Work Text:
If Kakashi sensei would do this for all their missions, Sakura would be more than happy to put up with his tardiness and simply outrageous excuses.
She suppressed a squeal, her eyes wandering over to Sasuke again. She couldn’t believe her luck! Finally, she could be with her Sasuke without her meddling teammate and sensei.
“Ugh, you really didn’t need to do that!” Sakura huffed. Though the only problem was that she hadn’t spoken at all. In fact, her mouth—which had only dropped the gleeful curve of its lips at the sound of that eerily familiar voice—had remained shut ever since they had separated from their teammates. So what was going on?
“Um…Sasuke, what or um, who was that?” This time it was really her speaking. She inched ever so closer to Sasuke, one hand coming to hold the bottom of his sleeve.
“I don’t know, but whoever it is, is trying to impersonate you.” He reasoned, placing a hand in front of Sakura. “Stay here while I investigate.” He goes to leave when she tugs on his sleeve, halting him. His narrowed eyes meet hers.
“Wait! What if you get confused and…and I want to help take down whoever’s impersonating me too, shannaro!” She protested, moving to block his path.
“No, you’ll only—just stay here. It’s for your own safety.” He sighed, trying to leave. Though his steps halted at the sound of a voice, at the sound of his voice.
“Because it’s for your own safety.” His words mirror back at him somewhere from the distance, its source hidden behind trees. Sasuke found his eyes narrowing, his crimson eyes already searching for the said source.
“It seems that you’re not the only person they’re impersonating.” He gritted out, glancing back at her. Though the voice of the impersonator was deeper, there was no doubt that that was his voice. “Fine, let’s go.”
They jump from tree to tree, cautiously awaiting the moment they come across their doubles. Rather annoyingly, Sasuke fails to pick up their double’s chakra signatures. Clearly, they knew what they were doing.
The greenery of the trees before them opens into a clearing, the unmistakable movement of shadows letting them know they’ve found their doubles. The duo share a glance before jumping down, hoping to catch their doubles in a surprise.
Though it seemed that they were the ones to be caught in surprise, their bodies freezing instantly as they took in the sight before them with wide eyes. They stared at the two figures, their eyes just as wide as Sasuke and Sakura’s. Though that was not where the similarities ended.
Sakura stared at the woman before her, taking in the similar hues of jade colouring the older woman’s eyes and that same vibrant cherry pink hair that she knew so well. It was as though she was transported back to that morning, staring at herself in the mirror as she got ready. Yet instead of the mirror reflecting her as she is now, she was suddenly older.
Though surely that was impossible, this woman before her was surely an impersonator. Yet why would she mirror what she might look like in the future and not as she is now? She looked to Sasuke for answers, whose stare held with his own double before him.
Sasuke’s eyes narrowed at the older man, whose mismatched eyes refused to back down. Sasuke knew that the man shared his features, from the shape of his nose down to the downward tilt of his mouth…though his eyes, his eyes looked different. Almost like…Sasuke lunged at the man, kunai in hand with barely contained fury, ignoring the cry of protest from Sakura.
But before he could even attack, he was knocked back, the kunai missing from his hand. As he shook the dizziness from his eyes, he glared at the older man, whose single hand held his kunai. No matter, he still had more attacks left in him, his fingers already crackling with energy.
“Wait, Sasuke! We don’t come as a threat!” The older woman exclaimed, stepping forward only to be stopped as the man’s hand blocked her path.
“Don’t get too close.” The man warned, narrowed eyes falling back to Sasuke. The woman beside him huffed.
“Sasuke, I can handle you just—” Though she was interrupted before she could finish her protest.
“Wait, what do you mean Sasuke? ” Sakura yelled, coming to help Sasuke stand. Her eyes landed on the man, this so-called Sasuke. Sure, they shared some similarities, but…but that was impossible. The real Sasuke was right beside her!
“Oh no, I didn’t mean to say that, Shannaro!” The woman clamped a hand over her mouth and the man beside her simply sighed.
“They would’ve figured it out, anyway.” He says before turning to look at the younger duo. He readies to activate his Sharingan, ready to erase their memories, when a tug upon his cloak stops him.
