Color Scheme
'Uchihas never were to easy to work with, especially when they had such horrid taste in interior decorating.'
Naruto Fanfiction
Sakura/Sasuke one-shot. (AU, set in same universe as my fanficiton "Unchanged")
Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoys this little continuation of my first Sakura and Sasuke one-shot. I had fun writing the little flirtatious interaction between the two ninja. I promise, I'm also working on my other stories, particularly my multi-chaptered fan-fictions. Please, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this story. It would mean the world for me for you to leave a review, and let me know if you'd like me to continue writing other Sakura/Sasuke fan-fictions. I could also possibly be pursuaded to write other Naruto pairings....Nevertheless, review please?
She hadn't seen Sasuke remove the permanently etched scowl on his face since she entered the large and spacious Uchiha complex.
"Are you going to talk to me," she whined, her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance and confusion, unsure as to what she had done to cause the Uchiha distress. He couldn't be annoyed by her mere presence....At least, he shouldn't be. After all, he had been the one to invite her to his house to help him make modifications on the crumbling home.
Sakura gave a returning frown to the one she had received.
"May I mention that narrowing your eyes at me and sending me a death glare is not a response."
And they were back to square one. It was the meeting of Team Seven all over again. She was pining for him only for him to completely ignore her.
"I'm painting this wall orange and scribbling 'Naruto is number one' all over the house if you don't say something."
Her hand moved closer to the nearest wall, already having dipped the brush in bright orange paint from a tester can and posed inches from the drywall in a threatening manner to match her warning.
"Something," Sasuke mocked, and she smiled as the frown temporarily went away. Now if he smiled back, her day would be just wonderful. She'd already spent four hours here in silence and a SilentSakura with an OverlyMoodyThanUsualSasuke (if such a feat was even possible) sure as hell didn't make a HappySakura. She was near ready to claw at the walls.
But a SmilingSasuke was sadly only reserved for her daydreams.
"It's a good thing you finally showed me that you had a voice," Sakura told him, a mock-serious look on her face. "Otherwise I would have marked your house as an owner who is a supporter of our future Hokage."
She could have sworn he muttered something along the lines of 'you're funny', but then again him doing dark mumblings under his breath must have her imagination, for that was a form of speaking, something Sasuke never enjoyed participating in. Unless of course he was showing his immense deep and utter loathing for Madara Uchiha and how even impaling him couldn't keep the evil Uchiha in the grave where he so rightfully belonged.
"Say something," she questioned, turning around from the many tester cans of paint aligned along a wall in a straight line.
"It was your imagination," he told her dryly, and she nearly fell over at the idea of him even being able to joke around. Sure it was borderline to being mean at the hinting of her being insane, but Sasuke had always been a brooding individual with a dry personality. At least it meant she would be treated to some form of conversation with him.
But gods, if she felt that conversating with a moody Uchiha was the highlight of her day, then she sorely needed a life.
"Alright, my imagination was making you say something about me. Now, will you please pick a color to do the walls already?"
She felt the need to voice her complaints, because those many little tester paint cans were a pain to lugg up the hill to his home, and he had just conveniently forgotten to inform her on exactly what color he wanted to paint the house. This little project would take more than a few days, considering the wide expanse of the property and how little their paint brushes were. She also had this nagging feeling that she would be the one doing all of the painting.
Did he think that she would be his simpering little lackey, there to wait on his beck and call? She may love the guy, but it just wasn't going down like that.
To make sure he was enlightened on this, she held up the brush that didn't have paint covered bristles.
"This little brush is dying to get some paint on it."
Sasuke gave a withering glare, but none-the-less bent down and grabbed a paint can. Sakura gaped at the color as if in shock.
"Really now Sasuke? Really now," she exclaimed incredulously and perhaps a little loudly. He seemed to wince at the decibel level her voice went to.
"What's wrong with it," he grumbled, looking off to the side. She knew she had hit a sore spot by insulting his choice in color.
"Nothing is wrong with red Sasuke. Red is the color of well, tomatoes, strawberries, and um, the blood in our veins. Now imagine blood all over the walls. That is what makes it wrong."
Doing a face palm to his head gave her the urge to mess up his hair or do something to drive him crazy the way he was doing to her.
"Is my reasoning wrong then?" There was a spark of attitude in her voice.
He looked up.
"You've seen blood Sakura, don't be so dramatic. You've spilt it out of others in the past. And you also should realize blood is closer to crimson than the color in that can."
