Chapter 6
Tongues danced in sync. Their bodies pressed against each other. Using only the couch as support. Sakura had her hands in his hair while Sasuke had his arm wrapped around her waist. They moved in sync. Sakura practically had Sasuke pinned against the couch. She pulled away to catch her breath. She lingered away from his lips pulling his bottom lip with her before she let go. They were still in close proximity where they could feel each other’s hot breaths. Spit did linger from their mouths from the intense kissing they just endured. Sakura’s shirt was riding up her back, exposing the lower half of her torso. Sasuke loosened the grip he had on Sakura. He traced her abs with his eyes. Sakura watched him with careful eyes. She took one of her hands away from his hair and it went to his hand. Using her fingers, she took off his glove. Sakura gave him a reassuring smile as she guided his hand to her abs.
“I trust you. You can explore how much you want since I have an idea of what you're comfortable with.”
Sasuke nodded. His hand rested on her abs for a split second before he used his fingers to trace them. When he moved around to other areas of her torso he noticed her skin was very smooth. He could feel the slight peach fuzz on her skin, but that was about it. There was no scarring at all and he knew from first hand experience she had taken heavy blows. He traced the rough location of where he remembered her getting impaled by Madara. Sakura could sense his confusion on this matter so she spoke up.
“My seal makes it so I can’t get scars. I used to have scars.”
She maneuvered his hand to go where she got stabbed by Sasori,
“I had one right here from Sasori, but when I activated my seal for the first time it mended it so now I don’t have any.”
Sasuke nodded once again as he explored the lower half of her body. They continued this for a few minutes in silence. Sakura watched, with a blush creeping on her face. It wasn’t until she spoke up that shocked Sasuke and herself too.
“Do you want me to take off my shirt? I’m wearing something underneath so it would be okay.”
She quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes showed her shocked nature. Sasuke’s eyes did show a shock demeanor, but he quickly masked it with his normal expression.
“Ok.”
“Wow, okay. If you get uncomfortable just tell me and once again I trust you.”
Sakura freed her other hand from his hair. She used both hands to lift off her shirt, tossing it away from them. She now sat on top of him without a shirt on. Sasuke explored with his eyes first before inching his hands up her stomach and to where the bottom of her black bra started. He felt the ends of the fabric. He moved his hand down her side, feeling her curves. He could hear a soft moan escape her lips. She tried to play it cool, but failed miserably as the blush on her face became bigger. He exposed her neck by turning her head to the side. Sasuke attached his lips to the side of her neck, gently nibbling and sucking. Sasuke still barely had any sexual or romantic experience. He was solely going off things he heard from Team Taka at one point and some pointers Naruto threw at him when they were training one day. Sakura threw her head back in pleasure. One of her hands took his hand, placing it on her left breast. This stopped him from sucking on her neck. He didn’t move his hand. She adjusted her head, her lips reaching his ear.
“Touch me already, Sasuke-kun.”
Sasuke didn’t really know what he was doing. He looked at her neck before going down to her breasts. Her neck was layered with two hickeys, one bigger than the other. In the corner of his eye he could tell Sakura was pouting and waiting for him to make the next move. His hand still rested on her breast just doing nothing. He took a deep breath before he slightly squeezed her left breast, causing a moan she suppressed with her hand. Sasuke couldn’t help, but be proud of himself in a way. The noises she was making were because of him and that gave him a sense of pride. He continued to squeeze her breast, sometimes cupping her breast. He could tell she was having a conflict in her mind thinking her breasts weren’t big enough for him, but they fit perfectly in his hand. He wouldn’t be able to officially tell until he saw her without her bra on, but that was something he would rather not get at the moment. Sasuke already felt good just doing this.
Naruto always commented about Hinata’s breasts to him and how big they were. He found it quite annoying and he didn’t care for that stuff. Now experiencing it for himself he felt satisfied with the size of Sakura’s breasts. Still he couldn’t really tell how big they were since they were confined to this bra. If he was also going to be honest he always tended to linger on Sakura’s thighs and ass more. He knew it would be a little bit before he would explore those areas, but he could wait. His thoughts were stopped when Sakura asked him a question,
“Can I touch you?”
