up by another village."
He said it so casually. So nonchalant. As if he wasn't one of the most powerful shinobi alive. Like he couldn't evade capture if he wanted.
The only reason he was here in the first place was because he'd let himself get detained.
Her fists tightened on the bars until she was sure her knuckles bled white. "Do you want to die?" Deep down, unwilling as she was to admit it, she already knew that answer. His behavior since returning left no doubt. "Why are you just taking this, Sasuke? They promised you a pardon. Whether you gave it up or not, you won us the war. You know you don't deserve this."
"I don't?" Head turning away, he spoke at the opposite wall. "How many Allies do you think I've killed, Sakura?"
"That doesn't matter," she swiftly assured. Tried to sweep the oncoming truth under the rug.
"Doesn't it?"
"No. It doesn't. Without you, we would've—"
"I killed the Fifth Hokage."
Her whole body froze. A soft clamor rattled down from the top of her spine, calling her to turn into a December battlefield on her back.
"I killed your teammate," Sasuke barreled on, oblivious to the acrid tinge in the air and the horrid, rotten corpse-heat rising from the floor. "The Root member."
The dungeon room was suddenly widening—expanding into a massive cave. Water from stalactites splashed onto her skin. Agony rebounded on the walls; black masks encircled them; a tattered body fell to the ground beside her, vomiting blood.
Squeezing her eyes shut to the shadows flitting through the room, she focused on the cool metal gripped in her hands. The quickening pace of her heart. Sasuke's small chakra signature in the corner.
He was doing this on purpose. Being needlessly brutal about things she kept boxed away to function. She knew him well enough now to know he was trying to hurt her. Expected she'd run away and never come back if he went far enough.
"We… We all did—things we regret," Sakura forced out. It made her sick to say it out loud. To say it about this. To reduce what she watched him do to such general sentiments. "We all did what we had to."
"And you think the friends and family of the hundreds of others I killed feel the same way?"
There was no good answer to that. None that wouldn't be a lie, at least.
Expecting the nonresponse, Sasuke continued. "The peace you and Naruto always wanted won't ever exist so long as I live. My family started this war. Konoha can't win until the last Uchiha dies."
Conviction. Resignation.
He wasn't going to fight.
Something inside of her cracked. It filled her eyes with tears and chest with ache. The shelves in her mind shook in helpless panic, threatening to crash down all at once.
A lone memory slipped out of the chaos; came back to her, slow as a petal on a pond.
They'd had this conversation before. Years ago, now.
From the very start. From the beginning, he'd planned for this. He'd always meant to land himself right here in this dungeon—bound in the forests outside Konoha with an ANBU executioner, sentenced to death.
Orochimaru was right. Sasuke never intended to live past the war.
And he'd told her. Mere months after she learned who hid behind the black cat mask, Sasuke blatantly warned her that he only cared about winning.
But Sakura hadn't heard him.
She hadn't understood just how different their ideas of winning were back then.
There was so little left, though. So few she cared about made it out alive. And even alive, they were all shells of the people she loved.
Ino had taken to wearing long skirts and shirts that fell to her hips. The once extroverted, confident woman could barely look strangers in the eye when they visited the flower shop. She drank most nights. Had given up her position as leader of her clan. Sometimes Sakura found her at the graves, silently sobbing over Choji's, a familiar listlessness in her gaze that sent chills up Sakura's spine.
Naruto went days without laughing. He holed away at home, caring for Hinata, leaving only for missions and to visit his friends. Walked through Konoha with his head down, ashamed to talk to people who'd lost someone—ashamed to speak to anyone.
Shikamaru couldn't even visit the war memorial. When he wasn't needed for Counsel duties, he was rarely home. He spent his time far away from this place—in Suna, with Temari. Where the memories weren't haunting and the roads weren't paved in lost memories.
Only Sasuke felt whole. Only he felt the same, anymore.
His eventual return had gotten her through those long, agonizing weeks of withdrawal in the hospital. Their ultimate reunion forced her out of bed countless mornings. That he was somewhere out there, alive and coming back to her, was the only thing that kept the ghosts and the screams and the accusatory glares she shelved away in place, most days.
Without him, how could she survive this new world they'd trampled into?
"...Come over here," she whispered, carefully keeping her words steady. He didn't move. "Sasuke, please. Come here."
