Step 34 - Push
Sometimes we get stuck in a situation, it may be because we are simply too stubborn to admit something, or have been following a path for a long time and just don't dare to turn off and walk a new one. Often we don't even see what the problem is and just need a little push into the right direction. Or we are the ones who see that someone is stuck on their way and so we decide to be the ones to give them this helping push into the right direction. The bizarre about this thing is that sometimes we really only need a little push in order to be able to solve or face our problems.
Thick flakes are falling from the sky which are covering Tokyo with a thick layer of snow. The winter of this year came early and quite strong and seems to be one of the snowiest that has ever happened. The young Haruno is leaning herself against the kitchen counter, while looking out at the falling snow and puts her steaming cup down. She has to smile at the feeling of two strong arms being wrapped around her stomach and a manly chest pressing against her back. “Do you think that things will turn out well today?” Sasuke’s head is resting on her shoulder for a while now, as he slowly begins to nibble on her chin. "I hope so. Otherwise they don't even need to come to the fundraising gala or on vacation with us. I definitely won’t let them come like that and destroy everything with their ridiculous fights." The pinkette lets out a soft sigh and leans herself further back into her husband's arms. She has already thought of numerous ways to make those two make up again. "Maybe I'll lock them into our sauna, or take their car keys and jackets from them and lock them out.” She is seriously considering these two options, which makes the Uchiha raise one of his perfect eyebrows. “Did I bring you the wrong chocolate figure on December 6th? I think the devil form would have been better than the Santa one." Sasuke has to laugh lightly into her ear, before too looking out into the winter landscape of their garden.
“Those two won’t ruin my Christmas. I won’t let them. Not after all these years, when I'm finally looking a little forward to it again.” Even though Sakura is just whispering, he does actually hear and understand every single word she says, which catches his attention. “What do you mean?” He hasn’t expected her to say such a thing. Not after she has been the one who decorated the whole house like that. Even the guest rooms are decorated with Christmas decorations and even now Christmas music is playing through the whole house, which makes it seem to him as if it had been his mother who decorated the house. The whole time his wife has looked so pleased and happy, as if she loved Christmas, so why is she saying now that she hasn't been looking forward to it for years? He can hear a slight sigh leave her lips, her temple coming to a rest against his chin. "Well, last year my brother had the brilliant idea to get me engaged to an idiot, right before Christmas." Sakura begins to tell, which makes him growl and tickle her side as a punishment.
"No, to be honest," Her voice stays silent and her eyes narrow in slight pain, which animates him to stop in his tickling again. "For me there has been no reason to celebrate Christmas. I was living all on my own, had no reason to prepare anything for Christmas except the presents and still I kept baking cookies and decorating my apartment from top to bottom. I just wanted to have again what I loved so much about Christmas in my childhood. Actually, it’s not really the Christmas that i was always looking forward to. It’s just the things that i had been able to do when they were still with us. Everything that I’ve lost and couldn’t experience again because of it. The snowball fights with Ryosuke, tobogganing with my father, baking cookies with my mother, shopping with my parents. I always tried my best to decorate the place and felt transported back to the time when everything was still okay and then, when everything was done...” His wife pauses for a moment to swallow, before a lump could be forming in her throat. “When i was done decorating, I realized again what I had lost. That I'm alone and it always gave me the feeling to just tear the whole decoration down again. Christmas was reduced to the one day for me where I first exchange gifts with my friends and then go to Ryosuke and his girlfriend for dinner, just to let them show me again that I am all alone and unhappy, while he is not. I loved Christmas, or rather spending time with my loved ones and have fun, but since the death of my parents it turned into torture." She falls silent, staring out of the windows some more, before turning to her husband.
