Friends & Family   von dragonfighter
                           (The Clumsy & The Lonely)
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                        Kapitel 18: Step 18 - Drowning
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Everyone is at risk of drowning at some point. With this isn’t necessarily
meant the drowning in water. A lot of people are actually drowning in a sea of
emotions. Mostly these feelings are sadness, loneliness and the painful loss of
a loved one. Just like trauma, depression and anxiety. Often we don’t know how
to save ourselves from it. All we know when it happens, is, that we need to be
saved and kept from drowning.



“Sakura!!” Sasuke screams out, desperate and restless. The last of the
bubbles burst, and the waves adapt once again to those of the sea. Sakura just
fell from the ship, leaving everyone around completely shocked, staring down at
the dark sea. "Sasuke? What are you doing?!“ A scream suddenly sounds from the
side, but the person addressed does not react to their desperate questioning, as
he stands on the railing and holds on to it in order to climb over it. Fugaku,
Itachi, Misuki and Natsuki, just like some of the onlookers, stare spellbound at
the black haired man, who suddenly lets go of the railing and lets himself fall
forward. He takes a deep breath and puts his hands together over his head, puts
himself in the position of a head jump and plunges into the cold and salty
water. Immediately his clothes soak up the water and the weight starts pulling
him down, just like it did with Sakura a few seconds ago too.
 
Reluctantly, he opens his eyes and looks around the water below. His eyes are
burning from the salt water, but he forces himself to keep them open while he
tries to spot his wife in her white pants. Which is not exactly easy. Normally
the sun would have enlightened the sea through the surface of the water, but on
this October day only gray clouds cover the sky, making it nearly impossible for
him to see anything. Slowly he notices how the air in his lungs is starting to
run out, forcing him to fight his way back up to the surface. Just as he lifts
his eyes in order to swim back to the surface, he finds his wife floating
motionless in the water. Reluctantly, he sticks his head over the surface to
take a deep breath. However, he pauses, startled, when something suddenly
splashes on the water next to him. Briefly he looks at the object which he
identifies as a lifebelt and then continues with his plan. He fills his lungs
with the necessary air before he descends back under water again and moves
towards his wife a few meters below him.
 
With strong arm movements he pushes himself through the water, down to his wife.
Only with great effort he finally manages to reach for her hand and takes it,
before he can pull her to himself. His fingers nestle against her cheek, drawing
her face to his. Gently he presses his lips to her mouth and opens it slightly
to allow her to inhale some of the necessary air from his lungs. He can feel how
she slowly comes back to consciousness and cautiously loosens his grip on her.
She looks at him with wide eyes, while her cheeks puff up as she holds her
breath. Putting his arm around her waist, he pulls her close to himself,
watching her arms move around his neck. Without wasting any more time down
there, he fights his way up despite the heavy clothes while still holding her
against his chest. 
His lungs protest from lack of fresh air, but he doesn’t want to give in. He
glances briefly down at his wife, who is kicking her feet, as to help him
getting back to the surface as quickly as possible. But he could tell that even
though she is trying, she’s still quite weak due to the unconsciousness and
next to that she’s slowly running out of air again as well. Purposefully, the
Uchiha looks back again as he can already see the surface through which they
finally emerge.
 
He breathes heavily as air fills his lungs again. Gently he keeps holding her
close to his chest, while she desperately coughs out the swallowed water from
her lungs. Relief washes over him when he hears her cough and gasp for air. "Are
you okay?" It comes worried over his lips, when her coughs finally stop. She
nods weakly in response, cuddling closer to him. "Thank you." She whispers
tiredly against his neck. A smile pulls on his lips as he holds her close.
Sakura lets her chin rest on his shoulder, keeping her face above water. He in
the other hand gently leans his head against hers and watches the water around
him as the lifebelt drifts into his field of vision. "Here, hold on this." He
instructs the pink haired woman, who lifts her head from his shoulder and looks
tentatively around at the floating ring. "Okay." She then utters weakly and lets
him put the lifebelt over her head, before she stretches out her arms and
presses the with air filled ring to her chest, literally clutching onto it. The
Haruno leans her chin on the ring and closes her eyes with a tired sigh. "Stay
awake Sakura, don't fall asleep." The voice of her husband immediately sounds
next to her, who is also holding onto the lifebelt. "We have to get out of the
water." He then continues more to himself and looks around searchingly. The ship
is already a few meters away, making it unable for them to catch up to it. In
addition to the speed of the ship there is also the current. They don't have the
slightest chance of getting to the ship. He just hopes that the Coast Guard has
already been notified about the ‘accident’ and is already looking for them.
With a soft hiss, Sasuke rubs over his burning eyes, which cannot tolerate salt
water.
 
