#sasusaku is my OTP

[burningtalelight]

Some people argue that forehead tap is actually a sign of distancing and not love as that's how itachi used it. So, sasuke's forehead tap with sakura is not actually a sign of love instead he is distancing him from sakura. I want to say that sasuke is not itachi, he is sasuke. How he perceives things is different from itachi. The only moment where itachi says that forehead tap was to distance them was after the reanimation was stopped by him and he now puts their heads together but what about all the other times. Even in his real death, he does that forehead poke to sasuke, which itself shows that it was a precious thing they shared. Specially to sasuke, it was a sign of affection, it was like, itachi saying, I don't have time for you now but I love you. He loved that forehead tap that's shown by him blushing. Not just that he never forget that. Even in his revenge days from itachi, he always remembered itachi's forehead poke. When he meets the reanimated itachi, he asks the same to him, "you kept poking my head always". A guy like sasuke who doesn't care much about things, remembers this gesture, doesn't that already tell that it is a special gesture. Not only that even after the fight with naruto, when they are unconscious, he imagines itachi poking his head and smiling. That's one more proof saying that the forehead poke is something special and positive for sasuke. It's a sign of affection. Sasuke poking sakura's head is basically him saying, "wait for me". That's definitely the sign of ultimate love as stated.

I would also like to add one more thing here. I believe that the forehead tap is also like a memory to sasuke. I mean after all that shit happened to sasuke during his childhood and teenage, this one gesture remains as the only memory with sasuke that is a reminder of those times which were filled with love and happiness in his life. As now sakura is the one who is filling her life that warmth and love again, he shares this gesture with her and now also sarada. This is also a reason why he doesn't share this gesture with naruto. Since, he did bring him out of darkness and is equally important to naruto as sakura is but the dynamic is not that of filling love to each other's life, it's like we stand by together as the pain we felt, which was similar.

One more thing, sasuke dynamic with itachi is more similar to his dynamic with naruto. Sure, he sees naruto as his brother and sees itachi in him, but way he behaves with him is different, it's actually similar to with sakura. Just how sasuke used to admire itachi and wanted to be by his side but itachi used to ignore and it looked to sasuke that he doesn't care, similarly, sakura has always been chasing sasuke, she admired him, wanted to be by his side, but sasuke ignored her and it looked to sakura that he doesn't care. At this moment, just how itachi's forehead poke affirmed sasuke that his brother indeed loves him, sasuke used the same poke to tell sakura he also does wants to give this relationship a try and he loves her too.

So I believe, the forehead poke really fits perfect with sasusaku and it shows the "bond even deeper than the love" the boruto manga was talking about.

[kyuuhinajinchuuriki]

🐰🦊 ✗ 🌸🍙

💙𝑯𝒊𝒏𝒂𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒖💘𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒖𝑯𝒊𝒏𝒂💛

🩷𝑺𝒂𝒌𝒖𝑺𝒂𝒔𝒖💘𝑺𝒂𝒔𝒖𝑺𝒂𝒌𝒖💜

[zsasusaku123]

Naruto Shinobi Collection Cards.

SASUKE X SAKURA🍅🌸

[marastark]

[abby-the-druid]

Love Language

"You're learning an entire language for a dungeons and dragons campaign?" In which Sakura is Sakura, Sasuke is an absolute nerd, and tenderness ensues. SasukexSakura CollegeAU

xoxo

“Shhhuuu…” 

A single pink brow rose on a prominent forehead as Sakura Haruno popped into the cramped common area of her best friend’s apartment. There, glaring with dark eyes down at his phone, was her best friend’s roommate.

His extremely handsome, maybe emotionally constipated, roommate.

“You piece of shit,” the Sasuke Uchiha muttered in clear agitation down at the touch screen. “That’s what I fucking said. Shhjuu. Sju. Seven. Fuck.” His mouth was clearly struggling to form around sounds he wasn’t quite familiar with.