She looks at him with a sad glint in her eyes and he could feel it too. As if her pain is flooding inside him. “But that’s not the case any longer. I'm not alone anymore, because I have you." She smiles gently at him and he too smiles and hugs her tight to himself. “It’s so incredible how you achieved such a thing in such a short time. Despite having friends and my brother, i felt so lonely, but now I don't feel alone at all. I feel comfortable and secure with you." Sasuke smiles with his eyes closed, as she whispers those words into in his ear. It makes him feel all strange again, his nose dipping into her hair so that he can take a deep breath of her addicting scent. "That feeling of yours, it’s based on mutuality." His lips press on her forehead, while he feels his wife turning around in his arms and looks back into the garden of her villa. She is glad that he feels the same as her and cuddles up to him with relish, his lips finding their way back to her chin, which he starts nibbling on again. She giggles at this, feeling how he kisses her chin, up to her cheek and near her ear. "Are these withdrawal symptoms, because you couldn’t kiss and give me hickeys for more than a month now, or is this the aftermath of yesterday?” She sounds rather amused, but he doesn’t let himself bother by it and keeps giving her kisses down her neck. He even pulls her sweater a bit down, so that he has more access to kiss her shoulder.
When he kidnapped her the previous night and kissed her in that dark room, it had been quite late already. A few hours after that, the Haruno was overcome with so much tiredness that Sasuke decided to dive her home. He himself had been quite tired as well, actually, but he had insisted on kissing her a little more, before they went to sleep and ever since they woke up today, he has been using every possible minute to somehow kiss her. You'd think that's been some time, but actually it isn't. They only woke up close before noon, then the boys signed in for fitness training for the afternoon and Sakura invited the girls over to watch some Christmas movies together in the evening.
Sakura is really enjoying the fact that she’s being caressed by him like that with countless kisses and leans slightly to the left, in order to create more space for him on her neck. "Or did the slap which I gave that bimbo the previous night, just awaken your desire?" She then explores further with a slight thoughtful hum, which makes him smile in amusement. This woman sure got some imaginations there. Her hand moves to the back of his head, where she starts fondling and playing with the short hair on his neck. The gesture elicits a hum of satisfaction, deep from his throat, his eyes closing while he keeps enjoying her caresses. "Will you be able to bear without it now when the boys come for training, or do I have to sit down with you?" She then asks with a soft hum of hers, which makes him stop in his doings for a moment. "You just want to see me covered in sweat." A slight chuckle escapes him, his lips forming into a wide smirk, before turning back to kissing her all over her skin again. The young Haruno sighs playfully and starts to fan herself with her free hand. “Oh yes. That would be super hot!” But her giggle turns into an surprised squeak, when she feels his teeth bitting lightly into the soft skin on her neck, before giving the same spot feather light kisses. Surprised by his bite attack, Sakura looks around at him in disbelief. The corners of his lips jerking up in slight amusement, as he is already turning her completely around. His hands find their place on her bum, so that he can pull her closer to make her straddle him. His breath goes erratic, while he keeps pressing her as close as possible against him and breathes against her lips. He can’t deny that he’s become addicted to her warmth and scent, that he wants her as close as often as possible. And with each day this feeling gets stronger and stronger. A slight giggle escapes her pink lips, while his lips hungrily press against hers, animating her to put her arms around his neck.
They are so deep into their make out session, that only the sudden ringing of the doorbell makes them both startle out of their deep kiss. Their eyes are still locked with each other’s, as they heavily breath for air, their lips still parted and dangerously close. A soft growl of dissatisfaction escapes his throat, when the bell rings a second time and forces him to let go of her. "Just when things are getting so good." Another sigh escapes his lips at the sight of his wife. He had finally gotten her this far again, only for his friends to ruin the mood completely. So before they would end up ringing the bell a third time and therefore make him send them all back out of annoyance, he quickly lets go of his wife to open the door. She can’t stop herself from giggling at his pouty behaviour and follows him into the foyer to greet her friends as well. "Hey guys." The Uchiha greets his friends with a slight grumble, who have appeared to have come as a group. A quick look at the outside shows the married couple, that the men all came with Neji’s car, which then greet the couple back happily as they enter the warm house. The Uchiha quickly closes the door behind the last of the three and then goes back to stand next to his wife. The newcomers slip out of their shoes and jackets, their faces brimming with motivation for training. "You know where to go." Sasuke turns around at his wife, when the Hyuga, Naruto and Kiba are already going down the stairs and into the basement in order to change into their sports clothes. "See you later." He gives her one last peck on her lips, before going down the stairs to the basement as well. Sakura in the other hand returns to the kitchen with a slight blush on her cheeks. Her female friends won’t come until one and a half hours after the men, so she had still time for other things until they would arrive as well.
