Last Day In The Village

October 1110:21 a.m.

———When Sakura woke up, her head was killing her. She definitely had one too many drinks last night. But then she realized that she was holding someone's hand. Sakura opened her eyes, she saw Sasuke sleeping at the side of her bed and that she was holding his hand.

Sakura's heart started racing and her eyes widened. Why the hell was he here and why were they holding hands. She was both shocked and delighted by this. But the intense emotions she was feeling mixed with her hangover made her feel a lot more nauseas. Before anything bad could happen, she slowly let go of Sasuke's hand and rushed to the bathroom. Once she reached the toilet, she immediately threw up. Sakura didn't drink very often so when she did, she never handled it well.

The sound of Sakura in the bathroom managed to wake Sasuke up. He went over to the bathroom door and knocked. "Are you ok in there?" he asked.

"Mhm." she said, "I'll...I'll be out soon..."

"Ok. I'll be here if you need me." he said, not wanting to bother her too much. He leaned against the wall as he waited for her to finish in the bathroom....

After a few minutes, Sakura stumbled out of the bathroom and stood next to Sasuke. "Sorry about that...I'm not feeling very well." she said without looking at him.

Sasuke nodded. "I know. Just...get better soon." he said shyly. Sasuke then began to walk out of the room but before he could reach the door, Sakura grabbed his hand. He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Hm?"

Sakura looked at him shyly as she crossed her arms. "Why were you sleeping in here...and why was I holding your hand?" she asked nervously.

Sasuke blushed and looked down. "You were drunk. I brought you home. You grabbed my hand and I couldn't leave. So I stayed." he said before walking out of the room without hearing her response.

Hearing this made Sakura smile. It was sweet that he did that for her. She wanted to say thank you but since he walked off, she couldn't. She decided to take a shower to help with her lingering nausea before she thanked him....

When Sakura entered the living room, she saw Sasuke staring out the window. "Hey, Sasuke-Kun? Do you want tea?" she asked.

"Hn." he said without looking at her.

Sakura nodded as she went to the kitchen and made some. When she finished, she brought two cups of tea to the living room where the both of them drank in silence. As Sakura's nausea went away, she started to remember that she wanted to thank Sasuke.

She put her cup down and turned to Sasuke who was sitting next to her. He noticed her staring and returned the gesture.

"Thank you for bringing me home and making sure that I was ok. I really appreciate it, Sasuke-Kun." she said with a before hugging him.

Not expecting her to hug him, Sasuke flinched a little before hugging her back. He grinned slightly before responding, "No problem." The two backed away from the hug before Sasuke mentioned, "Kakashi wants us to meet him at the park soon so I think we should head there now."

"Do you know why? Does this have to do with the Anbu he sent the other day?" Sakura asked curiously.

"No, he didn't say why. But yes, he did tell me then but that wasn't the main reason he sent for me." Sasuke said as he stood up, "But I'll tell you more about that later. Let's go now."

Sakura nodded and stood up before following Sasuke out of the apartment. The both of them quickly headed to the park....

When they arrived, they found Naruto pacing around. Naruto noticed the two and walked up to them.

"Hey! Why'd you guys bail last night?!" Naruto pouted.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh please. We were with you literally all day long!" she said.

"Well you could've at least told me that you'd leave!" he complained.

Before Sakura managed to start freaking out on Naruto, Sasuke spoke, "You wouldn't have let us."

Naruto put his arms behind his head and turned away from them. "Yea yea, whatever." he said.

Sakura and Sasuke gave each other a look of disbelief before focusing their attention back on Naruto.

"Do you know why Kakashi-Sensei wanted to see us?" Sakura asked.

Naruto turned towards them and shrugged. "No clue. But I do know that he's late." he said somewhat annoyed.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head. "He still hasn't learned to arrive on time after all these years?"

"Old habits really do die hard." Sakura said jokingly....

As the three waited for Kakashi, they made small talk. About an hour had passed before Kakashi finally showed up. But when he arrived, he had a camera crew with him.

