#KeepMeCloseSS

[indigo-rainn]

Keep Me Close

Chapter 1 – Tidal

SUMMARY: When something goes wrong during Sasuke's two-year solo quest for redemption, Konoha launches a rescue mission to get him back. However, when things start to go south, the team struggles to make a decision: do they save their friend, or risk everything to prevent his skills from falling into the wrong hands? / SasuSaku, Team 7

A/N: Posted this originally on FFN, but I thought I’d share it here as well. I’ve been getting back into the fandom recently after many years away, and I love how quickly the SasuSaku feels came rushing back. <33 Can’t get enough of these two.

I hope you guys enjoy!

The lavender sky dipped itself into corals along its horizon, darkened just overhead to a touch below indigo. Stars winked on one by one within this shade, reflected too in the shimmering sea, joined by the stirring of an offshore breeze. The rush of waves against the sea cliffs below served as the only sound, spare the soft tapping of footsteps on the ledge above. They belonged to a passing shadow by the name of Sasuke Uchiha.

A gull cried overhead, and the raven-haired shinobi tracked its movements warily before the bird disappeared beyond the trees. His obsidian gaze fell back to the ocean – he hadn't been to the coast in years, and he had forgotten the loudness of it. The salt in his nose, the rush of the waves in his ears – it was all a distraction, a nuisance that he didn’t particularly care for. He could see the enjoyment of it, but now, at that moment he found it put him on edge.

Sasuke paused to pull a scroll from his pocket, and unfurled it on the ground. He yanked open a pen with his teeth, and scribbled his note. He scowled at the mess of it – writing was exceedingly difficult with one hand – and made an attempt at smoothing a few lines.

Kyreen ETA: midday tomorrow. Criminal org.? Q. harbor master. SU.

Sasuke whistled through his teeth as he rose to his feet, rolling the scroll as a bird circled. It landed evenly on his shoulder, ruffling its feathers and nuzzling his cheek with affection. He pushed the creature away from his face and set to tying the parchment to its leg. In a moment, Sasuke had finished, and the bird took off into the night toward Konoha.

During Sasuke's most recent visit to the village, Kakashi had been adamant about daily check-ins. He'd sat Sasuke down, given him a hard time about his "angsty aloofness," and told him to send a daily note. A spree of missing nin reports from fringe territories, coupled with a particularly grueling winter across the continent, had made the council anxious over any "key assets" still out in the field.

"I'm not particularly worried about your wellbeing, Sasuke, but we have to set an example here…" Kakashi had explained tiredly. "Plus, I want to keep track of you. I'm getting old. I'm already old. Allow me this."

Sasuke's expressions tightened as he set off along the coast once more. It was only later, after he'd overheard a conversation between Shikamaru and Naruto before leaving town, that he had realized that the village was more worried about his kekkei genkai falling into the wrong hands than they were for his safety. He smirked at the idea. As if he could be beaten in combat, let alone lose to someone who could then steal his eyes.

Not possible.

What he would do, however, was take out whoever was abducting low-level shinobi along the remote coast of the Mist. Whatever scum waited for him in the fishing village of Kyreen, he would tie them in a neat bow and deliver them to the nearest police force. Then he'd take the missing ninja from whatever cell they were being kept in, dust them off, and return them to their homes. It was a standard mission, something fit for a chuunin – or even Team 7, at their formation – but since Sasuke was already in the region, he volunteered to get it done on his own.

Sasuke settled into a brisk pace. He wanted to get a few more miles in before settling in for the night. His mind wandered.

After all this, he would return to Konoha. That was something he'd decided on, without ever really deciding. It just came to him one morning. He was bone tired, and his body felt ready to stop for a while. He needed to rest, and he needed to train – the constant walking had taken a toll on his physical strength, and that was something he disliked.

He also wanted to plan out the next phase of his mission, and for that he needed maps, intel and, perhaps, a partner. A quiet, unexpected smile lifted his face in the dark.

Sasuke continued walking through the dark for some time. When he grew tired, he shielded his chakra, walked into the forest some ways, and pulled out his sleeping pad beneath an old oak tree. In a moment, he was asleep beneath his blanket.

Sakura sat on the porch at her home, wrapped in her thick down comforter. Ino was next to her, and together they stared out over the village, sipping on mugs of herbal tea. The lights twinkled, and the bubble of people leaving their various places of work grew quieter.

"This is way less fun with tea than wine. Do you have a bottle open?" Ino blurted finally, plopping her mug down and standing up from her seat. She cracked her back to the side, and then the other, and turned to go inside.

"No, but there should be an unopened bottle on the counter. Beers in the fridge too," answered Sakura. Ino disappeared inside: "You want one?" she called out. Sakura looked back and shook her head. Ino made her way back and curled up in her seat again, overfilled glass in hand.

"What's got you so down?" she asked, taking a long sip of the red, and eyeing her strawberry-haired friend. Sakura was never one to decline wine, especially when it was just the two of them.

"I don't know," she said after some time, sipping her tea. Then, after another pregnant pause: "The holidays are hard, sometimes. The hospital has been so quiet lately, and everyone splits off with their person after. The fact that I am totally alone hits home a little harder than usual. You know? It's just me and the cat. And it's not even my cat."

As if in answer to being spoken about, an orange calico slunk out from the apartment onto the porch. It sat between them, made a sound that was a cross between a meow and a belch, and hopped up onto the railing. The cat didn't really belong to anyone – it had followed Sasuke to the house one day, and never left. Now it required feeding and constant attention.

"You're not totally alone," said Ino. "He might not be here right now, but he's yours."

"Don't be ridiculous. He's been here a grand total of twelve days over the past ten years. And five of those days were in prison…" muttered Sakura. "And besides, he is absolutely not mine. Not anyone's. Running around the globe without a care in the god damn world. He's the worst sometimes."

"But, also, the best."

"…Yeah."

Sakura ran her finger along the rim of her mug absently, the taste of ginger on her lips. Ginger tea was his favorite, bizarrely enough. A calming tea, for one of the least calm people she knew of. Fitting, in his own ironic way. She closed her eyes, biting her lip hard.

She had never really known Sasuke, for all of those years she spent on his team, and then searching for him when he left. She thought she did, but she didn't really. Maybe there wasn't much to know, apart from the all-consuming revenge complex, and now that he'd had time to grow, there was a lot to him. All of these little facets and interests and hobbies that seemed odd when connected to someone of his prowess, but formed a part of him all the same.