After hesitating a second longer, Sasuke slid to the edge of the cot and pushed onto his feet. While the straight-jacket fell down to the floor, he didn't have trouble walking towards her. Steps quiet, he stopped inches from the bars, only an arm's length away.
His cheeks below the black sealing cloth were ashen. Hair weighed down and matted, it was apparent they weren't letting him shower. Or he wasn't bothering to. The lips he'd pressed against hers hundreds of times in the past two years were cracked from the cold, dry air—thinned now as he clenched his jaw.
But his shoulders were still broad and straight. He still towered over her. Still smelled faintly of hemlock and earth, and dipped his chin to face her, and bathed her nerves in a calm that felt like safety and acceptance.
He still came to her when she asked it of him.
He was still the Sasuke she knew.
"Tilt your head down."
At her order, his head fell forward, grazing the steel rods that separated them.
Reaching into the cell, Sakura channeled chakra into her fingers and carefully untied the blindfold. The seal was strong, but it took her only a few moments to pull it off. She clutched it in her fist and held her breath.
Sasuke lifted his head to meet her gaze, blinking while his vision adjusted. Onyx and deep purple bore into her. Her throat ached on a growing lump she was struggling to swallow.
It'd been so long since she'd seen these eyes.
His stare followed a wet trail down to her chin.
"Why are you crying." He spoke the question like a statement. Like he genuinely didn't understand.
And maybe he honestly didn't. Sasuke hadn't ever kept his endgame hidden from her. She was the one who hadn't wanted to see it.
"I know. I know all I've done in the past two years is cry when we face one another. I know I have to look so weak, begging a man who refused to see me to talk. I know that."
His sights lifted back to hers, controlled. Empty of any emotion he was surely guarding behind his stupid, infuriating mask of indifference.
"But I can't help it, Sasuke. I can't lose anyone else." Her voice broke. "I can't lose you most of all. I lo—"
"Sakura." Tone low and soft, he silenced the confession. "...Don't."
He didn't want to hear it.
He never had. Not when their agreement began. Not when she was the contact. Not even in Madara's bases, when she couldn't help it from spilling out into the crook of his neck as he clutched her against him.
Fine. If he didn't want her to say it, then she wouldn't let him have it. But—
"Whether I say it or not, you know. You know there's no peace for me if you do this," she gave instead, chin quivering.
"I'm not the one doing this," he challenged.
"But you're letting it happen! You aren't even fighting!"
"...I'm tired of fighting."
"So am I! And I'm tired of doing this with you over and over and over again!" she shouted. "You always push me to this point when you know how I feel! After everything—why, Sasuke?! Why? Why do you always fall back to treating me like I'm some stranger to you?!"
Sighing, he closed his eyes, brow knitted. "What else would you have me do? It's best to keep our distance if they want me to answer for what I've done. I agree that I deserve it…but you don't."
"You don't deserve it, either! You don't. And if you just fight, I will get you out of this. I swear it. Me, Naruto, and Kakashi. We'll get you out of this."
She wanted desperately to enter into his mind and hear the thoughts swirling underneath. No matter how much she stabbed at it, however, his side of the covenant seal remained an iron fortress.
So she did the only thing she could.
Sakura reached into the cell again, laying her hand tentatively on his arm, crisscrossed across his torso. Trying to bridge the gap between them the only way she knew how.
She hated how far away he felt right here in front of her. Like he was sand slipping through her fingers, even though his warm body was under the palm of her hand.
"Trust us. Trust me, Sasuke."
He didn't step out of her touch. And a breath later, he looked at her, Rinnegan swirling with something she couldn't identify without their seal.
"...Can you stop crying?"
"I can't, because I'm angry and upset, and it feels like as soon as I walk out of here I'll never see you again."
Tightening her hold on his arm, she stared up at him, willing him to give her something. Anything.
How much would this man make her beg?
How long was she willing to reduce herself to a trembling fool until she gave up?
Did he really feel nothing for her? Nothing? Did all he'd shared with her mean nothing?
He had cried over her bleeding body. Killed his men and hers to keep her alive. Kissed her when it wasn't necessary and pushed into her so many times on his own volition. Told her about his brother, let her see glimpses of his childhood family. She knew about his nightmares, and his dreams, his desires and his humor and his preferences.
Sometimes, it felt like she knew him better than she knew herself. And sometimes, like right here in this freezing, barren cell, it felt like she'd never known him at all.
Had everything been all in her head?
