SasuSaku Smut Month 2015:

day 11: Welcome home, day 21: Take it slow

Under Heaven

。

Scorching Lakes

湖

[Part 2 。第二话]

dream maker.

xxx

When he returns to find Sakura lying on the stone bed, asleep, his body feels strangely complete, and his heart is light.

The loss of his left arm does not bother him as much as he had thought it would. He is still able to wield his sword and control the elements. She would live and he would die first, as he had originally planned. What good would another arm do him in his death?

He does not feel loss, because there is no reason to.

And he reminds himself that he doesn't feel the loss, not when he feels Sakura's clear eyes study him and pick him apart. Crying for the loss that he does not feel. Lying on what she believes is her death bed.

"Your arm! Your arm, Sasuke!" She clutched at his hollowed sleeve, as if her touch could reverse time and bring back the loss limb. "It was Orochimaru wasn't it- why? How could you?"

Sakura is the only one that has ever cried for him ever since they were young. Maybe his parents have done the same for him once, but it's been so long he can no longer remember it so. She had silently cried for him as she washed him with the waters of the healing springs, under the waterfalls when she saw his strenuous training, for his family he never properly grieved, and now for his arm even though it had been her's.

Holding his torso with weakened arms of her own, she cried into his chest to try and soothe the ache of seeing Sasuke like this.

Cried enough for both him and her.

She hates it.

Sasuke no longer stands with a straightened back. His solar plexus is sucked in - as if swallowing every thing he never says. His waist should be firm when her arms wrap around him and his pelvis should be lifted. He should stand tall like a tree that protects her from the buffeting of winds and rain. But his normally proud posture is slumped and painful.

She had never wanted any of this. She didn't want his sacrifices. Not this way.

"We're saved. Orochimaru had the cure. We can live, Sakura. Take the pill, I've already taken the antidote."

No. Of course not. One arm in exchange for one life. Orochimaru only had one pill.

Her tear filled eyes look straight his. To tear through his hardened heart and rip apart his very being. Rivulets of water poured down on her face as she looks up at him, the pain of the poison eating away her normally controlled expressions.

Lying to her had been the easiest thing he has ever done. He wonders; why has he been lying to her so frequently since they've been poisoned when he should finally be honest to her? He's approaching his death and all he can do is make up excuses for his selfishness and lie to the one person he should never turn his back on.

"No." Sakura's tone is relieved. Reserved. As if she's made up her decision. He doesn't know if it's because he doesn't trust him or Orochimaru. But he won't let her leave first if he can prevent it.

"Take it!"

Wiping her tear-stained face, she shoots him a sweet sweet smile. Her eyes crinkle at the side and dimples appear high up her cheeks. It's not quite a duchenne on her sickly face, but he's reassured that she'll listen to him.

"I'll take it tonight. I want a proper celebration if we really are going to live. We should have rice wine at least. I'm going to rest and get ready. Won't you take a rest as well?"

She held the stub that remained of his left arm, her expression softening again. Sakura knows that Sasuke will never refuse anything she asks for. Knows that Sasuke can read from her expression that she does not want to be constantly reminded of his loss and that it will take time for her to accept that he won't be the same again. She knows that Sasuke thinks that he should perhaps change out of his bloodied rags. Maybe fetch her the wine she craves.

She knows Sasuke. She always has. Sasuke was her's just as she was his. Alway had since she was thirteen, and always will be.

And her Sasuke would never have taken the antidote without her.

But he wouldn't have lied to her either.

'We really are cursed' she thought.

He cherished her too much. Ever since he's been with her, the only thing she's given him is her, when she wasn't complete herself. She's led him down a path of dishonesty, even towards those he treasured. He has already given up his goal of avenging his family, and now his arm. He's sacrificed too much and will only continuing sacrificing more for her.

If the heavens have decided that only one of them would live...

Then she will make sure that Sasuke will stay alive as her last task as his shi-jie, his master, and his wife.

It was her turn to let him live.

xxx

heart breaker.

xxx

'Meet me at the Valley of the End.'

This is the only note he has ever received from Sakura in the ten years that they've known each other. He would have wanted something more affectionate to commemorate the last days that he would be able to stay with her, but the blunt and concise writing style is so her that he can't help but be relieved.