"But come on Sasuke, red!? Who paints their walls red besides little emo angsting teenagers?"
This set his teeth on edge.
"What are you trying to say," he murmured softly, his eyes growing darker with the threat he tried to impose in his voice.
When their eyes met, it was a short battle before Sakura backed down. He wasn't like the restrained Sasuke she was used to when she was a kid. Even then honestly he sometimes scared the crap out of her.
She didn't feel like throwing punches today.
"Nothing bad, if that's what is being implied that I'm saying," she defended innocently, holding her hands up in a peace like offering.
He seemed to accept it, pulling up the lid to the can of paint and smearing some of the red onto the colorless wall.
"You need to get some more cans," Sasuke told her while he concentrated on doing even strokes across so the paint was equally distributed.
"Pay up then, and I'll be glad to go get them."
He glanced up at her, as if he were surprised that she didn't just go and purchase the paint for him. Hah, he was sorely mistaken if he believed she was still a big pushover. Those days were over.
She also couldn't help but gloat mentally in her mind that she had caught his attention. Sakura held her hand out expectantly. He sighed, as if it were a nuiscence (sp?) to appease her request, but still handed her a small stack of bills from a metal box near still to be unpacked containers spread out around the house.
"Thank you," she crooned sweetly, turning to go and take care of buying more paint.
When she came back, he got back into his bad mood again. Well really it happened when she walked in, set the paint cans down, and he then opened one up.
"These cans are green Sakura," he told her.
She nodded.
"Glad to see you can identify colors. Although technically the paint inside is green. The cans are gray."
She was close to being flung across the room, but Sasuke retained some respect, reminding himself that she was a former team member and a woman. Still, any more of this taking over crap that she was trying to pull and he was going to set her straight.
"I remember giving you money to go and get red paint. This isn't red."
The small tug of a smile to her lips was a welcoming sight, something he registered with some surprise. She never had been bad on the eyes at any point before hand, but now without her lovesick attitude, her attractiveness was becoming more bearable in his presence. It didn't mean that he was returning any feelings in the near future, or any kind of future to speak of at all.
"Amazing observation skills," Sakura replied, her eyes filled with green pools of mirth.
His temper began to rise and the amusement he had once found with her teasing and cute smile had diminished. He wasn't playing around anymore.
"You were supposed to get red paint."
"You never said 'red paint'. You told me I just needed to buy 'more' paint."
Her eyes caught his gaze again, daring him to challenge her. It wasn't doing wonders for his temper, but he didn't back down and held the tense staring match.
"You had better be able to take them back."
"Non-refundable," Sakura murmured, not breaking the gaze when his eyes took on a reddish tent. His sharingan nowadays seemed to be triggered when he was feeling stressed or his temper was rising.
"Why did you get green when you knew that I was painting the house red?"
She rolled her eyes.
"But I told you how garish that color would look all over the house. You're trying to live in a home like a normal person, not a homicidal ninja. Red is a color that makes people angry or stressed out. Come on Uchiha, you have to know that red is certainly not a color you need to be around with a temper like yours."
"Coming from the girl who had a violent inner personality, I would say that you can't be qualified to make that statement. I would even go as far to say as you have a bigger temper than mine."
An eyebrow rose on top of her head, her lips pursing as her generally good mood began to descend. Deciding not to reply at all, she moved to uncap the rest of the paint cans and a dip the washed brush she had used with the orange paint into the green. Before the brush touched the wall, it was knocked out of her hand. Small specks of paint flecked across her black tank top and grey sweatpants, the light green standing out stark against the other colors.
"That was immature," she shot out at him, her voice steady but laced with venom that conveyed her annoyance at him.
"Your clothing isn't ruined. It's called putting them in a washer."
Her fiery temper bubbled near the surface. How in the world did she manage to be attracted to him, foster deep feelings of adoration for the boy and yet still have him bring out the worst in her? It simply boggled the mind, hers especially.
The medic in her told her to get a hold of herself and think things through calmly. Not to sink to his level. Her ninja side was far too dominant, basically feeding her the instinct to slug him one.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't do that." And yet, she somehow resisted. Sasuke knew her inner battle though; it came out in the clenching of both of her fists to her sides. The veins were lightly prominent on her hands, showing her lack of calm.
