Smile for Me, Please

A SasuSaku one-shot

~*~*~*~*~*~

For as long as I've known Sasuke, never once have I seen him smile. Through all the years, academy days, being genin, training days, when he left, when he came back, when we started to grow closer, when he became a chunin, jonin, even an anbu member, even after we started dating; the best I've ever seen is his smirk.

Naruto has claimed he's seen Sasuke smile at me, but, seeing as I've never actually seen it for myself, I always blow it off. No matter what I've done I've never once seen the smile I yearn to see on his face.

Now I, Sakura Haruno, top dog in the anbu medical division, shall set out to find that precious smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I sauntered through Konoha's streets with half my mind on not running into a building, and the other half in the strategic portion of my brain. I was thankful for my sleeveless shirt that showed off my anbu tattoo, because it made people believe my thoughtful expression concerned some top secret affair. If only they knew I really planned how I hoped to accomplish mission "Sasuke's secret smile", or S.S.S.

Unfortunately for me, the moment my brain thought of a good idea, all of its attention focused on that, and I didn't see the wall as it quickly grew closer until…

Whack

I dizzyingly hit the ground, my mind still hadn't processed what had happened until I already stood up and tried to start making an excuse for my odd behavior to the people who stared oddly at me.

"Don't worry, she's just tired and has a lot on her mind." A voice suddenly announced from behind me to the cluster of curious civilians.

A hand touched my shoulder, and I knew who it was just by their voice. I turned to face the primal reason of my little accident, Sasuke.

"Right, Sakura?" Sasuke inquired as he shifted his gaze from me, to the people, and then back to me.

I turned to face the villagers. "R-Right, nothing to worry about; heh, heh, all's well."

Sasuke grabbed my hand and began to lead me away from the people before I could possibly do any more harm to my esteemed ranking as now a supposedly well-defined ninja.

Sasuke led me into an alleyway, and, before he pressed on the imminent subject, gently kissed me for a moment. When he pulled away he had his typical smirk on, that damned half-smile that I wished so dearly would become whole.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" Sasuke questioned.

"Well…you were right…I had things on my mind, that's all." I stammered.

Sasuke gave me a skeptical look. "Next time I'd suggest thinking hard like that when you're sitting down."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, well, is there a reason for your perfect arrival or was it just good timing? You're not stalking me are you?"

"There's no reason to stalk you, I already know a lot." Sasuke chuckled. "But there is a reason I came. Lady Tsunade wants to see us."

"It's a mission, isn't it?" I huffed.

"I guess you'll just have to go and find out." Sasuke answered as he tugged on my hand to urge me out of the alleyway.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are…you serious?" I stammered.

"Yes…what's so odd about it?" Tsunade inquired.

"Hn, I think it's because she's wondering if this is really something you'd call on a couple of anbu to do." Sasuke interjected.

The three of us stood in Tsunade's office. On Tsunade's desk was a list of errands that she wanted us to complete.

"Yeah, what Sasuke said…." I responded. "Why can't you just give this to some chunin, or even a genin?"

"Because some of these things are village affairs that can't be trusted to a chunin, and definitely not a genin; I could have a jonin do them, but all are currently busy with other things. That just leaves me with the anbu, and seeing as you two are some of the only anbu I personally trust, you two were the only ones to choose." Tsunade explained.

I sighed and picked up the list. There wasn't much to do. "Fine, we'll do it."

Tsunade inclined her head in confirmation. "Good, might as well get started, then."

"If I find 'buy sake' on this list I'm going to say I dropped it." I muttered vengefully before Sasuke and I left the office.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, what's first?" Sasuke asked.

I glanced down at the top of the list. "It says we have to deliver some special jonin files from the printing offices to the filing rooms." I could understand why some ninjas couldn't be trusted with this list.

"…We have a printing office?"

"…What…you didn't know that? How else are we supposed to get multiple copies of every single ninja in this village? Handwritten copies died a long time ago; we have this thing called technology."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and smirked. "I know; I just have no idea where it is."

I mentally huffed; he still didn't smile, even when I started to joke around. I'll have to come up with something else.

