Chapter Text
“You’re too nice to him,” Satsuki grumbled as she helped pack away rolls of gauze and various jars of ointments and pills.
“He’s just lonely, Satsuki,” Sakura retorted. “He needs a friend, you know? It’s not like he’s asking me to marry him.”
Satsuki tried not to get even angrier at the thought of some man taking Sakura away. It was bad enough whenever Ino draped herself all over her when they went out for a girls’ night, but…
I’m the only one who should see those parts of Sakura.
It would be a much more convincing argument if she would woman up and confess to Sakura. Satsuki needed to take her off the market officially rather than just trailing behind Sakura on her grand, post-war journey to found remote access medical clinics in all the rural areas of the nations. Satsuki had the Rinnegan, for Sage’s sake—besides Naruto, she was the most powerful person on the planet. Surely telling Sakura that her long-standing feelings were reciprocated would be an easy task.
Unfortunately, expressing emotions was Satsuki’s biggest downfall. Hence why she was stuck gritting her teeth as Sakura introduced her as my close friend and teammate, Satsuki-chan while men and women around them ogled and flirted with her. The guilt from everything she’d put Sakura through had stayed her tongue at first—she wasn’t sure she even deserved Sakura’s love anymore, not after leaving her on a cold bench in the middle of the night to abandon the village and making her and Naruto go on wild goose chases until the war had finally reunited them on the same side.
Now, however, it was becoming too much to bear. This new village they were in, somewhere just inside the northern border of Wind, brought about a persistent problem. Satsuki honestly hadn’t bothered to catch the man’s name, but he was conventionally handsome, charming, and liked to talk to Sakura for far too long.
It infuriated Satsuki. Didn’t that man know she was busy? And what’s more, she wasn’t interested in men? Or rather, the only person she’d shown interest in, romantically, was Satsuki.
She supposed that was where the insecurities started. She had no proof that Sakura was still in love with her, or that she wasn’t capable of attraction to men. Well, the latter Satsuki wasn’t as conflicted about addressing.
“He shouldn’t waste his time,” she grumbled as they walked back to the inn room they shared. “You’re not even interested in men.” She tried not to glance at Sakura as she waited for a reaction, not wanting to make her motives too obvious.
“Well,” Sakura started slowly. Satsuki clenched her fists, heart squeezing painfully. “No, I’m not.”
Satsuki vaguely heard her continue to talk about how the man really wasn’t trying to hit on her, he was just being friendly, but Satsuki couldn’t focus on it. All she could think about was how relieved she was. She still had a chance, surely?
Then again, they were due to begin their return trip to Konoha the next afternoon, and once they arrived, there was always the chance Ino would swoop in. Satsuki didn’t buy for a second the Yamanaka’s insistence that she and Sakura were only best friends.
But if Sakura was to become a clan matriarch through marriage, Satsuki was going to make sure it was with the Uchiha.
She just had to muster up the words to let her know that, an issue which plagued Satsuki even as they settled into camp the next night. Konoha was still two days away, if they pushed hard, but time was undoubtedly running out.
“We don’t have to go back, you know.” Sakura’s voice startled her out of her thoughts. “To Konoha. We could just…stay on the road, or find a non-shinobi village to set up a clinic in.”
“Why?” Satsuki tried not to wince at how strangled her voice sounded as it came out of her. To her eternal credit, Sakura didn’t acknowledge the slip up.
“I can tell you’re nervous. And…” She hesitated, looking around the campsite as if checking for eavesdroppers. “And after everything that happened. With—with your brother, I mean,” she shot an apologetic glance her way, but Satsuki just nodded at her to continue. “I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to stay there again.”
“But it’s your home.”
“Satsuki…” She trailed off, dropping her gaze to the fire for a moment before taking a deep breath. When she locked gazes with Satsuki again, her jade eyes were burning with the same fiery determination as she’d had on the battlefield. “My home is wherever you are.”
All the air rushed out of Satsuki’s lungs in an instant as the weight of realization came crashing down upon her.
“After everything I’ve done? What I did to you ?” It was too good to be true, too much to hope for.
“You should know as well as I do that a woman’s heart isn’t easily changed when it comes to love.” She let out a shaky breath, pressing her hands to her flaming cheeks while Satsuki gaped at her. “I don’t think I could ever stop loving you, Satsuki.”
Never in her wildest dreams had Satsuki dared to hope that Sakura still loved her so completely. A lump welled up in her throat, making it impossible to respond, but Sakura must have seen the way her mismatched eyes softened, because she moved to sit directly beside her, reaching up slowly to grasp Satsuki’s face and turn it towards her.
“I—” Satsuki tried to make the words form, to tell her that she loved her, too, more than anyone or anything in the world. How sorry she was for making Sakura wait, for how much pain she’d put her through. But she couldn’t.
Luckily, Sakura had become an expert in reading Uchiha emotions, and smiled softly.
“I forgive you, Satsuki. Even if there’s nothing to forgive, I know you need to hear it before—” She stopped, then hurriedly added. “Maybe it’s presumptuous of me. I love you, but if you don’t want—”
Satsuki still didn’t have words at her disposal, but silenced Sakura anyway by pressing their lips together. She felt Sakura freeze for a moment, then, in an instant, all the tension seemed to melt out of her. It helped Satsuki relax, too, easing her worries away until all she could focus on was how good it felt to finally kiss Sakura.
If she’d believed in something as nonsensical as soulmates, Sastuki would have described the moment as destiny. But she didn’t, so all she could think was that maybe, all hope wasn’t lost for her to have a happy life.
Sakura was the one to break the kiss, pulling back just enough so that Satsuki could see just how blown out her pupils were, nearly swallowing all the beautiful jade green of her irises. Her lips were swollen from the pressure, glistening with a faint sheen of moisture, and a rosy shade that matched her blushing face.
Satsuki wanted to devour her.
Luckily, Sakura was on the same page, and after a moment of stunned silence, she lunged for Satsuki, toppling both of them off the log.
They barely made it into their tent before clothing started coming off.