Had it, Sasuke? she thought, screaming it loudly, praying he could hear it.
"...Alright. Okay." His study fell to the water droplet hanging on her jawline. "I'll let the guards know not to turn you away anymore. So... Relax."
His concession washed over her warm as a summer breeze.
The soft shift in his expression was muted, but she knew him. She did. The words he'd just spoken were all the affirmation she needed.
It wasn't all in her head.
That was all it took.
The quaking in her bones stilled. The lump lodged in her throat disappeared.
Emboldened by the unexpected win, she pressed, "And our seal. Stop sealing it off. I hate it."
Sasuke frowned again. "Not now."
"So you refuse to fight?"
"I can't stop you from doing what you want, Sakura. But I'm prepared to face the consequences of my choices, and regardless of what you think might happen, you should prepare yourself for that, too." The hard way he said it left no room for negotiation.
She'd gotten what she came for today, though. There was still time left before the trial to win this next battle.
"You'll let me in to see you tomorrow, then?"
"...Aa."
She didn't like how uncertain he sounded. "Promise? If you don't, I'll—"
"Yes, I promise. Just relax." His eyes rolled slightly. "Although it seems Kakashi would let you come even if I didn't."
Having conceded once already, Sakura felt how he was balking now. If she pushed too hard for more, he'd pull away completely.
Their eternal and favorite game.
She wanted to tell him how much she missed him these past months. Longed to know how he'd spent their time apart. Craved to hear his voice and feel the closeness they carefully skimmed in this hushed, warming dungeon.
But she let that yearning lie. Tonight's conversation was nearing the end of its productivity. Better to leave with this small win than lose it going for it all.
Even though this wasn't enough. Even though she wanted to spend more time with him.
"Okay. Then I'll come back tomorrow."
"Bind my eyes before you go," he reminded her.
Peering down at the fabric in her hand, her thumb slid over the sealing symbols sewn into it. She didn't want to put it back on him.
He wasn't a threat. He didn't deserve to have his birthright taken from him.
With a sigh, she motioned for him to tilt his head once more so she could tie it into place.
"...Would you want me to stay?" she hesitantly asked as she worked, readying herself for the rejection.
A stilted chuckle escaped him. "I'm in a dungeon, Sakura."
"I've stayed in worse. At least you've got a cot that's off the floor."
Blinded again, he lifted his head. "It's already late. You should go home."
"Are you sure?" After all, he hadn't denied her.
His mind brushed against hers, searching her swiftly. Turning down the path that led to her emotions—so quick she didn't have time to use the opening to delve into the connection.
Then the gate slammed closed, and the seal went silent.
"Aa. You can come tomorrow," he said, nodding once.
"Fine, okay. Tomorrow." Her sights swept over him. "So I'll see you then…?"
He stepped back out of her reach. "Sure. I'll be here."
There was something in his tone. Something subtle. A lightness to it that hadn't been present until now. Anyone else probably wouldn't have even noticed the difference.
"...Was that a joke, Sasuke?"
"Did you already forget?" The corner of his mouth lifted ever so faintly. "Uchiha don't joke."
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She could sense where the optic nerves were damaged.
Releasing Hundred Healings, Sakura wound the jutsu through her arms into Hinata's temples, funneling it toward the dead cells. Black marks crossed up Hinata's forehead.
But it was no use. It was too late. Even the byakugou couldn't make something out of nothing.
Sakura kept that to herself. Let her chakra linger there for Hinata's sake. Better that the woman thought Sakura was doing something since she'd mustered up the courage to come here. As a medic, Sakura did whatever she could to motivate patients to visit the hospital regularly. Crushing Hinata's hope on her first visit would merely scare her away forever.
And who was to say? Maybe one day, Sakura would find a way to heal her. Stranger things had happened.
Pushing deeper into the woman's head, she gently mended some frayed synapses. Hinata released a pleased sigh. Others she'd used the technique on said it gave them a rush—and she liked to think it helped people recover some mental health.
There was no evidence this particular healing did anything long-term, though.
In fact, anecdotal evidence suggested it did nothing at all. Tens of shinobi who'd made it home, who'd underwent this same treatment in this very hospital by her own hand, now lay under slate gravestones beside the war memorial. Both the victim and the perpetrator.
Sakura's hands fell away a minute later. Opening her milky eyes, Hinata looked around the room, squinting between blinks.
