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THE THIRD LAW
A Distant Star Story
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A century of war ended with the Uchiha Clan on its knees.
Like so many others, they found themselves under Senju rule. The lowest of the low in Rokagita, the city of blooming cherry trees and wildwoods growing strong. Home to the Senju and all the clans they'd conquered. The most useful captives were trained as shinobi, but the weakest were relegated to the roles of servants, crafters, laborers.
The least and the greatest duty went to sons and daughters of the Uchiha. Orphans with the sharingan paid for their room and board with an indenture. Twelve years marked and cursed, twelve years of service protecting a Senju clansman in order to work off their debt.
And so generations passed.
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FIRST LAW
The Uchiha thrall must serve their Senju commander with perfect obedience.
— ~ —
Sasuke didn't hate Sakura. Resentment hit closer to the mark, years of it, slowly rotting inside him. Overripe fruit splitting open on the vine.
No, he didn't hate her—most days. This one was an exception.
Two months before her nineteenth birthday, her betrothed (a loud-mouthed blockhead from Uzushio) arrived at Rokagita. He kissed Sakura's hand, and she smiled for him, sunshine bright. What did she think, that she'd become some kind of prized kunoichi in Uzushio? As the Uzumaki heir's wife she'd be ornamental at best.
Sasuke told her as much after the feast, as he walked her from the great hall to the Senju manse.
"Don't be nasty," Sakura said.
"I'm only telling the truth, Sakura."
She blushed, same as always when he used her given name alone, no title attached. It was a punishable offense, but Sakura had never once held it against him.
"I know what's expected of me," she said. "I've known since I was ten years old."
"Well, you seem awfully happy to be marrying a stranger whose people won't respect you."
She shrugged. "I'll earn their respect. As for Naruto, he's not a stranger. We've written one another for years. He seems like a good person who'll make a faithful, honorable husband."
Faithful. Honorable. But did she want Uzumaki Naruto?
That question was a step too far, not that Sakura would have hurt him for it. But she might demand his silence on the subject. That she had done, only once before, with a simple, painless activation of the curse mark on the back of his neck.
Considering what he'd said to her, Sasuke could hardly blame her for it, and she'd revoked the seal's power almost immediately.
"Have you even thought about me?" Sasuke asked.
"What do you mean?"
He held out an arm to stop her, then performed a simple earth jutsu to even out the ground and harden the mud puddle she'd almost stepped in. Couldn't allow her to dirty her silk slippers, after all.
She stepped across the flat, dry earth, smiling softly. "Thank you."
That made it harder to hate her, even today.
He glanced around, keeping an eye out for any danger. That was his highest purpose. To protect a noblewoman, to give his life for hers if it came to it. He wouldn't hesitate to do so; the curse mark ensured that, even if he didn't rise to the challenge willingly.
"Sasuke? Are you going to tell me what you meant, or do I have to guess?"
"You're happy enough spending the rest of your life in Uzushio, but you haven't considered if I want to go halfway across the world. Have you?"
"I don't have any choice in this arrangement," she said. "And you're not the one who has to get married. So, no, I haven't considered it, since there's nothing I can do about it."
Sasuke followed Sakura up the manse's marble stairs, each step carved with the famed cherry tree crest of the Senju Clan.
"There are things you could do, if you were brave enough."
She shot him a scathing look. "If you're saying what I think you're saying, you should keep that opinion to yourself."
"And if I don't stay quiet?" Sasuke asked. "What will you do?"
Sakura spun around on the top step. Her braid whipped over her shoulder, the tail of it falling well past her waist.
"Not that," Sakura said. "Never again."
She believed it to be true. Their bond told him that much, but keeping a promise hinged on action, not belief.
Sasuke resisted the urge to touch the mark on his neck. It burned at the memory of being forced into silence. The faith he'd had in her was swept away last year with one jutsu. Trust crumbling, ashes on the wind.
Sakura had said I'm sorry a dozen times, and he could see another apology welling up in her throat. It didn't take the sharingan to read her every move.
"I should escort you inside," Sasuke said. "If anyone sees us arguing it won't go well for me."
She nodded tightly, then hurried toward the heavy front doors of the manse.
