It was just a small fleeting thought of her and yet somehow she wound up in his sight. Ironically, under a blooming cherry blossom tree. She was breathing heavily, leaning against the tree with her rump on the ground. Even from this distance he could tell that she was hurt. A war raged inside him. Would he go to her or would he keep going like nothing happened. He looked at her just as she passed consciousness and her head lulled to the side, her hair falling into her face. She looked so broken and innocent. With a frustrated grunt, he made his way to his ex-teammate.
He scowled at her crumpled form. A large puddle of blood was beneath her and he could feel the chakra she was unconsciously controlling to heal herself, at least enough to stop the bleeding. Another scowl crossed his face when he realized how low she was on chakra. He had the urge to choke her out of frustration. Sasuke idly wondered if Kakashi and that dope, Naruto were around. He listened carefully for the loudmouth but couldn't even hear the noise of battle. Was she on a lone mission? The rogue looked down on her. Her chest heaved evenly, the simple action of her chest rising and falling suddenly made him realize how small she was. He wasn't a fool though, if Sakura didn't have any emotion attached to him, he was sure she could stand toe to toe with him. For at least a few minutes, if not seconds.
With a frustrated growl, he picked the little Kunoichi up, and cradling her against his chest, brought her back to his camp. His massive chakra signature completely blotting out the drained Kunoichi's made it easy for him to sneak her by, though he still stuck to the shadows, not wanting his teammates to spy the little pinkette. He'd never hear the end of it. He propped himself against the trunk of a tree, completely cast in shadow, and set the girl on his lap, his arm cradling her head. She'd be out for a while. He scowled at her peace-filled face again. The scowl slipped when he felt a smooth palm graze his skin. At first, he thought Karin had scaled the tree to grope him. Then he noticed that the hand was shaking and tightly gripping at the edge of his shirt. Unconsciously, Sakura had turned her head into his shoulder, clutching to him for dear life.
Brooding silently to himself, he cursed himself for even thinking of the girl when he did, because somehow, that was the reason he picked her up. Because he thought about her. And she was suddenly there. Hurt, but still there. He contented himself with simply caring for her until she woke up, where he would promptly drop her in the dirt. Yes, that would do. No one would even know. They were staying at camp for a couple of days, taking a little 'break' as Suigetsu called it.
"Sasuke-kun!" Karin called, gushing. She wanted to glimpse at least his shadow, or the red glint of his Sharingan. To her disappointment, he was too high up in the tree for her to glance him.
"No." He said to whatever she was about to say. Even from his high-up perch he could see Karin's pout. He wanted to gag. His eyes meandered down to Sakura's pale face. Her cheeks were flushed and a slight sheen of sweat was on her forehead. Lips twitched. A muscle in his eye jumped. She just wasn't going to make this easy for him, was she? With a defeated sigh, he called, "Juugo."
The bulk of a teenage boy appeared just below him, his face peeking up at him. His eyes widened a bit at the girl cradled in his lap. "Sasuke-Sama?" his voice was puzzled.
"Not a word to Karin or Suigetsu, understood?" he waited for Juugo's nod. "Watch those two, I'll be at the river."
With the dip of his head, Juugo, dispersed, leaving Sasuke alone on the branch with this bundle in his lap.
Sakura murmured something. He couldn't quite hear it but he caught a very specific sound. "…kun…"
He felt his lips twitching for an entirely different reason now. He should have known she would hang on this long; running on that false hope of hers. But was it false? His whole body froze at that thought. Shaking himself, he stood, bounding from the tree towards the river, west of their camp.
He gently placed her on the ground, leaning her against the trunk of a fallen tree. Taking a kunai, he ripped a strip of cloth from his shirt, dunking it into the cool water of the river and slowly washed the sweat and dirt from her face. Dipping the cloth back into the water, he shook it out and then ringed it, starting to rub the blood away on her neck and arms.
"…suke…kun…"
He froze, thinking she woke up and looked at her face.
"…Sasuke…kun…on't…go…"
Was she talking in her sleep? His face twitched as he resisted the urge to smirk, continuing to wipe away the grime and blood on her alabaster skin. He'd glance up at her as she continued to mumble in her broken speech, the humor he found in it dissipating as he realized that she was dreaming about that night.