"My shoe." It suddenly comes over his wife’s lips. Confused, Sasuke turns to
her and realizes what she means. Her shoes must have been torn off her feet when
she hit the water and one of them is now floating on the water in front of them.
As he continues to kick his feet so he won’t get pulled down by the weight of
his wet clothes and the current under the water, something else in his field of
vision catches his attention.
 
“Look. Over there is an island.” He reports his discovery to her, directing
her attention from her shoe towards said island. “We need to make sure that we
get there.” His gaze is directed towards her as he says those words. Both the
kajal and mascara have mixed with the water and left their marks on her cheeks,
which barely stand out pale from her blazer. He can see how weakened she is,
from the lack of air and the unconsciousness. He doesn't even want to know what
would have happened if he wasn’t around, or jumped into the water just a
minute later. Fortunately, he jumped right after her. "I certainly won't be able
to make it that far." The Haruno says quietly, pulling him out of his dark
thoughts. He smiles encouragingly at her. "We will. Together we will do it." The
pink haired woman nods at his encouraging words and finally starts to move her
legs, just like Sasuke has been doing all the time, only that he now has set
himself a certain direction.
 
The young Haruno bravely fights herself towards their destination, but Sasuke's
legs also become limp over time. But the closer they get, the clearer it becomes
to them why the island looked so small on the horizon. Now that they have
finally closed up to it, they can clearly see no more than a tiny island with
only a handful of trees growing on it. It probably doesn't even have a name.
"Just a little bit more and we did it." The Uchiha says reassuring, not only to
motivate his wife, but himself as well. After all, they can recognize the trees
as such and also a few bushes, meaning, they can only be talking about a few
meters here. The pink haired woman nods weakly at his words. Sasuke smiles
slightly, even if it is inappropriate in this situation. He can see her fighting
and desperately needs a break, just like him.
 
A few meters later he can already see the sand, which stretches over the beach
and a few meters into the sea, making the water look lighter there. His legs
want to strike completely, just want to give up at the sight that they finally
made it this far, but he grits his teeth and fights his way over the last few
meters until he can feel the sand underneath his shoes. A deep and exhausted
breath leaves his darkened lips as relief washes over him and walks on, his
upper body rising more and more out of the water the further he steps forward.
Sakura in the other hand just lets herself being pushed by the waves towards the
beach, on which she lies completely worn out and closes her eyes for a moment.
The only thing that still holds her upper body on the surface is the lifebelt,
on which she rests her cheek with a relieved sigh. "We did it." He exclaims with
an encouraging smile and carefully pulls the lifebelt over her head before he
lifts her on his arms and carries her out of the water to the small island.
Gentle he then lets her down on the sand and takes off his suit jacket in order
to wring it out as good as he can, before he puts it over her shivering
shoulders. "What are you doing? You will freeze like that.“ It comes weakly
over her blue lips with resistance, but he just manages to smile towards her.
“It is important that we get you to warm up now. You have to regain your
strength. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." The Uchiha simply replies and
sits down next to her on the ground. He places his right leg behind her back
while he sneaks the other under her legs. He gently presses her against his
chest and leans his cheek on her soaked hair. Making a fire wouldn't be bad, but
even if he had a lighter with him, they wouldn’t be able to light anything.
Nothing on this little island is dry enough, but a fire could be their rescue.
It will only be a matter of a few hours, if at all, until it gets dark and night
falls and with the night the cold. A fire would not only give them warmth and
light but also draw their attention to those who set out to find and save them.
Searching, he looks around the small beach when he feels Sakura cuddle closer to
his chest. Gently he places his cheek back on her forehead with a soft sigh. He
has already noticed the trembling of her body before, but he has the feeling as
if it just got a little stronger. Carefully he hugs her even closer and starts
rubbing her back.
 