Sakura sits down on one of the bar stools and looks back out of the window. When it's this cold outside, she automatically starts dressing herself warmer at home too, although it wouldn't be necessary because of the heaters. But it's just her natural instinct that animates her to dress warmer on such days. Sasuke does the same anyway. A soft sigh escapes her slight puffy lips, which she touches with the tip of her fingers. She can’t deny that the kiss kind of overwhelmed her as well. She expected the men to notice it and tease her and Sasuke for it, but it seems that they were just too happy to work out in the basement, as to notice anything around themselves. Well, in the end she doesn’t mind. They don’t need to notice everything in the first place. She just hopes everything will go well today with all her friends present. All she had planned for today was to sit down with her friends in her home cinema and watch some of the most popular Christmas movies. Maybe they could drink a warm cocoa to it and just relax. After all, all her friends aren’t only invited to her fundraising gala on the next day, but also to the Christmas gala on the following day and to vacation. All of her friends will be present at both events. She knows that Ino would behave and won’t start things, but she's not so sure about Kiba at all. His accusations and jealousy attacks are just the worst. He only needs to make eye contact with the Yamanaka and he already explodes on her. Of course she would have liked for him to come too, but with this growing problem it’s just impossible. He would seriously be just as troublesome as that red haired woman. She’s just too glad that the Kaseguchi won’t be present at either of the upcoming events. That woman is too much of an embarrassment with that nonexistent manners. Normally Kiba would be coming with Ino, however, they don't even talk to each other anymore and if they do, they just keep badmouthing and hissing at each other. The pinkette sighs in agony. One thing is clear. If those two won’t make up by today evening, they won’t be allowed to come to the gala’s and neither will they be allowed to come with her on vacation! At this point, no one will disagree with her. If by today no miracles happen.
The ringing of the doorbell makes her startle out of her deep thoughts, before she gets up quickly and goes to the front door, so that her guests don't have to wait too long in the cold. "Hey!" She is happy to see her friends, watching as they enter the house to flee from the extreme cold. "Hi." Ino squeals happily and comes up to her best fiend to give her a hug. The other two give her a quick hug as well, before everyone gets out of their street clothes. “I'm glad that you’ve come. I hope the afternoon will be relaxing and leisurely." Sakura smiles at the two of them while she hangs their jackets on the cloakroom and leads her friends into the kitchen. The brunette woman looks at Sakura a little confused, which makes her look at the Yamanaka and watches her as she goes to the bathroom to wash her hands. “Kiba and the others are downstairs in the training room. I also thought of not letting them come with us on vacation, if they won’t make up by the end of the day. I really don’t want Kiba to destroy everything, while Sasuke made such an effort on planning this vacation.”
The two women nod in understanding and watch Sakura go up to the kitchen’s cupboards. “Anyway, what do you think of Cocoa for our movie session?“ The pinkette explores with a smile, which they agree to with a nod of their own. "Sounds good to me." Ino too now comes into the kitchen with a smile on her lips and looks at her best friend standing in front of the stove to warm up the milk and prepare a pot for the cocoa. “Isn't that Neji's car outside?” The Yamanaka then inquires immediately, which makes the other women briefly look at each other. "Yes. The boys are here to work out a little.“ The pinkette answers to her truthfully, which makes the blond frown immediately. "Does that mean, that the asshole is here too?"