His lover has never liked leaving messages, preferring instant responses along with the comfort and awareness that her opinions or orders have been transmitted safely to the respondent. It was partly due to paranoia that her messages would be tampered and her own lack of patience. He can only blame the poison for her uncharacteristic behaviour as he heads out with heavy steps, his own lack of stamina and the after effects of blood loss settling in.

Sakura will be safe. Sakura will live.

He has fulfilled his duty, so why is he not satisfied simply with this?

It must be because Sakura was sad.

Her happiness has always been his second priority, the first being her life. Now that her life was saved, her lack happiness bothered him. Seeing Sakura's tears made his whole body ache. Go numb with guilt. He knows that she will not forgive him, but once he dies... He hopes she will find it in herself to let him go in peace. She would not hold it against him, she would want him to be able to ascend without earthly ties. Sakura had to let him go. She had to.

Now he only hopes that the poison will act faster because Sasuke does not think he will be an actor good enough in front of her.

Reaching the peak along the Valley of the End, he tried to look for a place Sakura would wait.

Named for it barren soils and waterfall leading to darkness under its cliff, it was not a location suitable for celebration at all. Rock slabs cover the edge of the cliff, protecting those who veer too close to the fall. The rushing gush of water that seemingly appeared from nowhere was the single overbearing sound in the whole valley, and the signature shade he associated to Sakura was nowhere to be found.

In fact, the only red within sight was the splatters of blood that he choked out.

Where was she?

Fear struck him that perhaps he was too late and that the poison had already taken her from him. Or if she was too weak - and too close to the edge -

"SAKURA! SAKURA!"

Please don't die. Please don't die. Please don't die on me. Please don't leave me.

She had to be alive somewhere. Sakura would not be so cruel to leave without him.

"Sasuke? Are you Uchiha Sasuke?"

He snapped around. He had not sensed another presence approach him, which meant that the blonde man standing in front of him was a wushu practitioner as well. He was shorter than him, but built wider. He could feel a powerful chi hidden within him. Legendary even. If he were to fight this man right now with his missing arm - he knows he will likely lose.

But what difference would it make in death?

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, head of Uzushiogakure."

Sasuke knew of them. Sakura had once told him that they were the sect of longevity, that she was close to the people of Uzushiogakure. Masters of life and death. Had she found out that he had lied about the antidote and gone to seek help on her own? If so where was she now?

"Where is she?"

"At the bottom of the Valley."

His eyes widened - but the bottom -

No no no no no nonononono

She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not d-

"She's dead."

"No!"

This man was lying. He had to be. He must not even be the head of Uzushio. Purely an illusion, a minion of Danzo who thinks he can redeem their prize of their suffering. He would not fall into their trap. Who was this man to tell him what he thinks happened to his wife?

"Where. Is. She?" He growled.

Feral. An animal. Sakura would not want him to be like this. He has always listened to Sakura. Sakura only. But look what she's doing to him.

"You may know, Uzushiogakure takes care of matters concerning life and death. Sakura came to me in her last moments to finalize her burial. She was a dear friend. I am sorry for the world's loss."

To hell with his sorry.

Who was he to be sorry? Why should he even be sorry.

Sakura is not dead.

"She told me this may happen..." The man - Uzumaki Naruto - revealed a parchment written on deer skin in his pocket. "Sakura asked me to give this to you."

Sasuke took the note and pushed it into his pocket. He would not read it until he found her. It was a lie, an elaborate attack to foil plans; so the note would just prove to be a form of useless persuasion.

"Where is Sakura? Just tell me where she is!"

He wasn't above begging. He just needed her to be alive. To be safe in his arms - arm. He was the one that should be dead. Sakura wouldn't leave him behind like this. He could feel the hysteria building, he needed her - she's going to show up, red celebration robes and all. She is. She has to. He has trailed behind her ever since they met. They've never been apart. Sakura has always put his feelings first, she wouldn't. She couldn't be -

dead.

She's not dead. She's not dead. She's not dead. She's not dead. Sakura won't leave me. Please don't leave me alone. Please. please please please.

She's not dead. She's -

Flying closer to the edge, he stares at the empty abyss, the running water that took her away from him. What difference would the slip in time make? If she's truly dead, he'll clearly follow her down. He won't live without her. He can't live without her. It was going to happen anyway. They would die together, so he just has to jump. No one would be left behind.

"I didn't want to do this..."