"Why did you jump after me?" He can hear her whisper next to his ear only after
a few minutes of silence. He looks down at her legs in surprise, never expecting
her to ask him. "You are my wife." He replies silently, but without any
hesitation. "’see...” It comes from her again and well, it makes sense to
her. "Also, you’re a friend that has become very important to me." He
confesses to her and pushes her slightly away from him so that he can look into
her emerald eyes. A faint smile pulls on her lips. Gently he runs his thumb over
her cheeks and wipes away the old make up. "So that you look pretty when we are
rescued.” He whispers to lighten the mood and gives her an encouraging smile.
“Do you really think that we'll be found?” The pink haired woman asks
instead, not really seeming positive about her own question. "Of course. Father,
Itachi, Misuki, Naruto and mrs. Hondo will have already notified the coast
guard. They will definitely find us soon." Sasuke answers with confidence in
order to reassure her. His gaze then moves over his wife's face. She looks so
weak. He gently presses his lips on her forehead. Sakura smiles lovingly and
leans forward. When his lips separate from her again, she leans her head back
against his chest and pulls his suit jacket even tighter around her, only to
cuddle herself as close to her husband as possible and closing her tired eyes.
 
A light wind comes up and runs through his black hair. Goosebumps spread over
his damp skin while the wind presses his shirt coldly against his skin. “How
did you fall down in the first place?” He asks a quiet question, his eyes
fixed on the gray sea in front of him, so that he can immediately notice when a
ship is approaching. “Kaseguchi pushed me. Or do you think I am actually so
clumsy that I fell from the ship by myself?“ The Uchiha can feel his wife
smiling at her own question. "Natsuki was desperate to film me and that's why I
stood on this pedestal. Then Karin had to come, completely drunken and telling
me to finally get out of her way and so she pushed me overboard. She’s
completely obsessed over you." She gently cuddles her head against his chest
after her explanation. A snort comes over his lips. "This woman is getting
really annoying." The black haired man growls, which makes his chest vibrate
slightly. "Do you know that every time I go to your office, she intercepts me
and accuses me of something nonsensical, like, not working? She also acts like
she’s a flawless queen and tries to boss me around, while she’s walking
around with her magazines and keeps bothering me with her oh so important
fashion and how she’s more fit to be your wife. She keeps stealing my valuable
working time all the time.” She reports to him with a sigh. Another snort
escapes him. “How ridiculous. She's just the person who hands in the drawings
so that not everyone has to come into my office individually and disturb me
every ten minutes. She doesn't even get paid for it anymore. I’ve noticed her
unfitting behaviour already and this is really getting ridiculous. But if you
want, I will correct that woman.“ It comes reassuring from the Uchiha. Sakura
in the other hand just shakes her head slightly. “No, no, Kakashi will take
care of that anyway. You don't need to deal with her. You would just loose your
precious time on her. She won’t even listen to what you’re actually telling
her anyway, because she would be too busy looking into your mouth and drool like
an idiot." Tired, she puts her cheek on his chest and listens to his steady
heartbeat. "Okay." Sasuke whispers and gently buries her nose in her hair and
listens to her even breathing before he lifts his head and looks out at the sea.
Still no ship in sight.
 
They sit cuddled together in silence. The minutes pass while the sky is slowly
darkening. If he didn't know that the night is slowly falling, Sasuke would
believe that it will soon start to rain. He gently rubs his eyes, which are
still slightly irritated by the sea water and burn from the salt. Sighing
silently, he turns his attention back to his wife, with which he had been
searching the sea for the past hour. But he couldn't find help anywhere. "Did
you fall asleep?" He asks his wife silently, who hasn’t moved even once ever
since he kept his eyes on the sea for help. "No, you said that I should stay
awake." She replies tiredly, almost as if she is fighting against sleepiness. He
smiles slightly and lays his cheek against her head. "Then why are you so
silent?" He continues to explore, running his hand up and down her back. "I'm
thinking." She explains to him and moves her head a little further up. "About
what?" He buries his nose in her now damp hair, curious about what she could be
thinking in such a situation. "About you." Sasuke hears her whisper softly.
Surprised his eyes widen at her silent words. "About me?" He repeats
questioningly. "Yes. You must have been pretty lonely before we got married." It
comes thoughtful from the pink haired woman. Amazed, he listens to her words. He
didn't think she would ever think about it. “How did you come up with that?”
He asks another question, hearing her sigh and cuddle more against his chest.
“You have no friends apart from Neji, Naruto and Tenten. I mean, you have your
family, but you never really see any of them often. You rarely see your friends
either. You just work all the time and back then just drove back to your empty
apartment. That’s why I think, you must have been pretty lonely at the time."
She explains her thoughts. Sasuke swallows quietly at her thoughtful words and
turns his face towards the ground, examining her legs wrapped in her white
skinny jeans.

