You were a girl that loved adventure.
Given that you were a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, you went on a lot of adventures with your team. But sometimes, you wanted to go travelling, too. To explore the world.
Your desire to want to see the world was surprisingly what had drawn the last remaining Uchiha to you. He found you intriguing, to say the least, much to Sakura's dismay.
At first, you didn't notice his attraction to you. You spent a majority of your time on Mount Hokage, looking out at the world before your eyes. You wanted to see all of it, explore every little piece of culture that the world had to offer.
And when you weren't fantasizing about travel, you were with Shino.
You weren't dating, nor were you on the same squad. Your parents were friends, so you simply hung out a lot. He shared your love of adventure, although not nearly to the same degree.
⠀
You were hanging out with all the people that had graduated from the Academy in the same year as you, along with Lee, Neji, Tenten, and Sai. You sat next to Shino, who pointed out to you that Sasuke had been staring.
⠀
"Do you have a problem?" You asked him once you had all left the restaurant. You had basically backed him up into a wall, although you knew that if he wanted to, he could easily leave you standing there.
He didn't, though.
"You intrigue me," he answers you, grasping your cheek with his hand. "Perhaps we should see each other more often."
And that was the day you realized that you two felt the exact same way about each other.
⠀
Some time later, it was established that you and Sasuke had entered a relationship. Sakura was distraught, as you had expected her to be. She had been pining after him since she first saw him, and he falls for you?
As angry as she was, there wasn't really anything she could do about it. She knew that if she messed with Sasuke's love life, she wouldn't have a chance with him at all, so she left you alone, which you were grateful for.
The two of you spent a fair amount of time together. Your dates weren't particularly eventful, but you didn't care.
At least, for the first little while.
⠀
Your desire for adventure still lingered inside you. You assumed that it would go away as you matured, but that didn't seem to be the case. And now that you were old enough and fully trained, a Jōnin at that, the Hokage gave you permission to travel whenever you liked, on the condition that you would always bring someone with you in case of an ambush. It wasn't that you weren't strong, there was just a lot of precautions that needed to be taken, given that the Fourth Shinobi World War had just happened.
Your first choice was of course Sasuke. But you then remembered that he was the type to never stray far from Konoha unless he deemed it absolutely necessary. That was just who he was.
So you asked Shino. Who of course said yes.
⠀
Without even realizing it, you were worrying your boyfriend. He had no idea where you were.
The first time he noticed your absence, he asked Naruto about it.
"Oh, yeah! She just left with Shino!"
That sentence made his blood boil.
⠀
You were gone for a few days, and when you came back, you were exhausted. You may have spent so much time exploring that you forgot to sleep sometimes.
Sasuke made no effort to wake you. He decided he would simply discuss it with you when you woke up.
⠀
However, when he woke up, the spot beside him on the bed was empty.
You had left him a note, though.
⠀
Sasuke,
I just went out with Shino. I'll be back in the evening.
Love, (Y/N).
⠀
What the hell was up with you and Shino? What did he have that he, Sasuke Uchiha, didn't? A lack of a criminal record? He also didn't leave the village for quite a few years…
As this kept continuing, Sasuke grew more and more insecure. You and him had never been that close until that one day, was it possible that you had simply moven on from him?
He then shook his head, trying to dismiss the thought. He would confront you as soon as he could.
⠀
Which, fortunately, didn't take that long.
You loved traveling, but you missed Sasuke. You arrived after he fell asleep, but when he woke up, you were in his arms, sleeping soundly.
As soon as he was awake enough to want to tackle this situation, he shook you awake.
"Wh-wha…?" You looked up at him, an expression that was a mixture of tired and confused blatantly written on your face.
"Shouldn't you be with him?" He asked, his face completely blank. Although you could see the hurt in his eyes.
And that's when you realized you'd been neglecting him. You genuinely hadn't meant to. You just wanted to explore the world, and you didn't think he'd be interested.
However, you didn't really want to admit that to him, so you just hummed in response.
"Not really," you muttered, burying your face in the crook of his neck. "I'm exhausted. You should see Shino, though! He-"
Sasuke somewhat-gently brought his hand up to cover your mouth. "Don't mention his name," he grunted.
"And why not?" You asked, raising an eyebrow. "He's my friend, Sasuke. I'm allowed to have friends."
"Is he really just a friend? If so, why have you been spending every day for the past month with him? Why are you leaving the town with him constantly, and only come back to go to sleep?"
Oh.
You basically had no choice but to admit it at this point.
"To be honest, Sasuke…" you paused, looking up at him. He nodded, allowing you to continue, "I… I've been traveling."
"Traveling?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, traveling… ever since I was little, I had a desire to explore the world. I would spend my days on top of Mount Hokage just looking out at the view before me. I assumed that it would go away as I got older, but… it never did. And so eventually, the Hokage allowed me to travel outside of missions as long as someone accompanied me. My first idea was you, but… I realized that you don't like to leave unless you deem it necessary, so I didn't think you'd be interested. Shino, he… he's my childhood friend. He's always shared my love of adventure, so I asked him to accompany me. I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings, but this is too big of a deal for me to just stop doing it-"
"I'll come with you."
"Wait… what?" You looked up at him with a mixture of shock and amazement.
"I said I'll come with you. You never bothered to ask why I fell for you in the first place. Tch."
"Is that you saying that you fell for me because of my love for adventure?"
"…"
You laughed. "Oh my god. You're adorable. Alright. I'll tell Shino he doesn't have to come with me anymore. He'll probably be grateful."
"Nn."
