Home

Promises

The mission started out more different than others. They'd been walking down the beaten path away from the village for almost six hours now, and all throughout that time, only a few words were spoken, none of which were aimed at Sasuke. He knew Sakura and Naruto had spent collectively more time together over the years, time he'd missed for selfish reasons. He knew Sasuke was intertwined with both of them in an unpleasant way, at least currently.

He was stuck walking behind both, with Naruto leading the way. He wanted to say something, anything, to break the tension that was consuming him. But then he saw Naruto's hands move from the back of his head to his stomach, as he leaned slightly forward. As he stopped walked, both Sakura and Sasuke did the same, with Sakura raising concern.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed. He wasn't attacked, was he? Sasuke placed his hand atop his sword. And then...

His stomach grumbled and he let out a cheeky giggle. "Must be time to take a break." He smiled to his comrades as Sakura scoffed over her unnecessary concern. She looked around at the location.

"I'm sure there's a creak down east through this brush, if the map is still accurate." Sakura pointed, heading to lead the way now. "Shouldn't take us too long to get there."

Naruto nodded and followed as Sakura walked off the path and into the forest beside them. Sasuke took a second, and then followed suit.

As they reached the creak, just as Sakura predicted, they set down their traveling gear and backpacks. Naruto groaned as a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He crashed on the rocky ground, pulling his backpack around and digging through it for his food. Sasuke pulled out two rice balls for himself, from his own backpack, and Sakura pulled out a bento she'd made of fish, rice, and a dumpling to finish off. All three of them immediately started digging in.

"Ay, Sakura-chan -" Naruto spoke with his mouth full.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you should swallow your food before you open your mouth, Naruto?" Sakura jabbed him with that comment. And so, forcing the food down, Naruto gulped.

"Sheesh, Sakura-chan."

"What is it?"

"How long till we get there?" Naruto asked.

"We just started off. At least, another full day or so. Granted we don't waste time." Sakura glared at Naruto. And h groaned, taking another bite of his food. Then he got an idea.

"Ay, Sasuke -" Before he could finish, Sakura whacked the back of his head.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Naruto's eyes widened in fear of his female comrade. He chewed his food quickly, and swallowed, rubbing his head.

"Sasuke?" Naruto looked to Sasuke, who was finishing off his first rice ball. It felt like Naruto was waiting for Sasuke to give him the attention he'd need to complete his sentence. And so, Sasuke looked up at him. He hand't looked in his eyes since the morning of the day prior. It made his heart race and he wasn't sure how long he could keep the contact up.

"Yeah." Sasuke said.

"You can teleport right? With your Rinnegan?" Sasuke closed his eyes.

Idiot.

"I can across dimensions."

"Across dimensions..." Naruto repeated, slowly.

"Which means it won't help us get there faster, Naruto. We don't need to go into a different dimension." Naruto didn't look to Sakura, but continued to stare at Sasuke, who had already looked away from the blonde to finish more of his meal. Naruto sighed.