It's been thirty-five years since the fourth war, but Sakura remembers it as if it were yesterday.
She still wakes up gasping and screaming in the middle of the night. It's lessened over the years, but she still has the occasional bad day.
Today is one of those days.
Sakura wakes with a cry on the tip of her tongue that she swallows and sweat dripping down her forehead. She can feel phantom pains all over her body from old injuries and her hands feel slick with blood even though she knows that they're not.
Ino presses a slow kiss to her hairline and tightens her arms around her waist. "It's okay," she mumbles, still half-asleep, "I'm here, Sakura. I'm here."
Sakura snuggles closer, pressing a kiss to her wife's collarbone and running a thumb along her jaw. "I know, Ino."
She makes a move to get up -- it's morning and her turn to make breakfast -- but Ino pulls her back down. Baby blue eyes gaze down at her, heavy with the edges of sleep. "Stay a little longer?" Ino asks hopefully, a little half-smile tugging at the edges of her lips.
Sakura sighs but collapses against her wife's chest. "I have to make breakfast."
Ino runs her fingers through her sleep-mussed hair. "I can make breakfast today," she says, "Sleep in, love. I'll run a bath for you later."
Sakura sits up on her elbows and presses a light kiss to Ino's lips. "I'll give you a massage tomorrow, then," she compromises, "Sorry about this, sweetheart."
Ino kisses her back and smiles. "Nothing to be sorry about, love." She winks, as charming as she was when they were fifteen. "This is what im here for. Don't fret about it, darling."
"Thank you." She says it as sincerely as she can.
Ino swings her legs over the side of the bed and picks her purple silk robe up from the floor. They're fifty-two and have been married for well over thirty years but her heart still flutters every time she sees Ino naked.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Ino asks, slipping her underwear on. Sakura is pretty sure that they are hers, but they're about the same size and have been sharing clothes for years.
"Hmm," Sakura contemplates, falling onto her back. She spreads out like a starfish and her (now lower-back length) hair unfolds around her head like a halo. "I don't mind, but can you add some tamagoyaki please?"
Ino leans down to kiss her, her hair brushing Sakura's face. "Sure, love." She winks as she pulls back and Sakura blushes like a fifteen-year-old.
Ino leaves the room, swinging her hips as she does so. Sakura scowls at her retreating back and rests her arm over her eyes. Ino's teasing cackles echo in her ears.
Kami, the things that this woman does to me.
Ino enters the room barely an hour later with two plates in her hands. She slides into bed next to her and passes her her plate.
There's steamed rice, grilled fish, a small bowl of miso soup, broccoli, steamed carrots, and, as requested, tamagoyaki. Sakura smiles and presses a kiss on Ino's cheek. "Thank you. This smells amazing."
Ino grins. "Thanks, love. I hope you like it."
"I always like your cooking."
She laughs. "It's certainly better than yours."
Sakura blushes and tries not to think of the black scorch marks on their kitchen ceiling. She's gotten better at it over the years but Ino had always been a natural. Sakura is like her shishou in that way-- atrocious at anything food related.
She should go and pay her respects soon.
Ino elbows her and taps her chopsticks against her plate, raising an eyebrow at her far-off look. Sakura looks away and goes back to eating. "Any new mail?"
Ino hands her the envelope on her bedside table. "Sasuke's summon gave that to me this morning."
Sakura opens the letter, her mind easily translating the code she and Sasuke had developed at twenty. It was a code only known by the Konoha 12, created for easy communication between them. There were a lot of dick jokes sent, via Naruto and Sai, and a lot of we-miss-you-come-visit-soon via (again) Naruto, Choji, Hinata, Lee, and, strangely enough, Shikamaru. Though his "I miss you" comes in the form of complaining about how much work he has as the jounin commander. Sakura guesses that he doesn't like the new head of the intelligence division-- though that's probably because she's not Ino (even though she's Ino's daughter).
"Sasuke's coming to visit in the next few days," Sakura says.
