Disclaimer: not mine
you say 'Hi.' i say 'Wow!'
By: Just Lovely.
There was a simple rule in life. One that dictated what to do and how to get by: stay on your feet.
That was the one that Haruno Sakura followed.
first impressions
The quad was filled with cheery laughter and chatter, heads bouncing and lips smiling. The wind was shallow, a small wayward breeze floating across the air, ruffling through green leaves and weaving through her rose coloured locks.
"Sakura!" his voice called from behind her, his arms were outstretched as he ran toward her, a grin glowing on his face.
She sidestepped on the cobblestone path, letting him meet with air instead. "Naruto, nice to see you too," she smiled.
Naruto straightened, running a sun-kissed hand through blond hair as he continued to grin, a little sheepishly. "Well, what better way to greet a friend!"
"With a smile and a nod?"
"But that's for boring people,"
"It's the more normal way of doing things, Naruto."
Naruto stared at her. "You know, you suck the fun out of everything."
"Not everything, like that food fight in the cafeteria yesterday. Now that was fun, which I didn't bother to trample over with my high heeled boots." Sakura replied nonchalantly.
"And you know what's more fun? Guess what's behind my back." he beamed at her, hands hidden behind his back like a jack-in-the-box waiting to burst.
Sakura looked carefully at him, jade eyes wary as she hesitated. "Okay, I'll bite. Is it food?"
Naruto shook his head and his grin stretched a little teensy bit.
"A toy of some kind?"
"Not even close Sakura!"
She watched him reproachfully. "Will I ever guess it?"
"Probably not," the blond answered slowly.
Sakura placed her hands on her hips and stared at him. "Then why am I even trying?"
"Because it's fun?"
"How about this, I give up. Now are you going to tell me?"
"Well, if you put it that way..."
"Naruto," Sakura warned, as her foot began to tap impatient strikes on the stone beneath her feet.
"Okay, okay," Naruto put his hands up in surrender, the grin wider than ever on his lips, "I'll go get him." he called behind his back as he ran toward the trees on the left side of the quad.
"You hid a person behind your back?" the rosette repeated incredulously as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, waiting for that moment of absolute amazement that Naruto always promised after his games.
Naruto came back minutes later, pushing a tall raven-haired boy ahead of him, a scowl clear on the pale boy's face.
It was a moment, but it wasn't absolute amazement that appeared on Sakura's face; it was more of astonishment and wariness.
"Ta-da!"
She stared from her friend to the stranger and then back again. "Naruto, are you feeling alright?"
He looked back at her, "Yep,"
Sakura nodded, "Just making sure," she said and then turned to the boy. "Hi, I'm Sakura. Nice to meet you." she gave him a polite smile and extended a hand toward him.
She watched as he stared at it, as if it was something foreign and unnatural upon meeting a stranger for the first time. The air around them was stiff.
"Sasuke!" Naruto hissed, none to quietly. "Shake her hand, you're being a total jerk to her right now."
The boy, Sasuke, turned to the blond at his side with a fierce glare which didn't seem to faze Naruto. "Because it would make life so easy if I shook her hand, wouldn't it?" he sneered, as if Sakura wasn't standing there, her hand sticking out, numb and uncomfortably awkward.
Naruto stared at the boy, "Yeah, it would." he replied, shaking his head. He turned towards her, "Sorry Sakura, he's just being a little... cranky today. Sakura, this is Sasuke." he said apologetically, his past wide grin now a teensy one.
Sakura ignored him and faced Sasuke, a frown tugging at her lips. "If life was so easy, I'd be breezing by. But it's not, so, let first impressions speak; you're a jerk." she said to him with every bit of annoyance she had.
She turned and left.
"Now look what you've done you bastard," Naruto sighed and raked a hand through his unruly blond hair, staring after Sakura's retreating back.
third times the charm
Sakura kept a routine, having three very main, very obvious places to be during the day. So she wasn't surprised when Naruto came bounding up to her in the library, his backpack half-sliding off his shoulder.
"Sakura!" he exclaimed, despite the black-bolded sign of 'No yelling, screaming etc. disruptions in the library'.
"Naruto," Sakura sighed and pointed toward the sign behind her, in front of him. She dropped her finger when he let out a sigh of understanding.
"Sorry." he whispered, his hand cupped over his lips. "I just wanted you to hear something..."
"Hear what?"
Naruto made a signal for her to wait as he looked behind him and then walked around the aisle they were in. He came back shortly, pushing a very irritated Sasuke in front of him.
"Hear the bastard's apology."
Sakura raised her eyebrows at the name but said nothing as she leaned back against her chair and crossed her arms, waiting expectantly.
Sasuke, was not inclined to take Naruto's order. "I have nothing to apologize for." he stated and turned around, walking away.
