The December midday sun loomed high above a village hidden in the leaves, every carved rock glistening under the sun as the people of the village huddled along in their scarves, coats and gloves. Somewhere in the village, a crowd of three-year-olds were sitting inside a school building, attempting to learn and understand the twelve different months through a song although a dozen of them had dozed off into a nap after their lunch. A raven-haired girl counted how many months until her birthday, hoping that her father would return and grace her with his presence. For if he didn't, then maybe her mother's words of comfort were all but lies, and she was not loved by a man she barely knew as her Papa...
Elsewhere in the village, an older man had also dozed off into a nap. Pink hair tickled his cheek and shoulder, and despite the cold air, the man only felt warmth. He stirred awake when he felt the absence of the silky locks. Before him stood his bare wife who was rummaging through her drawers. She turned her head back to face him when he cleared his throat.
"Oh! Sasuke! I didn't mean to wake you," she apologised. "I'm going to quickly have a shower, and then I can serve you some lunch?"
He stared at her with his infamous stoic expression and asked, "How long was I asleep for?"
"Just a few minutes," she answered as she took her new clothes and left the room.
Sasuke looked around the room and then at himself and decided that he also needed to shower. He opened the bedroom door and was greeted with white walls on either side of him. He followed the path the walls and tiles made for him until he found a door with a sign hanging off from it that read in childish red writing, 'Sarada rom. Do nt distab'. He hovered outside the room, his hand hovering over the doorknob, wondering whether he should intrude the room and inspect how much his daughter's tastes had changed in the couple of months that he had not seen her, but then thought better of it. He turned away and continued following the path of the corridor when he came to another closed door.
He opened it slowly and found hot steam escape onto his face. He could barely see anything due to the cloud of steam which had surfaced and the condensation which had clouded the windows and mirrors. But he could still make out his wife's slim form that had her arms over her head as she washed her hair. He found his way to herself and ignored her shrieks and pleas. He simply washed himself and left her pink-faced with embarrassment. He made his way back to the bedroom after stealing a long white towel for himself and picked up the book he had thrown earlier. He picked up their clothes and placed his wife's in the laundry basket whilst he folded his and placed them on the night stand. He then turned his attention to the bed and stripped the covers off, and they too found their place in the laundry basket.
He then made his way around the house, eventually finding the stairs that led him downstairs, and suddenly he was standing outside the living room that his wife spoke of. On the wall opposite, perched above the fireplace was the house-warming present gifted by Sai, an additional member of Team 7: the Uchiha crest. He lost himself in the red curves, his mind flickering to other red curves he loved so much. This crest no longer just symbolised himself or of his late family, or of the rest of his deceased clan; no, now it was also a symbol of life, love and hope. Sakura and Sarada. They were the ones who now proudly wore this crest on their backs, and he couldn't be prouder. His eyes softened at the thought, and he barely registered that his said wife was standing next to him until she nudged closer and circled her hands around his lone arm.
He looked down and found her smiling up at him, her green eyes ardent with bliss. "You didn't have to do all that. Upstairs, I mean," she said, her voice light with amusement. "I could have cleaned up."
He smiled down at her and said, "Sakura. I'm home."
He watched as her eyes lit up and a pretty 'o' painted her lips, until she replied with a pleasant sigh, "Welcome home, Sasuke-kun."
In her white bathrobe she dragged Sasuke across the landing until they came upon the kitchen. She pushed him into a seat on the dining table. And it was there that they feasted, communicating with stolen glances, blushes and shy touches, almost as if they were falling in love all over again. Almost as if all their history had been erased and he had been given a new chance - a clean new slate. Maybe they could start from the beginning, brand new. If only... But life wasn't as easy as that. There were no brand new starts - second, third and fourth chances still had the ghost of the past haunting every flicker of light, casting a shadow over every cobblestones that was graced in daylight. Even if he had redeemed himself from some of his sins, regret still hung over him, like a bad odour that would not pass, no matter how much you bathed or sprayed expensive perfume over it. He was stuck beneath the weight of his own mistakes, but at least, right now, in this very moment, he had her. And she was the light that kindled him in the darkness.
