title: attraction of imperfection
pairing: SasuSaku
length: two-shot
inspiration: "7 things" by Miley Cyrus. (and warning: never listen to said song while cooking ramen for fluff and romance shall surely be inspired).
summary: because perfection seems too surreal and godly, even if that was not the objective. because learning to trust often means learning to fall.

other things: Yes, I'm here with something else SasuSaku flavored story (strawberry, I guess. I like strawberries. Do you like strawberries?). I've revised this enough times I could possibly quote passages from memory. Enjoy and please do tell me your thoughts!

fatefatefatefate

A girl was leaning on the bridge, quietly tapping her toes against its old and chipped paint. The air wasn't moving; a breeze not stirring the leaves surrounding her into a haze of green. Birds that normally were chattering and squeaking their happiness to the spring world were silent, hidden in their nests.

In the dark, anticipatory atmosphere, the girl herself was different. Without a lot of light, her pink hair seemed merely ordinary, bland. If seen at that moment, anyone would have said that pink hair was a common and not anywhere near unusual thing. Neither did her eyes seem in any way spectacular. Emeralds that generally were generally incandescent were like ponds of water on a sunless day with a hint of green in its murky depths.

She wasn't alone.

Across the bridge from her was a black-haired boy whose posture suggested he wasn't there because he wanted to be. He merely stared in her general direction though his onyx eyes were not really focused but still saw her. But, although she had thought differently in their Genin days, he couldn't see into her soul and see the darkness he had painted around the picture of him she kept in the deepest part to portray her love of that boy (because he was no longer that boy). His hair was slicked back in such a manner that the girl, in her mind, called Chicken-Ass, though not in any real meaning of affection or hate. Maybe in the old days, it would have been affectionate.

But no longer.

She had seen the amount of pain people, including herself and other of her precious people, had gone through to get him back. Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, and (most importantly, to Sakura, at least) Naruto had nearly died to try and bring him back. Over the years, she had watched past instances swarm, trying to get her attention, all having the same message: he's not the best person to be empathetic towards.

So his family had been massacred by his older brother. So the elders were senile old people that deserved a Chidori up their asses and not be involved in the leadership of anything other than a senior center. So he thought he couldn't get stronger here.

He sure hadn't gotten any stronger with the other guy.

The one that also betrayed Konoha.

He who thinks taking over people's bodies will make him truly immortal.

They belong together, she thought disgustedly. The power-hungry and plug-ugly (read: more beautiful than life).

But Sasuke had gotten more powerful. He could make himself look as if he were stuck through an electrical wire. He could make snakes come out of his body. He could cut someone up in the amount of time it took most women to cut open a container of chicken.

To him, help was a hindrance. Every time she tried to lend aid (even if it was just a bottle of water), he ignored it or rejected it, calling it and her "annoying".

Eventually, the message got through.

He didn't need them.

Fine.

Then they wouldn't need him either.

And she believed it with all of her heart.

Because he was no longer the boy she had fallen in love with.

The funniest thing about his leaving was the fact that he came back just the way he left- on his own. So many people needn't have died if they hadn't tried to keep their grasp on him. Maybe, if only she had gone with Sasuke-ku-.

No.

She shook her head.

She had done her best and he had pushed her away. Her kindness he didn't deserve. That past was his and his alone and she shouldn't take the blow for him, the selfish jerk.

He's back and might receive a welcome from everyone else, but not her. He'd have to prove that he deserves it. And she most certainly wouldn't call him 'Sasuke-kun' because, like the welcome, he just didn't deserve it.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Teme!" The shot of orange flew and landed in the middle of the bridge, in-between the girl in red and the little boy in black.

"Hn. Dobe."

"TEME!"

She nodded her greeting and returned to her thoughts. Those two would be at that for a while. No use in listening to them.

And, of course, Kakashi would be late.

"Yo."

Her head lifted, surprise in those sparkling green eyes. "Since when have you been on time, Kakashi-sensei? And without your… 'wonderful piece of literature'." Sarcasm laced the last four words. The unpunctual leader of Team 7 wasn't even carrying his book for once.

"Since I gained the opportunity to have such a beauty in front of me. And I'm glad you have finally seen the light." Beneath his mask, Kakashi was probably smiling a crooked smile.

"But haven't I always been beautiful?" Sakura pouted her lips and fluttered her eyelashes.

Their teasing banter was interrupted by Naruto (because Sasuke wouldn't care either way and would take forever to lose his patience), yelling that it was time for training.

"Alright," sighed Kakashi before walking away. After a few seconds, Naruto and Sakura looked at each other before the girl followed.

