Disclaimer – First the world, then Naruto, and possibly Sasuke.
SLAM!
"Sounds like Sakura smashed her alarm clock again." Hinata whispered quitly, staring at the ceiling, directly at where Sakura's bed would be.
"She really isn't a morning person, is she?" Alyways a morning person, Ino was the only one who was able to find humor in anything this early on in the day.
"At this rate, she's going to run out of money." Tenten mumbled.
"Yeah, I think she forgot that now that she's 18, Tsunade isn't going to assist her with money problems." Ino said.
"Ano? What do you mean?" Hinata asked. The three girls were sitting on mats around a small round coffee table. They were all at Sakura's house, having stayed over the previous night. They, however, woke up much earlier than her. So here they were, drinking coffee, at seven in the morning.
"Well, ever since Sakura's parents died on that mission one year ago, Tsunade has been helping her. But once Sakura turned 18, she stopped helping." Ino explained.
"But, it's not like Sakura needed help; she earned enough being an ANBU medic, right?" Tenten asked both the girls.
"Yeah, and I remember how angry Sakura was at first. She never wanted her help, she said she was strong enough to support herself. I think she just wanted to once again prove that she wasn't weak." Ino said, looking down.
"Morning." Said a voice. All of the three girls jumped up at the unexpected greeting. They turned around to see Sakura standing in the door way, frowning at them. She let out a small laugh. "Oho. Why the long faces? Is a 'good morning' that hard?" The three girls sighed.
"Sakura, why are you up so early? Did you forget what day it is?" Ino asked her. They were in for one hell of a day.
You see, today was…
"Valentines day." Sakura said through gritted teeth.
"Sakura, darling, why don't you sit down. I'll get you some coffee. Would you like something else too?" Tenten said, jumping up. Sakura scowled.
"Cut it out with all this crap. It's Valentines Day. It may be the worst day, but I'm just going to go about and do the things I normally do. So if you're gonna act like that, you'll find yourself six feet under by noon." Sakura said and stormed out. Tenten slumped back down onto the mat, tears forming in her eyes.
"What does that mean? She never acts like that" Tenten said.
"She did this last year too. And since he came back, it's gotten worse." Hinata said quietly. They all understood exactly who he was.
"We have to do something about it. She's in denial." Hinata said quietly. Ino shook her head, frowning.
"You know perfectly well that there's nothing that we can do. The only one who can fix her problem is the one who cause it in the first place." She told them.
'Sasuke.' Ino quickly got up and disappeared in puff of smoke, leaving the others confused.
"Dobe! Pay attention. Next time you space out like that, it won't be my fault if you end up with a burned ass." Sasuke said angrily. He and Naruto were currently sparring. This was their usual morning routine. Followed by ramen for breakfast, more training, and then followed buy more ramen for lunch… well, in Naruto's case anyways. Sasuke usually ended up just watching him in revulsion, snacking on a tomato no less.
"It's not my fault teme. You can't blame me for being distracted." Naruto said in defence. But of course, he did not want a fried ass. Sasuke just looked at him.
"Would you care to explain? Or do you want me to leave?" Sasuke said, keeping his blank face.
"Don't tell me, you forgot what day it is today." Naruto said. Damn, and he though Teme was smart.
"Of course I didn't. It's February, 14th to be exact." Sasuke said, not understanding why Naruto made such a big deal out of it.
"And do you know what occurs on the 14th of February?" Naruto asked?
"Uh, sure. Valentines." Sasuke said nonchalantly. "Do you have a point somewhere?"
"Yeah, Sakura."
"Look, either explain it or let me get back to kicking your ass."
"Ever since we saw you in sound three years ago, she refused to celebrate Valentines."
"So?" Sasuke didn't understand. Why should he worry about her not wanting to celebrate Valentines? He didn't celebrate it either. It was the stupidest holiday ever.
"You just don't get it do you? This isn't like Sakura. She's supposed to be cheery and happy. She hasn't given a chocolate to any guy since the last time you refused her." For once, Sasuke dropped his emotionless expression. Is this why everyone was so on edge yesterday? Was this the reason why Naruto couldn't concentrate this morning?
"So, what does this have to do with me?"
"It has everything to do with you." Said a voice behind Sasuke. He turned around and grunted. Ino was standing there with a box of chocolates.
"Great, fan girls." Sasuke seethed.
"Excuse me? No offence, Uchiha, but I am so over you." Ino told him, looking rather proud. Sasuke smirked.
"Is that so? Then care to tell me what you're doing here?"
"Yeah, I'm here because I need your help. We all do."
"Hn."
"Damn bastard. Sorry Ino, he was fine this morning." Naruto said.
"Well, at least some things don't change." Ino said with a smirk.
"True. He'll always be a bastard." Naruto added. Sasuke growled.
"Would you stop acting like I'm not here?" I was not a request, it was a demand. But sure, the two blondes did not want an angry Uchiha on their ass this morning. Not when it was such a cheery day. "Ino, what the hell do you want from me anyway?"
"I told you, I need your help." She paused. "How should I say this, its, well, its about Sakura." She told him.
"Is that so? And what about Sakura?"
"Look, don't act like that. We both know that you care about her. Right?" Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "Right?" He nodded. "Good. We're getting somewhere."
'Fuck, this feels like therapy. Plus the forest and a dumb psychiatrist.'
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Prove to her that Valentines is not such a bad holiday."
"Why the hell do I have to do that?"
"Because you're the one that made her hate Valentines in the first place, teme."
"Dobe. How do I do it when I hate Valentines my self?"