Maybe it was the result of raw shock, the lack of oxygen in him and the coldness of the blood that ran through him; but when Uzumaki Naruto knocks him out, he does the one thing he has never done.

He blames Sakura.

Love was cruel and painful, but Sakura was crueler.

He would have at least let her stay by his side in his final moments (would he? could he?), but she had stolen this from him.

Sakura was much crueler.

She hadn't even let him see her one last time. He had not been able to even hold her body one last time - warm or cold. She had taken all of him with would have threw away everything for her. His pride. His body. His life. Even his love if she had asked him to. But she had to choose this.

Sasuke remembers the smile she gave him. Thinks back to it. The gentle smile she gifted him through the pain it would have caused her. It was the last time he had ever seen her and she had wanted to leave him with only her smiling face. That beautiful face he was never going to see again. She had smiled and looked him in the eyes as if everything was going to be fine. As if she wasn't lying to him. As if she didn't know that he lied to her. That they were going to okay. But-

it's not okay. It's not okay.

Gods help him. Sakura had taken his sanity with her.

She had known that he lied to her. She had died not knowing how much he loved her. He remembers shouting at her. He remembers the resigned look on her face. Gods. He didn't get the chance to tell her he loved her. To kiss her one last time. To touch her skin and thread his fingers through her hair.

She died and the last thing she heard from Sasuke was a lie.

So cruel.

The Gods finally punished them. They've taken her life. And they won his soul with her death. They must be laughing in the heavens. They've finally took everything they had.

His eyes stung with pain, tears bleeding. The sobs don't break through in his lack of consciousness, but tears escape him.

So cruel.

How cruel he was to lie to her.

How cruel she was to die alone.

How cruel the world was.

xxx

wider than a mile.

xxx

He wakes after being in an induced coma for three months. The people of Uzushiogakure stabilized his condition after forcing the pill down him. The antidote that could have been used to Sakura.

Sasuke has stopped fighting everything.

Kakashi is the first person he speaks to after waking up. This was where he had hidden after leaving Konoha.

Sasuke thinks that maybe - just maybe - deep down inside he might be angry at Kakashi too. Because if Sakura did not feel the need to repay Kakashi and Konoha, she may have betrayed them and Danzo would have saved her. Because if Kakashi never became his shi-fu, he would not have met Sakura. Not have to go through the pain of losing everything to him for the second time in his life.

But he has given up on feeling anything already. If everything he loves is destined to leave him, he will no longer care for anything from now on.

"She came to Naruto for a coffin to lie in before she was lowered into the valley."

A coffin? But why -

"Sakura thought that if she complied to their norms for once in her life, you would be forgiven."

Of course. Of course Sakura would think of him first even if it was the end. When she starts something she will see to its end.

"Did you know what she intended to do?" Sasuke rasps; voice husky and broken.

Sitting up hurts. His right side aches from how little he has used the muscles, and his eyes sting as if bolted by his own lightening. The metallic scent of blood is a familiar reassurance that he hasn't healed completely yet.

"Sakura was my first tu-di. My daughter in all but blood. I could read her with a blindfold."

"Then why did you let her do it?"

He's surprised by how calm he sounds. The words come out as if he's asking about the weather outside. Or the direction the clouds float in the skies and the sun rises or where all rivers are leading. Only he doesn't know the answer.

"Because I loved her as my child and I wanted to fulfil her final wish. Even if it was for her ungrateful shi-di to live in place of her. Don't flatter yourself that you were the only one that cared about her." Kakashi glares at him. "I just didn't expect you to actually waste your life like this when she gave her life to save yours."

"I would have died for her! I gave up my arm to save Sakura!"

Silence fills the room as understanding dawns upon Kakashi for why Sakura had approached them after so many years after promising to allow him silence and peace from the violence of Jianghu. Fresh tears in her eyes, panting, back bent with her pink hair down.

She had never asked for anything from him before, never wanted anything until Sasuke. He had been the only thing in her life she had ever wanted. Needed.

"Then you caused her death. Of all people, you should have known what was the most important thing to her. She wouldn't have wanted any sacrifices. Sakura would have rather the two of you die together than for her to live alone."

He knows, he knows it so well. But he didn't think she would see through him. He thought she would be strong for him even if she had. The Sakura he knew was strong. Untouchable. Invincible. His goddess.

His Sakura.