"I..." he starts to deny her assumption, but stops himself when he hears the
sound of a helicopter. His head rises towards the sky and searches for it. He
smiles slightly when he makes out one that is closing up to them. "We are saved,
Sakura." He says gently and smiles with relief. In the next moment a light
shines down on them. Blinking he looks up and watches as someone is lowered onto
the small island with a rope. “Are you injured?” The Coast Guard comes up to
them and kneels slightly towards them. "No, we're okay so far." Sasuke shakes
his head. "Can you get up Sakura?" He turns to the young woman in his arms, who
looks up slightly and lifts her head. "I think so." She responds with a
tentative nod. "I'll help you!" The man from the coast guard exclaims and
immediately holds out his hand to her. "Thank you." She utters silently and puts
her hand in his. He carefully pulls her up to her feet, while she can feel
Sasuke's hand on her back. For a moment she has to get back her balance, but in
the next second she can already feel her husband behind her holding her tight.
 
A low whirring sound can be heard as the rope winch drops the lifeline to the
ground. Sasuke attentively observes what is happening and then lets the lifeline
put on and secured. Sakura, who has now completely put on his suit jacket, gets
secured properly as well. She lets it go quietly and then lifts her eyes up to
the helicopter. Immediately she starts shaking and panic can be seen in her
eyes. Suddenly making a step back with fear. “No, Sasuke. I... can’t we wait
for a lifeboat or something?” It  comes haltingly over her lips. “Please.
Leave me down here. I can’t do this. I will definitely fall down. Please,
Sasuke.” Her heart beats loudly against her chest, while sweat of fear wets
her skin and a tremor goes through her muscles. Tears well up in her eyes.
Confused, the man from the coast guard watches the scene. As long as she defends
herself, the coast guard won’t be able to safely pull her up. The Uchiha
smiles softly and puts a hand on her cheek when he remembers a small detail that
she told him a few weeks ago. She is afraid of heights. "Everything will be
fine." He says encouragingly and puts his arm around her, pulls her very close
and presses her firmly to his stomach with gentle force. Panicked and uncertain,
she looks up into his dark grey eyes and concentrates only on him. He slowly
leans forward and kisses her gently. Suddenly it seems like all the fear is
falling off from her. Sakura tentatively puts her arms behind her husband's neck
and returns the kiss. She doesn't really realize how her legs are detaching from
the ground and both of them get pulled up. Slowly they release the kiss and only
now that they broke the kiss, she realizes that she can no longer feel any sand
or water under her feet, immediately her arms cramp around his neck and her body
begins to tremble once more. "Look at me, Sakura." She hears her husband say,
before she could try to look to the side in panic to make sure that she is
really hanging on a simple wire rope in the open air.
 
She fixes her eyes on his, completely panicked and sending him silent pleads.
“I’m holding you Sakura. Everything will be fine.“ He says reassuring
against her lips. She looks spellbound into his eyes, doesn't even dare to look
past his head. Her fingers dig into the fabric of his shirt, her knuckles
standing out white and show how cramped she is holding onto him. The Uchiha in
the other hand gently leans his forehead against hers and as soon as he does so,
she can feel her eyes close. She hears her heart pounding loudly in her ears,
accompanied by the soft whirring of the winch. She is sure that even Sasuke
could hear her heartbeat. Over time, the whirring grows louder and the black
haired man's forehead moves away from hers. She also opens her eyes and sees the
helicopter in front of her. The winch stops and the rope is pulled inside the
helicopter. In the next moment she already feels cold ground under her bare
feet. Her gaze wanders back and forth in panic, drives over the men from the
coast guard and towards the inside of the helicopter. She doesn't even feel how
she is being freed from the rope.
 