***
A rustling in the leaves, and on and on he went. The blades of grass beneath him stuck to his ankles, as if begging for him to stay. "Don't leave me!" they seemed to cry out. But he had to keep going. On and on. With a spark of a chidori in hand, he stayed on his pursuit of his prey. As quick as lightning, he struck down thirty of the missing-nin and the once multicoloured land was now plastered in red. Sasuke planted himself gently onto a branch and looked down at the once beautiful land: it was another thing he had tarnished, another thing tainted by his hand. Sasuke brought out his pen and paper and inked a letter to Kakashi, informing him that the deed had been done.
Sasuke cast a genjutsu over the semi-conscious missing-nin as promised, and continued with his travels. As the orange flow of the sky melted away and silver and dark blue overtook its reign, Sasuke sat beneath the full moon with a myriad of blossoms surrounding him, covering a vast land that stretched out as long as the ocean. It was March 31st, and the fourth year in a a row that he had missed his daughter's birthday. She would be seven today. He wondered how much she had changed. Did she still so closely resemble him, or with age, had her mother's genes bloomed and surfaced? He had last seen the mother of his child only three days prior, on her own birthday. He had come with clothes that were small enough for a seven year old, and Sakura had teased him saying that she was a bit too big for those clothes. It was the same joke each year, but it never seemed to get old to Sakura, something which amused him.
Sasuke looked around his surroundings, and found that every distinct flower spoke to him, reminding him of the last four years...
The first flower that caught his eye was an orange aloe flower, the flower of affection but grief. It was fitting for him, truly.
***
Aloe
The orange spikes of the aloe flowers reminded the once lone Uchiha of another orange being with spikes: his best friend, Naruto. His best friend, who at one point had taught him the meaning of daylight and how to forge a new path of light for himself. Eventually the raven-haired man had decided that he needed time to see the world in this new light his friend envisioned, before following the road that led towards a heart surrounded by pink blossoms. It was the path of light that Sasuke walked four years prior, that led him towards the Hokage's office where he was accompanied by his friend who referred to himself as the 'orange spark' and the Sixth Hokage.
Sasuke was clad in his black cloak as he turned towards his former male team members and greeted them, "Naruto. Kakashi. I trust you know why I'm here."
Naruto scrunched up his face and closed his eyes and itched his cheek as he contemplated, "Hmm, is it about that white rabbit woman?"
"What Naruto means is," Kakashi interjected. "Is it about Kaguya Otsutsuki?" A silver brow raised up as Kakashi waited for the Uchiha to confirm his suspicions.
Sasuke spoke with indifference as he relayed, "I've only spoken to Sakura about this-"
"-Hey, I thought you guys aren't on speaking terms anymore?" Naruto spoke his thoughts aloud. It had been a mutual agreement that Sasuke and Sakura would keep their reconciliation a secret, even from their closest friends. Anything to ensure that Sarada would not know that her father frequented the village without paying her a visit. Anything to keep her little heart safe.
Kakashi coughed and Sasuke closed his eyes as he continued, "- a while ago. There was a time when I used my rinnengan and collapsed before Sakura so she could heal me before I lost consciousness." The memory of his daughter's screams as he collapsed into Sakura's arms in the living room were still fresh. The way her face tore up as she saw her Papa fight the clutches of death had left a scar on him, and it was once Sakura had saved him once again, that he had stolen himself into Sarada's room and used his sharingan to alleviate her suffering, and erase the memories that would otherwise haunt her into adulthood. Something he was aware of far too well.
"The great Sasuke Uchiha collapsing? Now, that is a new one," Kakashi offered.
"Hmm, Sasuke, you're really losing it aren't you, idiot?" Naruto provoked. "It's almost hard to believe that someone other than me kicked your ass, dattebayo! So, what is it that they had? A super mega rinnengan? Or was it an x-ray vision byakugan?"
"Byakugan is x-ray vision, dumbass. Just ask your wife," Saskue retorted back as he narrowed his eyes at the future Hokage who was beading a sweat drop alongside his brows. "Now shut up and listen. It wasn't an actual being I was fighting. I had found a new dimension that seemed to link to where Kaguya may have originally come from. But it was sealed off. I wasn't able to decipher the sealing jutsu even with my rinnengan. I was able to detect masses of chakra behind the wall of the new dimension with my sharingan, but I also noticed it was depleting my own chakra as I was doing so. Eventually, I found myself fighting with remnants of century old Otsutskui's. It must have been part of the sealing jutsu."
