#Sasuke loves his pretty pink flower | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

majesty-madness · 2 years

Note

Hi! Can I request a Naruto Shippuden x Fem!reader where the reader met them all and was this cheerful little girl who loved flowers but as they got older she left or to them she just more likely disappeared but when she came back she was this whole different person now.

Now she's a pretty quiet and calm girl with a powerful aura around her, and if you find a black rose then that means that she was in that place, so what I mean is since she sued to like flowers but not a black rose is kinda her sign now, so the black rose represents her.

Lets say for example she fights with someone and disappears, then there's a black rose on the ground, which means that she was there in that place.

Also she's known as the ~Black Rose~ Since she always leaves a black rose as a sign

Note: She was childhood friends with, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura also knew her along with Ino but then when she came back they told the others about her (or you can do it in your way, I'll leave the rest to you)

Feel free to ignore this for whatever reason if you want <3

"Black Rose" - Naruto Shippuden x reader (sfw)

Word Count: 8000+

Warnings: angst, battles, violence, blood, injuries, hospital, mentions of serious injuries, flashbacks, worried friends, light arguing, crying, good ending, references to the Hidden Waterfall Village (don’t know if anyone knows about that episode)

a/n: I want to say that this is the first request I have ever done, and I usually don’t take requests; I just write whatever I want to. However, I thought that this could be a chance to experience something new and depending on how this goes, I might do more requests in the future. But I need some time to figure out if this is a good thing to start or if I should keep doing what I’ve been doing. So for anyone it may concern, I’m trying to figure this whole “request” thing because it’s new to me. Thank you for understanding! Hope you enjoy!

Also not proofread.

Main Masterlist

“Do you know which flower this one is, Sakura?” The little girl asked her pink and blonde haired friends.

The pink haired girl shook her head but the blonde nodded.

“That is a Gladiolus!”

“That’s right, Ino! They come in red, pink, white, yellow and orange. But the most important thing is that they have medical properties, so the medic ninja use them all the time for healing.”

Sakura expressed her astonishment. “Wow, that’s so cool! You and Y/N sure know a lot about flowers.”

“Well what do you expect? My family does run a flower shop.” Ino grinned at Sakura with a little giggle following.

Then Y/N chirped in, “And I’ve been studying at the library. If you want Sakura, I’d be happy to teach you about flowers.”

Sakura gasped. “Would you really? Oh that sounds like so much fun!”

Y/N laughed happily, clapping her hands together at the same time. “Yeah! We’re gonna have lots of fun!”

With no effort, her eyes sprang open; staring tiredly at the wooden ceiling above.

She laid there a few more seconds before she forced her head to turn over to the right. On just the other wall, there was a small window with the light of the sun shining through; it was time to get up.

______

At the same time, many people of the village were getting up and ready, especially the Leaf ninja, prepared to be sent on missions.

Ino, after slipping into her uniform, walked out into the street to head straight to the Hokage’s office.

Despite the early hour, the village was already bustling with life. Many people were out shopping, organizing food stalls, and the like.

By this point in her life, Ino was really all that surprised anymore by the efficiency of the Leaf village. Everyone was always quick to start the day, even the regular citizens. It made being a ninja all the more worth it in her opinion; she could protect the prosperity of her home while doing what she’d always wanted to do.

As Ino was making her way down the dirt road, a familiar voice called out to her.

“Hey, Ino!”

Her violet eyes darted off the right, several feet in front of her there stood Sakura.

Ino smiled and waved at her. “Hey Sakura!”

The pink haired ninja suddenly came running over to her side, and then they both continued to walk together down the road. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. What are you doing up so early? I thought you had the day off today.” Ino asked curiously.

“I did, but Lady Tsunade suddenly summoned me. She said she had an important mission for me.” Sakura answered politely.

Ino made a noise, like a hum at the news. “Does it have anything to do with the hidden Waterfall village?”

“Yeah actually, it does.”

Ino looked over at her friend as they walked side by side. “It could be a serious mission then. Do you think she’ll combine our teams?”

“I’m not sure, it’s entirely possible.” Sakura said, moving her gaze back to the dirt path in front of her. “Guess we won’t know until we get there.”

“Yeah, guess so.” Ino agreed, not saying anything else for a couple of minutes. They continued down the path in silence for several more minutes when something just popped into Ino’s head.

“You know, it’s been three years.”

Sakura, knowing exactly what she was talking about, nodded (more to herself). “Since Y/N disappeared.”

Ino hummed again. “I can’t believe how much time has passed. So much has happened.”

“I know. The hardest part is not knowing if she’s okay or not, or if she’s even alive. It reminds me too much of when…” Sakura began to say, but paused as she felt her throat tighten up. “When Sasuke left.” Ino stopped in her tracks, resting her hand on Sakura’s shoulder and forcing her to stop as well. Her green eyes whipped up to meet Ino’s, seeing a look of sympathy on her face.

If anyone understood that feeling of hopelessness (besides Naruto), it would be Ino.

“Don’t worry too much about it, okay? Y/N is nothing like Sasuke; she’ll come back one day. I have faith.” The blonde ninja ressaured.

This made Sakura smile, and her body language indicated that she felt a bit better. “Thank you, Ino.”

Ino patted her shoulder a few times. “No problem. Now let’s hurry to Lady Tsunade’s office, or kill us for being late.”

Sakura laughed in response before heading towards the Hokage building, near the back of the village.

It took only a little while, but eventually Ino and Sakura made their way to the Hokage mansion, and stepped inside Tsunade’s office. Once they did, they saw Shikamaru, Choji, Naruto, and Sai already inside.

“Oh I’m sorry, M’Lady. Are we late?” Sakura apologized, a tad bit nervous that they’d get chewed out.

“No, in fact, I was just about to explain the mission.” Tsunade assured, then leading into the details. “As you may already be aware you all are going to be heading to the Hidden Waterfall village.”

Naruto perked up. “The Hidden Waterfall village?”

Tsunade nodded. “That’s right. I know that three years ago you escorted Lord Shibuki to his homeland safely, and now I’m asking you to return.”

“Please tell me that this doesn’t have anything to do with escorting his son to become the next leader, who’s just as cowardly as he was.” Naruto sighed, clearly annoyed.

“No, there have been reports of the Akatsuki sighted patrolling the village.”

Shikamaru chirped in. “So that’s why you’re assembling such a big team.”

“That’s correct. I don’t want to be taken by surprise, so that’s why I’m assigning all six of you to go and see if there is any truth to these reports. And with that, I’m also assigning you as squad leader, Shikamaru.” Tsunade explained, hands propped up on the desk, fingers intertwined. “You have half an hour to get ready and head to the Hidden Waterfall village, understood?”

“Understood!” Everyone in the room agreed at once and quickly headed out of the office.

Meanwhile, Y/N stalked a rogue shinobi from up in the massive forest, surrounding the Land of Fire.

He had no idea she was there, no inkling at all which made her one of the most efficient ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village.

And the fact that he was distracted with a meeting in the middle of the woods kept him occupied. He was speaking with five other people, exchanging stolen information about the Leaf with them. Though the other individuals were handing him back scrolls of what she assumed was information on other villages as well.

At least after she took down these ninja, she could find out what information was being sold off.

After about ten minutes, the five other shinobi shook hands with the rogue ninja and quickly scattered.

She watched the rogue one sit down onto the ground, taking out a water canister and unscrewing the top.

Being confident that he wasn’t going, Y/N made a hand sign and produced five clones. All of them (including the real Y/N)looked at each other and nodded.

The clones disappeared while Y/N remained inside the thick foliage of the tree leaves.

Her eyes centered on the rogue ninja, relaxing against the tree she was currently hiding in and then abruptly jumped down, colliding elegantly with the solid ground.

The man jumped back clearly startled by her appearance. “What the hell?!”

From her crouching position, Y/N’s sharp eyes, black masked face whip up to make direct, face to face contact with him. She hears the man gasp and try to reach into his bag for a weapon.

Before his hand can even make contact with the pouch, Y/N throws long, precision needles into the man’s arm; pinning him to the dirt.

The man lets out a shout of pain and his arm is pinned at a 90o angle, and stuck behind his back. “What do you want?!” Y/N approaches the man, completely unphased by his screams. Her domineering stance and quiet nature makes the man visibly sweat, and he finds it hard to make any kind of rational thought.

This woman, this woman right here was unlike anything he’d ever seen.

Completely silent in her approach, beautiful figure, graceful in the way she moved with deadly precision, dark eyes locked on him, and an aura that reeked power; unadulterated power.

Never in his life had he ever met a woman that was able to combine beauty with danger; it was a combination he believed didn’t exist and yet here it was.

Should he be scared or impressed? He wasn’t sure.

He tried to reach for another weapon with his other hand, but another, foreign hand had wrapped around his wrist and pinned it there.

When he turned his head to look, he saw that it was a clone of Y/N, a flurry of black rose petals appearing as quickly as the clone had. It piqued his curiosity.

“Don’t try that again.” Y/N finally said, voice low and smooth.

“I asked you what you wanted.” The man grunted out, trying now not to move around too much.

Y/N walked forward, slipped her hand into the side pocket of his uniform and pulled out a seal scroll with the information he traded for earlier. “I want this.”

He watched Y/N neatly put away the scroll into her back pouch before speaking. “You looking for information on other villages too?”

“Actually, I’m looking for those documents you stole from the Leaf, but if I happen to gain a bit of an advantage over another village then so be it,” She softly explains, tone never fluctuating.

Without warning, the man burst out laughing. “Oh, I’m sorry! I’m afraid that those pretty little documents are already on their way out of the Land of Fire.”

Finally, Y/N’s voice changed when she hummed in amusement. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

As soon as she finished, four clones then appeared at Y/N’s side. She raised her hand up just a bit and snapped her fingers; like that each of them, including the clone pinning the man’s arm, revealed the stolen documents he had just sold off to other rogue ninja.

More black petals floated down from the air as each one of her clones suddenly appeared before them.

His eyes widened in complete shock, air getting stuck in his throat almost preventing him from taking a proper breath.

They kept the documents out only for a couple of seconds then slid them back into their packs.

“Looks like this is the end of the line for you.”

“Wait!” The man screamed out, making Y/N pause for a moment to see what he wanted. When a couple of seconds passed, the man spoke again.

“There were rumors, started a couple of years ago. They were about a rogue assassin, killing other ninja left and right.” The man explained, the cold sweat rolling down his temples.

Y/N said nothing, it made him swallow nervously. ��No one could find their bodies; all that was left were pools of blood and a single black rose.”

Then Y/N squinted at him, eyes narrow and fierce. “They called this assassin: Black Rose. I thought it was just rumors but…”

“You’ve changed your mind?” Y/N asked condescendingly.

“Well I’ve never seen anyone leave black petals lying around when they use clones or teleport said clones.”

There was a pregnant pause as both parties stared at each other, one’s heart racing and the other’s heart steady as drum.

Y/N clicked her tongue. “You should’ve believed the rumors, maybe you could’ve lived longer. Your complacency is what led you here.”

She saw the man tense up. “I believe them now so maybe we could make a deal.”

He tried to sound tough or unaffected by the aura surrounding this woman, but inside the terror was speeding over her nerves, up his spine, nearing choking him.

“I don’t make deals with rogues. I’m afraid that this is the end for you.”

“No!” The man screamed out, the panic now controlling him.

No please, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ve got resources, information; just tell me what you want.” The man pleaded.

Y/N took a step back, raising both hands to form a single hand sign. “I want you to disappear.” Then in a barrage of hand signs, too fast to keep, Y/N weaved her fingers together before landing on the final sign. “Ninja art: Black Flower Decay.”

A whirlwind of black flower petals swirled around them as if the wind was guiding their movements, eching their way closer and closer.

The man watched the petals coming his way and one single petal landed on his cheek; it was hot, burned even. But it was one petal, and for a split second he thought maybe he could take it, however that thought quickly left his mind when more petals started to collect on his skin.

Now the burning sensation grows in intensity until eventually the pain became overwhelming. The man again screamed out but this time it was more gutural; more real.

In a final blow, the wind directs the flower petals on every square inch of the man’s body. Then the petals began to completely break down the man’s body til nothing was left.

The man’s body was gone, the clones disappeared, the petals vanished, and the only thing left was a single black rose placed on the ground.

In seconds, Y/N was already miles away from the location of the rogue she’d just eliminated. Not to mention the other shinobi that she also killed when they took off with information that could’ve easily led to the destruction of the Leaf.

And no matter what she was not going to let that happen, not when she loved ones waiting for her.

Three years had passed since she was assigned on this mission, and not a single day went by that she didn’t think about her friends back home.

She wondered if any of them had made Chunin or Jounin, or if Lee had made a complete recovery from his surgery, or even wondered if Hinata had confessed her feelings for Naruto.

These were the types of things that wandered through her head, the things that kept her sane. Though after all this time, she wondered if they thought about her.

Maybe the first couple of months, sure since it was only a couple of months after Sasuke abandoned them all that she was sent away, but they were ninja; they had to focus on training, completing missions, trying not to die.

Truth be told, they most likely didn’t have the time to even wonder about her well being. Who would after three years? For someone who didn’t even say goodbye?

Oh well…

She was assigned a mission and had to complete it no matter what. That’s why Lady Tsunade entrusted this mission to her and only her.

Y/N was ripped out of her thoughts by a sudden and powerful burst of lightning right for her.

In a split second, she managed to dodge the attack in mid air and jumped to the nearest tree branch. From behind the sound of the lighting making contact with another tree causing the wood to splitter and blow apart.

The attack kicked up a bunch of dust to which nothing was visible for a couple of minutes.

Y/N waved her hand through the air to try to clear the area, watching as the dust only moved away from her general vicinity but nowhere else.

Her eyes darted around trying to fight the source of the attack, but before she could come to a conclusion she heard a voice from a somewhat short distance.

“I’m surprised you were able to dodge that so easily.”

That voice, that voice sounded familiar.

No, it couldn’t be.

As quickly as it appeared, a gust of wind swept away the debris, wiping the area completely clean of any signs of attack.

Her eyes widened, staring directly at the figure that stood on the solid ground twenty feet away. It was-

“Sasuke?”

“Most people would have been killed by an attack like that.” The Uchiha stated coldly.

Shaking the surprise, Y/N pulled herself back into espionage mode. “What are you doing here, Sasuke? Finally have a guilty conscience and decide to get over your superiority complex?”

Sasuke didn’t react. He didn’t smirk, or laugh sarcastically, he simply stood there with a cool expression. “You’ve caused Orochimaru some trouble; eliminating his line of resources and so he’s asked me to deal with you.”

“He’s still alive then. I’m surprised, I figured by now you would have killed him and taken control over his lackeys.” Y/N continued to retort back while on the inside she was getting nervous.

He hadn’t demonstrated his full power, however she’s always known he was strong. He was a Uchiha afterall.

“That will come eventually. Unfortunately, there is still something I need from him so until then I will do what I have to do.”

Y/N didn’t have anything else to say instead she stood there quietly, her right hand subtly reaching behind her into her tool bag.

Just as she had the kunai out of the pouch, she watched Sasuke vanish and his overwhelming presence was suddenly behind her.

She whipped her head around, eyes meeting a pair of crimson ones.

________

“This is so stupid!” Naruto complained very loudly for all to hear.

“Oh shut up, Naruto! You haven't stopped complaining since we left the Hidden Waterfall Village.” Sakura yelled back at him.

All Naruto did was huff as the entire team dashed across the treetops.

“It’s just if there are going to be rumors about the Akatsuki hanging around, they could at least do me the favor of actually being there.” Naruto added with a pout.

“Are you serious?” Choji chirped in from the back of the formation.

Then Shikamaru cut in. “Think about it; if the Akatsuki were actually there, we would’ve had our hands full even with the six of us.”

“Besides, you should know by now that rumors are not always true. So stop pouting.” Ino interjected as well, her own annoyance palpable in her tone.

Naruto grumbled in response, whatever words he was spouting to himself not audible to anyone else.

He remained mumbling for a while, even sprinting ahead of everyone without thinking about it.

“Stupid Akatsuki, stupid mission, stupid Shikamaru, stupid…” His vision caught an unusual color in the corner of his eye.

It wasn’t far so he immediately went to go take a closer look, oblivious to his team members flying right by only to stop once they noticed he was going in a different direction.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Sai asked, not expecting anyone to know that answer.

“Naruto! What are you doing?” Sakura from up on a tree branch as she saw Naruto jump down to the dirt floor.

He did not turn around to reply, but kept walking through the grass and bushes of the forest. “There’s something weird over here.”

Sai, Sakura, Ino, Shikamru, and Choji all exchanged looks of confusion before Sakura followed after him first and hopped down off the tree.

Naruto had a few feet on them as he stepped into a small clearing, seeing blood painting the ground.

He gawked at the sight for a second then focused on the next unusual thing, more unusual than blood in the middle of the woods.

In the middle of the pools of blood sat a single black rose.

Throwing caution to the wind, Naruto reached forward to grab ahold of the rose. His fingers had barely skimmed the surface of the dark petals when Sakura’s voice called out to him.

“What are you doing?! It could set off a trap.”

Naruto was too wrapped up in his own thoughts that his brain didn’t register anything his teammate was saying as he turned around to face them with the rose in the palm of his hand.

“Guys, what’s a rose doing out in the middle of nowhere like this and around all this blood?”

Once the gang’s eyes rested on the rose in Naruto’s hand most of them remained confused, but Shikamaru’s expression changed to one of knowing anxiety.

“Black Rose.” Was all Shikamaru uttered and everyone looked over at him now.

“What?” Choji questioned first.

“There’s been a lot of disappearances within the Land of Fire lately, all kinds of ninja gone in the blink of an eye with only their blood and a single black rose left behind.” Shikamaru explained, taking a moment to observe the battle field they were standinding before continuing.

“While there’s not a lot of tangible proof, the ninja that’s been doing this has been credited with over a hundred assassinations over the last three years factoring in they are even assassinations; but given the amount of blood I would say so.”

Ino couldn’t help but perk up at the mention of three years. She subconsciously mouthed them to herself, and her mind immediately jumped to the realization that her best friend had been gone that exact amount of time.

Is it possible-

There was a thud and a rustling within a tree off to the team’s right, about six feet away.

It took only a moment for each member to get into a defensive formation as they eyed the direction in which the rustling came from.

The tree leaves moved around a bit some more and then a figure fell out from the tree landing at the team’s feet causing all of them to jump back.

Even Sakura and Ino had gasped when this mysterious fell out of thin air.

From what they could see, it was a female; about their age, probably about average height with what looked to be a long scarf hanging around her neck and covering part of her face.

It was easy to tell that she was very unconscious even with her face covered. And she was injured.

“She’s bleeding!” Naruto pointed out as soon as he realized that fact.

He rushed over to her side while assessing her wounds, then reached to pull her mask off. His back blocked the others' view of the female and they waited for any kind of signal from Naruto.

“Uh guys?” He said, voice laced with shock and a slight tremble of anxiousness.

“What is it, Naruto?” Shikamaru calmly asked.

Without another word, Naruto took a couple of steps to the side revealing the woman to them.

There was lull in all sound, even the breeze that rushed against their ears suddenly went quiet. Everything that had once made sound now only sounded like the white noise coming from a tv, growing louder by each passing second.

It was almost too much.

“Y/N?” Ino’s voice broke them out of their trance right before she took a hesitant step forward.

Her mind seemed to catch up as she lunged forward, her best friend’s name leaving her mouth one more time. “Y/N!”

She bent down next to Naruto, violet eyes darting across Y/N’s body to see if they were more serious injuries. In her search, she saw a large laceration across Y/N’s back. The blood from the wound had soaked into the fabric of her uniform causing a clot to form there.

“She has a severe wound on her back, it’s big; probably eight inches in length.” Ino started to describe, weaving a quick hand sign then holding her hand over Y/N’s back, her hands glowing green as she began to heal the opening.

Sakura rushed over, appearing on the other side of Y/N. “Has it begun to clot?”

“A bit.” Ino answered curtly. “It looks like the tissue itself wasn’t. The blood soaked into the shirt, it’s acting as a sort of gauze.”

The others stepped closer to nervously observe Ino and Sakura’s movements.

Sakura then reached into her back pouch to pull out a black-brownish jar with a rigid lid. “Sai! Come over here.”

Sai reacted swiftly, making it to Sakura’s side in no time as she opened the jar in her hands.

“Now Sai, I want you to very slowly and very carefully peel back the fabric of her shirt; as you do I’m going to apply this paste to keep the wound from bleeding. It’ll act as a temporary bandage. You got it?”

“Got it!”

And just as Sakura had said Sai followed her instructions to the letter and as she mentioned as well, every inch of skin that was revealed under the uniform shirt, she applied a nearly transparent gel onto the surface of the wound to keep it from free flowing.

The moment that was finished, Sakura put the jar away and directed her gaze to Ino. “We have to go, it’s another couple of hours to the village at least. If she’s gonna make it, we have to go now.”

Ino nodded, stopping her healing and taking a hold of one of Y/N’s arms; the one closest to her. “Let’s get her up.” Sai then assisted with the other arm, and they both wrapped each arm around their shoulders.

“If we really push it, we can make it back to the village in less time.” Shikamaru suggested, his expression now back to normal with a subtle hint of concern.

“Well let's hurry then.” Choji added.

Naruto quickly stood up from his position, bringing a fist slamming into his other palm with a look of determination on his face. “Yeah the only chance Y/N’s got is if we stop talking and get on with it.”

All six ninja exchanged brief glances at each other then took off in the direction of the village with Y/N coming in and out of consciousness.

It felt like a lifetime but eventually they made it and as Shikamaru had said, they really pushed it and got there in only thirty minutes.

It was definitely a rough half hour, although it was a small price to pay for getting their friend the treatment that she desperately needed.

They all barged into the hospital, shouting several things all at once that it was hard for the front desk nurse to understand what they were saying. The point got across after Lady Tsunade showed up.

She’d heard that Y/N had returned to the village or rather had been dragged back because she had a serious injury to the back.

Sakura requested that she assist Tsunade in the surgery, but she denied it saying that Shizune would assist which left Sakura feeling helpless.

Tsunade understood that she wanted to help her teammate and friend, someone who had disappeared much like her love Sasuke, but even from a glance she could easily discern that Y/N’s injuries were serious.

Even though Sakura was a skilled medic ninja, she lacked the experience of delicate surgeries and Y/N’s condition required delicacy.

Sakura, Naruto, Sai, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choi waited with what could barely be considered patience, out in the waiting room.

Everyone sat down in an uncomfortable chair except for Naruto; he opted to pace.

Of course it set everyone on edge, but he has always been a fidgety person so add a bit of stress to that and he couldn’t sit still.

Though, Sakura did yell at him for not sitting like a normal person (her words). Normally Naruto wouldn’t have argued with the matter because she would’ve beaten him to a pulp for not heeding her word, but not this time.

He exclaimed that there was no way he could sit down since one of his friends was in surgery. Sakura remained quiet after that.

The silence permeated the very air they were breathing as they kept waiting for some sort of news on Y/N’s condition.

