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Sakura was holding onto Sasuke's arm like her life depended on it. The hallway was extremely dark and it made her feel very uneasy. Since the war she had been terrified of the dark. Her mental state was already fragile and being in this castle didn't help the situation. Thanks to Sasuke, who had activated his sharingan, she was able to close her eyes and let him navigate her. It was a one way corridor but it was long. They had been walking for five minutes already.
"There is a door." Sakura stopped when Sasuke yanked her closer to him. "Careful, you nearly walked into it."
"Sorry. Does it open?"
"I haven't tried."
She felt him move and the squeaky noise of the rusty metal resonated against the walls. The sound bounced off and echoed for a second before it died down. Sakura opened her lids slightly and once she saw that there was light, she acted like nothing had happened. She even gently pushed Sasuke out of the way to walk in the room first.
He followed her in. Sakura analysed the room in front of her. Across the room she could see four shut wooden doors. The room was lit up by a multitude of candles. The air was rare in here and she was glad that Sasuke and her left the main door opened. She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.
"Well, now we're in. What's next?"
She saw his eyes move around the room. "This is next." she followed the direction of his eyes and found an altar with six scrolls. She looked on the wall just above them and saw the inscription on it.
"Its powder makes a skin appear smoother.
Its paper is used to send a message.
The right answer is on one of the scrolls.
If the wrong scroll is opened prepare yourself."
She waited for Sasuke to finish reading it. Once he was done she looked at him with a bored look. "Really? A riddle?"
"I wasn't expecting that either."
"It's an easy one as well. Back then makeup wasn't made the way it's made today. They used rice powder to make skin powder and the paper is rice paper."
"How do you know that?"
"My mom lectured me on makeup when I was a little girl. She wanted me to know what I was doing." he nodded at her and reached out to the scroll with the word rice written on it. "Also who is stupid enough to make the key the word rice. It's a huge part of our culture and we used to do everything with it."
"Hn."
"You couldn't have guessed without me, could you?" she teased him by sticking out her tongue.
He cuts her off with a shrug of his shoulders. "What's inside?"
Sakura opened the scroll quickly and a key dropped on the floor. She picked it up. "Let's try it on the doors."
"One of them has a lock with numbers on it. Give me the key."
She threw the key to him and watched him try to open all the doors one by one. The very first door on the right opened silently. She rushed to his side to see what was inside of it. His body was blocking the entrance so she stayed behind him, moved to the tip of her toes and rested her chin on his left shoulder. The only thing behind that door was a wall with a drawing on it. It showed the main room where the scrolls were. A lit candle was next to it. The bottom drawing was the same but with something scribbled on the back wall. This time the candle was not lit.
"You think we need to be in drkness to see whatever this is supposed to be?"
"I don't think we have any other options. How are you feeling?"
"Good, why?"
"For no reason. Stay here and close your eyes. I will tell you when I can see it."
"Why would I need to close my eyes?"
"Because you are scared of the dark."
She closed her eyes glad to be with someone so understanding but a little bit ashamed that he discovered her secret.
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Sasuke looked at the dark wall where the new inscription was supposed to be but nothing. He looked at Sakura to make sure that she was alright. He was worried about her. He never cared much for mental health. Since he was young he always thought that it was something that you can easily handle but Sakura showed him that it wasn't true.
Since her big nervous breakdown, he was always waiting for another one to come and he felt horribly guilty for that. She wasn't taking care of herself and it will eventually break her. He needed to make her stop. He had a plan for that. As soon as they will be finished in this dimension, he was planning on taking her on a journey. He was willing to sacrifice his mission to show her everything that he had seen of their world during the two years of his travels. He wanted her to rest and have an easy pregnancy and as soon as the baby will be here, he will be able to go on mission for a few weeks at the time and go back home.
"Sasuke? Can you see it?"
He smiled at her body sitting on the ground. Yes, he was willing to sacrifice everything for her and for her safety. He shook his head and looked back to the wall. His eyebrows rose when he saw a series of numbers on it. "There are numbers. Let me use a fire jutsu to light up the candles." he memorised the numbers and lit up few of the candles. "You can open your eyes."
"So?" he saw her move to the lock of the door.
"8,6,0,2,5,1,6,3,9 and 5."
She opened the door and he met her in front of it. His hand brushed her lower back following his instinct of touching her but he stopped himself and brought his hand back to him.
"We have a problem." she said.
"What is it?"
"Well... the key is in a bowl of acid."
"How do you-" he looked at the bowl and recognised the liquid from the acid dimension. "I have an idea." he searched his weapon bag and brought out a metal thread.
"This could work." she smiled at him and he froze. She stared at him and wrinkled her nose at him playfully while grabbing the thread from his hand. He did not react because of how captivated he was by her. Even after being used to see her face to the point of where he could draw it by heart, his mind was still freezing every time he witnessed her being herself. His heart still sank when she showed him a part of her personality that she wasn't showing to anyone else. Everyone saw her as this tough woman who was always smiling but he knew that deep down she was innocent and playful just like a child. He liked that because it made him laugh.
"Sasuke? Hey! I did it! What's going on with you today?"
He snapped out of it. "Nothing." his hand grabbed the key and opened the next door with a blush on his face. He really needed to get it together and fast.
He was so overwhelmed by his emotions that when he opened the door he didn't feel something jumping on him. He landed on the ground and only realised the beast that was on him. He saw its claws ready to attack but was suddenly lifted in the air and thrown away.
Sasuke stood up and watched Sakura take care of it. What an idiot. He rolled his eyes annoyed at himself. His wife ran put to him with a worried look.