Naruto looked after her, his face uncharacteristically sad before turning to look at his other teammate. Sasuke, the village traitor, just stared back, blank-eyed, as if Sakura's icy demeanor didn't affect him.

And maybe it didn't, Naruto thought sadly.

And he walked away.

They arrived at Team 7's usual training grounds. "Where's Sai-kun?" asked Sakura, curious as to the fate of their fourth teammate. Sasuke just leaned against a tree, looking indifferent to the fact that he was no longer in that girly, ugly ass-bow and in a uniform consisting of a black shirt and black pants.

"He's letting us take this day to get reacquainted with Sasuke here. He'll meet Sasuke again tomorrow," said Kakashi with his head in his usual book.

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, it's not like Sasuke's changed at all. I mean, he's just been gone for six years. And we've seen him occasionally, about two times a year. Alright, so he's tried to kill us and Sai-kun every time we see him, but really! What does that matter among friends?" Sakura asked sarcastically, throwing him the nastiest look she could manage.

"Sakura-chan! Don't be mean!" scolded Naruto while she merely rolled her eyes expressively.

"Aw, come one! We should invite Sai. He needs to meet us all at the same time and together! Why don't you get him, Naruto?" Before Naruto could object with a 'Sakura-chan!', she had pushed him away and turned back to her silent former-sensei and traitor of a teammate.

"So why don't we get started?" she asked.

"Fine, Sakura-chan," sighed Kakashi. "We'll do the Trust Test first."

"Hn."

"That's where you let your self fall and trust that the person would catch you," Sakura explained quickly. "If you let yourself fall, that means you trust them."

Duh, she thought savagely. That's why it's called the Trust Test.

"Hn."

"Well, I'm sorry I assumed you'd never played games. I mean, you've had your mind stuck on your brother (which sounds really wrong, by the way) for the past eleven years. You've probably never done anything fun like going to hang out in a bar in your life."

"Hn."

"Whatever. You're going first," she ordered Because I doubt you trust anyone enough to let me catch you. And then we can just wait for Naruto and Sai.

"…"

He waited for her stand behind him before just dropping backwards without preamble. She was surprised and caught him by reflex. Wha….? He actually thought I would catch him?

Then Sakura noticed the fact that his skin was warm, not the ice cold that she had thought based on the look in his eyes. Skin that looked as pale as that of a vampire actually held a tinge of color. And his hair smelled like… grapefruit. When it mingled with the tropical scent of her lotion and the strawberry scent of her own hair, she swore that that was the smell of heaven before shaking out her head.

Focus.

On his right shoulder was the scratch Ino had had to heal from his fight with Itachi. Okay, so it had been more like this gaping hole that Ino-Pig, her rival and ex-ex-best-friend, had to half-heal before stitching up the rest, leaving him with a pale line in the shape of a heart.

How ironic.

But Sakura had to strain against her impulse to trace it with her forefinger lightly, to see if that could tell her anything about him. What internal struggles were gone and what remained to be resolved. Indeed, her finger wavered a hairbreadth length over it, but she managed to restrain herself from actually touching him.

Because she was pretty sure that if she did, she would never let go.

Actually… why wasn't he commenting? Surely he could feel it.

She told herself that her heart wasn't racing (embracekisshugembracekisshug) and that she detested him with every fiber of her being.

Nearly choking on the sweet fruit-scented air near her face, she quietly said, "You can stand up now, you know."

In barely any time, he was standing behind her.

"My turn," she whispered and closed her eyes.

Okay. All you gotta do is trust. Trust that Sasuke will catch you. She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. Don't think that if he doesn't catch you, you'll hit the hard ground. The ground that hasn't been rained on in months.

Her lip was starting to bleed under the pressure. Sasuke had been gone for so many years. He had tried to kill her more times than she had trusted him. He had left them for some creepy, pedophilic, snake-man that had promised him power without strength.

Fall! A voice in her head was screaming to let the troubles from the past go because this was Sasuke(-kun!), the boy she had fallen in love with.

Her eyes flew open as she took a subconscious step away from the avenger. Not bothering to turn around, her bangs covered her eyes so she never saw that more clouds were covering the sun. "Sorry, Uchiha. I can't do this."

And with that, she ran, not seeing the wide-eyed stare Kakashi gave her along with the drop of the orange book.

Or the blank-eyed look that conveyed more sadness and depression that could be said in any number of 'hn's…

to be continued...

fatefatefatefate

I guess this would be considered angsty.

...

Yeah, I think so.

So the second part should be posted by next Monday. I'm rather busy for the rest of the week and what not. And I promise the title shall be explained in the next part.

Because the story came from the songs "imperfection" by Saving Jane and "7 things" by Miley Cyrus.

-'Stacia