A.N. Heya people! And here I present to you... *lots of fancy drum rolls* MY ENTRY FOR SASUSAKU MONTH 2014! Hope you like them, and please review so I know what you think! Thanks a bunch! :)

OnyxKatana

SasuSakuMonth 2014

Day 1 Prompt - The Smell Of Fresh Paint.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, what do you think about this one?"

Poor Sasuke could only stare at the colour palette spread out in front of him and the particular colour his girlfriend was indicating. He blinked. And blinked some more. He had been offering opinions on various colours for the past three hours, while lugging around the heavy shopping bag that contained Sakura's purchases. This time, he had to remark on a colour that could only be described as 'Naruto orange'. It was bright, blinding, gaudy and way too orange for his taste. He gulped.

"Sakura, doesn't that colour seem too, well, Naruto, to you?"

"Demo, Sasuke-kun! That's exactly it! This way, we can always remember Naruto, if the living room is painted his favourite colour."

Sasuke wanted to hit his head against a wall. Why was he doing this, again? By now, the bedroom was being painted purple, because it was Ino's favourite colour, the study was to be a deep mahogany colour because Sai liked it, the guest bedrooms were being painted pale blue and golden yellow, because those were Shikamaru and Chouji's favourite colours, the hall was being painted in stripes of white, brown and green because those were Neji, Tenten and Lee's favourite colours, the kitchen was going to be beige and maroon, because those were Temari and Gaara's favourite colours, the dining room was accented with red because Kiba liked red, and the bathrooms were silver and black because Kakashi and Kankuro had to be represented too. The master bathroom had peach and gray patterns as Hinata and Shino couldn't possibly be ignored now, could they?

Now why, for kami's sake, did his house need to be a rainbow? He was an Uchiha. Uchihas did not have houses that looked like a little kid went crazy with their paint box. When Sasuke had thought about repainting his old house before moving in, this was not what he had in mind. He had let Sakura do most of the designing. His main condition was that 'the room' remained untouched. Sakura had respected his decision and done nothing but clear out the dust. For the rest of the house, she put all her skills to the task. She picked the decorations. She picked out the upholstery. She even picked out what plants to put in the garden. Sasuke had faith in Sakura's designing skills, and he knew that she had good taste. She always dressed well, and her apartment looked comfy and classy at the same time. Now, however, Sasuke was seriously reconsidering his decision for a moment.

"I'm sure Naruto won't feel hurt if we don't try to blind everyone who steps into the house. And he basically spends the entire day with us anyway. It'd take some massive effort to forget him." Sasuke forced out through gritted teeth.

"Hmm, maybe you're right, Sasuke-kun." Sakura tilted her head and scrutinized the swatch of colour before wrinkling her nose. Sasuke sighed with relief. He saw enough of the Dobe as it was. He didn't need to be reminded of him every time he walked into his own living room. It was bad enough that he still stuck with that hideous orange jacket of his. How that Dobe was ever going to become Hokage eluded him. He glanced at the clock while Sakura continued looking at the paint samples. Four hours of selecting colours of paint. If you asked him, it was just stretching a small job into a massive one. Suddenly, he found himself looking at the bright green orbs of his teammate.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun? What about this one? Naruto shouldn't feel too bad about this."

This time, he got a lot more muted and soft version of the glaringly bright travesty. Sasuke sighed softly. This one, he might be able to live with. He could imagine it as a very deep peach if he put enough effort into it. But it was still had too much Naruto in it. Then, he had an idea.

"What do you say we paint the living room in more than one colour? We can tone down the orange with a softer colour."

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Hai, Sasuke-kun! That's a great idea. Why didn't I think of that? Demo, what colour do we use now?"

A smirk tugged at the corner of Sasuke's lips. "We're painting the house with everyone's favourite colours, aren't we?"

"Hai, so?"

"Don't you think we missed someone very important?"

"Did we? I can't think of anyone we missed."

"Okay, then. You go on home. I'll buy the paint and come."

Sakura turned and walked out of the store. Sasuke went to the counter to purchase all the cans of paint required to repaint the sprawling Uchiha mansion. While they were being rung up, Sasuke went to the racks and pulled out a few cans of paint. Walking back to the counter, he said, "Add these to the purchase."

The next day, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto armed themselves with brushes and began painting the mansion. Sasuke and Naruto, with help from Konohamaru's genin team, had already done a base coat of white on all the walls. The only thing that was left was the final coat of colour. Being shinobi, it didn't take them as much time as it would have taken civiliains.

By midday, they were done with the bedrooms, bathrooms, study and hall. As they were taking a short break, Sakura went out of the room to get some lemonade for all of them. Sasuke took advantage of this and pulled Naruto over to him. "Teme, what are you- "

"Shut up, Naruto. Just listen to me."

In a low voice, Sasuke quickly narrated his plan to Naruto. His whiskered face stretched wider and wider into a grin. "Hai, teme. Let's do this one for Sakura-chan!"

Sakura came back with the lemonade, which all three downed in no time. They got up and stretched their limbs. They picked up their brushes and started on the dining room. As it neared completion, Naruto spoke up.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. Don't you think that it'll be too crowded with all three of us painting the kitchen? We might knock over some paint can or something."

"Well, Naruto, now that you say it, it might get a bit crowded. We'll have to be very careful."

"Sakura, I hate to say it, but the Dobe's right. And if he's there, I can bet that there'd be more paint on the floor rather than the walls. Besides, you're the only one who knows how the design goes. It'll be easier if you do it, rather than if you instruct us on how to make it. In the meantime, me and the Dobe can get to work on the living room."

Sakura was biting her lip. "All right, Sasuke-kun, if you say so."

The boys walked out of the dining room and made their way to the living room. Naruto was flipping his brush in his hand.