Ino hums. "I'll make up some food for him. He never eats properly unless we, Naruto, or Karin prompt him to."
After the war, Sasuke stayed in the village, but he was very loosely tethered to it, and they could always tell. He remained for team 7 but he was doing constant missions outside Konoha. He stayed longer when he married Karin, then longer when they had children (four of them!), but as they got older he started leaving more and more.
When his youngest hit thirteen and had passed his chunin exams, Sasuke disappeared almost completely. He had said goodbye to Sakura, Naruto, Karin, and his children, but apart from that, no one knew where he was. His visits were far and few in between.
Sakura was glad he was able to leave. He was always uncomfortable in Konoha, and anyone could tell. He was tense and drawn as taut as a wire, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Sasuke was as good at hiding his emotions as any shinobi was, maybe even better because of his heritage, but Sakura had known him her entire life.
He tried, he did, for Karin and her and Naruto and the kids, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't stay in the village that murdered his family and made his brother a kinslayer, and she didn't blame him. She wouldn't be able to either.
Whenever she saw him after he had left there was a lightness to his shoulders. Sakura was glad that he had found his peace. She suspected that one day, once he got too old to wander as he did, he and Karin would move to the hills of Fire Country as she and Ino did.
"Shikamaru sent one yesterday night," Ino says, pulling her bedside draw open, "You were already asleep so I thought that I would wait."
Sakura puts away Sasuke's letter and drains the last of her miso soup. His letters were always short but thoughtful-- Sasuke had learned over the years that he had time. He was always in such a rush when they were younger-- to get stronger, to kill his brother, then to kill Danzo, Orochimaru, and the entirety of the hidden village. He had learned patience.
Ino hums. "Checking on us... making sure we aren't dead, usual Shika stuff... Oh." She stops and blinks. "Shika's boy wants to start his training for jounin commander, and he wants our opinion on it."
Sakura shrugs. "He's smart, logical, and experienced. He'll be good at it-- he's got better circumstances than Shikamaru did, eighteen and fresh off a war. Give him a half year of training and he'll be fine. Shikamaru deserves to retire, anyway."
"Yeah," Ino agrees, putting the letter back in her drawer, "I'll write back today."
"Isn't graduation for the next batch of academy students coming up?"
Ino sighs and leans against Sakura's bare shoulder. "Yeah." She plays with Sakura's fingers, running her soft touch over her many scars, "...Do you think we should go? I mean, our granddaughter will be graduating."
As the old head of the Yamanaka clan, Ino had to bare a child. Because Sakura was also a woman, and therefore they couldn't have a child, Ino had to procreate with someone of her choosing. She had chosen a man a year younger than her who was of a respectable Yamanaka branch. Ino had a child, named Inomei, and she and Sakura had raised her as their own. Inomei had taken over as head of the Yamanaka clan when she was twenty, the same as Shika's boy and Choji's girl.
Sakura hummed and leaned her head on her wife's. "I think we should. Sasuke will be there for his grandson, and so will Naruto, Hinata, and everybody else. Besides, we should go see our girls. It's been a few years."
Ino sighs. "Okay. I'll mark it on the calendar."
"Thank you, sweetheart."
"Anything for you, darlin.'"
Shika,
Sakura and I are doing well. How are you, Temari, and your boy?
I think that you should give the position of jounin commander to your boy. He's more well-adjusted than you were, more prepared. He has you to guide him. Besides, you deserve to retire. Come to visit Sakura and me some time. Thirty-four years as jounin commander and the Hokage's assistant-- you need to catch up on all that cloud-watching.
Sakura and I are visiting for the graduation exams, as well as Sasuke. We can all get dinner together, like old times, ne?
Take care of yourself.
Love,
Ino and Sakura.
Sakura is out watering their flowers when she feels his chakra. Its ash on her tongue and the feeling on the pads of her fingers after an electric shock. It's like an old memory.