"So you were fighting ghosts?" Naruto asked. "Wait! If this happened 'a while ago' why are you only telling us now, idiot?!"
"It wasn't a threat back then," Sasuke responded calmly.
"But it is now?" Kakashi suggested.
"No. But I've found other leads since. The scrolls I've been sending to you, Kakashi. I don't have the time to piece all the information together, but I imagine what I found back then might be significant to all the other information I have found."
Kakashi nodded, and stated, "Thanks, Sasuke. I'll get Shikamaru on it."
"Good," Sasuke agreed. "The less people that know the better." And with that Sasuke turned away and started walking out the door.
"Wait!" Naruto called out.
Sasuke halted, and without turning back around he asked, "What is it?"
"Don't you think you should go and see your family?" Naruto pestered. "I know how much Sarada misses you! And Sakura... Hinata tells me that Sakura hasn't been the same since... Sakura doesn't talk much about you but it's clear she's lonely without you! It's just the other day how she was telling me and Hinata how you used to always go down to Sarada's level when you spoke to her, and how Sarada used to kiss your cheeks goodnight before she fell asleep. And now she doesn't say anything! I don't want to see my family broken, Sasuke. You need to-"
"Naruto," Sasuke said. "You focus on your own family."
"Team 7 IS my family!" Naruto explained.
"You know what I mean," Sasuke muttered. With a flash, he was gone. He had another sealed scroll he needed to deliver, one that had pink camellias and a small pair of red shoes fit for a four year old. It was March 29th.
***
Pink camellia
The pink flowers that accentuated the evening were complimented by the waxy deep green leaves that had grown wildly below it. These were the flowers of longing. The aromatic scent that wafted towards him filled him with memories of three years prior...
It was August. If he had calculated right, his daughter was four and this was his and his wife's fifth anniversary. She had not contacted him informing that she was free, truth be told, she barely wrote to him now. The last time he had seen her it was a day after her birthday, and he could tell that she was fighting back tears as they spoke with whispers of what had become of their family. Broken. A mess. Despite all that, she was all smiles when he was around, and every word that passed her irresistible lips were enveloped in love. But he could not rid his gaze of the fact that her eyes were filled with only sadness.
"This is her first birthday you will miss..." she had pointed out.
"Tell her I love her," he had responded.
"I do," she confirmed. "But I don't know if she believes me," she had sniffled. "I can see it in her poor face, how much her tiny heart aches for you, darling. I know she loves her Papa who she barely remembers. I know it is you that is uttered in her nightly prayers, and I know she misses you. Do you still... Will you still not come home to your daughter?"
He had placed his hand on her head and said, "I'm sorry, Sakura. Maybe she's hurting, and if I could I would take all her pain away. But... I believe I've taken away some of her suffering, and so that is what I continue to intend to do. And if what you say is true, if she loves me without knowing me, then I believe our feelings are connected. Sarada and me, we're connected. Through you. So don't you worry, Sakura. As long as she has you, she will always have a part of me, too."
He had remembered how she had finally released her tears into his clothed chest as he held her in his embrace, and how she had muttered, "Thank you, darling." And how he had muttered back, "No, thank you, Sakura."
Roughly four months later, his own heart ached for his wife. He longed for her, like the petals of pink camellias dancing in the wind, trying to find their way back home. He used his rinnengan to teleport himself into her office and fell on her chair.
"Sasuke!" he heard her cry out. "What are you doing here? Are you okay? And you used your teleportation, is it okay for you to do that? Won't Ino find out?"
He could almost feel the thudding of her pulse as she stood behind him, in shock.
"Don't worry about her. The top jounin know I visit Naruto and Kakashi occasionally, and that includes Ino," he reminded her.
His words must have broken her out of her trance as he could now sense her walking towards him. "Oh, yes. You're right, Sasuke-kun," Sakura agreed. "Naruto, Hinata and Ino keep treating me like I'm a fragile widow. Especially Naruto and Ino since they know when you come back. It's actually quite irritating. I try to play the part so they don't get suspicious, but..."
