Candy - Chapter 1
"Sasuke-kun..."
Sasuke raised his eyebrows at the sight of his female teammate cowering in front of him, her eyes directed downwards at his feet and a basket of assorted colours grasped tightly in her hands. A quick glance made him realise that she was dressed in particularly nice clothes that day, and though a strange feeling started to take form in his stomach as realisation started to set in, his facial expression didn't change. He had always been exceptionally good at masking his discomfort, after all. Walking next to him was his annoying blond teammate, who was too distracted by the ramen stall in front of them to have any further perception of what else was going on around him. His sensei, Hatake Kakashi, didn't break his usual slouched form as he continued walking with his young charges down the street, either not aware of what was about to transpire or simply not caring.
Sasuke did a quick mental recapitulation of the time of the month, and swore inwardly. This same thing happened every year on the exact same date, and as much as he desired to tell his female teammate to stop bugging him and leave him alone, social convention dictated that he show some measure of tact on this particular day to spare her feelings. Sasuke was never one to care much about social niceties, but it was the least he could do for an infatuated young girl who had liked him for as long as he had known her.
Sakura had really gone all out this year, though. A quick inspection of the basket that was suddenly thrust into his face indicated rows upon rows of candy bars and colourful sweets. Any remaining space at the bottom was littered with jelly beans, and the entire base of the large basket lined with pretty pink translucent plastic.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Sasuke-kun..."
Sasuke cringed inwardly at Sakura's nervously sweet tone. After about two years of getting persistently rejected by her crush, it seemed that Sakura had started to lose faith in the idea that she would get together with him and start a family someday, but through sheer force of will she continued her pursuit for Sasuke's affections, his reactions be damned. Sasuke could almost feel the anticipation of getting rejected again in her slightly fearful tone of voice, and he didn't exactly find joy in putting her down every time, despite his aloof exterior.
He didn't want her getting any further ideas, though.
Sasuke swallowed.
"Er...thanks, Sakura."
Naruto was staring between his two teammates. Two years of mocking rejection of his own heartfelt declarations to Sakura had conditioned him to cold shoulders and rebuffs, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt for him to see the subject of his lovesick dreams swoon over his rival nearly every single day. Naruto, unlike Sasuke, was considerably worser at hiding his emotions, his dejected pout and downcast eyes as Sakura waited for Sasuke to accept the basket of candy (that was supposed to be for him, goddamned teme) showing his inner turmoil perfectly.
Kakashi sighed at the pathetic sight in front of him as he checked off his mental attendance list for team seven. One proud, seemingly asexual black-haired brat. Check. One hopelessly smitten pink-haired schoolgirl. Check. One desperately loud and love-sick blond puppy. Check.
Kakashi had really landed himself a fantastic team of ninjas.
Sakura continued standing in front of Sasuke awkwardly, her arms still outstretched as she silently urged him to accept the basket that she had so painstakingly prepared for him. However, Sasuke didn't show any proper interest in what she was offering whatsoever, instead looking considerably awkward as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand, seemingly unsure of what to do next. Sakura would have immediately declared that Sasuke's obvious embarrassment, indicated by his lightly flushed cheeks, looked absolutely adorable on any other day, but it didn't seem as cute when Sakura herself was the reason for said embarrassment. As the seconds ticked away and Sasuke showed no awareness of what he was supposed to do, Sakura started to wonder if her gesture was simply a big, self-disparaging mistake.
Sasuke then opened his mouth, finally having thought of something to say. As his words entered her ears, Sakura, in retrospect, realised that she would have appreciated any other reaction aside from that.
"I don't really like sweets."
A single hand pressed itself against the side of her basket before pushing it almost forcefully back towards her. Sakura was so taken aback by his frosty attitude at simply being offered candy that she merely stood still for a few seconds, letting the awkwardness of the situation permeate the air with rigid finality whilst she swam mentally in an imaginary sea of dejection. The fact that both her other teammate and her sensei were watching the tense exchange didn't help matters much. As the gravity of what had just transpired in her latest failure in a string of failures to woo the youngest Uchiha hit her, Sakura tried her very best to stop the tears that were springing to her eyes, but to no avail.
When Sakura let out her first sob, Sasuke's eyes widened, immediately considering how badly he had messed up this time.
Naruto looked absolutely appalled at what he was seeing. Kakashi raised a hand to his face, shaking his head in disbelief at the stupidity of his entire team.
"Sakura-chan..."
Sakura didn't hear Naruto's pitying voice, the only thing she could perceive at the moment being Sasuke's callous exterior. She had already tried to come to terms with the fact that the handsome young prodigy of the famous Uchiha clan simply wasn't interested in her many times before, but she never could let go of the minute possibility that her efforts would amount to anything at all. Trying her best to steady her voice but failing miserably, Sakura raised her watery eyes to meet Sasuke's own and watched as his adamantine eyes softened. Realising that there was quite literally no further opening for her to redeem even a shred of her own dignity, Sakura bit her lip hard enough to draw blood before pushing the basket into her crush's chest, speaking with forcefulness.
"Please take it anyway!"
Sasuke held onto the basket in surprise, barely rescuing it from falling to the ground. As he raised his head from the perfume-scented wicker basket, Sakura had already turned on her heel. Seconds later, she was gone, leaving behind blubbering sounds, tears and unbreakable tension in her wake.
There was cold silence as the three young men stared at the rapidly retreating back of a heartbroken pink-haired girl. Before Sasuke had time to defend his admittedly apathetic attitude towards Sakura's well-meant gesture, he felt a blinding pain in his lower extremeties, and immediately crumpled towards the ground in abject pain. Naruto had his foot firmly lodged up Sasuke's family jewels, and looked like he was relishing every second of agony that he was delivering to his archrival for mistreating his beloved Sakura-chan. Sasuke growled as angrily as he could whilst in his debilitating position and pushed his hands down onto Naruto's foot, but met with unstoppable force as Naruto merely doubled the pressure that he was exerting on Sasuke's groin, sending him into a realm of blinding pain that he had never experienced before.
"DAMN YOU, TEME!"
Kakashi watched his two boys tussle right there in the middle of the street before emotionlessly turning away and walking in the opposite direction, silently wondering how much better life would be if he retired as a ninja and chose a career where he didn't need to deal with crazy on a daily basis.
Author's Note - Another short story from me. Just a short idea that I had involving our three team seven ninjas. There's only so much thematic material that I can draw out of three short chapters (I really mean short) so I'll do what I can with my limited writing ability. :)
Reviews Appreciated.
~SUITELIFEFAN