"…still…love..."
Done with his "straightening up", he contented himself to just stare at her as she slept. He was curious as to what else she was dreaming about; surely there was no other reason. Besides that, he'd rather stay around her when she's quiet and easy to be around then with those two loud mouths. Juugo he could stand. Juugo was probably the sanest person out of the group anyways, if it weren't for the curse seal he had.
"…Sasuke-kun…"
His attention snapped to her, thinking she'd woken up. She'd said his name full on and clear, not like before when it was mumbled out and broken. He relaxed when he realized she was still sleeping.
"…suke-kun…you…not…alone…Nar…to...I…ashi-sen…we…like…fa…ly…"
Sasuke blinked, a weird sense of emotion tugging at him. A ghost of a smile was on his face, not enough to be called a smile but enough to be considered a form of emotion. Sasuke stood, scooping Sakura and holding her close to his chest, started back toward the cherry blossom tree. She stirred slightly, her face falling toward his chest. A contented sigh escaped her lips as he set her back down in the position she had went unconscious in and he couldn't help but tuck loose strands of her hair behind her ear. He stared. For how long he stared he had no idea but he finally came to a decision. He leaned forward and lightly pressed his lips against hers, giving her a soft kiss before he clasped a chain behind her neck. He stood back, looking at the small charm against her skin. His stomach rolled with pleasure at the sight of it on her skin. Sasuke smirked, jumping out of view when Sakura groaned and started to come to.
Her body ached all over, the effects of trying to heal on such low chakra reserves. She stretched, popping the bones in her back, and sat back, assessing other damages to her body. Sakura's hand started to trace her lips, a smile spreading on her face. She had the most pleasant dream—Sasuke had kissed her. Of course the dream started out as a nightmare, but then she could smell Sasuke, like he was right there beside her. She shook her head; that was impo—
She frowned when she felt something clink around her neck. Looking down her nose, tears nearly sprang to her eyes when they landed on the Uchiha Fan around her neck. Her hand covered her mouth as her other fingers carefully traced the charm. A slow smile spread on her face. If the person she thought put this on her than…maybe that kiss wasn't a dream?
Her eyes flashed as she remembered something, her hands sliding into the pocket of her skirt. She pulled out the necklace, smiling fondly at the memory that accompanied with it and placed it on a low hanging branch with cherry blossoms on it. "Come back soon, Sasuke-kun."
She grinned and left at a fast pace toward Konoha.
Sasuke hopped down from his perch in the sakura tree, his eyes landing on the familiar trinket on the branch. The Haruno symbol reflected the moonlight, bringing back memories.
It was a special day for Sakura as she raced toward the meeting place of team 7, a large grin on her face. She had spent nearly all of her allowance on their gifts and she prayed to Kami that they loved it, especially Sasuke. He was by far the hardest person to look for a gift for. She already knew that he didn't like sweets, automatically marking out the traditional chocolate giving.
Her grin widened when she caught sight of Naruto and Sasuke on the bridge, of course Kakashi-Sensei wasn't there, late as usual. She had gotten the perfect gift for him too; she just hoped it wouldn't be too mean of her.
"Hello, Sakura-Chan! Happy Valentine's Day!" Naruto called to her upon seeing the flash of her pink hair as she approached. She smiled kindly at him, and her eyes landed on the heart shaped box he held behind him and her smile turned into a wicked grin. How she loved sweets.
"Happy Valentine's day, Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" Her grin turned shy as she held out their presents toward them. "I hope you like your gifts."
Naruto took up his small box replacing it with his gift to her, while Sasuke just blinked and stared at the box held toward him as if it were an alien. Sakura giggled. "It won't bite Sasuke-kun."
"Hn." He grabbed the box, a faint sense of guilt eating his stomach since he got nothing for her in turn. As soon as he started to open it Sakura felt a wave of uncertainty. She did the thing Sakura did best when she was nervous—she started to babble.
"I wasn't quite sure what to get you, Sasuke-kun. I knew you didn't like sweets, so that marked out the traditional gift. But other than tomatoes, I wasn't sure what else you liked, and I wanted to give you something that you could keep with you forever and that you could cherish—"
Poof. "Yo."
