Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Note: this story takes place over the span of one week (seven days). And, I don't know much about flowers myself, so sorry if some of the info is wrong.
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A Dozen Red Roses
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Morning (day one)
A groan was heard from the bedroom as a figure rolled over on her bed. Her alarm kept beeping. 'Ugh! Stupid clock!' A hand slowly crept out from under the covers and after searching around on the night stand, the hand found its prey; the clock. Slamming her palm down on the clock, the tedious beeping stopped. A blissful sigh escaped her lips as she dozed off again.
2 hours later
A scream tore from the distressed girl. "No! I'm over 2 hours late! Tsunade-shishou's going to kill me!" She suddenly paused as a shiver snaked down her spine. Shaking her head, Sakura dashed into the bathroom. After a quick shower and a quick change of clothes, Sakura quickly rushed to the door while grabbing her keys. Opening the door, Sakura hastily stepped out and found herself staring into a bouquet of beautiful red roses. Sakura blinked. "Wha?" she questioned.
The one who held the bouquet lowered his arm while his other hand closed his book. "Oh, Sakura, these are for you," he stated. She took them slowly since she didn't quite understand what happened to her boyfriend. "Thanks Kakashi..." she said slowly.
She then remembered that she was pressed for time so she quickly rushed back into her apartment and, grabbed a vase, filled it with water, then proceeded to place the flowers inside. Kakashi stood still at her door blinking. "Um..." Before he could continue, a blur of pink was charging towards him. He heard the door click shut then felt the pressure of the girl's body hugging him. A quick kiss to the cheek and a barely heard response was the last time he saw his girlfriend for the rest of the week.
"ThanksKashi!Ilovedtheflowers!I'llseeyoulater!I'mrunninglate!"
A chuckle was heard before he himself poofed away.
A couple of hours later
An exhausted Sakura slowly dragged herself home after a hectic day. As she reached the door, unlocked the lock, and stepped in, she finally took in the sight of the stunning flowers. She stepped closer to the table that held the flowers and noticed a small rectangular card that stood in between the blossoms. She picked it up, unfolded it, then read the familiar writing. As she read through, her eyes widened and with a gasp, she dropped the card as it fell to the table with a soft clatter.
Sakura,
my love for you will last
until the last rose wilts.
Next day (day two)
Sakura awoke with a feeling of discontentment. Normally, a girl would've been ecstatic to have received roses from her boyfriend. Yet, it was the note that made her wonder. 'Did I do something wrong?' Sakura pondered the possibilities. 'Maybe he got tired of not seeing you cause your always working.' Inner Sakura suggested. Sakura frowned. It was possible...she hadn't seen him since he gave her the flowers. Which was a day ago. But was that really her fault? She was going to be busy for the next couple of days with work. Paperwork, hospital rounds, check-ups; she was swamped. Speaking of which, she should get started with her day. Don't want to be late again...
3 days later (day five)
As the days passed by, Sakura still hadn't seen or heard from Kakashi. Maybe he was sent on a mission; she'd look into that later. She was acutely aware of the flowers slowly starting to wilt. What with her limited amount of knowledge about flowers, she was pretty sure roses didn't last forever--only about a week. As Sakura walked along the streets, she heard a call from an irritable voice.
"Hey! Forehead girl!" the voice cried out.
"Pig." Sakura shot back.
"Now is that how you greet your best friend?" she said with a knowing smirk.
Sakura raised a brow, "same goes for you." They glared at each other for a second until Sakura broke the contest. "Anyway, how long does a dozen roses last until they all wilt?" Sakura knew Kakashi must've gotten the flowers from the Yamanaka shop.
Ino's face lit up in recognition. "Oh..." she drawled out. "About a week. Why do you ask?" she questioned with a certain glint in her eyes.
"No reason. Just wondering, anyway, I got to go, more work. See you later Pig!"
Since Sakura's back was turned to Ino, she missed the mischievious grin on her friend's face. 'You should've looked closer Forehead...' she thought as she turned to walk in the opposite direction as Sakura.
Day six
A soft knock was heard on the door. Then a loud voice boomed, "come in!" Sakura stepped in and surveyed the room with an exasperated sigh.
"Tsunade-shishou..."
"What?" she barked while shifting through papers.
"Do you know where Kakashi is? I can't find him and everyone hasn't seen him in four days."
The sound of shuffling papers stopped as Tsunade looked up. "Really??" she drawled out. "Now Sakura, you know that he has a duty to this village."
Sakura interrupted, "where?"
A glare from the Hokage, "now you know that's confidential..." 'Oh come on!' whined Inner Sakura. "...but seeing how desparate you are, I'll make an exception." Inner Sakura mentally cheered, 'score!' "He'll be gone for at least a week," Tsunade stated. "I gave him the mission four days ago."