“Uh, Sasuke?” the young man nearly jumped out of his skin, looking up in confusion, something like a blush dusted across his pale cheeks. Sakura tried to hide her giggle behind a weak cough, but the way his mouth twisted into a light frown told her she hadn’t succeeded. “What are you doing?”

His mouth parted as if to tell her, but then quickly clamped shut. He quickly turned his screen off, stuffing the offending object into his pocket as he shifted on the beaten orange couch so that he was mostly facing away from her. “I should be asking you that. You know Naruto isn’t here.”

The girl shrugged off her backpack, letting it plop unceremoniously onto the carpet. “I’m supposed to meet him and Hinata for dinner tonight. He said you were coming so I figured we could walk over to the dining hall together.”

She could see him looking at her out of the corner of his eye, and ignoring it, she stepped closer and sat beside him on the couch. She was tired from her back-to-back calculus class and general chemistry lab, and further ignoring his fetal scowl, she pulled her legs up onto the threadbare cushions and sank back into him. He didn’t verbally protest, but she felt the way his posture stiffened and couldn’t help but smile to herself.

“So, really though, what were you doing?” She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her middle, nuzzling a bit into the fabric. Dinner wasn’t for another hour or so, she might as well get comfortable.

“It’s really not important.”

“Then you should have no trouble telling me about it.”

He was silent at her retort, and she knew he was probably kicking himself for opening such an easy avenue for her to ask again. She was starting to think he wouldn’t answer her when she felt him swallow and he answered.

“I’m trying to teach myself Swedish.”

Her green eyes shot open, baffled at the admission. She squirmed around until she was laying back into his lap, looking up into his face. A rose brow lifted again, and when he didn’t elaborate further, she nudged him gently with her elbow.

“Why are you learning Swedish?” for the second time that day a light pink appeared on Sasuke’s cheeks. “Not that there’s like, a problem with it, that’s just so random.”

He rolled his black eyes, and left his gaze fastened to a crack on the ceiling. “I-I…” he sighed and shoveled a hand through his black hair. “It’s embarrassing.” He finally admitted.

Maybe Sakura had been wrong, maybe he wasn’t totally emotionally constipated.

“So? I do embarrassing shit all the time.”

“Right, like showing up to your friend’s apartment when he’s not there to ask a practical stranger to walk you to the dining hall.”

Her smile was dazzling. “Exactly, so you have nothing to be embarrassed about.” She didn’t correct him in that they were, in fact, not strangers and that she knew him more intimately than the back of her hands. He didn’t say anything, and she pouted. “Sa-su-ke,” she held out the individual syllables in a sing-song-y way “Tell me, please?”

She nudged at his side playfully. He didn’t respond but Sakura swore she saw the corner of his mouth lift just a hair.

“Please, please, please? Ahh, Sasuke-kun!” his eyes darted to her widened at the usage of the name she called him when they were in middle school. “Sasuke-kun, I will tickle you until you release this vital information!”

“I’m not ticklish.”

She grinned almost wickedly at him and accepted the challenge. Before he could stop her, she had tumbled off the couch landing on her feet, before straddling him and gently jabbing her fingers into his sides and neck. 

“What are you, seven?” he asked as he tried, and failed, to hold back something similar to laughter as her fingertips grazed a soft and sensitive part of his abdomen, slightly below his navel. “Stop, stop, I told you I’m not ticklish!” he lied before bursting into a fit of laughter as she attacked the spot more thoroughly.

“I’ve found your weakness Sasuke Uchiha!” 

She continued to exploit his soft spots, relishing in the way that his deep laughter seemed to fall so much easier from his throat now that they were far away from his childhood home. His smile was large, crinkling the corners of his eyes, and showing off white teeth. Her heart thrummed against her ribcage, and she knew the smile on her face was just as bright as his was.