Sasuke pulled his hand away from Sakura. His response was taking off the long sleeved shirt he wore for missions. Sakura did the same thing Sasuke did. She traced his figure with her eyes before using her hands. His skin was tougher than hers and plagued with scars. She had an idea where most of them came from, but she chose not to comment.
“I’ll tell you about them one day. Not ready to.”
“I understand.”
She traced his abs like he did her. Her soft hands on his body made him feel different emotions. Pleasure, comfort, and happiness. Using her flexibility she bent over and began to kiss his scars. She nibbled the one close to the seam of his pants just to see how he reacted and to test the waters. She sucked shortly after leaving a mark. However, it wasn’t as big as the ones on her neck. She heard a groan from him. He seemed to be enjoying it. She took that into heavy consideration as she continued the same process with other scars. She ended up placing her fourth one before she felt something under her poke her inner thigh. It surprised her and from how Sasuke reacted it did too.
“Do you want me to get off of you? You’re poking me very close to my..”
She couldn’t finish her sentence before getting embarrassed. She could also feel the heat her crotch was giving off in response and she assumed Sasuke could as well. Sakura leaned in, giving him one last kiss before getting off of him in a flustered manner. He couldn’t even look in her direction without being embarrassed. Sasuke also knew he needed to deal with himself because of this. Sakura most likely had to do the same. So many thoughts plagued their minds. She left without picking up her shirt from the floor. He picked it up along with his shirt. He knocked on her door stating if she wanted her shirt back.
“I’ll get it later. I have to deal with something real quick.”
Sasuke understood what she meant to an extent, leaving the shirt in front of her room. He entered his room, closing the door behind him.
Tomorrow might be very awkward. This was still a very nice way to return home from a mission.
———
Sasuke woke up to Sakura already in the kitchen making breakfast for the both of them. She had to go into work today to deal with the poison they brought back last night. This was also the day Sasuke would officially start his therapy with the therapist he picked out. He decided on the older women that had an idea of the Uchiha clan before the massacre. Sakura was going to walk him there. She already told him that if he needed her afterwards he could go into her office. She tended to pop in and out of it each day so there was more of a chance to catch her. She knew he wouldn’t ask anyone.
Sakura joined him at the table after a few minutes. She set their plates out in front of them. It was an awkward silence instead of the comfortable silence they were used to. Sakura broke it, as she usually did, with a question.
“Should we talk about last night?”
“Need to unpack a few things with my therapist first before we can go farther.”
“I understand.”
Sakura said adjusting her red turtleneck so it could hide her hickeys a little bit better. She had no idea how to cover them up properly since she never practiced with makeup as much. Sasuke was lucky that he could cover his hickeys easily.
“You do have good abs like you said.”
“Oh, yeah like I said I did a lot of physical training with Lady Tsunade.”
“Hn.”
“I also know that you’re probably super embarrassed about last night, but that’s a natural thing your body does. If you have questions I can always answer them. If it’s uncomfortable for you to say out loud, write it down.”
“Aa.”
They continued to eat in silence. Their clean up routine was the same as usual. Sakura was dressed in her lab coat and red turtleneck. It was still the fabric of the typical clothes she wore, but people close to her would probably notice the change while others don’t. Sasuke had on a dark blue sweatshirt and black pants. He of course had his cloak on. They shared a quick kiss on the lips before leaving and not even bothering taking the quick ninja route to the hospital.
“Just wanted to let you know that there’s a chance I’ll probably be stuck at the hospital for a while due to this poison. If my scrolls to detect poisons didn’t work then I’ll have to do the ingredient way. Once I have the ingredients I’ll have to counter it and that might be a bit.”
“I understand. Don’t strain yourself.”