"Do you see any changes?" asked Sakura, aware there wouldn't be any.
"I…don't think so. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. If anything, I'm sorry." She picked up Hinata's chart from the rolling cart and logged her findings in shorthand. So if Hinata happened to see, she wouldn't know what it said. "It's only your first treatment. I couldn't do much this time, but maybe we can figure something out with weekly appointments."
Hinata gave a sad smile. "There's nothing you can do, is there?"
"If men can come back from the dead, a doctor can figure out how to heal an eye."
That got a quiet laugh. Grinning, Sakura scribbled down the final notes in Hinata's file. It wasn't a lie—while the prognosis wasn't good, nothing was impossible.
Eventually, she'd ask Hinata about a transplant. The surgery was easy. A relatively common one since the war; probably Hinata's only option, from the look of it. But as a Hyuuga, Hinata would need a donor from her clan…and Sakura doubted someone living would voluntarily give up their sight.
Robbing a fresh grave wasn't an appropriate suggestion for a patient's initial scan, though.
"Want to come back next week, same day?"
"If you think I should," Hinata answered.
"Definitely. I'll book your appointment for the same time, too. Four o'clock. Does that work?" The Hyuuga nodded. "Perfect. And bring Naruto along if he's around. He skipped out on his post-mission scans twice now."
"He didn't tell me that..." Frowning, Hinata took the hand Sakura extended to help her off the medical bed. "I'll make sure he comes."
Sakura followed Hinata out the door and down the hall, quietly ordering a passing medic-in-training to disinfect the room they'd left. It was one of the few perks of authority: delegating mundane jobs to others. Especially so when she planned on leaving early to—
"On your way to see Sasuke?"
Startled, Sakura glanced sideways. Hinata smiled again, a teasing glint to her gaze.
It shouldn't have surprised her. Kakashi presumably tipped her and Naruto off during their ramen dinner last night. Really, she should've been surprised that Naruto had yet to accost her about it.
Anyone but members of Team Seven mentioning Sasuke usually raised her guard. However, it seemed being Naruto's girlfriend made Hinata an honorary member of The Team. Even with the playful grin Hinata wore, Sakura's stomach didn't churn; nothing was scathing about her prodding.
Sakura chuckled. "Yes. He's finally agreed to stop being an asshole."
"You sound like Naruto." Hinata stopped at the front desk to sign herself out as Sakura waved a quick farewell to the attendant. "Well, sort of. Naruto thinks he's still one most of the time."
Naruto was probably right.
Once outside, they exchanged goodbyes. Hinata left in the direction of the Hyuuga compound. Body-flickering to the Hokage Tower, Sakura started her habitual descent into the dungeons.
Despite giving his word, the trek down into the cold earth felt daunting as ever. He'd yet to break a promise—but Sasuke's moods were too temperamental. Nothing stopped him from refusing her. If he genuinely thought her visiting was ill-advised, nothing incentivized him to let her in, either.
So when the two ANBU standing rigid by the inner dungeon doors came into view, neither wearing that familiar owl mask, anxiety coursed through her. A commanding, confident facade fell into place. If Sasuke made a fool out of her once more, she at least wouldn't let these nameless shinobi see it affect her.
But both guards stepped aside without a word as she neared. Bowed in deference as she reached out to push open the doors. Remained mute when she paused, giving them one last opportunity.
Ridiculous. Totally, utterly ridiculous. That was the only word that could describe how relieved she felt by their silence. How the satisfaction of Sasuke keeping his promise instantly calmed her jittery nerves.
Something must be wrong with me, she couldn't help thinking, taking two steps at a time down the final staircases. It wasn't normal to let a man's bare minimum please her to this extent. He'd barred her for two weeks straight; hadn't even been the one to let her in, in the first place.
Surely, if anyone read her mind in this moment, they'd think less of her.
On the last set of stairs, Sakura thrust her chakra into the room and stopped muffling her footfalls. A cordial warning to Sasuke that she was coming.
He was sprawled on the cot when she stilled before his cell.
"You're earlier than I expected," he said.
"Gave myself some time in case I needed Kakashi's help."
"Didn't trust me?"
"I trust you," she clarified. "Probably more than I trust anyone else."
And that wasn't a lie. In her opinion, trusting him and believing him were different things—she didn't have to believe everything he said in order to trust him. After all, if not for Sasuke, she probably wouldn't be alive.