Her pink mouth fell into a small circle when he moved quickly, gently tossing her back against the couch and hovering over her. She was dimly aware that his hips were innocently nestled between her knees, and suddenly it was her turn to blush. His fingers feathered over her, and unlike him, she was ticklish nearly everywhere. Her sides, the soft skin of her neck, behind her ears, that same sensitive spot below her navel that mirrored his. She was too busy giggling and laughing at the uncomfortable but not unpleasant sensations. Her breath was clipped, tears springing from the corners of her eyes, before he finally stopped.

“Sakura Haruno.”

“Yes?” she asked meekly, wiping at the tears, and ignoring the ache in her cheeks from laughing so hard.

“Jag älskar dig.”

“What does that mean?”

His smile was small, soft, all the harsh edges of his face were smoothed out and rounded. His black, black eyes were locked onto hers, and he dipped down closer to her, gaze flickering between her eyes and her lips, before settling his mouth on hers.

Sparks crashed across her vision, dazzling, bright, ephemeral. It was tender, the most tender kiss she had ever experienced, just his soft lips on hers, soft black hair brushing along her face, and a soft hand cupping her cheek. Any air she had regained since she lost the game she initiated was gone, exhaled in a lazy sigh into his mouth. 

Before she could press herself closer to him, to open her mouth and ask to play with his tongue, he had pulled back away from her, sitting back on his haunches. His smile had turned into a smirk, and he rested his hands on her knees – which she immediately remembered were settled on either side of his hips, causing her cheeks to flame up again – and he traced lazy circles into the fabric of her skinny jeans. 

“Shikamaru is going to run a Norse mythology D&D campaign.”

The girl swallowed. “Wait, what?”

Sasuke’s smirk grew. “Why I’m learning Swedish. Shikamaru is going to run a Norse mythology-based dungeons and dragons campaign.” He shrugged, still rubbing her knees. “I had a free subscription to a language learning app, and Swedish was the only Nordic language. So, I figured I’d try not to make a total fool of myself.”

“You… you’re learning an entire language so that you can play dungeons and dragons?”

He nodded.

“You’re such a huge fucking nerd!” she said it playfully as he scowled at her, she squeaked when he tickled at her again.

“You said you wouldn’t judge me!”

“No,” she was laughing and out of breath. “I told you there was nothing to be embarrassed about, I did notclaim I wouldn’t judge you.”

Soon his fingers had given up on tickling her but pulled her closer and crashed his mouth against hers again. It was more forceful this time, almost needy in its insistence. “It’s,” he kissed her between each word. “What. You. Implied.” Her hands found their way into his hair, tangling the soft strands in her fingers as he trailed his mouth down her throat.

“What am I going to do with you, you big dork?” she said tenderly, grinning as he paused to look up at her and smile back.

“You’re going to go to dinner with me, and our idiot of a friend.” he kissed the spot on her throat pulsing with her heartbeat. “Then we’ll come back here, and I’ll show you all the other stupid shit I’m an absolute nerd about, and then… then I’m going to kiss you absolutely senseless.”

[noweakergirl]

Maisie Peters wrote The Last One about sasusaku, she told me so herself

[lablee-artsy]

my main ships for valentines day

🧡💜

🖤💗

[inosumi]

PLSS SASUKE SAT GAZING AT THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS TO BLOOM CAUSE THEY REMINDED HIM OF SAKURA LIKE I'M SOBBING

[thekingwhereitallends]

This SasuSaku scene from ep 285 is practically the same as MitsuSara scene from ep 215😭

The parallels are insane and i am all in for it🤭

[randomprose]

rose vines

notes: for the sake of this fic, Sasuke agreed to have the same arm prosthesis as Naruto. I’m assuming it’s a prosthesis. I’m not updated with the new manga/anime.

“How come you don’t know how to braid hair?” Sasuke asks as he starts to gather Sakura’s hair in sections.

In the summer of the fifth year after the war, Sasuke decided to come back to Konoha for a brief pitstop before continuing on his journey. Sakura’s hair had gotten long since he last saw her and when he mentioned it Sakura said she hadn’t had the time for a haircut because of how busy she was. Besides, she figured she’d let it grow long again. She kinda missed the days when she had it cascading down her back and wanted to see how she’d look with it now that she’s grown and her face has matured. Sasuke had commented she looked good no matter her hair length which earned him a smile and a good-natured elbow nudge.

