Title: the promise (previously known as pinky promised)
Author: seleneswan
Pairing: Sasuke/Sakura
Prompts: "She really does love him, and it's sort of obvious because whenever he comes near her, she turns red like those tomatoes he enjoys."
Word Count: 1734
Summary: Because they're forever.

Dedication: To Soul (IHAVEGotSOULButIAmNoSoldier). Have a happy birthday. (:

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"She really does love him, and it's sort of obvious because whenever he comes near her, she turns red like those tomatoes he enjoys." Ino spoke, matter-of-factly, nodding furiously in agreement with her own statement, informing the masses—or at least, her small group of friends.

"Ino-chan…" Sakura walked up behind her, chubby cheeks reddened. "What are you talking about…?" she spoke softly, fidgeting with the hem of her frilly dress. Her hair was messed up, wind-blown, as if she had been running.

Ino laughed. "You, of course!" She paused, looking Sakura over. "What happened to your bow?"

Sakura's eyes widened, feeling on her head for the bow that was no longer there, quickly forgetting that Ino had been talking about her crush to strange people who she didn't know.

"It's gone!" She gasped, turning around, and got on her hands and knees, searching through the long weeds, not caring that hideous grass stains were forming upon her new dress, the dress that she and her mommy had just gone shopping for.

Ino frowned, confused. "How could you not notice?"

Sakura shook her head, still searching. She scrambled upright, then, and with a knowing look in her eye, took off.

Ino could only stand, baffled, as she watched her friend sped across the flower fields, falling out of sight as she dipped into the valley down below.

sakura, she just doesn't know what she's got.
or how to wield it, for that matter.

thank goodness I'm there to help her…

forbid her maddening ineptitude

ever ruin her chances

of having that ending

of happiness she's always dreamed of.

I pinky promised her, after all—

.

the promise

.

—that I would always be there for her.

to catch her when she fell.

because we're best friends,

and that's what we do.

as for the pinky promises,

well,

those are everlasting.

and nobody can change that.

Ino ran after her at a leisurely pace. Often, she was discriminated, despite her infinite wisdom, because of her age: "Oh, honey, I'll tell you more about it when you're grown up."

Ino sniffed, pulling out a daisy from the ground. She was grown up. She was five—that was half way to ten—double digits! She knew what she was talking about when she saw something in someone that told her they were destined for greatness.

Or for love.

Sakura may have been older than her by quite a few months, but Ino mused, decidedly, that she knew more than Sakura did about love and life.

Indeed, Sakura was just a bit more than a failure when it came to crushes.

Ino stumbled down, then, having come to the valley—the dip in the field that rushed downward to meet a steady stream of water—the creek—that ran cut through it. She dug her hands into the soil to keep from falling downward, and carefully made her way downward.

But Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

Ino blinked.

"Ugh, that girl…" Ino said, finally, to no one. "Made me get my hands dirty."

.

Sakura ran alongside the creek, splashing water all over her already stained dress, breathing heavily as she increased her speed. And as she came to the mouth of the creek—the big lake—she stopped, bending over from exhaustion.

Her bow.

She knew where it was.

She pushed forward, then, through the longer reeds before the lake, weaving around the trees where she had sat earlier, peering out at the water all by her lonesome.

"Looking for something?"

Sakura turned around quickly, so quickly that she stumbled over a root, falling backwards onto her butt, staining the back of her dress an ugly brown from the wet mud. Her face contorted for a second—whether in pain from her fall or in misery for her dress—and her eyes brimmed with tears, before she blinked rapidly, put on a brave face, tears vanishing.

"Mhmm," she said quietly, "I lost my bow."

She gestured to the top of her head where the bright ribbon would normally be. She didn't bother to look up at the person, instead, searching the ground. "I think he has it. Stupid meanie." She pouted.

"Stupid meanie?"

Sakura looked up then, and her face colored. "Oh!" She bit down on her lip, ears reddening and the back of her neck warming uncomfortably. "I…"

"Hn."

She wrung her fingers together, and then pushed herself off of the ground. She was overcome with an initial nervousness before she realized her bow was still Missing In Action. Facing him down with a hard look, her lips tipped downwards at the corners in a frown. "Did you take my bow?" she questioned petulantly.

He sighed. "No."

She eyed him sharply for a moment or two and then nodded, turning around and disappearing within the maze of trees. "Did you see what happened to it?" she asked, not bother to look at him—the boy who had been directly associated with the loss of her most favorite bow.

"Maybe it fell out?"

She whined, then, frustrated. "Fell out where?"

He scanned the ground. "Well, it wouldn't be lost if you knew where it was."

