A/N: So i decided to remove that filler from the story and create a long one-shot. For those who have just read this the first time, it's a spin-off or a filler from my story 'Behind the Cold Eyes' If you don't understand the plot or the story line, just go to my profile and read that story. So here you go. Enjoy!
Behind The Cold Eyes
A Christmas Memory
Sakura groaned in her position in Sasuke's arm. The young Uchiha shifted his eyes and looked at the sleeping girl in his arm confusingly. He watched as her soft hands came up and clutched his clothes, bringing herself closer to him. She kept muttering things he couldn't quite understand. She must be sleeping. He ignored it and looked up again, making sure he didn't jump into trees. A few more seconds later, she said something again and it caught his attention.
"Mom..." she mumbled with an irritated tone in her sleep. "Stop yelling..."
...
"Sakura, get up!" said girl groaned and pulled her light blue cover over her head to block out her mother's booming voice. She hated waking up early, especially on her break from missions. Why did her mother have to ruin her start of the day? "Sakura!" she called one last time, the thirteen year-old girl sighed before stretching her limbs on the bed and sat up slowly, stifling a yawn with her hand. Her sleepy, half-lidded emerald eyes scanned the room randomly and landed on the hanging calendar next to her window. There was a big red circle on the 24th of December. She twisted her face in confusion, wondering why she did it last night. But with all the sleepiness she still had, everything in her mind was clear of anything but the urge to snuggle with her bed again.
With a shrug and a lot of courage that she gathered to ignore her mom's order, she laid down her on soft mattress and cuddled her pillow to get the right comfortable feeling to fall asleep again. She closed her tired eyes and heaved a sigh, feeling content with her cozy bed, that wasn't cold from the wind in the winter season. But what stopped her trip to dream land was the slight irritation that was lurking in her mind, making her furrowed her pink eyebrows in annoyance. '24th?...hm…December 24th…'
Her eyes widened in alarm as she shot up from the bed with a shock expression.
Crap, she was supposed to buy her friends Christmas gifts today! With that realization, she threw the cover off her to the ground and swung her feet, hastily tried to get up but tripped when her feet got caught in the cover on the cool chilly floor next to her feet. She let out a small yelp before her face planted on the hard surface. "Ooow~" she moaned in pain, lifting her head up and felt her forehead with her hand. She winced when she felt a small bump on the middle, great now her forehead was going to get bigger than it already had. Just in time for Christmas.
She huffed in annoyance, because she wasn't going to curse, and pushed herself to her feet, kicking the cover that caused her injury to the side and stomped over to her closet to bring out her usual winter attire, the one that she wore when she went to the mission with Team 7 to the land of snow. She proceeded over to the bathroom, taking the towel that was on the rack next to the room. The first thing that she did was checking the still stinging forehead in the mirror. She cringed when she saw her wound.
"Ino is going to laugh her head off when she sees this." She grumbled with a look, her hand on her forehead, not pressing too much to hurt. It wasn't that bad really, but the blonde Yamanaka was the queen of all appearances, she would freak out when she found out Sakura had a bulging forehead. With a sigh, she began to strip off her clothes and went inside the shower.
Mebuki raised her eyebrow when she saw her daughter walked down the stairs with a displeasing look. She must have had a bad wake up call, which she knew the answer to. She shrugged but after she noticed the little bump that was turning red on her forehead. The mother of the Haruno gasped and ran over to the pink haired Kunoichi, who finally reached the floor, swinging her to have a better look at the injury. "What happened to you, Sakura?" She asked with worry, lifting her hand up and gently stroked the bulge.
Sakura let out a yelp and swatted her mother's hand gently. "Mom, that hurts!" she groaned out, her hand hovering over her wound, afraid to touch it so it wouldn't hurt. "I fell down and well…you know the rest." She finished with uncertainty, looking at the face of her worried mother. "Well, come here, I want to take a look at it." Mebuki said softly, taking her daughter's hand and dragged her to the kitchen. She had Sakura sit on the chair by the dining table before walking over to the cabinet to retrieve the medic kit.
"Lift you head up." She ordered, using one of her hand, that wasn't holding onto the alcohol covered cotton, and hooked it under her chin to tilt it up. She gently dapped the soft fluffy thing on the place where the swelling was, with Sakura whimpering from the pain of the action. When Mebuki finished, she threw the cotton in the trash and pulled out a bandage from the kit and placed it on the bump, careful not to cause her daughter discomfort. She smiled. "There." And she laid a soft chaste kiss on the slightly bigger forehead and pulled back.
"Thanks mom." Sakura grinned widely and hoped off the chair while her mother put everything back inside the medic kit. "Are you going somewhere today?" she heard the elder woman asked when she put the box in the cabinet. "Yeah, I'm going shopping today for gifts." The rosette pulled her sandals on and opened the door. "I'll be back by noon." She said lastly and closed the door.
Sakura turned around and looked at the village with a broad smile. The village was indeed, adjusted to the winter season, and decorated with streamers and ribbons. Snow covered the street and houses, making everything cold and chilly outside. They were preparing the annual Konoha Winter Festival, which was on every 25th of December. Everyone was already setting up the stands and booths for the event. There was also going to be many contests and competitions tomorrow, which she was sure going to enter with her friends.
As she walked along the street, looking at random things in the many stores she passed by but didn't catch her attention, she was suddenly knocked to the ground. Two surprise yelp was heard when they landed on the hard ground. Sakura mentally groaned at her bad luck and looked up to the person that bumped into her, who was also on the ground. "Tenten-san?" she said in surprise when she recognized the elder girl, who snapped her head up in shock when she heard her voice.
"Oh, Sakura! I didn't know it was you! Sorry." The brunette lifted herself up and pulled the pinkette up also. She smiled apologetically and scratched her cheeks. "Are you okay?" she asked, cold puffs coming out of her mouth as she breathed. Sakura shook her head and grinned. "I'm fine." She answered and observed her friend.
Although the two didn't spend a lot of time together, she found she liked to hang out with Tenten at times, when Ino and the others were busy. She was a great partner to spar and have conversations with, she gave good advices. She was surprised by how a like they both were. They both loved sweet and would talk with each other on end about new sugary food when they had the chance to. And they also discussed a lot about missions, daily lives and their teammates, having to share team members that were almost identical in personalities.
"What happened to your forehead?" Tenten asked as she leaned closer to look at the bandaged-bump on her friend's forehead. Sakura blinked. "Oh, this?" she motioned to her forehead with her hand. "I tripped this morning and well, kinda fell down face first." She said the last sentence with annoyance, which caused Tenten to laugh at her expression. "That must have hurt." she finally stopped her laughter and looked sympathetically at her. "It's fine, really. You don't have to worry, Tenten-san." Sakura assured.
Tenten gave her a disapproving look. "Now, now." She started with a scolding tone. "What did I tell you to call me? Drop the –san. It makes me feel old." She made a funny face, and it was Sakura's turn to laugh. Yes, they get along quite well. She wiped a tear from her eyes with her gloved hands and looked at the older girl in front of her. "So what are you doing here?" she asked with a raised brow.
The brunette huffed in annoyance and looked away. "I'm looking for things to buy for Neji, I already have in mind what I'm getting for Lee and Gai-sensei but Neji is a hard one, if you know what I mean." Sakura immediately knew she was talking about Sasuke, who was too similar to Neji than anything else. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I still have no clue what I'm going to buy him." She said truthfully.
"I heard there's a new shop next district. Do you want to come? I'm sure we can find something for them there." Tenten offered. She had heard Hinata and Ino talking about this not so long ago, and they said there the store sell a lot of weapons and scrolls. The brunette didn't actually wanted to buy her stoic team mate that stuffs at first but after running around in the village and not finding anything that caught her eyes, she had to buy him those. She had never checked it out but since she already went to all of the stores in Konoha already, the new place was the only choice she had left.
"Really?"
"Yeah, they sell scrolls and stuffs."
"Do you think it's a good idea to buy them that?" Sakura asked skeptically. She really wanted to buy her friend more cooler things that usual scrolls and shiny weapons. Sasuke had a lot of supply of that already, she knew that none of the weapons she would buy for him could compare to the many expensive kunais and shurikens he already had. Besides, she wanted to give him something special. "Do we have better idea than that?" The girl in front of her sighed as Sakura hung her head. "Yeah, you're right." She muttered.
"But I have to go to buy things for Gai-sensei first, do you mind waiting for me at your house by noon?" the weapon mistress said. Sakura shook her head. "No, it's fine. I have to go to Ino's first anyways. And then go buy the Ramen Pajamas that Naruto wanted so badly." She inwardly cringed when she remembered how much Naruto begged her to get him that for his birthday not so long ago, but she didn't have much money at that time so she couldn't afford it. And she's determined to get him that in Christmas.
"Ramen…pajamas?" Tenten repeated weirdly, staring at Sakura with a funny look. "What the hell is that?" she asked. The rosette shrugged. "I had no idea actually. I've never seen it before. But I heard they cost a fortune." She frowned. Thank god, she saved money just in time for the date, otherwise she might as well faced a whining Naruto. "Well, I got to go." Sakura waved to her friend, who responded back with the same gesture before running off to the direction of the shop, that Sakura dimly remembered sell jumpsuits. 'I expected she would buy something like that for Gai-sensei.' She thought and then turned around, heading to the direction of the Yamanaka flower shop.