"Use you're imagination, Sasuke. Telling her how you feel would be a good start." Ino said, rubbing her temple.
"Oh? And how might that be?"
"You love her." Naruto said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Hn." Was all that Sasuke said as her disappeared in a puff of smoke. The two blondes nodded at each other and left.
Sakura walked along the path through Konoha that lead up to the Hokage monuments. It was 6 now, almost sunset. She didn't want to go home; she just wanted to get away from all the people. Those happy couples celebrating Valentines Day with those chocolates and flowers and being all lovey dovey.
It made her sick. But at some stage in her life she enjoyed this day. When she wanted to give someone chocolates and flowers and tell them how much she loved them. But that was all in the past. Ever since he shunned her that one last time. And then he left her, on a bench no less. How dare he come back after all those years anyway? And after all the tragedies everyone including her has been through, it just wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth loving someone. It wasn't worth loving them then loosing them and going through twice as much pain that it hurt to breathe. At least that is what she wanted to believe. That is what she kept telling her self. She did notlove him.
Sakura didn't realize that she made it all the way up to the monument of Yondaime Hokage and was currently standing on top of it. She felt the breeze blow around her, making her short pink locks sway. She loved spring; it matched her and her name. But then a gust of wind came out of nowhere that was rather strong and caused her to loose balance. She was about to topple over but felt a strong grasp around her upper arm.
"You know, you should be much more careful up here." Said a husky male voice that sent shivers down Sakura's spine. She turned around quickly to see Sasuke smirking at her but she gave her self a head spin and fell back into his chest. She felt a blush creeping onto her cheeks as she jerked her arm away from him.
"What do you want?" she asked him, not looking into his eyes.
"Nothing really. Here I was just sitting down, and then you came along and nearly got blown away." Sasuke said with a smirk. Sakura looked at him, surprised.
"Are you teasing me?"
"Well, the correct term would be insulting you, actually."
"Kami, you are teasing me. What happened? Did you receive a blow to the head while training or something?" she asked him.
"Wow, aren't you sweet. What's wrong, hate Valentines?" Sasuke deadpanned.
"Piss of."
"Sakura."
"What?"
"Do you really hate me that much?" Sakura turned around to face the village and the sun that started to set. It was beautiful, breathtaking. Sasuke stood closely behind her and ran his hand down her partly exposed neck due to the tank top she was wearing. Sakura could feel her heart beat faster and knew that Sasuke could too when his hand paused on her pulse. "From anger?" he asked her. She turned around and tried to look angry but made the mistake of looking into his eyes. Now she couldn't look away.
"I... I…" she felt tears form in her eyes but still couldn't look away.
"Hey, it's ok." He said quietly, gently stroking her cheek. She shook her head.
"It's not. I don't know. I'm just, I don't know." Sakura felt Sasuke embrace her as she let her tears fall. They stood like that for some time, not moving.
"Sakura, I'm sorry. I… despite everything I have done, everyone I hurt, I never meant to hurt you. I never wanted to cause you pain." Sasuke told her. She looked up at him and saw a flicker of emotion. At first she didn't recognise it, but then she realized that he was truly sorry.
"Close your eyes." She told him.
"What?"
"Just do it."
"Why?"
"Please." She looked so sweet that Sasuke couldn't say no. He closed his eyes just like he asked her. "Good, keep them closed. Now open your mouth." He opened his mouth slightly and felt her push something round and sweet into it.
'Chocolate' He thought as he opened his eyes and smiled at her.
"Happy Valentines, Sasuke." Sakura said, giving him a true smile. Sasuke leaned forward and kissed her. Sakura opened her mouth and felt his tongue brush against hers. She could taste the chocolate that he just ate and smiled at him when they pulled apart.
"Tell me, where did you get the chocolate from?" Sasuke asked her.
"Oh, Ino gave it to me earlier. She though it might come in handy. I don't know how she knew." Sakura told him, looking a bit puzzled.
"Ino eh?"
"Yeah, why?"
"No reason, just wondering." Sasuke told her. He sat down onto the grass and pulled Sakura onto his lap. She gave him a surprised look and he nodded at the sky. "Lets watch the sunset." She smiled and kissed him again.'Or not.'
But in the end they did watch the sunset together, and many after that. Always remembering this day. And Sakura, who finally fell in love again, with the same person, no less, didn't hate Valentines anymore.
Sakura leaned back onto Sasuke's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I wonder, what's going to happen on White Day?" Sakura said quietly. Sasuke groaned.
"Shit."
"I never found out the reason why you hate Valentines Day so much." Sakura said.
"Fangirls."
"Huh. White Day should be great for you. They will be expecting something in return for all the gifts they gave you today. You think you can afford it?" she asked him with a smirk.
"Hey, the only person I'm getting a gift for is you." He said, smirking against her hair.
"Aw, really? What are you going to get?"
"It's a secret." Sasuke said and heard Sakura groan slightly. "Don't worry; I'm sure you'll like it." He moved her hair slightly and kissed her cheek.
"Sasu –"
"I'm not going to tell you. You just have to wait."
"Yeah, I forgot,it's a secret." She said.
"That's right. You learn quickly." He teased and she huffed.
"Fine. It's only a month of wait. How about I take a month long mission?" she asked him.
"I don't think so."
"Why not?"
"You'll miss me too much." He answered. She turned to face him and he kissed her again.
Happy upcoming Valentines Day everyone.
I might make this a two shot, like continuing onto White Day and Sasuke's present if anyone actually asks (or cares).
But yeah. Cheers.