How could she not trust him?
Retrieving a sealing paper out of the pack on her waist, Sakura knelt and slid it under the steel bars.
"Here. I brought you something." She tapped the paper, releasing the jutsu on it. Three lanterns popped out. On her way to the hospital this morning, she'd stopped by the market to buy them. "You still have access to half your chakra, right? Enough to use these?"
"Use what?" he asked, raising himself up. Sewn, silver kanji on black cloth shone in the corner of the cell.
Oh. His eyes were sealed. Right…
Sakura cleared her throat. "Sorry. They're—uh, lanterns. But I guess they aren't much use to you."
Grateful that he couldn't see the redness of her cheeks, Sakura studied the gift with a scowl. In the excitement of finally seeing him she'd forgotten entirely. How embarrassing.
She heard sheets shuffling, then quiet footsteps. Sandaled toes stopped beside one of the lanterns.
"They're useful when you're here."
Glancing up, she watched Sasuke dip his head down as he'd done yesterday when she untied his blindfold.
She batted away whatever was trying to birth itself in her chest and stood. Reached in. Carefully pulled the fabric off, freeing him of his blindness. When Sasuke so rarely asked for things, these little unsaid requests somehow felt like he was confiding in her.
His gaze found hers immediately, without sparing a look at the items near his feet. The lack of acknowledgment from anyone else would've bothered her.
"I can take that straight-jacket off, too," she offered.
He shook his head. "The chakra suppression is woven into it."
"Just conceal your chakra, then. No one but Naruto would sense any difference. We'll put it back on before I leave."
"It doesn't bother me." Eyes sweeping over her, he took two steps back. As if she might grab him. "Leave it."
A thought came to her. "How do you go to the bathroom like that?" There was no chamber pot in the cell. And even if there were, the white garment tied his arms and cocooned every inch of his body.
"...The guards come every three hours. I tell them if I need to go."
"They take you?"
He raised a brow. "Aa."
"And they take it off?"
"..."
His silence had Kakashi's mention of a lack of agency whispering in the back of her mind. "Do they watch while you're using it?"
"...Yes."
Sakura's mouth fell open. "Both of them?"
"Usually, yes," Sasuke answered plainly.
She'd been suppressed with anklets during her captivity. Chained to the ground, at most. Never this full-body confinement. Even through the worst of it, no one had watched her use the bathroom. Affront was tickling her throat.
How could such a proud man find nothing wrong with this treatment? Was he really okay with this? How?
"Well—do you need to go now?" she inquired, arms crossed. At least if she took him, he could go in peace. She hadn't any clue where the bathrooms were down here, but she was certain the guards would tell her if she asked.
"Is this why you wanted to visit me? To talk about my bowel movements?"
Her cheeks grew hot again. "No. I wanted to visit because I wanted to see you." Peeking down, her fingers clutched together behind her back. "I missed you… And since I'm here, taking you to the restroom is no bother if you need it.
"Okay, Sakura. I'm fine. Move on."
He might've been smirking. But when she checked, his expression was blank.
The outfit still unnerved her, however. Like he was some crazed, wild animal. It didn't feel right talking to him through bars, much less when he couldn't even move freely.
This would be the battle she waged today, she decided. Liberating him from the straight-jacket.
"What if I said I'd prefer it if you weren't wearing that when I'm here? I don't like seeing you in it. You'll be more comfortable without it on, too."
His sights narrowed. "It'll cause problems if someone sees."
"Come on. You might be suppressed, but I'm not. I'll sense if someone's coming. You will, too, once it's off."
His internal debate was only evidenced by the stiffening of his shoulders. It had to be a tempting proposal. Not a single shinobi in history would willingly subject themselves to such restraints when freedom was so enthusiastically offered.
And he hadn't outright denied her this time.
So when Sasuke sighed and pivoted around slowly, walking backward until his spine touched the bars, she wasn't taken aback. The clasps holding it together jutted out of the cell.
This fight had taken barely any effort at all.
Smiling, Sakura flash-stepped into the cell, landing a foot in front of him. Taking the ground he'd abandoned. He was frowning at her a second later.
She held her hands out, palms up, in a show of appeasement—acting quickly to diffuse his incoming snapping. His gaze fell to the right one.
"It'll be easier this way, won't it?"
"This is why I kept refusing you," he muttered, eyes scrunching closed.
