disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto.
a/n: Oneshots are awesome. I love oneshots. And the line breaks (I may have used them too much, I admit it) are fun to use :D.
italics = memory
normal = present-day
SUNLIGHT
Haruno Sakura has been kissed by Uchiha Sasuke enough times that she can hardly count anymore.
But the moments when he kisses her are all at different times and that is just fine with Sakura, because each one means something different.
She starts remembering at the beginning.
Their first kiss, she supposes, was an accident.
.
.
.
It is her seventeenth birthday, and Sasuke is back in Konoha. He has been back for a year now.
It is because of both of these things that Naruto is happy and Sakura is happy, that Sai is smiling (a real smile, a smile that speaks of clear riddles and open doors that had been locked, once upon a time), and that Kakashi is still Kakashi (and his orange book is still ever-present, much to Sakura's dismay).
And Sasuke is there.
And that is her birthday present from him, she tells herself. Sasuke did not know that her birthday was today and has already said that he has brought no present for her—and that is fine with Sakura; she has told him so.
He has said nothing to her since then. Perhaps he thinks that nothing more needs to be said.
Still, Sakura thinks as she smiles. It is more than enough to have him back.
Later, Kakashi stands, puts down his book, and drops Sakura's present into her lap before ruffling her hair as a good-bye. He is never able to get away from Hokage duties for long and Sakura knows this, so she hugs him and thanks him for coming.
Once he is gone, Naruto trots over and demands to know what Kakashi-sensei has given Sakura-chan. She lets him open her present for her, and blinks at his open-mouthed expression once he's torn away the wrapping paper. She takes it from him silently; it is a new hitai-ate and a letter stating her installment into the Jonin ranks.
After that, Sai hands her a beautiful painting of sakura in the spring, the blossoms falling and drifting onto a silver river.
Naruto presents her with several coupons to Ichiraku, which Sakura accepts almost resignedly. He, of course, expects to come with her when she uses them.
Sakura says that the party is over then. She begins to clean up the picnic that they have set up, and Sai stops her with a slim hand on her wrist. He tells her that they will take care of it—she can go ahead and go home now. Sakura eyes him skeptically before turning to Naruto, who quips that he agrees with Sai. Sasuke says nothing, but she has his answer as well when he presses her pack into her arms—a clear dismissal.
She sticks her tongue out at him and he scowls; after a year back in Konoha, he has almost, almost become the Sasuke he used to be. And it's true; just before she leaves he catches her wrist and opens his mouth to say something. Sakura supposes that it is a muttered apology for not getting her anything, and she is right. His Uchiha upbringing ensures that he at least apologize for that; for Uchiha Sasuke, the only times that he apologizes are when he must.
It is then that Naruto shoves her at him. He still believes that she is in love with Sasuke, and sometimes, at random moments, Sakura thinks that he is right.
Sasuke easily keeps his balance, but Sakura ends up against his chest. She is short, but Sasuke has bent to prevent her from falling on him, and that is when he accidentally kisses her.
Naruto blinks at the sight before erupting into loud, triumphant crows that makes Sakura push Sasuke away, her cheeks flaming. Sai has tilted his head, considering the two before casually remarking that this is one of those times when it would not be too cliché to say, like they do in the movies, "It's about time."
But later, when Naruto bodily picks her up to deposit her at her house, she looks back and sees Sasuke watching her, his obsidian eyes blazing as he catches her gaze and meets it steadily.
Once she's at home, Sakura realizes that Sasuke's reflexes should have let him have ample time to catch her without letting her get so close, close enough to kiss. Then it made Sakura wonder if he had meant that to be his present to her all along.
The first was an accident, and that is why she does not like it. But it is the only one that has been an accident so far, so Sakura thinks that this one time is good enough.
Their second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth kisses are no accidents, but they hardly mean anything either.
.
.
.
Three weeks of silent awkwardness later, Sasuke gets stuck on a mission with Sakura.
Just Sakura. (Needless to say, Kakashi finally realized what was going on and took advantage of his position as Hokage to interfere.)
They are masquerading as a newlywed civilian husband and wife, and it must be convincing.
So, Sasuke kisses her again. And again. And again.
It is only when they are finished with the mission that he stops. Sakura has not protested at all, but neither has she kissed him back.
Once they are back in Konoha, they beat up Kakashi together for sending them on a dud mission that he had made up from off the top of his head—because the whole thing had been pointless and had not benefited Konoha in any way, as Sasuke and Sakura had realized on their way home.
Sakura leans against the window, watching silvery tear tracks of raindrops slip down the clear glass as she smiles at the memory; she blinks when she sees Naruto run past her house in a blur of orange on his way to Ichiraku to meet Hinata in the pouring rain. Sakura rolls her eyes. He has grown up, she thinks, and so has Hinata. Their engagement is going to be announced any day now, and Sakura is already anticipating being one of the bridesmaids.
It is still raining, and Sakura is waiting.
Waiting for the rain to stop, and for Sasuke to come home.
And then, suddenly she remembers that their ninth kiss had been in the rain.