Until finally, Tsunade came out to meet them.

“She’s going to be just fine.” That was the first thing she said to them with a confident smile.

All the young shinobi had sighed in relief, the stress dripping off their shoulders to disappear forever.

“However,” Tsunade prefaced, “She’s in a medically induced coma so she won’t wake up for a while. The best thing she needs right now is sleep; this is also to keep her from moving around with that back injury so it’ll heal.”

Once more the young ninja exchanged looks of relief, happy to know that their friend was going to make it.

________

Nearly a week passed before Y/N woke up from her coma.

Her eyes felt the glare from the sunlight seeping in from the outside, and a warm sensation encasing her wrist.

When her gaze shifted to the presence of the warmth, she saw Lady Tsunade standing at her bedside while checking her pulse.

Honestly, at first, she didn’t recognize Tsunade for a few seconds until she spoke up.

“Well hello there, sleepy head. Finally decided to wake up.”

Y/N blinked a few times. “Lady Tsunade?”

The Hokage gently set Y/N’s hand back down to her side before crossing her arms and smiling down at the young woman. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“How-” She looked around the hospital room confused. “How did I get here?”

“I had sent several of your friends out on a mission to investigate rumors of the Akatsuki near the Hidden Waterfall village and on they’re way back, they found you lying in the middle of the forest.” Tsunade wasted no time explaining, her smile falling to a more casual expression.

Y/N’s eyes darted away to the hospital ceiling again, mouth gaped open subconsciously as her mind flashed back to that last thing she remembered.

“I vaguely remember somebody picking me up from the ground, but it’s all kind of hazy after that.” Y/N admitted.

Tsunade took a deep breath before speaking. “That’s not shocking, you were critically injured. It’s a miracle you were still alive when they brought you in.”

Both paused to gather their thoughts, the room becoming silent.

“What happened to you out there?” Tsunade asked with a startling seriousness.

She took some time to think through it, going back to every second stuck in her struggle against an old classmate. A classmate she actually used to know fairly well, and now he was nothing more than a stranger that she crossed unfortunate paths with.

“It was Sasuke.”

Tsunade didn’t even look surprised or shocked, it seemed as though she was already aware of who had almost killed her. After a minute or two, Tsunade nodded (more to herself).

“I see.”

“You don’t look surprised.” Y/N mentioned quickly.

The older blonde woman shook her head. “When I was performing your surgery, it was easy to make out the lightning pattern on your back. And not only that, upon taking a closer look I could see that the lightning had managed to barely sear the bone of your spine.”

She watched Y/N’s eyes widened at the revelation. Tsunade continued, “The attack was so precise that it scarred the bone, there’s one person I can think of that could use lightning like that.”

Y/N listened in horror, while trying to keep her mind from exploding with all the information coming in at once. “I am going to be okay?”

“Yes, luckily the scarring on your spine was superficial and there was no permanent damage that will affect your ability to walk or anything of the sort. The real problem was trying to close off the laceration, but that’s been taken care of too.”

“Oh thank goodness…” Y/N breathed a sigh of relief, holding her hand up to her chest.

Tsunade stepped forward, arms resting back at her sides. “However, you will need to rest as much as you can and you’ll need to start physical therapy.”

Y/N grumbled something under her breath; she would’ve rolled her eyes but her head hurt too much.

“Don’t get an attitude with me. It’s important to get your body back up to speed, that surgery took a lot out of you.” Tsunade scolded, her own brows pinching together in a frown.

“Yeah, yeah I know.” The younger ninja waved her off, choosing to now stare at the wall ahead of her as she sat up against her pillows.

She tried to suppress a deep rooted groan, unfortunately it proved useless, as the shock of pain in her back caught her off guard.

Her mouth let out a gasp before her teeth came clamping down on each other to soften any other noises that would try to escape.

“Try to move around slowly. Even if you were asleep for a week, you need to give yourself some time to heal.”

Y/N’s nearly popped out of her skull when those words processed in her brain. “A week? I’ve been here a whole week?”

Lady Tsunade opened her mouth to say something only to be interrupted when the hospital room door came slamming open.

“I can’t take it anymore!”

A familiar bright blonde haired male came bursting into the room with no regard for what anyone else was saying (Tsunade). He ran over to Y/N’s bedside, a now bright grin on his face.

“Hey Y/N, how ya doing?” He asked casually. It soon earned him a hard whack to the back of the head, a pink haired girl moving in.

“Naruto, you idiot! I told you to WAIT!” Sakura shouted quite angrily. Then she yanked Naruto back by the collar of his orange and black jacket.

Slowly, but surely several other people began to filter into the room, each other with their own unique uniform design.

And she knew every single one of them! Her face didn’t show it but she was glad to see them, it had been too long since the last time she saw them and now here they were.

Every one of them was taller than she remembered; particularly Shikamaru. Back then, she used to think that Shikamaru was kind of small but not so much now; he was fuller, broader.

He had grown up quite a bit.

Sakura had still been yelling at Naruto when Y/N shook herself out of her head, and focused on what was happening right now.

“Come on, Sakura…Cut me some slack okay? It’s been forever since I saw her last.”

“Ugh…” Sakura sighed as she placed a couple of fingers to her temple to dampen the oncoming headache. She switched gears in a few seconds as she faced Y/N, a small replacing the scowl.

“It’s been too long though, what have you been up to?” She nicely asked.

Y/N paused for a second as she thought of what to say; suddenly her throat felt unusable and her mind blanked. All the time she spent thinking of her friends, she never thought about what she’d say once she saw them again.

“O-oh…you know, finishing up a mission” She plainly answered, trying to sound like she used to.

What did she used to sound like?

There echoed a collective noise of surprise coming from her friends, their faces matching that.

“A mission? You mean the past three years, you’ve been on a mission?” Ino cut in, stepping forward to now be standing close by Y/N’s left side.

Y/N’s eyes danced over the faces of the people she once knew, to realize that they were different. It made her throat feel snapped shut.

She swallowed, noticing the soreness of it. “Yeah…”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Choji asked, his voice taking on obvious sadness.

Y/N went to answer but Tsunade cut her off. “It was a stealth mission of the highest order. It needed to be kept secret. No one was allowed to even be aware of why or when she was leaving the village.”

“So that’s why you left without saying goodbye.” Ino voiced as she held her hand against her chest as if she were trying to keep herself focused on the now instead of thinking on what happened back then. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but when she learned that Y/N was gone and no one knew why, she feared that she had succumbed to the same darkness that corrupted Sasuke.

Y/N was her best friend, they told each other everything especially the dumbest of stuff. They always said “Hi” or Good morning, always trading a goodbye before departing on a mission. In some weird way, they felt secure in that. To them it felt like a guarantee that even though they said goodbye it would never be the last.

So when Y/N suddenly wasn’t there anymore, it left Ino afraid that she had been unable to stop her from following a path with no way to return.

Y/N hung her head in shame, now having a difficult time looking them in the eyes. All she saw was the lingering disappointment swimming in their eyes.

“You’re different than before.” Naruto added in the middle of the silence.

She knew all too well.

“Back then, whenever you were around us you were always smiling, always laughing with us. And even when we’d end up in the hospital after a mission, you were always there to cheer us up.” Naruto continued, his usual boisterous personality on the back burner as he spoke softly and sincerely.

“But now, you’ve got this blank look on your face like you don’t know what smiling is.”

He wasn’t wrong. Not at all.

Three years spent on a mission tucking away her feelings, forgetting how much she missed being home and being with friends, and forgetting what made her who she is would make anyone feel as if they didn’t belong in the very place they called home.

It wasn’t a revelation she was prepared for.

The moment she tied that headband to her head she thought the it would be in the middle of the battlefield that she’d feel the most on edge, never did she think that moment would fall on her when she was surrounded by those she loved.

“Don’t be so insensitive, Naruto.” Sakura scolded him again, though this time she spoke less angrily and more concerned for Y/N’s reaction.

“Look, what I’m saying is that you’re not the same as before. What happened out there?”

Finally, Y/N looked up. “A lot of things happened out there. And-”

“Okay, that’s enough for one day.” Shikamaru advised after several minutes of not speaking.

“But Shikamaru-” Naruto began but Shikamaru spoke over him.

“Remember she’s suffered a critical injury; she still needs time to heal and us bringing up details of a delicate mission isn’t helping.”

At that, Naruto’s blue eyes drifted to the tiled floor in a silent agreement.

“Shikamaru is right, the best thing you all can do for her is to let her rest. Her bandages need replaced anyway, so clear out.” Tsunade ordered gently while crossing her arms over her chest.

Silently, each member made their way out of the room, glancing back to Y/N a few times (collectively) before they were out the door. Y/N and Tsunade waited until they could no longer hear their footsteps to say anything else.

“He’s right.” Y/N uttered, staring down at her palms.

“That’s his other gift…” Tsunade said thoughtfully, walking around Y/N’s bed to face the window. “He senses changes in people, no matter how subtle. It’s easy to forget when he acts like a moron.”

Y/N felt her mouth quirk up into a sentimental smile. “It's because of that ability that makes him such a force to be reckoned with.”

“I agree.” Tsunade stood by the window for a few more moments then looked over her shoulder at Y/N. “Alright, how about we get those bandages changed?”

________

Time passed, at what felt like, a blink.

Another week passed before Y/N was cleared to go home, but it felt like time rushed by her. Even when her friends would visit her, the hours they’d spend trying to fill Y/N on what she missed, seemed like mere minutes; gone without a chance to turn around.

Maybe that was better.

Since that first visit, Y/N hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of guilt hanging over her. Every time any one of her old friends came to see her, she saw the sadness in their eyes.

She attempted to act like how she used to, happily-go-lucky, but it was all forced and definitely difficult to keep that up so she quickly decided to let it naturally come back to her.

Whenever that would happen.

It was hard; knowing that her friends expected her to revert back to the old days, and be who she was. And she wanted to be that for them, she truly did, it’s just being on a mission that negated any sort of humanly interaction or connection made it seem like it was all a dream to begin with.

And when she couldn’t deliver, the disappointment always returned.

Now she was a walking blank canvas; splashed with a coat of white to hide any unique colors and patterns.

It almost scared her how much she didn’t react or feel.

Would she ever be the same?

The thought lingered at the forefront of her mind while Y/N sat criss cross on her own bed.

Her back was slouching a bit which caused her to grunt in pain when she straightened herself out again.

Lady Tsunade ordered her to sit as straight as she possibly could to help the healing process, but she was a creature of habit so she’d start out with correct posture then slip back into a slouch then would quickly correct herself again.

It was causing a lot of unnecessary pain.

Y/N huffed as she forced her shoulders to lie straight and back up, being as perpendicular as she could. While she did so, she kept her eyes on the blue sky filled with an abundance of white, fluffy clouds.

Cloud watching was a hobby of her’s, particularly when there wasn’t a lot going on during her mission.

Any time she felt nervous or anxious or bored, she’d tilt her head back and watch them float.

There was something very relaxing about that process.

But she didn’t enjoy it for long when a knock came at her door. Y/N perked up, head whipping to the other side of her room.

“Who is it?” She asked aloud.

“It’s me, Ino.” The muffled voice said on the other side of the door.

Bracing herself, Y/N carefully lifted her aching body up from the bed to make her way to the front door.

She opened the door to find an anxious Ino, twiddling her thumbs. “Hi.”

“Hey, can you come with me somewhere?” Ino abruptly asked.

Y/N raised a brow at her. “I guess, but where are we going?”

Her answer visibly made Ino relax. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “It’s a surprise.”

Then she turned on her heel, making her way down the apartment building hallway and in no time, Y/N followed close behind her.

For some reason, Ino chose not to make conversation on the way to wherever it was they were going.

Instead she quietly led the way, leaving the village houses behind with each passing step and ventured through some trees.

Something about the path they were taking looked familiar, so much so that it caused a warmth to center in Y/N’s gut spreading over her nerves like a warm blanket.

When it came to forests, three years isn’t enough time for it to change, and it looked exactly as it did back then.

Ino eventually stepped through the set of trees, and made it into a sunbathed clearing, completely lavished with a mass of flowers.

Y/N eyes grew wide at the sight; she couldn’t remember the last time she had been here even before she left.

Once she graduated from the academy there was never time to come back here, to relax and enjoy the simple colors of the flowers and their comforting smells wafting through the air.

It still looked like the small piece of heaven she loved so dearly.

“I can tell you remember this place.” Ino finally said, turning around to fully face Y/N; a soft smile on her face. “I know how much you used to love it here.”

“Why are we here?” Y/N asked, her own gaze observing every flower grazing her legs.

Ino stepped up to Y/N, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Because we loved this place when we were kids, so let’s enjoy it.”

Then Ino lightly nudged Y/N to follow her again and this time they didn’t walk that much further when they met a slight slope slanting downwards from where they were.

Ino took a spot on the small slope, then again nudged for Y/N to sit down with her. She did.

As soon as Y/N seated herself onto a patch of grass, Ino reached out and pulled out a white flower with a yellow center. “Do you remember what kind of flower this is?”

Y/N let out a quick airy laugh, caught slightly off guard by the question. “Uh..a jasmine.”

Ino nodded with a smile. Still holding the jasmine, she plucked out another one. This flower was drenched in a bright pink, petals resembling lace. “This one?”

“A carnation.”

She picked another one; it had a long green stem with a bushel of tiny purple petals at the top. “This one?”

Y/N nodded. “Lavender.”

Reaching for one more, Ino pulled up a flower with a somewhat stringy inside, center white and the petals gradually from that bright white to a light pink.

“How about this one?”

To Y/N’s shock, she didn’t recognize it. It definitely looked familiar, but there were several other flowers popping in her head that matched the look of it.

Staring at the flower, Y/N cautiously shook her head as if she were afraid she would disappoint Ino.

Ino held the flower up to her nose to smell the fragrance, closing her eyes a second to relish it before opening them again. “It’s a gladiolus.”

Y/N sadly decided not to respond to that.

“It was your favorite one back then. When we were still in the academy, you told Sakura and I that they could be all sorts of colors like pink..” she gestured to the pink one in her hand. “Or yellow or white. And you also said that they had healing properties used by our medic ninja. It was easy to tell how excited you were to tell us about it; how much you knew about flowers.”

“What’s going on, Ino? Why are we out here?” Y/N finally confronted the strange behavior of her friend.

Ino rested her hands in her lap, the flowers she’d plucked nearly falling from her limp hands. “I thought that if I could remind you of what you used to do, what we used to do together when we were kids, maybe it’d bring back the part of you that’s been hiding.”

“And you were the only one who wasn’t disappointed in me to try, huh?” Y/N laughed humorlessly.

Quickly, Ino faced her friend. “None of us were disappointed in you. We were all worried because you weren’t yourself anymore, and we could see how upset that made you.”

“Then why are you the only one who’s said anything? Why are you the only one out here?” Y/N began to feel the hopelessness grow in her chest like an infection.

Somewhere in the past week, she had rationalized that she had lost her friends because she couldn’t be there the same way as she could three years ago.

“I’m the only one out here because I asked everyone if I could be the first to help you remember. After this, Sakura and Naruto got their own thing planned for you.”

“What do you mean?” Y/N questioned, utterly confused by that statement.

“Well…” Ino began then recounted what happened only a few hours ago.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Sakura, Ino, and Naruto strolled down the street. Originally, Sakura and Ino were walking together but then Naruto saw them and caught up to them to talk as well.

There was some simple chatter going on between them when Naruto began to complain. “Don’t you guys think it’s weird that Y/N isn’t acting like herself anymore?”

Sakura and Ino stopped in their tracks, standing beside each other as Naruto took a few steps ahead before stopping himself, arms coming down to his sides after being held up in a casual posture.

“It’s not weird.” Ino answered somberly.

Sakura frowned. “It isn’t unusual for people to change when they’ve been alone on a mission for that long, especially if it was high priority.”

Naruto gritted his teeth. “I know, but it’s still weird to me. She used to be so happy back then, it was never boring when she was around, she had so much energy and now it’s like that person is gone. Like someone is impersonating her.”

“She’s not gone.” Ino was quick to add. “I can still see the cheerful girl we used to know, I think she’s just got lost along the way.”

Sakura nodded. “I think you’re right.”

There was a brief inter pause when Ino gasped, startling both Sakura and Naruto. “I have an idea!”

The other two ninja waited patiently for Ino to tell them what her idea was.

“We’ve been trying to fill her in on all that she’s missed the past three years right? Well if we instead we show her things of our past together, from when we were kids?”

Sakura’s eyes lit up. “Like when we played in the river together?”

“Or when we read comic books and played games together?!” Naurot chided, his voice grew louder than it was seconds ago.

Ino snapped her fingers and grinned. “Exactly! If we re-experience places we went, things we liked to do then maybe we could remind her of who she is.”

“It’s worth a shot at least.” Sakura smiled, looking between Ino and Naruto.

Naruto threw his fist up in the air. “Are you kidding me? That idea is awesome!”

“Alright, then from now on, each of us will try to remind Y/N of our precious memories together. Ready?” Ino closed her hand, and stuck a fist out to her friends.

Sakura and Naruto both bumped Ino’s fist, earning an excited cheer from all three at the same time.

“You see? That’s all we want, is for you to remember not who you used to be but who you are.” Ino explained, leaning over to a bundle of gladiolus flowers and extending them toward Y/N.

Her violet gaze could see the beginnings of tears gathering in Y/N’s eyes. “Like these gladiolus, maybe we could begin to heal you. If that’s okay?”

They fell, the tears that had been clouding her vision rolled down her cheeks, leaving a warm sensation in their wake.

For the first time in a long time, Y/N let out a relieved sob, taking the bundle of flowers from Ino’s grasp. Her head dipped down to stare at the colorful bouquet, watching her tears fall onto the petals and pool there.

The shame and guilt that hung off her injured back, finally disappeared, giving her the chance to breathe again, to actually breathe. Each inhale of air felt cold going down her throat but left her refreshed.

It was overwhelming.

Ino gave her space, letting her friend cry, to push out everything that she’d kept buried under a lock and key.

It wasn’t until Y/N had pulled her head back up and extended her arms out, that she hugged Y/N tightly to her and she reciprocated. Ino could feel her own tears begin to build.

Y/N cried a little while longer, then allowed herself to speak through the sobs. “Thank you; for not giving up on me.”

Ino pulled back, hands then resting softly on Y/N’s shoulders again. “That’s what friends are for.”

That caused Y/N to let out a tearful laugh and Ino mimicked that.

It was good to be home.

a/n: this was a long one, and I probably wrote more than I really needed to but honestly I do that more than people think. Regardless, if you're reading this thank you for making it all the way through this; it was a lot.

#naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto uzumaki #sakura haruno #sai #ino yamanaka #choji akimichi #shikamaru nara #sasuke uchiha #tsunade #naruto shippuden x reader #naruto imagines #naruto oneshot #naruto angst #naruto fluff #request

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rabbitholessk · 2 years

Text

FLOWER CROWNS

Pink petals swirl in the air around them. Sasuke and Sarada had a busy morning playing at the park and gathering food at the food stands for dinner. They find themselves once again on the familiar route from their home to the hospital to drop off a bento for Sakura.

Sarada is skipping a few paces ahead of Sasuke as he dazedly looks at one of the blooming sakura trees further down the road.

Sasuke nearly walks ahead of Sarada when he notices she has stopped and is looking into a puddle from one of the seasonal rain storms earlier that morning.

“Papa! Look!”

He looks at his soon to be three year old daughter and into the puddle she is looking to.

“Sarada, you have petals in your hair.”

“I know! Like Mama!”

Sarada provides a wide grin admiring her reflection with pink petals adorning the crown of her head. Sasuke tries to pluck one out of her dark locks and she swats his hand away.

“No! I wanna show Mama!”

Sasuke concedes and the further they walk down the stone path adorned with sakura trees more petals fall onto her head, and in turn onto his own.

The father and daughter pair walk through the hospital receiving funny looks from a few of the staff. They walk into his wife’s office and wait for her to return for her lunch break.

When Sakura walks in she looks between her husband and daughter sitting on her office couch, covered in petals. Sarada hops down from the couch and runs up to Sakura.

“Mama, Mama look! We have hair like you! Aren’t we pretty?!”

Sakura kneels down to get on Sarada’s level.

“You’re both pretty, petals or not.” She plucks a petal from her hair.

“If you leave the petals, maybe Auntie Ino and I can make something with them.” Sakura says with a wink. She helps her husband and daughter remove the petals from their dark locks.

They give her the bento and sit with her while she eats and depart shortly after. Later when Sakura arrives home around dinner time holds something behind her back.

“Mama! Welcome home!”

“I have a surprise for you Sarada.”

“Really?!”

“Auntie Ino and I made this for you.” Sakura pulls the item from behind her back, a sakura flower crown adorned with the same pink petals and added greenery Sakura and Ino had collected from trees near the hospital.

Sakura places it atop Sarada’s head and Sarada provides a wide smile running over to a nearby mirror to look at herself. After she has looked at her reflection she proceeds to run around and play.

“She brought home more petals on our walk back.” Sasuke says as he helps her collect her doctor's coat to hang up.

“Perfect! I’ll make one for you too.” Sasuke gives her a look. Sarada comes over at that moment from where she was playing.

“Yay! Papa gets a crown too?”

Sasuke sighs and he looks down at his little peanut.

“Yes.”

“Yay! We will play tea party!”

Sakura giggles behind her hand watching the interaction between their sweet girl and her husband. Ferocious in battle but caring to the ones he loves.

#sasuke #sakura #sasusaku #sssnippetaday #sarada #uchiha family #naruto

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tranquil-turbulence · 1 year

Text

SS Month ‘23 - Day 4

Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Prompt: Modern AU

Warnings: N/A

"Hey, Haruno,” the receptionist called, making the woman pause in her route. When she glanced up from her clipboard, her eyes softened when she saw the bouquet of flowers sitting in a pretty white vase on the edge of the desk.

“Aw,” she cooed, walking over to gingerly press one of the brilliant scarlet petals between two fingers. “Are they for you?”

“No,” she corrected, wiggling her brows at her superior. “Three guesses as to who left them here… for you.”

Giggling, the receptionist handed them over to the doctor, the latter indulgently rolling her eyes with a fond smile playing on her lips. “Oh come now, we don’t know that they’re for me.”

“Who else leaves bouquets of camellias and roses just about every week with the same color ribbon as your eyes?” A pointed look made her huff a laugh.

“I’ll let him know I got them,” she said, clutching the vase tightly to her chest. “Thank you, Inori.”

“You’ve got a good man on your hands, Haruno,” the younger woman answered, resting her chin in her hand and gazing up at her with a longing in her eyes. “My boyfriend doesn’t do that kind of thing at all. You’re so lucky. What’s your secret?”

“I have no idea, honestly,” she admitted, pausing to glance down at the ring adorning her finger. It was a simple gold band, not glamorous by ring standards, but as she smiled down at it she recalled just what it symbolized. “I suppose I just lucked out. Everyone shows their love differently, and I guess Sasuke’s is through gestures instead of words.”