"Are you fine?"
"I'm fine. It didn't even touch me." he pushed her away and walked to the animal. "There should be a key inside of here."
"In the animal?"
Sasuke didn't answer and watched closely the body. There was no sign of a key.
Suddenly a fire started on its tail and took over the entire body. In a dance of smoke and flame it disappeared leaving a key behind it. Sasuke took it and opened the last door. He saw a dark corridor again. He turned to his wife and handed her his hand expecting her to let herself being guided through the darkness. Once she took it, he activated his sharingan and adventured him and her there.
They walked for a very long time and just before he felt his sharingan disappear, they stopped in front of a door. He opened it carefully but all he saw in the room was a scroll. It was similar to the one they found in the other dimension.
Still dragging Sakura behind him, he moved up to it and took it. As soon as th piece of paper left the table, a door opened and Sasuke saw the outside of the castle. He wrapped his arm around Sakura and pushed her forward. "You can open your eyes."
Once outside he looked at her. "Let's go home. I'll go get our bags." he was quickly back and used her help to open a portal. They landed on the ground and he stopped her from falling. "You'll never get used to it, will you?"
"No and I feel sick no-" before she finished her sentence she started throwing up. Sasuke watched her wondering if he should do something or not. "Ah! I hate getting sick!"
"It's the baby, isn't it?"
"Yes. Are you gonna ask every time?" he backed away slightly and her face transformed into a silent apology. He nodded making her understand that he understood. "Where are we?"
Sasuke looked around him. "Judging by the lack of the trees we are not in the Land of Fire. The weather is cold so we are in the North part of the continent. We should be around Inaho, in the Land of Earth."
"We need to find a village."
"Land me some chakra, I will summon Garuda."
They flew around the area and saw a tiny village under them. They landed there and walked into the village. People stared at them with a surprised look. He felt Sakura's body getting closer to his.
"Welcome to Inaho." he said seriously.
"You've been here before?"
"I have. It was shortly after I left Konoha. I know an inn, follow me."
He walked her to a small building that he knew well. The inn's keeper smiled at them.
"Oh! Welcome, welcome! We don't often get visitors. What can I do for you?"
"I will need a room for my wife and I."
"How big do you want it to be?"
"Whatever you have will do."
"Very well. Here," she handed him a key. "your room is room number 15. Payment is when you leave."
"Just one question before."
"Yes?"
"What day is it?"
She was going to think that they were either crazy or dodgy but he didn't really care right now. All he wanted was to get Sakura to a bed and make her sleep.
"We are Thursday, the 7th of December." he heard Sakura let out a little scream beside him. Did they really spent six weeks in that dimension?
He nodded at the woman and walked to the bedroom. As soon as he closed the door Sakura started to scream.
"December?! Six weeks? Is this real? How could it be six weeks already!"
"Sakura-"
"No, wait! I am ten weeks pregnant already. I shouldn't be ten weeks pregnant. I am ten weeks pregnant what the hell!" she took off her top in front of him and ran to the bathroom. He followed her confused in and found her staring at herself in the mirror. The sight of her half naked body brought back a lot of memories that made hims slightly blush. She was holding her belly. "My body looks disgusting. Look at these veins! I know that it's a normal symptom but it's ugly. I look like a map." he chuckled and walked behind her. She turned to watch her profile in the mirror. "Well... it's definitely bigger." Sasuke paid attention to her body and wondered if she was talking about her belly or breasts. He tried to look away but couldn't. She caught him in the mirror and laughed. "Yeah I had the same reaction the first time I saw them. They're only gonna get bigger. The only good thing about all of this."
He didn't understand what she was complaining about. To him she looked the same. He took her hand and activated the light green chakra and shared it with her before he brought their hands on her belly. "What are-"
"Just listen." he positioned himself behind her and rested his head against hers. Soon they started to feel a little heart beating on the palm of their hands. He took a deep breath and composed himself before speaking to her. "Your body is the same to me. The only difference is this."
"So... you're still attracted to me?" her voice was so hesitant that it broke his heart. Of course he was attracted to her and he thought that it was obvious. Lacking the words to say it, he kissed her cheek. He felt her dimples under his lips sign that he did something right. Her hand moved up to his cheek and she turned around to face him.
"I love you Sasuke." his eyes moved down to her lips. He wanted to kiss her. Everything about Sakura seemed so bright compared to before. Every single one of her beautiful feature was enhanced making her extremely attractive and all he wanted to do was kiss her.
He found himself crashing his lips on hers. It was gentle and loving. He poured the words that he couldn't say out loud into this kiss. She responded and passed her hand through his hair.
I love you too.
She broke the kiss and looked at him intensely. He was unsettled by it.
"Please tell me that you brought that t-shirt with you!"
The confusion was visible on his face as he processed what she had just asked him. Why did she make it sound like it was important.
"Yes."
"Give it to me! I need something comfortable for my pregnant belly!"
"It is barely noticeable."
"Yeah but now I have an excuse to wear your t-shirt all the time so don't ruin that."
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I apologise for my writing lately. I absolutely hate it so it's hard to motivate myself to write ahah especially when I'm not happy with what I give you guys to read. I just realised that I am nearly at 10k !!!!!
Also from now on the chapters won't be day after day, I'll probably leave a bit of time between them (In the story not in real life) because you'll get extremely bored if I write every single day of their vacation until she gives birth ahah
Anyway I still hope that you enjoyed it even if the writing is not as good as it used to be!
Thank you for your support xx