She shot him a sharp look, a reprimanding one that looked as if it belonged on a mother, chiding her petulant child. Fixing that look on him for several moments, she sighed, then, and grabbed his elbow, dragging him along. "Well, come help me find it, then, Sasuke-kun!"

Said boy groused, looking rather discomfited with the idea of being man-handled by this little girl, this stunning girl with pink hair who he had just spent the afternoon with—on a spur of the moment. But nonetheless, he followed, albeit somewhat grudgingly, and did put effort into finding the ribbon.

"What color?" he inquired, after a moment of combing through the weeds.

"Huh?" she responded, distracted. "What?"

"The ribbon. What color's the ribbon?"

Sakura blinked, looking up. "Red, obviously. What else could it be?"

Sasuke stared at her for a few seconds. "It could be any other color in the world," he answered quite seriously.

Sakura shook her head. "Nope. Not true. There's a law out there somewhere saying that all hair bows should be red. It's tradition."

Sasuke sighed.

And then she spotted it, all of a sudden, floating on the lake that they had sat at. That she had blushed at and fidgeted at. That she had chattered to him at. And that he had finally noticed her at, beneath the shyness and the obtrusive pink.

"It's there!" she exclaimed, pointing with enthusiasm. "Right there!"

Sasuke followed her gaze. "It's in the middle of the lake."

Sakura shrugged, nonchalant. "I can swim really well. My mommy says I'm a natural, like I'm part fish. Like a mermaid, almost!"

And he believed it, too. Something about her was so beyond, so out of the ordinary, something so beyond the unusualness of her pink hair that could even make her out to be a mermaid, if it were true.

And with that, she dragged him along some more, asking into the wind that blew past them as they ran, "You can swim, right?"

But it didn't matter, because by that time, she had pushed them off of the bank and splashed them into the lake, sending huge ripples across, pushing her ribbon further away. And then she let go of him, pushing towards the center of the lake, and outstretched her arm, fingers gingerly outstretched to grasp the bow with the utmost care, plucking it out of the water.

And then she turned around. Upon seeing Sasuke struggle with the water, her eyes widened. He was kicking valiantly, trying to tread water, but being unable to maneuver his body properly.

"Sasuke-kun!"

She swam back to him quickly enough, treading water with one hand for a brief moment before grasping onto his wrist, trying to tow him to the shore. But the water was strong, and she was only five.

"Kick!" she commanded.

And then, in the urgency of the moment, she pushed her hand against the water, resisting wetness, and pulled herself onto the surface. Eyes widening, she pulled the rest of her body up until she was perched on the surface of the water. And suddenly, everything was much easier. She pulled Sasuke up onto her lap and pushed off of the water, gliding back to shore with ease.

"Mermaid, I tell you. Mermaid," she repeated.

Sasuke dropped himself onto the shore. "I wasn't drowning." He felt the need to point out, to regain some of his dignity.

But Sakura didn't react well. "Yet," she muttered, voice desolate.

Sasuke frowned, even as Sakura wrung out the water from her bow, retying it in her hair, pulling it back from her face.

"I thought you were going to die," she pouted, throwing something between a tantrum and a spiel of worry. "I was worried."

Sasuke sighed, again.

"Pinky promise me you won't do it again." It wasn't a question.

"Won't do what?"

Sakura's lips turned downward, displeased. "Drown. Make me worry. Whichever. Both."

He rolled his eyes, but still linked pinkies with her. "Satisfied?"

And then Ino barged in, her timing impeccable as always. "Sakur—you foun—oh, hey, Sasuke-kun!" Her attention shifted three ways. "Why are you both wet?"

She eyed the lake, then, and the bow. And lastly, the linked pinkies which had yet to be released. "Pinky promises are forever." She said, solemnly, scratching her arm from a mosquito bite. "I'm glad you didn't get lost, Sakura! I'm going to go. I'll see you later!" she chirped, and then scampered back to where she came from.

A few seconds passed as she left, and Sakura exhaled loudly. "Ino-chan's so weird."

Sasuke looked at Sakura for a long moment, saying nothing before abruptly speaking. "Don't tell anyone."

"That she's weird?"

Sasuke examined the dirt very studiously, his ears turning pink. "That I can't swim."

Sakura laughed, a tinkling childish laugh. "I pinky promise," she gestured to their still linked pinkies. She walked away, then, dragging him by the fingers. "Don't worry," she reassured him.

"Promises are forever. And you know something?" she inquired, a wistful tone in her voice. "I think we're forever, too."

"Do you promise?" he asked, staring at the sky before peeking at her face, at her green, green eyes.

And with another laugh, she chirped, "Pinky promise."