The Green Vestauthor: me ) it's a snow day today in sdubboneshot- KakaSaku
The Vest.
To her, it symbolized him
True, Asuma sensei, Kurenai sensei, Ibiki san, Jiraiya sama and Tsunade shishou and many others had all worn the jonin vest of their own once upon a time in their own careers…hell even Maito Gai. But when he wore it, it was different. This one was the one she had gotten him after that Akatskuki mission and gotten Sasuke back to Konoha. She had hand sewn a cherry blossom on one of the inside pockets and the word 'scarecrow' on the tag just inside the collar so no one else in the village could mistake it for part of their own shinobi attire. This one was special. Sakura had never been a master at sewing until she was forced to endure the required stitching class before she was allowed a medic at the hospital so the handiwork was a bit crude.
But he didn't care. Other men might've been a little embarassed ; no one in the profession of a shinobi really expected to live past the age of 30 or had anyone sew anything much less a pink flower on any article of clothing, It accompanied him on missions and the few days off every once in a blue moon. It endured the weather, through wind, snow, rain, hail, sandstorms. It went through countless missions and battled against distructive ninjutsu, Gai's fists…and occasionaly a few splashes of the miso soup that Naruto's ramen came in.
Since the 2nd war he didn't dare to love. That emotion was like a curse-whoever he felt it towards would've been better off than if he hadn't felt that ways towards them. When his only female student gave it to him, he didn't know how to reject it so he accepted. His excuse was that his old vest 'was getting on in years'.
By the end of the year it had become a little too battle worn. In some places the blood stained more deeply than others and nearly impossible to get out. A few nights during the week when Sakura came over to fix up a cracked rib or a burning sensation in a calf, the skilled medic nin, second to only the Godaime herself would take that green flak vest and wipe the blood off and patch up in an instant. It held his scent, something that made her tingle visibly from head to foot, something that made her heart melt and everything else didn't matter.
To her, the vest protected him when he was out in the field, like a good luck charm or a forcefield. It was promise, a vow that he would come back, wearing it, ready to see her again, ready to serve Konoha for as long as he lived. Nothing else mattered as long as nothing touched that cherry blossom on the inside of his chest pocket and nothing else gave him the pleasure of Haruno Sakura running out of the gates of the village greeting him with a flying tackle, arms around his torso and face buried into that good luck charm, curse of a green vest.