Sasuke followed her, shadowing each step she took, same as he had every day for the last seven years. In five more his indenture would be paid. Five years, that was all he had to survive, and the Senju would free him from this bond, from this cursed seal. From this girl.
— ~ —
On the last page of Sakura's diary, she kept a tally of each day between her eighteenth birthday and her nineteenth. Tonight marked the three hundred first. Sixty-four days and she'd be in Uzushio, marrying a friend she had only met in person last week.
Sakura closed her journal and returned it to its place beneath her mattress. Ino knew she hid it there, but a jutsu kept her maid's prying eyes and fingers from invading her privacy.
We never should have taken the Yamanakas captive.
The Uchiha might be coldhearted and unwisely proud, but the Yamanaka servants were nosy, snarky, and sneaky. Ino knew far too many of Sakura's secrets.
Not her greatest one, though. Nobody knew that, not even the fragile, locked pages of her diary.
Ino ran Sakura a steaming bath, poured vanilla oil into the water, and scattered cherry blossom petals across the silky surface. Then she held Sakura's hand as she stepped into the tub, keeping her feet steady on the oil-slick porcelain.
Sakura didn't thank Ino as she often did Sasuke. Her maid gave her too many honeyed, backhanded compliments to bother.
Sakura lay back in the hot water until it covered all of her besides her bent knees. Earth was her strongest element, but this was where she felt most at home: swims in the creek, fishing by the lake, drinking crystal clear water from a spring on humid summer days.
Now, heat sank into her muscles, easing the tension that had plagued her all week. She stayed under as long as she could hold her breath, then rose up to release it and inhale balmy steam.
"Try not to drown," Ino said. "I'll get blamed if you do and rope necklaces aren't my style."
"You're so dramatic."
Her maid laughed through her nose. "Pot, meet kettle."
"I know your name means 'pig' but you don't have to snort like one."
Ino handed her a small jar of floral cream for her face. "I just made a new batch, so there should be plenty for your forehead."
Sakura bit back an insult. When she and Ino got going, their arguments went on so long it became tedious.
"Just wash my hair," Sakura said.
Ino scrubbed a stringent shampoo over her roots to clean her scalp, then rinsed it off, rubbed a cherry-scented cream over her long hair to moisturize, and pinned it up on her head.
While she soaped up a sponge and washed Sakura's back, Ino gossiped about a Nara boy and some girl from the western desert.
"It's not like Shikamaru is allowed to leave the village," she grumbled. "And Temari's brother would never let her live here even if she wanted to."
"I doubt she would."
Sakura said it without thinking, and the sponge stilled in Ino's hand for one, two, three long seconds.
Ino laughed it off, the sound strained. "You're right. Shikamaru definitely isn't worth it. Though he is a decent kisser."
Sakura swatted away Ino's hands and turned around to face her. "And how do you know that?"
Ino shrugged. "Because he was my first kiss and I was his. Took a minute for us figure it out, but once we did he wasn't totally terrible at it."
"Was it… fun? Or awkward?"
A slow smile spread over Ino's lips. "You've never been kissed, have you?"
"I'm engaged, Ino, and I've only met Naruto once."
"Well, you should've kissed him while he was here," Ino said lightly. "He's cute enough. You're lucky you didn't get one of those tomato-headed boys."
Sakura turned away again, lips shut tight around the secret she couldn't let out.
She didn't want a boy with blond hair or red. She didn't want the boy she only knew through sweet, dedicated letters.
She only wanted one boy in the world, and Uzumaki Naruto wasn't him.
— ~ —
Sasuke struck the targets dead center with shuriken after shuriken. Even without his sharingan awakened, he could see each one perfectly in the darkness.
This was all he had left, his only time to himself allowed after sunset. Every minute of light in his life, he spent with Sakura. Following her, supporting her in battle, protecting her from herself as much as outside threats.
He wished he could go back a year and change the things he'd said to her. Stop his selfishness from breaking her, then breaking them. Their bond had always been a fragile thread as much as a leash—meant to keep him collared and controlled, but Sakura refused to use it that way.
Now, with her idiot betrothed on his way back to Uzushio, Sasuke had never regretted his callousness more. Sakura's loss of temper, too.
I shouldn't care this much about her marriage.
He threw his next shuriken with so much force that it wedged halfway through the wood.
And she shouldn't let me say the things I do.