.
.
.
Sakura is not expecting Sasuke to come and kiss her again. And he doesn't.
But he does ask her to spar with him one day in the middle of a storm, and it is when he has her pinned beneath him, looking at him with emerald-green eyes that are wet with tears or with rainwater—he cannot tell, and neither can she—that he chooses to lean down just enough to brush his lips against hers.
And it is because he chose—not on accident, not for a job—that Sakura kisses him back.
And he loves her enough to kiss her over and over until they are both senseless in the rain, the water slipping and sliding over their bodies because Sasuke discovers that he cannot stop. He does not want to stop.
And Sakura whispers to him that 'It's about time' before she pulls him down to kiss her again.
Sakura places a hand on the windowpane, watching the cool glass leave a quickly-fading print of her warm palm as she remembers.
The kisses after the day of their ninth one blur together, but each through the years is still important to Sakura. Still precious, because each kiss is different in every way.
There are the ones in public.
Those are the chaste, quick ones that he gives her when Naruto forces him to.
Those are the possessive, immediate ones that make his point when he sees other men looking at Sakura the wrong way.
.
.
There are the ones in private when no one is looking.
Those are the light ones, laced with barely-contained desire and restraint, that he brushes against her mouth before he leaves for a mission without her, when they both want each other and their time together is never, ever enough.
Those are the desperate ones, filled with pent-up loneliness and longing, that he presses to her lips before she comes and he comes, when they are both breathing hard and their skin is slicked with sweat in the dark.
.
.
There are the ones in the hospital when he does not care who is looking.
Those are the surprisingly-gentle ones that he drops on her forehead when she is hurting from a mission and he is hurting because she is hurting, and he will never admit that to anyone else but her.
Those are the unbelievably-soft ones that he uses when she is tired from working and he is tired of just watching because she is tired of losing lives she could have saved, and he will never kiss anyone else but her.
.
.
He has hurt and watched for her and her alone, because he does not love anyone else but her.
The sun begins to peek through the clouds, and Sakura smiles, still remembering. The sky is clearing, and the window has started to warm, just like her cheeks.
Her favorites are the ones that Sasuke gives her without ever being asked to. They mean the most and speak the most.
Those are the ones that he has simply started giving on his own—each one is his silent 'I love you,' because he will never say the words out loud. But she knows what he means, and that is all that matters.
They are the ones where he quietly tips her chin up to kiss her slowly, the ones that happen when he has just returned from a mission and appears behind her like a silent shadow when she least expects it. She is the first person that he goes to see, even before the Hokage, and that reassures Sakura that he has come back to Konoha, to home, for real. It is this that Sakura interprets when he gives her these kisses, it is Sasuke's whispered I'm back. I'm back, Sakura.
It tells her that he is staying, and will never leave her again.
They are the ones where he silently drops his head down to hers to slip a long, lingering kiss onto her lips, the ones that happen at the most random of moments in front of people or in private. He simply reaches for her when she isn't looking, and steals a sweet kiss that, when they pull away breathless, has both of them twined around each other in what Naruto calls "THE SUNFLOWER LOOK (aka OH, MY GOD. MY VIRGIN EYES; I'M BLIND!)," because it resembles a sunflower twisting toward the light of the sun.
The kisses are given almost absently on Sasuke's part, as if he wants her touch and is unconsciously reaching for her because he knows she is there. It is this that reassures Sakura that he loves her. He acknowledges her presence and he will not give her up; it is because of this that she knows that he has wordlessly become hers.
The sun is filtering down from the clouds now, the cool Konoha breeze clearing the skies. Sakura laughs to herself, because somewhere out there Shikamaru is probably grumbling at the loss of his precious clouds.
"What's so funny?"
She whirls around, right into the arms of Sasuke, who is looking down at her with cool amusement as his arms slide around her waist.
"Sasuke, you're home!" she manages to say, blinking in surprise. Even after being married for all these years, she still has not gotten used to his silent entrances.
She has begun to think that maybe he just likes scaring her, because he does it so often.
Sasuke's hands slip under the hem of her shirt, brushing his fingers across the smooth skin of her hip and making her shiver. He smirks at her reaction, and she hits him on the chest reproachfully, grinning the entire time.
His hands on her skin is almost a reflexive action, something he does unconsciously. It lets Sakura know that he has become so used to her that he does not need to think when he reaches for her.
Sasuke snorts and finally answers darkly, "Kakashi was just wasting my time at the Hokage office."
Sakura smiles against his mouth when he bends and kisses her, soft and feather-light. "I see."
He pulls away, but not before kissing her again much harder this time. It leaves Sakura out of breath, and Sasuke barely winded. His smirk is infuriating, and Sakura tells him so.
"I know," he answers.
This time, it is Sakura who kisses him.
a/n: These are all Sasuke's kisses to Sakura, mostly. Sakura isn't really remembering the kisses that she gives him, other than the ones that she kisses him back for. Just a side note :D
And sorry if it ended strangely. I got stuck, to put it simply :).