"Hey, bastard, come back here!" he shouted, a chorus of 'shhhhhs' echoing around him.
.
Naruto was adamant about the Sasuke situation, but he was an overall nice person. Just not exactly considerate when Sakura was on a roll, her pencil practically flying across the page.
She was abruptly stopped, her train of thought ended, and her imagination ceased. "What, do you want Naruto?" she asked, her voice chilled.
Naruto didn't seem to notice her tone. "I want you to hear it."
"Hear what exactly Naruto? Can it wait, I'm busy right now." she gestured to her page that was half filled with words for her creative writing class, due for the next day.
"Nope! It'll be quick, I promise." he said and looked behind him and then dashed around the quad searching for the obviously hiding Sasuke.
"Hey, bastard, come apologize to Sakura, you wuss!"
Sakura sighed, packed up her things and left, Naruto's yells fading into the background.
.
Sakura's door thudded in its frame on impact with the knock. She didn't turn to utter 'come in', nor did she get up to open the door.
The knob rattled and Sakura was very glad, then, that she had locked her room door.
"Sakura," Naruto wailed from the other side, his knocking increasing. When she didn't reply, he went on, "I know you're in there, open the door. I've got the bastard here this time, too."
She rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to erase her fatigue. Her page was still half full, half empty; it was almost depressing to look at.
"Go away Naruto, I have homework."
He continued to thud against her door, drowning her words out.
Sakura put her head into her hands and moaned, she was going to get no where today. It also probably didn't help that she chose her last, main spot to be; knowing that Naruto knew the spot too.
"I'm going." Sasuke muttered lowly at Naruto and despite the latter's refusals, he left.
Sakura smiled, hoping, thinking that Naruto would leave her alone after the subject of the situation disappeared. He pounded on the door again.
A frown settled over her lips and she gathered all her things into her bag and got up. She opened the door, slammed it shut behind her and pushed her way from Naruto's blocking form to the exit.
"Sakura!"
.
Peace, and finally, quiet, Sakura thought to herself as she strode her way to a picnic table on the campus's courtyard.
The wooden bench was warm from the sun, the wood was brittle under her touch, cracked and scarred with carvings of love declarations. She pulled out her clipboard notebook, her pencil and eraser and leaned her cheek against her palm, waiting, thinking, for anything.
She didn't expect the silence she had enveloped around herself to be disrupted, or the person that had done so.
Sasuke stared down at her, obsidian eyes hooded, hands stuffed into jean pockets.
She huffed, "Can I help you?" there was an edge to her tone.
"Hn."
"If you have nothing to say, can you go?" Sakura didn't hide her annoyance.
He continued to stare at her.
"You know, I thought you were a jerk then, and now I realize, you're still a jerk." Sakura bundled her things to her chest as she got up from the bench.
He ignored her comment. "They're stupid."
"Excuse me?"
Sasuke took one hand out of his pocket and pointed at the etchings that were made in the wood, some recent while others old.
"And you're saying this why?"
He gave her a look. "They're unnecessary. Bothersome. If they can be expressed in actions, why bother with the extra work?"
"You'd be amazed at what actions can say and what going further can do." she murmured and glanced at him peculiarly.
He met her stare squarely, his face blank and expressionless. "Sorry." he said, his tone seemed forced but he looked sincere to her.
Sakura nodded. She let a smile fall on her lips as he let the corners of his move into a smirk, they brushed past each other and parted ways.
counter-active outlooks
The autumn wind was still warm as it blew through the skies. The day was cool, green leaves turning red, orange, yellow and brown as they fell all around the wind-blown grass below.
Sakura sat under the maple tree, her bag next to her knee as she scribbled something down onto her clipboard notebook. She twirled the pencil around her fingers, deep in thought as she stared back down at what she'd written.
"Sakura!" Naruto called out to her as he ran through the quad, swerving around people. He stopped in front of her, bent over as his hands leaned against his knees, fighting to catch his breath. After a moment, he stood straight. "Guess what?"
She looked warily at him, and then behind him, as if expecting someone to pop up from behind his back. "I'm not playing your guess-what's-behind-my-back game again, Naruto."
He feigned hurt. "It wasn't that bad, y'know." he stated matter-of-factly. "But it's not the game again, it's something else; so guess."
Sakura leaned her back against the rough tree trunk, sinking her hands into the soft grass behind her. "Guess about what?"
"About what I'm going to tell you."
"Which involves what?"
"People."
"Which kind of people?"
"The kind that you and I know."
"Does this have anything to do with intimacy?" Sakura questioned, now attentive as she watched a light blush dance its way onto his sun-kissed cheeks.
"Maybe." he answered lowly, and averted his eyes away from her, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"You've got a date with Hyuuga Hinata." Sakura announced, a sly smile on her lips.