He had to egg her on. It would only be fair, considering the fact that she wasted hundreds of his dollars on paint of the incorrect color. He had to show her that she wasn't made of perfect control, that she couldn't always coolly handle situations. He needed to see her lose her temper one last time just to get the satisfaction of getting a rise out of her.
"You can pretend all you want," he told her with a laugh, one that was mocking and making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up in humiliation. Sasuke certainly did know how to degrade people.
"Too bad it isn't going to the change that fact that I did something that bothers the crap out of you, and yet you are willing to be a wimp and not do anything about it."
Sakura gritted her teeth, willing her mouth not to open and scream exactly what she wanted to call him at this point.
"I'm being the better person," she sneered. "One of us has to act our age, especially since the other is acting like a deranged five year old."
Sasuke actually nodded in agreement. She slowly rose her lips up into a smile, believing that he had decided to see things her way. Until he opened his mouth again to speak.
"Which is exactly why I'm acting like the mature adult I'm supposed to be since I have to deal with a woman who acts like she's a spoiled little girl with a bad attitude."
"Little....Girl?" Her voice came out between clenched teeth. That was one of the worst insults he could throw her way. He knew exactly that she held insecurities about trying to be a mature woman, to not look or act like that young girl that she used to be.
"That is what I said. You know, you have an awfully bad habit of repeating things that I say. Maybe you should pay attention and listen instead of running your mouth. Use those ears that you were born with."
She saw red.
Cracks appeared in the foundation directly behind where Sasuke's head was moments before, the middle point of the intersecting jagged lines in the shape of Sakura's fist.
"Who's a little girl now?"
Sasuke raised an eyebow, stepping forward to the challenge. Everything was playing out how he wanted it to. The only downside he hadn't calculated was the fact that by the end of this, his house would probably be in the ruins. Oh well, that was what the healthy inheritance fund was for. And with the money he had made from being a rogue ninja and performing little assassinations here and there for rich feudal lords, he also had tons to blow. Besides, the house was already wrecked for the most part to begin with.
And this fight would be worth it. He would actually get some amusement at knocking Sakura down a peg or two.
"Sakura, you wouldn't happen to be calling me a girl, would you?"
She smiled, one that was bright and cheery to completely contradict her clenched fist and anger filled eyes.
"Maybe not so much calling you a girl," she conceded, placing one hand on her hip. "But one couldn't argue at my saying that you could grow a pair."
So she did have some bite to her bark. Well, this was something a little new to the game. He was even getting a little pissed off at her insult to his masculinity.
"That's some big talk for a little girl," he taunted, slowly beginning to take a step forward. His body moved the slightest decree towards her. "I hope you have some fight to back it up." Then Sakura was attempting to block a punch to her front, only to have her feet swept out from under her with a swift flow of his long leg. The breath left her lungs with a burst of shock.
"I think I'm starting to get to you," she wheezed, giving a victorious laugh. Then she swung both her legs up, arching her back to touch her hands to the ground beneath her and take a swing at him while she flipped over. He dodged, and they gained a foot or two of distance between then.
Watching his eyes take on the familiar glow of the sharingan, she warily took small steps around him, sliding in a circle to keep her focus on him. He might actually try to harm her if she was taking active measures to hit him, which was a little surprising. He had always been wary of sparring with females, the idea of harming a woman repulsive to the upbringing he had had as a child. Cursing the fact that she hadn't brought shuriken or kunai with her, she settled for going into the offensive again, this time adding chakra to her fists for a better impact should she happen to hit him.
His form fizzled out as she had to steady herself from knocking into the wall behind him. It took a second to stop and spin herself around. Sasuke had already been behind her, yanking one of her arms to toss her up into the air and lift a leg to kick her through a slider door and out onto the expanse of the open Uchiha grounds. Sakura landed on her feet, albeit a little shakily. One of her fingers went up to signal a stop.
"Didn't know we were using jutsu," she accused, and he shook his head. "I don't believe we ever stated that we couldn't," he argued back. "But if that was foul play, explain the added chakra to your fist?"
Sakura grimaced, and kept herself quiet to prevent anything stupid that he could use against her from coming out. She just couldn't win in verbal sparring against him, so she intended to win in hand-to-hand combat.
"Jutsu allowed, but no shinobi weapons. That especially means no sharp shiny sword that you always seem to have on your person." Sakura glared at the weapon concealed in an elaborate sheath around his waist, as if offended by its presence.
