The wind whistled slightly as a light breeze blew through the forest, rustling the leaves and disrupting a calm silence. Sakura shivered a little and snuggled deeper into the double sleeping bag she shared with Sasuke. She guessed it was almost midnight and yet she found herself unable to fall asleep.

"Sakura? You're still awake?"

"Eh, Sasuke-kun? You're not asleep either."

Sakura felt an arm around her waist, pulling herself flush against a warmth that contrasted starkly with the cool air, her back against his front. Just a few months ago, she never could have though that she and Sasuke would actually be out travelling the world together, but as they lay in silence next to each other, she couldn't help her quickening heartbeat as she thought about being in the relationship she'd always wanted.

Relationship.

Was that the fitting word? To be honest, she didn't really know how to describe what they were to each other. Sasuke meant the world to her and she knew, though he was less vocal about it, that she was very important to him as well. But since he returned to Konoha and they established that she would be travelling with him, they never explicitly discussed the true nature of their relationship. They were a couple, in the simplest form of that word, but they hesitated to refer to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend. Sakura had once asked whether he was her boyfriend, to which Sasuke simply replied, "That seems too incomplete."

Indeed, it did seem incomplete. They had gone to hell and back with each other in the last few years, to the point where titles and labels have all been rendered meaningless in capturing the full extent of their relationship. She was his most important confidant, and he became hers. Sakura eventually settled for "together." They were together, and that was the most important part.

"What are you thinking about?"

Sakura jolted out of her thoughts and turned around in his embrace.

"Us."

"Us?"

"We're… together."

Sasuke knitted his eyebrows in confusion, not quite understanding where the statement came from. His mismatched eyes met her green ones and held her gaze.

"Hn, you're here, and so am I."

"No, but we're together."

"I don't understand."

"We're together. You're with me, and I'm with you. Yes, we're physically together, but now I feel like… I feel like our hearts are connected, in a way that's different from before."

"Our hearts are connected, hm?"

Sasuke broke eye contact momentarily to gaze up at the sky, eyes roaming the starts too infinite for his dojutsu to count. Being in the wilderness, away from Konoha light pollution, gave him numerous opportunities to stargaze. Surprisingly, he found himself enjoying the simple hobby, reminding himself not to judge Shikamaru Nara too quickly next time he bumps into the notorious cloud-watcher.

He had felt Sakura's presence even when he was hundreds of miles away from home. The feelings that she wore on her sleeve, the unrelenting chase that she pursued, and the feeling of overwhelming joy and relief when she'd started to heal him and Naruto after their final battle. These were the candid, unconditional feelings that he shut himself from since he'd last felt it from his immediate family. Even when he was gone on his journey for redemption, he felt tied to her. They were under the same sky, and that gave him comfort while he was away.

Sakura watched in amazement as Sasuke's mouth turned up in a smile. It wasn't very often that he smiled so genuinely, but when it happened, she found herself entranced, caught in a flashback to the adorable little boy that she'd developed an infatuation with back when they were still children. His smiles meant he was healing, and though she knew he could never truly return to who he was as a child, it made her so, incredibly happy that she was with him.

Before she knew it, tears streamed down her cheeks and she buried her face in Sasuke's shoulder, heart thumping wildly. Her petite frame shook slightly as she struggled to stay calm. Sasuke pulled her face away from his shoulder, cupping her cheek in his hand, and frowned.

"Sakura…"

"No, Sasuke-kun. I'm crying because I'm happy."

She took his hand in one of her own and placed it over her heart, allowing him to feel the quick, steady beat of her heart. His face visibly relaxed and he opened his mouth to reply to her when Sakura felt a wave of emotion suddenly wash over her. Acting completely on impulse, she leaned up and placed her mouth over his, effectively silencing him for the next few seconds. It wasn't the first time they'd kissed, but there was something about the way they were right now, sharing a sleeping bag in the middle of January, that sparked a different kind of warmth.

It was as if in that moment, Sasuke finally understood her happiness. The years she spent chasing after him, the false confessions to people who weren't him, the love letters she never opened from people that weren't him, the restless nights wondering whether he was safe, and the pure, utterly unconditional love that she presented to him. All of what she'd been through for him culminated to this, to their travels, and to him finally opening up his heart, desperately in need of love.

"Sakura?"

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?"

"We're together."

AN: I felt the need to write this very short one-shot! I have so many ideas about what could have happened during the SasuSaku travels, and I hope that one day, Kishimoto and his crew will feel the need to expand on this. But here's just one of the scenes that I imagined while they were together... Please read and review! I'm actually not much of a writer (aside from scientific papers) so this is a completely new thing for me. Enjoy!