Sasuke had unclasped his cloak whilst she was talking and had disrobed himself from his waistcoat and shirt. "Heal me," he stated.
"A-ah, yes," she stuttered. Soon enough, he felt a warm glow of chakra surge through his back. Her touch was electrifying. Even when she wasn't trying, her touch felt sensual, and he wanted nothing else but to take her here and now. He never wanted her to let go of him. And that was why he snapped at her when he felt the absence of her rough hands. "The fuck? Sakura, heal me." He hadn't meant to sound aggressive, but the bite in his tone didn't seem to faze her anyway, so all was not lost.
"But, Sasuke," she started. "There's only minor cuts and bruises on your back?" she questioned.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance, which led her to comply with his wishes. Her hand touched his back, and once again, he felt energy coursing through him. He looked around the office and found that the pink camellias he had gifted her all those months ago had been replaced with white camellias. His eyes narrowed at the thought of her having flowers from someone other than him in her personal office. He knew she usually kept gifts from her staff and patients, which he was fine with. But for her to have discarded his own gift for someone else's... that irked him.
Sasuke was drawn away from his thoughts as he heard Sakura whisper seductively into his ear, "Sasuke-kun, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you only wanted me to heal you so I could touch you, hmm?" His body tensed at the accuracy of her question.
"No," he denied. "I don't want you to touch me."
He felt her hands slink away, and heard as her feet pattered around the chair and desk until she was standing opposite him in her medical jacket, her hands hidden within the pockets as she searched his blank face with a smug look on her own face.
"Sure," she smirked. "Then you may go, Uchiha-san. Especially if my touch really is that repulsive."
Sasuke gripped the arm of the armchair he was seated on, frustrated at himself for instantly going on the offensive like old times, when she offered her love to him. He closed his eyes and his jaw clenched as he forced himself to say, "Sakura. You know I didn't mean that."
The angelic softness of her laugh brought his eyes open as she replied, "I know, dear. I'm just playing with you." She sauntered towards him and propped herself atop her desk as she peered down at him with a sultry smile. "So what brought you here, Sasuke-kun?"
"You," he was blunt as ever.
"What about me?" she probed playfully, licking her lips. Such a tease, tch.
He got up from his seat, so that his face was perfectly aligned with his wife's. If they just closed the gap, neither of them would have to bend down or lean up to express their inner most feelings. And that's just what was transpiring between them. He could see his wife edging closer to him, and he too was edging closer to her. With every second that passed, their breaths were mingling together. Their lips were grazing each other now, and he could feel that she had her lips pursed together, awaiting the seal of two becoming into one. But it was at that last second that he abruptly turned away and left her seething. He smirked as he made his way towards the windowsill where the white camellia sat in a pot.
His fingers glided over the soft white petals, and he tugged one off and watched as it floated out of the window. He was about to deconstruct another petal when his wife's cries of "Stop!" halted him. He could see her reflection staring at him and he glared back her. "Why?" he asked, his voice low.
"Because they're precious to me," she admitted. Tug. He had pulled another one off and he blew it outside.
"I said STOP!" she yelled. She hopped of the desk and joined him by the window, before closing it. Her hand closed around his own, before it could take the life of another petal. He side-eyed her, his eyes narrow and her own furrowed in confusion. "Where are the flowers I gave you?"
"Sasuke, it's been a couple of months. Of course they died," she said in a dull tone, as if it was obvious.
"So why didn't you buy new ones, instead of receiving these?" He asked bitterly. His mismatched eyes flickered to the white petals before looking at her green eyes again. "What?" she asked with a laugh. "Sasuke, I did buy new ones! I bought these flowers. Me." She squeezed his palm beneath hers and asked in a hushed tone, her eyes gleaming with amusement all the while, "Were you jealous, Sasuke? Did you think I replaced you with another man?"
He looked away in annoyance and muttered, "Of course not." But his hand squeezed her back. He was being honest though, he knew no one could replace his place beside her, no matter how far apart they were. But he still didn't like the thought of another man thinking they had a chance with her.
She stood on her tiptoes and rested her chin on his shoulder. "You're adorable," she smiled.