“Akihiro is sweet enough, but sometimes I feel like he just tells me I’m pretty.” With a groan, she let her arm slowly slide down on the desk until her forehead was resting against her hand, pinning it to the desktop. “I don’t feel like he actually loves me as much as he says he does.”

“If he does love you, he’ll show you,” Sakura reassured her, plucking a white camellia from the bouquet and handing it to her. With a smile, she added, “And if he turns out not to be the right one, eventually you will find him. Sometimes your first love isn’t your last.”

“Thanks, senpai.” Inori accepted the flower, twisting the stem fondly in her fingers.

Sakura continued through on her route to the office, humming a quiet tune to herself. As soon as she got to the elevator and pushed the button, she felt a presence beside her.

Smiling, she handed her husband the vase. “Going up?”

“How did you know it was me?” He asked, a hint of a pout on his face.

“You always show up for lunch after sending flowers,” she answered with a giggle.

The door slid open and they both entered, and as soon as it closed and they were alone, Sasuke turned to her. “I brought Ichiraku today.”

“Had an outing with Naruto, did you?”

“His secretary brought up some takeout, and he insisted I take some of the extras.” He let out a disbelieving snort. “I’ll never understand how Hinata still tolerates it. I’m beginning to grow sick of the taste.”

“It takes a lot of love to be married to someone like him,” the pink-haired woman mused thoughtfully. “And Hinata… well, she’s just as crazy about him now as she was in middle school.”

“Crazy, isn’t it? She could have anyone in Tokyo and she chose Naruto.”

“Love does that to a person.” Smiling, she shyly snuck her hand into the crook of the man’s elbow.

“I suppose he deserves someone that devoted. Lord knows a lesser woman would have divorced him long ago.” He commented.

“It’s hardly his fault he works such long hours,” she defended, indignation for their childhood friend rising in her chest.

“No, but it’s hardly romantic.”

Sakura heaved a sigh. She couldn’t argue with that.

The elevator doors opened, and just like that her arm was back at her side - and they strolled through the hall to her office.

A couple of junior nurses stopped and stared their way as they passed, whispering to one another. She knew the presence of her husband caused quite a stir, yet she stood tall, ignoring the buzz.

She’d heard every single rumor before; he was too cold, she was too clingy, he was too much of a free spirit to stay tethered in Japan, she was too devoted to her work to be a good wife to him - she’d heard it all and taken it all in stride. All of her hurts were left in the past, the insecurities and worries of a bride-to-be who had gotten engaged so soon even her parents were left reeling from the news - being a married woman in college was hardly surprising, yet it still seemed so considering just who she’d married.

Once upon a time, Uchiha Sasuke was considered untouchable; one of the most sought-after students in their middle and high school years, aloof and charismatic all the same. She was a hard worker, just like he, yet she devoted most of her time to getting into the best university so that she could have the best chances possible of achieving her dream. How he’d decided to tail after her, she still didn’t know - he could have settled with any of his dreamy-eyed admirers, yet he chose the working-class girl who had long since abandoned all hope of dating him.

“Just how did you woo me?” She questioned as they entered her office.

“What do you mean?”

“For the longest time I could have sworn you hated me in school,” she pointed out. “How on earth did you decide you wanted me?”

He gave her a longsuffering stare as he set the takeout bag on her desk. “I thought I already told you; I always thought you were cute, but I didn’t seriously consider dating until third year in high school.”

“You stole my textbook and let me think I lost a two-thousand-yen piece of school property,” she accused.

“I was going to leave you a note, but nothing I wrote sounded good enough,” Sasuke sighed.

“You camped at our class booth the entire time I was helping run it during the festival, and you kept buying all my boba!”

“I wanted to support the class, and you happened to be the vendor,” he defended.

“You hate boba!”

“Why do you think Kiba was so full by the third shift?” He gave her a pointed look. “After my first tea, I asked him to discreetly start taking them instead.”

She paused, squinting at him. “You never told me that.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to know.” He shrugged, popping off the lid from the takeaway bowl. “You seemed content enough thinking that I was doing something I hated just so that I could find an excuse to buy from the booth.”

Her mouth dropped open for a moment, but then she shut it and thoughtfully tapped her nails against the desk. “Y’know, that makes more sense. Huh. So Hinata was right.”

“Of course she was; who do you think I found to ask?”

“I’d be more upset you were secretly getting advice from one of my best friends if I wasn’t already giving Naruto advice about how to date her.” She sagged into her chair and rubbed her forehead. “I’m still kind of upset that all those times you just walked away from me when I tried talking to you, it was just because you were shy.”

“I had horrible communication skills; I’ve already said I was sorry about that.”

“I know, and I’ve already forgiven you,” she replied, leaning against his side as he handed her some chopsticks.

The two ate in silence, the bouquet sitting innocently on the windowsill. The red and white flowers seemed to perk up in the warm sunlight, providing a nice spot of color in an otherwise monochromatic room. Other personal items, such as a framed photo here, or a diagram there, livened up the space.

Sakura paused, mid-bite, when she felt a foot sneakily trailing up her leg. Giving her husband a sly grin, she leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table.

“How is Sarada?” She asked.

“Sleeping nicely when I dropped her off at Mother’s earlier,” he answered. “We should be in for a nice evening.”

“I’m so glad your parents agreed to watch her this afternoon.” She closed her eyes when his hand found hers, fingers intertwining in hers. The glint of the wedding ring he wore around his neck caught her attention for a fleeting moment before she looked back into his face, handsome features captivating her.

“Itachi was similarly pleased to have the opportunity of seeing her,” he added with a chuckle. “Sometimes I wish they could have adopted more than just Jun.”

“One child is trouble enough sometimes; I would pity her if she had more.” She shot her husband a look. “How would you feel if we had another? She’s already turning five - I know she gets lonely being the only child.”

Sasuke took pause and hummed thoughtfully, squeezing her hand. “I’m not sure. I wouldn’t want her to feel any less loved should we have another baby.”

Sakura took a moment and gazed at him, eyes softening. “We would never,” she reassured. “We wouldn’t love her any less with a sibling, or two, or even three.”

“Three?” He balked, brow furrowing in confusion. “Sakura, are you planning…?”

“No, just thinking of the future.” With a smile and a laugh, she went back to her ramen. “It’s too soon to tell, anyway.”

Shaking his head, he slurped again - and promptly choked, eyes flying wide as he clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Sasuke?” The woman questioned in alarm, rising from her chair with a hand raised to help.

Shaking, he stood, grasping her hands and coughing into the crook of his elbow. Once his brief fit had passed, his panting for air turning into laughter.

“You… you’re…?” He questioned, ghosting his fingers across her front.

“I just found out this morning,” she confirmed with a broad smile. “Four weeks.”

“You’re pregnant,” he breathed, half in disbelief. “Holy shit…”

“At least it isn’t a surprise this time!” She laughed, holding him close as he sagged into her body.

“Mother will be so happy. Itachi will-- I’m--” He stumbled over his words, letting out a wheeze.

The couple embraced tightly, and if she felt a wet spot on her shoulder she said nothing.

#sasusaku #sasusaku month 2023 #modern au #established relationship

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the12thnightproject · 2 years

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Chapters Three: Tokin

Shingen x OC; Kenshin x MC (Mai)

Previous Chapter: here

Logline - Disguised as a boy, Katsuko finds herself working for Shingen, but her dangerous masquerade becomes difficult to sustain when she falls for the man with a fatal secret.

After the humiliating training session ended, I followed Shingen through the labyrinth of corridors, gardens and interior structures to a centrally located room in the castle, where three women – seamstresses apparently – were working on various sewing projects. When we appeared in the doorway, their conversation hushed, then picked up again with blushes and giggles and voices that rose an octave in excitement.

Shingen bowed to them. “A garden of the prettiest flowers in Kasugayama.” Then he presented himself next to a woman about my own age and gave her an even deeper bow. “Goddess, you become more beautiful every time I see you. By this time next month, I will have to shield my eyes to behold your radiance.” The Goddess in question rolled her own eyes, though a slight blush indicated that she was not completely unaffected.

He turned to greet each of the women, “Angel, that color you’re wearing brings out the sparkle in your eyes,” he said to a pretty girl in a soft pink kimono. To the other seamstress, he said, “Sweetheart, you’re glowing. Motherhood clearly suits you. How is your little one doing?”

That netted him three blushes, two sighs, one fluttered hand to the heart, and a burst of information about a four-month-old boy who had learned to roll over, but not back (which apparently said infant was not pleased about). All through the monologue, Shingen, smiled and patted her hand, which in turn caused more blushes and sighs from all the women.

If you bottled that charisma, you could probably solve the fossil fuel crisis.

Greetings taken care of, Shingen turned back to the ‘Goddess.’ “Mai, this is Katsuhira, my new courier, who could use some things to wear.”

Oh? This was Sasuke’s friend Mai, who was now “with Kenshin”? Huh. Somehow, I had expected her to be lying on a divan eating peeled grapes, not sitting in a room embroidering butterflies around the edges of a silk… something-or-other. Then she aimed a sweet smile at me, and I began to understand.

I explained my clothing dilemma. “Please don’t go to any trouble. I’ll take castoffs if they’re available. Anything basic and dark.” Even the modern version of Katsuko had lived mostly in blue, grey, and black athletic gear. I still mourned the loss of the hoodie I’d worn when I arrived in this era. I’d slept in it every night – it had become a security blanket. But after a couple years, it had disintegrated (although Fume had helped that process along by putting extra lye in the wash kettle.)

“Ignore him, he’s got boring taste,” said the man who wore his kimono lower than a porn star at a nightclub – had it dipped even more since we entered the room? If it plunged any further, he’d be in danger of a serious wardrobe malfunction. “I’ll leave him in your lovely and capable hands.”

Once Shingen left, the other women picked up their conversation again, this time with added sighs and coos and musings about the size of his… feet (definitely a euphemism). Mai pointed to a mark on the floor and brought out some leather strips that she used to measure me. “Don’t look so worried, Katsuhira. I like to make clothes that make people happy, so if you want dark clothes…” She paused and gave me a questioning look.

I assured her that I did. “Dark and unrestricting clothing. I do a lot of riding and climbing trees, so I need freedom of movement.” Additionally, there was that need to disguise my figure, although the leather corset-binder-instrument- of-torture-thing that I wore around my breasts did a good job of that.

“Then that’s what you shall have.” She grabbed a piece of paper and brush and made a quick sketch. Even upside down, it looked like a pretty good drawing. I wondered if she would be able to make a copy of the portrait of Toshiie that Francisco had done a few years back. That drawing was the last link to a life that was becoming dimmer and dimmer in my mind. Sometimes I wasn’t even sure if I remembered exactly what my brother looked like, and often unrolled the drawing to refresh my memory. After so much handling, the drawing was fairly battered -- it would be great to have a backup drawing before this one disintegrated like my hoodie.

“Are you alright?” Mai broke into my mental doom scrolling.

“Oh. Yes, I’m fine.” Had I spaced out and missed something she’d said to me? “Why do you ask?”

“You looked sad.” She shook her head. “I have what I need here, Katsuhira. I’ll get something for you to wear as soon as I can.”

Shortly after that, I presented myself in Shingen’s room for his instructions. It was impressive how he managed to look simultaneously businesslike and decadent, as he lounged on the floor behind a writing desk. The decadence might be because he hadn’t bothered to readjust his kimono after flirting with the seamstresses. Maybe he needed to give his pecs some air? Perhaps they were like dogs and would eat the futon if they didn’t get taken outside at least twice a day.

Before I could get too distracted by that weird cartoonlike image, my attention was caught by something else. On the corner of the desk was wooden burr puzzle – looked like he was using it to weigh down the end of the scroll he was reading. My fingers itched to take it apart and reassemble it, and I put my hands behind my back so I wouldn’t reach for it. Puzzles are my kryptonite.

Shingen noticed where I was looking. “It’s a puzzle my cousin found for me – he tends to prowl antique stores and other curiosity shops. He believes it came from China.” He picked it up and removed one of the planks. “I’d take the whole thing apart and show you, but there are over seventy pieces and I would need the rest of the morning to put it back together again.”

Well, it was not in my job description to play with toys, even though the puzzle was an undeniable temptation. So, I turned my focus back to Shingen, who handed me the stack of messages that had been sitting under the burr. Most were addressed to various women.

I’m delivering his love letters?

“Do you need a map?” he asked.

“I can figure it out.” I hadn’t been to the town of Kasugayama in my many travels, but most places tended to be laid out in a similar fashion. “I learn more things by getting lost anyway.”

That earned me a sharp look as the rogue turned into an attentive general in an instant. “How so?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning to get lost. But it’s the best way to see a place from the ground up. You find out where all the blind alleys are, what to avoid, who is helpful, who is not.” I shrugged. “If you don’t get lost, you only know the most direct routes from place to place. At some point, the most direct routes are the ones you need to avoid.”

He tapped his fingers on the desk. “That’s a useful philosophy,” Shingen said. “Oh, and don’t forget the confections from the Teahouse.”

“Anything specific?” I asked, mentally adding “food delivery” and “romantic go-between” onto my invisible resume.

“Tell them it’s for me. They know what I like.”

That didn’t surprise me in the slightest.

It didn’t take long at all to deliver most of the messages (and I didn’t get lost), although the recipients I connected with in person were disappointed and concerned that Shingen hadn’t come in person. “Is anything wrong? Where is he?” Questions like these were the running theme of the day.

“He’s just busy,” I kept repeating.

He had seemed busy, although the revelation that he normally made this circuit in person suggested that he had taken me in out of pity. I resolved to make myself extremely useful. The last thing I wanted was to lose another place, especially just one day after losing the previous one.

At least that was my thinking prior to the last message…

My final delivery was, in a sense, a message to me, a stark reminder that this world was dangerous. Unlike the other places, where I had been simply directed to drop off the packet at a designated shop or house, my instructions were to hand this one to “Chiyome,” in person.

Chiyome was older than I had expected one of Shingen’s lovers to be, but I would describe her as having good bones. Once I gave her the packet, she instructed me to wait. That was not unusual in itself, until one of her retainers grabbed me and held a knife to my throat.

I froze (as you do at knife point). Even if I grabbed my sword, I wouldn’t be able to do anything before the man slit my throat. Once again, I had forgotten the basic rule of Sengoku – anyone can find a reason to kill you.

Ok… breathe in feelings of calm and peace. Breathe out… there is no reason to kill me. (I am not the droid you are looking for). In… calm and peace. Out… no reason to kill me. In… calm and peace. Out… no reason to kill-- Unless… what if she already had a reason? What if Shingen had sent me here to be killed?

“Show me your hands,” she said.

Mystified, I held my hands out to her. They were somewhat dry and calloused, but I couldn’t see how that would make any difference. She turned them, over her touch neither overly rough nor gentle, examined every inch of my skin, even checked under the tips of my chewed-up fingernails.

Finally, Chiyome let go of my hands, then picked up the as yet unopened message. When she unfolded it, a cloud of dark oily powder arose, clinging to and smudging every surface it touched.

It had been a test.

If I had decided to sneak a look at the message – and, admittedly, had I still been working for Aki, I might have done so - that powder would have gotten all over my hands – I imagined it was a substance not easily removed. If my hands had not passed inspection, Chiyome would likely have told her guard to either kill me… or take me prisoner and turn me back over to Shingen… and he would probably have killed me.

Shingen didn’t trust me.

Good. To. Know.

Briefly, I considered playing dumb and asking her what was going on. But I imagined she was going to send a report on our encounter to Shingen, and I didn’t want to have to keep up a village idiot act indefinitely. That kind of thing is a lot of work. Instead, I settled for a purposefully dry, “Will there be a reply?”

“No.”

Right. Returning not-dead would be response enough.

At the Teahouse, the mention of Shingen’s name prompted the, at this point, expected, blushes and giggles and painful glass breaking vocal pitches from the women who worked there. While I waited for them to prepare his order, I leaned against the wall, inhaling the fragrance of sweet pastry and enjoying the sensation of being not-dead.

It looked to be a popular spot, and most of the tables were fill—

Underneath a tapestry depicting silkworms in a mulberry tree, sat an extremely familiar “old man.” He had a shogi game set up on a table and appeared to be waiting for a willing opponent. The old man glanced at me, then “accidentally” knocked several tiles off the table. One slid to a stop at my feet.

I picked up the piece and slapped it on his table. “Aki! You almost got me killed!” My words came out in a tone somewhere between a stage whisper and an angry hiss.

“Interesting. It took less than two days for you to develop an overdramatic sensibility, Katsu.” He busied himself in the task of setting the game back up. “Do you have time for a game?”

“No. I have to bring my new master’s pastry to him. Presuming he’s not still plotting to kill me.” Since I knew as soon as that came out of my mouth, I would be accused of being overly dramatic, I explained what had happened with the message and the black powder.

Aki seemed unconcerned. Somehow this bothered me almost as much as the knife-to-the-throat situation.

“Think about it,” Aki said. “If you had opened that letter in the street, what would have happened?”

“That powder would have all over my hands.” Possibly my clothes too if it had been windy.

He was still annoying calm. “Then… what would you have done next?”

“Run like hell… although, since you threw me out, I don’t know where to.” Still feeling incredibly put upon, I crossed my arms and glared at him.

“You look like a girl when you do that. Stand up straight.” He took his walking stick and tapped the back of my leg with it.

Not bothering to point out the obvious, I adjusted my posture. The glare stayed in place. “What the hell is going on?”

Aki picked up a Shogi piece and showed to me. It was a pawn. With unnecessary ceremony (and he accuses me of being overly dramatic?) he flipped it over to the tokin side, signifying that it had been promoted to a position of greater power. He gently placed it in the palm of my hand and closed my fingers over it.

Message received.

I felt the comfort of the familiar weight of the tile and the cool texture of its polished wood surface. “You couldn’t have warned me first?”

“It was an instant decision. I had to make a judgment call.” Typical of Aki to parrot my own words back to me. “Your reaction needed to be spontaneous and natural – Shingen is remarkably astute at reading people… but I am sorry if I caused you any emotional distress.”

He had caused me a great deal of emotional distress, and the initial pain boiled into anger at the way Aki had manipulated my feelings. It had hurt to have been tossed away as easily as you’d kick a stone out of your path. “Why did you need me to react at all?”

“Something seemed off to me. Robbers don’t normally place a sniper in the trees.” Aki regarded me steadily. He was correct, and I ought to have thought of that myself.

The specter of a new puzzle to solve elbowed past my feelings. “Was he a third party?” Although that would have been one hell of a coincidence – two separate entities independently attacking the same group of travelers.

“No - I questioned the man I took with me. The bandits were hired to be a diversion. The sniper was planning to kill one of them – and no, the bandit didn’t know which one - and implicate Nobunaga.” Aki paused to gulp down the rest of his tea. “You’ll need to pass along this information - and keep an eye out for future attempts.”

“Is that why you sent me here? To stop future attempts?” Could I pass along this information without letting Shingen know where it came from, or even that it had come to me? Now that I was aware that I was still, sort of, associated with Aki, then it put me in an awkward position with Shingen – who had just set me up to potentially be killed. It would be a good idea to avoid alerting him to the fact that I was a person who had access to information like this.

I would like to continue to be not-dead.

“One of several reasons, yes. I have an urgent matter to take care of, and I will be away for several weeks.” Aki swept the rest of the Shogi pieces into a pouch, and stood up, signaling that our conversation had ended. “Originally, I planned to have you stay with Ryoichi while I was gone, but with this new information, I reconsidered. Just, don’t drop your guard.”

Urgent? I was used to Aki disappearing, but never for several weeks. “Will you be alright?”

“Of course. I said urgent, not dangerous.” He gave me a brief bow…and then, he was gone, again, without elaborating on what the rest of those “several” reasons were.

#TBT12lies #ikemen sengoku #fanfic #ikesen shingen #throwback thursday #twelve lies i told shingen takeda

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galacticrainbowsaz · 1 year

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Random thought I've decided to share with you all-

If Konoha had Nintendo, Naruto and Sasuke (as Genin) would play Animal Crossing together.

Sasuke's house would be "effortlessly" elegant (he actually puts a lot of time and thought into it, but Naruto doesn't know that, and hopefully never will). He collects the cat villagers and any other kinds he just sort of, ignores them lol His island/house aesthetic is blues, blacks, purples and reds, and he enjoys the calmness that is fishing... Unless there's a fishing tournament. Then he's a psycho on a warpath (Kakashi should have seen the signs)

On the flip side, Naruto's house would be.. a tidy mess. It's got really rare stuff, and stuff that very much SCREAMS Naruto, but he's never satisfied. No matter how many times Sasuke tells him that his house is actually pretty good (Kakashi noticed it was the only time they ever offer genuine compliments and tips without any animosity or barbed words). Despite his complaining though, Naruto's house is actually really nice to be in and is aesthetically pleasing, even with the sometimes contrasting pieces. Once Sakura asked why his apartment couldn't be that nice, and he whined that it's much harder in real life (Sasuke agreed) and furniture costs more than he makes in a year (Kakashi was shook). His house doesn't really have a set colour, but orange tends to be one of the mains. His last change to his house before the Chunnin exams gave it a sunset vibe, and Sakura genuinely admitted that it was a really nice look. For his villagers... Naruto doesn't really mind who it is. Of course, he leans towards the frog peeps and a few of the boars/pigs (mostly for their "funny" personalities), but he isn't picky about them. He talks to them all, and even the most dickish of villagers warm up to him eventually. His favourite hobby is gardening. He still very vividly remembers the time he got his first golden rose in his village. His favourite flowers are the red and orange Mums.

Sakura tried Animal Crossing once. She got bored within twenty minutes because of how slow and tedious it is. Give her a good ol' action/fighter any day.

Kakashi will never admit he has the game, or is the proud owner of all the dog-like villagers (he has multiple games for this very purpose). He doesn't really do much on the game aside from talk to the villagers if he's having a rough day, but it always raises his spirits up. His house has a bare minimum, white and grey aesthetic. The only person to know he plays is Gai, and Gai has been sworn to secrecy.

TIMESKIP, LETS GO!!

After the war is over and life picks up again, a new version of Animal Crossing comes out, and in a nostalgic trance, they all pick it up again. This time roping their other friends into it too.

Sasuke's island isn't much different from before, still overrun with cat villagers (he will never admit to spending actual money on them, having usually payed Ino to trade villagers), and has a very elegant, tidy vibe. However, to stray away from the depresso colours, he elected to use colours that mean something to him. His island now consists of mostly orange, pink, red, whites and a few black things. And instead of losing his mind fishing, he just generally wanders around tending to his island and trying to complete his collection of KK Slider songs. The music cheers him up, ok?

Naruto has learnt to appreciate how he decorates his island now, and honestly, the sunset vibe sat with him for longer than he'd ever admit. So yeah, his island is filled with warm, calm colours and furniture that makes the island look like a beach resort. It's very calming and easy to move around, making it perfect for him to make his own little flower garden! He still loves red Mums, but now he has an appreciation of yellow Windflowers. He and Ino trade flowers and visit each other's islands often.