Trembling with fear, she looks out the window and sees the wide sea below. A
blanket is gently placed around her shoulders. Surprised, she looks up and at
her savior. The fear and panic are slowly disappearing and making way for the
weakness and tiredness from before. Her gaze moves to Sasuke, who is sitting on
a bench wrapped in a blanket, examining her with worry. He smiles softly at her
as one of the coast guards helps her over to him. Worn out from the events of
the last few hours, she lets herself being pulled onto her husbands lap. She
just leans against him tiredly, closing her eyes with a deep sigh. Exhaustion
also shows itself on the Uchiha as he wraps his arms around her and hides his
nose in her damp hair.
 
With her eyes closed, the pink haired woman sits on her husband's lap and
listens to his heartbeat, which relaxes her more and more with each beat. After
a few minutes Sasuke moves again and leans his cheek on her head, drawing his
attention to the window on his left, through which he can see the deep sea in
which they were drifting a few hours ago. But not much later he can see the
first buildings slowly come into view as they fly into Tokyo Bay. They pass
Yokohama and head for the port from which the ship also left around five hours
ago. "We'll be home soon." Sasuke whispers to his wife, who only nods slightly
to confirm that she heard it. "In a moment you will have solid ground under your
feet again." The pilot says, giving them a friendly smile.
 
The rotor blades are slowly turning one last lap as the coast guards open the
helicopter door and let the rescued passengers get out. They lead the rescued
couple off the landing platform and into the interior of the coast guard
building. "We owe you a lot of thanks." The pink haired woman smiles weakly and
looks at the three men in the coast guard uniforms. "No problem. That's our job
after all.” The man who saved her from the island smiles too. "You should warm
up now and if you experience any pain, you should make sure to go to the
hospital.” Another of them explains and instructs them. "We wish you the best
of luck in the future.” The pilot says out when they arrive at the exit.
"Thank you. Here, these are yours." Sasuke replies this time and holds out his
blanket, as Sakura immediately does the same. "Goodbye." She then exclaims with
a smile and when the three of the coast guards have said their goodbyes, the
couple leaves the station through the automatic sliding glass door.

 
"Come. Let's go home." It comes from the black haired man, as he already lifts
her up into his arms. Startled, she holds on to his neck. "What are you doing?
Sasuke, I can walk on my own.” She protests softly, but he won’t budge at
all to let her down. "Nonsense. You are weakened and besides your shoes are lost
in the sea. You don’t really think that I will let you walk on the floor
littered with glass splinters and small stones." He fends off her protest and
continues along his path, down from the actual port area and along the street to
the parking lots.
 
Darkness has fallen over Tokyo. Instead of the rays of the sun, the streets are
now illuminated by lanterns and show a safe way home. The parking lot of the
harbor is still overcrowded with cars, as are the streets. Only the darkness is
evidence of the falling night, as well as the temperatures, which are slowly
approaching those of a mild October night. "Our clothes will completely soak the
seats now." The Haruno suddenly remarks and makes small circles with her thumb
on his neck. "We can’t change that." Sasuke replies with a soft shrug and
comes to a stop in front of his car. "Just put me down in front of the door,
I'll survive that." She whispers to him and he quietly follows her instructions,
gently setting her down on the street in front of the passenger door.
 
The door opens and the light inside the vehicle goes on. Sasuke watches her in
silence as she gets into the car. Only when her head has disappeared in the car,
he dares to open his door and gets in as well. As she sits inside her husband's
car and leans back in the seat, she feels once more how wet her clothes actually
still are and she has to suppress a gentle shiver. The black haired man starts
the engine and even before buckling up he turns on the seat and feet heaters,
just like the rest. Immediately the sound of the heaters sound through the car.
Searching, the pink haired woman presses the buttons on the radio to look for a
good song, while Sasuke buckles her seatbelt and then drives out onto the road.
 
