Set Pre-Gaiden in a time where Sakura lives with Sasuke before the two of them got married. T for language and slightly sexual themes.

Based on a Tumblr prompt! Cover art is NOT by me. Credits go to ilabarattolo from dA. (Story also inspired by this art)

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto


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Messy Love

(Part I)

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Messy people are actually geniuses, you know?

Sloppy spaces are unconventional, creative, and give off a comfortable vibe that only the owner knows how to enjoy. There really is no trouble finding anything at all because it's your own "organized chaos". That's the way she liked it. Cluttered, deranged, and disheveled to the point where it was hard to tell whether you were walking on the floor or shovelling through a landfill.

Unfortunately, for Uchiha Sasuke, he was beyond certain that it was the latter.

"Sakura." The raven-haired man growled, eyeing the pile of questionable items buried underneath the sole of his feet. "I told you not to leave so many damn things on the floor." He shot a strong glare towards the future-Uchiha matriarch, who lounged comfortably with a book on the deep rosewood floor (the actual floor, to Sasuke's surprise,) of the Uchiha manor's large oriental bookroom.

It had only been a few months since his old teammate and current lover moved into the newly built living quarters, after surprisingly little debate involved. Now, he was thinking that maybe there really should have been a talk, exclusively for the purpose of having some house rules set for the two of them before things got settled in for good. The thing about becoming a cohabiting couple is that you really, truly get to know your significant other. Not what they're like during missions, during ramen, or during work. In no way could he have predicted that Sakura Haruno, who walked on the streets like a cherry blossom princess, lived like a savage under the roof.

"It's not like you were planning to sit on the floor, Sasuke-kun. There's a tatami mat right in front of you!" The viridian-eyed girl retorted, failing to peel her eyes away from her text. The Uchiha peered at the small beige mat in front of him, which was hidden under a pile of clothes. He scowled. This was his issue. ".. I don't want to sit on a bunch of clothes, either. Pick everything up." How could she even see that?

"I will."

"Now."

"I'm not finished with this chapter yet."

"Now, Sakura."

"Just leave it there." Finally, the pink-haired girl shot her head up to meet her partner's undefeated eyes, her voice evidently annoyed by the interruption of her medical studies. The onyx-eyed man stood unwaveringly in amidst of the pigsty, shirtless with a towel thrown over his shoulders and near-to-dry hair. "When did you start sounding like Mebuki, Sasuke-kun?"

"Messy rooms bring bad air into the house."

"And since when did you become such a spiritualist?"

"It's uncomfortable."

"This is my study room, remember?" Sakura frowned, finally clapping her large medic textbook shut between the palm of her hands. This wasn't a new topic of argument for the couple, but she wasn't going to have any of this right now. Not even the fact that he was half naked could do anything for her annoyance. She had to perform a highly-classified medical jutsu in a few days, and she wasn't going to risk screwing it up over her partner's usual gimmick. ".. Now if you excuse me, I need to finish my pre-reading." In a swift movement, she stood herself up from the ground and started her way towards the sliding door leading to the courtyard outside, avoiding the Uchiha's gaze that seemed to follow her movements.

The raven-haired man watched from the corner of his eyes as she walked around him coldly, expertly dodging the stack of miscellaneous items scattered all over the ground. He wasn't sure if he should be amazed or disgusted at how she could live so carefree in a room of what seemed to resemble a damn circus.

"Sad excuse for a woman." Sasuke muttered under his breath just as she cracked open the shōji door, only to freeze her in her tracks. "What did you just say!?" The viridian-eyed girl scowled, immediately spinning herself around to meet with her partner's back.

The Uchiha simply stood with his hands casually crossed in front of his chest as he closed his eyes apathetically. "I said, you're a sad excuse for a woman."

"I'm very womanly."

"I beg to differ."

Any other day, she would have accepted the unfiltered words that often came out of his mouth, but like she said, just not today.

Sakura felt her blood begin to boil at the Uchiha's defiant tone. "Seriously, what is your problem? You don't even have to step a single foot in here, okay? Just leave me alone right now!" She watched his back for some kind of movement, any gesture to signify that she was heard loud and clear. However, to her dismay, he simply gave his signature "Hn," followed by a slow turn of his head to the side so that she could clearly see the look of mockery in his eye.

"Sad. Excuse."

That was it.

"You know what, Sasuke? A real woman may be tidier than I am.." Suddenly, the Uchiha widened his eyes at the feeling of a large chakra building up behind him. The moment he fully shifted himself around, the pink-haired girl had already zigzagged her way to him in a split second, jumping into the air as soon as she was only a few feet away. ".. But they sure as hell can't beat me!"