Another shuriken, another bull's eye.
An empty marriage is her problem, not mine.
For the first time since he was a child, Sasuke missed the target entirely.
— ~ —
Sakura lounged on the loveseat on the top floor of the library. She'd worn her hair down today, and it spilled all the way to the floor, a pink pool beside Sasuke. He sat on a cushion with a book in hand, reading to her.
Why? he'd asked, the first time she'd requested this favor, at all of thirteen years old. You're literate.
She'd rolled her eyes and said, Because you have such a nice voice.
It was true then and even truer now. His voice mesmerized her: its depth, its cadence, the subtle shift in his expressions as he read aloud. Some days she had trouble listening to the story at all.
Today was one of them.
Once he reached the end of the chapter, Sakura said, "Thank you. That was wonderful."
"It's fine."
She bit back a smile. "Glowing praise from Uchiha Sasuke."
"Hn."
Sakura propped herself up on one elbow and dangled her free hand off the couch, holding it out to Sasuke. "All right then. If you don't like it, I can finish on my own."
As he passed the book to her, a fine line appeared between his eyebrows.
He wanted to read the rest. Too proud to admit it, though.
He was the most stubborn person she'd ever met—not that he could show it to anyone besides her. To the outside world, he maintained the picture of a perfect thrall. In private, he oscillated between cold obedience and burning obstinance.
Sakura opened the book and flipped to the next chapter.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.
"Reading to you for once. After all these years, I owe you, don't you think?"
"You can't owe me anything."
"That's up to me."
He couldn't argue with that unless he wanted to lie, and Sasuke was brutally honest whenever he could afford it.
As she read, Sakura watched Sasuke as best she could in her periphery. Tension all but shone from his lean body, tightening the muscles of his bare arms. With each word, each page, that tension eased.
He couldn't be as lost in her voice as she always fell into his, but this was good enough. Comforting him instead of commanding. The natural state of things in a world that demanded the worst of her.
— ~ —
In the days following Sakura's stunt in the library, the two of them had switched places. Not only did she read to him, she insisted that he take the loveseat while she lay on the floor. If anyone saw it, a commander lying at a thrall's feet, he'd be thrown in prison, and Sakura… he had no idea what punishment would await her. Whatever Lord Danzou chose, it was bound to be ugly, endless, and cruel.
Sasuke watched Sakura lying back on a pile of feather-stuffed cushions, book held aloft, cherry blossom hair fanned out around her as she read. Perfect from head to toe. He'd never met a girl more beautiful than her, or as brilliant and brave.
That idiot from Uzushio didn't deserve her.
"Are you even paying attention?" Sakura asked.
"No."
She closed the book and tossed it aside. "Do you not like this one?"
"It's good enough," Sasuke said. "I'm just distracted."
She sat up with startling swiftness. "By what?"
"The party tonight," he lied.
Sakura set her hand on his knee. It didn't quite break the Third Law, since his clothes kept her fingertips from touching his bare skin.
He wouldn't always be her thrall, but by the time his indenture was paid she'd have been married for years. A wife to Uzumaki Naruto, a mother to his children. Different rules would keep Sasuke's hands off her then.
And each time she edged closer to violating the Third Law, the less he could deny how much he hated it.
"I'm sorry," Sakura said. "I know how difficult it is for you."
It took him a moment to remember what they were talking about.
The party. How he had to stand along the wall, not allowed to leave his post for hours, stationed like a statue with one purpose: watching out for Sakura. In all the years guarding her she'd never once been in danger at these events, but it was a matter of tradition.
"It's boring. That's the difficulty."
Sakura glanced away, biting her lower lip, white teeth against lush pink.
Sasuke picked up the novel she'd abandoned. He ran his knuckles down the spine, over the gold and embossed ridges. The Senju library carried more wealth on its books than most clans did in their treasuries. Disgusting extravagance while his people lived on paupers' wages—or orphaned into debt from childhood, like him.
Sasuke moved to the floor, a few feet from her. "Trade places with me. We'll do this the right way."
Sakura blushed, rosy and telling. "I'd like to leave, actually. Will you take me to my rooms?"
Sasuke stood, returned the book to its place on a side table, and reminded her, "You don't have to ask."
She climbed to her feet, head down. "I know."
"You shouldn't ask."