"So, teme. What do you say we have a little competition to see who finishes first?"

"Hn, Dobe. We have to paint the living room quickly, not make a mess of it."

"Scared, teme?"

Now, that engaged Sasuke's competitive side. "You're on, Dobe. But, if this spoils the surprise for her, I swear, my Tsukuyomi will be the least terrifying thing you will see."

Naruto gulped. "H-H-Hai, teme." And with that, the boys began painting furiously. Both of them knew the design and had sent Gamakichi earlier to bring Sai for the finer touches. Within no time they had painted most of it in the base colour of the soft orange they picked out earlier. As they were starting on the third wall, the ink user materialized with his shunshin no jutsu. Sasuke wasn't close friends with Sai, but they got along. He quickly explained the plan to Sai, who nodded, picked up his brush and got to work. The three worked at a furious pace to get the work done before Sakura came. Just as the boys finished their work and cleared up the room, they heard Sakura walking out of the kitchen and towards the living room.

Sasuke went out and quickly covered Sakura's eyes. She gave an indignant squeal of "Sasuke-kun!"

"Just a minute, Sakura. We have a surprise for you."

"What surprise? What did you do?"

"It wouldn't have been right to miss out one person while painting the house everyone else's favourite colours. So, we used that colour in the living room. And that's your surprise, apart from the fact that me, Naruto and Sai worked together for once in our lives."

When he had manoeuvred Sakura into a satisfactory position, he removed his hands from her eyes. Sakura gasped loudly. Across one whole wall, was painted a sakura tree. Pink paint made up its petals, as if fluttering in the wind. Black paint made up its trunk and branches, with a dark blue, almost black, raven sitting on it. A silver wolf lay beneath the tree, and small black birds flew in the sky. Next to the silver wolf sat a small, darker orange fox. If you paid close attention, you could see a face on the bark of the tree.

"It's us, isn't it, Sasuke-kun? I'm the tree, you're the raven, Kakashi's the wolf, Naruto's the fox, Sai's the birds, and Yamato-taichou is the face in the wood." Sakura smiled.

"Hai, Sakura-san. Sasuke-san came up with the idea and got me and Naruto to help. I believe he found that there was no pink in the house. When you painted the house with everyone's favourite colour, I believe you forgot Sasuke-san's most important person. You didn't put any of your favourite colour..." Sai said, with a real smile.

"Sasuke-kun, is that true?"

"Of course, it's true, Sakura-chan! Teme here actually can do romantic stuff, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled. Then, he muttered, "Not that I'd ever believe it if you told me..."

Sasuke gave no reply, but the blush that had climbed up the back of his neck to the tips of his ears gave the game away. He just gave his infamous "Hn."

Sakura turned around and tackled Sasuke in a hug. Sasuke overbalanced due to the sudden force and ended up flat on his back, catching Sakura as she fell on top of him. She rolled off him and stood up.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Were you painting the room or each other? You're both completely splattered with paint!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Sakura-chan! Anosa, anosa. You and Sasuke match!"

From his position on the floor, Sasuke looked at Sakura. Sure enough, the front of her outfit was covered in pink paint. Sasuke glanced at his shirt and realized that Sakura got covered in paint when she hugged him, because he sported the a similar pink patch across his torso. Sasuke was snickering at the scene in front of him, as Sakura bonked Sai on the head for calling her 'Hag', and Naruto was trying to sneak away before Sakura gave him a yelling for getting drenched in paint. He took a deep breath and inhaled the smell of fresh paint lingering throughout the mansion. He closed his eyes and let the familiar scent envelop him, transporting him to a distant memory.

Sasuke had quite a few cherished memories of his childhood. Eating tomatoes with his mother, playing with Itachi, his first day of ninja academy, watching Itachi and Shisui train, chasing down endless cats for that encyclopaedia and many others. One he clearly remembered was when the house was being repainted.

Sasuke had been excitedly running about, and making a nuisance of himself in the process. After Sasuke had overturned three bucketfuls of paint by mistake, Itachi had hoisted him up on his shoulders and taken him to the park. Both brothers had been splattered with paint and leaves by the time Sasuke was done playing. Sasuke was holding Itachi's hand as they walked home. He was chattering nonstop, and Itachi had traces of a smile on his face. Suddenly, Sasuke collided head on with someone. For a moment, he could only see pink. Itachi helped the two kids up. It was then that Sasuke recognized the girl from his class. It was the Haruno, all right. She squeaked out a "Gomen, Sasuke-kun, Itachi-san" and scuttled away before either of the boys could respond.

Itachi blinked, and said, "Well, that wasn't odd at all."

Sasuke mumbled, "She's kinda cute. Like a mouse."

Itachi's voice took on a teasing tone as he said, "Sasuke, was that your girlfriend?"

Little Sasuke turned pinker than the girl's hair and began spluttering. "No, Itachi nii-san!"

"Uh huh, whatever you say. It's not me who's covered in pink like his girlfriend."

Sasuke looked down at his clothes and realized that yes, he had a generous splash of pink paint all across his shirt. His face turned even pinker.

"Hey, I'm just teasing you. You won't get a girlfriend anyway if you keep getting covered in paint all the time. Girls don't like getting messy." Itachi said with a smile. The brothers kept walking on. Sasuke tugged on Itachi's sleeve.

"Ano, nii-san?"

"Hai, Sasuke?"

"When I grow up, I'm going to get a girlfriend who doesn't mind getting messy and paint-splattered so that we can match." Itachi couldn't keep from laughing.

Sasuke had a smile on his face as he opened his eyes. He looked at Sakura, then at Naruto and Sai, and then at his girlfriend again. Smirking at Naruto's earlier comment, about him and Sakura matching, he whispered softly, " Well, nii-san. I did end up finding a girlfriend with whom I match."