Sakura finally understands the need for a chill game every now and then. Plus, she can now play with Sarada, and very much enjoys their bonding time on the game. She's sad there aren't any slug villagers, but she does appreciate the frogs. She also kind of maybe loves Apollo and will punch anyone who insults him (RIP Kiba). Her island has a soft, pink and red aesthetic (shocking), with a farm she tends to every day. She got really in to getting all of the cooking recipes, and is grateful that her friends and family help out by giving her their spares (or just any recipes they find, in Naruto's case).

Kakashi spends a lot of his free time on his island now. Mostly just, making clothes, honestly. His villagers are almost the same as his main game way back when, and his aesthetic has not changed at all, but he at least doesn't need the pick me up as often anymore. Still, he makes some incredible outfits. He also now co-hosts Ino's "outfit pageant" after a surprising win the first time she held it.

Yamato is similar to Naruto in that he LOVES the gardening aspect. His island is a legit step back into nature, and it's kind of wild how he's managed to pull it off. His furniture is mostly of the wooden/bamboo variety, and he has a MASSIVE bamboo forest on the right side of his island. For his house, obviously, he chose greens, browns and beiges to compliment the nature look. And yes, he will gladly admit to how much effort he has put into his island. However, he also enjoys hiding behind objects within other players line of sight when visiting or being visited, and staring at them. This has gotten him kicked off of Naruto's island more than a few times.

Sai's goal is to complete his museum. Naruto got him into the game, and when he saw the art, best believe that boi got attached. Whenever he and Naruto have free time, they will jump on each other's islands and run around collecting bugs and fish for the museum. They're also the first person either thinks of when they end up with a dupe of artwork. If they both have it, then it's sent to Sasuke (he doesn't really care for the museum, but thanks them both anyway and submits the work. Any dupes they've sent him goes into his storage as precious gifts). His island has a minimalistic, random aesthetic going on. By that I mean, he has super sleek and modern stuff... And random shit dotted around. For example, next to his very lovely outdoor dining area... Is a battle between two Godzilla and a Megazord. Yeah, it's... Definitely interesting. Meanwhile, his house is basically an art gallery. Any fakes he's accidentally purchased from Red, his sworn nemesis, goes right up in his house as a sort of, display of deceit. It's a really clean and nice aesthetic otherwise! He doesn't care for the villagers at all, and happily nicknames them anything he particularly dislikes that day (a few times he has been known to call all of his villagers Red).

Whenever Team 7 happen to have the same days off, they boot up the game and jump onto someone's island to hang out. Sometimes their other friends join, and sometimes they invite their kids, but it's good for them to just be there together. Usually it devolves into them joking about Sasuke being out of the village for various reasons, but they all have a good laugh at it and cherish the memories made.

#saz thoughts #naruto #uzumaki naruto #uchiha sasuke #uchiha sakura #haruno sakura #yamanaka sai #hatake kakashi #yamato #animal crossing #crossover #kinda??#if naruto had nintendo #this idea took hold and will not let me go #naruto x animal crossing #animal crossing new horizons #naruto new horizons #acnh #NaruCrossing

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azurelyy · 2 years

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Congrats on 100! You deserve it and so much more ily. can you please do #8 fluff for Sasuke? Maybe he’s saying how much he doesn’t like people, or the reader is really insecure and telling him about all her flaws? I hope it’s okay and congrats again! :)

Hi, sweet Nonnie! Thank you for the request. You know how I looooove my soft Sasuke, haha. This was really fun to write, although it took a lot of noodling in my brain because I had so many ideas for the fic. I hope you enjoy the end result!

Words: 1.8k

Warnings: sfw, hurt/comfort, fluffy fluff, soft! Sasuke, minor heartache, insecure reader

☁️ Prompt: "I can't see anything I don't like about you."

You sat on the edge of the bed, nervously twisting the hem of your skirt between your fingers as Sasuke shook off his jacket. His cheeks were light pink, his black hair slightly disheveled from his hands running through it all evening. Was he as nervous as you were? Impossible. He was perfect and pretty and… Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha.

And you were just… You.

He sat next to you and held your hand in his, tracing the lines along your palm and humming softly. With each swipe of his thumb, the volcano in your stomach rumbled with desire. The two of you had been flirting on and off again for months now, any time he had business in The Cloud. He always came back, like a carnivorous flower in summer, finding you throughout the village with his adorable crooked smile and striking dark eyes. Only this time had been different.

“Hi,” he said, enjoying the way your face lit up when you noticed him standing next to you at the fruit stall.

“Sasuke!” You sang, wrapping him in a hug. You were the only person who had touched him in so long; it felt nice, touching you. He smirked against your hair as he gripped onto your hips and breathed a small, “Yeah.”

“‘I’m still working for a bit, but I can meet you at my place later?” You asked, blinking up at him. He saw your mouth turn downwards and he thought about kissing you, but all the people around made him weary. He pulled away from you, letting the grim reality of the situation set in, as he shook his head.

“I can help,” he mumbled, looking towards the two stools behind your stall. “If you want?”

You spent the afternoon letting him sit next to you. He would smile at the customers as they browsed through your apples, but you never expected him to actually interact with them. Instead, you’d make him feel helpful by allowing him to rearrange the stand when the stock got low, or asking for him to hand you one of your handcrafted tote bags when a customer requested one. After your shift, you took him out to the orchard and you both watched the sunset in the shadows of your green apple trees, enjoying the cool breeze that occasionally cut through the warmth of Sasuke’s embrace.

Nothing mattered when he was with you - that’s what Sasuke liked the most about visiting here. How he could be anyone and do anything. You made him feel safe and seen, in a way no one else ever had. It was the reason why he responded with “awhile” when you asked how long he was staying this time. It was the reason why he followed slowly behind you as you walked back to the house, questioning if he was making a mistake. He’d wanted you for so long, but he didn’t know how to tell you. Would you feel the same?

He looked from your palm into your delicate eyes, watching him with a burning intensity that made his soul sing. He trailed his finger up your arm, tracing the over the small veins in your wrist, before he cupped your cheek with his hand. Your breath was cold and sweet as he leaned forward, brushing his nose against yours.

“Sasuke?” Your voice was so small and fragile; lovely like a harp. He hummed as he lowered his lips to hover over yours and pierced you with his eyes, shooting you straight to the inky blackness of space.

“I’m not good with words,” he confessed, intertwining the fingers of his free hand with yours. “But I have to tell you something.”

Fire; deep and blue, swirled around your hand in his. Soft silence filled the space between your bodies as his minty breath tickled the skin of your chin. “So… I’d like to show you instead.”

There was a heartbeat of stillness before he pushed his lips to yours, pulling you into the flames and burning you up. Your soft gasp entranced him as he slid his tongue into your mouth and explored around, enjoying the sensation of your small hands tugging at his hair. He leaned his head to the side, deepening the kiss as a force impacted one of his four walls and he, for the first time, welcomed someone inside.

Somehow, articles of clothing had been shed to the floor, leaving the two of you half naked in just your underwear. His slender hands slowly rolled over your stomach, tracing the outline of your lace panties delicately as his mouth continued to devastate you with gentle kisses along your jawline. You gripped onto his strong bicep and he rolled you onto your back, grazing his teeth along the sensitive skin of your neck and sucking your earlobe between his lips. He was like your personal dark devil, sinking you deeper and deeper into the belly of the underworld.

When his finger tugged at your panties, adjusting them lower down your hips, every muscle in your body inadvertently tightened and you whimpered, squirming your legs. He pulled back, his midnight eyes heavy-lidded and focused on your glossy mouth, his breathing shallow and steady.

“What’s wrong?” He murmured, pecking your cheek and moving his hand up to caress your face.

Blood was pounding in your ears, drowning his voice out as you whispered, “I’m sorry.” You felt your eyes grow wet and you turned away from him, fluttering your eyelashes shut as a hiccup escaped through your lips and your body twitched. Sasuke’s voice was faint as you rolled to your side and pulled the blanket over your head, hating yourself.

Here it was - after months and months of torturous flirting and doubting yourself - Sasuke was here, with you, in bed. And you just ruined everything. There was no way he’d talk to you again after this. How embarrassing.

You reflected on how you must look from his perspective, all whiny and insecure and exasperating. He had confessed to you before about how easily irritable he could be sometimes, and you were sure this moment would forever be Top Tier Annoying in his mind. He was just about to fuck someone he’d, supposedly - you still couldn’t believe he felt the same way about you this whole time - chased for months, only for them to start sobbing before he could even take their panties off. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The comforter shifted up and then fluttered back down again, the colorful fabric no longer hugged fully around you as the heat of Sasuke’s body was trapped beneath the blanket with you, warming your soul from the inside out. He rested his arm on your shoulder and pulled himself closer to you, spooning you to his chest as you continued sobbing gently against the sheets. He was silent, allowing you to work through your demons on your own, only occasionally shushing you if a sob was too strangled, too painful for him to listen to.

He hated knowing he did this to you; guilt gnawing at him like a hyena to a bone. He moved too quickly. He shouldn’t have allowed himself to get carried away. He knew you were sensitive - it was his favorite part about you, the way you floated through life with enough empathy to let all his darkness into your beautiful light; sunlight over him no matter what he did - and this is how he repaid you. He was selfish. Always had been. He didn’t deserve you. But he wanted you. It was the reason why he tightened his arms around you as your trembling subsided, why he buried his nose into your hair and breathed in your soothing scent. He could fix this.

“M’sorry,” he said softly. He smelled like the Redwoods, sweet like rain and moss and clouds.

You rolled over to face him and he rested his hand on your cheek, catching the stray tear drops with his thumb. You looked at his chest. “When I was little, I used to think I was ugly.”

You sniffled and he stayed still as a statue, listening to you intently. “I would come home every day and write letters to myself.”

“‘Dear Me’”, they’d start, ‘Today, no one wanted to play with you. You deserve it. No one wants to look at someone like you.’” You saw his lower lip quiver as you trailed your eyes up to his face, but he stayed quiet. “I would scream into my pillow at night, begging to the gods to make me pretty. ‘Please. Just make one thing about me pretty.’”

Another hot tear streaked down your face, but this time Sasuke didn’t catch it with his thumb. Instead, he moved closer and rolled you to your back, gently getting on top of you as he kissed the tears from your face, whispering, “You’re pretty. You’re pretty.” He chanted it as gentle kisses trailed down your cheeks, along your jaw. Whispered praises filled the air as he tenderly kissed every part of your body that you hated; doing what he could to convince you of his affections. He would create constellations for you, would rip a hole in the sky and suck out your fears, would move mountains and rivers and oceans, would go to hell and back - he would do anything to make you smile. He never wanted to see you cry again.

“Sasuke,” you whispered as he nuzzled his face in the crook of your neck, “I ruined everything.”

“No,” his voice was stern as he pulled back to look at you, “You didn’t. You’re perfect.”

You intertwined his fingers with yours as your other hand streaked through his dark hair. “Do you hate me now?” You felt silly needing so much reassurance from him and you averted your eyes away from his. He gripped your chin, forcing you to look at him as he shook his head.

“I could never hate you,” he assured, smiling down at you. “Ever.”

“But-” He silenced you by pressing his lips to yours. It was a gentle kiss, soft as silk, touching you in a way his hands never could.

Your lips trembled under his as he pulled back and whispered against your mouth, “I am not good with people. I get frustrated. I get upset. It’s hard for me to open up.”

You waited as he took in a shaky breath. “But when I’m with you, I don’t feel that way. I feel… good.” He kissed you again and you melted in his hands. “I can’t see anything I don’t like about you.”

You danced in the dark together for the first time after that, touching each other fully and without hesitation. He explored every inch of you and you of him, until the morning sun had faded into the harsh afternoon light and you were both nothing but tangled limbs and heavy hearts. He cradled you after, holding you tightly like a child does their teddy bear, and as you allowed yourself to fade into a restful slumber, you read his touch like a lost tome, finally able to translate the words: I love you.

Please consider reblogging to support my work and as always, scream at me in the comments if you enjoyed! <3

#azurelyy.100event #soft sasuke #sasuke fluff #sasuke x you #sasuke uchiha #azurelyy writes #sasuke x reader #naruto fanfiction

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uchiwife · 2 years

Text

Pairing : ItaSaku.🌸🍡 [ Modern AU.]

(In this story Itachi is 21 and Sakura is 19.)

Characters: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Itachi, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Yamanaka Ino, Sai, Nara Shikamaru, Temari, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Izumi, Sasori, Deidara. ( Some are only mentioned or make brief appearances.)

Category: Slice of life, fluff, angst and some humor.

WARNING(S): Good question. Let me know.

Word count : 10k

a/n : English is not my mother tongue, so please excuse me for any mistakes I might commit in it. ꒱࿐♡ ˚.*ೃ

—

[ In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night, just call my name, I'm yours to tame. In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night, I'm wide awake, I crave your taste, all night long 'til morning comes I'm getting what is mine, you gon' get yours. ♡]

“Today is the day!”

Sakura stood in front of her mirror, cheering herself on for the last 15 minutes. She admired her reflection, appreciating the view the mirror reflected back to her. She wasn't too shallow, but she liked to feel beautiful and today she thought she was really pretty. Stressed maybe, nervous even, but very pretty.

She couldn't believe today was the day she would confess her feelings. It's not fair that he's so handsome! She’d always thought he was cute, but back then it was different, he had been her friend. She wasn't sure if two years was the beginning of her love for him, but she was sure it was time to confess. She couldn't live like this anymore, pining for a guy, dreaming of a future that might never exist. This day would determine the rest of her love life; either the man she loved would return her feelings, or she would be heartbroken and have to move on.

The very idea of him not sharing her feelings was painful, but she would respect his decision no matter what. Her mother had always told her that in life when you want something, you have to go get it. And God how she was going to try to get him! Her mom had taught her early on that it was more beneficial for her to never depend on others, let alone for her happiness. People should always be a bonus in our lives, never a burden or something that drags us down. She had taken this lesson to heart, even though sometimes she would really like to be the one to bring that bonus of happiness into the life of the man she loved.

She sighed, tucking a pink lock of hair behind her ear. She checked her dress for creases, made sure nothing was askew, and that her makeup didn't smudge. It wasn’t the case. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

“ Okay, Sakura. You can do it! You don't have to be a genius! The worst he can say is no, after all.”

Huh. Yes, but, his 'no' might create some damage to my heart. Ugh, what am I going to do if he doesn't like me? I'll never be able to look him in the eyes again. Well, not for a while! Besides, we go to the same college, it's not like I can avoid him all year after that! ”

For heaven's sake, she has pink hair! PINK. She's a beacon in the night for lost souls! She owes her father for that pink hair Although her dad had a much deeper shade of pink. "We found you under a cherry tree," her father had told her when she was four. She snorted snidely. Yeah, right. He made it look like she'd popped out of a flower. Her younger self had bought into his bullshit long enough to be considered embarrassing.

She shook her head. She was getting off-topic. She always did. Her green eyes looked up at the clock on the wall before widening her eyes at the time. She quickly grabbed her shoulder bag, shoving her textbooks into it, and stormed out of her small apartment.

It wasn’t far from the campus. She lived in a shared flat with her best friend. They had decided early on that living together would cut down on expenses and on top of that, it was kind of nice to live with Ino-pig when she wasn't playing fashion designer and turning their apartment into a studio. Ino was exceptional in the field of fashion, she could turn any toad into a queen. She was good like that.

Sakura hurriedly got on her bike and pedaled to the campus. Ino often told her that she reminded her of Wes in HTGAWM or Mike in Suits, Sakura couldn't find it in herself to be offended by this comment because they were both smart, so she preferred to take it as a compliment rather than an insult plus, there was nothing wrong with riding a bike. She liked the bike, feeling the light breeze in her hair. Anything was better than walking. She could take the bus, but she had forgotten to renew her bus pass. Sakura thought that paying the electricity bill was much more important. She could live without buses or subways, she had legs that could take her anywhere, but without electricity? No. And Ino would probably kill her if she chose her pass over their comfort.

It took her less than ten minutes to reach her destination and hook the lock on her bike. The courtyard outside the campus was teeming with students. Some were in a bad mood, some were in a good mood, and some were wondering what the hell they were still doing here and why they were doing this to themselves. Sakura often found herself in between the three. Making sure one last time that the lock was in place, the young woman straightened up while arranging the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

Today was going to be quite a day.

***

It was lunchtime and Sakura still hadn't taken matters into her own hands. It wasn't for lack of trying. The first time she tried to confess her feelings, she ended up asking for a pen instead, claiming she didn't like blue. She'd played it cool, but she was sure the guy had glanced at her pencil case and the countless pens in it. She pretended not to notice and he did the same by lending her one of his.

The second time she tried, she lied and said she had forgotten her organic chemistry textbook and that it would be nice if he let her read the instructions for the assignment. She doubted he really believed her because Sakura wasn't known for her absent-mindedness when it came to her studies, but being the kind man that he is, he graciously said yes as if he genuinely believed that she had forgotten her textbook when it was clearly sticking out of her bag.

The third time... well, there was no third time! Not yet. She was starving, so she decided to postpone her plans and go buy some food. She will need all the energy she can get when she goes to proclaim her love...

“Move out of the way, Sak', there are thirsty people here.”

The young woman gasped and turned to find herself facing a blonde with four pigtails.

“Oh, Tem'. Sorry, I was distracted!”

Temari was a student from Suna. A city located in the southwest where the heat was compared to the desert. She was an exchange student. Sakura liked Temari with her you always knew where you stood. She was straightforward. She was currently dating one of her good friends from middle school and Sakura had dated her cousin a few years ago, so the two women knew each other well since they had spent quite a bit of time together.

“When aren't you? So what's up? Did you recover from last Saturday's party?”

Sakura moved slightly to the side to let Temari indulge in her junk food and soda. She winced slightly at the memory of the said party.

“I had to carry Ino drunk on my back. Do you know how affectionate she is when she's drunk? And loud? Even worse than Naruto. And it's hard to do worse than him.”

Temari snickered at her friend's expense, she had actually heard Ino yell “I love you assholes. I love you guys, you're my friends for life. You're the Boots of my Dora” at some point in the evening. She had amused many. Only Ino would make cartoon references meant for four-year-olds.

“She's charming. Who knew?”

Sakura snorted.

“Don't let her hear you say that.”

They walked to the outside tables, heading for the seats their friends had saved for them. Sakura was about to sit next to Naruto who as usual was eating like a pig, but a pleading look at her dark-haired friend was enough for the latter to smack the back of the blonde's head.

“Oi! What was that for, Teme!?”

“You're eating like a three-year-old, Dobe. You're splattering everyone with your ramen.”

“I'm gonna splatter your face!”

“Oh, I didn't know you swung that way.” Sai interjected, a thoughtful look on his face before adding, “It makes sense, I guess... You've always been very close to Sasuke. You even took baths together.”

There was silence. The sound of falling cutlery was heard and all attention was focused on the two men whose faces were turning red. Naruto began to fidget wildly stammering incomprehensible words while Sasuke choked on his onigiri. Only Sakura patting his back had probably saved him from choking to death.

“WHAT THE FUCK, SAI!? WE WERE LIKE 1 YEAR OLD AT THE TIME! HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT ANYWAY !?”

Naruto would have probably jumped at Sai's throat if Shikamaru hadn't held him back by the collar of his shirt with a bored look on his face. Sai, on the other hand, was completely calm and eating his Momen Tofu.

“Your lovely mother showed me your photo album last Christmas. I didn't know you had a thing for bodysuits with toad prints on them either. That explains so much about you...”

“Sai, I swear...!”

All the attention on the boys was forgotten when everyone realized it wasn't a coming out. Conversations gradually resumed and Sakura shook her head, wondering what she had done to be friends with such idiots.

“Sai, for the last time, I'm not dating that dobe, and even if I were paid to do so, I'd still rather be drowned in a puddle.”

Sakura opened her mouth about to retort that technically he couldn't die drowning in a puddle but Sasuke seemed to guess her intentions and glared at her.

“You, miss know-it-all, shut up.”

Sakura faked an outraged look and had to restrain herself from laughing under the murderous gaze of her childhood friend. She raised her hands, playing the innocence card.

“Oi, bastard! You think I want you? Even the sun wouldn't be enough to warm your cold ass. If I wanted to live near a freezer, I would have come to you already.”

The whole table burst into laughter as Sasuke frowned and Sakura gently patted his shoulder in a mock comfort. Sakura loved her friends. Some of them had known each other since kindergarten, others since elementary school, middle school, or even high school. They were her second family. She knew she could count on them and they on her.

***

The sun's rays caressed Sakura's skin as she basked under the cloudless sky. She had two hours to spare and sunbathing wasn't a bad idea. At least that was what she had planned to do but her sharp eye had spotted her target. She quickly stood up and walked towards him. He was sitting on a bench, under a tree, slightly in the shade, his nose plunged in his novel. He couldn't see her since Sakura was coming from behind, but she would have recognized that black hair everywhere.

“Okay, Sak. Take a breath. This is it. You can do it!”

She approached slowly, her heart pounding and her hands slightly clammy, she winced but didn't care any more than that. She leaned forward, reading over his shoulder. A philosophical novel. Typical. So Itachi. A soft smile formed on her lips.

“Nice butt… Book! Omg, BOOK. I meant book, I swear!”

Itachi was taken aback but he regained his composure so quickly that it was barely noticeable. Sakura was blushing like crazy. Now she had to open her big mouth and make a fool of herself. Nice butt?! What's wrong with her? A slip of the tongue at the worst possible moment! She had no timing!

“I'm sure.” Replied the man, a hint of amusement in his voice and if Sakura wasn't so freaked out by her slip, she probably would have noticed.

“I got it from my mom.”

“What!?” she squeaked, her cheeks pink.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and God damn him for looking so good. He didn't even seem to react!

“The book, Sakura. Mother gave it to me.”

“Oh... OH. Yeah! The book!” She scratched the back of her head, laughing nervously, a very familiar gesture that reminded Itachi of a very loud blond.

“Of course, you got it from your mother! I mean, who else? It certainly wasn't your father who...” Seeing his curious and mischievous gaze Sakura caught herself: “ I mean... not that your father doesn't have a nice bu... book! I just don't look at his... library. hahaha omggg shut up!”

She hid her face in her hands, probably redder than the tomatoes Sasuke was fond of.

“I didn't say anything.” replied Itachi's soft and deep voice. The same one that was doing strange things to a part of her body she'd rather not think about right now.

“I KNOW! I...ugh!”

Before she could humiliate herself any further, her savior came in the person of another head of black hair. Except that his hair was short and had nice curls. Curls that Sakura often wanted to undo for her own pleasure. She felt a muscular arm wrap around her shoulder and the newcomer's breath tickles her ear.

“Hey there, princess. What's new under that pretty dress?”

Shisui joked. Shisui, an inveterate flirt and Itachi's older cousin by two years. He loved to tease Sakura, just for the fun of seeing her get all flustered and angry. The young woman elbowed him in the ribs muttering "my undergarments", which made the older man grunt and laugh as he released his arm to massage his ribs with one hand. He was still amazed at her strength even after all these years. He looked at Itachi who was watching the exchange with a look of exasperation but there was a certain fondness behind his obsidian eyes. You only noticed it if you knew where to look.