Smiling, Sakura leans back in her seat and snuggles into it when she feels the
fabric slowly getting warmer and warmer. Her head leans sideways to her husband
and she closes her eyes. The Uchiha briefly throws a look at her, who leans
relaxed in the seat and even gives the impression that she has fallen asleep. A
barely recognizable smile settles on his lips before he concentrates on the
streets again and fights his way through the traffic from the port to Setagaya.
The journey goes smoothly as the channel that Sakura chose out, plays soft songs
from the radio. The warm air from the heater lets the clothes dry a little
faster, but not completely. Due to the dense evening traffic, their journey back
home is slow and steady, but finally after almost an hour, instead of the actual
half hour, Sasuke drives off the road to the right and onto their property.
Surprised, he applies the brakes when he sees cars on the driveway. Four of them
are parked there in a row and light shines through the windows of the house.
 
Sighing softly, the black haired man parks his car when he realizes that it’s
just the cars of her friends. He gently runs his finger over her skin and pushes
a strand of hair behind her ear. Sakura hums tiredly at his soft caresses and
blinks at him briefly. A smile pulls on his lips before he gets out and
encircles his car. He opens the passengers door and leans in to his wife. "We
are home. Lets have a cup of tea and a warm shower.” He whispers to the green
eyed woman, unbuckles her and lifts her up on his arms. With a move of his foot,
he shuts the car door and approaches the front door of their shared home. "That
sounds nice." The Haruno whispers with a smile and looks at her husband's blue
shirt. The light falling through the windows then catches her attention. She
looks up skeptically and at Sasuke, who accepts it with a serenity, which
confuses her only more. As if he didn't notice his wife's gaze, the dark grey
eyed man walks towards the front door and then turns around to push it open with
his back and shoulder.
 
He quietly enters the foyer and slowly lets go of his wife's legs, so that she
can stand on the floor again. He only managed to get out of his sappy shoes,
before the silence gets killed. "Oh my god Sakura!" A scream sounds from the
living room, which startles the both of them. Surprised, the pink haired girl
looks up from the laminate on the floor and in the direction of the living room,
from where a mop of blond hair rushes towards her and throws herself around her
neck. "Ino." The green eyed woman utters softly, while slightly kneeling down
because she didn’t expect it at all. She feels the gentle touch of Sasuke's
hand on her back so that she can balance her friend's weight out and can
straighten up again. "What are you all doing here?" The Haruno asks in
astonishment, maybe a little overwhelmed, while her best friend slowly lets go
of her again. Immediately, Sakura lets herself get hugged by her big brother,
closing her eyes with a smile. "Naruto informed us that you went overboard."
Honoka reports still a little worried.
 
"And how did you get into the house?" The Uchiha explores skeptically and
watches how Sakura is hugged by everyone. Everyone seems very concerned about
the news. "Of course your father and I have an emergency key." Ryosuke smiles at
him and pulls him into a hug too. Perplexed, Sasuke endures this, but he can
feel how grateful the brown haired man is for saving Sakura’s life. Gentle,
Sasuke pats his brother in law and old friend a few times on the back before he
lets go of him. “Change your clothes. We can talk afterwards.” Neji
immediately instructs the couple and pushes them towards the stairs.
 
The couple just accepts it in silence and go up to the bedroom. Sakura quickly
finds herself fresh underwear and sweatpants and then disappears into the
bathroom, from which she throws her husband a towel before locking the door.
Little by little she peels off her wet clothes, pulls the money out of one
pocket and her smartphone out of the other, and then dries her skin with the
towel. Sighing, she slips into her underwear and sweatpants and ties her hair
into a bun. She carefully peeps out the bathroom door to see if Sasuke has
finished changing.
Just as his wife dries herself in the bathroom and puts on dry clothes, Sasuke
does the same and is already slipping into his shirt when she opens the door and
reenters the room. Silently she stands next to him and picks out a shirt. A
small grin settles on his lips as he pulls a sweater out of his clothes and
pulls it over her head right after she slipped through the shirt. She looks at
him in surprise. Smiling, he just leans over her to kiss her lips. "I'm glad
nothing happened to you." He whispers honestly and leans his forehead against
hers. "Thanks to you." She replies just as quietly and smiles lovingly, already
feeling his lips on hers one more time.
 
