Sakura spread out the blue checkered blanket on the grass, placing her picnic basket in the middle. Then the woman lay down on her back, happily kicking pulling off her shoes and peeling off her socks.
Opening the basket, Sakura pulled out a small dish of cheese (brie, softened by the heat), grapes, and a cheap bottle of wine.
She set the food down beside her before taking out the bowl of strawberries covered by a tea towel. Drawing back the fabric, Sakura licked her pink lips.
She had spent hours dipping the ruby red strawberries into a pot of chocolate back home, all the windows open to let in even a gasp of cool air, her hair pulled up in a sweaty bun. Her hair was down now, the tangles brushed out, the humidity giving it volume and making it frizzy.
The chocolate was melty thanks to the summer day, so Sakura giggled happily and pulled out the chopsticks stashed in her pocket. A strawberry was just brushing against Sakura's lips when a pair of Senbon held by pale fingers snatched it from her.
Sakura sniffed daintily and drew up, her hair falling around her face. She had felt him fall from the trees above and crouch quietly beside her moments ago, like a nervous bird too shy to make itself known.
Sakura uncorked the wine and poured it into the two thin-stemmed wine glasses, handing one to Haku, who was removing his mask. The man folded his legs together, his lips curving around the rim of his glass as he took a sip.
A lock of hair slipped from behind Sakura's ear as she leaned forward to remove his sandals - a hiss escaped her lips. "Did Zabuza do this?"
Haku had two bloody, chafed circles looping around both of his thin ankles.
"Don't think too badly of him," Haku smiled, looking up at the sky as Sakura wiped away the hurt with a simple brush of her fingertips. "If he didn't punish me when I refuse a mission, the others would be displeased. Besides, hanging me from a tree by my ankles is hardly the worst thing the Demon of the Hidden Mist could do to me."
Sakura worried her lip. "Maybe we shouldn't do this anymore then! This - " She gestured wildly at the blood still lingering on his skin, " - makes me feel guilty, Haku!"
Haku sighed in that soft way of his and took her chin in his fingertips. Sakura wondered vaguely what kind of lotions he used to keep his hands - his lips - so soft...
"Mm..."
When he drew away, his thumb caressed her mouth.
"How much more time do you have?" he murmured, shrugging off his haori, because this summer heat had a way of getting under your skin. He sank down onto the blanket, his hair escaping its ties.
"On a hot day like this...?" Sakura sighed, putting her hands on either side of his neck. "I probably don't have very longer before they call me back to the hospital."
Haku touched her hair, closed his eyes. "Then I will savor every second...just like I always do."
