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The air was crisp and clean that day, as Sasuke exited the village, the sun shining with a fragile warmth.
Sort of like rejuvenation.
And Sasuke felt like that too. Rejuvenated. Thoughts of revenge and violence, of destruction and creation were snuffed out like a flame and, in its place, rather than emptiness, Sasuke was filled with the hope Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi had for his potential.
The potential to do something decent and positive.
Maybe he did not even deserve a chance to atone like that, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. He would dedicate himself to realize that potential, to become someone the village could rely on.
To be someone his peers and friends could trust again.
Sasuke was stirred out of his musing, not even a thousand steps away from the village, from the soft scent of citrus carrying on a gentle breeze.
It was only a visit or two, while he was cocooned in chakra dampening binds and he could not see or touch, but the tangy sweetness of the scent would never be lost to him.
“Come to stop me from leaving the village again?” Sasuke teased, turning to face Naruto.
Naruto leaned leisurely against a tree. It was a few months since Sasuke last saw her — bloody, beaten, and bruised, but with a wide grin on her small face.
Naruto’s tan skin was healthy and unblemished now, her bright blue eyes observing him. She wore a white jacket with an orange collar, zipped just above her breasts. Sasuke’s eyes quickly flitted over the exposed area of her collarbone and unadorned neck.
Naruto, from Sasuke’s memories, always wore her hair up in some way. Twin-tails, a messy bun, a ponytail, a braid—but rarely did she let it loose.
The last time he remembered her like that was when he was trying to kill her. Didn’t really have the time to appreciate how it looked on Naruto.
A loose curtain of shoulder-length hair, tucked behind her ears. It was messy, but it suited her superbly.
And Sasuke felt a deep pang in his core, because, at heart, he was a selfish man and he wanted to see Naruto’s hair in different styles, and her face in different expressions, and her different smiles and laughs and shouts and — well, he tampered that desire down.
Right now, he wanted to focus on becoming the type of man who could walk by her side without feeling guilt or remorse.
It might take a lot of effort, but he would see it through.
Naruto smirked as she pushed off the tree, reaching behind into her pouch for something, “No, I’m not here to stop you. I’m not your babysitter y’know? You can make you own decisions, yeah?”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“I just wanted to give you this, before you left,” Naruto held her hand out.
Sasuke’s eyes widened in surprise as he took in the item clutched in her grip — a battered Konoha headband with a scratch line running through it. “You kept this the whole time?”
Naruto’s lips softened into a smile, “I just borrowed it, took good care of it and everything. I’m giving it back to you now.”
Sasuke reached out, his thumb placed against the swirl of the Konoha’s emblem, his fingers curling gently against the cloth and brushing against Naruto’s fingers.
Sasuke was perceptive and even underneath the shade of the trees, he saw the minute and delicate blush on Naruto’s cheeks as her eyes dipped to where their hands touched before resetting back on his face.
Naruto’s tenderness is what made this the most difficult for Sasuke. It made it difficult for him to want to leave her again.
But her tenderness is also what gave him the strength seek atonement in the first place.
“Sure, I’ll hang onto it…until our real match.”
Naruto’s smile was bright and joyful, crinkling the skin around her eyes, “Take as much time as you need, Sasuke. I’ll be here, waiting.”
Sasuke took the headband from her, placing it in his weapon’s pouch and a beat of silence passed between them without any awkwardness. They could enjoy each other’s presence without words, but, on Sasuke’s end, there was much to say and so much more that couldn’t be told through words.
“Hey,” Naruto moved forward, wrapping her arm around his waist, and pulling Sasuke’s body towards her own, hugging him.
Sasuke reciprocated the action instinctually, Naruto’s face pressing against his neck.
“What’s this?” he whispered, and Naruto pulled away only enough to look up at him.
“When was the last time you got a hug? I thought you could use it!” she beamed at him.
She looked like the sun. She filled him with warmth like that. With courage like that.
“Naruto,” Sasuke stared down at her face, memorizing the width of her brow, the curve of her nose, the trace of her whisker-marks, everything he could, “When I come back, let’s get ramen.”
“Mmh! Sakura and Kakashi-sensei would be really happy —”
Sasuke moved his hand from Naruto’s waist to her cheek, brushing gently across the whisker-marks and shutting her up as her cheeks reddened further.
It was a fetching look on her.
“Naruto, don’t be stupid.”
She bit her lip, her lashes fluttering as she looked up at him, contemplating something.
“It’s not that…Sakura-chan, you see—”
“Naruto,” Sasuke moved his hand down from her cheek, pulling a curl of blonde hair near her shoulder to twine around his fingers, “It’s a yes or no question.”
Naruto huffed, her hand reaching up to grip his wrist, but not to pull it off. Instead, Sasuke felt Naruto’s thumb brushing along the pulse at his wrist.
It was beyond intoxicating, to know he wasn’t delusional or one-sided about this. To know he affected her too.
“Fine, it’s a d—” Naruto cleared her throat, a blush extending to the tantalizing dip of her collarbone, “It’s a date.”
“Good, it’s a promise,” Sasuke couldn’t keep the smile off his face if he tried. He stepped back, letting Naruto’s hair slip through his fingers. Sasuke adjusted his chokuto in the sheath at his hip, mostly for something to distract from the idea for wrapping his fingers into Naruto’s hair again and pulling her in for a kiss.
He would, eventually, but he needed to find peace with himself first. Once he did that—well he hoped Naruto was prepared.
Sasuke was a very dedicated man.
Sasuke caught Naruto’s eyes once more, smirking at the red still staining her cheeks. She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out in response.
With warmth in his chest, Sasuke dipped his head in a short bow and began his journey once more.
Naruto called out from behind him, “Take your time but return to me soon!”
It might take he days or weeks or months or years, but Sasuke knew he would match Naruto’s tenderness once day and the wait would be worth it because when he gave himself to her, it would be as someone complete.
It was kind of like a prayer, to want to change and become something more, so that, every night, he would fall asleep with a dream of a future with Naruto he knew was within reach.