Like the fact that he loved to paint. She'd left her watercolors out one evening when he'd popped through town, and he had settled into them while she'd stepped out to change as if he'd been painting all along. When he left, she'd put his finished picture up on the fridge – a cherry blossom tree, in full bloom. Now it was framed in her room.

"Sakura?" Ino murmured.

"Yeah?"

"It'll be okay. He'll be home soon," she said, setting her wine down momentarily to wrap her arms around her friend's shoulders with an affectionate squeeze.

"Love you, Ino. Thanks," said Sakura. Ino nodded, and threw up her arms in a big yawn.

"Aaand now that we're finished moping, can we please watch that reality show everyone's been talking about?"

"Only if you promise not to pause it every time that one guy comes on screen." They laughed, gathered up their blankets, and retreated indoors. The cat followed in behind them as a light snow wandered down from the sky.

Sasuke watched the town of Kyreen bustling about from a safe distance, assessing the layout before making his final approach. It was mid-morning, and the village looked nearly the same as every other town he'd passed along the coast, nestled against an inlet with a single dock and a disheveled collection of dinghy's bobbing in the water. There were more buildings in Kyreen than the last town he'd passed through, however. From his vantage in a tree, he counted ten residential homes as well as several shops clustered in a circle around an open market area. A low fence circled the town, with an open gate to the main road. Someone had stuck a hand-painted "We welcome travelers!" sign next to the entrance.

Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. The ebb and flow here was standard – fisherman went out on their boats, came back with their catch, unloaded, and their wives exchanged the catch in the town square for grains and baked goods and whatever else there was available. The smell of smoked fish filled the air. Happy dogs lounged about in the sun, and children played along the water's edge.

Sasuke picked out the harbor master's house without too much difficult – it was the largest residential building, and had a somewhat new coat of paint. The man who Sasuke suspected to be the harbor master was just inside, his chakra signature seated at a table in the main room. A few weeks ago, this same man had sent an urgent letter to Konoha. Of the twelve shinobi that had gone missing, four had been stationed in or around this town, and one of those three was the master's own son. The town was scared, and thieves would soon circle.

Sasuke dropped from his perch to the ground, gathered his cloak around him, and made his way toward the town. Although snow had not yet fallen, the bite of winter lurked in the air, and the people he passed as he entered town were bundled in furs. Seal furs, by the look of it. Despite the cold, everyone was quite friendly and, were it not for his silence, would have happily engaged him in conversation and perhaps asked him to tea. He found it uncomfortable.

He approached one of the market stalls he'd picked out from afar, run by a very elderly woman selling assorted rice balls. She perked up when he stepped forward.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" she gushed, pulling back her curtain so that he could get a good look at what she had made for that day. Fish, crab, chicken, with various spices for each. He pointed at the fish one, and she grabbed two, wrapping them in a fabric napkin. She handed them to him delicately, and he passed her a few bills.

"I've got a chair over here, if you'd like to sit," she offered as she plopped herself into one of two Adirondack chairs beside her stand. He joined her, nibbling on one of the rice balls. It was surprisingly rich.

"Thank you," he murmured. She nodded and laced her fingers together, looking at him up and down with curiosity. She was a short woman, with dark leathered skin and long fingers. Her hair was wild and gray, pulled back in a messy bun, stuck with beads and braids and at least one feather.

"What brings you to town?" she asked finally. "We don't get many handsome young men passing through these parts."

When Sasuke blanched, she quickly continued: "Oh, wipe that expression off your face. I'm not trying to set you up with my granddaughter or anything silly like that! Just making conversation. Finish your food, child."

He did as he was told, and turned to watch the market bustle about them as he ate. He liked this old woman, as old and grizzled and off-her-rocker as she was.

"Tell me about the harbor master, if you would," he said after a time of silence, turning back toward the woman. She blinked, then leaned back in her chair.

"His name is Enko. Good man, yessir," she answered slowly. "He treats the whole town like family. Every one of us. Good man."

"Go on." The hesitation in her voice spoke volumes.

"Well, his son went missing a few weeks ago. He was a kid, just out of the academy up the coast. He was back visiting, and went into the woods to pick some herbs with his mum. They never came back – the wife was a bloodied mess, cold when they found her. The son had just vanished into thin air." As she told the story, her hand involuntarily moved to her chest, where it clasped a pendant around her neck. "Enko doesn't leave his house much anymore, really. Can you blame him? Nothing like this has happened here before. A week later, two more kids are gone. Another just a few days ago. It's all going to hell."

"Can you tell me more about the kids?" Sasuke asked after a long pause, when it appeared that the woman had caught her breath. "How old were they? Skill level?"

"Enko's son, Dan, was not quite 14. I used to watch him when his parents were busy. Scrappy kid, dark hair and dark eyes. The others were older, all teenagers. The most recent was in his 20s – he had one of those green vests that ninja wear. They were all good kids… I don't know why someone would do something like this."

Sasuke folded and refolded his napkin in his hand, a feeling of unsettledness rising in his gut. He wanted to speed this up. He asked for the woman's name.

"Gana. And yours?"

"Sasuke." He stood and offered her his hand, which she shook gratefully. Then, he turned and trudged toward the harbor master's house.

Sakura sat on her desk at the front of the class, watching her students scribbling away. Exam day was an easy day for a teacher, but a frustrating day for a doctor. Her time felt wasted watching over these kids write – she wanted to be in the ICU, helping her burn victim from the day before. She glanced out the window, the sun shining brilliantly against the newly-fallen snow.

One by one, the students handed in their papers, thanked her, and headed out to enjoy a few weeks of the class-free holiday break. She didn't blame them – her class was known for being one of the most intensive in the Konoha medical school.

Sakura locked up the classroom behind her, exams in hand, and slipped into her office. She dropped off the exams in the TA's box, grabbed her bag, and headed to the hospital wing at a fast clip. She pushed through the double doors, and the rush of beeping monitors and nurses brought her immediate ease. She changed into her scrubs mechanically, dropped her bag in a cubby, and dove into the fray. Within minutes, she was setting a child's arm, and then healing a puncture wound from an exercise-gone-awry, and then back to setting another broken arm.

"Here, I want you to hold up your good arm like this. Okay?" Sakura raised her hand, and the five-year-old she was treating mimicked. It was a way to distract. "Perfect. Hold that there, and I'll be right back with your new armor!" I.E. a splint for his wrist.