"Ah! Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out the small box. "here you go, Kakashi-Sensei!" She handed it to him, trying to kill the smirk that wanted to crawl up her face.
"Sakura-chan! I love it!" Naruto was nearly in tears as he held up a manly chain with a red and white ramen charm on it. Sakura grinned, she knew he would love it. Her grin turned into a hesitant smile as she looked at Sasuke.
His stomach was knotted with an unknown emotion as he pulled the chain out. On it was a beautifully carved Uchiha Fan. He blinked, looking from the necklace to Sakura. He didn't know what to say. He wanted to say thank you, but his tongue was too thick to even move.
"Sakura? What is this?" Kakashi-Sensei questioned, saving him from having to respond to the bright-eyed girl's gift. He looked at his Sensei's hands and smirked. Sakura may have been annoying, but he had to admit that she was pretty clever.
"It's a watch, Kakashi-Sensei! So you won't be late anymore!" She giggled as Naruto burst out laughing. "There's a second gift underneath the padding." Sakura admitted, her cheeks turning pink.
Kakashi stiffened as his eye gazed into the container. "Is this?"
"Yes." Sakura rolled her eyes.
"I don't know what to say."
Sakura smirked, "You could say that I'm your favorite student ever. But thank you also works."
"These aren't even on sale anymore, how did you get it?" Kakashi's voice was in awe at the moment. He will never take sakura for granted ever again.
Said girl shrugged, "I know people. Oh! I'm going to be late! Bye guys! See you for training tomorrow!"
Sakura ran off, a large grin on her face as she race off toward her house for dinner.
While they were all distracted Sasuke had slipped the chain around his neck, tucking the charm into his shirt. He wouldn't tell anyone but he actually loved the gift.
Damn it all to hell, though, he got her nothing. Even the Dope had given her something. Scowling, he sulked away, giving a half-hearted "later" and ignoring the Dope's insults. He had to get her something too. But what? What could he give her that she alone would know the meaning of? He passed a jeweler shop, his eyes catching a beautifully crafted chain that looked like flowers. His eyes narrowed. Of course.
He marched into the shop, a scowl on his face. He hoped to kami no one saw him in here.
"Can I help you, young master?" A graying man asked, from behind the counter.
"The flower chain in the window, how much is it?"
The man smiled, "Ah, yes that one is 70 ryō ."
Sasuke laid the money on the counter, 100 more than need be. "I want a charm to go with it. I need it done by tonight."
He jumped up onto her balcony, hoping she wasn't in her room. A scowl crossed his face when he opened the window with little effort. He'd remind her in the morning to lock her windows. Annoying girl. Balancing himself on the window sill he peeked into her room, noting that she wasn't in it. He took a moment to look around her room, noting that one wall was entirely dedicated to two large bookshelves. He blinked. The first bookshelf he could tell was filled with books for children, the picture books suddenly turned to children's chapter books. Had she read all of them?
He looked at the other bookshelf and felt his jaw slacken. Sasuke expected teen romance books, lots and lots of teen romance books, only to find the entire shelf filled with textbooks and scrolls of jutsu's and poisons; kunai bombs; and "The Art of War." Again he had himself thinking, had she read all of these?"
Shaking his head, he placed the necklace on her neatly made bed, laying it flat out so that she could see it. Just as he was closing the window he heard her climbing up the steps to her room. He smirked, knowing she would like it, and walked down the streets, his hands in his pockets. He wasn't even half way down the street when he heard a squeal of excitement, quickly followed by a window rattling open.
"I love it, Sasuke-kun!"
He lifted a hand, to let her know he heard her as he turned the corner, pleased with himself.
A ghost of a smile lifted the corners of Sasuke's mouth. He was quite fond of that memory. With a smug smirk, he made his way back to his camp, all the while thinking of his special cherry blossom.
Hehe, so I made a little One-shot..well its a one shot inside a one shot. HA! I'm good. I'm so proud of myself. And I finished it! No one can say I have an unfinished story now! Beat that Suckaz! ha ha So review for me please! Thanks my Lovelies! wink wink kiss kiss.