#ssm20d27

Day 27: Symptoms - ssmonth

Ep. 36 - Naruto: Sasuke’s curse mark acting up in the Forest of Death

SasuSaku Month

there is something strangely calming about walking this path home; the remnants of summer are presented by an ensemble cast of hidden cicadas humming a harmonious melody that masks the sounds of yellowing and reddening leaves drifting through the air before gravity takes its toll and tugs it to the earth.

beside him, sakura seems to have stumbled upon the pitch set by the cicadas and she hums a companion piece. her eyes shut momentarily, a smile stretching across her features, and she extends her arms overhead. she expels a contented sigh as her joints crack to release hours of her lengthy workload in this single motion before her eyes gravitate to meet his. he resists the urge to bring his fingers up to poke at her forehead and drop a kiss at the same spot to secure the adoration he holds for her.

as if she can hear his thoughts, a deeper crinkling sets in the corner of her eyes and she exhales a soft, shy laugh. she steps closer and nudges his side with her elbow; the scent of the antimicrobial soap used at the hospital and the peach of her shampoo permeates the air around him. “i like you like this,” she murmurs. “i told you it suits you.”

he cannot discern whether she’s speaking of the film of color from the setting sun that bathes them or of the peace that the end of the war has brought him. she doesn’t comment, but he thinks it may be all of the above.

in a different life, he would have pulled her close and whispered that there is nothing in this world that suits him better than her, that the light she exudes fills the holes that the pains of his past have created. in this life, he settles for teasingly pushing the flesh of his palm to her face and gently nudging her away, countering, “you like me anyway.”

she swats at his hand, nose scrunching in not-quite disagreement, and hums a note that the cicadas compliment. “i heard it was sweltering hot today. did you manage to put aside some time from your busy schedule to water my plants?” though her eyes have shifted forward, he catches the goading undertones of her question.

his eyes narrow, though he has found that perhaps house-husband is the best term to describe him. while her bones carry the weight of her principal role as the head of konoha general hospital, his bones carry the responsibility of household chores and, more recently, indulging his green thumb.

it started with a few herbs some time after his return from his journey after the war. the counter space in the compact apartment sakura kept—really, only because it was near the hospital and a small strip of restaurants that had saved her more than she is comfortable with saying from suffering through her dismal cooking—had slowly become filled with them to help save them from her aforementioned dismal cooking and, after his interest was piqued by discovering his ability to provide thriving conditions for herbs, there was no stopping the rest of the produce that had eventually followed suit. one too many bouts of gnats floating throughout the already minuscule apartment had led to sakura, feelings be damned, to come a hair-width away from throwing him and his cherry and heirloom tomato sproutlings out, so they found a compromise.

he adjusts his eyes to stare up ahead, where their house lies in the horizon. if he stares long enough, his vision focuses on the towering white structure behind it. sasuke, possessor of the eternal mangekyou sharingan and bestowed to carry the weight of the rinnegan, if left to his own devices, has been known to have focused his energy upon that disconnected greenhouse on the outskirts of their land. admittedly, he might have been committing more time to getting the greenhouse ready, but that is only because winter is drawing near and his wife has forbidden him from growing his produce within the confines of their living space.

this, he can admit, is somewhat unfair because while he cultivated his produce, she developed a love for indoor plants, which have somehow gotten a hold of almost every single surface in their home. well, he acquiesces, at least it is one more thing they can chat about.

though his eyes hold great power, she is the possessor of the ability to read his actions, even when he is not in her immediate line of sight, so he is careful to hide the roll of his eyes. “your plants are too peculiar. ‘tap water makes me unhappy. why did you change the temperature? my leaves are going to brown and shrivel up because you’re so cruel to me’,” he responds in a mocking voice. “mine would be happy rooting on concrete if they had to.”

she snorts. he doesn’t have a clear view, but he can tell her eyes are sparkling. “that’s because mine have class, sasuke-kun, something you obviously know nothing about.” he thinks that’s rich, coming from her, and he says so, which earns a painful pinch to his side. she hears him mutter a quick, “annoying woman,” at which he hears a croak of laughter.

they greet the comfortable silence and bask in it for a short while as they continue on the worn path home.

this allows his twice-worn eyes to follow the trail a particular leaf takes as the gentle breeze carries it onward. it begins its descent, bending and curling in its path, and he ponders over the thought that it will proceed on its predestined path to rest on the worn earth below until a sudden gust causes it to surge skyward. for a split second, he can almost swear that the cicadas halt their hummings to make way for the sound of the leaves resting on the ground to cry out for their missing brethren.

he is pulled from his musing when his sandaled feet crush a feeble twig. his body slows to a stop and his eyes shift upwards. he doesn’t know what he’s looking for or if he’s looking for anything in particular, but he remembers.