“Looks like you’re still harassing other students, Shisui.”

Shisui gave him a look.

“I don't know what you're talking about, I make friends everywhere I go.”

“STDs too.”

Sakura stifled her laughter, and masked it with a cough but she didn't miss the indignant look on the older Uchihas' face.

“I'll have you know that I'm very careful, my body is a temple!”

“The temple of stupidity, perhaps.”

This time Sakura couldn't contain her laughter and for good measure, Shisui pinched her ribs making her yelp in surprise. She narrowed her eyes and leaped at the man who had no trouble restraining her with just the palm of his hand placed on her forehead. He was so tall compared to her. She was cursing him for it.

“Easy, kitten. You're going to hurt yourself.”

“Shisui, you...” she ranted.

“What was that?”

His eyes shone with amusement as he watched the girl try to attack him. The little brat still managed to kick him in the shin. He automatically let go of her, grunting in pain while Sakura looked both smug and proud of herself as she crossed her arms against her chest.

“You better remember that cats scratch when provoked.”

His gaze suddenly darkened, a Cheshire smile stretching across his lips. He opened his mouth, a retort already on the tip of his lips but Itachi seemed to have noticed because he roughly grabbed the back of his cousin's shirt and made him sit on the bench.

“Shisui.” warned Itachi, his eyes narrowed. The older Uchiha rolled his own, he knew when not to mess with his cousin. Sakura's eyes flicked from one to the other, confused. the question written in her eyes. Shisui smiled at her, but didn't answer, he just shook his head, which made the girl frown at first, then she shrugged, dropping the subject.

“Anyway. I'm going to go get some water from the vending machine. Would either of you like me to bring a bottle or something?”

Itachi turned to her, his features smooth again, but he smiled kindly, politely as always.

“A bottle of water is fine with me. Thank you, Sakura.”

She nodded, then turned to the other Uchiha.

“How about you, Shi'?”

The man stood up from the bench and stretched his arms over his head, cracking a bone or two.

“Nah, I’m good, princess. I'll come with you. I forgot to pack a few things on the way here. Since I was looking for Itachi, I forgot them.”

Itachi snorted but made no further comment. In fact, he had returned his attention to his book. Sakura was pulled along by Shisui's arm as it wrapped around her slim waist. She let herself be led away after asking Itachi to keep her things until she comes back. He nodded, staring at them intently for a few seconds before resuming his reading.

***

With two bottles of fresh water in her hands, Sakura made her way back. She was alone when she returned. Shisui told her not to wait for him because he still had to get his stuff. She thought about her problem and decided to take advantage of Shisui's absence to confess her feelings to his cousin.

It didn't start well, to say the least. She made an absolute fool of herself. Just thinking about it made her cheeks flush. She hadn't lied, after all, he really did have a nice ass, but she hadn't wanted to say it out loud, let alone like that. It was probably nervousness that was making her act like a crazy person.

As she approached the spot where she had left Itachi and her things, she froze. The scene that greeted her stunned her. She quickly hid behind the closest tree and spied on what she hoped would not be a private moment.

She could see a beautiful girl, she looked vaguely familiar. Sakura was far enough away not to be seen, but close enough to catch a few snippets of their conversation.

“…A long time. I love you, Itachi. I thought maybe we could...”

Sakura couldn't see Itachi's face. All she could see was his back, his slender form, standing in front of the girl who was confessing her love for him. Sakura's heart sank. It wasn't surprising. Itachi was a remarkable guy, people would be crazy not to like him. Making sure to be silent, she leaned in to hear more of the conversation and recognized Izumi. Izumi was a very close friend of Shisui and Itachi. Sakura had heard a few years ago that she and Itachi had been involved but she didn't know if it was the truth or just unsubstantiated rumors. She didn't dwell on it at the time. Rumors could be harmful and she didn't want to be a part of that. Even less if it concerned one of her friends who is, moreover, the brother of one of her best friends.

She focused on them again, her heart beating faster due to the nervousness that knotted her stomach. She felt like a voyeur and it made her cringe, but she needed to know. Itachi must have said something, but it was far too low for her to hear. She frowned and decided to trust the expressions on the girl's face. The brunette took a step closer, one hand on his forearm. Itachi didn't seem to push her hand away or be bothered. There was... a certain familiarity in their gestures. Just the thought of it, Sakura's heart clenched even more. She hoped it wasn't what she thought it was... Unfortunately, all her fears came true before her eyes. She had only blinked, but apparently that was enough for her to miss something, because the next minute, Izumi was kissing the man Sakura loved.

She thought she heard a cracking sound before realizing that it must be the feeling of her heart being torn apart. Tears welled up in her eyes. Shit, shit, shit. Does he have a girlfriend? HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND? As in a girl he holds hands with and hugs and kisses and sleeps with ???? No. No. No. Don't think about it. If she didn't calm down, she might hyperventilate.

She had to get out of here. NOW. She couldn't watch this. It hurt too much. She was going to run, but then she remembered that her bag was still on the bench.

“Damn it.”

She couldn't leave without her bag. She needed it for her next class and on top of that, she still had Itachi's water bottle! She was screwed! She leaned her back against the tree trunk and took a deep breath. She was in pain, she felt like her stomach had just dropped and all her hopes and dreams had just been shattered.

“All right, breathe, Sak. It's going to be okay. Get a grip.”

She slowly counted to ten and fought back her tears, straightened her shoulders, and suppressed her pain as best she could. She moved on autopilot. Her body felt stiff, but it was the best she could do. She purposefully made her footsteps loud enough to attract the attention of the couple.

It was the sound of their lips parting that finally broke her. She wasn't quite looking at Itachi's eyes but rather at his chin. She couldn't look at him, not anymore.

Izumi was the first to react.

“Oh, Sakura! Hi! What are you doing here?”

Izumi looked flustered, her cheeks were pink. Sakura didn't know if it was because of the kiss or because she had interrupted them. It didn't matter. She cleared her throat and focused her attention on the older girl, a small smile on her lips. She congratulated herself for having managed to put one on. It was fake, sure, but it would do. She called it "Sai's smile" because she'd seen him use it enough times to know that it could fool a lot of people.

“Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt.”

Huff, she's kissing the man I love and I still find a way to apologize for interrupting them!? Well done, Sakura. You'd make a great career in sadomasochism.

“I forgot my bag and I...”

she pointed to the bottle of fresh water in her hand and wordlessly handed it to Itachi who was staring at her with an intensity that her heart couldn’t bear. Itachi took the bottle and his long thin fingers brushed hers. Sakura hastily withdrew her hand, she fidgeted nervously, clutching her bottle to soothe the burn of his touch.

"Thank you."

Sakura nodded and picked up her bag. She offered an apologetic smile to the pair. Izumi seemed completely unaware of the tension. She gave her a bright smile.

“Your dress is really pretty, Saku. A date, perhaps?”

The brunette gave her a knowing wink and Sakura held back from telling her that she could have, but that she had just stolen the love of her life. Ugh, no. I'm being a drama queen again, the young woman thought.

“Oh, no! No, I just... Sometimes girls like to feel pretty.”

Izumi's expression softened and she nodded.

“You look beautiful.”

It was at that very moment that Sakura knew she could never hate Izumi. She was jealous, yes, but she couldn't find it in herself to hate her for taking the man she liked. Izumi was beautiful, smart, sweet, and kind, she had helped Sakura a few times in high school with her homework. She was a good-hearted person, and even though it hurt her to admit it, she could make Itachi happy. She could be good for him. How could Sakura compete? She wasn't going to try. Sakura wasn’t a homewrecker.

It was the brunette's voice that brought her back to reality.

“Isn't she, Itachi?”

Sakura felt her breath catch. God must really hate her right now. She had always been a decent girl, at least she liked to think so. She didn't dare meet his gaze at first, but finally, she did and her cheeks heated up. His obsidian orbs seemed to roam over her figure, but surely she must have imagined it. Like he was going to ogle her while his girlfriend was right there. He made a small noise of assent, nodding.

“You look lovely, Sakura.”

The pink-haired girl felt her heart racing and she blushed harder. He had no right to sound so hot when he complimented her or when he said her name like that. However, the joy disappeared as quickly as it came.

He had a girlfriend and probably just wanted to humor me. The pain seemed numb for now, but she knew it would come back later. When she was alone.

“T-thank you...”

There was a slight pause, then she said :

“I have to go. I'm gonna be late for class.”

She lied, but what else could she do? Stay here and watch them smooch? Take the pompoms from her old Halloween cheerleader costume while congratulating them on the skill of their tongue down each other's throats? She scoff. Yeah right. Rather die drowning in a puddle as Sasuke would say.

She put the strap of her bag over her shoulder and squeaked a quick “see you later” and left hurriedly. "Running away" was the right word really, but she wasn't feeling brave right now. She was running like she had the devil on her tail. She could almost swear she felt the burn of an onyx gaze fixed on her back but she was too much of a coward to check.

Today was not the day.

There would never be a day.

There was nothing left but her and her broken heart.

***

Two weeks.

Two fucking weeks. What Sakura would later call her drama queen era had already happened a fortnight ago. Fifteen days and her heart was still aching. She had tried to take her mind off it. She avoided Itachi like the plague. She congratulated herself for this ability because they had a few classes in common and it wasn’t an easy task! The black-haired man had tried to talk to her, but she had shied away every time. He had probably noticed that he didn't see her around as much anymore. He hadn't confronted her or even accused her of avoiding him or anything, but she knew he knew she was avoiding him.

Sakura didn't text him back anymore and when she did, the answers were very short. She no longer offered to stop by the local Starbucks, no longer joined him during lunch breaks like she sometimes did when she wasn't eating with the others and she was pretty sure Shisui had noticed the tension between them. She was still talking with Shisui. She liked Shisui, he hadn't done anything to her and it wasn't his fault that his cousin didn't return her feelings so it would be unfair to punish him.

Sakura wasn't punishing Itachi, not really, in fact, she just needed time. Time for herself and time to move on. Right now, it was too hard. The pain was still fresh and every time she saw him on campus, her chest clenched and she felt like crying...

She told Ino about it, and Ino-pig was a great comfort until Sakura emptied the pack of Kleenex. The blonde had pulled her best friend off the couch and told her they were going to go out and have fun. That Sakura was going to drink, dance, and shake her ass on the fucking dance floor! Ino's words, not hers.

It helped. A little. Sakura had been able to drown in alcohol if not drown in a puddle. She danced and she even remembered swaying her body against the body of a random guy. She wasn't sure. At first, she thought it was Ino because of his long high ponytail, but their shade of blonde was different. Not to mention he lacked cleavage so it couldn't be Ino-pig The memories of that night were a bit hazy, but she was pretty sure they had kissed and not just a little. He was a good kisser. That's all she could remember.

That and that the palms of his hands are tattooed. She remembered because he had a rather original tattoo and he had made a dubious joke about ninjas. That if he was one, he would have had a Jutsu with three tongues and would know where to place each one on her body. Sakura remembered giggling, probably because she was too drunk to care about his inappropriate joke.

Days passed and Itachi had managed to intercept her. He knew her schedule well enough, but Sakura had managed to slip away before she felt like crying. The conversation he had tried to have with her still hurt when she thought about it.

He had waited for her in the hallway and called out to her when he spotted her. She remembered turning her head and when his eyes had met hers, her heart stopped. He wasn't supposed to do that to her. She couldn't feel this way. Itachi was not hers.

“Sakura, About Izumi...”

No. No. NO. Please no. She felt the familiar burn behind her eyelids. The one that told her she was going to cry if she didn't run away right away. She interrupted him, taking it upon herself to smile at him, her voice a little too cheerful to be genuine.

“I'm happy for you! For both of you, I mean. You deserve to be happy and Izumi is a good girl. You two are the perfect match.”

“Really, Sakura?” snorted her inner voice.

At this point, she might as well give him the address of her florist so he can buy Izumi some flowers.

Itachi pursed his lips, his pretty lips... She wondered what his lips tasted like, were they soft?

I'll ask Izumi when we have a girls' night out. Sakura shook her head, dismissing her stupid thoughts. She wasn't going to ask anyone anything. She wasn't a masochist.

“It's not...”

“Oh! Sorry! I have to go! Naruto and Sasuke are waiting for me! I promised to join them! And you know your brother, he's grumpy when you make him wait! Ok? Ok! Bye!”

Sakura had almost run towards the exit and she didn't notice the expression on Itachi's face or that behind him, a little further away was Naruto and Sasuke leaning against the railings. He had noticed it because Naruto had just yelled some nonsense to his brother and his brother had hit him on the head to shut him up. And even without that, his ugly orange shirt made him noticeable in the crowd. So now he knew for sure that Sakura was avoiding him and that she wasn't even good at making up a good lie when she was panicked or caught off guard.

***

“She's avoiding us.”

Shisui snorted at him.

“No, she's avoiding YOU. She's still talking to me as far as I'm concerned. We shared some dango yesterday.”

“What?”

“Dango. You know that pastry you're fond of? With the green, pink and...”

“Not that, idiot. She’s not avoiding you?”

Shisui looked at his little cousin and sighed. This whole thing was going to give him a headache.

“Well no, she texts me back even when I send eggplant emojis.”

Itachi glared at him. He was only concerned because Sakura was still seeing and talking to his cousin on a daily basis while she had been avoiding him for the past two weeks and running away when he tried to work things out. He didn't like that.

“Why?”

“Dunno, maybe she likes my eggplant.” replied Shisui teasingly. He knew he was walking a tightrope, but the risk of being killed was worth it if it would provoke a reaction from his beloved cousin. Itachi did not disappoint him as he glared at him and if chakra existed, he was sure he would sense his best friend's killing intent.

“For a guy who's supposed to be a genius, you're pretty dumb.”

“Excuse me?”

Shisui raised his hands to soothe the murderous glint in Itachi's eyes. Geez, did he have to spell it out for him? And he was the one being called a fool? Go figure.

“She's not avoiding me because she has no reason to. Sadly for her, I'm not the one she's in love with. I mean, she must be a little messed up if it's you she likes best.”

Itachi looked at him flatly. He didn't have anything to prove so he wasn't going to react to his childishness. What did interest him however was Shisui's words about Sakura's feelings. He frowned, an unpleasant ache in his heart.

“What? You expect me to believe that you haven't noticed how awkward she can be when you're around? Please, Itachi! Last time she almost told you you had a nice ass.”

At his words, he turned sharply to his cousin who had a smug look on his face. He didn't like it. That meant... He narrowed his eyes.

“How long have you been spying on us, Shisui?” Itachi asked in an annoyed tone.

The Uchiha smirked.

“I wasn't spying. I was just watching two weasels dancing around each other. Have you ever watched a wildlife documentary about courtship display ?”

Itachi stared at him flatly for a long moment. He didn't believe his cousin's bullshit anymore. Shisui loved to gossip and thought he was a genius matchmaker when in truth, all his attempts to coach other men to seduce women ended in harassment complaints.

“It doesn't matter now anyway. I think she's seeing someone.”

“Sakura? our Sakura? What makes you say that?”

Itachi's gaze drifted away, thinking back to that man who had his hands all over her. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. At all.

“Last Friday night Sasuke called me to come and pick him up. He was out with Naruto and their friends. He was too drunk to drive, they all were, so he asked me to pick them up. As I walked into Katon's bar I saw Sakura kissing that guy. You know the tall blond guy with the ponytail who yells 'explosion' every time he smashes birthday balloons?”

“Um, the guy who’s studying art? Deidara?”

Itachi nodded, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the memory of his mouth on sakura's. Shisui suppressed his laughter, watching the obvious jealousy his cousin felt. Well, to be honest, it wasn't that obvious. Shisui only noticed it because he knew Itachi like the back of his hand.

“I'm sure it's nothing. You said they were all drunk. She did what all heartbroken girls do. She went out to have fun and forget that she was hurting. Flirting with a stranger while drunk is part of the game.”

“Or perhaps it's her boyfriend.”

“Don't be ridiculous. You told me she looked livid when she left. She saw you kissing Izumi.”

“It was Izumi who kissed me.” corrected Itachi.

“You didn't push her away.”

“I was too surprised to react and before I could do anything Sakura showed up.”

“You know Izumi has had feelings for you since we were like ten years old though. You guys dated in ninth grade, right?”

“It only lasted a year and a half. I realized that I didn't love her like that. I liked her a lot, but it wasn't enough. Something was missing.”

A sly smirk appeared on Shisui's lips. He remembered that time and his cousin wasn’t totally honest about the real reason behind the failure of his relationship. When a situation is viewed from an external perspective, it’s easier to be objective which is why shisui knew better.

“Actually you broke up with her when you found out that Sakura was dating Sasori. It had already been over a year when you found out. You should be more aware of your feelings and your surroundings, little cousin.”

“I still don't know what she saw in him back then.”

“Believe it or not, but I've heard that Sasori knows how to treat a woman. He's just adamant about punctuality. I remember that day when Sakura called totally freaked out because she was going to be late and she knew Sasori was ready to cancel their date.”

The older Uchiha clasped his hands together and fluttered his eyelashes like an enamored schoolgirl as he sighed like a young teenager pining for her prince charming.

“Oh, to be young and in love!”

Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated by his cousin's antics, but he especially hated that anecdote. He had been a hormonal teenager back then, but after that, he had become more sullen than he usually was.

“I didn't ask.”

“I noticed. You'd already be with your beloved if you had.”

“You only hear what you want to hear, don't you, Shisui ?” he asked dryly.

“Yeeep’ ”

“Hn.”

“Doesn't mean I'm wrong, though."

Itachi sighed, weary. This whole thing was going to give him a headache. He hadn't expected Izumi to still have feelings for him. She wanted to try again now that they had grown up. She thought they might have been a little young at the time, but that was irrelevant. When it's true love, you know it. You can't explain it.

He had loved Izumi, but he only understood the real meaning of that word with Sakura. And now his Sakura — no, she wasn't his — was somewhere out there probably kissing that Deidara. He couldn't expect Sakura to listen to him, nor could he order her to. In fact, he could, but it would be counterproductive.

He didn't know Sakura was interested in him. He had dismissed her attempts at flirting as clumsiness. After all, Sakura had always been a bit clumsy. He became fully aware of her feelings when he recognized that broken look in her eyes, even though she had tried to hide it. It was the same look he had seen in the mirror 4 years ago when he found out that Sasori was Sakura's boyfriend.

He closed his eyes, resting his head against his pillow. He felt tired, sad, and a little desperate about the whole situation if he was honest with himself. He didn't know what to do to make her listen to him, to make her understand that nothing was going on with Izumi. He had been frank with the brunette about it. It was the right thing to do. He loved another woman after all.

“...Chi... Itachi! Are you listening to me?!”

“No. Your voice is drowned out by the agonized cries of my soul.”

“Alright, that’s enough, Charles Baudelaire. Man up. Why don't you go recite your poetry to your girlfriend? I'm sure she'll love it.”

“She's not my girlfriend.” Yet.

“Go get her, Itachi. And stop moping around. You're getting too old to play the angsty teenager.”

“ I'm not moping."

“ Sure, whatever you say.”

***

Sakura was studying in the library. She had an assignment to do and had to concentrate without getting distracted. She was surrounded by books, her MacBook, and a notepad. There were also some stabilos and pens scattered on the table. This assignment had put Itachi out of her mind, well not really, but Sakura liked to live in denial. She didn't know when she'd move on, but she was trying. Nothing good would come of this if she kept pining for a man who was already taken. She'll have no part of it, thank you very much.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and let her gaze wander over the other students for a moment. The sun had been down for a little while now. She had been there for hours. At first, she hadn't been alone, Shikamaru, Chôji, and Temari had kept her company. Temari was working on an essay, Shikamaru was sleeping with his arms crossed on the table and Choji was eating his potato chips.

Later, when they left, it was Ino-pig who joined her with Sai. She'd wanted to convince Sakura to take a break and go to the smoothie bar. She needed a smoothie but she declined, too busy. They didn't stay more than fifteen minutes before leaving. Sakura could be very stubborn when she wanted to be.

Then came Sasuke and Naruto. They had stayed longer than the others, but they ended up being kicked out of the library because Naruto was laughing too loudly. They'd agreed to meet later, but Sakura would probably be too tired so she suggested the next day instead.

She had felt Sasuke's gaze on her. He has noticed a change in her behavior over the past couple of weeks. She wouldn't be surprised if he knew. Uchiha Sasuke was a surprisingly perceptive guy. He just didn't meddle in other people's business, but he often watched like a hawk.

She'd rather not have this conversation with him. What would she say to him anyway? “Hi, Sasuke! Did you watch the third episode of House Of the Dragon? Oh, by the way, I'm in love with your brother and I want to ride his dick until he passes out.” She snorted. As if. She still values her life, thank you very much. Dying murdered by her childhood friend wasn’t on the agenda.

Anyway, Izumi was probably already taking care of it. She felt a twinge of sadness at the thought and closed her eyes.

Would this annoying pain ever go away? If only Itachi was ugly but of course, he had to put her through hell with his heavenly beauty. Who had such thick and long eyelashes anyway? Or such silky hair? A mouth so tempting? A body so... No. Naughty, naughty, Sakura! She mentally slapped herself, yet it did nothing to assuage the heat rising within her core.

“Sakura ?”

Here he comes. The bane of her existence.

The man who occupied all her thoughts. Prettier than ever. Looking serious and... Wait. Why was he staring at her like that? The tension between them became palpable. Surely this is what happens when a friend avoids you for weeks.

“Itachi. What are you doing here?”

He gave her a look as if to say: “Are you for real? What’d you think a library is for, silly?”

Sakura felt her face heat up. So God really did hate her. Perhaps she was a foolish girl after all.

“Riiight.”

A more awkward silence settled down on them. She now was getting very uncomfortable. Sakura had to control herself to stay still in her chair and under his piercing gaze.

“Well if that's all...”

“We need to talk.”

That surprised her, but she quickly regained her composure.

“About what?”

His mouth set in a grim line. Uh-oh. Itachi is not happy. Good. That makes two of us. She wasn't thrilled that he was dating someone else, but did she make a scene about it? NO. Because she was a selfless woman and she wanted him to be happy even if it wasn't with her.

“ Sasuke told me you were dating Deidara.”

Sakura scoffed. This time she knew he was lying. Not because it showed on his face. His expression was blank. It was his voice that gave him away, specifically his wary tone. Besides, it was unlikely that his brother had said anything to him. Sasuke didn't meddle in other people's business, and he was too stoned to remember what they had done last Friday night.

“No, he didn't. Sasuke was too drunk, he didn't even remember calling you to take him home.”

He narrowed his eyes at her in a glare, sending shivers down Sakura's spine. His already sour mood seemed to darken.

“So you don't deny it?”

She raised her eyebrow at him, and tilted her head slightly to one side, mimicking this habit she had noticed in Itachi countless times over the years.

“Should I?”

“I just thought friends talked about stuff like that.”

Sakura scoffed. Again.

“Really? I can't remember a time when you told me about one of your girlfriends. What? You've had so many that you can't remember their names?”