It does however interfere with her work sometimes so she opts to put it up in a ponytail or a bun, but it annoys her that she has to retie her hair up every time it gets messed up with how much she’s moving. Sasuke suggested she braid it, to which Sakura said she didn’t know how to, and so Sasuke offered to do it for her. 

So here they are after a light lunch together in her office, Sasuke standing behind Sakura getting a start on braiding her waist-length hair while she sits still on her office chair reading some medical scroll. Naruto had left as soon as he was done scarfing his meal for a meeting with Kakashi as his successor so now it’s just the two of them.

“I do so know how to braid hair,” Sakura says in defense. “I do it for the kids in pediatrics all the time when I’m free. I just don’t know how to braid mine.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that then,” Sasuke says as his fingers continue to wind Sakura’s hair one section over the other deftly. He’s gotten used to using his prosthesis and has had it adjusted to just the right way that neither his hand nor fingers freeze up. “How come you don’t know how to braid your hair? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you with it tied in a braid when we were kids.”

"Oh, well. That’s—oh, sorry,” Sakura apologizes, holding her head steady when Sasuke grunts in annoyance after she tries to turn to him. “Ino always used to do it for me. When we fought and had a falling out, I just let it run freely."

"Why did you fight in the first place?" 

"Because of you."

“What?” Sasuke’s fingers pause for a second before continuing. “Me? Why?”

"I dunno,” Sakura shrugs. “I was young and stupid. I didn't know any better that you shouldn't break off a friendship over a stupid boy,” she sighs, resigned to the judgment she’ll get. Hell, even she judged herself when she grew up and finally knew better. “I know, I know. I'm trash. Say it."

“Not like I have a leg to stand on if our adolescent years have anything to say about that,” Sasuke replies diplomatically which got Sakura giggling. It’s nice that they could joke about that time of their lives now.

“Yeah, well. There you have it. All that fight over a stupid boy.”

"I'm the stupid boy," Sasuke ventures to guess as he finishes the braid and ties it with the elastic Sakura had handed him earlier. “There. Done.”

"Of course, you're the stupid boy,” Sakura confirms in a tone that says she can’t believe he even had to ask. She whirls around to face Sasuke, the fishtail braid whipping in the air at the force of her turn. “You've always been the stupid boy. You will always be the stupid boy."

"I think you're confusing me with Naruto."

Sakura flicks his bandaged prosthetic hand. "You know what I mean."

"Hn."

"Well, we made up later on and we’re still best friends now, and anyway, you know,” Sakura says, inspecting Sasuke’s handiwork before smiling up at him. “I think the stupid boy was still worth it anyway."

Sasuke raises a hand and pokes her on the forehead, smiling when Sakura scowled and lightly swats his hand away, his gaze ever fond.

[sofya-fanfics]

I Wrote This For You

Fandom : Naruto

Relationship : Sasuke x Sakura

My Year of the OTP 2023 contribution for the prompt : I wrote this for you.

I’m sorry for the mistakes, English is not my native language. I hope you like it.

Summary : Sasuke angrily shoved the letter in his pocket. Idiot Naruto, idiot Kakashi, he thought. They had no need to meddle in his affairs.

Disclaimer : Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

@yearoftheotpevent

AO3 / FF.NET

Sasuke angrily shoved the letter in his pocket. Idiot Naruto, idiot Kakashi, he thought. They had no need to meddle in his affairs.

Sasuke had rented a small apartment upon his return to Konoha and Naruto had come to visit him in the morning. They had not seen each other since the day after the Uzumaki's wedding because he and Hinata had gone on their honeymoon. They had returned the day before and Naruto had decided to visit his old friend, as he had told Sasuke when he opened the door to his apartment. After a while, Naruto noticed a letter lying on the coffee table in the living room.

“What is this ?” He asked taking the letter.