Dressed warmly, they return to their friends in the living room. Immediately
they look up and examine them both. Sighing silently, Sasuke sits down on one of
the two couches and Sakura sits down next to him. His arm goes around her back
and pulls her closer to him. "So Sakura, why did you go overboard?" Ino already
bursts out with the first question that is nagging on all of their curiosity. "I
didn't go overboard, I fell. They don’t have any stairs that lead down, you
know?" The pink haired woman corrects the statement with a slight smile. Sasuke
just grins with relief at the fact that she is already able to make little jokes
and give cheeky answers. He can also see the relieved smile on Ryosuke's face
too. "And why did you fall into the water?" Tenten explores, after a few
seconds, as it must have taken her a bit to realize that Sakura is really making
a joke out of it. "I thought it would be fun to convince myself that the water
was really cold at the time." The pink haired woman explains sarcastically and
sips the cup of tea, which Honoka has given her. Said woman then also extends a
cup of tea to the Uchiha, which he accepts with a little thanks. “Really?”
The Inuzuka asks, amused.
 
The Haruno sighs softly at his question. "No, I was pushed and since I was
standing stupid, I tripped over and fell into the ocean." She then explains
truthfully and puts her teacup on the table in front of her. The small grin on
Kiba's face immediately disappears. The friends look at her in shock. "You look
pretty exhausted too." Honoka notes quietly. "Yes, I was unconscious from the
impact in the water for... how long?" The green eyed woman turns with a
questioning look to her husband, who saved her from the water. "Just for a
moment." He smiles gently at her. Tired, Sakura lays her head on the black
haired man's chest and looks at her friends and brother.
 
“That was definitely exhausting and a long day today. We should leave you
alone now." The Hyuga says and thus draws everyone's attention to himself.
“Yes, you should rest. If there is something, we can discuss it tomorrow.”
Ryusuke agrees with the long haired man. The other friends also agree and then
slowly get up. The group goes to the front door in silence, where everyone slips
into their shoes and maybe even into their jackets. The couple watches them
silently before they both say goodbye. “I made soup for you.“ The blue
haired woman says and smiles as she steps out. "Thank you Hinata." Sakura
replies with a smile. Sasuke smiles too and watches them start the cars' engines
one after the other. As if they were a unit and trained on it, they drive one
after the other down the driveway and turn onto the street, leaving the
couple’s field of vision.
 
“It's pretty fresh out here. Let's eat the soup." Sakura suggests with a small
sigh and puts her hand into his in order to pull him with her towards the
kitchen. "Okay." The Uchiha smiles softly and follows her inside, after he
closed the door. Sakura is quietly putting the plates on the table and adding
spoons and glasses. The Uchiha silently takes the soup pot and brings it to the
table where he sits down opposite his wife and puts the pot down. For a moment,
the green eyed woman stirs the clear broth with the soup ladle and then fills
the plates with the steaming liquid with the star shaped noodles.

The Haruno looks tiredly at her plate and stirs it before she dares to take a
sip from her spoon, in the hope that she doesn’t burn her tongue. Sasuke
watches his wife for a moment before he also turns to his soup. "My smartphone
is broken." She then breaks the silence between them after a few minutes and
lets her spoon sink into the half empty plate. “We'll get you a new one on
Monday. Tomorrow you won't need it anyway, and if you do, you can use my
phone.” He says reassuring and puts his spoon in the empty plate. "Okay." The
pink-haired woman turns her gaze to her plate and empties it a short time later.

 
“I’ll go park my car in the garage and dry the seats as good as possible. If
you're already that tired, you can go to bed." He smiles at her and gets up
after her brief nod. He quickly puts his plate in the sink, fetches two towels
from the bathroom on the ground floor and leaves the house with the car key in
his hand. At this point he is glad that his key is even still working. Sighing,
he unlocks the car and starts the engine to turn on the seat heaters. Then he
starts to dab the seats with the towels and suck the water out of the seats as
best as he can. A slight crunch turns his attention around and behind him. The
lights of a car that stops in the driveway illuminates him and his car. The
engine turns off and shortly afterwards the slam of a car door can be heard. A
person steps up to him in the cone of light. "Hey Naruto." The Uchiha greets the
blonde when he recognizes him. "Hey. I was worried, are you okay?“ The blue
eyed man begins immediately and looks at him a little worried. "Yes, yes,
everything is fine." Sasuke nods and closes the car door behind him to lean
against it while he still holds one of the towels in his hand.
 
