Story – A Promise Written In Snow
Rating – Kid
Authoress – Chicklets
Synopsis – Itachi/Sakura. A promise made before Itachi's betrayal to Konoha and one little girl.
A/N: I was sitting here reading throw my manga when the snow started falling. Inspiration? Sadly so, I never got to finish reading my manga. -pouts-
Enjoy.
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The 4-year-old Sakura stared in to the park for well over an hour, longing to enter the child-size world. She had lived on the other side of town where most of people were either teens that would not play with a 'baby' or adults that were simply too busy to try. But here, things would change, as everyone was her size or her age.
Sakura took in an exaggerated breath as she clutched her little pink bag of sweets. Her mother had baked them and told her to share them with the other children to show what a good little girl she was.
Straightened out her jacket, and refitted her gloves as she psyched her self up for the third time in the past minute. She combed through her hair that had been tousled in the wind, as her heart finally found the courage to step into the park.
-Step-
Her eyes became wide with excitement as she felt so proud to have finally taken that great big step, and even more excited as she saw the children running around playing. They played on the slides, the monkey bars, and on the sea-saws as well as in the snow. But, much to Sakura's surprise, no one played on the swings.
Her little heart pound harshly against her chest. Never had she been so excited in her short life.
"Who are you?" scoffed a young boy, a marking lining each cheek and a puppy lying comfortably upon his head. "What are you doing in my park?"
Sakura frowned a little, feeling she had done something wrong. "I-I-I am Haruno S...Sakura," she stuttered out in slight fear. Between the taller boy growling down upon her, and the young puppy imitating it's master's reactions tit-for-tat, she suddenly felt the need to leave. To return to the place where she sat playing tea party with Mr. Tiddles, her stuffed bunny. It was not suppose to be like this, she had only come to make some friends.
"Kiba-kun," called a young girl as she ran up to the side of the boy, her blonde hair bouncing behind her and her breaths slightly ragged. "I told you to wait, didn't you hear me?" she asked curiously, before turning her eyes to the pink-haired girl.
A smile crossed the blonde girl's mouth.
A smile crossed Sakura's mouth.
The blonde girl reached her hand up, pointing to the Sakura's forehead. "It's huge!" she said with wide innocent eyes, followed by a fit of giggles as she clutched at her sides.
A frown crossed Sakura's mouth.
Kiba roared with laughter as he fell to the ground rolling in the snow, his faithful puppy rolling playfully beside him.
It did not take long for the three children and the puppy to multiply into that of several children and a puppy. All of which stood laughing and taunting the little strawberry-haired girl.
Falling to a bank of snow, she sniffled at their cruel words and brutal laughter, her bright jade eyes filling with her salty tears. Why were they being so mean to her? She had only wanted to be friends, to share her cookies, and play with them a little.
"I just..." Sakura paused to sniff as her tiny body shook. "I just wanted to play," she confessed, as the first of many tears slid down her cheek and on to her bag of sweets.
"Tee-hee," laughed the young blonde as she continued to grab her sides. "You're so funny looking! Who'd want to play with you?" The group of children laughed wildly as the pink-haired girl wept. Was she really that funny looking? Was that why no one wanting to play with her?
"I want to play with Sakura-chan."
All the children stopped there laughter as they turned to the voice, curious as to who would stand up to Kiba and his scary dog. But as they did, many faces changed from curious to shocked as they all took in the image of Uchiha Itachi holding a bag of groceries. The Uchiha clan's most recognized genius, and Konoha's most respected clan. All of the children had heard of him, and many tried to stand tall as they basked in his presence.
Sakura looked up between her tiny fingers, met with the blurred image of her dark-haired hero.
Shifting all of his grocery bags to one hand, Itachi stretched his free palm out as he kneeled before the young girl, he asked in a kind voice, "Will you play with me?"
Sakura looked up into Itachi's warm cobalt eyes, trying to determine whether the boy was trying to play a joke on her or not. But, as she continued to stare, he continued to smile warmly. Shyly nodding, she placed her tiny hand in to his much larger one, and he walked her over to the swings, her cookie bag still in tow. Lifting Sakura's light form into the swing, he laid down his groceries, and began to push her lightly.