The bell rang when she opened the door to the shop, poking her head in and looked inside for her blonde haired friend, who she saw was at the counter dozing off. With a mischievous grin, she closed the door gently, making sure not to cause any sound that would wake the girl up and tip-toed over to her friend. When she reached behind Ino, she stopped. She resisted the urge to giggle and leaned in to put her mouth beside the blonde's ear. "Hey, Ino!" she screamed loudly, said girl who was called shot up and fell down from the stool to the ground with surprise yelp.
Sakura laughed loudly, clutching her stomach while tears leaked from her eyes. When Ino finally recovered, her face went from shock to anger. "Forehead!" she hissed through gritted teeth and pushed herself off the floor. "I'm gonna kill you!" she screamed and charged at Sakura, who quickly ran away from the raging girl and went over to the other side of the counter. She smirked and stuck her tongue out. "Can't catch me, Ino!" she taunted and continued to run around the shop to avoid her blonde friend who was chasing after her.
"Get back here, Sakura!" Ino yelled as she ran after the pink haired girl, who turned her head around and gave her a mocking grin. "Nuh-uh!" she said and continued running. The blonde girl grumbled something under her breath before a wide grin spread across her face. She increased her speed and ran close enough to Sakura and pushed her feet against the floor, tackling the laughing girl to the ground. As the two girls fell to the ground, Sakura was fast enough to use her hands, planting the palms on the ground to prevent herself from falling face first, again.
"Ino, don't do that! My forehead is still throbbing!" she snapped her head around and looked at the girl on her, who blinked innocently in confusion until her blue eyes landed on the bump on her friend's forehead. Oh, so that was what she was talking about. Ino bit the inside of her cheeks to prevent herself from laughing so hard, but it came out anyways.
Sakura glared at the laughing girl rolling around on the ground, clutching her stomach. "Ino, that is so not funny. It hurts!" Today was definitely not her best day. First she fell down, had Tenten laugh at her and now Ino. She was okay with Tenten, since she knew the girl wouldn't push the subject too far, but when it came to Ino, she knew that the blonde wouldn't let her get away with this. "What happened, your forehead looks like it's going to pop out!" Ino said in between laughter. Sakura just sighed until the girl stopped laughing and got up.
"So," she wiped a tear away. "What happened?" she asked seriously this time. Sakura scowled and looked away. "I fell this morning." She said sourly, which caused Ino to giggle. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. You look so funny with the bandage on the middle of your forehead like that." She apologized. "It must have hurt."
"Well, duh!" Sakura grumbled and then smiled. "So, are you ready to go?" she asked. Ino nodded and walked over to the counter while untying her apron. "Mom, I'm going out with Sakura for awhile." She called to her mother. After receiving a 'yes' she turned around to face Sakura. "Let's go!" she linked her arm with the pinkette and dragged her outside the shop, not before putting on her boots and winter coat.
They walked along the street beside, each other in silence, with Ino leading the way to the store she wanted to go to. "Hey, Ino?" Sakura spoke up, the blonde only grunted, telling her that she was listening. "I'm surprise. Why do you need my help to buy Shikamaru and Chouji's presents anyways? You'll do fine on your own." Ino had asked her to help out yesterday, and she was still confused as to why the girl needed her advice for Christmas gifts. She knew Ino was the best at shopping, better than her, Tenten and Hinata combined.
"I may be good at shopping for clothes, but when it comes to sentimental gifts like this, I suck at it." She admitted truthfully. Sakura raised her eye brow. "And what makes you think I'm good at it?" she asked skeptically. Ino sighed and stopped, turning around to face her friend with a seriously, something that Sakura didn't expect. "Sakura, you're super good at finding the right gifts for people. Everyone knows that, maybe except of you with your happy-go-lucky obliviousness." Said girl popped a vein at this. "And I really, really need you. I don't want something like last year to happen."
She had a point. Even if Sakura still believe she's not that good at picking out things for people, she was still sure she could do better than Ino. Last year, the blonde had given Chouji a body-fitting shirt, which the fat boy took as an insult and almost ran over her with his jutsu if it weren't for Sakura, and gave Shikamaru make-up powder for him to cover his eye bags, which scared the living daylights out of his mother because she had thought her son was gay.
"Fine." She sighed. "I have to get Naruto something anyways." she allowed Ino to drag her into the biggest store in Konoha. Sakura looked around in awe at what she saw. The store had everything, clothing, furniture, kitchen utensils, anything you named it. "Whoa…" she gaped but she couldn't admire the store for long until Ino brought her out of her state by snapping her fingers in front of her face. "Huh?"
"So, what should I buy for Shikamaru?" Sakura put her finger on her chin, tapping them occasionally as she thought of Ino's question. "Well, Shikamaru loves to sleep. You should get him a pillow." She grinned. The blonde's eyes lit up and ran over to the pillows, with Sakura's hands in hers. She picked up one fluffy pillow and felt it. "This is soft." She looked at Sakura for approval, but the girl was looking at her with a funny look. "I'm sure Shikamaru won't appreciate it if you give him a pink pillow, Ino." She pointed to the color of the soft thing that Ino was holding. "You already scared his mother enough last year with make-up, I think you should choose a different color."
"Oh." Ino blinked and put the pillow back to its place, looking from different colors of pillows to the others. "While you think of what to pick, I'll go and find that pajamas for Naruto." After Ino nodded, Sakura walked over to the clothing rack, shuffling through it for her desired clothes aimlessly. She had no idea what it looked like, she had never seen it before, she only heard Naruto talking endlessly about it.
She kept shuffling through the pajamas racks until she came across an orange pajamas shirt and shorts, with Ramen swirls as design. She cringed at how bright it looked, wondering who on earth would want this other than the Hokage-wannabe. 'Well, orange is his color…' she pulled it out and observed it. It wasn't that bad.
"Sakura, what the hell are you buying?" she turned around to face Ino, who was looking at her with a weird look, one of her hand holding onto a green pillow. "This is for Naruto." She went back to look at the clothes in her hands. "He's been bugging me to buy this for him since his birthday." She said as Ino reached her side. The rosette looked at the pillow in her friend's hands. "So you decided to buy him a green pillow?" She lifted her pink eye brow.
"Yeah, this pillow had a scent of herb in them and they said it helps you sleep and decrease neck pain and headache once you inhale it. I remembered Shikamaru telling me he's been having headache for days now and I figured this would be good for him." She explained, hugging the pillow closer to her, inhaling the nice herby scent. She sighed and looked over to what Sakura was holding, looking for the price of the pajamas. Her eyes widened once she found it.
"Sakura, that's fricken' expensive! Are you sure you're going to buy that?!" she hollered, glancing at the smiling girl. "Naruto has wanted this for a long time now, so it's worth it." She said. "You're willing to spend that much for Naruto?" Ino asked confusedly. "Well," Sakura turned around with the pajamas and walked over to the counter. "I've never done anything great for Naruto, so this would be nice." She pulled out her money and gave it to the cashier, taking the bag away from him and ran over to Ino.
"Let's go buy for Chouji next." She said as the two of them walked to the next store.
Sasuke's ear twitched when he heard talking from below him. He opened his eyes in irritation. Where could a guy get some sleep around here? He was currently above the tree, previously sleeping. He had just trained and was too tired to walk all the way home; he wasn't lazy, mind you. He was sure he picked the right tree in a place where people hardly pass by, so they wouldn't bother him with their talking and footsteps.
It seemed, he was wrong.
With a groan, he leaned back against the bark of the tree and closed his eyes. If he just ignored it, then he would fall right back to his needed rest.
"Do you think Chouji would like this?" a female voice asked, Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows in irritation. Great, it had to be a girl. Now he needed to keep quiet or else he wouldn't be able to get out of here alive. He hated fan girls. He hoped she would go away soon.
"I think so." His dark yes shot up when he heard the next voice. He remembered that from anywhere, he heard it almost every day. He leaned his weight on his hands and glanced down to look at the owner of the voice, who was talking with a blonde girl, both of them sitting on the bench just below him. How come he didn't notice it before?
Indeed, there was Sakura.
"Really? I mean I hoped he does." Ino said as she observed the blanket that she had bought for her teammate with Sakura's help. The pink haired girl giggled. "It's okay, Ino. I'm sure he'll like this." She assured her friend with a smile. The blonde looked at her. "If you say so." She said and looked around. "Say…" Sakura looked at Ino in questioning. "What are you going to buy for Kakashi-sensei anyways?" the girl next to her asked.
Sakura looked up for a moment, Sasuke stiffened at this before relaxing when he realized she wasn't looking at him but at the sky. "Well, I thought of giving him a book." She answered, her eyes back on Ino's face. The blonde opened her eyes widely at her. "You're not giving him Icha Icha series for Christmas, are you?!" She hollered, making Sakura cringed and rubbed her ears. She was definitely going to be deaf if she kept hanging out with Ino. "Hell no, Ino!" she said, putting her hands back on her laps, swinging her feet back and forth as she looked around her. "I'm better than that."