“We were with the coast guards at the port, but they told us that they had
already rescued you and that you already drove home. How is Sakura?“ Naruto
reports before he asks about his female friends condition. “She is quite tired
because she passed briefly from the impact on the sea. She is probably going to
sleep but otherwise she is okay. Tomorrow she will be on her feet again." The
dark grey eyed man explains and dries his hands in the towel. "That’s good to
know. Here." Naruto pulls the Uchiha's smartphone out of his suit pocket.
“Your father, Itachi and Misuki will come by tomorrow to check on you,
probably me too. Then I don't want to bother you any further. Good night,
Sasuke.” After the blonde has finished, he turns around and scratches the back
of his head briefly, embarrassed, before going back into the darkness of the
night and getting into the car. Sasuke silently watches as the Uzumaki lets his
car roll back and rolls back and onto the street. The Uchiha sighs softly and
looks at his cell phone, which he puts in his trouser pocket and then turns back
to his car, into which he gets in and then parks it backwards into the garage.

He too, is slowly getting tired of this eventful day. Playing with the car key,
he enters the house again and puts it on the chest of drawers, when he suddenly
hears his wife slowly coming down the stairs and looks up. Confused, he looks at
her in her green bikini, in her hand she is holding a bath towel. “What are
you planing?” He asks, puzzled. Why would she wear a bikini after freezing
half to death? Alarmed his thoughts drift to the pool outside. She smiles
slightly as she lifts her head and sees his panicked gaze. “I want to go down
to the jacuzzi. It's easier and more pleasant than taking a shower. Will you
come with me? ”She says and stops in front of the stairs to the basement.
Relieved, Sasuke seems to weigh whether yes or no, before deciding and smiling
slightly. "I'll come right after you. Let me just go to quickly change." She
responds with a nod and then goes down the stairs to the basement, through the
entrance hall which got renovated as the party room, towards the indoor pool,
whirlpool and Sauna.
 
Humming softly, she switches on the jacuzzi and lets the water run in, which
heats up and bubbles slightly. She puts the bath towel on the floor next to the
whirlpool and as she is stepping into the hot water, Sasuke already enters the
room. The warmth takes over both their bodies. She leans back with relish and
lays her head on the ground behind her. She can literally feel how her tension
is released. The Uchiha also leans back and enjoys the warm water and the
pressure from behind, which works on his back like a massage. They quietly enjoy
the water for a while. Nobody makes a sound.
"Wake me up if I should fall asleep." It comes from the pink haired woman, who
sighs with relish and closes her eyes. Sasuke laughs softly and searches with
his foot for hers in order to move over it and  kick it lightly to annoy her.
“No sleeping. If you are so tired, you should better go to bed straight away."
He replies. "Only 5 more minutes." His wife mumbles back, as if she had to get
up from bed.
 
The Uchiha laughs once again, but in reality he’s just masking the fear he is
still feeling. "No. Come on Sakura, now we're nice and warm again. We should go
to sleep.” He remarks and gets up to get out of the warm water and dry off
before turning off the whirlpool. "Okay." She whispers back quite unwillingly
with a yawn and reluctantly opens her eyes. Sasuke gives her a caring hand to
help her out of the water and, if necessary, keep her from falling. Tired, the
pink haired woman dries herself off and goes two floors up with her husband and
into their bedroom. While Sakura goes into the bathroom with her things, Sasuke
slips out of the wet shorts in the bedroom and instead slips into dry boxer
shorts as well as training pants and a shirt. Yawning tiredly, he closes the
curtains and notices his wife coming back out of the bathroom and immediately
lays down on her side of the bed and cuddles herself into her sheets. Sasuke
just goes into the bathroom in silence to hang up his wet shorts and then
returns to the room. Quitely, he approaches the bed and lies down next to her.
The regular breathing of his wife makes him look around, making him smile with
relief when he sees her already asleep and then turns off the light. Sasuke
carefully pulls her towards him and hugs her tight against his chest. His
fingers gently run over the back of her head as he hides his nose in her hair.

The Uchiha is slightly desperate when he thinks back at the scene that happened
only a few hours ago, the moment she fell into the sea because of a crazy woman.
She could have drowned back there and if not, her phone could have exploded as
well. Either way, she could have died and he could have lost her. His arms
around her become more desperate, as fear is spreading through his whole body
like wildfire. "Just what would I have done if I had lost you too now?"

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