“I’ll try my best. I sent a message to Ino to help me out due to her poison skills as well. I will be playing it by ear then. I’ll be sleeping at the hospital until then so I can get this situated. If I don't, some bad things could happen.”
“Mhm.”
They entered the hospital. Sakura led him to the elevator and pressed the 5th floor button. They waited for about a minute before the door opened. She continued to lead him to the office he would be at with the therapist. She stopped in front of the door. Giving him a light squeeze of their hands she left him and bid him farewell. Sasuke sighed, opening the door. He could tell that today was going to be emotionally exhausting.
Sakura entered the lab the three women decided to meet in. She was the first one to show up and she got to work right away. Shizune joined her minutes later along with Ino after that. Sakura had the scroll for ingredients out and she was currently putting a drop of the poison. Sakura and Shizune are able to analyze and decipher the many different elements used in complex poisons which leads them to easily create a cure. Sakura had an idea that ricin had to be somewhere in this poison since it is usually used to poison food and drinks.
“So, before we start this, Sakura, what's with the sudden clothing change at work. You never wear turtlenecks.”
“Oh yeah that I was cold.”
“Cold?”
“Yes.”
“Then explain why you seem flustered right now.”
“No reason.”
Ino went to reach for that part that was covering her neck. Her hand got swiped away quickly and she was given a death glare. When it clicked for Ino she started to freak out.
“You’re definitely hiding something. Have too much fun with Sasuke last night? He was gone for almost a week. Also with your movements I already knew there were hickeys. Why didn’t you just cover them with makeup? Wait, I know that since you can’t do anything makeup wise or just choose not to.”
“Fine, you got me. Just get to work I would rather not have to find out the water system was poisoned because we were talking about the hickeys on my neck that you can’t even see!”
Sakura rolled her eyes and went back to what she was doing previously. The ingredient list was significantly shorter than the list of poisons since poisons can have the same ingredients as others.
“Hmm, I can tell that they used some sort of snake or bug for its own poison and it seems to be mixed with other ingredients. Sakura, anything so far.”
“There’s a trace of chlorine. This is certainly something I’ve never seen before. Have you dealt with chlorine based poisons, Shizune?”
“Not really.”
“Is there a chance there could be pesticides in this poison?”
“Good question, Ino. Yes, pesticides in general can hurt humans so it is very possible.”
The next couple hours were filled with only questions and answers. They made slight progress, but so far they aren’t able to have a cure figured out. They were able to figure out that this poison was fast acting and it targeted the bloodstream. They knew this since they were testing the poison on the rats. They needed a cure quickly.
Kakashi had sent them a letter through hawk to get to know how the progress was. The letter also informed them that they were able to shut down the smaller bases quickly so there wasn’t as much of a panic for getting the cure done quickly. Personally, Sakura wanted to find it quickly.
As for Sasuke, his first therapy session went well. The therapist introduced herself to Sasuke before they started. For the first session they started off with his life before the Uchiha massacre to bring up good memories before they got into the heavy trauma. She told him that healing from trauma through steps. The stress that comes with a traumatic event can be crippling. Sadness, fear, grief, and depression can take hold
He was told not to isolate himself any further. Reach out to friends and family. If others have had the same experience, talk to them. They may be having some of the same feelings that you are. Open the lines of communication as soon as possible after your traumatic event. It’s an important part of your recovery. The closest person who could discuss trauma with that was similar to Naruto. Facing trauma was the better way to deal with it instead of avoiding it. As tempting as it may be to try to ignore or forget a traumatic event, a key ingredient in recovery is learning to be okay with your memories of it and the things that trigger them without trying to avoid them. Facing your feelings head-on is important because you want to be able to take care of them in a way that helps you move forward.