"But are you sure you're having enough money. That thing you bought for Naruto is expensive. I still couldn't believe you did that for him." Sakura sighed. "I told you, Ino. I need to do something for Naruto in return. He kept doing things for me and it's time for me to return the favor. It's worth to spend that much for him. As long as he's happy, I'm fine." She grinned. Ino looked at her with a small smile. "You really care about Naruto, huh?" Sakura didn't hesitate to nod.
Above them, Sasuke unconsciously clenched his fists. What the hell did she get for the idiot? From their conversation, he knew it was expensive. And it seemed Sakura didn't care by the amount of money she had to spend for the gift. What was so great about Naruto that she had to buy something that cost so much and didn't give a damn? He didn't get it. The more he thought about it the more he seemed to grow angry and he didn't know why. He shouldn't feel this way. Sakura could give anything to anyone she wanted, it had nothing to do with him. But he still felt this feeling that Naruto seemed to be catching up with him when it came to Sakura's affections. And he didn't like it, he admit that much. He just blamed it on the fact that the blonde was his rival and he needed to be above him in anything, Sakura's attention was one of them. A part of him told him there was more than that, but he was too pissed off to think about it.
"So enough about that, what about Sasuke-kun?" Ino tried to change the subject, her eyes staring at the girl next to her on the bench. "Oh, that…" Sakura sighed tiredly. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at this. Why was Sakura feeling so disappointed when it came to his gifts for Christmas? He felt the urge to strangle Naruto again. In truth, he didn't like gifts that didn't help him get stronger. He was okay with not getting anything but he was still bothered that she gave Naruto something and he didn't get anything from her, especially since she kept claiming that she liked him. "I have trouble finding what to give for him actually." It was Ino's turn to raise her eye brow. "Wow, it's surprising coming from you." She said amusingly.
"Hey, it's not that easy finding the perfect gifts for Sasuke-kun!" She popped a vein, glaring at Ino, who waved her off. She closed her eyes and calmed down her nerves. "I'm going to the new store this noon with Tenten. I just hope there's something there." She said. "The new store? The one that sells weapons and scrolls? Are you sure you're getting him that?"
"No! I want to give him something special but I have no idea what to get. So I have no choice but to buy weapons." Sakura pulled her hair in frustration, hanging her head down. "Bah, I really want to get him something good!" she cried out. Ino rolled her eyes. "Don't be a drama queen. It's not such a big deal. It's not like he cared anyways." she said. Sakura snapped her head up and looked at Ino with a glare. "Ino!" she hissed.
"What? It's true." She shrugged. "He never gives a damn about gifts. You gave him gifts all the time but he never gave you something in return!" she explained. "Giving him nothing doesn't make any difference to him." Sakura sighed tiredly and let out a soft giggle, which made Ino looked at her with a confused gaze. "What?"
"At least, he accepted. It's better than him rejecting them. And I know that much, that he acknowledges what I give him. Besides, why are you saying this? That never stops you from giving him chocolate on Valentine's Day."
"Which he threw away Sakura." Ino interrupted. "That's why I stopped this year. I know he wouldn't care about it. So you need to stop fussing over him Sakura, although I still think he's hot, he's not that worth it." Great, now Sasuke had the urge to strangle another blonde. How dare she say stuff like this about him? She didn't know him or how he felt. Sure, he didn't like presents but it still felt…nice when Sakura gave something to him. He felt like he's not actually…by himself. He wasn't that cold hearted.
"You don't know him that much, Ino." Sakura said, making Sasuke's ears perked up at that. "I've been a team mate to him and vice versa, I know how he felt. I know he wouldn't give anything in return but I'm still happy that I give something to him. My mom said it's better to give than receive. Especially when it comes to the person you care about." She finished with a smile while Ino looked at her with awe.
On the other hand, Sasuke was surprised, his eyes slightly widening at her words.
"It's better to give than receive Sasuke. Especially when it comes to the person you care about."
His mother's words echoed in his mind. He remembered her telling him that.
"Mom, what are you doing?" a six year-old Sasuke asked his mother as she was knitting what looked like a sweater. His mother lifted her gaze from her work and looked at her adorable looking confused son, who was staring at her with his big dark eyes swirling with questioning. She let out a soft giggle and stopped her task, putting her half-finished sweater on her lap, looking at Sasuke with a smile. "I'm making a sweater, sweetie."
Sasuke blinked. "A sweater?" his mother nodded. "You can do that?" he asked in awe. The mother laughed. "Yes, Sasuke. I can do a lot of things." She said. Sasuke continued to look at his mother with admiration. He didn't know anyone could make sweater with their hands. He had always thought that sweater came out of wool tree or something. Of course, the idea was too ridiculous to be true but this was what a six year-old was thinking. Sweaters were too complicated to make, that's how he always thought. But now his mother was making a sweater with just a stitch. It's amazing.
"Why are you making it?" he asked again.
"I'm making it for your father."
"Why?" Sasuke tilted his head in confusion. Mikoto shook her head with a smile, this child and his curiosity. She continued her job of knitting sweater. "Well, tomorrow is Christmas and I wanted to give your father something." She answered, not looking at him but at her task at hand. Sasuke made a face. "We can buy it at a store right?" he suggested but his mother shook her head. "Yes but making things on your own makes it special and I want to make you father know that I care for him."
"But dad never gives you anything. Don't you mind?" It's true. Sasuke had never seen his father given anything to his mother before, not even on her birthday, he would just wished her a happy birthday and that was it. Nothing so special, but he and Itachi made sure to make up for it by making her cake and shower her with presents. Did this mean his father didn't care about his mother?
"It's better to give than receive, Sasuke. Especially when it comes to the person you care about." She said quietly, making Sasuke snapped out of his thought and looked at his mother with an awe expression. "I do feel upset at times but I feel happy whenever I give your father something. It tells him that I care about him. Just like why I made that glove for you." She pointed to the white winter gloves that Sasuke was wearing at the moment
"But I didn't give you something in return." He lowered his head in disappointment. He looked up when he felt his mother running her hand through his hair. Her smiling face almost made him smile on his own. "If you promised not to tell your father about this, you'd do me a great favor." She winked while Sasuke gave a big grin and nodded.
Sasuke shook his head with his eyes closed to snap his thoughts away from the memory, looking back down at the two girls on the bench, but narrowed his eyes when he saw no obnoxious blonde or a pink head. 'They're gone?' how come he didn't notice them leaving? Must be too into his own world. He sighed and rubbed his head, cursing himself for his lack of attention. He really needed to work on not letting his guard down too much.
He closed his eyes, his mind unconsciously wondered to his mother's words. Sakura was struggling to give him something special, and he admit, he felt grateful for that. But she didn't need to be that harsh on herself. That would make him feel guilty for not giving her anything in return. And he hated feeling guilty. Sakura was his friend, the closest he had to one. Naruto was his rival, yes, he was his team mate but he was obnoxious and irritating. Sakura was annoying but she didn't bother him that much and he could tolerate her more than the two males in his team.
Now he was stuck with the question whether to get her something in return or not. Usually he wasn't bothered that much when he received something and not give any in return but after hearing her like that and remembering his mother's teaching, he found it hard to ignore it. He listened to his mother and kept every advice she gave to his heart and this was no difference. He groaned. He didn't want to look weak, or allow anyone to see he was softening up, he has pride in himself about how he was and he didn't want to change it anytime soon. But he didn't want to be ungrateful too, Sakura wasn't just everyone to him, she was his team mate and friend.
'Whatever…' he hoped off the tree and landed on the ground, walking to his house with his hands in his pockets. Sakura wouldn't mind if he didn't give anything back, he was like this all the time, and she didn't seem bothered by it that much. She's definitely wouldn't mind…
He stopped and furrowed his eyebrows.
…would she?
"Mom, I'm home!" Sakura called out as she closed the door of her home, turning around but stopped when she noticed a new pair of shoe in the house. She raised her eyebrow and went to the living room and saw Tenten there, sitting on the couch and chatting with her mother while drinking what seemed to be hot chocolate occasionally. "Tenten?" she gaped when she entered the room, the two cut their talking and looked over to the pink haired girl standing a few feet away from them. Sakura walked closer to them and sat next to the brunette. "How long have you been here?"
Tenten shrugged. "Well, just a while ago. Picking out present for Gai-sensei was easier than I thought and I figured I'll come early and your mother invited me in." she looked at Mebuki, who smiled at the two girl. "She's a great friend Sakura." Her mother complimented, making Tenten blushed, both from what she said and from the cold temperature. "Sakura told me a lot about you. You're prettier in person than what she described." She giggled when the brunette threw Sakura a glare, who put her hands up in defense.
"I'm saying the truth!" Sakura defended. The brown haired girl sighed, her eyes downcast and looked at the bag that the pink haired Kunoichi had in her lap. She raised her brown eye brow. "Is that the Ramen Pajamas Naruto wanted?" she pointed to the clothing; Sakura followed her finger and nodded. "Yeah." She said and then cringed. "It's more expensive than I thought though…" she mumbled.