"Shut up." A slight blush had formed on his cheeks.
"No, I mean, that's what these flowers mean. You're adorable. I've been buying these as they remind me of you. They also mean faithful marriage, among other things," she taught him.
He looked down at her, and said, "Ah. The language of flowers is a complicated thing, isn't it?"
She pecked his cheek and relieved her toes from the strain and landed on the flat of her sandals again. "It sure is. If you want, I can teach you more from what I learnt from Ino? I know you secretly love flowers," she teased.
"I don't," he lied. "But I also have a precious flower I want to protect."
A blush formed on her cheeks as she realised what he meant. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her cherry blossom hair. "You're my precious family, Sakura," he murmured to her.
When he drew away her hand immediately sprinted up to touch the remnants of his kiss. "Why won't you kiss me on my lips?" she pouted.
His lips curled upwards into a small smile as he confessed, "Not until you tell me why you don't write to me anymore."
"Oh! I'm sorry. I've just been really busy with the hospital. I've taken more shifts now that Sarada is at school full-time. So I'm only free on weekends, but that's when I spend time with Sarada," she rambled out in a half-panic. "Sorry if I've worried you. I just haven't had the time. Everything is so hectic, and sometimes Boruto and Himawari come around in the weekend, and-"
"It's fine," he simply said. "Thank you for taking care of Sarada."
He gave her what she wanted. A kiss full of longing, passion and trust.
***
Heliotrope
Sasuke's black bangs of hair blew in front of him, revealing the violet colouring of his left eye. It captured a bundle of other violets that swayed in the breeze: the bundle of purple heliotropes whispered to him the same eternal love and devotion that another flower had always promised him: Sakura. The aroma of the sweet scent that the tiny heliotropes gave off caused his mind to flicker back to roughly two years prior: it was a January, and Sakura had sent word to him that she would be on a mission with a medical unit. They had been writing back and forth for a week, and it was eventually decided that he would meet up with her at the border of Kirigakure once she had sent the rest of the unit back to Konoha.
He remembered how when they had finally found each by a stream of water, they may or may have not crossed when Sakura was still pregnant with Sarada, and they sat side by side, her head resting on his shoulder, with nothing but the peaceful silence surrounding them. It was midday, and they were both watching as the sun sent down its blessings from the heavens onto the world as the clear water reflected the shimmering light back onto everything that peered into it. The pebbles that were lined up along the riverbed would be cleaned with every stroke of the stream lashing up onto it, and the wild heliotropes that grew in between each pebble only added to the immense beauty of their surroundings. The chirping of the birds filled the quietness of a married couple enjoying each other's presence with nothing but only soft touches and shy glances. It was Sasuke that broke the silence.
"How's Sarada?" He finally asked.
"Ah, she's good," his wife hummed back. "She still asks for you. But I tell her the same thing, that you love her, and that you're only away to keep us safe. That you'll come back when you have finished your important mission. She doesn't cry anymore. Or at least not to my face. Sometimes I hear her crying at night, but when I go to her room she pretends to be asleep. Even when I stay in her bed and cuddle her, and whisper to her trying to soothe her, she doesn't open up to me. I think she thinks she's protecting me by not letting me worry and fuss over her, but it should be the other way round. That silly girl. Seriously, she's not even five yet and I swear she's more mature than I was when I was thirteen! She must definitely get that quality from you. I just remember how cool you were when you were five," Sakura giggled, before continuing. "But despite all that, she's doing well. She gets the top marks at school for reciting the alphabet and being able to count and do simple sums. And her eyesight is fine too, darling. Every time I look into her eyes, I still see you... I wish..."
"Sakura," Sasuke interrupted her before she could go into a spiral about her sorrows and allow the serenity of the moment dissipate. "Where's Sarada now?"
"She's with Naruto," she answered back.
"Ah," Sasuke approved. "If she's with Naruto, then she's safe."
"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "That loud-mouthed friend of ours is always somehow keeping us safe, hm? He's done so much for us, that Naruto. Like when he brought you back to me."