She turned, her tray of scalpels and bandages in hand, and froze midstride. At first it was just a pain in her chest. A white-hot pain that snatched her breath. Then it spread, in a blindingly wild fire, filling her with a fear and a horror that was not her own. Her body trembled violently, and she tried to open her mouth but couldn't speak. She couldn't breathe. Then, the screaming. The most viscerally horrible screaming she'd ever heard – a tortured screaming, agony over and over again in her ears, more agony than she'd experienced – ringing in her ears like a violent drum. Screaming. The tray clattered to the floor, tools flying in all directions. She crumpled against the wall, covering her ears, but couldn't get away. Tears leaked from her eyes as she sunk to the floor, nurses crowding around her as she curled into a ball on the linoleum. She couldn't hear them over the screams. Screams that, as she was forced to listen, she knew she recognized.

Then, all at once, it stopped.

Enko, the harbor master, eagerly led him into the kitchen. Although his eyes were gray – the kind of deep gray one gets from prolonged grief – he smiled pleasantly, and showed Sasuke around the main level of his house as any good host would. He was a stocky man, with thick arms and a thick white beard. His clothes were simple, his demeanor equally so. A fisherman, who'd lost his wife and son, trying to make things right.

"Can I interest you in some tea?" asked Enko, after offering Sasuke a seat at the kitchen table. He nodded, and Enko busied himself at the kettle. Sasuke, meanwhile, took a moment to examine the room.

The house was simple enough – very little decorations, no paintings or photos or anything like that. Old floral wallpaper, a few trinkets on the shelves, and simple furniture. He sensed no other chakra signatures in the house, and he checked to make sure.

Enko set two mugs on the table, and took a deep sip of his own. "I hope you like green," he said quietly, glancing up at Sasuke for nervous affirmation. Sasuke thanked him, and sipped at the drink. It was warm and delightfully bitter. Although not his favorite, it would certainly do.

"Tell me everything," Sasuke said quietly, folding his hands in front of his face and leaning in.

Enko talked at length, repeating much of the information offered by the woman at the stand. He was out fishing for the day, his son visiting home after being away from some time. They went out to the forests to forage, and never came back. Enko stared into his mug, his demeanor saddening as he pressed on.

Sasuke made a sorry attempt to stifle a yawn as the man spoke. He was very tired – he had slept poorly the previous night. He took another sip of his tea and shook his head to clear himself.

"Can you tell me more about your son? How old was he?" Sasuke managed as Enko stood and moved into the kitchen. He took out a few biscuits from a cupboard, and set to arranging them on a plate.

"He was a good boy. Tall, smudge of dark hair. Bright brown eyes, like his mum. Terrible at taijutsu, but he had a knack for substitutions. Best in his class!" Enko seemed to lose his train of thought, before picking it up again. "He was eighteen."

Eighteen? Why did that seem wrong?

Sasuke sat back in his chair. His head was swimming, he couldn't think. Something was wrong. His eyes flicked up to glare at Enko, and found the man watching him closely, an odd gleam to his eye. Sasuke tried to stand up, and stumbled back. His body felt heavy and unresponsive. He squeezed his eyes shut, but found his mind unable to keep a straight thought. He gripped the edge of the table with his hand such that his knuckles turned white, mustering all he had to stay steady.

"W-what the hell did you do to me?" he growled through gritted teeth.

He could sense Enko rushing toward him, but it was at a lag. He tried to gather up his chakra, but the threads evaded him. Something heavy rammed into him, and he fell back hard onto the wood floor. He tried to activate his eyes, but couldn't. He tried again, and the familiar red swam before his vision, but slowly. At a lag. This is bad.

A feral instinct took over, and he drove his knee into the person that had attacked him. Everything was blurry, he couldn't see anything at all. He could feel the edges of his senses going black – he was passing out, that much he knew – and fury lanced through his limbs at the thought of it. He forced his chakra through, and didn't realize until after that he was screaming. At once he could see, and his Mangekyou slid easily into place –

But it was too late. He looked down, only to see that he was standing in the middle of a seal on the floor. A seal for blocking his abilities. There were seals everywhere, actually, and he was in the middle of them all. And they were glowing, in the midst of activating, seconds away from sealing his abilities away. An ambush. A fucking perfect ambush.

Rage consumed him. Screaming in fury, he lit fire to the room. The black of unconsciousness closing in on him, he sent black flames everywhere. Burn in hell, burn in hell, burn in hell–

A blinding light swallowed the room as the seals finished activating. His screams turned from fury to pain. He collapsed in a writhing heap, unable to see or feel or think apart from the pain inflicted by the seals. And then he was out, limp on the floor as the enemy scrambled to cart him away.

End of Chapter 1! What’d you think?? I will upload the rest of the chapters here soon, but if you’re dying to read more now, you can find up through Chapter 5 here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12764887/1/Keep-Me-Close

Thank you for reading!

xoxo

Indigo

[indigo-rainn]

Keep Me Close

Chapter 2 – Dream

Sakura struggled up into a seated position against the wall, the tiled wall cool against her shoulder blades. Her heart fluttered dangerously against her ribcage. At least six nurses crowded around her, blocking the florescence and badgering her with questions that she swirled together in a dense loudness. She inhaled, closing her eyes for a moment before exhaling and opening.

"Back up, everyone," she ordered evenly, using the wall to help herself to her feet. Although there remained a faint ringing in her ears, whatever had so violently gripped her had left. Sakura allowed herself a moment to regain her balance, shooing away with staff who remained with a gloved hand. She refused eye contact, keeping her narrowed gaze on the tales, tracing the outlines methodically.

Something had happened to Sasuke. That much was clear. The chakra signature that had entered her, the screaming in her head – it was all unmistakably his, and that knowledge frightened her. He had never tried to contact her before, and this escalated far beyond anything like that. His last known contact had been in Kyreen – much too far away for chakra signatures to be detected and to contact one another. Yet, somehow, he had done that.

Now, it was her turn to respond. She needed to do something, immediately. She had to get to Naruto.

"Everyone, back to your business. You, please come with me," barked Sakura. Her favorite nurse trailed her as she blustered out of the emergency room. She blew into the locker room, ripping off her scrubs and yanking on her shinobi garb while she spoke:

"Koira, what happened in there?"

"You passed out, m'am. It looked like a seizure, but you were quite conscious." The nurse's voice trembled with nerves.

"Did I say anything? Could you hear any screaming?!" Sakura demanded, rounding on the nurse, her voice lurching on the verge of maniacal.

"N-no, m'am. Screaming? No," the nurse said quickly.