"So, are you ready?" Tenten asked, receiving a nod from the girl. The two sat up, with Tenten putting the cup of hot chocolate down and bowed to the elder woman sitting in front of her. "It's nice meeting you, Mebuki-san. Thank you for the hot chocolate." She said gratefully, smiling at Sakura's mother, who grinned back. "It's okay. Just Mebuki is fine."
With a nod, Tenten turned around and walked over to the door with Sakura next to her. They closed the door and walked along the snow covered street to the direction of the new store they wanted to go to. "So what did you buy for Gai-sensei?" Sakura asked, breaking the silent that hung in the air since they left the house. Tenten looked at her. "Just the usual green coat." She answered, turning her gaze back to the road. "Green coat?" the pinkette repeated with a weird look.
"It's Gai-sensei, what do you expect?" Sakura sighed. "You have a point." She, actually everyone, knew that green was Gai and Lee's favorite color, it's obvious. She knew that they liked the color but sometimes wearing it all the time wasn't right. She may not get fashion but she was still aware of the fact that green wasn't the best color of clothing to wear. They both stopped when they reached the store.
"Wow, it's big." Tenten commented, looking at the place in front of her with Sakura doing the same. "Well, let's go." The pink haired girl said, walking inside the shop, Tenten trailing after her. When they entered, their mouths hung open in awe at what they saw. Different type of weapons lined the wall of the stores, from the big ones to the small ones, the cheapest ones to the most expensive one. "Man, if I knew this shop existed, I would have come here a long time ago." Tenten said, running over to a rack of kunai. Sakura, finally stopping herself from drooling, started to run after her friend.
"Tenten, don't run so fast." She scolded when she reached her side. The brunette was too busy looking at the new edition of explosive Kunai than replying. She traced the edge of het weapon with her finger. "This type of explosive Kunai can't be found anywhere but in the Lightning country. How did they get this?" she said with admiration in her voice. Sakura rolled her eyes. Typical Tenten. "We're here to buy things for Neji and Sasuke-kun. Not to come and drool, Tenten." She reminded.
Tenten snapped her head to face Sakura and grinned. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry." She put the kunai back down and looked around the store with Sakura. They went from scrolls to weapons and the process repeated again and again for hours. Tenten wanted to buy the 'Secrets of Chakra Points' for Neji but Sakura said that the Hyuuga clan probably had it already and when the pinkette asked if she could buy the new Fuma Shuriken for Sasuke, Tenten shook her head and said that it was too plain. So after a few hours of looking around, they sat down on a bench next to the store, panting with cool puffs of air coming from their mouths.
"I can't believe we still can't find anything for them." Sakura leaned her head back, closing her eyes from the exhaustions. Tenten nodded her head in agreement, still panting from running around the store. "Yeah." They rested for ten more minutes, the two of them regaining back their breaths. They just sat there, watching as people passed by.
"So what now?" the brunette asked, putting her elbows on her knees and planted her cheeks into her palms while Sakura had her hands clasped together in her lap, her legs swinging in a back and forth movement, a trait that she still had from her childhood. "I don't know." She said dejectedly. Tenten just sighed and continued to watch people walked by her. Her eyes landed on a young couple, who was sitting on the bench a few meters across from them.
The girl pulled out a pair of knitted gloves and handed it to the boy, looking away with a pink blush on her cheeks, Tenten couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or the cold air. The boyfriend widened his eyes in surprise at the gift before the shock expression turned to a happy one, taking what his girlfriend had offered him. The girl finally had the courage to look back at her lover, watching as he put on the gloves she made herself with a wide smile.
"Thanks!" he said, putting his arms around the girl next to him and pulled her to him. The girl smiled and snuggled to her boyfriend. "It's not that great. I made a lot of mistakes. It's not like the good ones they sell in stores." She admitted. Her boyfriend planted a soft kiss on the girl's head. "It's very special if you asked me." He smiled and interrupted the girl from protesting. "Because it's extra special if it's made by hand." His girlfriend laughed and the two of them continued to cuddled against each other.
Sakura cringed at the too affectionate actions coming from the two in front of her. She's not a big fan of that, of course, if it was her old self, she would have melted and coo at the scene, but she was different now. She didn't want to be a fan girl anymore; she knew it wouldn't do her or the team any good. She stopped clinging to Sasuke, okay maybe she still hugged him but that was when he did something successful and saved her from some kind of crisis. And she was thankful that he didn't push her away, maybe he knew that it was from her affections as a friend, or he grew used to it.
She looked at Tenten, who was still looking at the couple. She raised her eyebrow, she knew that the brunette wasn't a fan of those gushy stuffs too but she looked like she wasn't affected by it at all. She jumped when she shot up with wide eyes. "That's it!" Tenten exclaimed, a wide smile spreading across her face.
"Huh?" Sakura looked confusedly at her, still shocked at her friend's action. Tenten turned to look at her. "I know what to get for Neji!" she said and sat back down. The pink head next to her leaned in. "What?" Tenten continued to grin and gestured to the couple in front of them. Sakura looked at where she pointed. Her mind was still swirled in confusion until she realized what she was talking about. "You're going to be his girlfriend?" her emerald eyes widened as she looked back at the brunette.
Tenten, who was still absorbed in her own world, just nodded. "Yea—wait, what?!"Her eyes flew opened once she realized what she said. "Hell no!" she protested heatedly, but Sakura could still see the small blush on her cheeks. "I meant the gloves, dammit!" She said.
"So you're giving him a glove?" Tenten shook her head. "No, a scarf. A hand-made scarf." She smiled widely. Sakura looked at her like she was an alien. "You can knit?" she asked skeptically as the brunette glared and playfully punched her arm. "Of course I can!" she hissed. Her unhappy scowl was wiped away from her face afterwards. "So what are you going to get for Sasuke?"
Sakura looked away and tapped her finger on her chin in thought. "I still have no idea." She said truthfully. "You can knit a sweater for him though." Tenten suggested but the girl shook her head. "Nah, I'm not that good with knitting." She said. The weapon mistress rolled her eyes at her. She had seen Sakura's handy work in knitting, and it was pretty good. She didn't know if she was humble or just plainly clueless to her talent. "Yes you can, Sakura." She said in a serious tone. "Besides, it doesn't matter how it looked. As long as you make it from your heart, it's special." She repeated the words that the boy had said.
The pink haired girl thought about the idea. Tenten was right, how it looked didn't matter. And she knew even if she made a bad sweater, Sasuke wouldn't say anything. He wouldn't actually care about it that much but she still wanted to give him something. It would be unfair if she gave Kakashi and Naruto something but give nothing to him. He would think badly of her. She knew that the two of them have some sort of friendship and she didn't want to go to waste.
She grinned. "Yeah, you're right!" she pushed herself from the bench and turned to Tenten. "Let's go buy wools and stitches!" she said, pumping her fist in the air. Tenten sat up and nodded. "Yeah!" they both linked arm and sprinted to the direction of the store that they knew sell their needed things. People watched as two teenaged girls ran across the snowy street, wondering why they were so happy and laughing along the way.
Sasuke stared at the ceiling blankly as he lay on his bed. He was still thinking about the giving and receiving thing and still couldn't find the answer. Some part of him wanted to give Sakura something because she had been a good team mate and more tolerable friend, he would feel bad about himself if he give nothing to her. And some part of him, his prideful side, didn't want to do anything about it. He should be focusing on getting stronger and forget about stupid stuffs like this. What Sakura do had nothing to do with him, why should he care about how she felt? He was Uchiha Sasuke, and he care for no one.
But he wasn't ignorant to his and Sakura's growing friendship.
She was his friend and vice versa, he enjoyed her company, if she wasn't clinging to him but he was used to it. She had really grown out of her fan girl ways and started to take things seriously. She still liked him, he knew that, but she understood and kept it low, seeing him as friend because they both knew he couldn't offer more than that. At least some part of him agreed to this, his pride still rejected this idea fiercely.
He groaned and rolled over, his eyes looking out the window before landing on the photo on the table. The Team 7 photo, but his eyes were actually focused on that particular person in the middle, smiling and happy, ignoring the hostility behind her. She was a happy person, nothing could bring her down, and if he saw her upset, it wouldn't be for long. One minute she was crying and another second, she was laughing with no care in the world. He was actually jealous of her. He wished he could have that life. But he couldn't, this was his destiny.
Maybe that was why he enjoyed her bright company. Despite being the silent and broody person he was, he still felt dull and boring, sure most of the time he trained and practiced his jutsu but there were still time that he felt dull, Sakura and Naruto did a great job making everything entertaining and made him look forward to things, even though the former was more tolerable.
He sighed and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to give something to her but she would understand.
"Ow!" Sakura exclaimed when she accidentally pierced her finger with the stitch again. She put the finger in her mouth and sucked the blood away. The girl looked at her sweater that she had been knitting the moment she stepped inside her house. She was half way done with the white sweater. She originally wanted to pick blue but Tenten shot the idea down.