"Come on, it's this way." I declared and suddenly changed my direction. Sasuke had to stop abruptly to follow after me.

"A bit of forewarning would be nice." Sasuke grunted.

"Ah, take it like a ninja." I responded. "I thought you were the best of you, me, and Naruto at pursuit."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I can do it 24/7, especially if I'm in my own village while I'm running around on random errands."

"Touché," I retorted as we continued down the path.

We reached the building a couple minutes later and received the special jonin files we needed. We walked all the way back to the filing room, which was in the Hokage's building where we started, with boxes of the files that were heavier than we anticipated.

"I didn't realize we had so many special jonins." I stated.

"Well, we did have a good bunch of ninja a couple years ago; this is probably them now." Sasuke responded.

We arrived at the filing rooms and dropped our boxes. A ninja approached us and opened the boxes. He looked at the files for a moment before he frowned up at us.

"These are the wrong files." He announced.

"What, how's that possible?" I questioned. "We told the people there we came for the special jonin files."

"Well, they must not have heard right, because these are the normal jonin files." He answered. "You'll have to take them back and get the right ones."

"Are you kidding me? Can't we just keep these, too? I mean…we're just going to need them later anyway."

"Sorry, but that would not be acceptable. Besides, we already have copies of the jonin."

I huffed, aggravated, and Sasuke put a calming hand on my back.

"Its fine, we'll just have to do it." Sasuke sighed.

So much for a smile, even I'll barely be able to make one.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"This isn't an errand, it's slave work." Sasuke grumbled.

"I'm sure Tsunade has an explanation as to why she wanted us to do this." I tried to assure him.

"And that would be?"

"Eh…come back in a few hours…."

Sasuke and I had this conversation with about twenty pairs of eyes on us. We stood in a classroom in the Academy.

"Well, my name is Sakura Haruno, and I'm one of your substitute teachers for a couple hours." I announced to the class.

"Hn, my name is Sasuke Uchiha, your other substitute." Sasuke declared with a slight harshness to his tone. I noticed the girls of the class practically melt, and a number of the guys look to Sasuke with an untold admiration or even slight fear.

"What the hell did you do to them?" I whispered.

"Call it that 'Uchiha charm' I really don't know or care." Sasuke whispered in return.

At that moment one of the students raised their hand.

"Oh, yes?" I called and inclined my head towards the student.

"So…what are we supposed to do?" The student asked.

"Um…well…what would you normally be doing right now?"

I believe about ten different answers flew our way at that moment. Whatever was left of the class either stayed quiet of yelled the same as another student.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay…I'm pretty sure most of you are lying if I get so many different answers. Ummm…you," I pointed towards one of the students that remained quiet. "What would your class be doing right now?"

"Um…we would…" the child stammered nervously. I spotted about a third of the class staring intently at the child. "We would…um…be doing History of Ninjas right now."

I glanced over at Sasuke; he looked as though he was just spacing out as he stared out a window. I elbowed him in the arm and he snapped to attention.

"What," he questioned.

"Do you plan to help?" I asked.

"What do you expect me to do? I don't really do 'class of kids'."

"Ummm…well, how about we just have some free time?" I suggested warily.

Half the class cheered and immediately bounced from their seats to find their friends. I grabbed Sasuke's hand and led him back towards the teacher's desk.

"Just keep everything at a dull roar!" I declared, though I'm not sure many heard me. I looked at Sasuke. "Well, if we get lucky these next couple hours will just be relaxing in the comfort of a school room."

Tha-thunk!

I looked up frantically at the class as I searched for the cause of the noise. I was shocked to see a student in a chair upside down and not moving.

"What happened?" I questioned as I ran to the student.

"H-He fell down…and landed on his head." One of the students answered from near the top of the rows.

"Shit," I muttered as I reached the child and helped him up. I placed my hand on his head to check for damage just as Sasuke reached us.

"He should be okay," Sasuke stated. "You'd be surprised how thick a kid's skull is."

"We're not talking about Naruto, Sasuke." I responded callously.

My hand glowed with green chakra; I ignored half the class' gasps of awe as I healed any head injuries the child received. He soon opened his eyes and my shoulders dropped with relief.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

The kid nodded and stood back up.