Naruto murmured a confirmation mixed with a quick nod as his cerulean eyes slid back to her. "I asked her today, after class."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Did she go red and pass out?"
"...sorta. But she said yes first, so that's what counts right?"
She laughed at his question. "Yes, that's what counts. So when is it?"
"Tomorrow, for dinner."
"I'm so happy for you Naruto. I really am. Be nice, be polite, be courteous and don't forget to get her something first, like flowers. Okay?"
"I will, I promise." he grinned at her before leaving to spread his bursting packet of news.
Sakura's mind was abuzz with joy. She giggled to herself at the cuteness of Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata together, the loud one and the quiet one. It was a perfect match, she told herself as she walked back to her dorm room, her bag swinging against her leg.
As she gazed around the students hanging around the quad, she spotted the familiar head of raven hair, the very same that she had already met and left with a spiteful opinion that seemed to change each time upon encounter. The very sight of him made her eyes roll, she was already irritated and annoyed as she noticed the direction he was coming from and she was going to.
Sakura sighed and took a deep breath, chiding herself to be the more mature person out of the two of them and to walk past him with at least a head nod or a smile or a small 'hi'.
Sasuke beat her to it. He nodded in acknowledgment at her, the faintest of a pair of upward quirks at his lips as he continued walking.
She let a smile flit to her lips before they were out of each other's sight.
Sakura's brows furrowed, odd-stricken at the fact that the rude stranger she had met days before had actually nodded at her, and almost smiled. It was perfectly perplexing, considering his impolite and snarky attitude, and the fact that he seemed to be wanting to strangle Naruto, then.
Sakura shot a glance at his retreating back across her shoulder, his posture depicted one of arrogance. He looked smug to her eyes.
She turned back, pretending to not see the look he tossed her. The look that told her that Sasuke had seen her, the smirk had said it all.
She shook her head and convinced herself not to be bothered. Sasuke was just a guy with a bipolar attitude, there was nothing interesting there.
this friend thing
If friends were people who hung out together, laughing and smiling together; what were Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke?
Sakura found herself stumped on that question.
Because they didn't really hang out with each other, not really. They didn't really laugh or smile; more like poked and prodded, teased and mocked. He chuckled when she took offense, she grinned when he didn't get his way; and it was a little lopsided to an ideal friendship.
She was drifting on thinking bubbles when he tapped her forehead with a long, pale finger.
"Daydreaming about me?" he asked, his voice the usual smooth and alluring tone, smug as always.
Sakura's head snapped up from its leaning position against her hand, her jade eyes flashed up to his obsidian ones. "You wish." she retorted.
Sasuke settled onto the picnic bench opposite her, his hands on either side of him as he leaned back as far as he could go.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"Hn."
Sakura found herself disliking his monosyllabic responses, especially when they were directed at her. She frowned at him, "That's not an answer."
"Aa."
"You're being very annoying."
"Hn."
Sakura let herself fall back into thought, a frown tightening itself on her lips as she aimed her face away from his watchful gaze.
"The silent treatment, really." he stated after a while, amused.
She turned away from him, practically feeling the smirk that settled onto his features.
"It doesn't quite suit you," Sasuke murmured quietly.
"Yes, because you would know." she snapped.
He met her gaze. "Yeah, I probably would."
She stared at him, feeling his eyes burn into her own like hot pools of obsidian, trying not to think about what he could have meant by what he said. After a moment, she said, quietly, "You haven't even begun to know a single thing about me."
Sasuke was intrigued, and it showed clearly on his calm face when he didn't look away from her bright green eyes. "Really, then why don't we begin?" he countered.
Sakura narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she let her thoughts take hold over her mind. Uchiha Sasuke seemed reclusive about himself, but when it came to other people, he was all ears, attentive and listening, absorbing the information as if he was a sponge.
She sighed out the breath she had been holding. "Why do you even want to know?"
He shrugged, "Hn."
"First tip to knowing me: have the decency to respond with words from the dictionary." she snapped, bristling like crackling flames as she huffed and stood up.
"If I do," he began, continuing with a thoughtful expression, "will you tell me?"
She stopped. "Tell you what?"
Sasuke blatantly stared at her, placing his hands onto the table that separated them. "About yourself.
Sakura hesitated. "No, probably not." she answered, slightly grinning at his displeasure of having not gotten his way.
"Why?"
"There's just not enough time."
He looked off to where her attention lay against the horizon, the last of the sun's rays streaking across the sky in a multitude of colours.
"Then why don't we race against it?"
Sasuke got out of his seat and walked over to her, a pale, slim hand extended outwards like how hers had been when they first met.