"I won't need it to beat you," Sasuke informed her, finally showing a hint of white teeth through his confident smirk. So he conceded, placing the sheath and sword on the ground by his feet. "Any other rules you feel you need to save your puny self from my skill?"
She made a gag motion towards her mouth. "Your pathetic ego makes me physically ill. I just don't think that beating the crap out of you and therefore causing you to need extreme medical attention is necessary for me to make my point."
He snorted in response." And just what would that point be Sakura," he questioned with a mirthful smile, knowing she was fully aware of his mockery towards her.
"Easy: anything that comes out of your mouth is just dead wrong." There was a chirp of confidence in her tone as she placed both of her hands on her hips.
"Is that so," he asked her, letting out a small snort of disbelief. "You've got some nerve talking to me like that."
Sakura laughed in return. "Sasuke, you're wroooonnng. Remember what I told you? Maybe you need to use those ears of yours and stop paying attention to my chest."
That surprised him for a moment. He hadn't been looking remotely anywhere near her breasts. But if she felt the need to say it....
"I think someone still has a bit of infatuation for me," Sasuke told her, making a tssking sound from the back of his throat, looking towards her in amusement. "I hate to take away your dreams, but it takes a lot better of a kunoichi to catch my attention like that."
The hairs on the back of her prickled in response to the humiliating verbal spar he threw at her. He was letting her know that she wasn't anything to be remotely attracted to. Her cheeks burned, falling for the bluff.
"I'll show you a kunoichi," she growled, opting for the idea to screw strategy and simply surprise him by barreling straight into his body. Sakura's head rammed into his chest with a thump, her fingers clamping around his biceps in an effort to push him to the ground. Her effort was aided momentarily by his surprise. However, once he realized what had happened, Sasuke shook her off. She tumbled to the ground, cursing lightly as she landed on her side.
"Give up yet," he asked her, slightly panting. Snarling she shook her head, bringing a leg up to swing towards his face looming by her stomach. Her knee skidded along his jaw line and tuffs of spiky hair. She pushed her body forward even after she missed, colliding their bodies together again and kneeing him in the ribs. He made a grunt of discomfort, but slipped his hand around to one of her wrists and yanked an arm behind her back. The muscles along the skin tingled in protest, and he proceeded to position the other one in the same manner. Sounds erupted from her throat, screams of anger and annoyance, but were muffled when a free hand clamped over her mouth. Her breath hit the palm of his hand, harshly panting from getting worked up into a rage. All it took was the other hand to restrain her arms.
"End it Sakura. Before I do."
She knew that if she didn't want to get injured, that it would be wise to heed his advice. It certainly wasn't going to help her plight to prove him wrong though. Her ego would take a huge blow.
Sakura contemplated his words, wary of the warmth almost leading to heat of his hand covering her mouth.
"Bite me," she snarled, muffled by his hand but getting the point across by jabbing her head back to hit the sensitive skin of his throat and under his jaw. Then she twisted out of his grip and pressed herself close enough to knee him in the groin and sidestep away. He hit the ground with a thud, and she wiped off her mouth of any dirt or blood that had accumulated there while they fought. Sakura looked down towards him for a second in shock-though still pleased -that she had been able to land a hit on him.
"Now who's the one on their knees like a girl?"
His ears burned at the crude suggestion she spoke, and Sasuke rubbed his sore stomach muscles towards the area she had bruised. He was pissed, one that she had hit him and two of her overly large mouth that never shut, but he tried to leash that anger under control.
"No chakra in that fist," he questioned dryly, able to walk without a limp when applying the effort. He closed two feet of their distance, and he took some satisfaction with the caution that shined into her eyes when he stepped too near.
"I wouldn't want to prevent you from having children if you did manage to a find someone out there," Sakura blinked her eyes in an innocent manner. "No need to thank me. I was merely thinking of the future little Uchihas."
She is insane, was the only thing that could run through his mind as he stared down his former team mate. She had grown into herself in the just the right way, and though she pissed him off like hell and could never close that air hole of hers, somehow he couldn't quite picture his life without her. She was like his little 'cheerleader' of sorts, there to encourage him to press on even when she really wasn't wanted. She cared about his dreams and wants and feelings, something only his mother had ever really taken into consideration. Itachi and his father had always put the clan first, son and brother second.
Sakura and Naruto were his new family of sorts, as dysfunctional as they were. It was quite laughable when you compared all of the idiotic and harebrained stunts they had pulled together when they were genin.