It was a low blow, she admits, but she was jealous and hurt. Give the poor girl a break! It's because of him that her heart is aching. She was trying to forget him, to move on, but seeing him now wasn't going to help.

“It was uncalled for, Sakura.” He replied with annoying calm.

“What about you? Since when do you care about who I date?”

“I told you, friends—”

“Cut the crap! What is this really about?”

If possible, Itachi's expression became even more cold and distant. She shuddered. She didn't like the way he turned off his emotions. It seemed so easy for him. It was as if he flipped a switch. Frankly, she was beginning to wonder if he wasn't a Salvatore. It would be easier for Sakura if she was able to do that. It wouldn't hurt so much at least.

“I just wanted to let you know as a good friend, that your boyfriend was making out with another girl over there.”

The way he had emphasized the words "good friend" stung. She got the message. She knows she hasn't been a good friend these past two weeks, but he couldn't understand. He hadn't seen the person he loved kiss another girl.

“What !?”

With a tilt of his head, Itachi showed her where to look. Sakura turned around and saw the blond from last Friday. It looked like he was doing some archaeological digging in the brunette's throat…Wait. Is that Kurotsuchi? She was also an exchange student, but unlike Temari, Kuro was from Iwa. She looked back at Itachi, not wanting to feel like a voyeur. She realized that he was staring at her intently. Huh. Was he expecting a hysterical reaction or something? Fine. She could give him one. Or try to anyway.

“I feel devastated.”

She wasn't.

The Uchiha stared at her. Sakura's flat tone probably hadn't helped her performance. To be fair, she was tired and had been working for hours.

“I can see that.”

“I’m internally crying. I'll probably hyperventilate and go into hypoglycemia even though I'm not diabetic, but Deidara hurt me so much that my blood sugar is low now.”

“I don't think diabetes works that way, Sakura.”

Something had changed in his demeanor, his shoulders were more relaxed and his eyes glinted with amusement and mischief. What the hell !? Sakura frowned.

“Nobody likes a know-it-all, Itachi.”

“You’d know about that.”

Sakura glared at him.

“What's that supposed to mean!?”

Itachi tilted his pretty head but didn't even bother to answer. He just stood there, watching her like a creep - a hot creep. His silence was getting on Sakura's nerves and she finally snapped.

“What ?!”

“I didn't say anything.”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him and he had the sense that she was analyzing him now, looking for hidden meanings. Sakura folded her arms across her chest, unconsciously protecting her heart from the intensity of his gaze, shielding it from him. Her heart was beating so fast that she wondered if Itachi could hear it.

“You don't need to. So, what's this about?"

“Maybe I'm just in a good mood.”

She snorted.

“Or you’re just lunatic. When you came in you looked like you were ready to wipe out a country.”

“ I thought we had already established that I am a pacifist, Sakura.”

“Did you win the lottery or something? Because that's the only thing that could explain the delighted look on your face.”

He huffed out an amused sound.

“There's something I'd like to win, but its value is priceless.”

His eyes looked straight into hers. Her heartbeat quickened. What the... He didn't mean...? She let her gaze wander around, making sure it was her he was talking to and that Izumi wasn't behind her or somewhere nearby... Wait. Izumi. Anger replaced excitement. Sakura's usually warm eyes hardened into a glare. Having spent years being Sasuke's friend had its advantages, he was good at giving cold looks to his classmates or anyone really. Itachi himself seemed surprised by this sudden change.

“What the fuck are you playing at, Itachi?”

“Sakura...”

She cut him off harshly: “Is this your way of getting back at me for avoiding you for the past two weeks?”

He seemed genuinely offended now.

“Of course no—”

“That's cruel. And not just to me, but to Izumi. Do you even remember her? A pretty brunette. The same one you kissed under a tree. Your girlfriend. My friend.”

Now that Sakura had snapped, she wasn’t going to stop. She continued without even paying attention to what Itachi might say or to prying ears:

“Maybe I was wrong to ignore you, but that's no reason to act that way. You say we're friends, but do friends do this? You say we're friends and yet you're trying to… to what exactly? Is this supposed to be flirting? You have a girlfriend for God's sake !”

Sakura shook her head before letting out a humorless laugh. She stood up and began to quickly gather her things into her backpack. She had been wrong, in fact, that was what hurt the most. Even seeing Itachi kiss another girl had hurt less. It was worse now because he was giving her false hope. The possibility of a "what if?"

She could feel her eyes burning with unshed tears. She really needed to stop crying. At this point, with all the tears she was shedding, she was more of a tap than a human, and yet that didn't stop her from continuing her rant in front of a speechless Itachi. He could feel the panic rising in him. Oh, God. Nothing was going as planned.

“You know, I thought you were different. Part of me still does. The most naive part for sure. The same part that was stupid enough to fall in love with you. Let's be honest, Itachi, we're not the kind of friends who talk about their dates. I, I don't even think we were really friends to begin with. Maybe at first, when we were kids and you were helping me make sandcastles. But now? None of my friends would have been so cruel. I don't even want to be your friend anymore. I don't want to be your friend.”

Sakura's pain echoed so deeply in Itachi's heart that he might as well have been the one breaking into pieces. He'd never seen Sakura in such an emotional state. He was too stunned to say anything. Her words stung. It was like a stab in the heart. He watched helplessly. The worst part came when he heard her voice break and tears flood her cheeks. Even lost in the chaos, he found her divine. Her emotions were in their rawest form. They were intense, pure. On display for all to see and admire. This is what he had always loved about her. Her authenticity. When Sakura moved, the world moved with her. She was like a center of gravity. Like the sun. She warmed the coldest souls and enveloped them in her light. Sakura personified nature itself. Unpredictable. Sometimes calm, sometimes wild. It was easy to bask in the warmth of her smile, to find in her a safe haven.

Sakura was oblivious to Itachi's turmoil, she was unaware of his struggle and thoughts, she just wanted to run away, get it over with, and try to mend her heart when all was said and done. That’s why she couldn’t believe the next words that spewed out of her mouth ;

“Every time I look at you, it hurts. It hurts so much. I can't be your friend anymore and you can't be mine, b-because, I don't want to melt into my friends' embrace or breathe in their scent. I don't want to kiss my friends, I don't imagine a future with them. I don't dream of touching and being touched by them. Not in that way. Not in the way I dream, not in the way I long for you.

You have to understand! I didn't avoid you to hurt you! I did it to protect myself! Do you know how much it broke me to see you kissing Izumi? It took me months to decide to confess and the day I finally mustered up the courage to do it, all my hopes were destroyed. I mean, it's not like I expected you to actually share my feelings or anything! But at least I always had a little hope.

Honestly, Itachi, I've loved you for so long that it's painful for me to walk away. I’m just… so obsessed with you. Don't get me wrong, it's not an "I'd kill your parents to have you for myself" kind of obsession but more like “You’re in my head all the time, at this point, you should be paying rent.”

These two weeks were useless. I thought with time and space I would get over it, but it's not enough. It still hurts to look at you. It still hurts to hear your voice. If you could have been mute or ugly, it would have helped at least.

In the end, I think I love you a little too much. You're not easy to forg— EEP !”

Itachi moved before she even realized it. She found herself pressed against the hard outline of his body and his lips claimed hers. The passion in his kiss set her mind spinning and made her moan. She closed her eyes, feeling the man cupping her face with his warm palms, a loose strand of his hair brushing against her face.

She clung to his shirt, desperate for more. Desperate for his kisses, for his hands that moved over her curves to grab her hips. Desperate but mostly eager for his touch, for him. She'd waited so long for this moment. Sakura had never wanted anything so much in her life. And his mouth….God, his mouth. His taste, his smell, his warmth… All the questions she had about Itachi, about his kissing skills, were answered and the pink-haired girl was more than satisfied.

She couldn't think straight, and neither could he if she trusted his body's reaction. She was hot all of a sudden. She had felt desire before. But this? Itachi was on a whole other level. She could have ripped off his clothes, she wanted to. Sakura had known him almost all her life but now she wanted to know him differently, more intimately. Unfortunately, they were interrupted by wolf whistles, shocked gasps, and even by a throat clearing. The librarian who was behind the throat-clearing seemed quite irritated by the show Itachi and Sakura were putting on.

After one more kiss, they reluctantly broke apart. Sakura's lips felt swollen and tingly, and her chest was rising and falling rapidly. Her hair was slightly disheveled and her dress a little crumpled. Desire shone in her eyes, and he knew it was reflected in his. Itachi could barely catch his breath under the impact of that intense kiss.

Itachi had gotten so caught up in the moment that he'd forgotten they were in a very public place surrounded by students who were neither deaf nor blind and that they’d probably be talking about this all over the university by tomorrow.

The black-haired Uchiha fought against the blush threatening to heat his cheeks. She loved him. Haruno Sakura was in love with him. He hadn't imagined it, had he? No, he hadn't. He fixed his clothes and hair and shifted on his feet, trying to ignore the growing bulge in his pants. He told himself that his body's reactions were perfectly normal, especially when the girl he'd wanted for years was pressing her soft and delicious curves against his body.

His deep onyx gaze landed on Sakura. Damn, she was a vision. Her lips were swollen from their kisses, her silky pink hair mussed, and her dress wrinkled. She looked like a woman who had been thoroughly ravished, though, of course, she hadn't—not quite.

Itachi could easily picture her lithe, slender body against Egyptian cotton sheets.

“WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE !? We do not condone this outrageous behavior here, this is a decent place! I will report this! I want you out of here. Both of you, get out NOW !”

Sakura's face was beet red. She ignored the stares from the other students. Holy crap! What had they done? Got completely carried away, that's what. She had felt Itachi's hand make its way up her thigh and near the hem of her dress before they got interrupted. It had set her body on fire, but she was no better; she still remembered the feeling of his obliques and abs beneath her fingers and had felt him shiver under her touch.

It had clearly gotten out of hand. Sakura would rather avoid being arrested for public indecency, thank you very much. She still has a few years of school left, so she might as well not be known as the girl who almost fucked in the library.

“Omg, I’m so sorry! We got... carried away!”

Suddenly, a man's voice arose from somewhere close by, a voice that sounded strangely familiar:

“Ya think? Your panties were ready to drop, princess.”

Sakura blushed furiously, embarrassed and outraged at his inappropriate comment, but she narrowed her eyes as she recognized the voice.

“Shut up, Shisui!” She barked.

Shisui threw back his head and let out a deep throaty laugh “you’re welcome.” He said, his dark eyes glinting with amusement as if he knew something she didn't.

“Ugh. This is so embarrassing and that jackass makes it even more awkward.” she muttered under her breath, but clearly enough for Itachi to hear.

Itachi hummed in agreement, smirking. He himself was annoyed with his cousin, but he knew he wouldn't be here if the older Uchiha hadn't told him that he had to do something before it was too late.

“I apologize. We're going to ’get out of here’ as you so kindly put it and go somewhere more... private.”

The librarian was still irritated by their display of “youthful vigor” as one of her eccentric colleagues liked to call it.

“I’ll make an incident report about your misconduct.”

Itachi arched a single eyebrow, far from being bothered. He even had the nerve to scoff at her.

“Make a report about what? About a man in love who kissed the woman he loves? With all due respect, you're going to waste your time. I can name a dozen students who have done more than kissing or are currently kissing in this library. And most of them haven't even hidden well. If you'll excuse me, my girlfriend and I have a lot to talk about.”

Without backing down and with all the dignity of an Uchiha, Itachi gently grabbed the hand of a dazed Sakura. Did she hear him right? Did he just say that he was in love with her? She was feeling like she had butterflies in her stomach, and she was blushing like crazy. A stupid smile spread across Sakura’s lips. She squeezed Itachi's hand and he squeezed back. Well, it seems she has a boyfriend now. They’ll have to talk about that later though, but her response was more than obvious.

“Come, Sakura.” he said softly as he led her towards the exit when suddenly a voice came out of nowhere:

“Oh, she will!”

Itachi felt the vein on the side of his temple pulsing, his brow twitching in sheer irritation. He was going to kill Shisui. He had other cousins anyway. The fool was in the mood to say hello to Queen Elizabeth II sooner than expected, it seemed.

He had better things to do than entertain his cousin. He had to entertain Sakura. His Sakura. Nothing else mattered to him right now, and judging by the unmistakable heat in her eyes, they were on the same page.

They heard ridiculous cheers and wolf whistles as they left.

But that didn't matter to Sakura because Itachi loved her back. Uchiha Itachi had kissed her senselessly and had made her knees buckle.

Today was indeed the day.

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sup-hoes-its-me · 3 years

Note

I want to request Sasuke x reader modern relationship headcanons pls

A/N: just a warning, Sasuke is like my least favorite character, but I will try my best to make him seem attractive. Also, try to imagine university age for the majority of my modern fics. If you want more Sasuke (or any characters) headcanons, I will do them, just send an ask. 🥰

Let me just start off by saying that your friends do Not like him. They text you, begging and pleading you not to ask him out, saying it isn't worth it. He's just gonna break your heart, they say.

It's not that they don't find him attractive, because they do. Everyone does. It's just that he's known to have one of the most rotten personalities in the entire university.

He's a total loner, but somehow he's cool with all the groups. Naruto the quarterback defends him in every single fight he gets into. And Shikamaru is always there too for backup.

Come on, Y/N, literally any other guy. Shika? Naruto? Lee? Even that pretentious Neji would be a better choice. Hell, go after his brother Itachi if you're so persistent.

But you were infatuated.

You plan the day out to the minute. Starting with what you are going to wear which is particularly cute for a regular Tuesday. You know he'll be standing outside the science building waiting for Suigetsu to walk to the dorms. It was the only time you two would cross paths during the day.

When you confess to him, he's not surprised. It happens almost everyday that someone asks him out.

But this time it was you. His lab partner freshman year for biology. The girl that sat in front of him in chemistry lecture, typing notes on her old laptop.

The girl that could wear pink or blue or black and still look so pretty as she walked by.

You really expected him to reject you. To leave you sitting there on the bench disappointed, just like your friends warned.

"When do you want me to pick you up?"

"Oh um, how about 6?"

Needs for you to be fashionable at all times. He doesn't want to walk around with you in sweats and a hoodie everyday. You have to match his energy.

"Cool. I'll be waiting outside the dorm. Don't be late."

You're shocked, reasonably so. And he isn't blind to the giddy smile that grows on your lips just as he turns his back to walk away.

You were cute. He had to give you that.

One hundred percent buys you platform doc martens.

Will never let you pay for a date. Ever. He gets so angry when you go to pull out your card in front of a server. Like what? You think he's broke or something?

Also, gets super jealous if any guys talk to you. Is not afraid to threaten them or even beat their ass in the public. His dad is literally chief of police, he doesn't have to worry about the consequences.

Will have movie nights with you, but only movies he approves. He's extremely picky and won't sit through one that doesn't interest him.

Isn't the type to buy you flowers or chocolate. Thinks it's a waste of time. He can show you he loves you in other ways.

Walks you to class, and makes sure you get to your dorm every night safe and sound.

Will fight anyone for you. No questions asked. He hates everyone anyway.

Has definitely fought Naruto numerous times at 7-Eleven. It's where he likes to hang out and sulk when he's up at night. Naruto's just trying to get a slurpee.

He is surprising affectionate in public, but only to show dominance over other men. He thinks you are the most beautiful woman in the entire world and is not afraid to proudly claim you as his and his alone.

Does things like wraps his arm around your waist and kisses the side of your head.

Attempts to like the same music at you, or at least listen to it. Usually though, he would rather sit in silence than hear it.

Laughs at you when you are scared during horror movies but most definitely holds you closer. Is never scared, and if he is, he won't let you know.

He loves you, even if he doesn't show it all the time. He really, really loves you and would be damned to let you go.

#sasuke x reader #sasuke headcanons #sasuke modern au #naruto x reader #sasuke scenario #naruto headcanons #request #naruto #sasuke uchiha #sasuke uchiha x reader #sasuke x you #sasuke uchiha headcanons

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randombook4idk · 2 years

Note

my shikasaku pitch:

sakura is not-so-secretly a giant nerd and deserves a partner who respects her brains as well as her brawn.

shikamaru is at his best with a partner who calls him on his shit and demands he bring his full abilities to bear.

colourful flower girl + black&white shadow boy = good aesthetics

what's not to love about a rare pair with wonderful creators?

Hmm🤔

I will admit Shikasaku aesthetic does sound and looks cool.

Black & Green + Pink & Green my beloved

I haven't really read any Shikasaku fics, but I have some in my google tabs to read later.

Ehh, the "having a partner who calls him out on his shit" thing kinda makes me think of Shikatema. Idk I just feel "meh" about this point. But I could see it in Shikasaku dynamic too, I guess?

But I also can see Shikamaru going from seeing Sakura as some girl from no name clan to respecting her and being over head heels for her (but he would deny that).

I personally like to imagine, genin Shikamaru having crush on Sakura, but seeing as to bothersome to deal with (+plus her crushing Sasuke) so he simply puts it away and acts normal around Sakura (basically every canon Shikasaku interraction). And when they are married & old, Shikamaru just suddenly tells her that:

"Oh, yeah, I actually had like massive crush on you, when we were like 12 or something."

"...wait WHAT?! I had no clue?! You always acted pretty normal around me🤨"

"That's because I found it to be a drag to deal with, so I simply ignored my feelings for you for all those years :/"

"😐"

Anyway, Shikasaku is neat and cool🤙

#shikasaku #sakura x shikamaru #shikamaru x sakura #ship asks #asks

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hinakazino · 2 years

Text

1. Springtime || Sakura x Fem!Reader

Summary: It’s Spring! Meaning colorful flowers, lovely weather, and the blossoming cherry blossoms. It’s also the season of your and Sakura’s anniversary. Sakura is readers wife.

Warnings: Insecurities, tiny bit of angst ??

You had known Sakura even before she became a ninja. You remember one sunny afternoon like this one, you had went to play in the park. Your mother was there to supervise you but was currently busy talking to her friend. You played on the play ground for awhile but got bored deciding to head out onto the grass field just next to it.

You were looking around staring at the pretty flowers and insects when a light pink caught your eye. That was the first time you had met Sakura. Honestly, you were amazed when you first saw her. You thought she was adorable and really sweet. Not to mention beautiful. Her hair was pink just like the cherry blossoms and her eyes an emerald green.

You remember jogging up to her and introducing yourself, saying you wanted to be friends. Sakura seemed surprised at your sudden request but accepted. You both wandered the fields and played hide and seek together. In the end you got each other’s names and even met one another’s parents. Both your moms got along well too!

— 🌸 The Academy

You and Sakura got along well. As she grew alongside you, you never seemed to stop staring at her with awe. To you, she got more beautiful as time passed. Her pastel pink locks had gotten longer, swaying with the wind whenever you guys talked outside. Along with her emerald green eyes that just seemed to sparkle every time she laughed at one of your jokes when you guys ate.

You both sat next to each other at the academy as well. It really was a dream to you at first. Meeting a beautiful girl and becoming friends with her. Being with Sakura throughout your childhood and possibly growing up to fight alongside one another as fellow ninjas. But as you reached the age of 10 you became sadly aware of your circumstance.

Sakura had fallen painfully hard for Sasuke Uchiha. She would fangirl over him in class with the many other girls. You would watch as she fought with Ino about him. This was a regular occurrence you expected. But the feeling of jealousy in your chest spiked each time. It didn’t help that she would tell you about him too.

You liked that Sakura trusted you with everything. The only issue was the point it was everything! You started mourning over the fact that Sakura was a heterosexual (at least you thought). Meaning you had no chance with her and even if you did confess. Worst case scenario she would reject you AND push you away. You couldn’t take that chance so you pushed down your feelings for many years.

— 🌸 Post-War

It was during the time leading up to the war that you had finally started letting your feelings show more. On multiple occasions you had “the talk” with Sakura. Which usually ended with both of you baffled at the end. The talk was usually you talking to Sakura about her feelings for Sasuke. You knew Sasuke’s past, but you didn’t want Sakura’s love for the wanted-boy to end up hurting her.

When Sasuke had jumped to try and kill Sakura you had managed to block his strike and pull Sakura away. You were angry at the time, lungs heaving as your mind raced. ‘Why hadn’t she just loved me?’ You didn’t hate Sasuke, but you couldn’t say you liked him either. ‘If Sakura loved me instead, she wouldn’t have to deal with all this heartbreak you give her’, you thought once.

At the same time, as all these events unfolded. Sakura was finally coming to the realization she loved you. You were the one person who stuck by her side, you were even there during her training with Tsunade. Once the war had come to a close. Sakura further conversed with others on the topic of your love for her. She came to the conclusion that pretty much everyone knew or had figured it out.

You had made it obvious in a way that Sakura hadn’t figured it out. TenTen said she found out because you had told her about it. Ino just scoffed, “she doesn’t seem to like Sasuke and admires you a lot, you haven’t noticed hm?” she stated. Kiba said that he could practically see you beaming every time you were near her. “Even Amakamaru has figured it out!” he says grinning.

So, one evening as you and Sakura were walking together. She offers to relax at your place and you accept. The moment you guys got into your home you remember Sakura confessing that she loved you. You didn’t know how to respond besides the blush on your face. “Are you sure? Wait why? I mean- don’t you love Sasuke??” you spoke frantically.

Only to be silenced when Sakura pinned you to the wall between her arms. It was super hot, her staring down at you, just the way you had imagined it. “I know I’ve liked him for a while, but I’ve realized that you’re the one I really love (Y/N)” she says gently. Sakura was looking down at you with soft, adoring eyes, when her lips formed a frown.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner…” she whispered quietly enough for you to hear. You could see the tears forming in her eyes, no less from guilt. You hugged her and told her it didn’t matter. What mattered was the she was with you now. You both spent the night in each other’s arms. Snuggling and giving one another kisses. It had been a dream come true.

— 🌸 Present Day

Today you knew Sakura had her off day. She now worked as a Konoha Medical Ninja. Normally she would stay all days but on weeks with less patients she’d dedicate her time to you. It was your anniversary, Sakura had actually suggested having a picnic together. So you both scheduled to meet under the cherry blossoms.

You were at your meeting location now. Laying down the blanket for your picnic and setting out the food you’d brought. As you sat waiting for Sakura you glanced at your wedding ring. It was a simple design, with a small diamond standing on top. You smiled as you traced the ring admiring it.

Suddenly you jumped up startled as Sakura hugged you tightly from behind. She would lay her head on your shoulder and press her cheek to yours. “Admiring your ring I see?” Sakura says teasingly. She always enjoyed your flustered expression. Her hand would softly pinch and pull at your cheek before she kisses you on the lips.

“I brought food for you too cutie,” she said smiling. “Thank you,” you would say as she sat down next to you. You always loved the nicknames she gave to you. On instinct you laid your head on her shoulder as your hands intertwined. “A year already…” you would mumble. Time had gone really fast, and recently you guys had considered starting a family.

Sakura would kiss your forehead, brushing through your hair softly with her fingers. “A year with you,” she’d say giggling, before leaning into your ear. “Maybe we’ll have someone join us next year,” she says sweetly. Your face lights up in a blush understanding what she was suggesting. Honestly, you did not mind having a adorable baby with you next anniversary. “Maybe we will, I love you,” you say happily.

