Sakura Haruno gazed out at the horizon, letting out a deep breath before blinking to readjust her vision and focus back on the villagers who had picked today to come to the ocean side.
It was a sunny summer day at the beach where many of the citizens of Konoha, and their families, had decided to take the day off from normal responsibilities and have some fun. But of course, with the particularly younger kids (especially the boys), the true definition of "fun" was rough-housing and pushing each other around almost to the point of danger. The lifeguard in the vicinity, Sakura, kept a particularly close eye on them on the occasion, but not without paying attention to all the others who picked the same time to go for a dip. It did not go unnoticed to her that a lot of the men in the area paid just as much attention to her as she did them, if not more. She knew she was attractive, but the extent of it annoyed her to no end.
Letting out another sigh, she ran a hand through her hair to both momentarily shield her eyes from the sun's glare, as well as distract herself from the few blatant leers of a few men not too far away from where she sat.
Just for a little longer, until before the sun starts to set, then I can go home.
[ m x s ]
"Hey, Madara, pass it here!" Hashirama Senju yelled, raising his arms to catch the inflated football which was just about to be thrown at him. Madara Uchiha smirked his way, cocking his elbow back then letting loose a wide throw, grinning at the soft "oof" that came from the other man due to his strength.
"Nice catch, Hashi. Maybe next time you'll do without the wussy squeak," he laughed, nearly doubling over at the rising color in the brown-haired man's cheeks.
The Uchiha and the Senju families were those among the residents that came to the beach that day, deciding they needed just as much of a break as everyone else - not just because of how prominent both families were when it came to the function and stability of the village, of course.
It was Madara, his younger brother Izuna, and their cousins Itachi, Shisui, and Sasuke. Only Hashirama and his younger brother Tobirama were in place of the Senju. Madara was currently the head of the Uchiha house, and Izuna was his second-in-command. Their cousins ran day-to-day tasks, but still held a bit of that authority given their reputations as fearsome, powerful shinobi. No average joe-nin dared to mess with them, even at the beach, where everyone enjoyed themselves as equals, fooling around and filling the masses with laughter.
A sudden, shrill whistle pierced the air, which made the men wince before they turned their heads to inspect what had happened for the warning to have needed to been given. The pink-haired lifeguard was bounding out of her seat, running towards the shoreline then jumping in. A few seconds passed by before she burst back up to the surface with a young boy who had decided to be brave and swim too far off.
Madara stared as she pulled him out of the water, patting his back while he coughed out some water and then bopping him on the head, chastising him for his recklessness. He couldn't see her eyes because of her sunglasses, but the lines forming on her face gave him the idea that she was definitely annoyed. He had to swallow a slight lump in his throat when she turned and walked back to her station to climb up the ladder, the tight wetsuit clinging rather snugly to some parts of her body.
"Man, she's such a party pooper. The kid was just trying to show off to some chicks!" Izuna exclaimed from behind him, and a few faint, adolescent-female giggles confirmed it, but Madara barely heard him. He was too busy continuing to stare at that.. interesting lifeguard. Her flushed pale skin, supple curves, and legs which seemed never-ending had him hooked, and he so badly wanted to approach. He suspected she was young, but old enough for his tastes. And that hair… it reminded him of cotton candy. He wondered what color her eyes could possibly be if her hair was pink, of all things, and with a clearing of his throat, he decided.
Madara Uchiha was a man of ambition. If he wanted something, he'd get it. And today was no exception.
"Izuna, quick," he said with a start, grabbing his younger brother by the shoulder to get his attention. He leaned in and cupped a hand to his ear, quickly whispering his plan.
[ m x s ]
The nerve of that kid, going so far off shore just to impress a few girls. He could have gotten seriously hurt, or worse! Where were his parents? Sakura huffed in irritation, grabbing the bottle of sunscreen next to her to slather on a new layer. For the next minute or two, she continued to grumble mentally before the sound of particularly forced splashing and a male voice rang out:
"Help!"
Her head snapped up and she immediately found the source, a grown man, with rather long, obsidian hair, even more dangerously close to being swept away by the waves struggling to stay above the surface. The pinkette's eyes widened minutely, her mind running through several reasons as to why a person so seemingly fit and capable of swimming could be struggling, but immediately blanked so as to go into auto-pilot and grabbing the rescue can hooked underneath her seat. She ran as fast as she could, her feet pounding against the sand until she felt the familiar shock of the cold water hit her skin, and her vision blurred. She saw the man's figure sink beneath the surface and she pushed herself to swim faster, grabbing him by the shoulders and repeating the same routine she had done with the boy until he was well away from the water and laying on the sand with his head elevated.
Not bothering to even catch her breath, Sakura went to work. "One, two, three, breathe!" she cried, pushing both fists against his chest in a steady rhythm to coax the water from his throat to escape. After several moments of seemingly nothing, she pinched his nose and leaned down, capturing his lips with hers and breathing as much air as she had stored into lungs into his mouth. A slight jerk, followed by a struggle to cough caught her attention and she leaned back, allowing him to turn his head and clear his throat. While he did so, she finally relaxed, her shoulders losing their tension. She got a good look at the man, then, observing his muscular physique and absurdly long locks of hair. He had rather prominent bags underneath his eyes, and the curious thought crossed her mind of what could possibly make him so tired to create them.
He then turned his head back around and slowly cracked both eyes open at the sensation of gentle fingers smoothing said hair back from his forehead, and what he saw nearly took his breath away once again. He blinked a few times, then croaked out, "Wow…"
Curtains of pink shielded him from the glare of the sun, and eyes the brightest of green stared down at him, with pink lips parted in preparation to speak.
Those eyes… they had such a story to them, he knew.
"Sir… Can you hear me?" the girl asked, her fingers nearly sinking into the hair at the top of his head, seemingly entranced in her inquiry about his current state. "Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous? What is your name? And do you have anyone I could possibly contact?"
Seemingly delirious, the man shook his head then started to sit up with a grunt. "No.. I'm fine, it's just.." He looked at her again, then, studying her face for a moment. A smirk tugged at his lips and he offered, "Do you have any plans tonight?"
[ m x s ]
"And that's the story of how we started dating," Madara finished, leaning against the ladder of the lifeguard station while sipping at his pink lemonade, Ino and Tenten staring at him with their mouths hanging open.
"As if!" Sakura cried, kicking lightly at his head from her seat up on the station. "I totally rejected you the first time, I was so angry. You faked drowning to get my attention, you jerk!"
"Hey, it worked!" the Uchiha retorted with a laugh, patting her calf which evoked another attempt at violence. "You were on duty, there was no way I could just walk over and strike up a conversation. I had to get creative, sue me."
Recovering from their shock, both Ino and Tenten began raining down a mass of questions all at once, turning both to Sakura and each other with excited, gushy squeals of how romantic it all seemed. Sakura stuck her tongue out in mock-disdain and turned her head to focus on the east side of the beach, where something caught her attention.
"Hey babe, duty calls," she called to Madara, climbing down the ladder then quickly going up on her tiptoes to give her boyfriend a peck on the lips. "I'll catch you later." And with that, she turned her back ran towards the scene that had piqued her interest, Madara staring at her the whole way there with a wry smile on his face.
"Mm, mm. Never gets old."