"Heh, boy, you really are a hard-head, Taiyo!" One of the kids laughed, which caused a few other students to laugh, even Taiyo.

I sighed, stood up, and walked back down to the teacher's desk with Sasuke.

"Yeah, watching kids is really relaxing." Sasuke smirked.

"Must you mock me?" I huffed.

Sasuke smirk grew slightly. "Yeah, only because it's fun to see you react."

"Smile, smile, smile Uchiha! Try to keep it up, Sakura!"

"I'll have to remember that for when I get a chance to turn the tables." I beamed.

Sasuke chuckled, but then let his smirk fade as he looked to the students and seemed to space out again.

"Damn, so close."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Task number three…"I announced as Sasuke and I left the Academy. "We have to pick up some medical herbs."

"Sounds right up your alley," Sasuke stated. "I don't know anything about medical herbs."

"Then just stick behind me."

Sasuke reached out and grabbed my hand. "I prefer to be at your side."

I smiled. "Well, aren't you sweet?"

Sasuke smirked and we continued on our way. We reached a few stands where some of the needed medical herbs were sold. The next half hour was uneventful as we searched through the stands for all the herbs on the list. We finally stopped at a bench and sat down.

"Let's see…we got those, and those, we got that…" I muttered as I checked off the herbs on the list. "Oh, we missed one…ah; we may have to go into the forest to find it fresh."

"Are you serious?" Sasuke questioned.

I nodded my head. "They don't sell it in the markets. Don't worry; we won't have to go far."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine, let's get going."

The two of us reached the forest a couple minutes later and I immediately began to skim the ground for the herb.

"Do you even know what it looks like?" Sasuke asked.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, it's got a light green color to it, the leaves are small, and occasionally it will have small, white flowers blooming on it." (A/N: I just totally made that up; I know nothing of medical herbs at all.)

Sasuke looked off for a moment like he tried to picture it and soon joined me in the search. We searched in silence for a bit until Sasuke spoke up. "I think I found it."

I turned around, Sasuke held a plant in his hand. I inspected it for a moment and then looked up at him.

"Sasuke…don't freak out but…that's poisonous."

Sasuke eyes widened considerably and he threw it to the ground while he cursed. He took a couple steps back and began to examine his hand. I burst out laughing and he looked at me like I was a freak.

"I-It's…alright…Sasuke." I told him through my giggles. "I was j-joking! You found it!"

Sasuke glared at me with slight frustration before his own idea seemed to set in. He came up to me, and before I could react, he had me pinned against a nearby tree.

"What, it was just a joke?" I questioned, my voice let off just an edge of the frantic feeling I got.

I noticed then, however, that Sasuke didn't look angry; he actually had the face he usually had on after a triumph at mocking me.

"What, what's so funny?" I asked.

"You know you really had me going there." Sasuke stated as he continually held me pinned against the tree. "You know very well I don't take jokes as someone else would."

I flashed him a comprehending smile. "So what, am I going to be punished?"

"Yes." Sasuke answered as he came forward and kissed me. His arms let go of my shoulders, where he held me pinned, and move down to my waist. I loosely placed my arms on his shoulders, but returned his kiss with just as much as he gave.

We only pulled away when we had to breathe, and Sasuke smirked with a deeper triumph in his expression than I expected.

"And now that that's been done…you don't get any more of those until I say you're forgiven." Sasuke smirked.

"That's not fair!" I exclaimed, shocked. "I was just joking…."

Sasuke said nothing.

"I bet you'll cave before me, though." I muttered.

"Is that a challenge?" Sasuke inquired.

"Oh, hell no," I grinned. "I think I can take till I'm forgiven, but not on a challenge! We won't kiss for weeks…maybe months!"

Sasuke looked away for a moment, his expression gave away "I don't think I can do that either". I laughed, but Sasuke tried to slip behind his impassive mask.

"Oh, why don't you laugh once in a while? Maybe even just a real smile?" I questioned. I knew it was dangerous to ask him so blatantly, but all my secret attempts just failed.

Sasuke smirked. I huffed and rolled my eyes.

"That's a smirk." I stated.

