Samsara

Part III

"You're cheating."

"I am not."

Sakura scowls at the shogi board and then at her husband. "Yes, you are. You're winning."

"That's not unusual."

"It is since I stopped letting you win."

"Taking advantage of your distraction isn't cheating; it's strategy," Sasuke replies sagely, moving a tile that puts her king in check.

She scrambles to find a way to avoid it. "It's totally taking advantage when my pregnancy hormones – which are your fault by the way – have turned my brain to mush."

"That's a weak argument, given that you're equally responsible. And perhaps your hormones wouldn't be troubling your brain so much if you were getting proper sleep."

There's no avoiding it this time when he moves in on her king, but she ignores it in favour of parsing his words. Apparently, it's not just in shogi where her husband has been laying a trap.

She crosses her arms at him. "If you want to know, just ask."

"Would you honestly answer?"

"When have I ever not answered you honestly?"

"Don't play word games, Sakura. This is something that concerns us both. I shouldn't have to ask."

She sighs and puts her right hand over her piece, ceding defeat. "I know," she tells him, getting up to stretch. The forest clearing where they've settled in for the night is lit by their campfire which casts shadows against the surrounding trees. "But it upsets you – you get worried for no reason whenever I bring it up, so..."

"Whatever I feel doesn't justify holding back information," Sasuke tells her, putting away the board. "Besides, right now, you're the one who has more knowledge of my past life than I do."

Their time together has taught Sakura a few new things about Sasuke, and right now, she knows he's a lot more curious than he's letting on.

"All right," she says. "Make me okonomiyaki and I'll tell you."

Sasuke shakes his head, but wisely refrains from reminding her that they just finished dinner.

As she watches him work – and occasionally helps pull together required ingredients – she relates her latest dream to him in as much detail as she can remember. He makes noises of interest or incredulity as she describes the events leading up to the wedding, the attempted poisoning, and her breaking through to save Indra. When she comes to the part where his past life killed Shachi's relatives, she hesitates, but forces herself to finish the tale.

"And then I woke up," she finishes. "That's the last thing I remember. She took his hand, and that was it."

"Hm."

She waits a moment, watching the way his facial muscles move as he considers all he's heard. Then she asks, "Do you think she would've saved him if I hadn't been there?"

"I don't know. It would depend."

"On?"

"Whether this really is just a dream of a memory...or if you're somehow sharing the mind of this person across time."

"But that's impossible."

"Visitors from the moon and physical manifestations of a goddess' will are impossible, too. And yet..."

"I'll give you that one," she allows. "What about Indra, though?"

"I think he was a master manipulator," Sasuke says, removing the frying pan from the fire and shifting the omelette onto Sakura's waiting plate.