"Oh, yes. Hinata. How far did you and Naruto go last night?" Sakura immediately changes the subject and looks at the Hyuga, to close the previous topic and her best friend seems to immediately bite the bait. “What do you mean?” Ino accepts the change of topic and sees it as fine, because she just doesn’t want to think of that man at all. She came here to have a movie session with her friends, not an argument with that ass. Hinata turns all red at their questions, which makes Sakura laugh. “You don't know yet, do you? They've been a couple since last night!” Tenten looks at her best friend’s cousin with surprise, while Ino lets out a gasp. "No!" With a shy nod, Hinata just assures them, that their host is actually right.
~ > * < ~
“Neji, if you want, you can come up with me and blow dry your hair." Sasuke looks at his long haired friend, knowing that it is a hassle to go out in such weather with long and wet hair. The men had jumped into the pool, after working out in the training room for two hours straight. The Hyuga nods gratefully at the host in response, while Naruto just bursts out into laugher and is looked at in confusion by everyone. "You blow dry your hair?" The blond man explores in disbelief and Kiba chuckles too. "Looks at you laughing like an idiot, while you don't even know how good that actually feels. Especially, when a pretty young lady is sitting on you while blow drying your hair for you." Sasuke looks at his friend with a grin on his lips, before he walks towards the door of the room together with the Hyuga and goes upstairs to his bedroom. “Sakura is blow drying your hair?" The long haired man behind him starts to explore, which Sasuke replies to with a shrug of his shoulders and opens the door to his bedroom. "Yeah, on our first date we got caught up in the rain."
"So this is the room where you both make love." Neji notes and looks around briefly, which makes the Uchiha growl and push him to the bathroom door. “I told you countless of times that we haven’t done that and that you should stop fooling around!” With another growl, he then walks closer to his wardrobe to swap his wet boxer shorts for a dry one and to put on something more comfortable. After a while he can hear the hairdryer in the bathroom go silent, before his friend comes back out of said place. "I'll be right behind you." Sasuke watches him leaves the room to go downstairs again, before walking to the bathroom himself to blow dry his own hair as well. Although, he would much rather have Sakura do that for him again.
A few minutes later he goes back down to the basement, where he meets his friends in the training room. "What else did you do?" The Uzumaki immediately inquires with interest, while he hands him the wet clothes. "Blow drying my hair. Obviously.” Sasuke grins confidently at his blond friend, taking the wet clothes to put them into the dryer.
~ > * < ~
"Hey Sakura, can we watch the Karin video while we are already here? I’ve gotten really curious after hearing about it yesterday." Hinata looks at Sakura with interest, as the credits of the movie are rolling. “Of course. Let me just go and ask Sasuke if he wants to see it too." The others immediately get up with her and follow her, which makes the host look back at them in confusion. "Why do you all get up too?" Ino pouts at her question a little embarrassed. "Well, if the boys are training right now..." Sakura has to laugh at that and shake her head, before they leave the home cinema and head out into the party room. The men come up to them in dry clothes just at the same time, which makes the host bit her lower lip at her brunette friend’s reaction, as soon as he takes notice of his supposedly best friend. He’s going to explode again. "What are you doing here?" The Inuzuka immediately exclaims as expected and everyone can tell that he is not very happy about her presence. Ino just hisses back at him and builds herself up in front of him, which looks quite funny since he's actually half a head taller than her. “You sure ask some stupid questions. I’m friends with Sakura since eternity, while you know her only through me. So you are the last person to question my presence in this house. Get out of here!” A little pissed off, Kiba kneels a bit down in order to be at eye level with her, before glaring right into her eyes. “Make me.” The words leave his lips in a growl, which makes Tenten cough slightly into her hand. “Cat war.” However, the bickering couple doesn't seem to have heard her at all.
