Warmth of the Spring Sun

-by SleepyArcher 

They were war- heroes, who had saved the world. Veterans in the field. Greatest of their generation.

Legendary.

They were also teenagers who have just placed their first steps in the spectrum of adulthood. And, so they fell in love like teenagers.

Sasuke had felt it first. Each step away from the village cleared his mind and heart. And a gentle breeze of warmth and spring blew over his heart, tickling repressed memories of laughter and home back onto the surface of his mind. A part of him whispered, "Was it really necessary to search for answers when they were at hand's reach?"

He hastened away.

•••

Two years later, he met Sakura in a small village in Kaze no kuni. He had been feeling a slight ache in the stump of his left arm for a while and wanted to get it checked. The Sasuke who had been reckless with his body felt like a person from another lifetime, with little in common with the Sasuke now. He didn't want to be that reckless boy anymore.

And whether a familiar voice whispering at the back of his mind to learn to be gentle with himself had jump-started his decision to be careful, was something Sasuke would likely never share with another living soul. Or, a dead soul for that matter.

When he had entered the village, he had walked into the market first to both sell the herbs he had foraged as well as buy some basic amenities before asking for information on local healers. Traveling alone for the last two years had taught him how to better communicate with people. With civilians and shinobi alike. While he would never be as friendly as Naruto and Sakura were, he was way more comfortable interacting with people than the Sasuke of the past.

The merchants had been happy to buy what he offered and the sum he earned would be sufficient for several weeks. He had found a store to stock up his dwindling supplies and even found a weapon shop to buy some shuriken and kunai. The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man who seemed elated to have a shinobi customer. With some quiet replies on Sasuke's part, the man launched into a tale that encompassed his family history as well as the latest happenings in the village. Sasuke came to know that the shopkeeper- Narumi-san's- father was a Suna shinobi who retired early and settled down in the village. He also learned that a foreign and pretty healer had arrived a few days ago. She had wanted to treat the villagers for free but how could they take advantage of such kindness? So they gave her other stuff from the village when she refused to take money. Wasn't she an angel? Also, she was so very beautiful and....By this time, Sasuke had bade the man a polite goodbye and left. One word said by Narumi that stuck to him was 'healer'. Implying that another shinobi had arrived at the village before him. This put him in a dilemma. On one hand, as an active ninja he needed to keep his only arm in perfect condition. On the other hand, making a foreign ninja privy to information on his health could be very, very dangerous. He had been hoping to visit a civilian doctor but the gossi-information he just received made it clear that the Iryō-nin was the one receiving all the patients currently.

Sasuke hesitated as he neared the entrance of the clinic, wariness slowing his steps down. Perhaps, this wasn't a good idea after all. The risk of an Iryō-nin finding out about the Rinnegan was not worth tending to a little bit of discomfort. He could visit Konoh- "Arigatou gozaimasu, Haruno-san", a voice cut through his thoughts. Sasuke froze and looked at the owner of the voice.

A young woman in her mid-twenties was standing at the main doorway of the clinic and waving back at a figure inside with a large smile on her face. And, a very very familiar voice answered, "Yokatta desu-né, Sakai-san."

Sasuke's feet turned around and took the last steps towards the voice.

•••

Sasuke sat in the waiting room alone, patiently waiting for his turn. He was originally the second last patient of the day but the last patient had been somewhat of a semi-emergency case and it had been of no loss to him to allow the other to take precedence. He was content to wait a little. Besides, the time spent waiting was helping him to gain his composure.

He still felt a little foolish at the way he had tried to enter the chamber directly, without even paying attention to the long line of patients waiting for their chance. Sakura's temporary assistant had intercepted him before he could make a complete idiot out of himself, stupidity at par with his best friend. The boy had been polite and explained that only the severely ill could break the line. Sasuke had mumbled a mix of apology and thanks, unused to such situations and shuffled to take a seat. An hour had passed since that and his wait was almost at an end. He could hear Sakura speaking to her patient, her voice low and soothing.

Sasuke was sure she was aware of his presence- after all he had made sure that everybody knew he was there- but Sakura was too much of a professional to let that mess up her work ethics. Especially when he was not severely injured and in an emergency condition himself. He focused his attention on the reception area, the trained part of his brain automatically searching out flaws in the structure where an enemy could strike.

The reception area itself served as the waiting room for the patients. The structure of the building expressed the unique architectural style favored by Kaze no kuni, including the rounded windows. Warm white coloured curtains, made up of cotton, hung from the windows and drifted gently with the breeze. Sasuke sighed. This country was never without a breeze. A soft light permeated through the room, creating a soothing ambience for the anxious hearts of the sick. A scroll with the characters for the country hung at the back wall. The wall with the door to the healer's room had a similar scroll with the characters for medicine, same as the one on the board outside the clinic.