Exercise was next on the list that the therapist was going through. Experts say it’s one of the most effective ways to handle the aftereffects of a traumatic event. Deep breathing, gentle stretching, and walking are all good choices. If you want your exercise plan to be a bit more challenging, that can help, too. Don’t force things, though. If you’re tired, it’s okay to rest. Your body (and mind) will tell you what to do to heal. Eat healthy meals. Rest when you get a chance. Do things that make you happy. Take a bath. Work toward a regular sleep schedule where you go to bed and wake up at about the same time each night in a cool, dark, quiet room. Read. Do something with friends. Go for a nice stroll. Watch a ballgame. Go to a play. Whatever makes you feel good, take the time to treat yourself. Sasuke enjoyed doing things with Sakura and going on missions. He could use those thoughts to make him feel better.
Sasuke had already started the meditating exercises on his journey. He took up this pastime with Sakura when she got the chance. It calmed his mind and he enjoyed it a lot. He also ended up asking how to be in a relationship after all of his major traumas. The answer his therapist gave him was a simple answer.
‘Focus on improving yourself and the way you treat yourself.’
That was what he has been doing since he left the village. Sasuke has improved himself, but he still felt he needed improvement. His therapist was going to help him process his trauma more than he could himself. He still had a few things to process then he would fully be able to give himself to Sakura without hurting her. She was his home and he didn’t want to damage that. Sasuke wanted to get in as many therapy sessions as he could in a quick manner for his sake and the people around him.
His first session lasted 4 hours. At first he was very vocal, but once he got comfortable he was able to ask for help. Sasuke wasn’t the one to cry. The therapist said that it was different for people and how much they cry. It was okay. Sasuke thanked his therapist before he left. He felt emotionally drained like he thought he would be. Sasuke wanted to go to Sakura’s office. He knew she had a couch there. He wanted to rest there for a little bit. He knew Sakura would wake him up when he was here to check on him. That was just who she was. He wasn’t the one to smile much, but thinking about her made him smile.
The group of three broke off for a break on the poison. They still had a few ways to go with the antidote, but they were going strong. She knew Sasuke was out of his therapy session. She wanted to check up on him to see if he was okay. She assumed he would be in her office since that was where she told him to go if he needed her. Sakura knew Sasuke needed her since this would bring more trauma to the table making him in a vulnerable state. As her girlfriend she needed to comfort him. She entered her office and she was correct with Sasuke being in her office.
“Sasuke-kun?”
Sakura approached him slowly. His eyes were closed and he was laying on her couch. When he heard his name his eyes fluttered open. She could tell he was in distress. She masked her worried demeanor. Sakura stood above him. She asked him to move with her eyes. He sat up shortly after. Sakura squeezed right behind him. She adjusted herself accordingly to make sure Sasuke was comfortable. Wrapping her arms around him, she guided him to her chest so he could lay on it. Sakura protectively pulled him close.
“Shhh it’s okay. I’m here now. I have some time before I have to return to work, but I’m here. Sleep if you want or if you want me to talk to help you just tell me.”
Sakura hummed a tune and that relaxed Sasuke’s body. The position he was in reminded him of his mother.
“I have to tell you something. Not now, I’m emotionally drained.”
“Okay, that’s fine with me. Take your time. Did the session go well?”
“Mhm.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Hn.”
“You probably already know this, but I love you. You don’t have to say it back because I’ve always had these feelings and you’re new to these. I’ll always be here for you. I might not understand what you went through fully, but I’ll always listen.”
Sakura went back to the comfortable silence until Sasuke spoke up.
“I was forced to grow up very quickly in a short period of time. The night the clan was killed was the day I felt like I died. I suppose it was the day that I wished I could have died.”
“Sasuke-kun, you don’t have to get into this right now. Just rest, I'll be here.”
“Hn.”
He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind with Sakura’s hums.
——-
Ino, Shizune, and Sakura were able to create an antidote two days after they started the process. It was chlorine based mixed with a few venoms from bugs and spiders. Due to how the venoms combined together that was what made the process longer. She created a vial of the antidote and gave it to Kakashi. If needed he could request more to be created. Sakura had a list of the ingredients to create the antidote. She told Kakashi that if any nations requested the ingredients for the antidote they were free to have them.
