🌸The Journey🌸

Day 3

It was midnight when Sasuke was attacked, and now he was sitting on the edge of a bed, still wearing his soaked button-down and black pants.

"Sasuke, you need to go change after I bandage you up." Sakura walked in with a bag full of sanitizing supplies and bandages, "can you take your shirt off, please?"

"Mm..." Sasuke mumbled to himself as he unbuttoned what he could do on his own. He tried to pull his arm out of his sleeve but didn't do as well, since it was wet and stuck to his skin.

Sakura chuckled as she went in and helped him. She went over and hung his shirt over the window sill to let it dry, "the kunai went in pretty deep." She inspected the red skin below his left shoulder, "it missed your ribs by a good few centimeters, that was way too close. I was able to stop the bleeding, but we're going to have to bandage it up to keep it from getting infected."

"Okay."

"This might sting a little..." She took a cloth and carefully dabbed around the long, about six-inch cut, then went over it with a sanitizing ointment. He inhaled sharply, but contained himself really well, Sakura noted. She wrapped the bandage around his stomach, then tore it off.

"Thank you." Sasuke smiled a small almost unnoticeable smile.

"You're welcome." She smiled back, "I'm glad you're alright."

"It's only twelve..." Sasuke muttered as he glanced at the clock.

"Inari and Tazuna are still awake. I think we should go." Sakura said.

"But--"

"I don't want them to get roped into this. It's too dangerous for them." Sakura explained, "we should go."

Sasuke looked at her sadly, but nodded, "yeah, okay. You're sure about this?"

"Their safety before my happiness. And theirs." Sakura nodded and put a hand on his thigh, "I'm going to go talk to them. Meanwhile, you need to change your clothes, before you catch a cold."

"Right."

She got up and left him to change as she went to find Tazuna and Inari.

_______________

Five hours passed since Sasuke and Sakura said their tearful goodbyes to Inari and Tazuna, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, and Sakura was already starting to yawn.

"Do we need to stop?"

Sakura smiled and shook her head, "no, no. It's fine. It's just a yawn. It's not like I'm going to faint or anything." She chuckled. Then her face got serious, "I guess we need to be more alert, huh?"

"It was my fault..." Sasuke clutched his side, "I was caught off guard."

"What were you doing that someone could actually catch you so off guard? Even I sensed their chakra before you did and he was right behind you."

Sasuke scratched his neck as he tried to find a way to word his situation without offending his wife. He didn't want this to end with divorce just a week after their marriage. He would definitely die by Naruto's hands, this time for sure, "I was thinking about... This."

"The mission?"

"No." Sasuke stopped and faced her, "us."

"Me too, believe it or not. I had a long chat with Tazuna when you were in our room. He was going on and on about what married couples should do. The list was endless, and some I don't even want to mention out loud, but, I don't know if that's really for a normal life of a Shinobi bridge-builder. But compared to lives like ours, we can't live with that freedom. We just don't have that ability to live carelessly and not worry about getting killed around every corner." She took a breath, "being with you, I've never been happier. I took the risks of getting hurt or even killed because I trust you, Sasuke. We have each other's backs. Deal?"