Sasuke opened his eyes wide. It was the letter he wrote to Sakura on his redemption journey. He had written to her that he loved her and that he wanted her to leave with him. It had been easier for him to write down his feelings than to tell her, even if he had never been the type to write declarations of love. But he had never had the courage to send her the letter. Of course, Naruto had to see it. He did not dare give it to Sakura, so it was not for Naruto to read it.

“Give me that !”

“For who is this letter for ? Is it for Sakura-chan ?”

Sasuke blushed.

“Is this a love letter for Sakura-chan ?”

Sasuke blushed even more and Naruto grinned from ear to ear. Sasuke knew that look. It was the same one he had when they were genins and he tried to annoy him. Even if he was married and would be the next Hokage, sometime Sasuke felt like he was still the twelve-year-old child he had been. Naruto was about to unfold the letter. Sasuke lunged at him, but the blond narrowly avoided him.

“Naruto,” Sasuke raged.

He was no longer blushing because of the embarrassment, he was angry.

“Come on Sasuke, let me help you. I can tell you if your letter is not too cutesy.”

Sasuke tried to grab it, but Naruto dodged him again before running out the window. The Uchiha followed him. It was out of the question for him to let him get away with it. They chased one another in the streets of Konoha, in front of the stunned gaze of certain passers-by and indifferent of others accustomed to the behavior of the two friends. They ended fighting on the village bridge, Sasuke wanting to get his letter back and Naruto refusing to give it to him. Both had not noticed that Kakashi was watching them. They ended up falling in the water. Kakashi picked up the letter that had fallen on the ground and opened it. He laughed lightly as he read it.

“Well Sasuke, I didn't know you wrote so well.”

Sasuke was going home. He was soaked and irritated, but at least he got his letter back. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it once again. It was crumpled but at least Naruto had not been able to read it. But it upset him that Kakashi did.

“Sasuke-kun !”

He looked up and saw Sakura coming towards him. She frowned at his state.

“What happened to you ?”

“Naruto,” he answered simply.

Sakura nodded, not being surprised. Sasuke glanced at the letter. It was now or never. He shyly handed it to her.

“I wrote this for you.”

Sakura blushed and took it. She unfolded it and began to read it. She frowned and Sasuke felt his heart beat faster. Was she going to deny his feelings ? Would she refuse to leave with him ? He thought that everything was going well between them. But maybe he should have thought more about it. He asked her to leave her family, her job, her friends to follow him. What was he thinking ?

“Sasuke-kun.”

He held his breath for a few seconds.

“I can't read it.”

She gave the letter back to him and he looked at it. It was stained and in places the ink had leaked because of the water. It was completely unreadable. Kakashi could not read it either. He had laughed at him, Sasuke thought, annoyed.

“What did you write to me ?”

“I'll tell you later. Let's go have dinner at that new restaurant you wanted to go to.”

Sakura smiled and nodded. He took her hand and they walked towards the restaurant. It did not matter if she had not read the letter, Sasuke thought. It was now time for him to confess his feelings to her and this time he would tell her in person.

The end

[maikochann]

TenRose, SasuSaku and Spuffy has been among the most popular ships of pop culture together.

Oh, boy, I really love winning. ♡

[herowithbadpublicity]

“Sasuke is gay”

Damn he can’t even be bi? 💀

[naruto-is-my-religion]

~ Re reading Naruto manga ~

Sasuke waking up after his battle with Itachi

[ap-kinda-lit]

Happy New Year!! 🎉🎊 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣

[abby-the-druid]

Love Language 2

In which Sasuke discovers Sakura likes reading dirty books, but refuses to read "Those Parts".

xoxo

The door to the boys’ apartment was unlocked when Sakura stomped up to the entrance. Instead of knocking, she let herself in with an irate huff of breath. She kicked her sneakers onto the linoleum floor, cursed when she tripped over her own feet on the way to the living room, dumped her backpack unceremoniously onto the floor, and struggled to unwind the scarf around her neck without accidentally choking herself out. Once rid of the fabric, she tossed it in a heap near her bag, dropping her jacket along with it before stalking over to the beat-up orange couch and flopping face first onto the threadbare fabric.