"Live your life fully Sasuke. Do what Sakura couldn't."

xxx

He reads her message the night he turns twenty four, seven years since he first proposed to her.

Seven. Qi. For togetherness. Qi. The essence of life itself. Air. It was supposed to be a lucky number. He was going to ask her to travel with him again, for the chance to duel against others and hone their skills, improve their wushu until he defeats his brother and for them finally rule Tianxia together. He was going to ask her if she would want a child after he avenged his family and cleared their name.

It could no longer happen now.

The Two and Four ruled it out. Two for easy. Four for death. An easy death.

Sakura's tone is succinct, her lines are short and to the point. Just like her. And they're all orders. Demands that she expects him to be able complete without her.

Sakura makes sure that he will be able to go on. She's documented hidden and forbidden techniques that have never been taught to anyone else, to help him rule Jianghu as he said he would do for her and tells him all the connections she has made, to ensure he has the means of living luxuriously... To 'repay' him, as if it was a simple transaction. A contract he would sign his life away for. To live.

'Cry for me. Cry until all the pain leaves and you can leave me behind.'

He doesn't cry, at least not yet. And he knows that even if he drowns in tears, she won't be left behind.

He doesn't believe that Sakura left entirely in peace when she knows he would be in pieces, blown apart by her actions and torn open by her words.

'Be happy, Sasuke.' is the sentence that eventually makes him choke. It catches him by the throat, holding him by his collar, threatens to asphyxiate the breath out of him while his heart is snatched out of his chest. Tears smear him, dying his shirt darker than black.

In the end, she says that one day they will see each other again and asks him to forgive her. He promises her that he will, because that is what Sakura wants. And he will always do as Sakura desires even if it is to live a life he doesn't want. But he'll need time and Sasuke doesn't think he can let Sakura go just yet.

xxx

The next years pass and go at the pace of eroding mountains.

In a strange twist of fate, he becomes friends with the man that provided his wife with her cherry wood coffin. It's some sick form of closure he thinks, but Naruto and him bond easily. If Sakura had been Heaven, and he Hell; Naruto was the Earth they had been missing. He was the nested circles within Sakura and Sasuke's yin-yang taijitu and while their fighting styles should not theoretically work, their physical execution always achieved the required results.

He thinks that this is why Sakura and Naruto had apparently been close friends despite him never having met the blonde. They're different, but the same in some ways.

They could understand him without words.

Eventually mastering control over his body once again, he has developed individual skills and techniques to suit only his single handed combat. Slaying the serpent of Orochimaru and gaining the right to wield the legendary blade of Kusanagi, the Grass Cutter. He had risen within the world of wushu while his mythical status as half of Konoha's fabled cursed lovers began to take on a more bodily form.

Joining forces with the rest of Uzushio and the scattered members of Konoha, Naruto and Sasuke defeated wicked sects and practitioners that terrorized the nation and the monarchy. Ultimately leading them to Akatsuki. Hunting each member down, one by one to block the spread of evil chi and wushu that fed of one's life force. It takes Sasuke two more years after Akatsuki's split for him to finally to face Itachi.

The battle is brutal and Sasuke is nearly killed.

His abilities are tested to their limit, and for once he wishes that his left arm was still present. Flames licked over the fields they fought on and had spread over the lake as it caught onto the driftwood and moss. Even with the chirping of a thousand birds in his right hand pierced through Itachi's heart, his older brother remains dignified in his last moments. Refusing to explain why he had murdered the clan a decade ago.

It is not nearly as glorifying as his thirteen year old imagination rendered it. And he does not feel any sense of accomplishment either. Time and the loss of another loved one having taken its toil on him.

A single finger on his forehead transfers Itachi's memories to him.

The Uchiha clan's planned coup d'etat against the monarch. Itachi's spying. The royal orders to execute all of them. His older brother's decision to ensure his sole survival.

The irony mortifies him. How the people he loves don't treasure themselves more. Every single one of them.

They put him first at the cost of their own lives, even when Sasuke feels as if he has already loss the aptitude to love. The way they trust him to be able to bounce back and live.

He doesn't understand it.

A particular memory teases at his dreams in that moment. He sees women with pink hair. One that looks identical to his Sakura dressed in white; a colour she rarely wore for him.

Because she had wanted colour in their life. Because white was the colour of mourning.

