SasuSaku Month 2020 Day 14: Battle Scars
Traveling SS/ Blank period
Collaboration with writer: @ss-tyytyy (please give her a follow!!!!) and artist: Laine-O (me!)
Note: Thank you for taking the time to read and please let us know your thoughts! Also, thank you @ss-tyytyy for being so lovely to work with. ^_^
Hearing the annoyed comment come from her traveling companion, Sakura looked up and to her side at him before turning her gaze to the sky. Just moments before, it had been clear, though cloudy. Now though, the clouds had become much thicker, darker and the smell of impending rain was prominent. It was a smell so natural and earthy, Sakura quite liked it.
There was something about the rain that was calming and gave her a sense of ease, but Sasuke didn’t appear happy about it in the least.
“The inn isn’t too far up ahead, Sasuke-kun.” Sakura offered him a reassuring smile and reached over to give his shoulder a soothing rub.
Sasuke hummed knowingly, cutting her a glance with his lone visible eye. “We can’t afford to have you becoming ill.” He muttered and she clamped her mouth shut as he removed his cloak and placed it over her shoulders.
The kind act warmed Sakura from the inside out and her smile remained present as they walked ahead. She didn’t say anything nor call him out, having already learned how easily flustered Sasuke was. She didn’t wish to make him uncomfortable, so she just accepted his kindness and affections silently—repaying them as often as she could.
By the time they reached the inn, the rain had picked up, coming down hard and fast upon their bodies until there was no help. Even with Sasuke’s cloak, Sakura wound up soaked from head to toe and Sasuke was just the same. The rain brought about a drop in temperature too, making their wet bodies feel chilled as well. Sakura was shivering as they stepped into the room they’d be sharing. She knew Sasuke was just as cold, but he hid it well.
“Get those wet clothes off, I’ll grab a towel.” Sakura said to him, passing him a glance on her way by him.
“Ah,” Sasuke agreed, thinking nothing of it as he turned his attention to his shirt and went about removing it.
So cold! Sakura musingly thought while entering the bathroom.There was a small shelf stocked with towels and washcloths. Before reaching for any, Sakura took off Sasuke’s cloak and hung it on the back of the bathroom door, then slowly peeled away her drenched top, hanging it over the shower. She also quickly removed her boots and was soon padding back into the open room, barefooted and wearing nothing other than her compression shorts and her chest bindings.
Sakura’s priority was Sasuke and not herself, but she knew he wouldn’t think that way, so she made sure to dry herself adequately on her way to him. He’d stripped out of his wet clothes like she told him to and was waiting on the bed. When he turned to look at her, Sasuke’s mismatched eyes widened a fraction before averting from her completely, a slight pout forming on his lips as he faced away from her.
“I know you’re freezing, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura commented, brow slightly furrowed as she clambered on the bed behind him, wasting no time in beginning to pat his skin dry.
Sasuke’s jaw tensed and he could feel his skin heating from his neck up, blood filling even his ears at the proximity and the vivid image of Sakura in nothing but those shorts and the bindings. They’d been traveling together for a few months at this point, but he was always careful not to view her in any such revealing instances. Sasuke always respectfully gave Sakura her privacy, but he didn’t consider until now that it was more for his own benefit than hers.
One glimpse of the not so subtle curves she possessed that were normally hidden beneath her clothes had Sasuke hot and bothered. Embarrassed. Suddenly aware of his own lack of clothing, though he was only shirtless and it was a regular occurrence. He was a man. It was only that he couldn’t believe Sakura could be so brazen around him—but she was always proving to him that she was truly a wonder.
Beautiful. Confident. Strong.
“Even you have battle scars, huh?” She murmured, green eyes taking in the scars littering his back.
Sakura had finished drying him for the most part and draped the damp towel over her shoulder, her touch still lingering on his skin, tracing the scars she found each in turn. Some were faded until they were barely noticeable while others were painfully obvious. Her medical knowledge permitted her to know how grave each injury had been for the scars to form how they had.
Sasuke was a man full of imperfections, but to Sakura, he had always seemed perfect.
Even when he made mistakes.
The question pulled Sasuke away from his wayward and unwanted thoughts—thankfully. “Scars?” He questioned, voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat and added, “Well, I don’t think about that, but I suppose everyone does.”
She, of course, had her own. Her deeper, more noticeable scars went beyond mere blemishes of her skin, reaching to the deepest recesses of her heart and mind. Sakura’s battle with Sasori flickered through her mind, the memory one she knew she would never forget. The scar was one she could no longer feel as she carried it around proudly upon her back—but it was one she thought of on occasion. One she carried in the back of her mind at all times.
Though she wondered if Sasuke remembered the causes of his deepest scars and if they plagued him at times, Sakura didn’t question him on it. She only committed each one to memory, wanting there to be nothing of him that she didn’t know and understand so long as she was able. Sasuke was patient and kind to a fault—he felt so deeply, cared so much and Sakura was one person who understood that, while most thought him to be cold and unattached. That just wasn’t who Sasuke was. It was once who he tried to be, but he clearly regretted those days now.
“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura called, voice that of a whisper as she stared upon his shoulders, still patting his pale skin dry. He made a quiet noise to let her know he was listening, a familiar ‘hn’ that had her smiling fondly. “Thank you.”
The words of gratitude surprised him enough to have him turning to face her, but he made sure to keep his eyes on hers and nothing more. “What for?”
“For caring about me… and letting me travel with you.” She told him, smile brightening though there was a lingering, subtle shyness as she spoke.
It was Sasuke who had once again become flustered, ears burning red. He turned back around much more quickly than he had turned to face her and Sakura did her best to stifle a giggle. She felt blessed and grateful to be the one to see this side of him. To see all sides of him and love him unconditionally. Sakura had loved him for as long as she could remember and she would continue to do so—to support him wholeheartedly and care for him no matter the distance between them or the circumstances.
They both owned their own battle scars and though it was likely that they would obtain more over time, each one would have its own story and with it—more memories.
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