A short hiss left her as her face was met with a newer stain that smelled suspiciously like old ramen. Grimacing, sighing, and squirming to turn onto her back, she ignored the soft typing sounds coming from Sasuke, who was sitting quietly on the floor, chin resting on one knee, as he looked through black glasses at some coding project on his laptop on the coffee table.

“Hello Sakura,” Sasuke greeted her lazily, fingertips hesitating a moment as he checked the meticulously neat notes he had taken from class earlier that day. She responded with nothing but a grunt.

The male typed for a few more minutes, frowned when his code failed, then flipped back and forth in the notebook. Leaning closer to his computer screen to track what line he was in in the Spyder application he sighed and rubbed at his tired eyes. During this period of time, Sakura was uncharacteristically silent.

Sasuke stretched his neck back until the hair on the top of his head brushed at her thigh. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked gently.

She grumbled something similar to a no, and shrugging he moved to look again at his screen. Readjusting his glasses, he decided that if she wanted to talk about whatever was obviously bothering her, she would. Until then, he would continue to try and discern what the actual fuck an interpolation function was and how to appropriately utilize it.

He was in the middle of typing the said function, when she apparently decided it was time to vent.

“You know, the next time you go over to Shikamaru’s to play dungeons and dragons, you need to tell his roommate he’s a raging fucking asshole.”

Sasuke’s brows quirked. “I need to tell his roommate that Shikamaru is an asshole?”

“No, you idiot,” Sasuke almost flinched at the tone she was giving him. “Tell the roommate that he himself is an asshole.”

“Oh,” Sasuke tilted his head back again, looking at the frustrated woman behind him. “Which roommate? Kiba Dog Breath, Angel Choji, or Weird Bug Shino?”

“Why does everyone you know have weird fucking nicknames?” 

“Don’t ask me, Naruto is the one who names everyone.”

“Do I even want to know mine?”

Sasuke opened his mouth, Perky Tits Sakura was on the tip of his tongue, but noting the way her cheeks were still flushed from whatever was bothering her, he decided against it and shook his head. “So which roommate?” he said instead.

“Fucking Kiba.” She hissed. He wasn’t sure but it looked like there was some amount of wetness in her eyes that wasn’t normally there.

“Dog Breath,” he nodded. “I didn't know you knew him. Why is he an asshole this time?” He turned back to his work in the attempt to hide his smirk of amusement. He would not deny that the guy, was in fact, a raging asshole.

“I don’t know him,” Sakura stated, pulling one of the pillows discarded on the back of the couch to her chest. “He was harassing me on the bus.”

Sasuke’s black gaze swung around and searched her eyes in confusion. “Wait, what did he do? If you don’t know Kiba, how do you know it was Kiba?” He knew Kiba was a grade A asshole, but he never knew the man to accost strangers.

Sakura nearly scoffed, seafoam green eyes glaring back at him. “I know it was Kiba because he said his name was Kiba.” She punched into the pathetic pillow in her grasp. “And he was harassing me while I was minding my own business, trying to read.”

“Harassing you how?” he didn’t mean for skepticism to be present in his question, but the way her eyes narrowed at him he realized she felt he was doubting her.

“Because he asked if I was down to fuck him.”

Black eyes widened and he shook his head. “Woah, back up. What did you do? What happened?”

“Jesus fucking Christ Sasuke,” Sakura used the pillow and smacked him on the side of his head. “I didn’t doanything. You know it’s like a ten-minute ride from my apartment to here on the bus, and Ino is borrowing my car for work and –“

“I know that part.”

“I swear I’ll punch you if you don’t shut up.” He fell silent, knowing there was no real threat of violence against him. This was the girl who felt guilty about swatting at flies and cried any time she saw an animal hit along the highway. She waited a moment to see if he would continue with his interruption, but when he didn’t, she continued.