She's healthy. She's alive. So it must be an illusion. A dream. There's no way -

How?

"Sakura..."

How does Itachi know her name?

His brother's eye close as his final words leave him breathless, darkness claiming him. Bring him peace.

"She's a-alive. Your wife, she's waiting... She's under the Valley."

Under the Valley. The Valley of the End.

Once again. Even in death. Their eyes only saw him.

xxx

where ever you're going, i'm going your way.

xxx

He leaves in the dead of midnight, when the full moon hangs high up in the cloudless sky and only the rushing water to the bottom of the Valley can be heard.

The Valley of the End has transformed since the last time he has come. When Tianxia lost Sakura, the Valley gained a legend. Flora had begun budding in the Valley and the area is now covered in wildflowers. He wants to believe that maybe this is a sign that Sakura is indeed under the Valley. So badly. So hopelessly.

Sasuke can't believe that after six years, it has conclusively come to this. In the end, after all the promises he couldn't keep, he was still going to jump off this cliff.

Garuda had offered to try and take him down, but he knows that with the force of the waterfall, the splash would cause both of them to fall and the hawk's life would not be risked that way. Not another would die due to him.

So as he steps towards the small grove at the ledge, he prays to Sakura. He prays to Sakura who he thought had died. Just as he had over the years, only now - he hopes that she can't hear his prayers, because it won't mean that she was alive.

A breath.

A step.

A fall.

And he feels the air beneath him break, gravity forcing him down while he forces every cell of his body not react, not to try and fight the fall. His instincts have been honed to survival and every reflex in him only screams for him to cling onto the side of the Valley, so he dives into the waterfall to push himself down further.

xxx

Where am I?

Limestone covered the sheltered underground chamber he awoke in, a thin blanket placed over him and thick pillow under his head. Whoever found him had obviously tended to whatever injuries he incurred during the fall as he felt no lasting pain or discomfort.

Or maybe I'm really dead.

If this was heaven. Or hell. It certainly was duller than the interpretations he had grown up with.

Or this was really a dream.

A robed figure walks towards him and he couldn't help but think that it would be Sakura. His Sakura. But as his eyes re-focus amongst the dim light, he can tell that she lacks the fluid grace in the movements and floral scent he associates with his love.

The woman in front of him looks older than him, blonde and full figured. What catches his eyes is the seal on her forehead - it's identical to his wife's.

"Heh. Finally awake are you?"

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"Funny how you'd ask that. Sakura said the exact same things when she first came."

"Where-"

He bolted right up to study her, standing at his full height. He was at least a head taller than the older woman, but she didn't seem intimidated at all. Instead, she knocked him down with a single finger just as Sakura used to do to him.

"Show some respect boy." She sneers. "I'm Tsunade, Fifth head of the Konohagakure sect and daughter to the Second. You're at the ultimate source of Konoha's healing springs - my fountain of youth. Sakura's not here at the moment, so calm down you big baby. I sent her out to get herbs for you. You've used up my reserves."

Sakura's alive.

Sitting back down and folding up the blanket provided to him under Tsunade's skeptical eyes, he crosses his legs before looking up at her again. Sharingan activated to scan her for evil chi, only switching it off when he was satisfied that she wasn't an enemy's elaborate torture device. Throughout the process, Tsunade only looked at him as if he was the most amusing thing she's seen in a decade. Though, he wouldn't be surprised if it were true - this place was empty.

"You're Uchiha Sasuke?" The question doesn't sound like a question since she already knows the answer. "Sakura's told me about you. Guess she wasn't lying about the pretty face." Tilting his chin from left to right, Sasuke let the previous head study him. If this woman has taken care of Sakura, he will be grateful and poised towards her.

Her eyes crinkle at their edges for a moment as crow's feet begin to appear on her otherwise seemingly ageless face, a wry motherly smile appearing as she wordlessly deems him worthy.

"Sakura doesn't know this, but you can leave through the springs." She points to the joining caves. "You'll need her seal for that." Lifting her fringe, Tsunade taps at the diamond on her forehead as it glows on command.

If Sakura was truly alive, and there was a way up, why hadn't she seeked for him?

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to leave with her. I didn't want her to leave for the outside world again - Sakura is too good. Too much Yang energy is within her. She's not made for that world of pain... That's why she came down to the Valley of the End." Standing up, she moves away from him. "I also didn't know if you really, truly loved her. Or if you were blinded by infatuation. The two of you were so young. No sane man would have done what you did. I feared that you had moved on. Fire that burns the brightest also burns the fastest."