"White is better, Sakura." Tenten said as she threw her white wool. Sakura caught it and raised her eyebrow at the brunette. "If you picked blue than his life would be darker than it's already is. He needs more brightness, but not too bright. White is perfect, trust me." She said with a grin.
And she was right. All she had to do now was to finish this before Christmas tomorrow and she would be free. "Let's get to it then." She said to herself and started to knit her sweater again.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, waving his hand frantically at the approaching pink haired team mate of his, his sensei was currently leaning against the tree right next to him, his face buried in the orange book he loved so much. The blonde stopped his actions when Sakura arrived by his side. She smiled and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen on her face while running behind her ear. "Hey, Naruto." Her emerald eyes glanced to her teacher near her. "Kakashi-sensei." She greeted, receiving a waving hand from the gray haired man before he quickly resumed his reading.
Naruto gave her a big smile until he noticed the bandage on Sakura's forehead. "Sakura-chan, what happened to you!" he asked, pointing at the wound, also catching Kakashi's attention. The pink haired girl sighed and swatted Naruto's finger away. "Don't point, Naruto!" she shouted. She was starting to get tired from telling people the same story all over again. "I fell down yesterday and this happened!" The blonde snickered, causing Sakura to smack him in the face. "Is it something serious?" Kakashi's calm but a little bit concerned voice reached her ear. She turned to him and smiled. "It's fine, Kakashi-sensei. You don't have to worry."
Her eyes looked back and forth between her two team mates, looking for the other one who was currently missing, unconsciously clutching the bag she had been carrying to her chest. "Where's Sasuke-kun?" she asked, turning to Naruto for the answer. It's already Christmas and Team 7 had agreed to join the festival that Konoha was holding together. Three of them were already here but one was still nowhere to be found.
Naruto snorted. "Bah, that bastard won't gonna show up. He's probably training or something." He stopped when he noticed Sakura lowering her head with a disappointed gaze. He quickly panicked, thinking he had upset her while Kakashi shook his head at the idiotic blonde ninja. "That's okay, Sakura-chan!" he started in a cheerful voice, although you could still tell the nervousness and uncertainty in it. "I'm here so you don't have to worry that you'll get bored!" he tried to cheer her up but she shook her pink head.
"I don't care if I'm bored, Naruto. I just want the four of us to have fun once in a while." She explained, her head still lowered down. Naruto looked at her sympathetically before throwing a glare at his teacher's way, silently asking him to help him get the girl in a better mood. The Jounin only shrugged helplessly at him, Naruto groaned and turned back to the pink haired girl. "But, we can have fun anytime, Sakura. We can do this tomorrow if you want. Our break is long, you know." He grinned at her.
"Hn, that's a pathetic reason to cheer her up." A cold voice said from behind them. The three members of the team turned their head to look for the owner and there stood Sasuke, with his usual pose of his hands tucked inside his grey pants pockets with a scowl on his face. Sakura's eyes lit up, while the blonde boy next to her frowned and huffed in annoyance.
"Sasuke-kun!" the rosette greeted, Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement. "Hn…" the dark haired boy walked over to them and glanced at the bag in his female team mate's hands and moved his gaze up to her face, where he noticed the slight bump on her. His brow furrowed and moved a bit closer to him, the pink haired girl shifted uncomfortable at the sudden closeness. "Is your forehead okay?" he asked emotionlessly. Sakura shifted her eyes away from his face awkwardly, not feeling comfortable with the way his dark eyes were looking at her intensely like that. "Er, yeah I'm fine. It's just a little bump; it'll heal soon so you don't have to be concern." She said. He 'hn-ed' and pulled away.
"So are you ready to go?" Kakashi asked, snapping his book shut and put it in his pouch, turning over to meet their eyes, looking down at them since he was taller. Naruto immediately brightened up from his sour mood, that was caused by the presence of the Uchiha and pumped his fist in the air. "Of course I'm ready!" he said excitedly. Sakura shook her head at her blonde friend's eagerness.
"God dammit!" Naruto yelled as he once again missed the target for the fifteenth time while the booth stander snickered at his misfortune. The darts that he was throwing was stuck on the wooden board, instead of on the balloon that he was supposed to be hitting. He stomped his foot on the ground in anger. "Shit, why can't I get it right?!" he cried in frustration. Sakura popped a vein and hit the blonde upside the head, causing him to groan in pain and clutched his aching head.
"Sakura-chan, what was that for?" he whimpered, his hand soothing his head where the pain was as his female teammate glared at him. "No cursing you idiot, kids are here!" she motioned to the little kids near them, who had very cute clueless faces, tugging at their parent's sleeves to ask them what the word 'shit' mean. Naruto shuddered at the nasty stares the parents flew at him. "Yes, mam." He muttered. Sasuke rolled his eyes at his so called rival, irritated by how much of a wimp he was.
The young Uchiha wished he hadn't come here, but he did agree to Sakura...and the others in team 7 too but he didn't actually cared that much. He should be at the forest training and getting stronger, not strolling around the ridiculous festival they called 'Christmas' and played the cheating games they held, he was better than that. But of course, he would feel even guiltier for not coming, he already felt bad for not giving anything to the team, Sakura especially. But that reason that was once again shot down by his pride, he only came here for Sakura's gift for them.
"I'm getting a bit hungry. Do you guys want to go eat something?" Sakura asked her three male team mates. Naruto nodded without hesitation while Kakashi just shrugged. She looked over to Sasuke for his answer. He sighed and looked away. "Whatever." He muttered. The girl smiled widely, he agreed! She turned around to look for a small shop where they could eat and spotted a food stand just a few meters away. "Let's go there!" she pointed to the direction and ran.
Naruto blinked before he took off after the girl with the other two guys walking normally behind him. "Welcome!" the chef greeted the girl and handed her a menu of the food he had. Sakura smiled and took the paper. He looked like a man in his late fifties. The sound of the chairs next to her being pulled reached her ear but her eyes never left the menu as they kept scanning for the food that would catch her attention. She grinned when her emerald eyes came in contact with something she wanted. She closed the menu and set it down next to her while the other three continued to browse for their own food.
"Sweet dango, please!" she called to the old man, who nodded and proceeded to make her dumplings. She turned to her right, where Sasuke was as if asking what he wanted to order. He closed his eyes and put down the menu. "Just hot tea." He said quietly, but loud enough for the old man to hear. After that she turned to her left to see Naruto still trying to decide his order. The look on his face was displeased, like he didn't find anything he wanted. He lifted his face from the menu and turned to the man who was putting Sakura's and Sasuke's order in front of them. "Don't you have ramen?" he asked.
The man smiled apologetically and shook his head. "We're sorry. This is just a regular dango stand, we have no ramen." He told the blonde, who sulked with his head down, mumbling things to himself. Sakura gave a soft smile and picked up one of her three dango sticks on the plate and poked Naruto's cheek with it, causing him to lift his head up and looked at her confusedly. "You can try this Naruto. It's delicious!" she grinned at him. And almost immediately, his face brightened up and he gratefully took the girl's offer.
He put one on his mouth and groaned at the taste. "It's super sweet!" he exclaimed. The dumpling wasn't actually that sweet but it was the fact that Sakura was giving it to him that made it so sweet. Sakura giggled and picked up her own stick, doing the same thing that her blonde friend did. She didn't bother asking Kakashi, she knew he wouldn't pull his mask off. Innocent and oblivious that she was, she didn't know a dark pair of eyes was silently watching her moves.
"Well, I guess this is it. It's getting late now and I should go." Kakashi said, his face still buried in his book, walking away from the three teens. "Wait, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called to him, causing him to stop in his track and turned around to face his female student to see her rummaging through the bag she had been carrying around and pulled out what seemed to be a book wrapped in paper with a bow in the middle. She grinned and handed it to him. "Merry Christmas, Kakashi-sensei!" she said.
Kakashi looked surprised; he didn't actually think that anyone would give him a present in Christmas. He scratched his cheek and gave an almost embarrassed chuckle, taking the present from the pink haired girl in front of him. "Wow, I'm touched Sakura. Thanks." He said gratefully, observing what she had given him. "Sakura-chan, are you giving him Icha Icha Paradise the new edition?" Naruto asked curiously, earning a shriek and a punch from Sakura, a chuckle from Kakashi, Sasuke was unaffected.
"No, you dimwit!" she shouted. "It's the new edition of the 'Chakra Control' book I've been talking about!" she said and inhaled a big air, trying to calm herself down and turned her attention back to Kakashi. "I heard that you wanted that book and I'm more than grateful to get it for you, sensei." She gave him a big smile. "Wow, Kakashi-sensei wanted something that's not porn? That's a first." Naruto muttered to Sasuke, but it seemed like he was talking to himself since Sasuke wasn't actually listening.
The gray haired Jounin said another thank you to Sakura before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. After that, Sakura turned to Naruto and pulled out another package, shoving it in his hands. Naruto, surprised, shakily wrapped his fingers around the goods and looked at Sakura with wide eyes. "What's this?" he asked and his pink haired team mate only smiled. "Open it." She said.