"I laugh and smile." Sasuke responded.

"More like you chuckle and smirk." I grumbled.

Sasuke shook his head and moved away. "Well, someday you'll come to realize." He had muttered his sentence so I barely caught what he said.

"What was that?" I questioned.

"Nothing, come on, let's get these herbs and do the rest of those errands."

I didn't argue and joined Sasuke where he found the needed herb and collected them. All was silent during that time, and we soon moved on to our next errand; which was to get flowers for patients in the hospital. This meant it was time to give Ino a visit.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Awe, that's sweet…in a bit of a torturous way." Ino giggled. We stood at the counter of Yamanaka Flowers while Sasuke aimlessly wandered the shop. "So how long till you're forgiven; I sure wouldn't want to go long without lip-locking with such a looker."

A vein in my forehead twitched. "Hey, he's mine. I think it'll probably last a few days; a week at the most."

"Good luck with that."

"Yeah…but really I just want to finally see him smile, you know how he is; he considers a smirk a smile."

"It's a half-smile."

"I know, him and Naruto both say he's smiled and stuff, but I haven't seen anything."

"Wow…then you're pretty blind because I've seen it."

"What!?" I shouted a little too loudly.

"Something wrong," Sasuke questioned from the other side of the shop.

"Oh, uh, no, no…nothing…all's well." I answered. I turned back to Ino and spoke in a whisper. "What, you've seen it too?"

"Yeah, and must I say he looks even better happy than brooding."

"Why am I the only one?" I groaned.

"Hey, it was directed at you, you know?"

"It was? Then why don't I ever see it?"

"Because typically you have your back to him when he does it," Ino clarified.

"So that's why…is he too nervous to smile to me or something?"

"Beats the hell out of me…maybe you need to…persuade him."

"Persuade him how?"

"I don't know…um…convince him it's National Smile Day!"

"…"

"Okay different plan."

"Yeah…."

"Um…well…I got nothing."

"Well, what did I do before that made him smile to my back?"

"Um…well…I think one time he was drunk…"

"Oh, well that's great to hear!"

"We were at Naruto's party!"

"Right…any other time?"

"Um…the only other time was after we had come back from a mission…you and he made some quick plans to meet later and you left for home."

"Well…that's not going to work…I'm practically on a mission right now…but I don't think it's inducing any smiles…even from me."

"Well then, you're on your own, Sakura."

"Thanks for the support." I muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, Sakura, are you and Ino about done yet?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, um…yeah…so I guess we'll get those flowers and head off."

"Okay, good luck with your mission Sakura." Ino grinned as she waved us off.

"Mission? I thought we were doing slave-errands." Sasuke grunted.

"Mission, slave-work, same difference…come on, we have to get some scrolls from shinobi in the hospital anyway." I responded and walked out of the shop.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Get well soon, then." I smiled at one of the patients I had given flowers to.

"Thank you." They replied.

Sasuke walked into the hospital room I was in. "I got the scrolls." He stated.

"Good, just one more errand."

"Hallelujah." Sasuke muttered as we left the room. "So what is it?"

"We get to be construction workers."

"…"

"I have no idea why Lady Tsunade wants anbu to do this either."

"Hn, whatever, let's just get this done with." Sasuke sighed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oh, thank you both so much for your help." One of the construction workers beamed at us.

"It was no problem." I replied.

The two of us walked away from the construction site, Sasuke rubbed his head.

"Does it still hurt?" I asked.

"You try having a board edge drop on your head and see how it feels." Sasuke answered.

"You'd really let one drop on me?"

"No, not if I'm around, but it still hurts," Sasuke grumbled.

"You want me to kiss it better?"

"No, don't touch it."

"I am a medical ninja you know; I could heal it."

"I'm fine."

I sighed. "You men and your reluctance to accept help. What makes you guys do that?"

"Stubbornness," Sasuke answered.

I giggled. "Oh, right, the same force that makes Naruto do something stupid no matter how many times we tell him it's dangerous."

"That's not stubbornness, that's called being an idiot who doesn't listen."

I laughed. "You're right…"

"So what do we do now that the errands are done?" Sasuke asked.