“Like I said, it’s a ten-minute ride on the bus, so to pass the time and take a moment to enjoy myself, I pulled my book out and was reading. And then, he wolf whistled at me from across the walkway.” Her hands were worrying at the edges of the pillow, cradled back against her chest. “So I scowled at him with a ‘what the fuck is that about?’ face, and he said something along the lines of ‘Baby if you want it that bad put your book down and sit on my face already’ and proceeded to make inappropriate gestures at me with his fingers and his tongue.” Her face was beet red, voice wavering as her jaw ground, and Sasuke realized that the wetness was her trying desperately to hold back tears.

“I told him to go fuck himself, which he just grinned about and said he wanted me to join him.” 

“What did you say to that?” Sasuke asked, and for the second time that evening, his words were taken as more of a challenge of her rather than a simple inquiry for the remainder of the story.

“Well obviously I said no!” she squeaked, mildly offended that Sasuke hadn’t already come to that conclusion himself. Sasuke, who she had been kind of, sort of, unofficially, officially seeing in so much as they licked each other’s tongues at any moment they were alone for more than thirty seconds, should be fully aware that she had less than zero interest in fucking literally anyone else. “The bus was still a few stops away, but I got off as soon as it stopped and he yelled his name at me as I left, saying I would be the one screaming it soon enough.” She was frowning and breathing hard.

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes. “If that ever happens again, you should stay on the bus.” Her jaw dropped as he continued. “If the person harassing you like that got off the bus with you, they could easily overpower you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sakura sat up, pillow forgotten in her lap, glaring daggers at the man before her. His brows rose together, inhaling to elaborate, but before his mouth had a chance to open, she cut him off. “Do you really think I don’t already know that?” her green eyes were nothing but glinting emerald slits. “Do you think, that as a woman, I am too incapable of realizing how much danger I could be in at any moment of time?”

Sasuke cringed and shook his head, pulse jumping at the insinuation. A few heartbeats passed before he was able to murmur, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then try again.”

He let out another breath of air, glancing down at his fingers. He wasn’t sure what they were, what this… thing was between them. It wasn’t something he had really ever felt before, so articulating was difficult for him. “I worry about you coming over here sometimes, especially when you have to take the bus, or it’s late, or it’s dark out. You’re…” 

Small, delicate, fragile, important, lovely, beautiful.

“I just worry that something would happen to you.”

All the fight that she had been holding in her chest leached away as she exhaled and shrugged. “It is what it is.” She let herself fall back onto the couch.

They were silent for a few minutes, both uncertain and concerned, thoughts racing.

“I’m sorry about Kiba. I’ll talk to him; I’ve never known him to act like that.”

She shrugged again, teeth grinding as she desperately tried not to look over at Sasuke. There were tears burning in the back of her eyes, there had been since the altercation took place, but she would be damned if she let them out. Especially here, in front of Sasuke. She absolutely hated crying, hated it the most when she was in front of another human person.

“Was your book at least goo before he interrupted?” Sasuke gently changed the subject, a move which Sakura was incredibly grateful for. His hands hovered back over the keyboard on his laptop.

She nestled into the couch, rolling on her side and pulling her knees up to her chest. “Yea, I really like this author. It’s only the second book I’ve read by him, but my calculus professor absolutely loves them and recommended them to me at the beginning of the semester.”

Sasuke immediately stopped typing, and turned to fully face her, now sitting cross legged in front of the couch. “Wait, don’t you have Kakashi-sensei for calculus?”

She nodded.

“Sakura, please don’t tell me you’re reading one of those Icha Icha Paradise books.”

Her mouth tilted into the first smile he had seen on her that day. “You’ve heard of it?”

Sasuke audibly groaned, sinking forward until his face was mashed into the orange cushion in front of him. “No wonder Kiba was getting fucking weird, Sakura, that’s porn.” His voice was muffled by the cushion, but a blush leaked into her skin at the statement.