Naruto nodded and tore the package away, his blue eyes widening when he found out what it was. "Sakura-chan…" he whispered, averting his gaze from the pajamas and at the girl. "Thank you!" he pulled her into a bone crushing hug, nuzzling his cheeks with hers. Sakura looked very uncomfortable but she didn't push him off, only giggled at his antics and poked his side. "Merry Christmas." None of them noticed the glare they got, well, more precisely, it was directed to Naruto. "Come on, let go! You're crushing me." She said and the blonde finally decided to let go.
"I've been wanting this for a long time." He said, looking at the clothing until he realized something. He faced Sakura with a raised brow. "So where's Sasuke's gift?" he asked. Sasuke's eye brow lifted when he heard this. Sakura looked away and shifted her feet, clutching the bag to her chest. "Er…" she started uncomfortably and gulped while Naruto looking at her with a confused expression. When she opened her mouth to talk, her blonde friend interrupted. "You didn't get anything for him?" Naruto shouted with his eyes wide and started to laugh his head off. "Haha, I can't believe this!" he turned to Sasuke and smirked.
"In your face, you bastard! I got something from Sakura and you don't!" he proceeded to dance in victory while Sasuke glared, somewhat irritated that the blonde was right. "Che, whatever." He said and turned around to walk back to his home, away from the dancing ninja and the shock pink haired girl. She snapped out of her trance and called after him. "Wait, Sasuke-kun!" she shouted but didn't make it in time when he disappeared at a corner.
She was about to go after him but a voice from behind her stopped her. "Sakura!" she turned around to see Tenten running towards her with a bag in her hands. The brunette stopped by her side and panted to catch her breath, Sakura patiently waited until she regained her normal breathing. "I need your help!" the weapon mistress said and the pink haired girl's eyes widened. "Huh?" she asked confusedly, ignoring Naruto who had the same exact expression.
Tenten threw an uncertain glance at Naruto and then back at Sakura. And that was enough for the pink haired girl to figure it out what she was trying to say and turned to her team mate. "Naruto, I need to talk to Tenten. Would you mind leaving?" she asked in a sweet voice that the blonde wasn't so familiar with towards him. At first he was stubborn. "What? Why? It's no such a big deal, right? Why can't I stay?" he whined. Sakura glared at him, making him gulped. "This is girl's business, Naruto. Leave." She ordered with a stern voice.
"R-right! Sorry!" the knucklehead turned on his heels and sprinted away from the two girls. "Merry Christmas, Sakura-chan! Tenten!" he called out to them before completely disappearing from their sight. Sakura faced the girl next to her. "So what do you need help for?" she asked curiously. She knew that Tenten was not the type to ask for somebody's help unless it's really bad. So when she first asked her to help, she was actually worried that something had happened to her friend.
She raised her eye brow when the brunette started to shift uncomfortable, looking away with a blush. "Well, you see…" she started in a nervous voice. "I wanted to give Neji the scarf I made for him." She lifted the bag, which contained her hand-made item, for Sakura to see and continued. "But, I kinda got nervous and well…" she gulped and finally met the girl's eyes. "I want you to go with me, in case I do something stupid." She finished.
Now Sakura was even more confused. "I don't see what the big deal is, Tenten. It's not that hard to give someone a Christmas present." And then a broad smirk stretched across her lips. "Unless you like him." She wriggled her eyebrows in a teasing matter, which caused Tenten to blush. "Hell no! He's my friend, Sakura!" she protested. "The reason I'm asking you is that you know I'm awkward about this sentimental stuff and I really need you to help me give this to him!" she explained. Usually she wasn't that awkward with Neji but she wasn't comfortable with the idea of her and Neji being alone. Sure they're alone with each other most of the time and she didn't feel strange, but she was going to give him something that she made herself for the first time. She was nervous and needed Sakura to be there so she wouldn't do something to embarrass herself.
"But wouldn't it be more awkward if the two of us confront him and give him a Christmas present?" Sakura tilted her head to the side. Tenten sighed tiredly. "Look, are you going to help me or not? You can just hide in a bush or something." She said, waving her hand around to emphasize. The pink haired Kunoichi grinned widely. "Of course!" she gave her a thumb up, making Tenten's face lit up.
"Great!"
"Just make sure not to make out in front of me!" She added.
"Sakura!"
"Okay, okay…"
Neji blinked at the nervous looking Tenten in front of him. His left eye brow lifted at how unusual his team mate was being, shifting her feet uncomfortably, and muttering things to herself and kept staring at her left side, where a big bush was. "Tenten." He started, making Tenten snap her gaze from the thing and looked at him. "Why did you drag me here?" he asked emotionlessly while Tenten rolled her eyes. 'Typical Neji' she thought, glancing to her left again.
She could see the bush rustling and Sakura's pink head poking out a little from the leaf. She knew she should have gotten her a green wig; her pink hair didn't blend in with the nature. The brunette averted her attention from the bush and back to Neji when she realized she was neglecting him again. He was looking at her weirdly and part of her didn't blame him. It's not everyday a girl, or her in particular, dragged someone to a secluded place…
Alone…
Where no one could see them…
Alone…
Tenten shuddered at the thought, trying the best she could to push it away from her mind and focused on the matter at hand instead. "Er…" she said in an unsure voice while Neji waited patiently for her to get her words out right, a strange trait coming from the Hyuuga seeing as he was never one with a lot of patience. She darted her eyes to the left again, where Sakura poked her head up with an annoyed face and used her hand to make indications. 'Do it!' she mouthed to her.
'Easy for you to say!' Tenten twitched, tightening the grip she had on the bag she hid behind her back. Neji, curious, followed the girl's gaze also but before he could see the pink head protruding in the bush, the brunette had yanked his face away from it with one hand. "Don't look there!" she said nervously, letting out a forced giggle, which Neji noticed by the way. He wasn't an idiot, they didn't call him a prodigy for nothing. He narrowed his white eyes at her. "What's up with you?" he asked the girl with a look.
The weapon mistress quickly shook her head in a fast motion. "N-no!" she stuttered but Neji wasn't that convinced. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Stop lying." He said in a calm voice as Tenten gaped at him. He opened his white orbs again and looked down, since he was slightly taller than her, at the girl with a serious look. "I know you, Tenten. You're not like this. Nervousness and shy are never what you are. You're like this only when you're hiding something and tell me what it is." He stated. 'He…paid attention to that?' Tenten was touched that he knew that much about her while Sakura had to hold her mouth closed so she wouldn't let out the giddy and happy giggle.
With a deep breath, she shoved the bag right into the surprised Hyuuga's arms, and closed her brown glassy eyes so she couldn't see his face, otherwise she would definitely do something awkward. But if she saw Neji's expression, she would be shocked to the core, just like Sakura who was staring at the Hyuuga like he had brown a second head.
The young Hyuuga was close to blushing right now and he was thankful that he could control his composure well enough to not let that red dash show on his cheeks. He swallowed quietly and looked away to the side, where Sakura was but she was quick enough to duck down before Neji caught sight of her, sighing in relief once she did also. The brown haired male had never thought that he would get something in Christmas from anyone except for his obnoxious fan girls that he didn't care about. There was no doubt in his mind that there would be dozens of gifts in front of his house, which he would give away as donations.
He had never been close to anyone, except for his father before he was deceased. And after that he had spent his entire time training to be the best to defeat the main Hyuuga house hold. He didn't want to be looked down upon and become the shadow of the main family members. He wanted recognition, he wanted people to see that he was not just a prodigy in the branch family, he was his own person but all everyone see in him was the genius of the Hyuuga clan, stronger than the heiresses of the main family, and in those fan girl's eyes, he was the hot and strong guy that everyone admired. He was just a Hyuuga and never Neji. And he thought that he would never get people to see the real him and lost hope in making friends.
That was before he joined Team Gai.
Now he was more laid-back and less obsessed with training. At first he found Lee weird and too weak since their days in the academy. He was too loud and obnoxious, always screaming about youth and asking him to battle him. The bowl cut haired boy was such a bother to him. But over the period of time he had spent with him, Lee became one of his companions. He was still loud but he was determined and strong willed, that's what Neji learned to respect him for. He admired the kid for not giving up in his condition, always striving to gain recognition from others, just like he was. But he never gave up and Neji was jealous of him. So he considered Lee as his rivals and close to a friend he could trust although they still clashed most of the times.
His first thought of Gai was that he was like the older version of Lee. He was the one who filled Lee's mind with the word 'Youth' and wear the ridiculous tight jumpsuits. But Neji came to understand his true powers and talents. He was strict with training and his methods had helped the three team mates a lot. He was strong and one of the most valuable shinobi in the village and the Hyuuga respected him for that and viewed him as a great teacher to them all.
And then there's Tenten. And as harsh and cold as he was back then, he thought of her as the weakest and a burden in the team. She couldn't fight in a close range battle and her Jutsu was useless against wind element. Her stamina was low and she couldn't fight long like Lee. Other than she could control weapon better than anyone, even those who were the level of Jounin, he didn't think much abut her. But he didn't dislike her because she was one of the few girls who weren't into him. She could be demanding and stood in her ground against him; she's not afraid of him and to put him in his place. Even though compare to him and the other two in the team, she didn't stand out, she was the most valuable accent in the team. She kept them together and acted as a great peace maker. She could stop his and Lee's argument with her stern attitude and lightened the mood.