“I love you too.”

@harunosakuraweek

#sakuraweek2022 #sakura x reader #sakura haruno #haruno sakura #Sakura x female!reader

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sun--flowerseed · 3 years

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jasmin, tea leaves, and honey

chap. 1

Sasuke recognizes her immediately when he enters the room, and it isn’t because of her pink hair.

It’s because of her scent.

He doesn’t know her name, but he’s seen her around the village. He’s heard other Alphas talk about her: the pink haired Omega, the civilian nurse at the hospital, the medicinal herbs specialist that makes expensive and effective salves for shinobi.

She sat with him once, at the hospital, and applied a lotion directly to his bicep, but it happened even before she touched him.

It happened the second she entered his hospital room, the second he inhaled and smelled her sweet scent, a mix of his favorite tea leaves that he’s tried to brew since and haven’t smelled as pure and lovely, sweet jasmine, and the smell of honeysuckle, a flower he’d like to place between his lips and inhale like her sweet scent.

Sasuke feels woozy when he inhales, and desperate when he exhales. He remembers this feeling from when she touched him, but her delicious scent is disorienting enough.

What is she doing here in the Hokage’s office?

“Watch your tone, Uchiha,” Tsunade warns.

Oh, he must have said that out loud. He has the decency to look sheepish. “Sorry, Hokage-sama. I meant, is this about a mission?”

Tsunade’s eyes narrow, but she licks her lips and moves forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a pretty flush on Sakura’s cheeks. Has he embarrassed her? Or worse, hurt her feelings by his comment? He hadn’t meant to be rude, but the way her scent invaded his senses left him incapable of proper speech.

“Yes, this is about a mission.” Tsunade shifts in her seat behind her desk, a frown on her face. For someone who acts like an Alpha, you can tell easily from her scent, or lack thereof, that she’s a beta. A strong, powerful beta that could easily send him flying through the wall behind him if she decided to. “It’s an escort mission to the Land of Lightning—you’re familiar with the route, aren’t you?”

Sasuke nods his head.

“Our medicinal herbs specialist needs to cultivate a specific plant that grows near the far North,” Tsunade explains. “Unfortunately, she can’t go alone. It will be at least a seven day trip on foot if you walk, and take the safest route… And even then, you’ll still be sleeping in the woods most nights.”

“So I’m to escort… her,” he says, gesturing toward the girl, whose name he doesn’t even know yet, but whose scent he’s figmented in dreams, “to the Land of Lightning.”

“Sakura Haruno,” Tsunade supplies.

Her name fits her hair, he thinks, a sheet of vibrant pink that cascades down her back that matches the color of cherry blossoms, all the way to her narrow waist. She takes care of her hair—she can afford to; she is not a ninja, she is a civilian doctor who happens to understand the intricacies of herbal medicine, and healing. It’s beautiful, more beautiful than any woman’s hair he’s ever seen, but he wants to push it behind her ears so he can see her gland on the side of her neck.

Sasuke almost shakes his head before looking back at the Hokage. “When do we leave?”

“Go home, get some rest,” Tsunade offers. “You can both leave first thing in the morning. There’s no rush to get there, the plants have nowhere to go, and there’s no rush to get back… Remember that Sakura isn’t a ninja like you, Sasuke,” she reminds him. “She needs to rest. I’ll give you three weeks to complete the mission, give or take.”

“Understood.”

“And, one more thing…” Tsunade’s lips curl into a sly smirk. “Walk Sakura home. It’s getting late.”

Sasuke nods, decidedly ignoring her smirk as he tries to keep his eyes from narrowing. “Yes, Hokage-sama.”

Sasuke opens the door, and waits a moment for Sakura. When she doesn’t take the hint that he’s holding the door for her, he clears his throat and then says, “Haruno-san, are you coming?”

She seems to shake herself out of something, turning a pretty pink color that matches her hair, and he wonders how far that flush goes down past the modest collar of her dress, lovely civilian clothes that define her waist and a long skirt that flares out at the hips. It’s a pretty green that matches her eyes, sparkling emeralds that make contact with his shyly. “Sorry, Uchiha-san—”

“Sasuke is fine,” he supplies quickly. He’d rather move past formalities now, and he’d like to hear her say his name, too.

She smiles demurely. “Okay, Sasuke. You can call me Sakura, then.”

Sakura moves past him through the doorway, and Sasuke is close enough that her scent nearly floors him. He inhales deeply. She smells delectable, too good, how is he ever going to survive this mission?

“Thank you,” she says, turning around to meet his gaze, but when she sees him: pupils dilated, nostrils flared, eyes staring down at her, scent spiking and agitated, her mouth falls open and her eyes widen. She stammers, “is—is everything alright, Sasuke?”

He shakes his head, and tries to hold his breath, closing the door behind him as Sakura backs away. When her back hits the wall, he doesn’t take another step forward, leaving enough space between them so that Sakura can breathe. Sasuke takes a deep breath, and there’s enough space between them that he gets a little oxygen and everything is a little less fuzzy. He relaxes, if only a little, and he’s able to start breathing regularly. “Everything is fine. Where do you live, Sakura?”

When Sakura smells him relax, she relaxes, too. “I… I live a few blocks away from the hospital, in the apartments past the market, but you don’t have to walk me home, Sasuke. I’ll be fine. The Uchiha District is on the other side of town—”

“It’s fine.” He starts walking down the hall, out of the Hokage tower. She follows him. “I insist.”

“Well, thank you, Sasuke-kun.” She smiles, and what a pretty smile she has, lips plush and soft-looking. They’re painted pink today, but last time he saw her they were red, and he decides that he likes both. “I appreciate it.”

They walk in a comfortable silence down the city streets. It’s late now, and Konoha becomes quiet when the sun goes down. It’s summer, and the civilian kids are off from school, usually dancing through the streets with their friends, but they’re home now. It seems like it’s just the two of them on the street. The hospital looks dead as they pass it, and Sakura stops. “Do you mind if I grab something from my office, Sasuke-kun?”

He shakes his head. “Not at all. Lead the way.”

She smiles at him, again, and it makes his heart flutter, a little. Just enough that he’s sure his scent might have spiked slightly, embarrassingly. He follows her into the hospital, to the elevator where Sakura idles, but then says, “maybe we should take the stairs.”

Relieved, Sasuke agrees. He couldn’t imagine standing in an elevator with her, her scent overtaking his scenes and leaving him breathless and nearly confused. He’s afraid he might say something he regrets, not that he’d ever touch her, but he’s sure something stupid might come out of his mouth if he’s left alone in an enclosed area with her. He nearly fell to his knees when she passed under his nose while she walked by him; standing in an elevator couldn’t be good for his health.

They walk up two flights, and he follows her down the hallway to her office. She stops in front of a large wood door with her name on it, reaches into the pocket of her skirt and pulls out a set of keys, unlocking the door. “I’ll just be a moment. You can come in, have a seat…” she trails off, stepping into her office and immediately scurrying over to the bookshelf and trailing her fingers over the spines of textbooks.

Sasuke takes a step into her office, and is immediately overwhelmed. Everything, absolutely everything, in the entire office smells like her.

It smells like she lives here.

Sasuke takes a step out of the office, holding his breath. “I’ll be right outside, Sakura.”

“Sure,” she says, unfazed, and continues scavenging through her books. Sasuke takes a few more steps away from the office, back into the sterile hallways of the hospital, nostrils filling with the nearly stinging and acrid smell of antiseptic. It’s better, less dizzying and more orienting.

When she’s done, she locks the door behind her. She’s carrying three textbooks, and heavy ones by the looks of it. They look bigger than her. Sasuke immediately grabs them from her, his hand grazing hers, his finger touching the gland on her wrist mistakenly. They both gasp, and the books clatter to the ground.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” Sasuke says, and immediately bends to the floor and begins picking up her books. He did not mean to touch her gland, but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t feel glorious, that soft, sweet patch of skin on her wrist that would smell like her scent bottled, almost as delicious as the one on her neck. He could scent her here, make her smell like him until everybody thinks she’s his.

He doesn’t do that. He picks up her books, and begins stalking off maybe a little too fast toward the stairwell. She trails after him, trying to catch up, before she says, “Sasuke-kun, wait!”

He slows down until he’s walking at her pace again. “Uh, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she says. “You must be in such a rush to get home. Were you just coming back from a mission?”

“No,” he says. “Just training with my team.”

“You’re on the same team as Naruto-san, right?” Sakura asks.

“Yes.” Sasuke nods his head. “Do you know him?”

“I’ve treated Naruto-san… many, many times,” she says between laughs. Sasuke smirks, knowing exactly what she’s talking about: Naruto is a klutz, and often ends up in the hospital in need of healing because of it. “He is very kind.”

Sasuke snorts. “He’s something.”

When they make it to Sakura’s apartment, Sakura stops and turns to Sasuke with a smile. “This is it.”

“Can I drop off your text books for you?” he asks quietly, and then shakes his head. “Only if you’re comfortable, obviously, and—”

“Sure, Sasuke-kun,” she says and her smile only widens. “Thank you.”

Sasuke follows behind her up the stairs that leads to her apartment door. She unlocks it quietly, and then let’s Sasuke in behind her. If her office smelled incredible, then her home smells unreal. It smells like laying in a field of flowers, lush and bright, like opening up a used book at the library, crisp and somehow fresh. It smells like Sakura rolling onto him in the morning, her hair over her shoulder, neck exposed to his sharp teeth, tongue grazing her gland as he tastes her scent with his tongue.

“You can put those on the kitchen table,” she says. She’s smiling at him, and he’s suffocating. He could actually die, maybe.

Sasuke quickly places the books down on the table, and then makes a sprint for the door. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he says, before locking the door behind him, and shutting it swiftly. He takes a big lungful of the air around him, and sprints home.

…

The Uchiha District is always full of life, cursed with the hustle and bustle of every mundane village. The Uchiha’s settled on the outskirts of Konoha, not quite part of the village and not quite one of its own. It’s over 20 acres large, and lined with vendors, homes, businesses, and the entire police force of Konoha.

Sasuke calls it home.

When he enters the gates, he slows his pace to moseying. He greets his Aunt and Uncle who own the candy stand at the entrance, cleaning up for the day as they offer him sweets he kindly declines. He isn’t one for candies, and he isn’t one to take something he won’t use. He greets his nieces and nephews as they are running back to their home as the sun sets. When he finally makes it to his own, small home, he unlocks his door and pads through with a sigh.

Sasuke strips to his boxers, and begins to make a dinner of eggs, rice, and tomatoes, something simple that he can handle after a long mission. If he’d had the energy, he’d have walked the extra mile into the district to his parent’s house and joined them for dinner, but he couldn’t bear to walk much further.

Once he’s full and settled, Sasuke walks into his bedroom and sighs when he sees his messy bed and his laundry on the floor that he hasn’t tended to in a while due to missions. He gathers his soiled clothes, throws them in the hamper, and gathers clean linens from the closet. He makes his bed, gathers his lightest quilt against the summer warmth, and decides to check in early for the night.

He’s exhausted, but sleep evades him. He stares up at the ceiling, hands laced behind his head, as he thinks. His mind is crawling with thoughts of Sakura: Sakura, in her emerald green dress, blushing in embarrassment as he holds the door for her. Sakura, brushing her hair out of her face and over her shoulder, innocently showing off the plush gland on her neck. Sakura, in her office, her scent surrounding them like a warm, soft blanket, cocooning him like it’s her own arms wrapped around him.

Then, he closes his eyes, and his thoughts change. Sakura, sliding her emerald dress down her arms, showing off her bony shoulders. Sakura, tilting her head slightly, baring her ripe gland to him like an offering. Sakura, in her office, on her desk in lordosis, baring her pussy to him, wet with slick, ready for his knot.

This isn’t the first time he’s fantasized about Sakura. It’s not the second, or third time since she helped him in the hospital after that mission a few months ago.

It’s not the first time he’s touched himself thinking about her, and he’s sure it won’t be the last.

Sasuke throws the cover off of himself, unearths his cock from his underwear, and strokes himself mercilessly to the thought of Sakura in his bed, now, on her back, legs open wide so he can get a good look at her dripping cunt. It would be perfect, and pink, and it would strangle and milk him for all he’s worth.

He’s almost there, and then he thinks about her asking him—no, begging him to mate her, and he falls over the edge, finishing in viscous globs of white on his stomach, and into the curly, black hair at the base of his cock.

After a moment Sasuke sighs, and throws his clean arm over his eyes. It takes him a moment to get up, and he curses when he realizes he’ll be going to sleep much later than anticipated now that he needs a shower.

Sasuke rises from his bed, strips, leaving his soiled boxers on the ground by his bed, and walks toward the bathroom where he’ll take a long, cold shower and try to think about things other than pink haired omegas that smell so beautiful and divine that there aren’t enough suppressants in the world to stave off the scent.

Once he’s freezing and clean, he stumbles into bed and falls asleep naked to the lull of embarrassed blushes and quick brushes of his fingers against a gland he may never have the pleasure of feeling.

#sasusaku #sasusaku prompt #ssfanfic #sasusaku fanfiction #alpha beta omega

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pinkhairedlily · 3 years

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Utakata Hanabi

Prompt: Festival | AO3 link here. Connect with me on Twitter. Happy SS Month everyone! 🌸🍅🥗 @ssskmonth

Funny how things change over time – from Uchiha Sasuke, youngest heir among the biggest clan in Konohagakure, most handsome, the brightest, the one with highest potential to Uchiha Sasuke, the traitor.

It has become difficult to stay beside Haruno Sakura, the girl who bugged him to no end at the academy but now the world-renowned medical ninjutsu specialist, the peak flower of the Hidden Leaf Village, the most beautiful and the strongest but also the woman he loves.

Her admirers flock daily to the village’s hospital where she is the head of medical corps, and to her and Ino’s newly established mental facility. These so-called patients have a unique array of illnesses which often end up with a scolding prescription rather than a real medical certificate. He wonders if he deserves to monopolize her affections.

These thoughts stay with him even if she spends nights in his state-sanctioned apartment, her steady breaths against his chest, and her hair splayed between his fingers, even if she prepares him bento boxes for lunch as he gets ready to spend the whole day briefing the council of elders of his missions, even if she kisses him in the shower before leaving. No one knew they were even together. This is a burden he had to carry – the stigma of his name, the inability of society to forgive, the consensus that he doesn’t belong.

And so it catches him off guard when Sakura brings up the summer festival. “I already picked out a fabric for my yukata. It’s so pretty I don’t want it to go to waste.” She bats him with her puppy eyes impression – her emerald irises jumping at his defenses.

“Sakura,” he starts as he reaches for her hands on the couch. “I want to but you know how it is.”

“And you know how I don’t care about any of that, right?” She looks at their intertwined fingers, and she blushes, quite not used to with their intimacy although they are already quite far in that particular journey. “I just want to see the fireworks…together.”

“We can see the fireworks together. They’re on the same sky anyway.”

Sakura lifts her fingers away from his grasp. “I’ve spent countless summers watching them alone. Now you’re here, and you don’t even want to go. I think I’m gonna sleep early.”

She’s angry. Sasuke finishes creating new storage scrolls and climbs on the bed with her. He hugs her with his lone arm and breathes in the fading lavender scent on her hair. “Maybe I can compromise.”

Sasuke apologizes with a fancy dinner the next day, and by dinner, that meant miso soup, grilled mackerel, kani salad, and her favorite – blueberry muffins. Sakura beams seeing the freshly baked dessert on their table. She also sees two masks on the edge, the compromise he talked about while she was already drowsy in slumber.

He holds them up – a fox and a dragon – and he is rewarded with a grin. “Wear your yukata tomorrow, Sakura.”

--------

She is beautiful, she has always been, and he loved her long pink hair ever since they met. When she cut it off in the Forest of Death, he felt a slight of pang of loss, even more so when it was because of him. Finally grown to her waist, she lets them down for the night in a long single braid adorned with cherry blossoms and her fringes clipped to the side with two butterfly pins. Her yukata, white and adorned with stars, fits her like second skin. She is beautiful.

They walk together hand in hand in the lantern-lit street filled with the crowd. No one actually pays them attention, everyone is too busy catching fish, playing shooting games, and trying all food stalls. They find a space on the riverbank, and they sit together on the grass, hands still clasped with each other.

“Are you happy?” Sasuke asks behind his mask. He slightly regrets this arrangement since he cannot see her expression, and Sakura has these charming microexpressions, like she wears her heart on her sleeve, an open page for everyone to read.

Before she could say anything, a pair of young men also dressed in yukata taps her shoulder. Sasuke immediately lets go of her hand.

“Dr. Haruno! We were right to come tonight. You never fail to go to summer festivals.”

Sakura takes off her mask and smiles back at them. “How did you know it was me?”

“We can spot your pink hair anywhere, Ma’am.”

“We can immediately see you in the sea of crowd. Do you need company?”

“It would be sad to see your outfit go unappreciated.”

Sasuke can feel a headache coming on. He is never the jealous type but the audacity of these kids to hit on Sakura.

She tilts her head, and her voices takes on an apologetic tone. “I’m actually with someone.” To drive the point further, she reaches for his hand and returns her fingers to where they were before they came. “You can enjoy the rest of the festival.”

Sasuke eyes them through his mask, and true enough, they are unperturbed because why would Sakura spend this important social evening with someone hiding behind a prop. But they eventually leave, knowing when to respect her wishes and knowing what happens if they don’t.

More people start filling the riverbank, indicating the start of the fireworks. Sakura eases in closer to him and wraps her arm with his. To their surprise, an elderly man sits beside Sasuke and waves to Sakura.

“Dr. Haruno.” He surmises this must be a previous patient of hers.

“It’s nice to see you with company this year. I was actually thinking of introducing my son to you later this month.”

Sakura chuckles, sensing the annoyance ooze out from Sasuke. “Oh my, there’s no need.”

“I see that. You look happy, happier than I’ve seen you in the past years,” the old man remarks then he fixes his gaze on the man beside him. “You.”

Sasuke slightly shifts to face him and bows in respect. “Good evening, Sir.”

“I’ve seen this girl come to the summer festival every year without fail. She would sit on the riverbank, her hair done up, with some makeup on, and wait for the fireworks. And when they finally light up, she would allow herself to cry, hiding her tears in the celebration, thinking no one looks beside them when the sky is showered with beautiful explosions. I sometimes think why the hell would a gorgeous girl spend the festival like that and watch fireworks with her eyes on the ground. And this year again, she’s here. You better not make her cry.”

“Oji-chan, you can stop now. You’re traumatizing my date,” Sakura lightly protests. She gives him a smile and words a soundless thank you.

“My child, he deserves to know. Anyway, I’ll leave you two and my knees are starting to hurt again.” The old man starts to get up, but he stares openly at Sasuke, piercing the mask barrier with a glare. “I’m serious though, you better not make this girl cry again.”

Sakura laughs and pulls Sasuke tighter. “Of course, he won’t. You come visit me tomorrow Oji-chan so I can prescribe you some meds. Okay?”

The old man pats the top of Sakura’s head and walks away into the crowd. The countdown starts from the opposite of the riverbank, and they hear the explosion. Colors burst into the velvet sky, and her emerald eyes follow the bright traces of the sparkling lights.

Sasuke slowly lifts off his mask and places it on the grass. He foregoes the sight above and focuses on the one beside him, memorizing every line on her face, committing them to his memory, savoring the awed glint in her eyes. He stays like that for the duration of the show without care for anyone who might have recognized him.

She finally notices his look and shifts her attention. He lets go of her hand and allows his fingers to tuck a stray strand behind her ear then he brings her closer to him and plants a soft kiss on her lips, their first public kiss, shrouded comfortably by the distracted crowd and the ephemeral lights above.

“I love you,” he whispers against her ear, and she responds by leaning against his chest with his arm around her, enjoying the last seconds of the show, a giddy smile on her face.

Links for Utakata Hanabi: Youtube | Spotify

#ssm21 #sasusaku month #sasusaku #ssm21d2 #uchiha sasuke #haruno sakura #sasuke #sakura #fanfic #anime fanfiction

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tranquil-turbulence · 2 years

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SasuSaku Month ‘22 Day 10

Day 9 | Day 11

Day 10 Prompt: Doll

Modern Vampire AU

She was pretty as a porcelain doll, hair like fresh spring blossoms elegantly and carefully pinned up into an elaborated braided bun, a single kanzashi adorning it. The crown of flowers placed delicately atop her head reminded him of the goddess Persephone, the very personification of spring itself.

"Surely if the gods were real, she would be Persephone incarnate," he thought to himself. "Perhaps that would make me the god of the underworld?"

Her lips, painted a shy mauve, matched with her bright minty-green eyes, the ones that were respectfully downcast as he beheld her. Her lids were painted a dusky gray to match the black winged eyeliner accentuating her cat-like eye shape.

This had been a dress she'd always dreamt of; a beautiful ball gown with layers of delicate pink tulle creating the illusion of a branch of her namesake; soft fabric flowers clung to the dress from one side down to the bottom of the skirt as a descending cherry blossom tree in the springtime. Her slender neck was adorned with a single necklace, the symbol of his clan hanging from it as a charm. Her bust, albeit modest, was accentuated with the sweetheart neckline, the straps hanging at her shoulders invitingly and the dress swooping dangerously low at her back.

This was the girl who had awoken him from his centuries of slumber; this was the girl who had won over his cold, dead heart. Truly that did make her Persephone, if not only for the warmth that had melted his wintery persona and brought spring into his world.

This was the girl who had accepted him as a permanent fixture in her short, mortal life -- and had consented to becoming his wife, forever joining him in death. Perhaps that would indeed make him Hades, stealing her away from the land of the living, forever intertwined down together in the land of the dead.

Sasuke ran a cold hand across her soft cheek, tracing down her neck to gently take the tiny fan charm in his fingers. The ruby and shimmering diamond gleamed in the lamplight of the beautiful old chapel that he had called his home for eight hundred years.

Bravely, she glanced up at him -- her cheeks were that lovely rosy color that enamored him so, her lips parting as if wishing to say something. Instead she kept silent, her lashes fluttering as he brought his hand up again to cup her cheek.

Only nineteen, still a virgin -- she was utterly perfect for such a depraved creature of the night.

His lips captured hers, paled blue meeting mauve-painted ones, and her hands came up to cup his broad shoulders when she was pulled closer. The warmth of her living body was sapped away by his cold, and she shivered as he deepened the kiss, using his hand to delicately tilt her head.

Oh how he longed to pluck her; drive his fingers through her hair, tousling her hard work and letting her long waves hang freely for him to gaze upon. He longed to capture those lips a thousand times and more, her taste addicting beyond all else. Her blood sang to him from where it raced through her veins and arteries, pumping her heart rapidly with every caress of his icy fingers across her unmarred, uncorrupted neck.

She was still so innocent -- and Sasuke was determined to stain that innocence, whether it be with blood or his innermost carnal desires. Undead he may be, but he was still a man; only now, he had all the time in the world to appraise his delicate spring blossom.