When Sakura heard from Sasuke that he wanted to go to therapy every day she decided it instantly. She suggested that he could go twice a week unless something comes up, but going every day was off the table. It wouldn’t be healthy for him to go every single day. Therapy takes time. She knew he would be impatient, but it would be okay. Sasuke just needed more time, but she also knew it wouldn’t be much more time. Since he had his journey he was able to push past his own sins so he would not have to worry about that. The only thing he had to get through was his brother and what he had done for him along with what he had gone through with Orochimaru. Sakura asked the therapist how it went for his first day and from what she was told it went well. She didn’t ask further since it wasn’t her business plus the therapist wasn’t allowed to disclose that information in the first place unless the patient was in dire need.
“Naruto wants us to meet up with him, Sai, and Kakashi-sensei at Ichiraku’s. It’s been about a month since you’ve come back and we haven’t had a team dinner yet. It doesn’t surprise me since Naruto is in Hokage training, spending time with his wife, and going on missions. Kakashi-sensei is the Hokage so it’s understandable. Plus my shifts at the hospital. Everything is cleared for us to at least have a team 7 reunion party finally.”
“Ok.”
“I don’t think Hinata will be there, but if she is then it would be fine.”
“Hn.”
“Alright, I'm going to get ready and make sure Daku is all set on food. I'm not sure when we’ll be back so just to make sure.”
“Good point.”
Sakura met up with Sasuke in their living room. He sat on the couch reading through scrolls. Clearing her throat to get his attention, Sakura asked if he was ready to go. Nodding, he rolled the scroll back up and put it in a location where Daku wouldn’t be able to reach it. He learned the hard way when he left a scroll out and Daku ripped it up. At least the scroll wasn’t an important one, just a simple short piece of work he stumbled upon.
“Let’s get this over with.”
Sasuke muttered, following Sakura out the door. He used his key to lock the door behind them. Naruto was the first one at Ichiraku’s. He was already eating a bowl of ramen due to growing impatient for his old team to show up. Sakura took a seat next to Naruto, Sasuke took the one next to him.
“Ugh finally you guys are here. I’ve been waiting forever.”
“Hinata didn’t want to come?”
“Oh she probably would have, but she said she wanted us to enjoy our night as a team since it’s been a while.”
“That makes sense. Say hi to her for me.”
“Of course, Sakura-chan!”
Sai joined them a few minutes later. He took his spot next to Naruto.
“Hello Ugly, Dickless, and Traitor.”
“I told you to stop calling me dickless! Man this is unfair.”
“I’ve just grown used to being called ugly by him. I know he means well.”
Sakura and Sasuke’s ramen was served to them seconds after. Sakura thanked the lady who served the ramen before she picked up her chopsticks. Splitting them apart, Sakura took them in her hands and took the first bite. It felt nice to have ramen for the first time in a while.
“So, Naruto, I’ve noticed you have more vegetables in your ramen than usual. Was Hinata finally able to fix your diet?”
“Yes, she’s scary when she’s angry dattebayo. Different scary than you, Sakura-chan.”
“”That’s understandable and I can see that. She might be very timid, but when angry she can be scary.”
Sasuke didn’t find the need to add to the conversation so he continued to listen as he ate.
“Sai, you might as well get food now. It’s gonna take Kakashi-sensei so long to get here.”
“If you say so.”
“Sakura-chan, I heard that you had to deal with a new poison that came from the mission Sasuke led. I’m assuming that you have it under control now since you’re amazing.”
“Yes, I was able to create an antidote. I had help from Shizune and Ino.”
“Beautiful told me that you and traitor have a cat.”
“WHAT! You guys have a cat and didn’t tell me! Sasuke, you could have told me when we were training.”
“Not needed.”
“Yes, we have a cat. His name is Daku and he’s a black cat. Sasuke-kun and I found him on the streets. He needed our help and we gave it to him. He likes Sasuke-kun a lot. You can meet him if you want and you can bring Hinata too.”
“Sounds perfect to me!”
“Sai, you and Ino can come too. How about we have a nice hangout soon with all of us.”