The covenant seal wasn't needed to read him in this moment. If he had control of his arms, he'd have been rubbing his temple in annoyance.
It was such a small thing. Such a tiny reminder that he did feel things. That he felt things because of her. That she knew him well enough to know it.
Even if it was only annoyance. Annoyance was so much better than indifference, or anger.
"Because I want to make you comfortable?" she suggested, a grin lacing the words.
Two years ago, a conversation like this would've been unfeasible. A year ago—impossible. Teasing him was a wholly new concept; him taking it without immediately icing her out was, too.
"Because you're going to get yourself in trouble, Sakura."
"It's fine. You worry too much. I'm a commander. Who would say anything to me but the Hokage?" She took one step forward. "And I doubt the guards will check on you while I'm here. The only other people who can get through them are Kakashi and Naruto—who I'm sure wouldn't care if you aren't wearing that stupid thing. So stop being difficult and just turn around."
Although he moved as if she held a kunai to his throat, his body followed the instruction. If he were Naruto, she would've likened his stiff compliance to a petulant child.
But she kept the comment to herself.
Before he could change his mind, Sakura speedily got to work, scanning the top clasp for any jutsu. Whatever suppression they'd placed on the jacket was sealed into the metal. Sasuke's posture relaxed as she went down the line, loosening more and more of it. As soon as she freed his arms, he tugged them out and stretched, rolling his neck and shoulders.
It seemed as the straight-jacket fell away, so did his guard.
Sasuke appeared downright giddy by his standards when the white cloth piled on the floor. She held her smile in, afraid it might startle him. Glaring down abruptly, he kicked his feet free. The offending garment landed by the far wall in a heap.
She held in the chuckle at that, too.
Observing him, she saw his sights shift left to the lanterns. All three flickered on in his next breath, bathing the cell in warm, orange light. Scattering jumpy shadows onto the floor and walls.
For one reason or another, his being free made her nervous. He wore his usual black shirt and pants. The same sandals he always did. He wasn't any older, or bigger, or different—but her stomach twisted with a strange tension.
Breathing it out, she glanced behind her and pointed at his cot. "Can I sit?"
"If you want."
As she plopped down and turned back to him, she was hit with a wave of deja vu. A cold, damp cave. Dim firelights. Stony walls and an uncomfortably hard mat.
"This is kinda nostalgic, right?" she mused, running her palms over the gray sheets.
"That's not funny."
"I wasn't trying to be funny."
He leaned onto the bars and raised an eyebrow at her.
It was nice talking to him like this, she thought. When he was just a man, and she was just a woman, and for a brief moment in time, the outside world didn't matter.
He was so much more talkative than when the agreement first began. Far more calm than when she was the one imprisoned. Seeing him now was like peeking into another universe at the man he might've been if he'd stayed in Konoha. If he'd never lost his family. Never met Orochimaru. Never joined Madara.
But maybe they would've ended up here in any universe.
Calling on every ounce of confidence within her—she gently patted the bed. "Come sit. I won't bite."
His expression soured. Two years ago, that would've been enough to end the conversation. Having learned his ways, though, Sakura knew he'd have snapped at her if he was truly bothered.
She let him have this one. "Or stay there. Anyway. What were you doing all this time? You could've contacted me, you know." I was hoping that you would. "I was worried."
"The Zetsu army needed dealt with," he answered, ignoring the last half of her statement. "Then I weeded out what I could of Madara's remaining bases and killed those who refused to rejoin the Allies."
"By yourself?"
"A few others helped. Some of Madara's men joined me when I arrived." The intensity of his stare had her shifting around in her seat. "...Shikamaru helped with Hidan."
"...Oh?" Another thing Shikamaru hadn't told her. Or Kakashi. Did Naruto know? Did Ino? She tried to keep the grimace off her face. "Is he dead?"
"He's immortal, so no. He's back in the Nara Clan Forest for now."
Five months. It'd taken Sasuke only five months to clear out all of Madara's network. Something the Allies hadn't accomplished in five years.
Yet, if she thought about it, Madara's army had been distinctly built upon his cult of power and personality. Perhaps it made sense that it would fall so quickly after he did.
"Where's Suigetsu? Was he with you?"
She kind of missed him, too. The Kiri nukenin frankly wasn't that bad, at all. He was loyal and funny—occasionally. In the end, she'd grown to trust him.
Not that she'd ever tell anyone that.
"Why?"
