A/N: Fluffy, slice-of-lifeish, and a tiny bit of romance at the end. Not in chronological order. Enjoy. (:
Summary: They start out as strangers, but, she keeps pushing past every wall he's created until, eventually, he gives up and lets her stand by his side.
-#01-
Fake Story
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She says, "Smile once in a while", and looks at him with anticipation.
He stares at her longer than necessary before wandering off the school grounds.
She gapes at his retreating back for nearly a whole minute, and he really, really hopes she forgets to follow him.
She follows him.
He says, "Go away". She shakes her head, and doesn't say anymore.
She tries to walk beside him, but he speeds up on purpose. She catches up to him, only to be left in the dust, and they keep repeating, until they're both out of breath.
He mutters, "Go away, Sakura", between breathes. She giggles, and he notices it sounds like an airy sigh.
"But Sasuke-kun", She says when she finally catches her breath. "That would mean I would have to leave you alone."
He pauses.
He turns to look at her earnest face. Seizing the chance, she runs up to him.
He lets her walk beside him.
She says, "I won't leave", and he secretly holds her to the promise.
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He says, "Stop stalking me".
Well, to be fair, that wasn't her intention at first. She just wanted to borrow a pencil from him because she had forgotten her bag.
Her mom always said, "Get your head out of the clouds".
She never did take those words seriously.
To this day, she's glad she didn't.
'He's beautiful', she thinks when he turns away from his math textbook, holding out a pencil. 'Deadpan, but beautiful.'
It is only when she hears the whole class laughing and him scowling at her that she realizes she said it out loud.
She's embarrassed for a while after, but forgets about it when she scores a 100 on the test.
He says, "Give me back my pencil", a week later, and, she can't because she's lost it.
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She says, "Sasuke-kun, what's the matter?"
He ignores her voice, as always, and proceeds to wipe down the chalkboard.
She pouts, and walks up to him.
His actions are paused as he's suddenly tugged down forcefully. Who knew someone so small could be so strong?
"Tell. Me." she says, enunciating each word, small hands clasping tightly to muscular arms.
He looks at her green, green, eyes for a long while, and she feels like they're near a breakthrough.
He turns away suddenly, and walks out of the classroom.
She says, "We're friends, aren't we...?", and proceeds to clean the empty room by herself.
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He says, "Leave me alone", and trudges down the hallway.
Whispers start around the school about a "pink-haired freak" following around the Sasuke Uchiha.
She doesn't pay mind to the various rumours circulating around, and follows after him.
Secretly. Of course.
She hides behind a tree, and watches him.
'Wow, so handsome', she thinks to herself again as she watches him stand in the middle of the cherry blossom trees.
He looks small standing alone, she notices.
At that moment, she promises to herself that she would stand beside him.
She goes up to him.
He says, "What are you doing here?", but doesn't tell her to go away, and she thinks that's a start.
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She says, "Oh, hi Sasuke-kun", when she sees him burst through the doors of her hospital room.
His face looks strained, but not because of the scowl that's always on his very nice-looking face.
"Idiot!", he spits out, but sits down quietly soon after, and they sit in silence for a bit.
He was so worried. So goddamned worried.
I won't leave.
She jumped out onto the road to save a little boy.
Two broken ribs, right arm fractured, a slight concussion, almost her entire body was bruised, and the list, it seemed to keep going on, and on.
Her heart almost got her killed.
He gives her flowers the next day; Cosmos, because he knows she likes them.
She says, "I'm happy you're here, Sasuke-kun, since you're the only one who ever comes", and fingers the fresh Cosmos by her bedside.
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He says, "My father", one day to her after a session of physiotherapy (1).
She looks at him in bewilderment.
"He doesn't care about me. All he ever goes on about is 'Itachi this' and 'Itachi that'", he explains bitterly.
She listens quietly as he complains, ever the silent guardian.
She's secretly kind of happy to see this side of him, but doesn't tell him.
It is a secret, after all.
When he has nothing more to say (at least for today), she pulls on his sleeves, and makes him lean close.
She hugs him softly, and he doesn't hug back, because he's afraid of squeezing the life out of her.
Oh, and he's afraid of something else too: Getting close to her.
He says, "Thank you", and doesn't leave until visiting hours are over.
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She says, "We should go on a picnic."
He sighs because of course she'd be thinking about this; right after she got out of the hospital.
It took months, but she can walk again. He holds her steadily because the doctor told her to take it easy.
They go to the park, and it's sunset by now.
She dances and twirls, and he watches, protectively.
She stops in front of him and grins up at him.
She says, "I told you I wouldn't leave you alone." She sticks out a tongue. "You thought I was lying, didn't you?"
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He rolls his eyes.
"No", he tells her truthfully, and looks at her for the first time.
At her shoulder-length pink hair, her white skin, and jade-green eyes.
As a woman.
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And that's when their real story began.
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-x-
A/N: Yes, Sakura's an orphan. Yes, her parents died in a car accident (irrelevant information). Oh, and at first, Sakura's the protector because we know she's the type to protect who she thinks is precious teehee, but by the last scene, Sasuke is. XD I'm also accepting prompts. Just give me the general idea and genre, perhaps?
(1): A medical treatment for joints, muscle, and nerve problems involving physical movement.
Thank you to anyone who favourites/alerts this fic. A special thank you to anyone who reviews.