There was no receptionist present and the patients simply put their name on a scroll hanging on the wall as they came in. The assistant came out with each patient after they had their consultation and called out the name of the next person from the scroll. The boy was a local and the village was small enough that most people knew each other by face. It was a good system for a small village. It also meant that Sasuke's gaffe would be the main topic of discussion for dinner tonight. 'That foreign shinobi acted like a lecherous idiot as soon as he saw the pretty kunoichi', Sasuke could hear it being uttered with a sip of the tea, the elderly shaking their heads in disapproval. 'Men will remain men', an older lady with a kind face would say, her face steeped in disappointment at the younger generation that have lost all sense of shame. A grimace stiffened his face and his lips were about to twist into his infamous scowl when he was interrupted-yet again!-by a voice filled with laughter, "That is such a scary look, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke whipped around fast enough that his hair slapped his face. Haruno Sakura stood leaning against the wall at the threshold of the inner room, a smile so bright that it rivaled that of Naruto and Rock Lee, on her face. The warmth of sunshine as spring slowly emerged from the ravages of winter, suffused through his entire being and Sasuke felt his own lips curling in response.

By that time, evening had set in firmly and the stars twinkled brighter in the absence of the moon. The temperature had cooled but the warmth in the heart remained.

•••

The water hit the aching muscles and Sasuke couldn't bite back the groan of pleasure. Despite being used to living outdoors, a hot shower in an actual bathroom followed by the prospect of hot food hit differently.

He stayed under the water for another few minutes before, somewhat, reluctantly cleaning and drying himself off. Coming out of the bathroom, he unsealed a storage scroll for a clean outfit. He dressed with his usual efficiency. In fact, he was a tad faster than usual, impatience making him faster.

He and Sakura had found that they had taken rooms in the same inn and decided to have dinner together before retiring. Sakura suggested washing up first before dinner and he agreed, promising to meet her in fifteen minutes. He told himself that he didn't want to be late because that would be plain rude and undue rudeness was a trait he was trying to get rid of. Plus, there was a real fear that he might inherit his former teacher's unsavory habits if he started being late. It was a fear shared by the other members of Team 7/Team Kakashi, past or present. Hence, the impatience to go to the dining hall as swiftly as possible.

After a brief hesitation, he left his cloak in the room. His katana, however, stayed. The village might have been small but it played host to both shinobi and samurai travelers.

Sasuke arrived at the dining hall at exactly fifteen minutes and chose a table to wait for his teammate. No sooner had he sat down than Sakura arrived. He raised his head to greet her and felt his breath caught. Because unlike him, Sakura hadn't dressed just for efficiency. Forgoing her usual qipao dress, she had dressed in a light green yukata that was designed especially for ease of movement even during battles.

But that wasn't what caught Sasuke's attention and breath. It was the fact that the obi was tied rather loosely resulting in the yukata being perched rather precariously on Sakura's shoulders. The light green of the fabric seemed to have taken an ethereal quality by the presence of her pink hair that was still wet from a recent shower. The loose garment had caused another part, that usually remains hidden, to become visible partially. Sasuke's eyes honed in that area as a fly would to a flame. And then before his logical brain caught up, he felt the Sharingan activate to preserve the sight forever. Sasuke flushed red with embarrassment and he gritted his teeth as he forcefully deactivated his dojutsu.

Such perverted actions fit the dobe, not him. He felt disgusted with himself. Sakura was his teammate, a formidable shinobi and a highly respected healer. She was.... the captured memory of her breasts flashed through his mind, all the finer details preserved perfectly by the Sharingan.

As if rubbing salt into the wound, Sasuke felt a slight twitch from a part of himself that he had mostly ignored throughout his puberty and swore aloud. And as luck would have it, that was the moment Sakura reached him.

Dinner was going to be extremely uncomfortable.

•••

Dinner was extremely confusing.

While walking back to her room, Sakura wondered about the strange mood that Sasuke seemed to have been in when she sat down in front of him during dinner. He had seemed.... annoyed and frustrated. He had even been swearing when she reached him! A younger Sakura would have thought that she was the culprit behind his annoyance but adult Sakura was wiser than that. She understood Sasuke enough to know that she was not the cause. Besides, he had been surprised but happy to see her earlier.

'What could be the cause then?', Sakura thought as she sneaked a glance at her silent companion. Sasuke had insisted on walking her to her room, which was on the upper floor. She had given in, a part of her absurdly happy at this gentlemanly gesture. She was confident of her own skills but she could see the care beneath the protectiveness and that was something to be cherished.

Her escort's face was back to its usual calm expression, betraying none of the earlier emotions. Sakura frowned, perhaps his arm was causing more pain than he led her to believe earlier. Or, perhaps his eyes were causing problems. She knew it, shannaro! She shouldn't have allowed him to distract her from pressing him for more information back at the clinic. She opened her mouth to ask him and stopped as they reached her room.

Sakura suddenly felt her stomach start twisting in knots as she hesitantly turned to say goodnight, two questions warring in her mind.

Two fingers tapped her forehead. Sakura looked up in surprise; Sasuke's face carried a small smile, "Shall we discuss the exercises for my arm over breakfast tomorrow?"

•••

Notes: This was something I wrote to fight the block I was experiencing. Plus, I really wanted to explore the fact that despite being war heroes, our main characters were essentially teenagers and had to suffer all the problems related to said age. Blank period really does provide a fertile field for imagination.