Just This Once

Friendship

They are 2 days away from the village and Sakura is already tired, Sasuke is in a bad mood, and Naruto complains about missing his wife and her cooking. Sakura looked at Sasuke, feeling all guilty and scared of her husband. She knows how he puts up with her and her tantrums that's why even though she feels tired and wants a break from walking, she endures it so that she won't be much of a burden to her already sulking husband. Although, she knows he'll be more upset if she faints right there and then, so she has decided to ask him for a 5 min break. When she snapped out of her thoughts, Naruto and Sasuke already stopped walking and is already staring at her worriedly. Her eyes widened in surprise. 

"What?"

"Sakura-chan, teme called your name like two times already."

"Did he? haha. Sorry I was too preoccupied with my thoughts so-"

"Or are you pushing yourself to walk when you could've just asked?" Sasuke snapped back.

"Oi teme."

"N-no! That's not true.. umm.. I was feeling light-headed just now and umm. I was about to tell you but you guys were already staring."

"Tch." Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked away.  Ok, he's obviously angry. 

 "Let's rest here for today then? It's getting dark." Naruto suggested. All he received was a "Hn" from Sasuke and nothing more.

While Sasuke and Naruto are setting up a simple tent, Sakura felt helpless.  She feels bad and insecure. She also noticed Sasuke didn't look at her not even once since they set up camp.

"There's a stream near here. I'm gonna go get us some water and maybe some fish to stew." Sasuke said, still not looking at Sakura or Naruto. With that, he left.

Naruto who finished setting the tent and lit up a bonfire sat beside Sakura. 

"Hey."

"Hm. Hi."

"Are you guys fighting?"

"I don't really know. I guess, he's upset... But that's reasonable right?"

"Well... yeah... I would too if I were in his shoes. But... Sakura-chan, teme wouldn't go out there with you if he knows you're incapable of doing this." For a moment, Sakura realized that made sense. 

"Thank you, Naruto."

"Hey, anytime." Naruto smiled at her. His smile always carried joy and light to their group. Sakura is thankful to have Naruto by her side. At that moment, Sasuke popped out into one of the bushes. He looked at both of his teammates and prepared dinner for them. They ate in silence, and 

"You should rest, Sakura. Naruto and I would take turns to watch." Sakura just stared at her husband. He's still not looking. She sighed and nodded.

"Good night guys." with that, she went inside the tent.

An hour passed and Sasuke peeked through the entrance of the tent. Sakura seemed so tired that she was fast asleep.  Making sure, she won't wake up anytime soon, he turned his attention to Naruto who was playing with fire with his stick.

"Naruto.." he started.

"You gonna ask me if this is a bad idea? Yes. But it's not like you can stop her right?"

"Are you a mind reader or something?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Of course not, teme. It's just that she asked me the same thing." he chuckled

"She what?"

"Yeah. She knows you're upset."

"I'm not upse-"

"Don't deny it. You can't even look at her directly. And she noticed it too."

Sasuke just sighed and shook his head. "I'm not upset. I'm just worried."

"That doesn't explain you being the cold bastard you are right now."

"Naruto... If I lose her... If I lose this child... If I lose them both... I... really think that it will be the death of me."

"That's why we're here. To protect them both. I promise to protect them too, Sasuke. Even if it's gonna cost me my life."

"Tch. There you go again. You have a wife now and isn't she almost due?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry you're stuck with us then."

"She understands my will of fire. And I'm thankful to her because of that... And I guess, you should too, teme. After all, it was Sakura who taught me that I can't give up on my village. To its people.."

"Tch. Thanks. Never thought you're mature enough for this conversation. So it's true what they say. An idiot can be changed in marriage" Sasuke scoffed.

"Hey!"

Sasuke just smirked at his friend. Both fell silent as mismatched eyes stare at the figure on the tent.