She stared down at it, contemplative as the sun's bright light blinded her briefly, radiating behind Sasuke's back in pure whiteness. She grabbed his hand and started to run. "Let's see who wins," she smiled and ran into the light, her warm skin against his.
blurring cycle
Sunset was a beautiful sight to see, but in Sakura's mind, dawn was much more captivating.
It started as a lone speck on the horizon, darkness engulfing the space around it, as if it was a prevention from further expansion. Then, as time went on, it grew to be a spot, a bright streak of light dancing its way out and striking into the darkness, clearing a path of radiance. Then growing to be half a ball of warmth, its colours bright, contrasting into the darkness as it couldn't help but be lightened, turning a calm navy blue. It kept on growing, expanding with every little tick of time passing, changing and rearranging its gas form, lights seeping out from cracks and crevices, slicing through the sky in arcs of faded colours as everything turned light and bright, the sky changing into an ocean blue canvas. And then it was full, a complete circle hanging in the air against the sky, a rainbow spectrum signifying the start of a new day.
The metal railing she leaned against was cold, pressing into her warm flesh as she pushed herself forward, unable to get enough of the fresh air, the beginning of something new, being alive.
Sakura rejoiced in the fact that she was alone, the sole witness to a stunning moment. She let herself wander on the stillness around her, so deeply that she almost missed the soft beat of footsteps, growing louder and louder. She turned, opening green eyes to peer at the intruder.
That's a depressing sight, she thought to herself, returning her gaze to the horizon, vision made blurry from the brightness of the sun. She heard the footsteps stop a few paces away and tried to ignore how she just knew that he was staring at her with those intense obsidian eyes of his.
She didn't look again at him, attention very far away, latched onto something both memorable and lovely. He took those few steps between them and stood at her side, both arms against the railing as he turned opposite the view to stare at the quad, empty green grass and silent air.
"Is it really that captivating?" Sasuke said after numerous beats of silence, his eyes flicking to look at her face.
Sakura continued to stare forward, head tilted toward dawn, eyes closed. "Mmm."
"More interesting than me?"
Her eyes snapped open, bright, as they stared at him. The ends of her lips tipped upwards, "Obviously. Because you're just not that interesting, Sasuke." Her eyes practically glittered when he frowned, she inwardly grinned in triumph, turning her attention back to the sun.
But Uchiha Sasuke was not one to let himself be so crippled, so easily.
Sakura didn't see him move, didn't really even hear him. But the sudden movement of her body being whipped to face the campus quad was enough to shake away any calm residue left on and in her. Her pink hair whipped against her eyes, briefly blinding her from seeing what Sasuke was doing. She felt her wrists being held on the railing, her back flush against the cool metal, his presence strictly smug in front of her.
He peered down at her, "Are you sure about that?" he inquired, the soft whoosh of his breath the only sound seemingly to process in her brain before the rest of his words followed suite.
Her smile was still in place, quirky and tilted upward. "Yep."
Sasuke didn't say anything, his eyes concentrated on hers, his breath mingling in the air of her own when he bent slightly toward her, eyes clashing.
Sakura felt heat stir at the soles of her feet, winding its way up her body when she noticed his sudden close proximity. She forced the heat away, pursing her lips together to form a tight line as she concentrated on slowing her suddenly erratic heartbeat. The things Sasuke did to her were so small, like a faint fluttering of a butterfly's wings except more intoxicating; they made her crazy.
He surveyed her, "Your cheeks are pink."
She didn't fight the urge to roll her eyes, so she did, a small frown settled on his lips in response. "Thank you, Mr. Obvious."
"Your heart is pounding hard," he went on, "your breaths are shallow. So tell me, am I really not that interesting?"
She was fighting with herself to keep her voice leveled, breathes in an even inhale and exhale. She parted her lips, softly speaking, "You're really not."
He tilted his head, raven bangs falling over his eyes as he slid his hands from her wrists to her fingers. His cool skin felt like icy fire dancing along her digits, electricity tracing every other step to her heart.
Sakura straightened, her back erect against the metal railing, the toes of his shoes touching hers. Her mind fidgeted, trying not to notice the way his fingers were twined loosely through hers, how his eyes seemed depthless, the crooked tilt of a smirk coming on his lips as he let a breath hang divinely between them.
He was teasing her, and she knew it too, she just couldn't help but be flustered and stilled, waiting for what would come next.
She rocked onto her toes, turning her hands so that their palms were flush against each other as she pulled Sasuke down and pressed her lips to his, ending the wait.
It might have been there since day one, when she met Mr. Asshole; or day two, when he apologized for his rude behaviour; or day three, when they finally acknowledged each other's existence; or day four, when she finally let him in to see what he could find; or now, with her mouth slanted over his.
But she had been wowed after he hadn't said hi.
Thoughts and feelings would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading!