AUTHOR'S NOTE

So excited to get this chapter up. Writing and plotting this story are honestly my favourite things to do these days. Thanks so much for all the feedback and encouragement! :)

TW: This chapter touches on some of the mental health/trauma-recovery themes mentioned in the trigger warnings at the beginning of the story.

Chapter 9

Sasuke and Sakura arrived at an observation deck overlooking the enormous, sparkling waterfall cascading down the mountain at the heart of town. This particular spot was evidently some kind of tourist attraction, as indicated by the throng of people clamouring for the best view of the magnificent landmark.

For a brief moment, Sasuke indulged the refreshing, misty air as it washed over him. Then, Sakura tugged at his cloak, redirecting his attention. "I think there's a trail over there that goes around the mountain," she said and gesturing towards a gate at the far end of the deck. "I bet that's where the rest of this town is."

They approached the edge of the lookout, near the rail, for a better view of the crowded trail beyond the gate. The entrance to the trail was the most densely-packed spot, with a queue of tourists lined up to pass through it. "Looks like you have to pay to go through there," Sasuke observed, leaning towards her and pitching his voice low.

Understanding their need for discretion, Sakura whispered back, "Worth it, I think. That's probably the easiest way for us to blend in. And the safest route too."

She was right. The snow-capped mountain looked treacherously steep, except for the more gradually sloped parts paved out for the trail.

"Excuse me? You two!"

Sasuke's head snapped towards the incoming voice. A man approached with a notepad in hand and a giant camera hanging from a strap around his neck. On instinct, Sasuke stepped in front of Sakura. He quelled the intrusive thought to slice the guy's hand off before he had the chance to consider touching her hair with it.

Oblivious to Sasuke's discomfort, the man stepped right into their space with a wide, toothy grin. "Hello! My name is Cee. I'm a local reporter working on an article to promote this site. Could you spare a minute of your time to answer a few questions about your visit so far?"

Sasuke surveyed him. He was a civilian, no doubt, with large, wire-rimmed glasses, grey hair, a smiley demeanor, and no detectable chakra presence.

Unless he was secretly a ninja with an exceptional skill for transformations, he was likely not a threat. So, perhaps playing along was their best course of action, to avoid being pestered. The last thing they needed was to cause a scene.

Sakura seemed to have come to the same conclusion. "Of course," she said and returning Cee's smile.

The reporter brightened, reached for the pen tucked behind his ear, and flipped the page of his notepad. "Excellent," he beamed. Then, directed to Sakura, he asked, "So, what brings you here? Celebrating anything special?"

"Nothing in particular. Just passing through and taking in the sights."

The reporter nodded and proceeded to ramble about the attractions they should see during their visit and how this was a popular honeymoon destination or something, but Sasuke didn't pay much attention.

Much to his irritation, the reporter directed the next question to him. "Now, sir, how would you describe the atmosphere in this particular spot, overlooking the waterfall?"

Sasuke shrugged. "It's fine," he said.

Cee looked crestfallen by the response.

What, am I wrong?

He wasn't through with Sasuke though, who was the target of the next question too. "Would you say this spot is romantic?"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. Why the hell was he asking him? Did he look like someone who would know (or care)?

He glanced towards Sakura for help, only to find her turned pointedly away.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Oh, I see," Cee cut in. He got a look in his eye that Sasuke didn't like, that suggested the two of them shared a mutual understanding about something. "How about I make today a special one for the both of you? Would you like free admission to the mountain trail? The park just stopped accepting walk-in visits because they've reached capacity, but I could squeeze you in, if you're interested?"

Sasuke perked up at this. "Yes," he said, finally knowing how to answer one of this guy's damn questions.

Cee smiled. "Perfect. So, here's the deal: I'll give you a pair of tickets to the trail in exchange for being featured in a picture to go with my article. What do you say?" he asked and gesturing towards the camera slung around his neck.

Sasuke considered the proposal. While having visual documentation of their time here was out of the question, maybe if they went along with it, they could destroy the evidence without the reporter noticing. Sasuke visualized just the part of the camera he could aim a senbon to break it, undetected.

Cee seemed under the impression they needed a little nudge. "I mean, what would be more romantic than if I captured a kiss under the waterfall?"

To his horror, the reporter winked at Sasuke, like he was in on a secret.

Sasuke's stomach dropped.

Shit. Now what?

If they declined the offer, would the reporter make a fuss about it? Sasuke had already confirmed that they were interested in the mountain trail. And if what he said was true, that the park had reached capacity, this might be their only chance to get to the other side of town today and complete their investigation, safely.

I'll erase his memories and we'll find another way in, then, was Sasuke's next impulse, only to remember that doing so would likely infuriate Sakura. He'd promised her to save strenuous dōjutsu feats for dire circumstances only, as to not overstrain his eyes while they were healing. Basically, that meant everything but brief uses of his Sharingan were off limits.

And while this situation was getting a little dicey, it hardly qualified as a dire one.

Continuing to play along then discretely destroying the camera seemed uncomplicated compared to their other options.

However, the reporter clearly had the wrong idea about the nature of his and Sakura's relationship. Of course, Sasuke wasn't going to kiss her.

Or, would the reporter make a fuss if they refused that, too?

So maybe it's easier… If Sakura's cool with it, then…

Sasuke's face warmed when he realized where his line of reasoning was headed.

"No."

Startled, he turned towards Sakura, who was glaring at Cee. "No, we will not be doing that," she confirmed.

Then she turned and strode away. Away from the reporter. Away from Sasuke. Away from the mountain trail.

Cee almost dropped his notepad with surprise. "I-I'm sorry if I got the wrong idea!" he called after her, which turned a few heads. "Could we at least finish the interview?"

But she ignored him and kept going which left Sasuke, who felt about as confused as Cee probably was, with no choice but to follow her lead.

"The nerve of that guy…," Sakura fumed, her fists clenched at her sides as she ventured into the less-populated rocky terrain around the mountain's base. Without a clear-cut, inconspicuous path to the rest of town, they needed a new route over the mountain, ideally, one that would take them where they needed to go without being spotted or falling to their deaths.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sasuke asked and eyeing the steep cliffs wearily.

"It'll be good exercise," Sakura quipped, without sparing him a glance. Sasuke frowned.

The photo was a bad idea, that much Sasuke had understood. Otherwise, he was at a loss for why Sakura was so mad. Maybe the guy had done something to offend or hurt her, that he hadn't picked up on?

Either that, or, Sasuke wondered with a jolt of embarrassment, maybe she'd rather scale a mountain than kiss him.

Well, Sasuke was nothing if not direct, so he shelved that thought away and asked, "Why are you upset?"

Sakura was poking around for the best spot to begin their ascent, running a gloved hand over slates of rock to test their sturdiness. Absent-mindedly, with her gaze on the rocks, she mumbled, "A first kiss is not supposed to be like that."

And then she started to climb without backwards glance, using chakra to brace each step on the steep slope.

Sasuke hurried to shadow her movements. "Right," he said, but he couldn't be more lost.

It's not supposed to be… like that.

What did that even mean, anyways?

Was there something wrong with that spot, even though the reporter had suggested it was a romantic one?

Maybe it had to do with the reporter being there?

Or because he was the one she'd share the kiss with?

And, the most pressing question of all: why the hell did he care what she meant?

The climb was as treacherous as Sasuke anticipated.

The ground was slick, steep, and barely stable in many parts, giving even the most adept chakra-users a run for their money. After all, using chakra to cling to a surface didn't help much when said surface crumbled beneath your feet. Sasuke also wasn't a particular fan of one-armed rock climbing.

And then there was the dreadful weather. The further they ascended, the more it felt like they'd entered an entirely different season, with snow squalls, ice patches, frigid wind, and heavy clouds obscuring their surroundings from view.

But Sasuke carried on without complaint, because Sakura, who led the way with her grey cloak and pink hair whipping around in the blizzard, had her reasons for taking this route, even if the alternative would have taken a fraction of the time and featured far fewer life-risking maneuvers.

The first glimmer of relief came when they were about halfway through the descent, as the snowfall finally subsided and Sasuke began to feel his fingers and toes again.

But it was short-lived.

They reached a patch where the slope had become so impossibly steep that it inverted, requiring them to climb under a cliff to proceed, from at least fifty kilometers up.

Despite having several options should things go south, from his animal summons to his Susanoo, Sasuke couldn't help the innate human instinct to feel apprehensive about their position, keeping a keen eye on his footing and Sakura's movements as well.

But just as he'd turned away to test out a narrow foothold, with his back flush to a vertical wall of rock, he heard the gut-wrenching crack. And a gasp.

Sasuke's stomach lurched as he glimpsed the wall Sakura clung to shatter beneath her feet and hands, the flash of terror on her face, and her body begin to plummet.

His Rinnegan whirled to life of its own accord.

"Banshō Ten'in!" Sasuke called, his hand outstretched towards her.

He ignored the instant headache that flared around his left eye and rippled across his skull, and focused on catching Sakura, whose body had been suspended in the air and hurled towards him, from the force of his gravitational pull.