She greets him with a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek. He relaxes in her arms and smiles at her, something her twelve-year-old self would have swooned over. His hair is graying and long, tied back in a ponytail, reminiscent of his brother's, and when he smiles the corners of his eyes crease.
Sakura grimaces at his smell and tells him to go take a bath-- she'll run one for him. He always forgets to take care of himself.
"How have you been?" Sasuke asks, in a gentle tone that she only could've dreamed of thirty-five years ago.
"We've been well," Sakura replies, setting the water on the stove to boil. Plumbing had advanced, but not this far up in the mountains. "Shikamaru's boy wants to start his training for jounin commander, and the Academy graduation is coming up. Ino and I are going to go."
Sasuke nods. "He'd be good for it."
She smiles. "He would be, wouldn't he?"
He hands her his coat and she takes it to wash. "You should stay for a few days. There's no rush. We're always happy to have you."
"I... think I will."
He helps her take the boiling water to the bath, even though he only has one arm and she's stronger than he'll ever be. Sakura leaves him to soak with a towel on the door and a smile.
Ino meets her at their door. She's leaning against it with crossed arms and her dressing gown loosely tied around her waist-- it leaves little to the imagination.
Sakura rests her head in the crook of her neck and sighs. Ino runs her fingers through her hair and wraps an arm around her shoulders, rocking her gently back and forth.
Ino presses a kiss to her head and gently squeezes her. She knows how much Sakura worries about him-- and Naruto. It's the same worry Ino has for her boys.
"He said that he'll stay a few days," Sakura says quietly.
"You can't worry about him forever, darling." She's such a hypocrite-- as if she would ever stop worrying about Shikamaru and Choji.
Sakura sighs. "How can I not? He..."
Ino gets it, she does. Her boys are everything to her, and in the past thirty or so years, since marrying Sakura and having her girl, she's understood more about Uchiha Obito than she ever has.
If anything happened to them, she would burn the world to ashes too.
"He'll be okay," Ino soothes, "We're all gonna be okay."
Sakura chokes a laugh that sounds more like a sob. "Oh, sweetheart," she says, "Where has all the time gone?"
Ino wishes she had an answer. She's fifty-two but it still feels like it was yesterday when she was dancing around in the tall grass with her boys, trying to catch fireflies while their fathers smiled down at them.
She's all grown up but she never really got the chance to be a kid.
"C'mon," Ino murmurs, "I'll put on some tea and make some crackers. There are some freshly picked olives for you."
Sakura swallows her tears and kisses her neck before pulling back and wrapping an arm around her waist. Ino smiles and puts her hand on the one resting on her hip.
"He's seemed to have found his peace," Ino says, "It's time you find yours."
That night, Sakura stands in the kitchen with Sasuke next to her. She peels potatoes and he cuts vegetables with his one hand. He looks at peace like this, doing simple, hands-on work. The ever-present furrow in his brow is gone, and his shoulders are less tense.
She's found that kneading dough always helps her calm down, and she wonders if it's the same for him. Or gardening. (Or smashing boulders.)
"Harvesting season is here," she says, "Will you help me dig up some of the vegetables tomorrow? I need help to milk the cows, as well."
Sasuke nods. "Sure."
It's infinitely more than she would've gotten thirty-five years ago, and she relishes in their bond, and his growth. She hopes that good, hard labour helps-- it always does for her.
Sakura hands him a potato to chop into chunks, and he takes it with a steady hand. They're making mash and stew tonight.
"Have you visited Konoha recently?" Sakura asks, "Karin sends us letters every month, and Naruto never stops complaining about how he never sees you anymore."
She knew that Karin was doing well. She and Ino went and had coffee with her every other month-- sometimes in Konoha, sometimes Karin would climb the hills of Fire Country to see them. They had gotten a lot closer over the past thirty-five years, them and even Hinata and Tenten.
Sakura knew that Karin missed Sasuke dearly, as they all did, but she still looked content. She had Suigetsu, Jugo, her kids, and her work to distract her.