“Can we…stay with them a bit longer?” His partner asks softly. His eyebrows scrunch as he gives her a questioning look. “Maybe it’s all these hormones…but I just suddenly miss all those times from back then and I want to spend time…with us. If that makes any sense?” She chuckled self consciously to herself, wondering what she was talking about. She began to shake her head when she was interrupted.
“If you must.” The man gave in, eyes roaming to the younger duo, to the pink-haired girl’s confused expression. He watched his partner’s features morph into one of surprise, but he knew his reasons for agreeing weren’t all that selfless. He had brought them there subconsciously because…his eyes wandered back to the pink-haired girl.
“Sasuke you don’t have to—” The woman began and the younger Sasuke’s temper flared. He’s had more than enough of these impersonator’s games.
“Enough. Who the hell are you people?” He demanded, ready to strike if need be, no matter how strong the opponent was. The older pair shared a glance before the man nodded.
“I know you’re not going to believe us…but we’re you.” The woman began slowly. “We’re just from the future.”
Sasuke scoffed, narrowed eyes never leaving the lunatics. They had to be kidding. Did they think him such a fool that he would believe such nonsense?
“And you just expect us to believe that time travel is possible?” Sakura questioned, arm wrapping around Sasuke’s, hoping the contact would lend her strength.
“With Sasuke’s eye, yes, it’s possible.” The woman replied calmly. His Sharingan? No…no it had to be the covered eye, the one she could just make out as purple, the one her Sasuke didn’t possess, the one Sakura didn’t know how to feel about. She looked at the covered eye again, wondering if the woman before her—supposedly her future self—was telling the truth, that Sasuke’s eye would evolve to possess such powers.
“Yeah, right.” Sasuke scoffed from beside her. “Enough of this. You really expect us to believe this nonsense?” He questioned, grabbing a kunai. This time, he wouldn’t be defeated so easily.
“Fine. What if we prove it to you?” The woman questioned before turning to Sakura. Sasuke pushed her behind him, glaring at the woman. “I wasn’t going to do anything, Shannaro!” The woman exclaimed, her lips forming a pout that Sasuke had to admit resembled Sakura’s. Not to mention that catchphrase.
“You said you could prove it?” Sakura spoke up and Sasuke turned to her, eyes narrowed. She wasn’t seriously entertaining these lunatics, was she? Yet before he could say anything, the woman turned to Sakura, her eyes gleaming mischievously.
“Do you remember that magazine that we got—that one that we got ripped off by that crabby old vendor?” The woman began, a smile playing on her lips.
“Ugh, I should’ve given him a piece of my mind, Shannaro!” Sakura fumed, her hand fisting in the air. The woman nodded her head.
“I know! Who did he think he was—anyway, that’s not why I brought that up.” The woman’s voice lowered to a hushed whisper now. “I can recite all the things we wrote in that magazine, word for word. I can say them all now if you want.” The woman bit her lip, knowing her younger self would never allow those embarrassing answers to be said aloud because, frankly, she didn’t want it either. And after all, they were one and the same.
“H-ha, yeah, y-yeah right!” Sakura huffed, crossing her arms though there wasn’t as much bravado to her words as she wanted. No one knew what she wrote in that magazine, not her parents, not her friends and most definitely not her teammates—especially Sasuke! So there was no way this look-alike of hers knew what she wrote…but if she were telling the truth and the woman really was her…there was no way she could let Sasuke know what she wrote! “Y-you know what, why don’t you just tell me in pri—”
“We are not deciding whether to trust them using some magazine .” Sasuke scoffed, glaring at the woman. As he was about to continue, the man—supposedly his future self—sighed.
“This is becoming useless. It’s better to leave them be. We shouldn’t interfere with the past anyhow.” He said, turning to face the woman. When he turned back to face them, his single black eye had turned red, the three tomoe of the Sharingan spinning lazily. Sasuke’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. Impossible…yet...Sasuke’s fist clenched at his side, anyway.
“Sasuke he…” Sakura muttered from beside him, stepping forward to scrutinise the man. “Sasuke, I think they have to be telling the truth, why else…why else would he resemble you so much? Not to mention the sharingan…” Sakura trailed off, her eyes never leaving the man.