I wasn't sane. I was in love. I'm still in love. I'll never be able to let her go. He wants to say. Shout even. What he held wasn't a flame, it was a fan for the flames to keep it burning in him.

Tsunade's eyes glow as she looks at him with that age old wisdom that only women seem to have. Facing the sky, the dim light that peeks in through the waterfall forming the wall of the cave, she continues, last words said without facing him as she glides over the water towards another hidden pathway.

"But Uchiha Sasuke, you're worthy of her. Take care of Sakura."

After Tsunade left, Sasuke lay on stone floor, looking up at the starless sky and wonders if this is really enough. After so many years. He wonders if the love they had really burned just as bright as Tsunade said.

And he wonders whether love really was enough as a reason for them to be together in the beginning. If it was, how did they get to this point here?

Over the years, the pain has indeed numbed, but he still craved her her touch and yearned for her warmth.

But what if it was different for Sakura? He could tell even at a glance that life under the Valley would suit Sakura. It was safe. She was loved, and taken care of. Compared to the war torn world outside, he wouldn't blame her if she wanted to stay, or if she had already let him go.

"Sasuke?"

It was unbelievable how simply the worries dissipated as he heard the familiar voice. It was soft and surprised, and the most beautiful sound that he's heard in six years.

And Sakura...

His Sakura was the same.

Whilst he had aged and minimal threads of gray were speckled through his head, the irises of his eyes having lightened ever so slightly - she had stayed untouched by time. Skin unblemished by the scars of nature and harshness of life over the years. Her eyes wide but not crying, her hair completely devoid of pins and her gowns now the ceremonial white of those who passed.

She looks ethereal. Unreal.

Sakura is so very much like he sees her in his dreams that she could just be a figment of his imagination. When he flies over to bring her into his arm to validate her existence - her honeyed cherry blossom scent, small hands and elfin figure are all as he remembers her to be. Perfectly so.

"Sakura!"

Sakura inhaled sharply and released it all in a prolonged sigh. Relief, anxiety, anticipation and heartbreak mingled in one breath.

She drank him in with her eyes; with the sort of gluttony and thirst that brought her both pain and pleasure. Watched the muscles in the arm holding her flex. It's strong, he's strong, and she's reassured that he hasn't let the missing sacrifice hinder him. His chi is tenfold of that when she left him, and from his flight she could tell that his control of his nei-gong had improved greatly

Sasuke even looked at her differently. He looked at her it was softer, almost wistfully.

Sakura's vision blurred as a sob wrecked her frame. If Sasuke was the type who cried silently without noticing his tears, Sakura let her tears rule her. She let them wash over her entire body and cleanse it of all the heartbreaks and apologies.

He immediately enclosed her in his arm and buried her into the crook of his shoulder, melting into the contours of his body.

"I missed you. I missed you. I missed you so much."

"And I- you."

"You are not allowed to leave now."

Don't ever leave me again.

Holding her tighter around him, her ivory sleeves entangled into his own upper robes in their flight against the pressure of the waterfall, Sakura laughed through her crying at Sasuke's demand.

"As long as you won't leave me either. You will have me."

Cupping Sasuke's face, she kissed him with all her heart, pouring her love into him. He tasted the salt of her tears and honey on her lips along with the overwhelming sweetness of rice wine he had also associated with her and the only thing on his mind was -

Sakura Sakura Sakura

"Let's go home."

xxx

Home was Konohagakure.

Ransacked and destroyed.

Burnt over and rebuilt.

Uzushiogakure had since joined Konoha, and Kakashi had taken over as head once more. Naruto had joined them as he was to become the joint head between the two sects under Kakashi's tutelage after Naruto's birthright as the sixth head's only child had been brought to light, uplifting Sakura's duties and allowing both of them freedom from their positions.

Home was where they first met seventeen years ago and shared meals and trained and meditated and secretly held hands and combed each other's hair and planned their future forevermore together.

And now Home was where Sakura had spent her time without her husband and friends. Where she was healed from certain death. And as they unsealed the walls blocking the waterfalls of the Valley of the End and the inner caves to the healing springs of Konoha, Home was where Tsunade and her tu-di, Shizune, joined their family.

