OKAY SO: Maybe it would have been more sensible to put these fics in chronological order but… meh. I'll just update you guys on how they're ordered at the beginning of every one-shot! As of now, they go ii. meet, iii. Illusion, THIS ONE, i. flirt. Sorry if there's any confusion!
Note: It has recently occurred to me that SasuSaku exists on tumblr. Since tumblr is like my home, I've started actually looking up the "SasuSaku" tag and my ego giggles the few times I see myself being recommended on it. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! That's all.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


iv. mother


Mikoto is ashamed of her second son sometimes.

Sometimes, when she catches wind of his antics with the latest flavour of the week, her smile cracks and she fights the urge to sigh. Since she mostly overhears these rumors (and she considers them "rumors" because until she sees legitimate evidence, regardless of Sasuke's past, she will give him the benefit of the doubt), Mikoto only speeds up in her grocery shopping and stiffly walks out of the market and back into the Uchiha complex. She smiles and says her polite hellos to the people she knows on the way there, and when she is finally in her kitchen, she starts on dinner. She goes to the sink with the latest bagful of tomatoes and begins to wash them because even though Mikoto hates what Sasuke does when it comes to the foolish little girls that throw themselves at him, he is still her baby boy.

She looks up when she hears a small crash.

The large window above the sink conveniently allows her to investigate. There, in her yard, are the three members of Team Seven in the midst of what they like to call "light training" because they know there's no way in hell Mikoto would let them be so near her garden with their real training. With the way Sasuke and Sakura are brawling, Mikoto assumes they're just going with some light taijutsu that day.

When Sakura pins him to the floor, Mikoto can't help her unladylike snort.

Sasuke has a way with women – that much Mikoto is sure of. Since he was a boy, all he had to do was smile his charming little smile to get what he wanted. Now, his arsenal has expanded. He'll drawl out particular words and say the right things. He tilts his head ever so slightly either to appear naïve or to taunt. He gestures with his entire body to entice. Mikoto has seen her son in action –although she's sure he doesn't know that because if he was aware that his mother was around, he probably wouldn't have acted like such a pig. She's watched him get what he wants in the blink of an eye and though she doesn't express it, she absolutely hates his behaviour.

"Ha, bastard! Sakura-chan kicked your butt. No date for you!"

"Best three out of five!" Sasuke shouts. "And if I win, the date ends with a goodnight kiss!"

"Oh, just accept your defeat and move on, Sasuke!"

"Never."

She cannot see that far but Mikoto is sure Sakura is rolling her eyes at Sasuke's pathetic attempt to get to go out with him.

One of Mikoto's biggest fears is that Sasuke will never change out of his flirty playboy ways, but Sakura gives her hope.

Haruno Sakura is different.

The first time Mikoto heard about the girl, Sasuke was eight, sporting multiple bruises, and declaring that he'd found "The One." When she looked to Itachi for explanation, the boy only shrugged. Sakura graduated the Academy with Sasuke at age twelve and, to the boy's pleasure, they were put on the same genin team. At thirteen, Team Seven took the chuunin the chuunin exams, although only Sakura passed it. She left the village shortly after with an apprenticeship with Tsunade and returned when she was fifteen. By the time she turned sixteen, she had been promoted to jounin and often led Naruto and Sasuke on missions. And, last that she heard, now that the three are all jounin, she is being considered for promotion into ANBU, as recommended by Itachi for membership in his team.

Sakura is strong, intelligent, and extremely talented, and Mikoto sincerely hopes that one day the girl realizes that despite the way Sasuke acts around her – over-confident, flirtatious, mildly perverted – he really, truly does have feelings for her.

Mikoto has seen the way Sakura affects him first hand, starting with the boy's demand for a second lunch back in his Academy days so he could "give one to Sakura-chan." When he was on Team Seven, he would come home a little deflated because "Sakura-chan won't go on a date with me" but would perk up when Itachi offered to train with him. The worst Mikoto had seen him was when Sakura left with Tsunade. She knew Sasuke tried to stop her. She could hear him not-so-discreetly sneaking out of the house the night the girl was supposed to be leaving. When he'd come home hours later, not even trying to cover up his entrance, Mikoto realized how much he may have actually loved the girl. In the two and a half years that Sakura was gone, Sasuke was significantly moodier, but when she finally returned, the way his face brightened up was unmistakable.

Mikoto has no doubt in her mind that Sakura cares about Sasuke. She's done her share of protecting and healing and Mikoto remembers the time she personally escorted Sasuke home after a mission in Wave Country. She'd sent Sasuke up to take a shower and get some rest and asked Mikoto to check up on him periodically. Apparently he'd undergone a particularly traumatizing genjutsu and Sakura wasn't sure how to help him.

"Okay, best five out of—"

"Sasuke, just give it up!"

Mikoto chuckles at their antics and wishes for a way to make the girl realize that Sasuke isn't just trying to make her another flavour of the week, but that he truly has feelings for her.

Sasuke is every bit a hormonal seventeen-year-old boy, spending his spare time flirting with girls and going on dates, yes, but Mikoto knows that with Sakura, he can change.

She knows that for Sakura, he will change.