Sakura slumped in defeat while Tsunade raised a brow in question. "Care to explain, Sakura?"
A sigh, "he gave me a dozen red roses-"
"Oh! How cute!" Tsunade gushed.
"-with a card that said..." When Sakura finished, Tsunade sweatdropped. "Well...I guess I can see your urgency, however, after what you two have been through, I doubt he's going to throw it all away when all 12 roses die."
"I guess..." Sakura said lamely.
"Good then. Now go! I have work to do!" she ordered.
Sakura dragged herself home yet again. When she reached her apartment and stepped in, her gaze instantly found its way to the bouquet standing on the table. She frowned when she realized that there was only two flowers left that have yet to wilt. The other once beautiful red roses now hung limply on its stem with the occasional petal falling. Sakura couldn't help but notice that out of the 2 flowers left, one was starting to turn a shade of deep violet around the petals edges. 'and that it was starting to shrivel,' Inner Sakura pointed out. 'Curse you Kakashi!' Sakura cursed as she made her way to the bedroom. The petal fell.
Day seven
Sakura woke to the sound of a tapping at her window. "Hey! Sakura-chan!" Dragging herself out of bed, she made her way to her window, opened it up and hissed, "what?"
"What 'what'? You don't remember? Today's the day where you treat me to ramen!" Naruto said excitedly. He then proceeded to drag the poor girl out until she clogged him over the head.
"YOU IDIOT! LET ME CHANGE!"
The people on the nearby streets shook their heads. 'Naruto,' they all thought. 'He's at it again!' Sakura never got to see the other petals fall.
At Ichiraku
Naruto continuously slurped up his noodles as Sakura sighed. "Schmtng wrmfng?" A quick smack to the head. "Don't talk with your mouth full!" she chided. "Ow..I said 'something wrong?'"
Before Sakura could reply, Naruto's attention was drawn elsewhere as a figure emerged from under the store's flaps. "Kaka-sensei!" An intake of breath was heard from Sakura.
'Kakashi...' She dashed out of her seat, grabbed Kakashi's wrist, dragged him along, then yelled, "sorryNaruto!Ipromisetopaynexttime!"
Naruto gulped and looked at the tower of bowls, then at Ayame. Another gulp.
Elsewhere
Sakura still dragged Kakashi with her. "I'm perfectly capable of walking without bumping into anything," he amusedly stated.
"Oh! Well your a jerk for sending me those flowers!"
A blink, "you didn't like them? I thought you loved flowers."
"No, not that! The flowers were great, just not that stupid note!"
"Oh..." he said quietly.
The silence continued on as they walked the rest of the way back to her apartment. Once they reached her doorstep, Sakura kept her gaze on the ground as she turned to face Kakashi.
She mumbled, "I guess you don't love me anymore..."
Kakashi smiled a soft, tender smile under his mask. "What makes you say that?" he inquired.
"Your card said that you'd love me until the last rose wilts and I'm 99.9 percent sure that they all died by now," she stated.
His eye curved as he started to chuckle. Her head shot up as she stared at him questionally.
"Sakura," he said. "You didn't take a close look at the flowers did you?"
"No..." she admitted quietly. He took a breath and took her keys to unlock the door. As the door swung open, Sakura stepped in her doorway with Kakashi following. A gasp came from Sakura. Disbelief written all over her features as she stared in awe at the lone flower that was still as red as when it first bloomed. The flower stood amidst the limp flowers and shone more brightly. "But...how?" Sakura was baffled.
Kakashi stepped around her and headed to the vase of flowers. When he reached the table, he took out the non-wilted flower and turned to Sakura. "I may have wrote my love for you will last until the last rose wilts," he explained. "But I only bought 11 real roses." He held up the last remaining rose. "This, my dear Sakura, is a fake rose. The stem is made of plastic and the petals aren't real." He glanced at her. "I put 11 real roses and 1 fake into the bouquet. I guess you were too busy to realize it wasn't real."
"So..." she mumbled.
"So, basically, my love for you will never end, for this rose will never die," he finished. She ran into his open arms and crashed against his body. "I love you," she whispered against his neck. He wrapped his arms around her. With the flower still in Kakashi's hand, it now stood against her back.
"My love for you will never end," he whispered into her ear.
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End.
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AN: I absolutely love that saying of a boy giving a girl 11 real roses and 1 fake one and him telling her that his love for her will last until the last rose dies...and it never will cause 1 of them is a fake. Anyway, for those that want the finer detail, Kakashi received his mission on day two and left in the afternoon. R&R please! I feel like no one even reads my stories cause of the little amount of reviews I get...thanks for reading!