A/N: The title kind of bothers me, but I couldn't think of a better name, sorry it sounds cheesy. First Naruto and sasusaku fic! I'm on kind of a sasusaku kick and I got an idea for this and had to write it down before I forgot, but it was really hard to. I love sasusaku but it's hard to imagine Sasuke doing something romantic because he's always just like, "Hn." I also hope the characters aren't too OOC, I tried my best. I'm not too confident how this turned out, but maybe you'll think otherwise? I'll probably have to edit it later but for now, sorry and thank you! I don't think I'll ever stop writing late night stories.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!
Italics are thoughts, by the way. Oh, and it's kind of fluffy.
It was nearing twilight, the sky slowly turning from its brandeis blue color to a calming light orange. It was a beautiful sight, it wasn't a bad view as they hadn't really ventured far anyway.
Sakura took in the sight and inhaled. After the war, things have settled in peacefully. It was nice to just be with friends and talk and everything being okay, except for the damage that the war caused. Thankfully, it wasn't entirely ruined, only a couple houses and stores but it was sort of okay because they did warn the people beforehand and escaped fine. On the otherhand, the group were assigned a special mission to take part in what happened and to fetch any debris that fell into the forest that could be used in rebuilding the houses and stores. It could've been done in maybe about 2 days, if Naruto hadn't been a butt.
She sighed and turned around to look at him. He was laying flat on his back with his arms and legs spread apart.
"Gahhh, I'm so tired! Can we go home yet?" Naruto yelled to anybody who could hear him.
"You know, we could have gotten this done sooner if you didn't screw things up!" Sakura retorted.
"Hey, I was trying to help!"
"What you wanted was to turn it into a contest and get more sticks than everybody else, but it doesn't count if you're cheating, idiot! And anyway, it's our last day here, we're about done."
"Maybe, but it seems the others can't take anymore." Naruto pointed out.
"Huh?" Sakura looked around as she saw the groups tired faces.
"I'm beat." Shikamaru sighed.
The others chimed in with their agreements.
Sakura looked up at the sky again. It was twilight now, the orange fading to reveal dark purple.
"We should be heading back now. Is everything cleared up?" she asked.
"Not exactly. There are a couple more not too far from here, but other than that, it's all clear. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can do it, I'm staarviing! I need to have something to eat! Like ramen!" Choji exclaimed.
"Ramen!" Naruto bolted up. "I want some!" And with that, he dashed off to Ichiraku's.
"Hey, you're not leaving without me!" Choji said following close after.
Sakura sighed. It was only Hinata and Shikamaru left. "You two go on ahead. I'll finish things up here."
"Are you sure, Sakura? I mean we could help you with it." Hinata said.
"Choji said it was only a couple right? I'll be fine." She smiled.
Shikamaru got up and started to walk away. "Thanks Sakura." He said before leaving.
Hinata bowed slightly to Sakura and smiled at her. She walked until Sakura called her back again.
"Ah, Hinata? Sasuke came today too, right? Did he leave already?" asked Sakura.
"He did, but I'm not too sure if he left yet. He might have."
"… I see. Thanks." She waved bye to Hinata and left.
"So that's where they are," Sakura thought. "There are really not that many. Geez, you guys. She sighed again. I'd better get to work. It won't take too long, and after this I'll reward myself with a nice, hot bubble bath." She giggled. She loved pampering herself, but it was impossible to do so with what's been going on. It was a pleasing thought that she could finally have after everything.
"What are you thinking about?"
Shocked, the pink haired shinobi whipped her head around to see him.
He was leaning back against a tree, looking cool and nonchalant and hot as ever.
"Oops, did I just really think that?" Sakura thought, flustered.
"Yes." Sasuke replied.
She yelped, and tried to tamp down her embarrassment. She felt a light blush spread across her cheeks. She hurriedly changed the subject.
"W-what are you still doing here, Sasuke? I thought everyone left already."
"…" Sasuke paused, then, "I found more on my way back and finished the job."
"Really…" she tried not to be too let down. While it was true she still loved him, she had to consider on Sasuke. "I can't honestly think to myself that he actually made up a lie and stayed behind because of me. Even if it were true…" She turned around to look at him, if he was even still there, and found him staring at her.