Only after she'd slammed into him and he'd secured an arm around her did he relax his eye, the rocks and debris lifted from his technique resuming their descent. He doubled the chakra to his back holding them to the slope, and adjusted his feet on the meagre ledge, barely deep enough to support his ankles.

Breathing heavily, Sakura repositioned for better stability, turning her back to Sasuke, leaning the back of her head against his shoulder, with one hand clasping his arm around her waist and the other gripping a kunai she'd plunged into the wall beside them, as an extra anchor.

"Your Rinnegan… You shouldn't have done that," she mumbled under her breath. Her tone was sadder than it was accusatory.

Sasuke frowned, words of protest on the tip of his tongue. While he knew she was just thinking of his eye's health, he'd be more likely to gouge the thing out than sit by while she fell like that. And sure, Sakura was resilient and a quick-thinker and likely would have survived, somehow, but had she really expected him to be okay with doing nothing?

She tilted her head up to meet his eye and whatever he was going to say died on his throat.

Because Sasuke came to the regrettable realization that Sakura was very close; so close, in fact, that fulfilling the reporter's request would be quite easy from this angle, with their faces being mere inches apart.

A nervous feeling swirled in his stomach. If she just lifted her chin a little more…

Ugh. No. What's wrong with me?

Sasuke desperately searched for something else to focus on while he got his wits about him.

But, unfortunately, giving his mind free reign to wander where it pleased did not often work in his favour. Alas, he was struck by a memory, one that wasn't as far out of reach as he would have liked.

This view of Sakura, tired eyes and flushed cheeks and all, called back to another time he'd held her just like this, in between dangerous exploits through time and space, after she'd spent everything she had to save him from Kaguya's dimension, and perhaps even from death.

His chest grew tight as dark clouds shadowed his thoughts.

It had marked a final, brief moment of steadiness before Sasuke had plunged into the darkness one last time, hurting the only people left in the world who mattered to him, and very nearly losing his way entirely, forever.

His debt to Sakura repaid by torturing her with the illusion of stabbing her through the heart.

"Are you okay?"

Sakura's eyebrows were scrunched with concern as she peered up at him.

He nodded, snaked his arm out of her reach, and carried on without a word.

"It's not just me, is it?"

Sakura approached an empty plot of land, treading carefully as she navigated the expanse of dirt and weeds.

Sasuke shook his head. "It's not," he said and joining her around the curiously compelling spot.

The second part of the town was a bit of a let-down, being much sparser than the place they'd come from, with few buildings and even fewer people, save the odd tourist hanging around the mountain base after journeying the trail. The most disappointing part of all was that the address indicated on Sakura's enemy's note was no where to be found, with all the buildings spoken for by other numbers.

They'd circled the town thrice, and each time, for some reason, found themselves coming back to this particular empty plot.

Perhaps it wasn't just a coincidence.

Sakura peered over her shoulders, ensuring there were no tourists nearby, before forming the required hand signs and uttering, "Kai."

A run-down cobblestone building drifted into focus, like an invisible fog was lifted, confirming their suspicions. There were ninja arts in play here.

"The address matches. This is it," Sakura breathed and eyeing the rickety, seemingly abandoned structure with cracked windows, worn shutters, and thorny vines winding over its walls and chimney. "D'you think the genjutsu hiding it was just to keep tourists away?"

"Maybe," Sasuke said and giving the building a once-over with his Sharingan. "No chakra in there," he confirmed.

"Okay then. Let's check it out."

They ventured through the askew, wooden door, padding their footsteps with chakra to quiet their movements. The interior consisted of a dark, cobweb-filled open space with dirt floors and vine-covered cobblestone walls, just like those on the exterior.

There were no rooms. No furniture. No signs of life, save spiders and critters.

They exchanged a confused look. What kind of place was this? It appeared as uninhabited on the inside as it did from the outside. Was it a mere meet-up spot? Why would Sakura's ambushers be carrying around a note with this location mentioned in the first place?

"I'm going to try something," Sakura whispered and crouching down, placing her gloved palm flat on the ground.

That was when something glinted in the corner of Sasuke's eye, catching on the light shining through a shattered window.

A weapon strewn in a trap.

He lowered to a knee beside her. "Careful," he warned, and inclining his head towards the trap while scouting out three others wedged in crevasses between the stones.

She glanced around, spotting them too, before nodding and returning to her task.

Sasuke wasn't sure what she was doing but took it upon himself to keep watch while she was doing it.

A few seconds later, Sakura's head shot up. "There's a basement," she announced.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "How do you-?"

"The entrance is over there," she continued and gesturing towards the far corner of the room.

Sasuke quickly charted the safest route there, out of the traps' lines of fire. "All right. Follow me."