Sasuke looks questioningly at his wife, since both Ino and Kiba have been friends with her, much longer than they have with him. "At least they are talking to each other again." She shrugs her shoulders with a slight sigh, suddenly gaining both of their attention. “We aren’t!” The Yamanaka hissed at her. "I agree for once! Talking to Ino is impossible!” The Inuzuka exclaims his complaint in a förmlich of a grunt, which makes the blonde turn back to him to give him her opinion. “I’m not the one who started all this bullshit! I can’t do anything for her ditching you! And i was even so idiotic to be sincerely concerned for you, asshole!” Sakura lets out another sigh. This willl seriously escalate again, if she won’t get in between the two right now, so she puts her hand between them, like a barrier. “Okay, you two. This is enough. You both will talk to each other properly and clarify things right now, before you did that you are not allowed to go back in with us to the home cinema! In short, you either make up now, or never talk to each other again. If you decide to choose the second, you don't need to come to the fundraising gala tomorrow, or even think about going on vacation with us. I don’t need you to destroy everything with your ridiculous bickering!” The Haruno looks seriously at her friends, which look back at her in complete disbelief. "Are you crazy??" The Yamanaka yells at her immediately, watching as she shrugs her shoulders in response. "You are the only crazy ones here right now. Crazy as in madly in love, but too stuck up and stubborn to accept it.“
"Actually, we just came out because we wanted to ask you guys if you would like to watch some movies with us." Sakura simply ignores the two and looks at her husband, who smiles crookedly at her. "We were just about to join you, actually. But what do we do with those two?" His dark grey eyes move over his wife’s features and points with his head at the two trouble makers of the group, which makes her sigh resignedly. "I'll take care of it myself." Sasuke’s eyes grow wide for a moment, intent to stop her from her crazy plans. "No Sakura, no sauna and no garden either." But he wouldn’t have expected what his wife was really planing. With a simple push, she pushes the Yamanaka against the Inuzuka, which end in her lips crashing against his. "Done. And now, be quiet." The Haruno just simply claps her hands as if dusting her hands for doing a great job, before she turns around and goes with the others into the cinema room and closes the door behind herself. Everyone else just looks at her, too stunned to say anything.
"Do you think that will work?" Sasuke explores after a moment of silence and lets himself fall onto one of the seats in the front row. "I don’t care. You already know what the consequences are. it’s up to them to decide.“ With a shrug of her shoulders, she then takes a seat next to her husband, who puts an arm around her shoulders to pull her a bit closer and give her a kiss on the head. "We decided to watch the Karin video, which Natsuki finally send to me the other day." The pinkette then announces with a grin and switches on the video because. She had already transferred sid video to her video folder on the television that morning, so that she can have access to it here at any time. "But we need popcorn for that!" Naruto quickly stops her from starting the video, which Sasuke immediately responds to with a laugh and gets up to prepare the snack. After a few minutes he then gives his friends enough of the popcorn and Sakura leans back into her seat and presses the play button with a smile, only to get interrupted by the opening of the door.
The sound of the door animates the pinkette to immediately presses the pause button once again, as everyone turns excitedly back at the two standing in the door. "Is everything okay now?" The brunette woman immediately explores with interest, which Ino nods to in response. "Yeah. Thank you Sakura. We probably needed that strictness of yours." Kiba smiles at the pink haired host, who smiles back just as glad. "Well then, sit down. We were just about to start the video!" The Haruno grins at them in amusement and neither of them lets her tell them twice, immediately taking a seat in the front row next to Neji and Tenten. Sakura smiles satisfied and presses the play button once again, to finally start the video that everyone was so curious about.
They hear Natsuki say something while they realize that the video was shot on the ship months ago. Misuki can also be seen on the screen.