he remembers that the weight of his past sins can find ways of creeping up on him. he remembers sometimes that the law is often unfair; an uncomfortable sensation suddenly perches heavily in his chest when he remembers run-ins with civilians and nin alike who have lost so much—sometimes due to his past sins, sometimes due to the inevitability of the war—and he looks down at himself, a former criminal allowed to roam the world and speak freely with his wife about mundane topics. he remembers that although he stumbled upon gardening as a means of release, the tightening in his chest when everything comes bubbling up is as uncontrollable as the sea. it bursts as guilt that eats away at him, one side feeling every bit of undeserving of the happiness he’s finally allowed into his life, the other feeling indescribably ashamed that he has allowed happiness to take up so much room that the memory of the past that have been pushed to the borders of his mind.

wanderlust, he thinks, isn’t embedded in his bones for reasons of being incapable of rooting himself to one spot, rather it’s been embedded in his bones by the persistent reminders of the voices inside of his head to remember.

beside him, sakura seems to sense his contemplation. he stares down and watches her feet carry her until she is stopped right in front of him. he lifts his gaze so that their eyes meet once again, and the soft, understanding smile she presents rings throughout his entire being. she brings her hand up to brush the overgrown hairs that cover his left eye before she slides her fingers down to rest on his chest. he reaches out to grip her white coat; the hammering of his heart against the confines of his lungs slows to a lull. “shall i prepare your travel cloak?” she asks.

the amalgamation of pinks and reds and blues of the sky amplify the resounding warmth of her eyes—green as the first buds of spring—and, he thinks, it is a shame that she is blissfully unaware that she is the cure for the human condition.

Prompt: Symptoms

Summary: Ever since Sasuke was back at the village, he’s filled with mixed emotions. Sasuke realized one of the things that’s been bothering him all along.

Rating: K.

A/N: This is and expansion of this piece I did for SSM 2020 day 25. I wanted to explore Sasuke’s feelings more.

Konoha. The place that held so many mixed emotions for Sasuke, where both trauma and beginnings dwelled, both a home and a foreign land.

Years of darkness had shrouded his past feelings for Konoha, but being back had reignited old memories that he would have pushed away back then, but decided to embrace now. Years of travelling had given him a new light, a new perspective in life, and a new attitude. And yet, he still felt something was missing. With plenty of time for him to reflect, he’d started asking the more important questions in life. What now? What should he do now? Where should he go? As always, his questions led him to one answer: Konoha.

He decided it was time to go home.

Day 27: Symptoms #ssm20 #ssm20d27

they are somewhere in the land of tea when sakura begins to act weird. sasuke notices it when she can no longer travel for long stretches of time without being fatigued, when she starts to eat more than she ever has, and when she begins to subtly turns her body away from his line of sight. he thinks it may be about that, but she doesn’t say anything, so he leaves it. 

they are walking in a wooded area on the side of a mountain, and he can see far out into the land. her fingers brush his as they walk, a habit that they have not broken since their genin days, but he can feel the anxiety rolling off her in waves.

sasuke watches her fidget and wonders why she is so nervous. they have spent many months together now: they sleep in the same bed every night, he has seen her in compromising positions since they were twelve, and they are married.

“so...” she begins quietly, “i think i’m pregnant.”

oh. he is relieved, because it was about that after all.

“i know,” he says without hesitating. “...i saw a second chakra source inside you a few days ago.”

she completely halts and turns to him. “w-what? and you didn’t say anything?”

he shrugs.

she is silent for a moment, and he thinks she is mad, which would be bad because sakura sometimes punches him now, but then she starts to laugh. he raises an eyebrow at her.

“you didn’t know what to say, right?” she asks, grinning at him, “you were embarrassed.”

he quickly looks away and feels the tip of his ears warm. no, he thinks, it is only that it is her body and he thought that she would tell him when she felt comfortable. he admits that if she had not brought it up within the week that he, perhaps, would have said something. but he didn’t know what. he wonders how believable it is that she would want to bear his child.

sasuke looks up when she takes his hands into hers and angles her face towards his. she is glowing, he thinks. she looks like she does when he remembers her from their genin days, before everything had happened. she rests her forehead against his.

“you’re going to be a father, sasuke-kun,” she murmurs, and he can feel her breath on his lip.

he thinks of his childhood, of playing with itachi and running around the uchiha training grounds. he remembers being oblivious to the despair and chaos of the shinobi world and the hopelessness that came with discovering it. he thinks of the difference that naruto has made since the war. perhaps, he muses, this child could live in a different world than he did, and vows to do everything in his power to ensure that she does.