That got her to look at him, her green eyes overbright. From sadness? Anger? Both?
"Why are you being this way?" she snapped—anger, then.
"What way? Appropriate?" He almost smiled but bitterness dragged it down. "It shouldn't be a surprise, Sakura. Or do you not care what would happen to us if we were caught being too familiar?"
She pulled her hair behind her back and tied it into a low ponytail. Silent.
"Well? Surely you have something to say. You always do."
"It's not like this means anything." She gestured between them. "You make sure of that."
Sasuke had to force his voice down to keep from shouting in their hushed, dusty refuge. "Commander or not, you can't expect me to do everything you want."
Sakura recoiled. "I would never force you to—" She choked on her promise, clutching at her throat. Her voice came out so soft it nearly faded into the shadows. "I would never, Sasuke. Not to anyone but least of all you. Surely you know that."
"I do."
He should apologize for suggesting she'd ever coerce him. For assuming she'd ever want him in the first place… but that part she hadn't argued against.
On the walk back to the manse, Sasuke could think of nothing besides the denial Sakura hadn't made.
— ~ —
Every noble in Rokagita came to the party, as well as many from their neighboring allies: Sarutobi, Fuuma, Onikuma, Hatake. Most importantly, the Shimura. Her uncle's own father had been a Shimura lord's second son, though he gave up his family name once he married the Senju heiress. Uncle Danzou respected his Shimura roots, which meant their closest ally could do no wrong.
It also meant that Uncle Danzou's eldest son would be marrying a half-Shimura, half-Senju lady. Their wedding was set for only a few months after Sakura's.
Tonight, she danced with men from each of their allied clans, a show of respect from the lord's own niece. As a genin, these same men had treated her like a pretty, empty-headed healer. Once she grew as a kunoichi, she and Sasuke together defeated more enemies on the battlefield than anyone besides Uncle Danzou.
That had earned Sakura the respect she deserved. Not Sasuke, though. No one respected a thrall, even after their indenture was paid and the seal removed.
Sasuke tracked her every movement throughout the evening. Only following the rules of their world, but his gaze hardened further with each dance she accepted.
Sasuke stood against the wall all night, blank-faced, perfectly still, katana on his back. Frozen at his post by duty that Sakura wanted to unravel and laws she wished she could unwrite.
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SECOND LAW
The curse mark may be used for any purpose at the commander's discretion.
— ~ —
1 year ago
Sasuke found her in the woods.
Sakura sat at the base of a pine, an old tree with roots bulging through the earth. She shifted farther back, as if hiding between those ancient roots would shield her from the world.
No, Sasuke thought, that's my job. And what a job he'd done.
Uzumaki Kushina had met with Danzou today, ironing out the details of her son's engagement to Sakura. One year from now, she'd marry the Uzumaki heir. Danzou trotted her out like a prized animal for Kushina to examine, and Sakura obeyed. Performed every trick on her uncle's command, and she did it with a pretty smile on her face.
Afterward, she'd run from him. Disappeared into this forest as if he couldn't track her down easily.
"It's time to go back," Sasuke said, careful and cool.
"And do what? Dance to Uncle Danzou's tune at dinner too?"
If he didn't bring her back soon, he would be the one held responsible, but he couldn't say that.
"You danced just fine earlier."
She glared at him, her green eyes shining fiercely with the full moon's light. "You think I enjoy it?" she asked. "Do you enjoy bowing to people who don't respect you? Or keeping your mouth shut when you're dying to speak?"
Sasuke scoffed. "Our situations are nothing alike. How sad that you have to marry a rich boy and become his rich wife."
"Our situations are different," she said tightly, "but that doesn't mean mine is easy."
"So you don't want to marry him?"
Sakura stood up and brushed stray leaves off her clothes. "I'll do my duty."
"That is not what I asked."
"He's nice in our letters, if a little scatter-brained. He'll make as good of a husband as any man, but—"
"So it's all the same to you," Sasuke said. "No man is different from the others."
He wished he'd woken his sharingan; if so, he'd be able to tell if she was blushing.
Sakura walked closer to him and canted her head to the side, her gaze as striking as the lightning he could summon.
"What does it matter to you, Sasuke?"
"It doesn't, except to determine how disappointing you are."