Sasuke shifted his wife's weight off from his shoulder, and readjusted his position until his head fell in her lap. Her words resonated with him, and it was something that he had known all along. He could only agree with her in his own quiet way. He looked up at her smiling angelic face, and she cupped his face in her hands, all the while her hair falling down over onto him. He lifted his hand up to tuck a few of those strands behind her right ear. "But it was you who taught me to love," he told her.
She caressed his face, her smile never leaving her, and the warmth of her smile radiating onto him. "Hmm, that may be so. But it was only because of him that you were able to accept my friendship once again," she concluded. Her right thumb brushed over his lip and he closed his eyes whilst drinking in her touch and her closeness. He truly felt blessed by the midday's daylight, reminiscing about the past, basking in the present, and feeling hopeful for the future. "Because of Naruto, you were able to have another chance at life, Sasuke-kun. He gave that to you, and I'm so grateful to him for that." Every word that graced his ears from her lips he agreed with. Their hearts and minds had synced and they were together in more ways than one. The marital bonds of husband and wife had far exceeded those beyond physical relations a long time ago. They were connected emotionally and spiritually, perhaps even before he reciprocated her feelings back. "I really do love him," he heard her say. His eyes snapped open and he looked at her face who was now staring at the stream again. He looked at the features on her face and tried to discern what she had meant by that. Surely she didn't mean...
She looked down again to find her husband's creases and a frown staring back at her. He noticed how her lips almost quirked upwards as a question formed on her tongue, until realisation at what she had last uttered dawned on her face. Her lips then curved back into a reassuring smile and she said to him, "I don't mean romantically, Sasuke-kun. I love him as I know you love him too. Like a best friend. Like a brother."
He sighed softly, but that still did not appease his new founded insecurities. "Naruto was always interested in you romantically, though, back then. He was always good to you. He could have given you everything that I never did, and I'm sure he did. Why... Why did you not...?"
She had been listening to her husband speak his mind, and had understood his half unspoken question. "Actually, I did," she admitted. "I told him I loved him. Romantically, I mean."
He blinked, and then sat up beside her, pulling himself off of her. He hadn't expected this. "What happened?" He asked.
"He rejected me," Sakura laughed. "My love story is full of rejections."
He raised a quizzical brow. Sasuke didn't understand. As long as he could remember, it was no secret that Naruto had had a crush on Sakura, so if Sakura had offered what he so desired for so long, why had Naruto pushed her away?
"Why?" he blurted out.
Sakura blinked. "Why? Oh... Well, he saw right through me... It seems that Naruto was able to always read my heart clearly, as he could read yours, and many other shinobi. Naruto knew I was still hopelessly in love with you, despite what I had told him." Sakura sighed, and she looked into the distance, as if losing herself into a tragic past.
Sasuke studied her face and watched as the sunlight cascaded onto her long pink locks. He watched as her green eyes gleamed in the midday sun, and how her pink lips invited him to inch closer with every passing breath.
"And are you?" he asked.
She snapped out of her trance and looked back at him. "Am I what?" she asked, puzzled.
"Still hopelessly in love with me," he clarified.
He watched as she fought with the corner of her lips from tugging into a wide grin, and she rocked away from him and lightly shoved him so he was reeling onto his left side. He steadied himself and watched her like a hawk. "You really want me to say it, don't you?" she chuckled. She looked up at the seriousness of his face and snorted.
"Just tell me," he said, his voice and face void of expression.
"Yes," she giggled. "I'm still hopelessly in love with you, Sasuke-kun."
His eyes shifted from her and landed on the stream before them. "Good," he uttered.
He felt her arm nudge his, and when he didn't turn towards her again, he heard her ask playfully, "So, are you not going to tell me?"
"No," he replied.
"Why not?" she whined.
He huffed and turned to face her once again. He brought two fingers forward and poked her diamond seal. Next time. "Because you'll only cry," he smirked at her. He couldn't stand it when she cried. Even when the tears were formed because of his love for her, it reminded him of all the times he had hurt and rejected her previously. Her tears only tormented him.
He moved his fingers from her forehead, and replaced it with his lips. "Thank you for loving me," he murmured to her. I love you.
A/N: This low-key felt like a filler chapter to me but I'm half way through writing Part 2 and there's some important dialogue that takes place... stay tuned!
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