And he had gotten to know her better when he trained with her. Since Lee and Gai-sensei usually spent time sparing with each other, he and the brunette girl had a lot of time together. And he found she wasn't weak as he thought. She trained hard and could control Chakra well. Even when she failed or lose to him, she never become devastated, only laughed and picked herself up and trained again. She was care-free and also determined when she needed to. This was something that he wished he had but couldn't. And just like that, they got along well together. She understood him more than others and talked when she needed and keep her distance when he wasn't in the mood. They became great friends and he trusted her more than others.
But even after he became friends with them, he still couldn't let himself drop his guard. He was still aware that he was still the cold man, although not as much now. Lee still felt inferior to him at times because of the aura he had around him, and he couldn't stop it because it's in his nature to be arrogant and prideful. And there were still times when Tenten wasn't comfortable with him and awkward when he scowled, even though that's how he was daily. And with that in mind, he lost hope that he would ever find any true friend with Lee still afraid of him and Tenten still didn't trust him enough.
But here she was now, giving him a gift for Christmas.
And even though this was a little bit awkward, he felt a sense of happiness. And it made him smile, even just a little. She was starting to view him as a true friend and he couldn't help but feel the same thing. The young Hyuuga took the bag from her, causing the girl to look at him cautiously. "Thanks, Tenten. This means a lot." He said with a gentle smile. Tenten's eyes widened at the stretch across his usual downward lips while Sakura gaped in her bush.
The brown haired girl was still shocked when Neji opened the bag and pulled out a blue scarf. He raised his eyebrow and examined it, a smirk appeared on his face. "You can knit, Tenten?" he asked with an amused tone. Said girl shook her head once she heard him said this. She glared at the guy, all traces of her awkwardness gone. "Of course I can!" she pointed a finger at him with a vein throbbing on her head. "Just because I don't like house works doesn't mean I can't do it! "Neji chuckled again at her normal self and wrapped the scarf around his neck.
"This is better than the ones in the stores, you know." He said, looking at her straight in the eyes. "A gift made by hand is extra special." He finished with a small smile that caused Tenten to, again, blushed and Sakura to bite her cheeks from yelling in happiness. 'Oh my god, this is like when I watched those two lovers in front of the store! You guys act like boyfriend and girlfriend! Shannaro!' she cheered in her mind watching as Tenten regained back her senses and scratched her cheeks awkwardly. Sakura knew this was a sign when she was shy. 'I'm so proud of her.' But then her eyebrows furrowed. 'But I was serious though, don't you dare make out in front of me!'
"W-well, you're…er…welcome." Tenten said unsurely. Neji just smirked, his eyes flicking to the left, yes, he knew Sakura was there all along. "So, do you want to go for dango? My treat." He asked the girl in front of him. The weapon mistress's eyes brightened up, nothing got her mood better than dumplings. "Really?" she asked in an excited voice and Neji nodded, causing her to cheer. "Hell yeah, dango!" he almost laughed at her antics, her and her sweets. With all she had done for him now, it was only fair that he gave her something. But since he didn't know of this beforehand, the only thing he could think of was to treat her to eat something. This was the least he could do.
Sakura smiled and turned around to leave with her bag containing the sweater she made in hand. 'Well, my job is done.' But before she completely left the place, a female voice called out to her. "Good luck with Sasuke, Sakura!" Tenten shouted from afar, causing the pink haired girl to stiffen. 'How did she know?' she wondered in her mind before realizing that the brunette must have known when she saw her bag. She let out a giggle. Typical Tenten. And she walked to the direction of the Uchiha district.
She gulped as she stood in front of the house of her team mate. It wasn't that she was nervous, it was because those stories that she had heard. People said that at night in the Uchiha district, there would be the ghost of the dead members walking around the street and talking like they were alive. Now Sakura wasn't the type to believe in such things but now that she had been here, she felt scared. But of course, it's not the first time she was here. She usually came over to Sasuke's house when he was sick or when they had a mission, but with a quiet night like this, which was strange since the village was so loud and crowdie in Christmas Festival, she couldn't be too strong.
Sakura lifted her hand up and shakily knocked on the door. She patiently waited for an answer but received none. A small noise came from behind her, causing her to snap her head and looked around with a scared expression. 'What the hell was that?' she panicked and turned back to knocking on Sasuke's door. A loud noise reached her ear again and that was enough for Sakura to reach and slid the shoji door opened, getting inside as soon as possible and closing back the door behind her. A second after she went in, a random cat ran across the street.
The girl inside the house panted while she clutched the bag closer to her heart, calming her breath down. She could feel her heart beat thumping in her chest. She let out a breath and looked around the house, trying to find her team mate but saw no sign of him. "Sasuke-kun?" she called quietly while walking further inside the home, her emerald eyes were having difficulties figuring out which way she was going in the dark. She kept going until she reached a room that she remembered was the kitchen. She had been here a few times before and had memorized which room was which. She flipped the light on her left side on, still seeing no sigh of her team mate.
'Must be upstairs, I guess.' She put the bag she brought on the dining table and walked over to the cabinet. "I should make him something since he didn't eat at the festival." Sakura mumbled to herself, pulling out a package full of chocolate powder and a cup. She knew that Sasuke wouldn't mind if she raided his kitchen, she had done it with Naruto plenty of times before and he didn't seem bothered that much, well, if they didn't leave a mess afterwards.
Her head snapped over to the door that led to the kitchen when she heard footsteps. She narrowed her eyes and on instinct grabbed the closest weapon next to her, which was a frying pan. She didn't sense any chakra from the person and it couldn't be Sasuke. She hid near the wall of the door and waited for the footsteps to get closer. When she felt the presence getting closer to her, she lifted her frying pan, aiming for the person who widened his eyes.
Sasuke sighed as he slumped down on the bed in his room. He had just come from training and decided to take a shower. His hair was still wet and the droplets of water dripped from the strands of dark locks and onto his pants and bed sheet. His eyes were set into a glare once he realized he hadn't felt better since he decided to leave the festival. Of course he was still mad at the blonde haired idiot of a teammate for mocking him. No, he wasn't jealous, that was what he thought. He was just angry that Sakura didn't get him something and gave Naruto that hideous orange thing that he thought didn't fit to expensive. Sasuke was one of her friends, right? So why didn't she give something to him. He felt bothered that Naruto actually surpassed him in something and it was pissing him off because of what subject he had beaten him in.
And after he left the two alone, he felt so angry and he needed to take it out on something so he decided to go training. But after he almost destroyed all of the trees in the training ground and burnt all of the dummies, he still felt the same mood. He just wished that one of the dummies had blonde hair and whiskers. He draw them on but he was too cool to do it. Besides, he would rather let the real one on fire and maybe stare mercilessly at him when he burnt and cried for help, surrendering to the Uchiha and begged for forgiveness while he just smirked and ignored him. That would be satisfying.
Serve him right for winning Sakura's affection.
His eyes narrowed to slit when he was reminded of it. Why didn't she get him something? Was she starting to get bothered that he didn't give her something in return? He shook his head. No way would she be like that, he knew that Sakura never minded. She had told Ino that giving was better than receiving herself yesterday, it's not like she changed her mind that fast. Or was she truly struggled to find him something for Christmas? But there were plenty of stuffs to choose from, he wouldn't mind getting ridiculous thing just as along as she gave him something. He looked like an idiot in front of Naruto when she didn't get him anything. The blonde must be enjoying himself. 'But not for long.' Sasuke thought with venom as his eyes flickered to red for a moment.
His head perked up when he heard noise coming from downstairs. He growled lowly and stood up, heading to the outside of his room and proceeded to go down the stairs, following where he thought the noise was coming from . What kind of idiot would come intrude his own home? His first guess was Naruto but he shook the idea off because there was no way that idiot would be brave enough to come here in the night, especially since he was suffering from his fear of ghosts and seemed to believe that Sasuke's house was truly haunted. The young Uchiha snorted at that, as if that was true. And then Sakura came to mind. But after what happened tonight at the festival, he doubted she would have the face to confront him. She looked especially uncomfortable before he left so she must be feeling guilty.
Must be an enemy then. With that in mind, he concealed his chakra and followed the noise until he reached the kitchen. The noise stopped for a second. He stepped closer and closer to the room and turned to walk inside when a shadow from beside him lifted something up. Sasuke looked up just in time when a frying pan was aiming towards him.
"Die you thief!" a female voice that he was familiar with cried. He was quick enough to block the attack by grabbing the intruder's wrist. The dark haired shinobi lowered the frying pan from above his head and landed his palm right in the attacker's face, watching as the person released the pan, letting it fall to the ground with a loud clang and used her other hand to rub the area where he had hit, which was the forehead. His glare immediately disappeared and his eyes widened when the he realized who she was. "Sakura?"