Wow, if he really was Sasuke…Sakura swallowed, her cheeks reddening. He was beautiful. Sasuke glanced at the girl, whose blushing cheeks irritated him.
“And if we believe you?” He questioned, though he was hardly convinced that these strangers before him were their future counterparts. “Why are you even here?” He may be sceptical that time travel truly exists, but even then, he knew the consequences of it.
The woman before him—presumably Sakura—huffed, her lips turning down at the corners as she cast a glare at the man beside her—presumably him. The sight before him was foreign—not just because it was their supposed future counterparts—but also because Sakura never glared at him . That was usually reserved for the dobe.
“It’s because Sasuke thinks I can’t handle myself even though I—“ Her complaint was cut off quickly by the man.
“I did not bring us here because I thought you were a weak woman. I brought you here because, in your condition, you shouldn’t be fighting.” He explained, knowing that she only reserved his given name now for moments when she was mad at him. Right now was one of those moments.
“Sasuke, I don’t have some kind of condition . I am perfectly healthy.” She huffed, turning away from him. The man sighed.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong with me…if you are me?” Sakura questioned, eyeing her future counterpart. She couldn’t see much from the giant cloak wrapped around her future self, but from her expression, Sakura could tell there wasn’t anything supposedly wrong.
“Not you too—or me—or whatever!” The older Sakura exclaimed irritably. “Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with me!”
Sakura failed to stifle her gasp and she couldn’t quite understand if the surge of emotions that suddenly rushed through her were of excitement or disbelief. Maybe both.
“A-are you really?” No, no, it was definitely excitement she felt as she failed to hide her glee. “You’re pregnant?” Her grin nearly took over her face.
“Yeah, do you want to feel my bump?” It seemed the excitement was contagious as a smile burst across the face of the older woman, a smile—Sasuke couldn’t help but notice—that was eerily similar to Sakura.
“Ah, did you feel that?” Sakura exclaimed suddenly, her hand against the bump. “I think the baby kicked!”
“She’s been doing that lately.” Her future counterpart explains, turning her bright eyes towards Sasuke. “Here, you feel it too!”
She grabs his hand before he can protest, placing it gently against her bump. His hand stilled, the feel of the baby kicking memorised against his will. Though an unwelcome image flashed in his mind, one that had him snatching his hand away from future Sakura’s grasp.
“Sasuke?” The older woman spoke, questioning his sudden change. But he didn’t focus on her. Instead, his mind whirled through different versions of that unpleasant image, all just as awful as the last.
It was all of the dobe’s smiling face as he wrapped his hand around Sakura, showing off the bump of their baby. His skin crawled at the thought of that idiot touching Sakura even as the wiser part of him told him that Naruto would treat her well. Treat the baby growing within Sakura well. Better than him, even.
“Sasuke…?” This time it’s his Sakura, her hand gentle as she cups his face, concern etched into her eyes. He finds himself momentarily leaning in before he slaps her hand away, backing away from her.
“I don’t have time for this. We need to get back to the mission.” Sasuke bites out irritably. He watches the way Sakura’s eyebrow scrunches, her hand still hanging in the air. He knows he’s hurt her, but he couldn’t bring himself to take back what he’d done. After all, in a few years, she’d have more important people to worry about.
The older man internally sighed. If he didn’t know himself better, he would have been fooled into thinking that his younger self was simply eager to return to their mission, hungry for power. But he knew himself, he knew that expression on his face, knew that his younger self was grinding his teeth, knew his hands were fisted in his pockets.
He knew that expression because he solely reserved it for the moments when men go after his wife.
He glanced at the woman, his wife, his Sakura, who nodded, giving him a soft smile before approaching his younger counterpart.
“You’re being awfully mean right now, Sasuke, you know that?” The older woman scolded, her younger part staring at her in shock. Sakura never had the courage to scold Sasuke like that, so to think that her future self was doing it right now…the future brings interesting things, she supposes. Though when she noticed her future self’s shoulders drop, she knew that even in the future, she couldn’t be mad at Sasuke for so long. “Oh, come here you.”