"What's this about, Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Sasuke told me that you guys were leaving today so I thought why not take a team photo again? You never know when else we'd get a chance like this." he said happily.

"That's a great idea, Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Wait, we're leaving today?" Sakura asked Sasuke.

"Hn." Sasuke said.

"Well you could've told me that sooner." Sakura giggled before turning to Kakashi. "I too think that this is a good idea. Can we take the picture now?"

"Yup. Whenever you guys are ready." Kakashi said....

As the camera crew set up for the picture, the four got ready to have their picture taken. Once they were ready, they got into their positions; they took a photo similar to the one when they were first put into team 7.

After taking the photo, Kakashi told his former students that he'd send them the picture once it's ready before returning to his duty as Hokage.

"So you guys are really leaving today, huh?" Naruto asked somewhat sadly.

Sasuke nodded. "Kakashi wanted me to investigate a village as soon as possible but it's far from here. He wanted us to leave before your birthday but I knew you wouldn't have accepted that." he said.

"Oh...thanks Sasuke." Naruto chuckled. "So, Sakura...are you excited to travel with Sasuke?"

"Yea, I am! Although, I will miss you and everyone here." she said.

Naruto nodded his head before smiling mischievously. "I bet you guys will have a lot of fun on the road together~" he teased.

Both Sasuke and Sakura blushed. "Naruto, I would appreciate it if you didn't try getting on my nerves all of the time..." Sakura said through gritted teeth.

"Oh you know I'm just joking around...no need to get defensive about it." Naruto laughed, "Unless there's something going on between you guys that you don't want me to know~?"

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. "Ok, we're leaving. Goodbye, Naruto." Sakura said before taking Sasuke's hand and walking away with him which Sasuke didn't contest....

—

For the next two hours, Sasuke would help Sakura pack a backpack with stuff they might need on their journey. Most of the things they packed were medical supplies.

—October 112:43 p.m. —

Sasuke and Sakura were now ready to leave the village. Sakura already said goodbye to her parents and friends. The two walked to the front gates of the village where they'd meet with Shikamaru and Naruto.

When they got there, Naruto ran up to Sakura and hugged her tight. "We're gonna miss you guys." he said before backing away.

"We'll miss you too. Make sure to update me on anything new that happens while we're gone, ok?" Sakura said.

"No problem!" Naruto said happily before turning to Sasuke. "Make sure to watch over Sakura. Anything bad happens to her then we're going to have to have a long chat with our fists if you know what I mean." Naruto said jokingly.

Sasuke smirked a little. "You know I'd never let anything bad happen to her." he said, almost tauntingly.

Sakura smiled. Sasuke being protective over her is rare so she appreciated what he'd said.

Shikamaru walked up to the three and handed Sasuke a small scroll. "These are the places that Lord Sixth wants you to focus on." Shikamaru said, "If you find out anything in these places, write it down in the corresponding sections. Once you're done, you can send it directly to him."

Sasuke nodded as he handed Sakura the scroll. She put the scroll in her bag as Sasuke began to speak, "We'll be going now. I don't want to waste anymore daylight. Let's go, Sakura." he said as he started walking off.

Sakura hugged Naruto once more and waved 'goodbye' to Shikamaru, "Bye guys!" she said before catching up to Sasuke.

"Bye Sakura! Bye Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he waved.

Shikamaru waved before leaving shortly after....

Sasuke and Sakura were now on the road to a village far away. Sakura was both excited for the journey ahead but nervous of any obstacles they might face given that she doesn't know how dangerous the mission might be. She hoped that it wasn't going to be too dangerous.

Sasuke was mostly focused on the mission. Telling Sakura about how he felt about her would have to come later. Otherwise, he'd have a hard time focusing on what they had to do. As much as an asset that Sakura is for him on this mission, she could quite easily become a distraction for Sasuke...———

This is the end of the chapter! I hope you enjoyed!