The girl's eyes flew opened when she heard the voice that she remembered so clearly, her head snapping to meet his face. "S-sasuke-kun?" she gasped, realizing that she had almost hit her friend with a frying pan just seconds ago. They continued to look at each other in shock but it stopped when Sakura felt a sharp pain on her forehead, lifting her hand and touched it gently. "Ah!" she cried out in pain while Sasuke sighed.
"Thanks Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said gratefully while smiling brightly at the boy, who was handing her a hot chocolate. She took it from him gently with two hands, blowing it for a few seconds before taking a sip from the cup. Sasuke, with his own hot chocolate in one hand, sat across from her on in the table of the kitchen, watching as she drank what he made slowly so she wouldn't get her mouth burnt from the hot temperature. "So what are you doing in my kitchen?" he asked monotonously, his eye brow slightly rising when he said this.
Sakura gulped down the sweet bitter drink and shifted her gaze elsewhere, avoiding his eyes and blushed in embarrassment. She couldn't believe she almost made a huge mistake. "Well, you see…" she started, still not looking at him but at her steaming hot chocolate in her hand. "I came here to check on you and well, you didn't answer and I got myself in." she explained, leaving the part where she thought there were ghosts in the district and only went inside in house because she was scared. "I didn't see you so I know you're upstairs. And well, since you didn't eat much back in the festival, I figured you'd like a hot chocolate." She finished with a smile.
"Hn…" he pulled the cup to his mouth and drank from the cup in small gulps. After he finished, he looked at her with a slightly serious face. "You should have known better than to let yourself in without my consent, Sakura. You know better than that." He said with a firm voice, which made Sakura lowered her head in shame. "I know, sorry." She apologized. The dark haired shinobi stare at her for a while before sighing. "It's fine just don't do it again." He said quietly. The rosette raised her head up and looked at him with surprised eyes before they sparkled as a grin spread across her lips. "You got it!"
He smirked and probed his elbows on the table. "But why are you even here in the first place, Sakura? I know you didn't just come here to check up on me." He demanded. Of course he noticed that she was hiding something from him. He knew her better than she knew, and he took pride of having the ability to figure out what she was thinking most of the time. Sakura resisted letting out a surprised squeak, her face reddening at having been caught. He was smarter than she thought he was. Curse him!
"I…" she trailed off, her eyes darting towards the bag she brought with her on the middle of the dining table. Sasuke followed her gaze and his eyes landed on what she was looking at. Raising an eye brow and out of curiosity, his hand reached out for the bag, only to let it taken away by Sakura, who clutched the thing close to her chest and looked very panicked. "What's that? He pointed to it, narrowing his eyes with irritation at her secrecy. She brought the bag even closer to her body and looked to the side. It seemed like she wouldn't tell him that easily.
"Is it a gift?" he decided to take a guess. He was right when she slowly nodded, still avoiding his gaze. "For who?" the young Uchiha continued with his question. He received no answer, his eyebrows furrowing at this. "Sakura," he called in a more annoyed tone. "Who is it for?" he leaned in more to the table. She only bit her lips, her eyes turning to look at him for a second before quickly looked away with a blush. She knew how Tenten felt now. He twitched. This woman was testing his patience. He was already in a bad mood and she was making worse with her stupid secrecy. He hated it when someone kept something from him, especially someone he knew. The idea of her giving somebody else a gift made him grind his teeth together. She gave Kakashi something, she gave Naruto something and now she was going to give somebody else something too while he received nothing. What was he to her? He was her friend, wasn't he?
"Sakura," he started again with a sigh. "I at least deserve to know who you are going to give that to seeing as you were going to hit me with a frying pan for my Christmas gift." He said with irritation, his mood worsening when he thought about it. Sakura quickly snapped her head towards him with wide and surprised eyes. "N-no!" she protested. "I didn't mean to hurt you! I mean, I thought you were a thief so I, you know, tried to hit you! It wasn't mean to be your gift!" she shook her hands from side to side in defense and then another dark shade of red covered her already rosy cheeks. "Actually your gift is the reason I'm here." She whispered quietly but Sasuke heard her pretty well and his dark eyes flew opened.
She sighed and pushed the bag in front of him, watching as he raised his eyebrow at her before his eyes landed on the gift on the table. Slowly, he lifted his hand and grabbed the bag, opening it and looked inside. His eyes widened slightly at what he saw while Sakura clutched her clothed thigh with fear of rejection. She really badly hoped that he would just accept it so she could go home and relax. The anticipation was killing her. But even after a few more seconds, Sasuke still didn't say anything about her gift; he only looked at it with surprise and shock. But from what?
On the other hand, the Uchiha was so speechless. He pulled out the sweater from its container and examined it more clearly, not noticing his team mate's gaze of uncertainty. This sweater, almost looked exactly like the one his mother made for his father years ago, except for the fact that it had no clan insignia. The softness of the wool, the handiwork and the skills were amazing. He could actually tell how much effort and time she had put into making this and he felt…very grateful. She did make him something, she didn't forget about him after all. He looked up from the gift and looked at Sakura with an indescribable expression.
"Do you like it?" Sakura asked unsurely. He averted his gaze from her face and looked away, regaining back his cool demeanor. "Hn…" he said, his hand unconsciously tightening on the soft white sweater. The pink haired girl smiled widely at his reaction. This was his usual word whenever he accepted his gift from her, and she could tell from the looks in his eyes that he liked it! Hurray for her! She resisted the urge to shoot up from her seat and dance from happiness. Her efforts paid off!
"This…" she snapped out of her thought when she heard the quiet whisper. She looked at Sasuke with questioning, watching as he stared at the sweater she made for him with an almost nostalgic gaze. "…looks like the one my mom made for my dad." He finished, his eyes swirling with something close to sadness. Sakura immediately took it the wrong way, thinking that she made him remembered something that he shouldn't be. She became flustered. "Ah-I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun! If you don't want to keep it, I'll take it back!" she tried to reach for the sweater but he shook his head with a small smirk.
"It's fine." He insisted, causing her to retreat her hand back and looked at him, surprised at his sudden change of attitude. His eyes lifted from the gift in his hand and landed on her with an emotionless expression, but there was much more than that if she paid more attention in them. "But I didn't get you anything though." At this, she laughed and smiled at him brightly. "It's okay!" she said. "Giving is better than receiving!" she quoted proudly, almost making him smile at her at how similar she was to his own mother, one of the attractions that made him drawn to her in the first place.
"Ah…" his eyes landed on the now slightly bigger bump on her forehead and narrowed his eyes at it. It was starting to heal when they were at the festival but after his sudden assault on it, it looked even worse. He was slightly angry at himself for doing things without thinking about it more carefully. "Stay here." He said to her, putting the sweater in his hand on the table and got up. Sakura watched as he walked over to the fridge and brought out an egg. She raised her pink eye brow when he started to pour water into the pot he brought up and dropped the egg in when it was boiling. A couple of minutes later, he brought the egg back up with a spoon, and used his other hand to pulled the short fairly thick tower that hung on the rack near the stove and wrapped it around the egg.
Sasuke walked back over to her side of the table while testing the temperature of the egg by feeling it with his fingertips, trying to find the right feeling. He knelt down in front of her and lifted his hand to pull off the bandage she had. "This might hurt." Sakura nodded at his warning, trying not to blush at his caring side that she didn't know he had before. Gently, he rubbed the covered hot egg on her forehead, making her eyes shut tight as she whimpered lightly from the uncomfortable feeling that the heat brought to her skin, plus the throbbing that she still had from her injured forehead.
Sasuke smirked lightly at her. "Stay still, it'll be over in a few more minutes." He assured her, focusing his gaze at the bump on her forehead. Sakura nodded, cracking one eye and looked at his face. The small tug on the lips he had made her smiled. She had never seen him this way before and she felt flattered that he showed this caring side of him to her and no one else. She felt so happy. He may not get her anything but this was like the perfect Christmas gift for her. Speaking of that, her eyes scanned the room for the clock, spotting in right behind Sasuke on the wall, she smiled. '11:58, it's still not over.' She thought happily.
"Sasuke-kun?" he grunted, showing that he was listening. "Merry Christmas!" she said. His movement halted for a moment before resuming in a more gentle way. She could see the tugging at two sides of his lips, almost making look like he was smiling instead of smirking like he usually did, and she couldn't help but think of how great he looked with it on his face.
"Hn."
The next day, Sakura woke up with a bright smile on her face when she found a small card on her nightstand dedicated to her.
'Merry Christmas, Sakura. Thank you.'
…
Sakura shifted lightly in Sasuke's arm, causing him to look down at her in confusion again while he jumped from trees to trees. She buried her face a little more into his grey shirt and her hands went around his neck in a more comfortable position, like she was cuddling him, he twitched when he felt something rushed threw him. He felt her mouth moved on his shirt.
"Hm…you're welcome, Sasuke-kun…" she mumbled lowly in her sleep with a soft smile. Sasuke just looked at her with questioning. 'What is she dreaming of?'
…
A/N: So, nothing changed. Again, if you don't understand and is reading this the first time, just go to my profile and read 'Behind The Cold Eyes'
Bye!