Almost instantaneously, a foot came crashing down at him from above, ready to knock him out. He knew she must've been really mad because she failed to say his name with the usual honorific at the end. The raven-haired man instinctively dodged back from his partners sudden assault, landing smoothly on the opposite side of the room after skidding on the wooden floor. "What the hell are you doing!?" He observed as her foot had slammed right into the hardwood, puncturing a deep hole in the floor of the room. Sakura panted, catching her breath as she stood herself at the bottom of it, her anger evidently forming a dark aura around her. Her head was bent down, but as soon as she jolted it back up, he saw in her eyes that she wasn't finished.

He started to feel a lot more nervous than anticipated. Call him noble, strong, a hero. Despite it all, Uchiha Sasuke isn't afraid to admit that it would most definitely not feel good to be punched by his angry girlfriend.

Almost as fast as she'd started, her feet darted out of the broken floor and immediately began racing towards him. As she closed in on him once more, her fist began to throw hard punches, and the Uchiha managed to expertly block each blow before the two of them were out in a full-scale Taijutsu match. "Sakura-!" He managed to find a breath to speak as he twisted and spun himself around against the quick attacks of his ex-teammate, who was now coming at him with sharp kicks as well. "Sakura, cut it ou-"

"I'm pregnant, Sasuke."

".. What?" He paused in his movements with his jaw hanging half-open.

"Kidding. Don't let your guard down." As soon as she saw a moment of weakness, the viridian-eyed girl threw her arm back and shoved it inside her boyfriends gut with brute force, earning a loud grunt in return as she sent him flying across the room straight through the thin shōji wall and out into the courtyard of the Uchiha manor.

She didn't hesitate further as she lifted herself to follow after him, jumping through the new hole she had made with his flying body and running towards where she had expected him to land. To her joy, his body smacked right against the cement wall that served as a border from the outside, creating a whirl of dust.

Fuck. The raven-haired man cursed as he felt the harsh impact on his body from the throw. He didn't have much more time to react because just as he lifted an eyelid open, he saw the pink-haired girl once again in his vicinity, as well as another large fist aiming straight for his head.

"SHANNNAROO!"

The next moment seemed to have gone by in a split second. A new whirl of smoke broke out from Sakura's punch, but she kept her hand in place where it had landed. After a moment, she felt a hand grabbing harshly at her wrist. As soon as the smoke cleared, she caught sight of her fist planted straight into the cement wall beside the Uchiha's head, but not quite all the way through. As she looked over at her partner through the last bits of remaining dust circling around them, she was greeted with a pair of narrowed crimson eyes.

"Whose house do you think you're destroying?" Sasuke said cooly in a slightly annoyed undertone as the two of them searched each others face. Her gaze traveled from his eyes towards his right cheek, and she couldn't help but give a malevolent grin upon noticing he had a small cut from a flying cement shard. She hated that it felt like he wasn't taking her seriously, but now, she knew he was up for anything. "It's our house now, technically."

She didn't give him any time to respond. Her hand immediately drew back to form another fist, although this time, he could easily read her movements.

"Fine then." Sasuke stated, though his voice didn't show any sign of defeat. Just as she was about to land her next punch, he charged in a split second to dodge right behind her. Sakura seemed to have expected this, as she quickly turned her body to land a kick that once again only damaged the land from below.

He moved fast, avoiding every single one of her blows smoothly and meticulously with every step. Though his Sharingan managed to pick up all of her movements, it didn't surprise him how fast she still was. After planting his feet onto the ground from another dodge, he didn't realize that his hair had been sticking to his face from how much she made him sweat. This won't do.

He glanced up at the pink-haired girl in front of him, who now stood at a considerable distance, in an attempt to make an observation. She seemed to be tiring herself out from several continuous unsuccessful hits. He watched her heavy, evident breaths of exasperation as her chest heaved up and down from exhaustion, her serious viridian-eyes glaring deep into his own red orbs.

Sasuke managed a tiny smirk that slowly curled around the corners of his mouth. "It's payback time, don't you think?"

Sakura paused at her last breath as she watched her partner hold his arm out to the side, his fingers slightly curled up towards his palm. Her eyes widened as she saw small sparks of blue lightning beginning to form in the center, which progressively started to grow into a full-blown Chidori.

He wouldn't. The pink-haired girl thought, her mind not having a single shred of doubt that Sasuke wouldn't dare to use the same technique that he did years ago, on her, with the intent to kill. She knew how regretful he was, how it took him years to truly believe that it didn't matter to her anymore. There was no way he would come at her like that again. No, he was planning to do something else with it.

