Empire Fall

Chapter Twelve

UNEDITED

Dry leaves scrunched under his treading feet. The morning felt brighter and fresher than any other Sasuke remembered. His shoulders felt lighter and he wondered how much of it had to do with what happened between him and Sakura last night.

Sandaled feet paused by the lake near the healer's dwelling.

"I have been searching for you," he informed her resting figure in the grass.

"So have I," she answered and he felt something jump in his stomach at the implication in her dazed tone.

"What are you doing out here?"

Sakura smiled and closed her eyes once more. "Trying to find respite from inebriation."

"Inebriation," Sasuke repeated, knowing she didn't mean from alcohol yet trying to diffuse the murmur that told him it was meant for him.

"Kiss me," she whispered suddenly, eyes snapping open. He wondered what it meant that he promptly forgot to string alphabets together for a moment.

Closing the paces between them with long strides, Sasuke knelt behind her, bending forward so his face shadowed hers and he met her eyes. For a few beats, he struggled to breathe as the vivacious green color washed over him.

"I might leave you," he told her eventually. "I will return to my land once I settle everything."

"Then I should steal as much time as I can before that happens."

"What if I told you we have erred by engaging in something that has no future?" he tested.

"Are you?" she frowned.

"What if I did?"

"Your eyes tell me differently, lord Sasuke."

Sasuke blinked. This was the first time she had spoken his name in that way. He liked it more than he should have. The way she was observing him - as if were seeing nothing else - led him to entertain the possibility that his gaze possibly affected her as much as hers did him. It was enough to spur him forward and place his lips upon hers.

Sasuke expected it to feel different somehow, but there it was. The lightning. As her palms reached up to twine in his hair and hold the back of his neck, a familiar feeling rose in Sasuke's stomach. It was the same one that had led to all that had transpired between the two of them after she kissed him. The tightening of her fingers between his hair made him deepen the kiss and suddenly it wasn't enough to only be doing this.

The palms he was leaning on dug into the ground and it made him take pause, the mud beneath his skin abruptly reminding him of where they were - Sakura bit his bottom lip and he felt his senses fading out again.

"Sakura," he murmured against her mouth, only faintly recalling the purpose behind it. She whispered his name in return and that somehow felt like the last straw, for he was then lifting her into a sitting position and pulling her head back through her hair, pushing his mouth over hers more demandingly.

"How long have you held in that one?"

They abruptly break away, some sense returning to him and he blinked. Konohamaru stood a yard away, arm bandaged, smirking at him in the most irritating fashion he associated with Naruto. The post kiss haze retreated quickly. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke caught an uncharacteristic embarrassment on Sakura's features - and decided he didn't like it.

Her gaze remained trained on the ground for several beats, face flushed, until Konohamaru broke the awkward silence by saying, "I am glad Akio decided to quit chasing you. He doesn't hold a candle to Satoshi."