The fact that Sakura was so close all this time makes him guilty for not recognizing her chi through the walls, thinking it was just a figment of his imagination; but Sakura reassures him that it the thick caves were designed and built to cancel out chi - that by even feeling a connection to her through them already meant something.

And something was enough.

Anything would have brought them back together if they were meant to be.

Following Sasuke back to his old room, Sakura is hit by a sense of wistful nostalgia.

She remembers the way he used to be shorter than her, how Sasuke would picks fights with her just for her attention and the way his fire burned warmer and brighter than anyone.

She sees the ways people look at him now, sees how they no longer fear them or treat them with prejudice as they walk through the renovated halls. Unconditional pride welling up inside her.

"You've become powerful."

"For you." He says without looking at her, pausing before the door and pushing it open for her to enter.

The first thing Sakura does when he opens the door is lie on his bed, white on black sheets. And it takes him all the self control he has to not take her then and there.

It has been years since he has seen his wife. Years since he touched her body; having to imagine her human touch on sleep-ness nights. But he holds himself back in fear of scaring her. The feral, animalistic need in him frightening even himself. He tries not to look at her, but Sakura - now - is more desirable than ever before. A fantasy like existence, emitting light in his otherwise dark life. Leading him when he is lost. Just as she has always been. Sakura has given him another reason to live now that Itachi has died.

"Sasuke." He looks up from his reverie as he removes the guard on his left arm, becoming self conscious when he feel Sakura's staring. "Is it healed?"

Instead of answering, he walks over, allowing her to see the nub of his arm herself. She holds it carefully, as if it were an ancient treasure that might break at the slightest pressure. Running over her fingers over the smooth skin of scarring and cauterization. She can feel his pulse running, feel his need. But she doesn't understand why he no longer wants to take her as he would have done years ago whenever they were reunited.

"It's beautiful."

That surprises him. He has never thought of it as so, and he doubts anyone else that has seen it would have thought the same. The medical practitioner that removed it was skilled, yes, but his arm was in no way beautiful.

Beautiful was Sakura.

He is about to rebut when she continues. "Every part of you is beautiful. Your body, your heart, your soul. Thank-you for allowing me to love you, Sasuke."

She stands to walk away from him. And he is left cold and numb once again.

She's leaving?

"Sa-"

Removing her robe, Sakura allows the fabric to linger at her shoulders momentarily, before dropping the entire gown down onto the floor with a practiced brush of her hand. She has foregone her mo-xiong over the years of living with Tsunade and Sakura has not ever been more thankful. Letting her hand rest on his face. Holding it. Feeling the rough stubble on his cheeks and the softness of his lips against her thumb, she kisses him. Open mouthed with need, breathing him in with need as if he was her air and she were underwater.

Letting go, she looked at him, awestruck by the red flare of his eyes.

So beautiful.

How she needed him to survive.

"Sasuke. What would you do if I said that I want you now?" Repeating the words that first began their love story; their legend. Sakura felt Sasuke growl against her mouth that he had recaptured, his hand running down the naked skin of her back, approaching her opening, whilst manoeuvring them towards his bed.

"I won't be able to hold back."

She laughed, tinkling and lighthearted as she removed his trousers and grabbed his member, as skill-fully as she had done on their wedding night. As if she had never left, and they had never been separated.

"I don't go against my words. What you want will be yours. You just have to say the words."

Hoisting her to lie under him with infinite caution, he traced her neck, biting into the soft muscle where her pulse beat and stroked the fine skin with his tongue. Allowing himself to touch her sex, he spread his hand over it intimately, teasing her with exquisite care while she whimpered and stiffened under him. Fingers parting the swollen flesh, stroking and parting and entering, easily sliding into the moisture.

"I want to make love to you. I want go as deep as you can take me, and feel you tighten around me. I want to come inside you." Now beginning to pump his fingers in her slowly, he felt her walls tighten around him. "I want to love you without stopping. We'll take it slow, and then I'll thrust into you quickly, before having you slowly again. I'll stay in you all night if you'll let me."

"Anything. You have me." She kissed his neck, running her mouth along his skin. "You have me."

Sakura cried against his lips, trying to relieve herself of the pleasure she hadn't felt in so long, arching her back and bowing towards him to try and make him hasten his pace.

