Written for day 2 of SS Week on Twitter, based on the prompt 'connected'.

Sasuke was having a nightmare.

That's what it looked like to Sakura anyway. She watched him toss and turn in his sleeping bag, clearly in distress. Beside her, Naruto slept soundly, occasionally mumbling "dattebayo" and "more ramen". Kakashi was sitting a few feet away from them, leaning against a tree as he read that book he brought everywhere. Sakura seemed to be the only one who had noticed that Sasuke was clearly in distress

Sakura hated to see him like this. Was he dreaming about that day? Should she wake him up? She had to do something.

Sakura took a deep breath and reached out, closing her hand over his. In an instant, his body relaxed. A small content look faintly resembling a smile spread across his face. Sakura breathed out in relief.

Five years later

A sharp tapping sound forced Sakura to look up from the brick-like medical textbook she had been reading. She looked around her bedroom for the source of the noise. When her eyes fell on the window, she almost slipped out of her seat. She leaped up and ran across the room to open it.

"Sasuke-kun!" she whispered, because her parents were asleep in the next room. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke stepped off the window sill and climbed into her room.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," he said simply.

Sakura immediately knew what he meant. Sasuke had told her of this journey before, the one he was planning to take to atone for his actions.

"I-I see."

Sakura couldn't deny that she was disappointed. They had been getting closer and closer in the months since Sasuke had returned to the village, but she knew that this was something that Sasuke had to do.

"I just… wanted to let you know," he said.

Sakura took a deep breath, carefully thinking about the right way to word the question she was dying to ask.

"Sasuke-kun, will you spend your last night here with me?" she asked, before she could lose her nerve. "I want to sleep next to you."

She was expecting him to say no. She was expecting him to tell her that he would see her when he got back. To her complete surprise, he gave her a rare smile and stepped towards her.

"I can do that."

The bed she had slept in since she was a child was not exactly made for two people, but with her and Sasuke both in it, it didn't feel crowded or cramped, it felt… right. They lay together side by side, staring up at the ceiling, listening to her father's snores from the next room. Sakura slipped her hand into his and squeezed it.

"Sasuke-kun, you know I'll always wait for you, right?" she whispered.

Sakura felt Sasuke squeeze her hand back.

"And I will always come back to you, Sakura."

Naruto and Hinata got married, as did Shikamaru and Temari and then Sai and Ino. Choji and his girlfriend had gotten engaged. Even Lee had found a steady girlfriend. Sakura had been asked out quite a few times, but she never accepted. She spent most of her nights working or staying home to read medical books and journals.

On a blisteringly hot night in July, Sakura was lying on her bed in her nightgown, the fan on full blast, reading a tome about chakra-based brain surgery. As she turned the page to look at a diagram of the hypothalamus, she heard a familiar voice, a voice she hadn't heard in over a year.

"Sakura, I'm home."

Sakura startled and the enormous book fell to the floor with a crash. She looked up and saw Sasuke standing next to the open window. For a few moments, all she could do was stare at him.

"Welcome home, Sasuke-kun," she finally said, smiling. "We have a front door, you know."

"It's late," Sasuke said. "I didn't want to wake your parents up."

Sakura could no longer restrain herself. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura murmured, burying her face in his chest. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Sasuke said and Sakura felt his hand on her back.

Perhaps it was the summer heat or perhaps it was the shock of seeing Sasuke so suddenly after so long that made her do what she did next. She stood on the tips of her toes, craned her head up, and kissed Sasuke on the mouth. To her surprise, he kissed her back, pushing them both down onto the bed to level the difference between their heights.

Sasuke pulled back from the kiss and ran a hand over the buttons of her blouse. Sakura's face felt hot. She was sure that it had turned as pink as her hair.

"Sasuke-kun," she breathed, looking down at the hand on her breasts.

"Sakura, I missed you," Sasuke repeated.

Later, as they were lying together in her bed, their bare bodies pressed against each other, Sakura heard Sasuke whisper softly into her ear.

"Sakura, I would like you to accompany me on my journey. As my wife."

A week later, Sasuke and Sakura got married in a small ceremony with just Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura's parents present. They spent their first night as a married couple in a room with a private onsen at the five star inn on the edge of town. They left the village the next day.

On their journey, they slept in many different places. In some inns, they slept in a bed. In other inns, they pushed their futons together so they could sleep next to each other. When they rode on sleeper trains and ferries, Sakura would climb into Sasuke's bunk. When they camped outside, they preferred to sleep in the open so they could look up at the stars together, only using the tent when it rained or got too cold to sleep outside. On one occasion, they lost the scroll with their camping supplies and had to spend a cold November night huddled under Sasuke's cloak in a cave.

When they laid in each other's arms late at night, the weight of the world seemed to melt away. Bare skin pressed against bare skin, their bodies connected as one. Sometimes they lay together without saying a single wold, sometimes they talked. They had some of their most intimate conversations like this.

"I still have dreams about the day my family died," Sasuke admitted to her as they were snuggled up together under the stars on a cool autumn night. "Well, I did. I haven't had them lately though. "

When they returned to the village, new baby in tow, they fell into new, busy schedules and couldn't spend as much time together as they had when they were travelling. Sakura treasured the moments when they could lie in bed together late at night, sometimes with Sarada, sometimes alone. When it became apparent that Sasuke had to leave to protect the village, Sakura was devastated, but she kept up a strong facade for Sasuke and for Sarada. She had survived Sasuke's absences before, she could survive another one.

"Remember what I said to you all those years ago, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as she was lying in bed with him on their last night together, watching Sarada doze peacefully on his chest. "I will always wait for you."

"And I will always return to you," Sasuke finished for her, running his hand over Sarada's downy black hair.

Sasuke's absence this time around was worse than his previous absences. She was so used to having him around, sleeping next to him, waking up next to him. But in a way, it was also more bearable because, this time, she had Sarada. Sarada slept in bed with her a lot when she was younger. Sakura knew that she should be encouraging Sarada to stay in her own room and her own bed, but she loved waking up to her daughter's little arms wrapped around her waist too much to tell Sarada to go back to her own room whenever she asked to sleep with her.

Sakura awoke the morning after Sasuke's first night back at home with Sarada in her arms. Sasuke was lying on the opposite site of the bed, watching them with a soft expression on his face. His hair was swept out of his face so that his rinnegan was showing.

Sarada stirred and opened her eyes.

"G'morning, Mama," Sarada murmured, looking bleary-eyed up at her mother.

Sarada reached over Sakura and grasped her glasses from the bedside table. She slid them on and looked around, startling somewhat when she saw Sasuke watching her.

"Papa!" she gasped. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Sarada," Sasuke murmured, a gentle smile on his face.

"Papa, you don't have to go back on your mission today, right?" Sarada asked hopefully.

"No," Sasuke said. "I can stay around a day or so,

Sarada looked around at her mother and grinned. Sakura smiled back at her.

"Can we take a family portrait together?" Sarada asked, turning back to Sasuke. "Just the three of us?"

"Of course," Sasuke told her.

"We should get up then," Sarada said, once again looking back at Sakura and grinning. "I'll make coffee."

Sarada leapt out of bed and practically bounced out of the room. Sakura turned and was about to get out of bed when she felt a hand on her back. She lay back down on her side and felt Sasuke's arm wrap around her.

"I missed this," he whispered into her ear.