She gaped, her hands clenched at her sides.
Sasuke stepped into her space, and for once he let every bit of his anger show. He might be strangled by that damn seal, but he could fight against the collar anyway.
Sakura straightened to her full height, trying to regain ground; fruitless when he was so much taller than her.
"I'll do my duty because I'm a daughter of the Senju," she said. Slowly, pointed, unyieleding. "You have no right to be disappointed in me for upholding my honor and my clan's."
"Your clan has no honor."
Let them take his head if she wanted to report his treason. He was done pretending with her.
"That isn't—!"
"No, it's my turn." Sasuke grabbed her shoulders and held her in place. "You can't talk about honor when your clan is cowardly enough to make my people protect them. It's because all of you are too weak to protect yourselves."
"You know how hard I've worked to become a strong kunoichi, and I—" She tripped over her words, her voice as fragile and insubstantial as he'd accused. "I thought you understood that I've never wanted to use you. This bond wasn't my choice either."
"It could have been if you'd stood up to your uncle."
"I was twelve!"
"So was I!" Sasuke shouted, and it felt good to finally be loud. "Twelve, and I had to be brave because you were a coward! Now you feel bad for yourself for the power you have? Fine, I'll give you a reason to feel bad."
When she looked away, he grasped her chin between his thumb and two fingers and made her face him again.
"You've used me whether you wanted to or not, Sakura."
He gave her a chance to deny it, to argue.
Nothing. At least she was that honest.
"Sasuke, I'm sorry—"
"Apologies and good intentions mean nothing to me. I don't care if you feel bad, and I don't care about you."
Lies, lies, and he could see them breaking her heart, but he couldn't stop any more than he could let her go.
Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You don't mean that."
Sakura wanted him. He'd known that for years, yet she said Naruto was as good as any other man.
She doesn't even see me as a man.
"You're nothing to me," he said softly. "Nothing but a burden."
"Be quiet!" she screamed.
And with that simple command, he felt the cursed seal come to life. Painless, which he'd heard and never believed, but agonizing pain would have been better than this: his vocal cords cinched, frozen. Not physically; it came down to his will—and that he had none now.
Sasuke grabbed at his throat, his pulse pounding, sweat breaking out on his forehead.
The pressure released. When he tried to say her name, his voice broke free.
Sakura stumbled backward, her eyes wide with as much fear as she'd struck in him. She shook her head again and again as she stared down at her hands.
"I—I don't know why…"
"Sakura—"
She turned away from him, sobbing, and ran.
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THIRD LAW
They must never touch, at risk of dirtying the pure with the foul.
— ~ —
As he had a year before, Sasuke found Sakura sitting beneath the old pine, nestled between its protective roots. Seeking safety among the trees, the heart of her clan's greatest gift.
He'd known, somehow, that this was where he would find her. A letter from Uzumaki Kushina had been delivered this morning, promising that an entourage from Uzushio would arrive in three weeks. The escorts would guard and guide Sakura (and her thrall) to her new home.
Tears streaked Sakura's cheeks, silvered in the nascent moonlight.
"Don't," she said. "Please. I can't take it right now."
Sasuke held out his hand to her.
Sakura wiped her face, stood up without his help, and wrapped her arms around herself.
He lowered his hand. Petty of her to turn down that simple offer of help.
"You don't have to marry him," Sasuke said evenly.
"Tell that to Uncle Danzou. See how well he takes it."
"I didn't mean for you to consult your uncle."
Sakura fidgeted with the ends of her hair, her graceful fingers restless, compulsive.
"Then what did you mean?" she asked.
The wind rattled the pines, nearly sweeping Sakura's voice away.
When Sasuke stepped toward her, she didn't step back. Perhaps she was holding her ground; perhaps she simply wanted him closer. Regardless, she melted at his touch, the slightest brush of his thumb and forefinger along her jawline. Her lips parted on a delicate sigh, her eyes fluttered shut, and her rigid shoulders relaxed.
"You'll be free of your engagement, if you let me…"
Sakura's eyes opened, the green swallowed into grey by the shadows.
"And you'll be free of your head!"
"Not if you lie," Sasuke said. "Tell Danzou it was a traveling merchant. He won't know the difference."
"No, no, I won't put you in danger to help myself. Even I'm not that selfish."