"Do great ninjas play on swings?" whispered the young blonde curiously to Kiba, who began nodding vigorously.
"Of course, Ino. Are you stupid? I mean, Uchiha-san does!" Kiba responded as he decided that swings were the greatest things in the world.
Itachi continued to push Sakura on the swing, and the sniffling girl soon cracked a smile. The smile was followed by a giggle, and that inevitably led to squeals of joy.
"Higher Uchiha-san!" squealed Sakura excitedly. Itachi laughed lightly as he pushed the girl higher. He could not help but think of how much she had seem like his younger brother.
The other children had continued to stare at the two a little, curious as to whether Itachi would play with them. It looked like they were having fun. But none of the children had the nerve to walk up to the boy, and soon they dispersed to find something more interesting to do.
Night was beginning to fall when Itachi finally stopped swinging the young Sakura, who seemed a little dishearten at that. But remembering her cookies, her face lit with excitement again. Taking Itachi's finger, as that was the most her hand to hold on to, she led him to a bench where she opened the pink bag to him.
"Mommy said to share these with the friends I made," she grinned, holding up the assortment of treats. "Opps," she frowned when she looked in the bag. "I squished them." Her lips curled downward in disappointment at the imperfect cookies and flatten caramels.
Itachi reached in to the bag removing a broken cookie, and placed it his mouth as to not depress the child anymore. Chewing on the cookie slowly, he overemphasized how great it tasted with a hearty "Mmmmmm!"
Sakura jumped excitedly as she removed the same kind of cookie and placed it in her mouth, reiterating his previous action.
Itachi smiled at her again. Such innocence was his thought as bewilderment on how the children could have been so cruel to her earlier that day. Taking the unbroken cookie that Sakura had discovered in her bag and offered to him, he said quietly, "I want you to stand up to them next, Sakura-chan. What they were doing to you earlier was wrong."
Sakura paused in mid bite of her own cookie, her foot kicking idly at the snow as she lowered her gaze. "But, my forehead... is big."
Itachi grinned at how the smallest things could bother a child, and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "Your forehead is very pretty," he announced to child.
She smiled radiantlyas she looked at the young man. "Do you love me, Uchiha-san?" Taken aback, Itachi stared at the child in slight confusion as she munched on her cookie, the crumbs littering her face. "You kissed me the way mommy and daddy does when they say they love me."
Itachi grinned at the young girl's purity once more and picked up a nearby stick as he began drawing in the snow. Sakura leaned over his shoulder curiously to see what he was writing as he had blocked her view, but once done, he stepped away for her to see.
"Sakura + Itachi" was written within a heart in the snow.
Sakura wrinkled her nose a little. "I can't read," she admitted as she stared at the heart. She knew what the heart meant; she drew it all the time.
Itachi chuckled once more; unable to remember that last time he laughed so much in one day. For him, he was usually required to train or go to meetings. But today, he got to look out for a child and enjoyed it. A slight heartache took him by surprised as he remembered how much attention his own younger brother craved from him, and he made a mental note to pay more attention to him instead of shooing him away.
"It says, 'Sakura and Itachi'... forever."
Sakura's eyes continued to stare at the heart as she put it to memory, grinning cheerfully. "Really?"
"Of course, would I lie?"
Clamping on the Uchiha's leg, she hugged him for all her worth, cookie crumbs and all, before he took her by the hand and walked her home.
It has been seven years since the promise was written in the snow. A message so fragile that Sakura knew it would be gone the next day. Destroyed by the wind, melted by the sun, or possibly trampled by the playful children. But still, every year on that day, Sakura would return to the small park across town to swing on the swing and eat some cookies before leaving once more. Nothing left behind but her footprints and the heartwarming fragile promise, rewritten in the snow. Knowing that although people or nature would try and destroy it on her again, she held the message somewhere safe for all eternity – within her heart.
Sakura and Itachi forever.
A/N: This feels too much like a rushed job. I am sorry. Maybe I will rewrite it in the future. I just need to get that idea out of my head.