Before the nurse could stutter another word, Sakura took off. She sprinted down the hall, slammed through the main doors, and flash-stepped up to the roof. She darted as fast as she could across the town, leaping from building to building, her eyes trained on the Hokage building.

Terror gripped her still. How could something like this happen? She couldn't get the sound of Sasuke's screams out of her head. She never thought anything would happen to him – he and Naruto were unbeatable... So, what the hell had happened? She had never felt something like that before, that visceral tug wrenching at her chest over such a great distance. Had he done it on purpose? Was he trying to call her? Was he alive? She had an image in her head of him stuck somewhere, alone in the dark, hurt and unable to move, and a single tear snuck past her defenses and cascaded down her cheek. She needed to help him. She couldn't leave him out there. Wherever he was, dead or alive, she needed to be there. She had to protect him.

When Sakura arrived at the Hokage building, she burst through the doors to find Kakashi's chair empty. Naruto stood on the porch outside, his back to her, surveying Konoha with a distant expression.

"Naruto-kun!" she shouted, rushing across the room to meet him and bursting past the sliding glass door. She stopped at his side, and looked up at him. Naruto's eyes were darkened, glazed, his jaw set in a firm line, and he didn't move to look at her. She could feel the fury radiating from him like a heat, and when she set a hand on his shoulder, she felt him trembling beneath his orange jacket.

"You felt it too, Sakura?" he muttered. She nodded, wavering on her feet between fury and fear. She wanted to smash the culprit into tiny, insignificant pieces, but she couldn't undo what had already taken place.

"I was standing right here," he continued, eyes falling to his sandals. "Kurama held me up so I could really feel it. It was like this fire of chakra I didn't even know was there – like a part of the landscape or something – suddenly leapt up in size, towering over everything, only to wink out in an instant…" he trailed off. "And now it's gone. All of it."

"This is so bad, Naruto," she whispered, hands flying to her chest. "W-we need to go after him. What if he's hurt? Or worse, we need to get a team together–"

Naruto turned to her and gripped her shoulders. His bright blue eyes gleaming, he forced a grin: "Sakura-chan, breathe. We'll get him back. We always do. And I already called Taka. Suigetsu and Juugo are going to meet you and another team member at the crossroads. Shikamaru and Hinata are both back and rested from their most recent mission, so take your pick."

"Aren't you coming too, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde shinobi's expression tightened, his blue hues flecked with gray. He fell a step back and clasped his hands together, twisting them together as his brow knit up. His lower lip stuck, sapphire gaze flickered up to the clouds tilting overhead.

"I'll be right behind you," he said finally. The words visibly tugged at him, his hands balling into fists. "I'm standing in for Kakashi for the next day or so, and it's sort of a trial run. The counsel votes on my candidacy next week."

Sakura reached out and took Naruto's wrists in each of her hands, uncoiling his fingers and coaxing the palms flat in the space between them. Her small hands dwarfed in comparison, the Kyuubi's heat tingling against her skin. She grasped his hands firmly, emerald eyes darting up to capture Naruto's before he could look away. She could sense the turmoil lashing out in his chakra – his instinct to protect his friend far outweighing his responsibility to stay in Konoha. The scarlet and crimsons energy pulsed into the air around her, and she squeezed his hands tighter.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun," she breathed, holding his cerulean gaze. "You need to stay here. Let us help make your dream come true, this time. I can't let you throw away becoming Hokage – I will handle this. We will handle this."

"Sakura-chan, I can't just leave him out there, I need to go–" Naruto twisted around, about to hop up to the railing and launch.

Sakura balled her hand into a fist, and made to jab him in the chest, stopping just short. Her knuckles hummed against the fabric of his t-shirt, and could feel him rise to meet her touch with every thump of his heart. He froze, mid-stride.

"No, Naruto," she said, her eyes alight with flecks of searing gold. "Become hokage. You've earned it, and we can't afford to lose that spot to someone else who won't be able to protect us like you can. Hinata and I will get a head start, and you will meet us as soon as you can."

Naruto's jaw slackened, then reset.

"Sakura-chan..." he trailed off.

"Wait for my raven. I'll see you soon." With that, Sakura brushed past Naruto and leapt up to the railing ahead of them. From there, she charged up the soles of her boots with chakra and launched to the next building, wind tugging moisture from her eyes. When she tucked into a roll on the landing, she stole a glance back.

Naruto, still just outside of the office, rose a hand in salute. Sakura exhaled. He had really grown.

Cold.

That was the first sensation that rattled his core when he finally came to. Darkness – the sheer blackness pressing down – came second. The third, pain, arrived more distantly. He was aware of the wounds on his body, tearing at his skin, but he couldn't put his finger on any of it. As if the sensation swam around him, surrounding him, without an anchor.

His senses, apart from those three, didn't come to him. No smell, no touch, no sight. Like a soul detached from a body that he too, could not see.

Death. This must be death.

Then, a voice. Muffled and unrecognizable, but a voice. So far away. He tried to listen, tried to turn toward it, struggling against the blackness for a sense of being.

Wake up.

He recoiled. The voice was sinister. He didn't want to wake up. He fought back.

Wake up.

The pain that had once been so distant drew closer. He writhed away from it now, but he had no leverage, and it wrenched him into the light.

Sasuke awoke, choking. There was something over his eyes, and a wet piece of fabric over his mouth. He was choking, violently, and he couldn't breathe. He tried to move, but was bound tight with ropes that cut and burned at his skin. Beneath his bare shoulder blades, a cold metal table. Immense pain erupted in his leg, made worse as he jerked and fought against the suffocation. Voices above him, a chorus of rough hands holding him down.

Then, someone lifted the fabric from his face. Water spewed from his mouth as he hacked and choked in the air. Breathing. His heart hammered against his chest, his lungs on fire. His mind felt numb from oxygen deprivation, and he still couldn't see.

"Sasuke-kun," growled someone next to him.

He didn't recognize the voice. He began assessing his own body as the voice continued, trying to determine the state of things. His knee was busted, his wrist broken. A stab wound in his side. Cuts and burns that weren't there before on his chest. His chakra supply so depleted that he could scarcely lift a finger.

Assess.

He was being held captive, he knew that. He knew he was being tortured. He didn't know where he was, or who was doing this to him, and he didn't know why. How long had it been? He didn't know that either. Was anyone even looking for him? Would they know where to look? An unfamiliar discomfort twisted in his belly, and shoved the sensation down, but it coiled its way back up.

Fear.

Without warning, something hard drove into the wound in his side – someone's hand? – and he cried out. He tasted iron in his mouth and groaned, turning his head away. An intense nausea gathered in his throat.

"When I speak, you listen," snarled his assailant, standing above him somewhere. Sasuke was too disoriented and too weak to pinpoint where the voice came from, the darkness blinding.

"I'm assuming you know who Sasori is," said the speaker.

The Akatsuki puppet master? Sasuke tried to tether the thought down. He'd heard whisperings, long ago, that a certain rose-haired kunoichi had taken the guy out. Orochimaru had mentioned it, during training. He nodded once.

"Well, good, that's a start. I take many of my cues from Sasori-san, even in his death…" the voice trailed off, lifting with more sincerity than Sasuke was quite comfortable with. The speaker, whoever he was, had declared himself a lunatic follower of a dead man. Not a good start. Sasuke listened as the man trailed across the room, picked something up off of a metal surface, and paced back and forth. The echoing betrayed the presence of walls – they were in a relatively small room, from what Sasuke could tell, in a lab or hospital.

"He was on the right track. Using bodies as puppets? Genius…but his research never reached its full potential," the voice rang with pride. Footsteps, tapping on tiles across the room, approached. Sasuke blew out a held breath, fighting to stay calm.

"I asked myself – why stop at dead bodies? Why kill the host? So much of a body's strength lies in its living abilities…it seems so obvious."

Sasuke felt fingers curl around his arm, and the prick of an IV going into his wrist. He struggled across the chakra-infused bands that bound him to the table, with no success. They zapped what little strength he had, and his body went slack

"The real prize is in the kekkei genkai and preexisting skills of a living shinobi. Without those, the body is a husk, and the puppet is weak. I want the whole thing, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke felt his body go warm, his fingertips tingling as he drifted into unconsciousness.

The pinkette kunoichi darted out of the shade of the trees, dropped to a crouch, and surveyed the valley that dipped below them. Her dominant hand snapped to the kit strapped to her leg, fingers dancing between the weapons and scrolls tucked within. Hinata slid in behind her, her white eyes flashing as she checked for signs of approaching shinobi.

"Clear," the Hyuuga prodigy breathed, tucking a loose strand of jet-black hair behind her eat.

The women took off down the hillside and onward. They'd been running for three days, and the late afternoon sun shone golden on the trees spread ahead of them. The valley would take the rest of the day to get through, and the coast waited for them on the opposite side, beyond sight. There they would meet and camp for the night with Team Taka, and then make their final push north to Kyreen the following morning.

"Sakura-chan," called Hinata after some time had passed, darting up to run at her side through the tree tops. "Thank you, for taking me with you."

Sakura found the statement somewhat strange. After her conversation with Naruto back in Konoha, she had burst into Hinata's house unannounced and nearly dragged the poor girl out of the gate to get the mission started. It was hardly worth gratitude. A berating, maybe.

"What? No, don't be–"

"I mean it, Sakura," Hinata stammered. "It means a lot. Back when we were kids, I didn't understand. You and Naruto, and getting Sasuke back, it just didn't make sense to me, and I didn't help like I should have. I want to make that up to you. I get it now, and I am going to make it right."

She smiled at the rosette, her eyes glimmering. Sakura grinned, reached out, and gave her hand a tight squeeze.

"Thank you, Hinata. That means the world. I'm glad you're here, too."

The two kunoichi sped off into the evening, smiling into the setting sun. They would get their friend back, no matter what.

Suigetsu splayed out on the ground, in the middle of the campsite, his limbs outstretched in sleep. His mouth lay open, drool dribbling down his chin, his teeth exposed and glittering hazardously. Juugo stepped over him, grumbling something unintelligible as he dropped a pile of firewood next to the flames he'd put together. When he sat next to the fire, wrapping his shoulders with a blanket, a songbird landed to join him. He stirred the pot of stew he had heating up over the fire, and the bird watched intently.

Abruptly, a human whistle sounded out from the trees, and he responded in turn. Minutes later, the Konoha kuncoichi tiptoed into the light

They both stumbled with exhaustion – betrayed by the disheveled hair and clothes and the dark circles beneath each of their eyes. Sakura had a particularly hallowed look to her, her eyes flickering nervously around the campsite. Hinata, although tired, seemed slightly more calm.

Juugo motioned for the women to join him, and they sidled up to the fire gratefully. He reached into his pack and pulled out bowls, handing them to the girls along with a ladle and spoons.

"Juugo, this is so much. Thank you," murmured Hinata. They both devoured their first helpings, and went back for seconds. Juugo smiled, but said nothing before turning and giving Suigetsu a good kick in the side. The Mist nin yelped in his sleep, but did not wake. Juugo rolled his eyes and returned to the kunoichi.

"We should get some sleep," he mumbled. "We can brief each other tomorrow morning. Good to see you both. Despite the circumstances."

With that, Juugo lumbered to the opposite side of the clearing, and saw to laying out his blankets. Sakura and Hinata followed suit.

The exhaustion took Sakura as soon as her head hit the ground. Her eyes fluttered shut.

A knock at the door, one summery evening. The sunset light streaming in through the windows, dancing on the floorboards. Sakura wearing a slinky white nightgown that clung to her thighs, curled on the couch with a medical textbook. She wasn't expecting anyone.

She pulled a robe over her shoulders and opened the door, drawing back in surprise. Nearly year had passed since she'd seen him last, and here he was again. Obsidian eye glittering, dark hair long and unkept. Just standing on her doorstep as if it were any other day.

"W-what are you doing here?" The words bubbled from her mouth as she overtook the initial shock. She noticed that the dark lines under Sasuke's eyes had deepened, and he looked more like his father than she remembered.

"I was in town," he muttered, eyes holding hers so intently that she blushed.

"You… were in town," she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hn." Agreement? Acknowledgment?

"So, you decided to just drop in?" He raised his eyebrow at the statement, as if it were obvious, and shrugged. She shook her head incredulously, then turned back into her apartment.

"Well, come on in then."

She poured two glasses of wine, and they went out to the porch to watch the sun settle beyond the horizon together. They spoke for a while, exchanging stories and news from abroad. Sakura peppered him with questions about his travels, which he answered with as few words as possible, but answered all-the-same. They enjoyed the silence, too.

As the light dwindled, replaced by stars overhead, Sakura rose to her feet. She turned to him to say something, but found him suddenly closer than she'd realized, his hand gliding to rest on her shoulder.

His face hovered a breath from hers, porcelain skin as smooth as she remembered, his dark eyes softened, ever so slightly, staring impassively into hers. He drew closer, rested his forehead against hers, their noses nearly grazing. His hand lingered to cup her face, the brush of his thumb gentle against her cheek. His breath warm and sweet. Slowly she moved her hands to rest on his back, fingers tracing the sinew of muscles that moved and flexed as he did.

When his lips found hers, it was soft.

She'd never known him to be uncertain, but when he drew back, his expression was of veiled concern, searching her face for something to read. It occurred to her that he didn't know if this was okay. He didn't know if she was alright. A small smile moved across her face, and she drew him back in and kissed him back.

A/N

Thank you for reading, lovelies! Would love to hear what you think so far. :3 Happy New Year!!

xoxo

Indigo

[indigo-rainn]

Keep Me Close

Chapter 4 – Illusion

LINK: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12764887/1/Keep-Me-Close  SUMMARY: When something goes wrong during Sasuke’s two-year solo quest for redemption, Konoha launches a rescue mission to get him back. However, when things start to go south, the team struggles to make a decision: do they save their friend, or risk everything to prevent his skills from falling into the wrong hands? // SasuSaku, Team 7 A/N: I just put up chapter 8 on FFN and it was a very self indulgent fluffy SS chapter and idk how it reads to normal humans but I thoroughly enjoyed it. xD I love getting to a point where your plot/characters are built enough to play with it. Anyway. Go check it out! Let me know whatcha think. <33

The silhouette of the next town on the map began to nudge the horizon as they approached, the sky above rumbling with an advancing storm. The forest from the south had given way to open meadows and tall reeds that shimmered in the gray light, wavering with each passing breeze. The sea cliffs relaxed into dunes that rolled into the sea in steady waves, and the team altered their course inland to avoid the lashing of wind building up with the weather.

"D-did you guys feel that?" shouted Hinata suddenly, her voice straining over the wind.

A massive chakra signature flared up out of nowhere, just ahead and within the circle of homes they were fast approaching. Sakura sensed her heart flutter cold with the deadliness of the aura, the air snatched from her lungs before she could take a breath. When she reached out with her mind, she could feel the chakra itself towering above the town, black as night and flecked with an indigo-purple that burned against the charcoal of the sky.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and a gasp escaped her lips. The beady, golden eyes of Susanoo flashed down at her from within the chakra, the furious roar of the wraith deafening in her ears, and her ears alone.

"He's here!" she called. The team assumed an attack formation, with Juugo and Suigetsu fanning out behind the two women. The Mist nin hefted the giant blade strapped to his back, and the leathery skin around his teammate's golden eyes began to ripple into transformation.

At once, the town sprung into view. Villagers streamed past them, running through the fields and away in all directions. Screams and shouts, and the sounds of children sobbing, frothed up from the village. The path they sprinted along took a sharp turn toward the chaos, and at once the main square opened up before them.

Sasuke-kun.

Sakura could just make him out within the throng of buildings and flames, standing with his back to them, his clan's crest glowing venomously in the bleak. His shoulders appeared hunched slightly, his stance wider than one he might normally take. Sakura felt the pit of her stomach twist as he came into clearer view and she noticed his blade suspended above the head of a small shinobi. She could just barely hear the screech of the chidori, snapping down the length of his katana, tense before the strike.

She screamed his name, the roar of the adrenaline in her ears louder even than her voice. She yelled again, and her voice cracked.

Two-hundred yards. One-ninety-yards. Her speed maxed out, her teammates dragging behind her now. Still so far away. The Uchiha twisted around, his crimson glare suddenly locking on to hers.

Thump.

A wave of chakra slammed into her, and she stumbled forward, crying out in surprise. When she looked up, everything dissolved into darkness.

Sakura blinked, and found herself in the middle of a dimly-lit hallway, a single torch flickering her surroundings to life. The eerie quietness that swirled around her served as an odd calm against the backdrop of the disarray she had so recently left.

Where the hell am I? she thought to herself. She flickered her hues down and found the floor made of dark stone, the arching walls on either side carved with a pattern that resembled scales. A droplet of moisture hitting a puddle somewhere ahead echoed toward her and rung in her ears. She tucked a loose strand of her rosette bangs behind her ears and blew out a held breath.

"Sasuke?" she called out, taking a tentative step forward. This place felt strange – much different than any previous genjutsu she'd found herself in. Although the darkness and quietness of it rendered trembles down her neck, the pulse of warm from the torches and the general presence that hung in the air felt oddly safe. She couldn't explain it, but knew with an unsourced certainty that nothing within this place radiated violence or hostility toward her.

When she heard no answer, Sakura began to move forward along the passageway, each placement of her boots on the stone echoing out around her. The path didn't waver in its straightness, but seemed to descend slightly with aother torch, and another beyond that, lighting the way. At the end of the tunnel – for now, as she crept along, an end came into view – a streak of brightness, glowing intensely in the dim.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out again, leaning forward into a run. She swallowed the fear that bubbled up to grasp at her throat and bundled her hands into fists. She could not let him down. She would not let him down.

At least she reached the brightness, only to find a row of steely bars blocking her way. On the other side, a cell. Or, not quite a cell, but a segment of the same hallway, with bars blocking it off from the opposite side as well, with more dark passageway extending beyond view. On the left of the cell, an unremarkable wall with another torch. The opposite side, to Sakura's right, flashed a wall of a blinding white light.

And, in the middle of it all, stood Sasuke, swirling tomoes of his Sharingan focused on something in the sidewall that she couldn't quite make out. The young Uchiha looked just like she remembered, the spikes of raven-black hair long and disheveled along the back of his neck. The skin of his face like untouched porcelain, save the flower of violet shadows beneath his eyes and the scar slashing over the sweep of his jawline. A bead of sweat gathered at his temple, and his teeth ground together with venom.

"Let–me–OUT!" he roared suddenly, tearing toward the wall of light and hammering his fist against it. He reared back and smashed his hand into it again, then doubled back and thrashed his shoulder against it a final time. When he came away, his knuckles smeared with scarlet, his breath heaved. Sweat dripped now from his scalp, indicating he'd been at this for some time before Sakura's arrival.

"Sasuke-kun!" she called out , rushing up to the bars. She grasped them in her fists, jerking and pushing at them until they rattled, but didn't give way. Sasuke did seem to hear her, nor did he indicate he even knew she was there. He continued to lounge at the wall, again and again, blood pouring now from the seams of his fist.

Sakura hopped a few steps back, channeled all of the chakra she could into her right hand so that it glowed a fiery emerald, and flung it with everything she had at the bars in front of her.

She blinked – instead of buckling, the bars propelled the energy back at her, hurling her body back across the passageway to skid across the stone floor. When she slid to a stop, Sakura rolled onto her back and groaned, one shoulder blade aching from taking the majority of the fall. She wrestled to her feet, growling as she cracked her shoulder and spat a hint of blood that had gathered on her tongue.

Still in his cage, Sasuke's efforts had slowed. With each failed attempt, his motions seemed more sluggish, exhaustion seeping into every blow. With a final, feeble swing, he staggered backward and slammed into the wall, then slid to the ground. He sat against the wall in silence for a moment, his eyes finally falling from the brightness to his crimson-covered hand, then to the floor at his feet. His obsidian hues clouded with gray, the tomoes of his sharingan gone.

"Get up!" Sakura screamed, sprinting to the bars and yanking at them. "Get back up!"

He didn't move, didn't hear her. She swore under her breathe. Then, movement out of the corner of her eye amongst the brightness, caught her attention. She twisted around, pushing herself against the steel bars to get a better look into the light.

At once, the view tumbled into clarity, and Sakura saw her own self, through Sasuke's eyes, gazing back. Her own pinkette locks swirling around a sweat-drenched face. Her green vest fluttering in the wind, her team spread out behind her, nudging and pushing at her motionless body. Sakura's heart fluttered: I'm looking out of his eyes. I'm seeing what Sasuke's seeing.

But… Sakura's emerald orbs flickered to the dark-haired youth in the cell. If Sasuke's here, with me, then who's out there…?

Sasuke's expression lit up with a sudden, wild fury. He leapt to his feet, a shadowy aura emanating past the bars toward Sakura, as he again approached the light.

"Sasuke!" yelled out Sakura once more, snagging a hand through the bars as he moved close. The hem of his cloak wavered just beyond her fingertips. She swore, feeling the tendons in his shoulder stretch right to that edge of sensation–

Sakura's fingers closed around fabric, and she wrenched it toward her with all of the leverage she had. The Uchiha staggered back, eyes flashing in her direction to discern what had grabbed his cloak, Sakura still invisible to him.

When he threw back his hand wide to reclaim balance, she snatched it in hers. At once, Sasuke's eyes fell on her, widening in confusion as she pulled him to the bars standing between them.

In a fluid motion, the scarlet of his kekkei genkai glowed into action and he wrenched his hand from her grasp, then snatched his arm through the bars toward her. His fingers closed around his throat before she could inhale, her feet dangling suddenly above the floor.

"S-Sas-uke–" she choked, clutching at his hand, his grip only tightening around her windpipe. He pulled her toward him, her cheek pressed against the steel bar nearest to her, the roughness of the metal slicing at her skin. His face hovered a breath from hers, rage snarling like a heat from his skin. In his eyes swirled a crazed, frantic fury that sent ice through her chest. He had every intention of killing her.

"Get out of my head!" he screamed in her face, shaking her violently against the bars. She couldn't breathe – the strength beginning to fade from her arms as she struggled, her mind blurring numb.

"It's…me," she tried to murmur. "P-please st-op." Distrust burned in his eyes. Who does he think I am?

Her consciousness fading, she reached a trembling hand through the bars, and with two fingers extended, tapped his forehead.

At once, her body clattered to the floor in a heap, and she choked in the new air, her hands fluttering to her freed neck. She shot a glance up at Sasuke – his face contorting from shock to self-disgust. She rose to her feet, wavering for a moment before steadying herself against the wall.

"How?" he asked suddenly, eyes flickering from her face to her real face, playing out before them in the brightness.

"Genjutsu, I think–" But before she could finish, Sasuke reared back, and in one fluid motion, slid his hand through the air, past the bars, and into her chest.

"You're not safe here," Sasuke growled, jerking back his hand.

Instead of pain, Sakura felt something release inside of her, as if he'd untethered something keeping her locked in this strange illusion. At once, she felt herself flying back through the hallways, and with a jolt, her eyes opened.

Sakura nearly dropped to her knees at the surprise of all the sensations that rushed at her. The scream of flames and villagers, the smell of burning flesh and smoke, and the strangle of Sasuke's hands still around her throat – she snapped her eyes shut again in a futile attempt to get ahead of it all.

She wasn't sure what had just happened. Had she been in a genjutsu, or was it something else? She didn't have time to process it, nor the time to share the intel with her teammates. Everything was coming at her too fast. Hinata appeared by her side, touching her shoulder gently. Sakura sensed Suigetsu and Juugo's immense chakras closing in behind her, and finally opened her emerald hues.

Less than one-hundred yards ahead, her eyes zeroed in on Sasuke's form. He looked so similar to the man she'd just left behind in the illusion… except, something was wrong with the real-world Sasuke. He was shaking in place, his face a sudden shade paler, his mouth hanging agape.

Suddenly he lurched forward, then back, his katana clattering to the ground at his feet. His face contorted with a cross of agony and intense effort, and his hands flew to his head, nails biting into the flesh around his temples as his eyes screwed shut. His mouth wrenched opened his mouth to loose a noiseless scream, then gritted down again. He collapsed to his knees, shaking violently as he bellowed something indiscernible. On his forehead, glowing ominously, were a series of written symbols, too far away for Sakura to quite make out from their position.

"Something's going on," whispered Hinata, taking a hesitant step forward as her silvery eyes widened, darting around the Uchiha's form. "I'm seeing– I'm seeing two distinct chakras around him."

Sakura whipped around, her eyes flashing up to Sasuke's face. She pictured him back in the illusion, smashing again and again against the brightness. He must be getting through! The rosette kunoichi leapt forward.

"Now! Go!" she screamed back to her teammates, charging forward without another glance back. Now was their chance – Sasuke was fighting for them, for this the opportunity, and they couldn't waste it.

Before they could get far, a flash of red slashed through their vision. A newcomer, face distorted by a mask, now stood over Sasuke, his body crackling with the remnants of some sort of crimson lightning jutsu. A black cloaked swirled around him, hood drawn over his head, yellow eyes flashing at the four shinobi now rushing at him.

"Don't you fucking touch him!" Sakura bellowed, hand flying to her weapons kit before she sent a volley of charged senbon hurtling toward this new opponent.

The figure knocked the weapons out of the air with a wave of a kunai, eyes narrowing. Then, in one fluid motion, the shinobi snatched his arm down and closed his grip around the struggling Uchiha's forearm. In another red flash of lightning, the two vanished.

"No…" Sakura breathed, skidding to a stop just short of where Sasuke had just stood. Her shoulders trembled with shock. She shrieked and slammed her fist into the earth, chakra rippling through the ground before it burst and shattered into rubble around her.

Hinata appeared at her side in an instant, whirling this way and that as she desperately searched their perimeter.

"Nothing," she said quietly, after a time. "They're gone."

Sakura dropped to a crouch, running a gloved hand through her hair, struggling against the pressure that gathered at the corners of her jade hues. A drop of rain slid down collar bone, and she made no move to wipe it clear. Only when the drizzle had thickened to a full downpour did she dare glance up, the tears streaming down her cheeks undiscernible from the rain.

"Damn it," she swore up into the gray.

Sakura slipped her feet from her sandals and let them dangle over the edge of the deck, the grass swirling up to meet her toes. A warm breeze tugged at the hem of her dress and brushed past her cheek. She heard movement from behind her and turned.

Sasuke lay across the porch on his back, eyes closed, a serene expression on his face. His hand rested on his chest, his fingers tapping a tune that she wished she could hear. When he breathed, a few loose strands of his raven-black hair fluttered away from his face, revealing the sharp slash of his jawline.

Relaxing on the porch of his own home, his guard down and all of the adrenaline and focus and deadliness of battle put aside, he looked more like a child than he had in a long time. Sasuke always sped beyond his years, the trauma of his childhood forcing a quick maturity, but when you got right down to it, he was supremely young – barely pushing twenty-years-old – and it showed, in that moment.

A small smile spread across Sakura's lips, her cheeks glowing warm. Sasuke, as if in response, cracked open one eye, his charcoal gaze swiveling to meet her emerald one. She blanched, and looked quickly back to her feet, examining her pink toenail polish.

"Something you need?" he intoned. She could feel his gaze against her back and shook her head, face flushed at being caught staring.

Her own gaze flickered up past Sasuke's yard to watch a sparrow fluttering to land on the statue in the park just beyond the fence. Itachi's statue. A frown brushed past her features until a low grumbling sound from behind her reeled in her attention once more.

"Are you hungry or something?" Sakura asked, swinging her legs around to lean back against one of the posts and get another good look at the Uchiha. She hugged her knees to herself, her cheek pressed against her thigh. Sasuke shrugged mildly without opening his eyes.

"Do you want me to grab you something from inside?" At this, he slid an eye open once more, blinking as if to gauge the seriousness of her proposal. She raised an eyebrow at the look he was giving her, holding his gaze before a smirk crossed his lips and he closed his eye again.

"I could eat," he responded finally.

Sakura chuckled under her breath and rose leisurely to her feet. Her back, stiff from sitting on the hard wood porch, crackled as she twisted it about. She stepped over Sasuke without too much difficulty, then pushed the sliding paper door open before slipping inside.

Sasuke's house hadn't been lived in for years, and its insides betrayed that fact. A film of dust covered what sparse furniture he had – only the essentials in each room – and cobwebs laced a few of the upper corners. No personal touches warmed up the walls, no photos or artwork, just the white paint and the dark wood trim. A staircase ascended into the unlit second floor.

A part of her wanted to explore, and another part of her felt terrified to. Was this the house Sasuke's parents had died in? Sakura wasn't sure she wanted to know, but felt the claw of curiosity at the back of her mind anyway.

She hurried across to the kitchen, passing the dining room on her way. A long table stared back at her, four chairs waiting empty at its side. Sakura felt a coldness spring through her chest, and moved on.

First, she checked the fridge and found it empty, as expected. Then she moved to the cupboards, foraging about for a while before coming up with an unopened box of rice crackers and a bag of dried mango. She moved next to another cabinet, now in search of a bowl, and stopped.

On one shelf, neat sets of white plates, bowls and mugs awaited her. However, on the shelf below, a single plate lay by itself. It was a thick, white ceramic plate with a child's painting on it, like from one of those you-paint-it-yourself children's birthday parties. Sakura reached out and picked it up, holding the piece up delicately between her fingertips.

The drawing was of a small family, each member labeled in uneven handwriting. All of the stick figures had smiles that took up their whole faces, with colorful clothes and misshapen hands. In the middle stood "mom," with a long nest of black paint around her head for hair, and beside her was "dad," his face scrawled with gray squiggles that Sakura could only assume were wrinkles. On the left, slightly shorter than the parents, was "Itachi" with long ponytail. Finally, on the right, was a little boy with spikey hair labelled "me."

Below the family, surrounded by decorative shuriken, kunai and a few random flames, wrote the final touch: "Merry Christmas. Love, Sasuke."

Sakura's lip trembled as she carefully replaced the plate on the shelf. After grabbing a bowl, she closed it the cabinent, and leaned against the counter with an exhale. She closed her eyes, and touched her hand to her temple, lips set in a thin line.

Sasuke-kun.

Most days, when she looked at him, she didn't think about all of this. She didn't think or see all of the trauma he'd been through. She just saw her friend, and the person that'd she'd fallen for as a child, and all of the man that he'd become since then.

Did Sasuke think about it all? Did he find himself often dwelling in the deaths of his family, in the faults of his vengeance and the sacrifices of his elder brother? Were those events the lens through which he saw all things? Or were they flickers of his past, influencing his day-to-day more passively – always present, but perhaps not as fresh and as visceral?

And was the plate from his childhood in his cabinet because he was sentimental and wanted to remember, or because that was simply where he kept the plates?

Sakura shook her head and poured crackers into the bowl she'd retrieved, then topped it with a handful of mango slices before closing up the box and bag and padding back toward the porch. Outside, the sky had begun to wander from cerulean to turquoise, with faint hints of pink wandering about its edges.

When Sakura closed the screen door behind her, she found Sasuke fast asleep. His head had rolled to the side, arm splayed out to the side with his palm facing up, fingers slightly curled. His chest rose and fell with each slow breath, and the slightest of smiles had spread across the softness of his cheek.

"Sasuke-kun…" she muttered, marveling at the sight of him. She set down the bowl of snacks before turning inside to grab a blanket she had seen folded over one of the couches in the living room. She returned, shaking it out a few times over the lawn before gently pulling it over Sasuke's form. He shifted in his sleep, closing and reopening his mouth, but quieted down again.

Sakura moved to sit next to him, leaning back against the side of the house. She nibbled at a cracker, and grinned into the approaching evening. Perhaps it was selfish to think this way, but right then, in that moment, she had everything she'd ever wanted.