"Well, well, look who we have here." It suddenly sounds from another direction, before the camera gets turned towards a red haired woman in a way too inappropriate dress. "Karin, don't you have any friends on the ship that you can annoy? Are you really that poor?" Sakura is shown quite bored when she is asking the question and watches as the Kaseguchi immediately reacts completely offended to it. "What does that concern you? And whom are you even dragging around with you?“ The Kaseguchi immediately asks a counter question and looks at Misuki with arrogance and even a little disgusted. "I don't know what it's got to do with you, but this is Uchiha Misuki. The wife of Itachi Uchiha, which makes her the sister in law of Sasuke." As soon as Sakura introduces her sister in law gleefully, the Kaseguchi immediately turns pale and looks around briefly. “Speaking of which. Since you are so good friends with Mr. Uchiha, where is his oh so great wife and why doesn't she walk around with her, instead of spending her time with a looser like you.” The redhead gets back to her arrogant mood and points to Misuki with a nod. “Sasuke's wife is already here. She's talking to a colleague. Oh, yeah, you don't even know that yet, do you? She has been working for the Uchiha Corporation for some time now and is often visiting Sasuke in his office. Oh damn! I wasn’t allowed to say that!“ The Haruno exclaims with a laugh, only to slap her hand over her mouth and look around a little scared.
"Well then, thanks for the information. And by the way, cute outfit. Did you get that in pretty too?” Karin grins arrogantly once again, while Sakura just looks down at herself and then at her two friends with a smile. Her smile eventually turns into a slight laugh, before she turns back to the Kaseguchi. "Funny that you would say that. Forget the pretty, Sasuke actually thinks i'm beautiful even, while he doesn’t even want to look int your direction. And just as a little information, i think you took a wrong turn earlier. The brothel was three blocks away.” Sakura winks at her at the end with another giggle, while Karin immediately turns red out of fury and turns around in frustration. "You're just jealous of me!" The red head screeches aloud, while stomping away, which makes Sakura laugh aloud once again while she follows Karin with her eyes, who is wearing a bright red dress with a black corsage lacing on the back and which ends just below her bum. “Nice ass Karin! Is it actually real or are they just cheep implants?" She then calls after her, which makes Misuki hold herself onto the railing, while Sakura herself is careful not to spill anything while laughing.
The video ends and the group bursts out into laugher as well, Naruto being clearly the loudest, as he is almost falling off of his seat. “Awesome!” He snorts, crackling in his seat. "That look of yours was literally the best!" The Ama agrees to the blond man with a giggle. "Yes, Natsuki calls it my Karin look." Sakura grins at her friends in amusement. “I have to remember that!” The Yamanaka replies enthusiastically at her best friends explanation wich the others agree to as well. Sasuke just chuckles silently, while pulling his wife closer against his side. "No wonder that Karin is always so aggressive when you look at her like that. That slap yesterday was the cherry on top" He presses his lips on her temple with a smile, only for her to rest her head on his shoulder. "Okay. Since we're having so much fun right now, does anyone want to watch Home Alone or Lost In New York?” She then asks the group, which everyone immediately happily agrees to, before she picks out the movie. The Uchiha meanwhile folds up the armrest between her and his seat and pulls her onto his lap, letting her cuddle up to him, while he makes himself comfortable and puts his legs up. "Hey, I want to do that too!" The Uzumaki immediately starts to complain. "Then fold up the armrest." Sasuke doesn’t even glance at him and just watches as the film starts, while his wife puts the remote aside.
Actually, the pinkette is more laying on her husband than sitting on his lap, but it doesn’t bother either of them. Her head is resting on his shoulder, while his left arm is resting around her waist. Only her feet are hanging down to the floor. Some time goes by, which passes in silence, except for the laughter and soft chewing of popcorn. the young Haruno smiles and looks at the wall where the movie gets projected by the projector. For a moment she takes a look at her childhood friend, who is cuddling the Inuzuka and kisses him on the cheek. At least they made up again, whether they are a couple is another topic though. Sasuke in the other hand doesn’t take any notice of his wife’s looks and gives her a kiss on her temple. Again and again he gently kisses the same spot, until she finally decides to turn her eyes towards him after a few minutes. His lips curl up in satisfaction, occupies her lips and pulls her closer up to himself.