“It sounds like you’re suggesting a triple date at your house, ugly.”
Sakura was caught off guard with that statement from Sai. She just looked at him with a shocked face. She knew that he was very straightforward with his comments. Sasuke tried to make it seem like he wasn’t affected, but he definitely was.
“Hell ya! That sounds great. Hinata would love it. When should we do it!”
“Good question. We all have different schedules, but we could do a Sunday. I don’t work on Sunday’s and neither does Ino.”
Kakashi entered the ramen shop, taking a seat next to Sai.
“Hello, my beloved students. Sorry for being late. You know Hokage stuff.”
Sakura was always fine with Kakashi being late and she was used to it. Naruto always complained while Sasuke didn’t say anything about it along with Sai. Sakura greeted their sensei with a smile.
“So what have I missed with all my students?”
Naruto jumped up from his seat,
“I can start! Well Hinata and I are good! We’ve been talking about kids recently, but we aren’t planning on trying for a few months. The Hokage training you put me through is boring, but worth it for my dream!”
“Great to hear that, Naruto. Guess you won’t need my tips anymore.”
“Well, I suppose I’ll go next. The hospital is doing well and I’m currently helping set up hospitals in other nations as you know. Naruto didn’t mention this, but our teaching at the academy is going well. Naruto and the students at the academy nicknamed me ‘Superhuman Lady Ninja Teacher.’ I don’t know who started it, but it’s very interesting to see little kids run up to me and call me that. I also teach the importance of mental health and about my therapy center in case any of them needs it. Since I know Sasuke-kun probably won’t share much so I’ll explain a few things. We rescued a cat together. His name is Daku. He made me a coffee table since Naruto broke mine, and..”
She glanced over at Sasuke asking with her eyes if it was okay to tell Kakashi about their relationship. She received a small nod and that made her smile. She wasn’t planning to bring up the therapy he was going through since that was a new thing and she didn’t feel like she had the right.
“And Sasuke-kun and I are in a relationship. We went on a date not that long ago. We haven’t told a lot of people. Sai, Naruto, Ino, Tsunade-sama, and Shizune know unless Ino spread the news, but it doesn’t seem like it. Also not sure if Naruto told Hinata or not.”
She knew it would be coming sooner than later. Sakura also knew that her parents would hunt for her for answers and she knew that wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Well I never heard about it, but congratulations to you two. I’ve always been rooting for you. I always saw the signs. I don’t think Sasuke noticed that he was very obvious.”
“It wasn’t obvious.”
“So you’re finally admitting your feelings for her when you were younger. Ooooo!”
Sasuke turned away from the conversation to continue eating his ramen. He mumbled something that was incoherent. Sakura chuckled at his sulking manner before turning back to the conversation.
“Naruto, what do you want to do with the academy students next week?”
“Hmm, that’s a good question. I can’t teach them book things like you know so maybe we can work on their ninjutsu or just ask what the academy teacher wants us to teach. You tend to lead the class anyways. Maybe we can have another fight! Remember when granny and you fought that one time.”
“Yeah I remember! I won, but it hurt like a bitch. She was playing dirty too. She gave me internal bleeding so quickly and then knocked out a whole row of teeth. I’m just lucky I can grow back teeth. If I couldn't, I would have none.”
“It did look like it hurt, but it was so cool. Hey, teme! We should fight for the academy one day.”
“We’ll see.”
“I mean it’s not a no.”
“That’s the best you’ll get from Sasuke-kun.”
“Whatever.”
“With the way you just said that you sound just like him.”
They talked until the ramen shop closed. Sai was the first one to leave since he had a mission in the morning and he wanted to go back to Ino. Kakashi left shortly after due to Hokage business. Naruto took a little bit longer to leave, but when he saw the time he realized he should get home. That left Sasuke and Sakura. They simply just left and walked at a slow pace to enjoy the night. They didn’t get home until a few hours later. They spent a little bit of time stargazing. They ended up leaving since Sakura was a bit sleepy.