#sasusaku month 2022 #sasusaku #vampire au #modern au

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cherrynojutsu · 3 years

Text

Title: Like Silver

Summary: A companion series for Like Gold.

Sakura misses him so much. She misses the faint smell of woodsmoke and sage, and mismatched eyes captivating in their intensity and unfathomable depths. The Rinnegan is beautiful, soft lavender ringed by hypnotizing layers of circle and tomoe, but flecks of silver dance in his right, tiny asterisms bewitching in nature, if one gets close enough; she’d first noticed it when they were children at the Academy. She knows they're Itachi's now, a slightly different scattering of luminaries aglow in the deep pitch of obsidian, but they're still as enthralling to her as they had been back then. She dreams of that silver sometimes, recalls it any time she sees something similar in color or reflet.

Blank period, canon-compliant, Sakura-centric, some expanded plot points from Like Gold, fluff and pining, eventually becomes a smut fest with feelings.

Disclaimer: I did not write Naruto. This is a fan-made piece solely created for entertainment purposes.

Rating: M (eventual nsfw-ness)

AO3 Link - FF.net Link - includes beginning/ending author's notes

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Chapter 1/?: An Introduction to Electrocardiography

Sakura gazes out the window of her office, a pile of paperwork set aside for a poetic sort of procrastination, trying to indulge for once in a Konoha spring, though she's finding it arduous.

As pretty as it is this time of year, all she can manage to feel is wistful.

Hanami has come and gone already for the most part, though there are a few stubborn cherry blossom trees lingering at the tail end of their blooming. She can see one here from her window, up on the hillside that slopes towards Hokage Rock, clinging to the uneven land. She’s sure its roots have to be all twisted, a labyrinth of gnarled wood clinging to any scrap of land it can wind itself around as its branches and petals try against all odds to reach upwards into the open sky that she can’t take her eyes off of.

There’s a metaphor in there somewhere, but it’s one she doesn’t care to unpack.

This year was her twentieth viewing of her namesake, though Sakura obviously doesn't remember the first few. Her parents take great pride in the retelling of tales from those first few years of her life, the ones she was too little to remember. The highlights come up annually on her birthday without fail, how she grasped at the petals like they were something precious, clutched in her sticky little hands the entire day.

A framed photograph is perched on one of the built-in shelves of her parents' living room, of her and her father on her first birthday. He was holding her up on unsteady legs, ridiculously proud and pointing towards the camera where her mother had been trying to get her to look. Her short pink hair was flying absolutely everywhere, matching the fluttering petals and in-bloom cherry blossom tree in the background, chubby hands grasping upwards. Strawberry cake and frosting were smeared all over her cheeks. They’d had a picnic for her, at the park nearest to their house.

“We came home and cleaned you up, and then your father helped you water your tree for the first time, in the little pink watering pail you unwrapped earlier. You were so cute.” That’s what her mom says every year. Sakura has the sentence memorized at this point, could recite it on cue, if she needed to.

Her parents had planted a cherry blossom sapling in their backyard a few days after they brought her home from the hospital as a newborn, so the tree is around the same age she is. She used to spend time under it often, as a kid, and some of her earliest memories involve sprawling beneath it to study the heavens while her mother gardened. She would also sneak berries from the patch when her back was turned. Sometimes her dad would join in her pilferage, and they would sit beneath the tree like a couple of bandits with stained lips, though those first few years she can remember he barely fit underneath it, as tall as he is. Many a tickle fight had been had, shaded by those branches. She would read books there on nice afternoons, when she was a little older.

The tree is fully grown now, also on the final cusp of its blooming for the year, floriferous wood expanded outwards to drape her childhood stomping grounds in a sea of soft pink. They have a picnic under it every year, in her family’s backyard, when they celebrate her birthday together. Her actual birthday has come and gone, but her birthday dinner is two days from now. Her parents swung by her apartment on Sunday afternoon for a bit with outlandishly large cupcakes, but her mom had mentioned they’d do dinner and a gift on their usual night, Thursday, since it works so well with their schedules every other week.

“We have to have your picnic, under your tree, like always. It’s a tradition! My beautiful girl. I can’t believe you’re twenty. It seems like just yesterday you were only yay high,” her dad had told her, gesturing below his knees before hugging her too tightly, ruffling the hair she'd inherited from him before they left. The cupcakes were strawberry with cream cheese frosting, one of her favorite treats. They’d left her with four extra to enjoy between then and Thursday, one for each day if she wanted it, turning her birthday into more of a week-long affair than a one-day celebration.

She and Ino had demolished two of them while watching some of the terrible movies they love to hate together, later that evening. It had been a smorgasbord of strawberries, really, because they'd washed them down with strawberry daiquiris, sugary sweetness topped with ridiculous amounts of whipped cream. They'd sat on her balcony, after, sipping a little tipsily and just looking.

"You should try to enjoy your namesake more this year, Forehead. You're so busy that I'm not sure you've realized, but you've really grown into it," Ino had said, beckoning vaguely towards a Konoha beginning to bloom, renewed with a warm breeze, spring ushered in by a fluttering of pink petals. Ino likes to give compliments in roundabout ways, she’s learned over the course of their friendship; crass as the blonde can be, she does have her moments. Her words meant a lot to Sakura, so she’s trying to take them to heart, to stop and smell the cherry blossoms, so to speak. It won’t be long before Konoha crescendos into the sweltering heat of the summer.

She loves her parents and her friends. She really does.

But birthdays are weird, Sakura thinks.

Last year, Sasuke had sent her a letter on her birthday. She’s reread it so many times that she has it more than memorized; it’s stitched into the muscle tissue of her heart at this point, or maybe scarred into the lining of her aortic valve, sempiternal markings adorning the tunnels that sustain her, causing her breath to catch every time.

Sakura,

Hanami has come to the wilderness in the Land of Honey. Bees are awakening and foraging for the first pollen of the season, with which to begin again. Cherry blossom petals are everywhere, lining the pathways and floating on the water.

Happy birthday.

-Sasuke

It had been short, simple, and even a little poetic; she had cherished it, as she does all of his other letters. She’d cherished the pressed flower with it just as much; a cherry blossom, neatly flattened with a precision that screamed Sasuke, near exactly the same shade of pink as her hair.

Sakura had started crying when she unfolded the paper to reveal it sitting atop his words. His hawk had waited patiently at her office window for a response to be written and tied to its leg, perched atop the windowsill and watching the goings-on of the village below, absolutely no concept in its predator brain of how much she delights in seeing it fly, a graceful tether to the boy - now man - she has been in love with for ages.

Cherry blossom petals are everywhere. Is there a hidden meaning there, or is she making a mountain out of a molehill?

She’s tried not to read too much into the letters. She's not sure if he sends any to Naruto or not; she's too afraid to ask, because she'll either get a heart-pounding hope if he doesn't get them, or a soul-crushing disappointment if he does. She can't imagine him sending a yellow flower to Naruto, but he may very well have sent him a different gift for his birthday.

Maybe he just thought she would like a flower, which she did - it’s pressed for safekeeping, along with all of his other correspondence to her, sporadically and chronologically throughout a book she keeps on her nightstand, An Introduction to Electrocardiography. It is her take on an album of small things she holds close to her own heart, things she wishes she could read in his. Sakura didn’t want to buy an actual album for such a thing; that felt too formal, for something as ambiguous as her ties to Sasuke, overflowing on her end as they may be. So she’d settled on a book about deciphering the heart’s tells based on science only, electrical impulses and repolarization, the sizes and positions of the chambers, how to diagnose conditions utilizing one’s findings. It’s one she doesn’t need access to anymore, extremely familiar with EKGs after years of study. She’d wanted it to be something no-nonsense, all hard facts and data on how to read activity plotted over time.

Evidence-based. Are letters evidence, though? She’s not sure that would hold up as empirical proof in any of the scholarly journals she’s studied or submitted work to since beginning her research. She thinks wryly, though, based on what she has witnessed get published, that scientific verification doesn’t always matter if you know the right people.

She’s thought many times sifting through it that perhaps it is too optimistic, too hopeful of a book subject for such a thing. Sakura has agonized over it, frankly, wondering whether it was an inappropriate choice.

...But now that they’re in there, it might ache worse to move them somewhere else.

It’s the last day of March now, and she didn’t get a letter this month, which is unusual, because she’s gotten one near each month in the time that he’s been away. She’s paged through the book a few times over the past several days, rereading and admiring the preserved sakura blossom, frozen in suspended animation indefinitely on a page about precordial leads.

Sakura hadn’t really expected anything from him for her birthday, other than a monthly letter like he usually sends... but this year she didn’t even get that. She’s trying really hard to not be disappointed. She has so much to be thankful for, in the grand scheme of things...

...But the petals of the cherry blossom from last year have faded over time, she’d evaluated yesterday, sitting in her bedroom. It might be like her, always pressed in a book, fading whilst stuck indefinitely between the boundless teeth of academia. There is always more data to record, more evidence, with which one can prove or disprove their findings.

No letter this month, though. Nothing to record, no new evidence.

It might be time to move the letters somewhere else, she thinks pensively. Maybe a place where she’s not tempted to look at them all the time; their placement in the book, small scraps of paper that stick out in only a couple of places, makes it easy to go back and reread them. She’s pretty sure she has an empty shoebox in her closet that she could move them to, in a pile rather than catalogued between pages rife with information and a fragile sort of hope. Maybe she’ll do it tonight, put it up in the far right corner of the upper shelf, shoved towards the back so she can’t reach it without the stool, so she’s not tempted whenever the next bout of heartsickness slams into her like one of Tsunade-shishou’s fists used to. She needs to go by the library after work first, to return some things, but maybe when she gets home, she’ll do it. She could eat a cupcake, too; that might make it a little easier.

She dreams of that silver sometimes, recalls it any time she sees something similar in color or reflet. There’s an extremely unique necklace in an antique shop she visits with Ino and Sai from time to time, and occasionally on her own, over on the northeast side of town. It’s a salt-and-pepper diamond, dark grey with inclusions, dainty and set in what must be a hand-fabricated setting. It hangs from a silver chain, towards the back of a display case filled with other vintage and distinctive pieces, but it’s the only one she ever finds herself drawn to. It is so similar to his right eye, dark smoke near black, speckled with beguiling silver startling in its clarity. The bevel cut reveals new flecks dependent on the angle at which you view it.

Sakura studies it closely on each visit, because it is so hauntingly breathtaking and it reminds her of him.

Ino has said it’s not her color, and that she should stick to warm tones and gold, for which she is better suited; Sakura has not confessed to her why it catches her eye so much. Sai has agreed with his girlfriend on the coloring note, sensitive as he is to such things, but the way he studies her every time she tears herself away from it makes her suspect he knows exactly why it captivates her so. It’s been sitting there for years at this point; she has to mentally talk herself out of buying it on each visit. It’s beautiful, but she would spend far too much time gawking at it, and it might hurt more with extended study than the gentle tugging at her heart she experiences when she’s in that old building throughout tiny fragments of lackadaisical afternoons.

Sasuke has been gone for a long time. She hopes he's finding the peace he's been seeking, that he's seeing the world with new eyes just as he'd imagined. She thinks of him every day, sends out little orisons like petals in the breeze in the hopes that they’ll find him, wherever he is.

I wonder where he is now.

Try as she does to enjoy the breath of spring Konoha is right now, and her namesake as Ino said, all she can seem to do is shift her vision to the sky, hoping against hope for a glimpse of a familiar bird-of-prey that will stay an ample amount of time for her to craft a response, before it abvolates away for another month.

Sakura smiles, then, close to laughing at the absurdity of it all, because she is so predictable. She loves this village despite its many flaws and challenges, despite the things about it she and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei and Ino and even Tsunade-shishou, off in the Land of Wind, are trying to change, but even after so many years, she’s still pining for something beyond it, something in the wilds of the sky just beyond her reach.

There’s always next year, she supposes, pupils drawn again towards the outstretched branches of the cherry blossom tree on the hill, before trailing her eyes along further. She can grow a little more to try to reach him. When she was little, she had wanted to grow tall so she could try to touch a star, like the branches of the tree in her backyard did when she and her father laid beneath them on balmy summer nights. He would tell her ridiculous stories about all of the constellations, things she knew had to be untrue, even at the ripe age of five. Precocious, he’d always called her, but in the loving, joking manner he had.

Her gaze follows the horizon, leisurely taking in the rest of her home. It really is a lovely day, despite her yearning. Spring is here again, and today's is a gentle sunset, one last little bit of sunlight with which to conclude March. The temperature is already spiking, unusually warm for early spring, but summers in the Land of Fire are always hot. She really should finish her paperwork, but it’s hard to find the motivation just yet.

Something possesses her, then, to turn her neck more, take in more of the skyline's continuation. She wants to see all of it.

And then Sakura’s eyes fall on an achingly familiar figure cloaked all in black, perched only a roof away and observing her, and she thinks she must have nodded off, because she has to be dreaming.

She subtly pinches herself in the millisecond of time that follows, but she is very much awake.

The words are blooming out of her throat before she can even process what’s happening, exultation sinking into her every vein. “Sasuke-kun!” She moves to crank her window open the rest of the way, and he hops from the neighboring roof down into her office, all nimble legerity that she still thinks has to be a mere mirage conjured from her memories. When he straightens to his full height, she muses that he has to have grown taller. The mere sound of his footsteps on the tile flooring, as familiar a refrain to her as if he’d just walked out of the village yesterday, are a treasure beyond price.

“Sakura.” His voice is a rich timbre that she has desperately felt the absence of; hearing him say her name almost makes her want to cry. She smiles wider instead, to the extent that it almost hurts, and her gaze latches hungrily onto the very eye she was just daydreaming about. A storm of soot and silver, beveled into countless fragments like some kind of dark, rustic diamond, and so staggeringly beautiful that she’s pretty sure she’s blushing just from beholding it. Gods, it's not fair for someone to be so handsome.

“When did you get back?” She asks, utterly overcome with joy. This is better than a letter or any birthday gift she could have received, brighter than any star she’s beheld.

“Just now.” He’s smiling, a small and subtle upturn of lips that is so characteristic of him. Then his words hit her, and her face must be getting redder.

Just now? As in…

“I’m sorry I missed your birthday,” he adds before she can simmer on that for too long, and she has to blink in bewilderment, because that is the absolute last thing she expected him to say. Sakura wonders how much heat can creep into one’s face before they spontaneously combust.

Then she realizes she should probably respond, as humans tend to do in conversations. “Oh! Um… it’s okay.” She folds her hands in front of her shyly, grinning like an idiot. “Thank you for remembering.”

There is a lengthy moment in which she just soaks him in, hoping he can read in her eyes how much she’s missed him. He is still so beautiful, prized eyes and aristocratic angles that have solidified a bit more into the face of a man in the time that’s passed. His hair is different now, covering his Rinnegan eye. His cloak is a little more threadbare, too. He’s tall.

His expression, normally unreadable, is calm. Content, even.

There’s a question nagging at her that she knows she needs to ask. She tries not to bite her lip as she asks it, braces herself for the possibility of not liking the answer.

“Are you… just back for a little while?”

Did you find what you were searching for?

He gazes at her for so long that she thinks he may be glimpsing her soul, peeking into her ventricles to see his own words immortalized there, seared into her core to be felt each time her blood pumps.

“...For more than a while.” And she smiles the biggest she ever has. Oh, this is so much better than a letter or a gift.

“Well, welcome back, Sasuke-kun. It’s… very good to see you again.” It feels as if a piece of her heart has been returned to her, something of the divine stitched back into her chest and full to bursting in omneity.

There is a pause, and then he’s reaching his hand out towards hers, initiating physical contact with a touch that is feather light, so gentle she thinks she is going to start sobbing.

She can’t help it; she pulls him into a hug, tinged with elation. She hopes he doesn’t mind too much; he stiffens for a brief moment, but then settles, wrapping his arm around her and settling his head atop of hers, and she could die happy right there, embracing him with feelings momentarily set free from where they’ve been whelved into her chest.

He smells faintly like sage and smoked cedar, just as she remembered. She can hear his heart thumping, a strong cadence, and it grounds her. Oh, she’s missed him.

“...I’m home, Sakura.” Soft words float above her head, and she can feel the vibration of them through his chest, right by her ear.

Oh, she’s crying.

Sasuke lets her embrace him for a long time, for which she is so grateful. She knows he’s not one for physical contact; it’s a privilege to be allowed into his space even for a single second, let alone for an extended period.

She draws back eventually, glancing up at him again through the tears still collecting in her eyes. Her face blazes when he reaches to wipe them away tenderly with a calloused hand, careful and with a lenity that she’s always known was there, hidden under the surface.

She could just stare at him for hours, she thinks as he lowers his hand. He’s still looking down at her with one of the softest expressions she has ever seen him wear. She really hopes she’s not dreaming.

It’s tremendously hard to get it together, but she tries, because she doesn’t want to spend the entire time crying, not when he's finally back. There are so many questions she’d like to ask him that she’s finding it a challenge to pick one with which to lead.

He surprises her by speaking first, quietly. “I… had something made for you.”

It takes a moment for the words to compute.

Made for me?

Her processing speed must be exceptionally slow, stuck in the utter mush her insides have become, because he adds, “...For your birthday.”

Sakura blinks, and furrows her brows in confusion. “Made… for me?”

He nods. “...I’m sorry it’s late.” The way he speaks it is cryptic, like the apology weighs more than one needed for a tardy gift. Doesn’t he know she doesn’t care? He could have showed up in July with something for her, and it still would have made her knees weak and her heart thump furiously in her chest.

Made for me? She’s still stuck on that sentiment as he breaks eye contact and turns to rummage through his satchel, beneath his cloak.

Sasuke pulls out a medium-sized flat box, a simple white, and she doesn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t that. Something that comes in a box is a lot more formal than a pressed cherry blossom, something more… permanent.

She reaches out to take it on autopilot, and is stupidly distracted by the way his hand brushes against hers, a small spark that makes something in her quake. She wonders if he felt it, too.

Sakura clutches the box with both hands like her life depends on it, murmuring softly, “Thank you, Sasuke-kun.” She’ll wait until later to open it, after he’s left; whatever it is, she doesn’t want to embarrass him, and she also isn’t sure she can tear her eyes away from him just yet, anyways.

Is it just the lighting in her office, or are his ears a little flushed? She didn’t notice that before; maybe he’s had a drawn-out journey back. She wonders how much ground he covered today, if he’s still winded. He might need to rest.

But then he mumbles, voice husky with what she assumes is disuse, “...You should open it.”

His words echo in her head again. I… had something made for you.

“Okay,” she answers in a hushed voice, so she doesn’t scare him away, shifting slightly to set the box on her desk carefully. Suddenly she is very nervous, anticipation settling into her gut.

When she lifts the lid, she swears her heart ceases beating.

The most exquisitely intricate uchiwa fan she has ever laid eyes upon is placed in the box before her.

It’s carved into a likeness of a cherry blossom tree, branches twisting lissomely into bamboo framework, impossibly fine. A different set of words is reverberating in her head now.

You should try to enjoy your namesake more this year, Forehead. You're so busy that I'm not sure you've realized, but you've really grown into it.

Made for me?

“O-oh.” Sakura is not sure what she expected, but it wasn’t this. She fights back the tears, biting her lip and wide eyes soaking it all in, enjoying her namesake in a way that is entirely unprecedented in its sheer severity. The amount of time it would have taken for someone to sculpt and bind and sew is unimaginable; every detail is finely wrought, flawless down to the silk and stitching, lacquered and carved pale wood shifting effortlessly into eighty slivers of bamboo, intricately webbing silk together with the lithe grace of gossamer. It’s a cherry blossom tree, petals and all, pearlescent thread shifting slightly, gorgeously in the light, unimaginable detail. She has stitched people back together countless times over the course of years, but even her expert dexterity would look like a child’s first embroidery stitching in comparison. The stamen within the petals are nearly more detailed and finely milled than an actual, real life cherry blossom, plexure sutured in a fashion so baronial that it’s impossible to believe human hands were even responsible for it.

The silk. Oh, the silk. The color shift bears a striking resemblance to the Uchiha insignia. This is not a gift one gives to a teammate.

Oh, she's crying.

This has to be a dream, some kind of paracosm her heart thought up to give her brain the high of a lifetime. Hope burgeons and unfolds in her chest cavity, bleeding into her extremities like the pale pink shifting into red before her eyes. She’s never, ever going to forget this, not even if she lives to be one hundred years old.

Made for me?

She picks it up with disbelieving hands, grasping it more carefully than she’s ever held anything in her entire life, as if she’s going to wake up at any moment and it will dissolve into synapse, lost in the hazy juncture of morning the way one tends to lose awareness of the contents of a dream upon coming to lucidity. To her absolute bewilderment, it stays solid in her hands, a finery made even more unbelievable by touch. The grooves of the carving are as gentle as his hand had been on hers earlier. She thinks it would have had to be commissioned at least a few months in advance, outlandishly expensive. She’s never seen silk like this. She doesn't know; she's smart, but she's no artisan. Maybe she should ask Sai. She's crying.

She adores it.

Tears won’t stop welling in her eyes; she thinks they may be escaping from a tender spot inside her chest that’s been reserved for him since she was a child, a leak in a metaphorical dam. She takes a steadying breath, blinks, almost has them conquered. Get a grip, Sakura.

Then Sasuke’s hand is on hers, gently turning the handle over.

Her name is carved into the pale wood, on the back in formal calligraphy, Sakura daintier and more perfect than she could ever write it, as if it had just been uncovered in one of the inner layers rather than whittled there manually. Sasuke presses her fingers to it before loosening his grip, and in that second it feels as though his lost hand is in the wood, caressing her from split atoms in the grooves from the other side.

The tears spill over her cheeks - she admits defeat - intricacy of the entire thing blurring out of focus but still somehow burned into her retinas for all eternity.

Made for me, made for me, made for me-

Her voice finds her after a few more tears fall. “It’s beautiful.” Her voice is barely above a whisper, overwhelmed with complete and utter awe, trying desperately to choke down a sob. “Thank you, Sasuke-kun. I… I’ll treasure it. Always.” She cradles the fan closer to her chest, her heart - maybe An Introduction to Electrocardiography wasn’t a poorly-chosen book, after all; there is much to be read from something this precious - and regards him with watery eyes. She wishes she wasn’t crying; the distortion of the tears is making it hard to see the silver she’s loved and missed so much.

His hand lifts to her face after a moment, and to her surprise, he wipes away her tears again. She barely catches the something-more in his eyes, then, through the waterworks, precious metal flashing and pouring into the words scarred into her ventricles to live there forever, fortified in silver, but he is looking at her so -

“...Always,” he agrees, voice a little breathless, sparking scintilla near hypnotizing her in their luster, and he seems so happy -

Then he leans down to press his lips gently to hers, and this is better than her heart stopping, like when she opened the box. This time, her heart soars, and she touches a star she’s been dreaming of for eons.

#naruto #sasusaku #ssfanfiction #cherry writes #like silver #fanfiction #i'm really out here with just hundreds of pages of fanfiction in my google doc drafts huh

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