Suddenly, she widened her eyes in realization. Before she knew it, her feet took her running to the side as fast as she could. She kept her gaze on him with the corner of her eyes as he began swinging his arms continuously, changing the form of the giant lightning ball into small needle-like shards that seemed to be directly aimed towards her.

Chidori Senbon. She confirmed in her head as she felt herself breaking a sweat from repetitively dodging the needle attacks that were coming at her two or three at a time. Something inside of her felt slightly disappointed. She could tell he was going easy on her, otherwise he would have sent them flying all at once. There's no way he would miss, either.

He kept her busy though, jumping and swinging from one area of the large courtyard to the next in a flash. I need to do something fast. She thought to herself, if he keeps going, I'm-

Suddenly, she let out a small gasp as she felt her legs betraying her speed, causing her ankles to tangle and sending her straight for the ground. Sasuke immediately paused at his next aim, his eyes widening as he watched his partner's body roll off on the dirt path from the impact of her fall.

He gazed over at the culprit of her accident, which seemed to be a pair of shoes lying carelessly on the ground that were now shifted into a different spot from her harsh contact. "Hn." The Uchiha grinned, knowing that is point had been explicitly proven. ".. And this is exactly the reason why we clean up."

He waited for some kind of reaction from her, who continued to lay motionless on the ground with her feet facing him at a distance. After a few seconds, his stomach started to sink as he realized the possibility that she could have been seriously hit by one of his needles at the wrong time. "Hey, Sakura-"

"Just kidding, again." Right when he had step foot towards his partner, he received a large hit in this bare back, one that caused him to unrelentingly spew a trail of blood from his mouth. His body planted down towards the ground, though he quickly propped himself up as he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes flickered over to the supposedly-injured Sakura, who was now also heaving her upper body up from her lying position as she cowered at him with looming eyes. He then observed the clone that had hit him, who quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Again? Sasuke chastised himself for falling short because of his girlfriends dirty antics. She was playing him embarrassingly good. However, he wasn't planning on letting her off easy this time. His eyes made a quick scan at their surroundings- the large open courtyard with several trees and shrubs lining the pathway, as well the upper walkway that lined the outer halls of the Uchiha manor.

It's careful work, but it'll definitely do.

The pink-haired girl watched him with a keen gaze as she finished hoisting herself up from the ground, refusing to lose eye contact. Her heart soon began to race faster as she observed her boyfriends eyes turn into a much more advanced Sharingan, though she was oblivious as to what he was planning to do with it.

Suddenly, an abundance of tall black flames rose from behind her in almost no time at all. Amaterasu..? Sakura panicked for a brief moment before jolting herself out of her spot before the flames were in her enclosure, its pace picking up like wildfire. ..Is he insane!? Before she knew it, her feet once again broke her out into a run, and it didn't take long for her to notice that he was meticulously causing the flames to chase her closely from behind.

The Uchiha smirked, knowing he now had her completely under his thumb. The last thing he did was corner her into the cement wall, allowing the flames to surround her on either side, as well as closing them in on her back to prevent her from punching an escape onto the cement. Sakura's eyes flickered around herself, her stomach starting to sink as she realized there was no way for her to get out except for a long, narrow path of flames in front of her.. One in which the Uchiha was slowly making his way in towards.

"Sasuke-kun.." She gritted through her teeth as he got closer and closer, narrowing her eyes at her partner who was wearing too proud of an expression on his face. "You-"

Suddenly, she was hit with a sharp pain in her lower back, one that managed to radiate all over her body. Shit, I'm- Her feet started to drag on her balance, causing her to wave back and forth. She tried to keep her composure steady, but for a split second, she leaned behind a little too much. The raven-haired man's heart nearly stopped as he witnessed a large burst of flames immediately getting hold of a corner of her giant wool sweater.

She let out a tiny gasp, but didn't have time to form proper words as Sasuke had instantaneously rushed to her side. After deciding that she would be burnt by the time he dispelled the flames, he grabbed hold of the side of her arm to keep her body propped up while his other hand gripped at the thick collar of her sweater. With a single motion, she flinched as he tore the wool down the center in a swift movement and threw it roughly to the side, leaving her in a plain red tank.

She looked at her partner in surprise, who quickly dispelled the technique and was watching the flames slowly dissipate until they were gone for good. Seeing this as an opportunity, Sakura attempted to throw in another hit. However, the Uchiha quickly jolted his head back and cupped her fist with his hand, sending her a long demeaning glare in return.

In the next second, he bent down and grabbed her by the legs, swinging her into his arms before taking off in a flash.