"Um, I guess we report to Lady Tsunade, and then we're all done."

"Okay, let's get over there then."

"Right," I responded.

It fell silent for a moment as we walked. I looked at the sky.

"The sun's going to go down in an hour."

"Hn,"

"…"

"You want to go out after this is done?"

"Oh, um…yeah, sure; where are we going?"

"Let's meet…at our bench."

I looked down at the ground. "Uh…sure, when do you want to meet?"

"We'll finish this up, head to our homes to change and what-not and just meet there when we can."

"Alright, I'll see you there, then." I finished as we reached Lady Tsunade's office.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I walked over to "our bench" about an hour later. Sasuke hadn't arrived yet so I sat down on it. Unwillingly, memories from this bench came to me. It was so long ago that night had happened, but it was still pointedly clear in my mind. Now that I thought of it, it's been nearly ten years since that night; ever since the night I tried to stop him by pouring my heart out, ever since he rejected me and left me unconscious on this very bench. I shook the thoughts away as I heard footsteps and saw Sasuke coming my way.

Sasuke stopped for a moment, and then sat next to me. It was silent for a couple minutes until Sasuke spoke up. "I'm guessing you're getting the same thoughts I am."

I didn't say anything, but nodded my head.

"It's kind of ironic…according to memory we've had a couple of encounters here…and all of them held some different emotions."

I stared at the ground; I couldn't bring myself to answer.

"Well…now we're here…and we're together rather than separating." Sasuke looked at me, and I forced myself to look up at him. "I know you have some bad memories here…truthfully…so do I. It kills me thinking about what I did ten years ago…but…I want to make it better."

I looked at Sasuke, confused, and he smirked at me. He gripped my hand and moved so he was on the ground in front of me. He pulled something out and pressed it against my hand.

"I want the old memories to be replaced with new, better ones."

I looked down at the box; Sasuke opened it for me to reveal a ring.

"I want us to come to this bench years later…and only remember that this is where I asked…will you marry me?"

I felt tears well up in my eyes, but I tried to hold them back. I got down on the ground with him and embraced him. He returned my gesture as a few stray tears of mine fell onto his shirt.

"Of course I will." I answered.

Sasuke pulled me away as I answered, but quickly brought me back in so he could kiss me. We stayed like that, standing on our knees on the ground as we kissed. When we finally pulled away I looked down and started to giggle.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Oh…I'm just wondering…am I forgiven for what I did earlier, then; since you kissed me."

"Of course," Sasuke replied, and, to my complete surprise, I finally saw it for real, he smiled at me. It was gentle, and full of the caring love I know only I'll ever get to receive.

"Ino's right," I thought. "Sasuke's smile is about the best thing ever of all his expressions."

Sasuke pulled up my left hand and slipped the ring on it. I smiled happily and pulled him in to kiss him again.

"Well…I'd say this tops every memory I have of this place ten-fold." I declared as we stood up from the ground.

"Good…" Sasuke responded.

"Heh, after such a day running around doing errands you really surprised me with this."

"That was the intent."

"And I finally got to see you smile."

"See, I do smile."

"Yes, you do, and now I can forever remember how it looks."

"No need to remember, you'll be seeing it a lot more after the wedding."

I giggled and grabbed Sasuke's hand. "So, where do we go so that we can end this monumental day?"

"It's about dinner time, how about we show off that new ring?"

I beamed. "Whatever you want, let's go then."

The two of us then walked down the road hand-in-hand. I believe this was quite an accomplished day. We got errands done, we got engaged, and I got to see the smile I've always wanted to, and shall forever hold in my memories along with this interesting day.

THE END

Am I crazy or is this about one of my longest one-shots yet? I'll have to check that. In other news, this is finally done! I have no idea how long I worked on this…it's been a couple weeks, I'm pretty sure of that. So I'm glad that I finally got this done and over with! Hmmm…I wouldn't really say this is one of my best stories…but it's pretty good compared to some others. I tried to make this a romance/humor but…I think the humor died somewhere in between the thought process and actually writing…minor humor…but I'll call it romance/general. Anyway…more soon! I should start a new one-shot very soon!