Sasuke couldn’t do anything but be pulled into the older Sakura’s bone-crushing hug. Her strength when she held him was as though it were double what she had now. As her hands wrapped around him, he knew there was no chance that she’d let him go so easily.
God, he didn’t know how much he needed another’s touch, needed her touch, but he couldn’t stay in her warm embrace. He couldn’t love her like she wanted, like she deserved because he was an avenger, but that didn’t matter anyway, did it? She had that damn idiot. He moved to escape her touch, but she tightened her hold.
“Stay.” She mumbled into his hair, shaking her head. “It’s not whatever you’re thinking, okay?” His hands fisted at his side as he tried to stay afloat, the feelings he’d repressed for so long threatening to drown him. Dammit.
Sakura stared at her future self, the way she calmed down Sasuke with her hug—even if he wouldn’t admit that he had relaxed in her future self’s arms. She had thought that her hug calming him down during the Chunin Exams was a fluke but…maybe, just maybe—the shifting of the ground beside her stirred her from her thoughts, her eyes landing on future Sasuke. She abruptly averted her gaze, her cheeks reddening.
Gosh, he was so close, Shannaro! Her heart fluttered behind her chest, hardly containing her disbelief that she was so close to the Sasuke of the future. Gosh, if her Sasuke was handsome, then the Sasuke of the future was…she bit her lip to stifle her smile.
Then her face suddenly turned to red, a thought occurring to her. Had he stood next to her for a reason…did he want her to hug him, too? Her future self hugged his past self and so…and so it only made sense to, right?
“You’ve always managed to calm me down.” The Sasuke of the future suddenly spoke, his voice deeper and richer than she’d ever heard it. She turned to stare up at him, letting his words soak her skin. A soft smile curved at her lips, a surge of emotions flooding her veins. She hadn’t known if the things she did helped Sasuke at all, even just a little.
“I’m glad.” She said, her eyes downcast as a pink coloured her cheeks. Sasuke couldn’t help but think the expression resembled the one his wife reserved for the moments when she was too shy to ask for a kiss directly. Though that image vanished from his mind when Sakura spoke again. “Um, can I ask why you’re here in the past?”
“It wasn’t intentional.” He spoke. “I had to get your future self away from a group of bandits. She’s in no condition—”
“Sasuke, I’m just pregnant.” The woman in question huffed, her hands now on her hips as she approached the man. Sakura’s eyes wandered to her Sasuke, whose expression looked dazed.
“I’m not taking risks with you or our baby.” The older man spoke and Sakura watched the way it broke Sasuke out of his daze, his narrowed eyes wandering to their future counterparts as though he was now viewing them in a new light.
“What do you mean ‘our’ baby?” Sasuke questioned, eyes travelling to his Sakura. Though he couldn’t hide his initial surprise, if he dug a little deeper, he knew that the only person he’d imagined continuing his clan with had always been Sakura.
“Sakura is my wife.” His older self answered bluntly. Sasuke stilled as he took the words in, his eyes meeting Sakura’s. Their eyes held, time warping around them as they let the revelation sink in. They both knew that this future, the one before their very eyes, was a possibility, maybe even the only possibility, yet in the back of their minds, they had doubted.
So was this sudden lightness relief?
“Ah, that’s…” Sakura coughed into her hand, trying her best to fill in the silence that had ensued. “T-that’s why you’re on this mission together.” She could no longer look at Sasuke, her cheeks burning a bright red.
“It’s not a mission per se…” Her future self muttered more to herself than anyone else, eyes averted.
“Why the hell would the Hokage let you go on a mission while you’re pregnant?” Sasuke suddenly demanded, eyes narrowed. What were they thinking, accepting a mission in Sakura’s condition?
“Oh…don’t blame the Hokage…it’s just um…” The Older woman trailed off, cheeks burning. “Oh, it’s nothing!” She waved her hand in the air, brushing them off, a smile on her face even as she averted her eyes. Sasuke knew their future selves were hiding something, but he couldn’t place his finger on what.
“We didn’t knowingly set out while she was pregnant. She only got pregnant once we had set out on the mission.” The older Sasuke answered his younger counterpart, his words blunt to match the almost bored expression on his face. If the woman didn’t know her husband, she really would think he was bored. But she recognised that teasing glint in his eyes.
