Stumble [Rewrite]

Stumble [Epilogue]

Two Years Later

Sakura opened her eyes to a sky of clouds and blue.

Konoha was bustling, as per usual. A bright afternoon on a Saturday brought people out to peruse the market stalls, meet with friends, go out with family, or to simply enjoy the peaceful time the day had brought. The sun was especially warm that particular day as the buzz of cicadas encircled the air like a neatly wrapped bow.

"Are you wearing sunscreen? Because you're actually so pale I think you'd get a sunburn just by standing next to an oven."

Sasuke snorted into his excessively bitter iced coffee. "If you're referring to the sunscreen I found in my room with the note 'you won't be laughing when you're peeling', then yes. I'm wearing that sunscreen."

Fourteen year old Sakura laughed before popping a dumpling in her mouth. She loved days like this where she could hang out with one of her best friends as they watched people pass them by. The restaurant they often frequented stayed one of their favorites with the assortments of fried goods and barbecue, and even if they went to Ichiraku's now and again, it wasn't the same without Naruto there with them. Though it was always nice to see Teuchi and say hello.

"While it's always fun to hear about you taking good care of your skin, there's some other stuff I've been interested in too," she said. She sipped her lemonade. "How's being a Police Sergeant? I heard from Obito-san that you're a little stressed out with the platoon under your command."

"I hate all of them."

"That's not very nice."

"Uchiha are already insufferable enough as it is and it's only worse now because they don't think they should be listening to a fourteen year old, Commissioner's son be damned," he grumbled. Sakura grinned and started to roll up the sleeves of her gray regulation jacket. She didn't really work under T&I anymore, but she'd grown attached to the uniform and wouldn't stop wearing it no matter how many times Genma whined at her.

"It's hard to climb the ranks when you're a brat, but it'll get better," she winked. "You have a temper almost as explosive as mine so they're bound to listen to you one way or another. Lucky you have the next few days off, huh?"

He sighed. "I guess. Sai and I are going to the art show tomorrow, so my mood should get better. I finally got one of my works in."

"The one with the ruins?"

"Mm."

"Congratulations! I know you spent a lot of time on that one!" Sakura exclaimed. If she'd known art would become such a deterrent against his bottled up emotions, she would've brought it up to the Sasuke of the other timeline and hope for the best. Even if he was prone to anger much like she was, he had a healthy outlet this time and it had done him a world of good. "I almost forgot! I got called up to the Aviary earlier and we got a letter from Naruto."

Sasuke leaned against the table in interest. "What did he say?"

She pulled the letter out from the inner lining of her jacket and held it out for him to read.

--

Sasuke and Sakura-chan,

How're you guys? It's been, wow, almost two years now. I know ero-sennin said he'd only be training me out here for that long, but some things came up and... I think I'm going to be out another year? He already sent a letter to my dads explaining what's going on. They're okay with it, but they said they miss me and want me to come home soon.

But don't worry, I'll be back before you know it!

Ero-sennin's been teaching me a lot of new jutsu I can't wait to show you guys! I learned the rasengan. That's like a spinning ball of chakra in the palm of my hand, but I need a clone to help me do it. It's super cool and I can kick your ass with it, Sasuke.