But true to his word, Sasuke took his time, bringing her closer inch by inch to completion, stopping every time he felt her tighten to keep her from orgasm. She nearly choked with the need to be relieved, while his long fingers teased inside her and his mouth sucked over her breasts, her body wound up in a slow, steady pulse of desire. Her body was suffused with a comfortable heat, sensation building as he stroked her, fingers hooking onto her, not letting go.

She was his obsession, and he was her drug. Now that they had each other once again, they wouldn't let the other go.

Pulling his hand out, his hand cupped her breast as he muttered a litany of soothing words over her skin that Sakura couldn't make out, only bending her back against thumb over her nipple while she stroked his painfully hard erection. She loved the feel of him, vibrant heat and muscle, satiny skin.

He filled her slowly, entering gently and letting her body take him by degrees. Sakura knows that it must be torturing Sasuke, but at the moment, she is immeasurably thankful for the care he is taking. He feels so much bigger than she remembers him to be.

Beginning to rock against her, Sasuke moved inside her with slow, deliberate drives, controlling himself; paying attention to every moan and twitch and squirm. His caressing hand sliding in between her thighs, running along the strong muscles before resting on the pearl above the point they were joined. Pressing love words and kisses against her neck, he sank more deeply into her heat as she pulled him in with hands behind his neck - feeling her body yield to the familiar, intimate pressure of him.

She cried out his name when he finally began pumping in and out of her, when neither of them could take the pressure any longer. Her shaking hand gripping the flexing surface of his hips as her spine turned molten and she dissolved in the pleasure.

As her wet flesh clenched upon him, clinging around him, delicately pulling at the hardness, he pumped more forcefully, centering straight into her, letting himself go within her. The trembling of his release caused him to collapse on top her as he cradled her crumbled body as if she was a vessel of water while he a parched animal. A powerful man rendered helpless in an ultimate moment for the woman he loved.

"We're home. We're home. I love you. Don't leave me. Please, Sakura."

Wrapping her arms around him to keep him in her as long as they could stay that way, she nodded against his chest.

"I love you. So much, Sasuke. So dearly."

xxx

Laying in the bed they had once shared platonically as teenagers (no. it was never platonic, even then. he thinks), Sasuke turned over to his side to face Sakura. Brushing the stray strand of hair out of her face, compelling her to open heavy lidded eyes, tired from afterglow. He kissed her once. Twice. Gently. Chastely. Three times in total.

"I once promised you that we would rule the whole of Jianghu alongside each other as long as you married me. It took me six years to make good of my words."

Sasuke reached down for her left hand, kissing each of her her finger tips before offering his arm for her to lie on and tilting her body up. Laying the sixth kiss over her heart.

Six. Liu. For flow. His boundless flow of love for her. Their never ending tale.

"My love has always been upon you. Just as you have gifted me with your life, I am giving you the whole of Tianxia. Thank-you, Sakura. Thank-you for being alive."

He has no idea of how old Sakura may right now, he had only ever been told her birthday (March 28 March 28 March 28) without knowledge of her sheungchen-bazi. She looks younger than him but likely wasn't so at the same time.

Her voice is soft like rain but firm like a blade, her hair is petaled silk and strong as wire, while her lips are the sweetest wine he has ever drank. Sakura liked to dress in sleeves of bloodied rivers and the red thread that joins them. Disliked the constriction of hair pins, but adored its unabashed garishness. They're both socially awkward, could fight off an army and neither of them can hum even the simplest tune to another.

She's flawed and perfect at the same time.

He has loved her since he was thirteen, and although he proposed when he was seventeen, they only married when he was eighteen before they were separated at twenty three, and reunited at thirty.

And he kissed her thrice more. The first and second over her eyes, the third on her forehead.

Three. For life, and it's three stages; birth, marriage and death. All of which he wants to spend with her.

Uchiha Sasuke knows with every part of his soul that he will continue to love Haruno Sakura. Just like he always had.

xxx

two drifters, off to see the world. there's such a lot of world to see.

s e e

the world.

note.

Word count is made of sevens for you. Lyrics are from Moon River.

*claps* My first complete AU. I have crazy love for this universe, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had writing it =]

Re-posted this chapter: Feb 20 2016, there were a bunch of grammatical mistakes and mixed tenses (ew!). I might revisit this verse if I ever have time, perhaps SasuSaku's travels in the years they were on the run?