“Eh! Darling, you can’t say that!” The woman’s face took on a pretty shade of pink, as she glanced at their younger counterparts who had yet to come to recognise the meaning of his words. “I-I think we should be, um, going now!” She hurried to add, not wanting to face the reality of what their younger counterparts would say.
Though, if those two were to be bad, she shuddered to think what Naruto and Kakashi sensei would say upon their return from the mission—carrying a baby no less!
“Y-you…” Sasuke’s lips moved as he tried to come up with something intelligible to say, but he could only stare. God, he couldn’t believe it. He’d been reduced to the perverted likes of the dobe and their good-for-nothing sensei.
His eyes wandered to his Sakura. Whatever the hell happened in the next few years that he could hardly keep his hands to himself? On a mission, no less. He couldn’t imagine the thought of running his hands over her body, tangling in her hair, letting his lips brush over hers—he gulped, ripping his eyes away from Sakura. Dammit, what the hell is going on with him ?
Sakura watched the way Sasuke ripped his eyes away from her, wondering what was going through his mind to make him uncharacteristically blush like that. Though she supposed she could feel the way her cheeks heated too and didn’t blame him. She off-handedly wondered if she should feel so giddy over the thought of Sasuke being unable to keep his hands to himself on a mission.
“Hm. We’ve been here long enough.” The Sasuke of the future broke her out of her thoughts, watching as he walked towards a clearing when he halted suddenly. He glanced behind him, eyes meeting hers. “Why I came to the past? Because I thought of you…thank you for not giving up on me, for giving me all that you have given me.”
Sakura felt as though her next breath was robbed of her, her wide eyes on the Sasuke of the future. Gosh...she couldn’t believe it, that her Sasuke would one day say those words to her. She felt her heart soar. She gave him a smile, one that burst across her face. He simply nodded as his eyes found her future counterpart.
The Sakura of the future moved to stand beside her husband, her eyes boring into his. He’ll never be rid of her so easily, her eyes told him. A ghost of a smile appeared over his lips as he turned to face their younger counterparts, eye turning crimson.
“Wait!” The Sakura of the past suddenly called out as she ran towards him. His eyes widened at the force of her hug, her arms tight around him. “I never got to hug you!” She exclaimed, smiling up at him even as her blush extended down to her neck.
Sasuke blinked at the sight before him, the hug ending almost as abruptly as it had started as she joined his side again. His narrowed eyes looked to his future self. The corner of the man’s mouth tilted up as their gaze met and Sasuke’s eyes narrowed further. Sasuke usually reserved that expression for moments when he had won. What…
Oh, that fuc—
Sakura’s bleary eyes opened to the too-bright world, her eyes rapidly blinking to clear her vision.
“Ah, Sakura!” Kakashi sensei hovered above her, his visible eye crinkling as he smiled behind his mask. He was still carrying that weird orange book. “Glad to have you join us.”
“Wh-what happened?” She questioned, using her hand to support herself up when she placed it on something warm. “Ah!” She screamed, retracting her hand as her eyes met Sasuke’s narrowed one. Colour drained from her face.
She couldn’t believe that she’d just placed her hand on Sasuke’s chest!
“There must have been no threats if you two had decided to take a leisurely nap!” Kakashi sensei commented, eyeing the duo as though they were hiding something.
“What—we didn’t! We…we um…” Sakura’s mind raced as she tried to think of just exactly what they’d done. Her eyes turned to Sasuke as her mind came up blank. Just how was that possible? “I don’t—”
“I checked around—oi Sasuke what the hell do you think you’re doing looking cosy with my Sakura?” Naruto’s obnoxious voice trampled her train of thought as he pointed an accusatory finger at Sasuke.
“Tch. Shut up.” Sasuke brushed him aside, standing. As he walked away to collect his thoughts, one image, blurred beyond imaginable, kept overtaking his mind.
A man who possessed Sasuke’s dark hair and a woman, whose pink hair resembled the only Kunoichi on his team, framed in a halo of purple as their lips met.