Some days, he missed the past like crazy. Most days he shut it out to avoid it. But now he felt oddly at peace in some sick, twisted way. He was fighting with one of the people who knew him best, but was able to reflect upon the things that had gone wrong or screwed up in his life without it bothering him. That seemed to be the way of the ninja if he ever knew one.
An unexpected, small sincere smile curled the edges of his thin lips up to form a look of happiness.
Sakura wasn't sure what to make of that look. Honestly she was afraid that she had finally cracked him up worse than he had been before.
She opened her mouth, but words wouldn't push past the pink lips.
"Sas-Sasuke I….Sasuke, I'm really-"
He cut her off with a light sshing gesture, one of his slim fingers pressed to his lips. She shut her mouth as he requested. Guilt radiated off of her form, as she was still unsure what was going to happen. Sasuke was never happy like this, he never had been.
"Thank you Sakura." Was all he told her, walking past her to head back inside through the hole they had created in the sliding door. She stared agape at his leave, confused with so many emotions swirling through her.
"He doesn't do thank yous," she muttered to herself. "At least not sincere ones." He had told her thank you before, but she liked to completely block that memory because it happened to involve him following that act by knocking her out and leaving her out on the bench in Kohona to go off and do evil things.
Since this day was turning out to be one of the oddest events in her life, she gained a new surge of confidence. Striding up to Sasuke, she tugged on the white of his shirt for him to turn around. He did, raising an eyebrow as he did so.
"You still want to fight," he questioned to her with a frown. She smiled back at him, a smile that actually made something tug on his heartstrings. Her bright, gleaming white teeth shone past soft petal colored lips, and her face just seemed to lighten up the entire brooding existence of the Uchiha complex like nothing ever could before. He had never seen that look on her face before, at least in this light.
"I….I don't have the right words to describe it," Sakura murmured to him. "I'd much rather show you."
So delicately, her fingers moved to grip the collar of his shirt at the same time she raised herself up on her tiptoes, ignoring the look of confusion and shock on his face as she met her lips with his. The kiss was something new; completely one sided but absolutely stunning none the less. She had long dreamed of this moment, many times being what a silly little dreamer she was, but now just look where she was. Her lips rose up in a tiny grin of victory as she curled her fingers around locks of his raven hair, delighting the press of his lips to hers.
Don't turn me down, was all she could think.
He seemed to listen, because he didn't. He let her kiss him still, not reciprocating but yet not pulling away either. She placed her feet on top of his, hoping that he wouldn't find her weight unpleasant or shove her off. Her lips moved to his cheek as she took a breath, and sucked in a breath of air when his hands moved to touch the skin of her lower back through the light fabric of her tank top. That electric touch was heaven to her, and tears peeked through at the edges of her lashes. She didn't push him for another kiss but pulled him into a hug, her small cries muffling into his broad shoulder.
"No, thank you Sasuke," she told him. "I don't know what I'd do without you. You keep me going, keep me striving to be a stronger person, a stronger kunoichi."
There were so many things she wanted to tell him, but couldn't find herself able to speak much more than that. She was content, even though unsure of his feelings towards her.
"Will you still hang around, even though I kissed you?"
His chin brushed the silky pink of her hair, his hands actually putting purchase across her skin and finally holding her in a proper hug.
"I told you that I wasn't going anywhere," he sighed, and listened to her hiccup happily into his chest. He never knew how to properly react to kunoichi, especially Sakura of all people. He didn't let his discomfort ruin her moment, and he had to admit that it wasn't a terrible sensation to hold someone close. He was actually making her happy, just by holding her and listening to her. It was rare that he ever had the opportunity or inclination to do such a thing for someone. But he felt that she deserved it, because she fought for him when no one else would. If he had a shriveled up heart, she deserved whatever caring or affection he could possibly give.
"Even if you don't love me," Sakura told him, gaining more control of her voice to steady a gaze up into his eyes with wet eyelashes and flushed cheeks. "I can accept that. You being here is all that I need. I can wait to see if the rest can come along the way, but even if it doesn't, that will never change my feelings for you."
Sasuke gave her a quick squeeze and then released her.
"We have some painting to do," he reminded her, gesturing to the crumbling house around him. "And this house is just the beginning."
She laughed and shook her head.
"Repairs first, then we can paint. Otherwise this house just might cave in on us."
He agreed, but they decided to postpone repairs and go to lunch instead. It shouldn't come as a surprise that it was Sasuke's treat.