🌸The Journey🌸

Day 13

Sasuke groaned and reached over to hug Sakura, but once again, she wasn't there. When he suddenly heard a gut-wrenching cough in the bathroom, he sat up, "Sakura?" He spotted a hand wave towards him from the lit room, "are you okay? It's five in the morning..."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine..." Sakura panted weakly, "I guess I'm just reacting to something I ate last night..."

"I told you not to eat all those plates of dango..." Sasuke chuckled as she wiped her mouth and walked drowsily back out and flopped lazily onto the bed, sprawled across his legs, "you're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." She climbed under the blanket, "we should just head back out tomorrow. Try to visit more of the villages. Maybe go visit Gaara?"

"Well." Sasuke laid back down and stroked his hand up and down her arm, "I already went to visit him when you were with Aoba."

"Ah, I see." She giggled, "maybe somewhere else, then?"

Sasuke smiled. The two laid on their sides, facing each other, their legs intertwined under the thin blanket. He moved his hand from her bare arm to her face and stroked her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "you're sure you're okay? Don't lie to me."

"I'm fine. I swear." She moved in closer and hugged him, nestling her head under the crook of his neck, then kissed his chest, "you don't have to worry about me."

"Okay." He hugged her and stroked her hair.

Soon, her breaths evened out in deep slumber. He scanned her unmoving face as her chest rose and fell slowly. Then his gaze fell down to her stomach, right up against him. He shifted to make a small space between their bodies and reached down to touch her flat tummy.

Someday... You'll be a mom, and I'll be a dad... And when that day comes, I know we'll both be ready. I have no thought as to how to take care of a baby, boy or girl. But I know that I'll do my best to make you both happy, and finally pay you back for everything you've done for me, despite all the things I've done to you.

He thought back to when he stood behind her, his Chidori aimed at her back. He clenched his eyes shut at the thought of it. Then he grabbed at his left shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait for the synthetic arm that Lady Tsunade and the medical team put together? It's working with Naruto."

"Yes. I'm sure." Sasuke glanced over at Sakura as she prepared their dinner a couple of days before they left the village, "I don't think I could live with myself if I got this arm back."

"It's a good thing you're ambidextrous." Sakura chuckled, "I'm not going to make you get it if you really don't want it."

If I'd gotten that arm back... Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut as he watched her sleeping face, that conversation playing back through his mind. How could I live with the thought that I nearly killed the ones I love with this arm? His mind returned to its state of ease when he snapped from his conscience and hugged Sakura tight once again. And this time, he fell asleep along with her.

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Morning quickly came, and Sasuke and Sakura had just left the hotel they were staying at.

"Alright." Sakura stretched her arms out and sighed, "where do you think we should go?"

Sasuke leaned his head back and shut his eyes.

"Remember Sasuke: Happy wife, happy life."

"And that's coming from a guy who doesn't even have a love interest."