They maneuvered through the room in a calculated pattern, careful not to set off any traps and leave evidence that they were here, using chakra to climb the walls and ceiling where needed to avoid risky positions.

They reached the spot Sakura had indicated unscathed. After a moment of feeling around, she smiled. "Got it," she mumbled and wedging her fingers between two stones low in the wall. She pushed, heaving the stones apart, and revealing a tunnel concealed behind them.

Sasuke made a mental note to ask how she'd found the hidden entrance so quickly, without any ocular abilities to speak of. While in most circumstances Sasuke would naturally gravitate to doing things his way, Sakura was being so efficient with her search that he didn't mind taking her lead.

The tunnel walls and floor were formed entirely of packed dirt, suggesting it had been shovelled out as an extension to the main structure. They entered at a crouch, Sakura in front with a lantern poised to light the path, and Sasuke taking up the rear to cover their backs.

The further they descended into the dark, cryptic tunnel, the more unsettled he felt. While he trusted his Sharingan's confirmation of no chakra signatures in the vicinity, if they were walking into a trap, it would be harder to get out of the deeper they went, where there were unlikely to be any windows or other means of an easy escape.

The end of the tunnel widened into a small room, also carved out of dirt walls. It was rather barren at a glance, with the only pieces of furniture being a desk and a sleeping mat. But, as more details came into focus, illuminated by the yellowish light of Sakura's lantern – weapons lodged in walls, blood smears, scattered papers – it became clear there was a story to be told here.

They exchanged a serious look, nodded, and began the inspection.

It didn't take long to deduce that this lair's inhabitant was, indeed, a ninja.

Specifically, an unhinged one.

Sasuke's throat tightened as his eyes roved the bingo books with pages torn out. The blade marks in the table. Empty alcohol bottles. The absence of any survival necessities, suggesting the inhabitant spent more time on the road than in here. The damage to the walls indicating it had taken repeated chakra-enhanced blows – strikes to the wall again and again and…

Sasuke swallowed against the untimely taste of bile creeping up his throat.

"Hey," Sakura hissed from her position before the desk. "Over here."

She pointed at a frayed, formal-looking document with a gloved hand. "A medical bill," she said softly. "For a person who died at a hospital in the Land of Iron."

"What do you…," Sasuke started, but his voice trailed off, suddenly finding it hard to speak. He swallowed again but the taste of bile remained. It was like there was something lodged in his throat that wouldn't clear.

Weird, he thought, his pulse quickening as he swallowed again and tried to quell his thoughts. Was there something about this place making him feel this way?

Sakura's eyebrows were furrowed. "Maybe the person who was here lost someone close to them? The medical bill says the patient's name was… N. Ishioka. And their hometown… Adakite? Never heard of it. Doesn't get us any closer to figuring out why those ninjas attacked me either…"

Sasuke nodded and poured every ounce of his attention at the desk, ignoring the thuds of his heartbeat echoing in his ears and through his skull.

Focus.

"Letters," he got out, and nodding towards the other papers on the desk.

Sakura followed his gaze. "You're right," she said and inspecting them more closely. A quick read of the first few on top of the pile indicated they were written by someone quite familiar with the recipient.

How much longer am I supposed to wait? one read. Come home. Please.

Each letter was signed by a single initial – an L – and didn't include a return address.

I miss you. Life hasn't been the same since you left.

"Love letters, I think? Interesting," Sakura muttered. "They're dated back years. And some aren't even opened."

Where are you?

When are you coming home?

The letters that were opened had clearly been handled roughly, bearing rips, burns, water marks, spots of blood, words scratched out.

If you're still out there, please give me a sign.

A blade's slash through the letter L.

Everyone says I should give up waiting for you.

But I can't.

A jolt of pain shot through Sasuke's left arm and hand. He reached for it but came up short, his right hand grasping at air and sending his heart thudding again, but this time, faster, harder.

The air was thick, too thick, too hot. It tasted like bile.

Not this… Not here…

"Sasuke?"

His gaze snapped to Sakura's worried stare.

"You're sweating," she observed. "Are you—"

"I'm fine," Sasuke bit out, finding his voice again and pouring as much venom into it as he could because he didn't want to be around her, or anyone. Not like this.

But, to his dismay, she inched closer instead. He took a deep breath.

Focus. Focus.

"Did you figure something out about this place?" she asked.

Sasuke considered her question and exhaled slowly, trying to come down.

Yes.

"Do you know the person who's been here, or something?" she prodded, gently.

Sasuke nodded, his gaze drifting back to the letters. "In a way," he admitted quietly.

He took another breath.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Who is it?"

Where are you?

When are you coming home?

"An avenger."