She blushed and whipped her head right back.
"Why don't you go on ahead, Sasuke? I can finish up here, there's not that many."
No reply.
Sasuke was instead walking towards her slowly.
"What-"
It was then that Sasuke leaned over her, black eyes meeting green. His face was mere centimeters from hers, so close that Sakura could feel his breath.
Her heart thumped loudly in her chest and she didn't know what was going on, why it suddenly turned from her finishing up to Sasuke to him being a complete distraction and his face extremely close to hers that it looked like he was gonna!-
"You missed one." He said, suddenly backing up and waving a piece of wood in front of her.
"Oh. I was getting to that." She stood up and looked at Sasuke, who was standing up beside her.
"You're done. Let's get going." He said as he walked first.
Sakura silently walked behind him, wondering what the heck just happened, and if she was really awake today or not.
After they finally finished everything up, Sasuke was still walking with her.
"What's up, Sasuke" she finally spoke.
"I want to talk with you."
"About?"
"Follow me." Sasuke stepped in front of her and took the lead.
They ended up at the top of a roof, high enough to see the whole neighborhood and kids running back home.
They sat together in silence.
"Sasuke? What did you want to talk to me about?" Sakura asked, finally breaking the silence. It was weird behavior of him to do this, but she knew he was the real Sasuke, and not a fake pretending to be.
He remained quiet for a moment before answering. "I'm sorry." He said.
"Huh?" She was not expecting an apology from the raven haired boy next to her. "What for?"
"I'm sorry because I know I hurt you. And I know that doesn't cut it, so-"
"It's fine, Sasuke." She cut in.
He looked at her and saw she had her head down, her eyes looking down onto her folded holds in her lap.
He crinkled his eyebrows, and spoke in a harsher tone than intented. "No, it's not fine! How can you say that when I almost tried to kill you?" He saw her jolt at his voice and calmed down, but didn't say anything more.
"I can tell, you know. I've always been watching you from when we were back as genin. That seemed so long ago. Remember when we were in the forest of death and when you awoke, the cursed mark was influencing you? And…when you were about to kill me…" She trailed off before starting again. "Those two times, that was you and also not really you. I do know you, Sasuke, and during those times? You were you, but another form of you that came up and surfaced to show that side of you. You were cursed with the seal and was influenced by it, the power you wanted, and Orochimaru being the cause of it all. Your drives were different than me and Naruto's, and that was okay. But it took over you until you did come to your senses. You finally came back." She smiled a little at that. "So, it is fine, Sasuke. It's in the past now."
Sasuke watched her while she spoke and saw that she had really meant what she said. She knew and understood everything without him actually telling her.
"Sakura…" he didn't know what else to say, but wanting to say her name.
She looked right back into his eyes and smiled. "Sasuke, let's-" she stopped when he broke off their eye contact, noticing his head backing down.
She watched him silently, wondering what he was doing, until he threw a brick over his shoulder.
"Sasuke. What?" she said dumbfounded.
It wasn't a second later did the pair heard an, "OW!"
"That voice, Naruto!" she stood up.
"Sasuke, you didn't have to do that! You didn't have to throw a brick at my head!" Naruto appeared behind them, clutching his head.
"Naruto! You were listening?! You're gonna pay, you-" was all she could say until Sasuke pulled her wrist and broke into a run.
"Eh? Sasuke?" he didn't reply and she reserved to keeping her mouth shut for the time being.
It wasn't long until they were running aimlessly side by side through the trees.
It was then that he said, "Moments like this."
"Huh?"
"Just moments like this, is what I want. That is, if…" he turned his head to the side to look at Sakura, and she bumped right into him.
The two flew down and landed on a lower branch with her right on top of him.
She shyly touched her forehead to his and said, "Always."
Sasuke was blushing and he knew it, but he was, to be honest with himself, inwardly filled with happiness and smiled back at her. At least no one was there to see him like this.
"I bet that butthead thought the coast was clear, but he's wrong! Like I wasn't going to follow them. I'm here getting the scoop on those two lovebirds and it's about time! Haha this is so much fun!" Naruto smiled to himself as he watched them from a nearby tree.