"Sakura—"
"I mean it, Sasuke! I won't—"
He grabbed her by the nape of her neck, tilted her head back, and pressed his lips to hers. Her mouth opened under his meekly, but meek went by the wayside as soon as he deepened the kiss. Soft to soft, desperate to desperate. She tasted of rice wine and tears—the courage she'd sought and the sadness she found.
She'd find more than that with him.
Sakura clutched at his shoulders while he ran his hands down her hips, then back up her narrow, muscular waist to her small breasts. So long he'd wanted this, wanted her.
Sakura tugged at his clothes, which turned into the two of them hurrying to undress one another. They ended up on the ground, naked on a bed of moss, grass, and discarded clothes. Sakura pulled him on top of her and kissed him hard and loving. Spring air chilled his skin, but her warmth chased away the cold.
"I need you," she whispered, her lips still touching his. "You, Sasuke. Not an escape."
You have me.
Sasuke reached between her legs and found her wet for him already. Sakura, lady and commander, trembled and whimpered as he stroked her.
He kissed her staggered cry off her lips as she came, his whole body tense with need. When he hitched her leg up around his waist, Sakura dug her heel into the small of his back.
Her breath caught as he eased inside her, wincing slightly at the intrusion.
She felt so good, it killed him to stop before they'd even truly started, but he'd rather that than hurt her.
Sasuke cupped her cheek in his hand and asked, "Do you want to keep going?"
"Yes," she said, nodding quickly. "Please, yes."
When he rocked into her, Sakura breathed easier than before, her body adjusting to his. So good, the way she took him, how she gasped his name, the sting of her nails digging into his shoulders. Soon they were moving together, sharing their pleasure and off-center kisses. Making a rhythm that pushed them both higher, louder, closer to each other, closer to—
She finished first, her body pulsing around his cock, tight and then soft. Wetter than ever and all for him.
"You too," she urged. "Inside me."
That was all it took to finish him, one sweet order from her. He'd hate that if he could hate anything about this, but it felt too good. Sakura kissed him through it and after, one of her hands in his hair and the other still clinging to his hip. They stayed joined for as long as Sasuke could keep his mind in the moment, but soon enough the hard truth crept in among the pines.
Sakura mumbled grumpily once he pulled away, her pretty face pinched in a spoiled pout. "Lay with me."
"Can I put on pants first, my lady?"
"Don't call me that," Sakura said weakly. "Not now."
Sasuke almost apologized, but the sorry caught on his tongue. Instead, he settled beside her, still naked, and held her in his arms.
They stayed that way, touching one another and whispering nothing of value until the sky lightened from black to grey. They had to rise before the sun, and leave what they'd done in the night.
— ~ —
"What has you in such a good mood?" Ino asked.
"Nothing," Sakura said, but even that lie came out brightly.
Ino ran the comb through Sakura's hair a bit harder than necessary. "Whatever. Keep your secrets."
I will.
Sakura twirled a lily between her fingers. She'd found it on her desk this morning, a gift from Sasuke. How like him, to leave only a single flower, but the one he'd chosen was her favorite. A little funny too, since lilies were for innocence (a bit of Yamanaka wisdom Ino had shared years ago) and they were taking each other's thoroughly, moreso every night since the party.
Later, after the sun set and she snuck out, she met Sasuke at the pine grove for their fifth rendezvous.
They kissed first, with patience for once. A kiss of certainty, no fear that it would be the last time.
When their lips parted, Sasuke pressed his forehead to hers. Sakura closed her eyes, simply feeling his hands on her waist and his warm breaths falling in sync with her own.
When Sasuke drew away, Sakura had to lean against a tree for support. It nearly made her dizzy, all this touch after years starving for it.
"What are you going to tell Danzou?" Sasuke asked.
That sobered her in less than a heartbeat.
"I can't tell him anything," Sakura said. "Whatever punishment he came up with—"
"Would be worse than marrying that Uzumaki boy?"
"If he kills you for it, then yes! Do you really think he wouldn't know who…" She wasn't sure what word to use. Deflowered sounded too sentimental for the passion of the act and fucked was too crude to account for love. "It couldn't be anyone besides you, Sasuke. He'd see that."
"Wasn't freeing you the purpose of all this?"
"We both know that's not the real reason," she whispered.