"Because I haven't heard from him…?"
"...Back in Kiri, I guess," mumbled Sasuke.
"Do you not know?"
He shrugged. "As far as I know, he's still got his pardon. There's no reason he wouldn't go back."
Honestly, she'd thought Suigetsu would follow Sasuke. Figured that Izanami would've tied Suigetsu to the Uchiha forever. Especially so if his fate was to keep Sasuke alive, and Sasuke had run back here to get himself killed like an idiot.
But mention of the pardon tickled her anger enough that she left that line of questioning. Anything more and she'd surely fall down a rabbit hole. She would ask if what Shikamaru said was true—that Sasuke gave up his pardon so the Allies would choose a faster plan.
She would ask if he'd done that for her.
For some reason, though—she was scared to.
What if he said no?
…What if he said yes?
The train of thought had her feeling a bit self-conscious. And suddenly, she was acutely aware that they were in the same small space, no longer separated by steel bars. Sasuke wasn't bundled up. She was on his bed.
No one to watch them. No one to hear them. No one to ever find out.
The only two people in the whole world sharing this three-lantern firelight. They could go anywhere, do anything—just run and forget the charges, and who would ever find them?
Sasuke, however, almost assuredly wasn't thinking that way.
So she fell back to what she'd always done to alleviate the tension within her. "Have you gotten a medical scan since you've been down here?"
"No."
"Come lay down, then. I'll check you." His sour expression returned. "Don't give me that look. Just for a scan."
He hesitated. His finger tapped against his elbow.
And then he did as she asked—with less petulance than when he'd let her take off the straight-jacket.
Sakura scooted to the edge to make room for him. Lying on his back, Sasuke closed his eyes and waited. Green hands shot to his chest. She washed him with warm chakra, checking for injuries and testing his pathways.
He was relatively healthy. Slightly malnourished. Lightning damage ran down his arms and some untended cuts marred his skin, all patched up easily. She raised her hands to his temples without thought; she froze three inches away.
"Do you…want me to check your eyes?"
His jaw tightened before he sighed. "...Aa."
There it was again. That pleased feeling at the bare minimum. Sakura gulped down the pitiful happiness and lightly touched his face.
The damage here was extensive. Nothing she couldn't fix.
As she worked, she rambled, filling the air with a one-sided conversation. She told him about Hinata's check-up and how she wasn't sure anything but a transplant would work. Caught him up on what happened at the last Kage Summit. Ranted about the Council, and Kakashi, and trivial issues at the hospital.
He didn't give any input. But he didn't tell her to be quiet, either.
Since she wanted to prolong this visit, she healed his dojutsu slower than necessary, using the excuse that she was being careful.
He'd been healed by her numerous times, though. She could only make it last so long. And when she finally leaned back, informing him that she was finished, no more than five minutes had passed.
Rubbing his eyes, he pushed up to sit against the wall. "Thank you."
She hadn't expected that. "No problem. It's my job," she stated out of habit.
Sasuke regarded her with that same strange intensity she'd felt earlier. Only they were much closer… And on the same cot.
Still all alone.
"You look better now," he said, so matter-of-fact that it jarred her out of her imagination.
…Is that a compliment or an insult?
Nothing in his manner gave any hints.
Did she look better in his eyes? Better how?
Sure—she wasn't locked away in an enemy base. Wasn't keeping thousands of strangers alive in an endless war. Wasn't chauffeured around anymore, watching people die and getting tortured. She didn't scream in pain, or beg for calmatives, or scan rooms for weapons she could use here in Konoha.
But she felt the same. She was still in that place when she lay in bed at night. Still wanted to scream, and yearned for calmative, and thought about how she might use weapons.
The battlefield was all around her, every second of every day. The dead she'd let down squished under her feet in the market. The friends she hadn't saved were stones in a memorial; the friends she had were little more than ghosts haunting that same graveyard.
Was that looking better to him?
Such wanderings usually sent her into a spiral. Now, beside Sasuke, there was no ringing in her ears or panic in her veins.
And there was no use in reading something into his words that he probably hadn't meant.
So she steered the conversation away from the horror and hurt.
"Thanks, I guess… But you kind of look worse."
Brow raised, his mouth lifted. "And yet, you were still begging to see me."
Sakura couldn't help it. She laughed.
.
aaaaand we're back!
thanks for reading, as always.
and thanks to Leech for beta-reading