Empire Fall

Chapter Ten

UNEDITED

   

  

  

  

Sasuke impatiently tapped his foot against the ground. What is taking her so long?

"She'll come."

"She has been gone a long time."

"Just wait, brother."

"I told you not to address me so."

"Listen to him, Konohamaru."

Sasuke disliked how his breath stopped for a moment when she appeared before him. Denying the attraction was becoming harder than he would have thought. Just the previous day, he returned from scoping the area and making arrangements for their departure to enter the hut and find her in all her beauty. Glorious pink hair were fully open, long and wet and she stood drying them.

Even though he departed urgently and even though her back was to him, it was not that he did not consider the possibility that she may have known he had seen her. Especially given the woman's sharpness, it was not hard to believe at all.

Shaking his head, he turned on his heel. Without another word, he began walking. A blink later, he heard footsteps following.

"Where are we going?" wondered Konohamaru.

No one answered, each in their own thought. His eyes slid to her in silent scrutiny. Her hair was, as usual, in a head covering. As he watched her frown over something in her mind, he wondered what it was about Sakura that drew his interest. After all, no other woman - even a princess - had managed it before.

Then again, he thought to himself. She is no ordinary woman.

She'd proved that several times and he did not doubt it. Not only was she a woman of fierce strength and determination, but also wore a fearless heart upon her sleeve. He had clearly given up on trying to hide the admiration. Denying it - denying her her due acknowledgement -wasn't something he thought possible.

She took away any possibility of that with the demonstration of heart when she stopped a tribal man with only a wooden wheel and willpower in hand.

They stopped near the borders of Oto country. Sasuke left them to go inside a remote hut Sakura cannot remember being there when they'd entered here. In fact, it looked pretty much new to her. She was wondering if this was where he'd meet Suigetsu Hozuki when the man came out.

In his hands he held leather straps. Reins, she realized. Following him out were two horses, not quite as majestic as the white one standing beside her, but beautiful anyway. Wind snorted as they approached, as if disapproving of their reins in his master's hands. It was clear the steed was unfailingly loyal to the man.

"Our own horses!" exclaimed an excited Konohamaru, already reaching for one.

Sasuke turned to face Sakura and their eyes locked in a stalemate. He carefully observed her reaction, but it seemed she had decided today was the day to wall him off, for he could conclude nothing from her expression. Eventually however, she extended her hand forward and took hold of the horse.

"What are their names?" she questioned, examining the brown horse she had chosen.

"You can name them as you please," he replied, already mounting Wind.

"I will call him 'Inferno'!"

Dark eyes shifted to the scrawny boy he now knew was also a prince and deadpanned, "That's a female."