Sasuke all but growled, "You can't marry him."
Couldn't she? Set aside her own wants and do what her uncle demanded?
He demands too much. For the first time, Sakura allowed herself to face the truth in its entirety. Sasuke was right; there was no honor left in her clan to uphold.
And even if there was…
"I could have done my duty," Sakura admitted. "Before this. Us. But not now that I know what it's like to be with a man I love. I can't accept less."
Sasuke canted his head. "You…?"
"Sasuke," she said, half laughing. "I've loved you all my life."
He kissed her fiercely, almost violent in its need. Sakura grabbed his hair and nipped at his lower lip, giving as good as she got. They soon softened, though, desire giving way to something gentler, weaker.
When he finally let her go, Sakura said, "Leave with me. We can disappear, find the Uchiha who escaped the conquest, so you can be with your clan… so you can be free."
Sasuke took a half step back from her. "Don't make a promise you can't keep."
"I'm not."
She could see it in his dark eyes, hope shining through the disbelief.
"You'd lose your home," Sasuke said. "Your family."
"I haven't had any true family since my mother died." She cupped his cheek with one hand, the other resting on the nape of his neck. He shivered at her touch, her fingers brushing over the curse mark there. "I love you too much to keep you in chains, Sasuke. Giving up my home is a small price to pay for your freedom."
Quiet, he was so quiet for so long that fear set in. What if she'd read this all wrong? What if he didn't want her as dearly as she wanted him? What if—
"Tomorrow, then," he said. "We leave."
She steadied herself with one deep breath, the air fresh with the scent of evergreens. "Tomorrow."
The most important promise of Sakura's life, witnessed only by the ancient pines and the watchful moon.
— ~ —
As darkness fell on Rokagita, Sakura kept her vow to Sasuke while breaking the one to the Uzumaki Clan. They disappeared into the woods, and it was in abandoning the law that Sakura finally found her honor.
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LAWLESS
— ~ —
5 years later
Sarada woke for the third time in the night, but Sasuke didn't mind. It helped distract him from the approaching dawn. Neither he nor Sakura could sleep anyway.
His wife held their daughter to her breast, humming a warm lullaby while Sarada nursed. A beautiful thing, the woman he loved feeding their baby from her own body.
"It's almost time," Sakura whispered.
"I know."
Wan light drifted into their bedroom through an open window, carried in alongside the morning breeze.
"This is a good thing," Sakura said gently, then handed over Sarada. "Hold her. It'll help."
She was right as usual.
Sasuke brushed his finger over Sarada's sloped nose, then her chubby baby cheek. Perfect in every way. Perfect, and all the days of her life would be her own.
Once the sun rose fully, Sasuke returned Sarada to her cradle, then took Sakura's hand. His wife led him to the porch where they could watch the dawn together. Clouds brightened from grey to pink and orange, their edges lined in gold as the sun strengthened behind them.
"Are you ready?" Sakura asked.
He'd been ready since he was twelve, but Sasuke couldn't seem to speak, so he simply nodded.
He closed his eyes as Sakura stepped behind him and brushed his hair away from the nape of his neck. Her fingers were warm on his skin, tender but uncompromising.
Sasuke knew the precise moment that the seal disappeared. He'd always thought it was painless, but as the curse died under his wife's loving touch, he realized that it had always weighed on him. And now it was gone.
But there was a dark side to that emptiness, a tether cut where he should be connected to Sakura. Nothing could keep them apart, but the tension that had always existed between them… it was eased into silence.
When Sasuke turned to face her, he found his wife crying.
"Do you miss it?" he asked. "The bond?"
She shook her head furiously, then grabbed his hands. "I—I just… I'm so glad it's gone."
Sasuke leaned down to press his forehead to hers.
"Thank you," Sakura murmured.
"For what?"
"For forgiving me. For loving me." He felt her smile pressed to his lips, damp with their tears. "For everything."
.
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fin
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AN: This fic is inspired by the prompt "nightfall" and the song "The Pines" by Roses and Revolutions, both of which were suggestions from the lovely remnantmassacre, who commissioned this fic. Thank you, friend, for giving me the inspo I needed to dive back into SasuSaku!
Many thanks to my beta hamspamandjamsandwich as well, for whipping this story into shape.