“I-it is not!” 

“It is.” Sasuke retorted.

“No,” she maintained, glaring at the back of his head through the blush. “It’s a romance story.”

Sasuke lifted his face up from the fabric, resting his chin in his palm lazily. “Yea, okay sure, whatever you want to call it.”

She smacked him with the pillow again. “It is,” she asserted, willing the heat on her skin to go away. “I don’t usually like romance novels, but these ones have a really fantastic story line.”

He snorted, mouth pulling up into something like a smirk. “If it’s such a good story line, then tell me about it.”

The way he was looking at her made her heart skip a beat and the heat rushed back to her skin. “What?”

“If it’s not a dirty porn,” he said simply, “then tell me about it.”

Sakura shifted so that she could raise her chin, and although it was meant to be in defiance, he only saw it as adorable. “Well, it’s about a man who has a lot of familial trauma that he’s working through, and he meets a woman, who has a lot of self-confidence issues. They come together and are learning to trust people again.”

“Right, where do they meet?”

“Excuse me?”

“In the story,” Sasuke repeated, voice even as his eyes stared into her. “Where do they meet?”

“I can’t see how that’s hardly relevant.” She deflected.

“Sakura.”

She rolled her seafoam green eyes and blew air up into her bangs. “Fine, it was at a brothel -but only becausehe had been sold as a child to the Yakuza running it by his father who had outstanding debts.”

“Right, and why was the woman there at the brothel?”

Sakura sighed again, but at his raised brow she acquiesced. “Because she was trying to reclaim her autonomy after she miscarried, and her husband cheated on her.”

Sasuke couldn’t stop the smirk kissing the corner of his mouth. “Of course, of course, reclaiming her autonomy.” He paused for a moment, and Sakura thought she could see something like glee in his dark eyes. “Did the… rough and dirty sex that Kosuke and Ima engage in help her reclaim this… autonomy?”

The woman glanced away and mumbled something under her breath.

“What was that?”

She mumbled again.

“Sakura?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know because I don’t read those parts!” She exclaimed, cheeks puffing out and red still blossoming on her face.

“How can you miss them?” He asked incredulously.

She floundered for words, hands pressing pink strands of hair out of her face, suddenly too warm under his gaze. “I-I just, I don’t, they-” she closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself. “I skip pages until they stop talking about sheathing their swords into the velvety softness of her scabbard.” She was visibly flustered, and he couldn’t help it.

He laughed.

The look of indignance on her face, the ever-present flush on her skin, the pout on her soft lips along with the knowledge that she refused to read the very scenes the pornographic novel was renowned for had Sasuke rolling onto his back on the floor. Laughter fell easily from his throat, deep and resonant, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

“Stop it,” she chided him. But he continued and before too long, she found herself smiling and chuckling too. “Seriously,” she tried again. “Stop laughing, it’s really not that funny.”

“No, it’s hilarious.” He was crying he was laughing so hard. “You don’t even read the sex scenes, Sakura, that’s literally the only reason people buy those books!”

“Sasuke,” she growled at him, irritation and dread of the Kiba interaction fully draining away. She rolled off the couch onto him, pinning him under her thighs. “Stop,” she giggled as she caught his wrists. “Please stop laughing at me.”

It took him a little while to calm down, face sore from laughing so broadly. He gently tugged one hand free from her grip to wipe at the water beneath his glasses. He couldn’t stop the small smile that remained on his mouth as he looked up at her. “I’m sorry, you’re just too cute.” He offered and felt a pang of endearment as she attempted to scowl at him.

“Well, I’ll have you know that Kosuke and Ima – Wait!” her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. “I didn’t tell you their names, how did you know their names?”

His smile shifted into a smirk. “I told you why people buy those books Sakura.” His hand came up and settled on her thigh.

“I-I didn’t know you had an interest in that type of… literature.” She said softly, heart leaping awkwardly in her chest.

His smirk was almost wicked as he licked his lips and answered her. “That’s because I don’t read them on the bus.”