Naruto-- he visited whenever the village could spare him, which was very rare, so it was mostly them that visited him. He hadn't complained about Sasuke since he left, but Sakura still saw the nostalgia in his eyes whenever he looked at their team photo.
"I visited Karin and the kids before I came here," Sasuke replies, "They're doing well."
Sakura smiled. "That's nice. You found a good one, Sasuke."
He smiles with her. "I know."
Ino traces meaningless patterns into Sakura's hip with a lazy smile. Her hands are rough from years of hard labour but the motions still send sparks of pleasure down Sakura's spine all the same.
Her hand trails down to Sakura's inner thigh and she wackes it away with a playful frown. "You're such a tease, Ino."
Ino grins and returns her hand to Sakura's hip. "That's what im here for, love."
Sakura gives up on her mock anger for a laugh. "That, and making me food."
Ino leans forward to press a kiss to her lips, then leans back with a mocking smile. "Well, you're not too bad yourself, love."
"You say that now," Sakura accuses, "When you want something."
Ino hums and kisses her jaw, her fingers trailing up the curve of her spine. "Is it working?"
Sakura rolls her eyes and falls onto her back. Ino straddles her hips and leans so that they're nearly touching noses, a grin pulling at her lips.
The dim light of their lamp reflects off of Ino's baby blue eyes, and Sakura can never stay mad at her when she looks like that. She looks to the side and blushes. "Maybe a little bit..."
Ino laughs and trails kisses down Sakura's jaw and neck. It sends heat curling through her gut, and she brings her arms up to loosely wrap around her wife's shoulders.
"We really shouldn't," Sakura protests half-heartedly, but hums with interest when Ino traces her fingers up her inner thigh, "...Sasuke's in the next room... I want him to have a good sleep..."
Ino looks up at her, mischief flickering in her eyes. "Then you'll just have to be quiet."
Just as she says that Ino leans down to take Sakura's nipple in her mouth, her thumb pressing against her cunt. Sakura gasps, her back arching into Ino's touch.
Ino gently rubs her thumb over Sakura's slit, then slowly inserts a finger, her mouth still sucking on Sakura's breast. She moans and grips the sheets beneath her hands.
"How can I resist you," Ino says lowly, "When you make sounds like that?"
Sakura laughs shakily. "You've always been such a tease, sweetheart."
Ino hums and switches to Sakura's other breast, slowly swirling her tongue around her nipple. She adds a finger and flexes them, gradually, until she's knuckle deep. Sakura makes a deep, guttural sound, and Ino puts a hand over her mouth.
She removes her mouth and Sakura wants to swallow the line of spit running down the side of her lip. "Now, now, darlin'," Ino says, "Be quiet, won't ya?"
Sakura licks her hand and when Ino pulls away, she surges forward to kiss her. The movement has Ino's fingers hitting a bundle of nerves that almost have her coming undone right there and then.
When Ino is on her back with Sakura straddling her, Sakura takes the fingers dripping with slick and puts them in her mouth. Ino watches intensely as Sakura sucks on her fingers, her eyes alight with something feverous.
Sakura removes her fingers and grins down at her lover.
"You didn't think that I would let you have all of the fun, did you?"
"Morning, Sasuke!"
Sasuke glares at her through his bangs, his eye bags especially prominent. Sakura smiles at him. "Something wrong? You look tired."
"This is why I never sleep here," Sasuke grumbles.
Ino walks into the kitchen and laughs, patting him on the shoulder. Sasuke looks at her with disgust. "Dont be so bitter, deary! Lighten up."
Sasuke looks like he wants to roll his eyes but settles for sneering down his nose at her. "Easy for you to say..."
Sakura bumps her hip against his and passes him a cup of coffee. "Are you two going to help me with the fields today?"
"Hn."
"Sure, love."
Sakura claps her hands together. "Great!"
Ino smiles at her, adoration in her eyes, and Sasuke nods, looking more relaxed than he has in forty-five years, and something in Sakura's soul settles.
"Sasuke, you're helping me with the cows!"
"Ugh."