Flipped
"Now, sit down so I can give you the information and get rid of you."
"Tsunade-sama!"
"Oh, calm down, Shizune."
Tsunade steepled her fingers in front of her, elbows resting on the desk as she leaned forward ever so slightly. Across the desk from her, Sakura and Naruto sat together. Sasuke was standing on Sakura's other side, very aware of Neji, Ino, and Kiba watching them.
Judging by Naruto's satisfied smile, this was all his doing. But why? What was the point of going on a mission? And Neji he could understand, but why were Kiba and Ino here too?
As if sensing his best friend's gaze on him, Naruto turned his head slightly to flash a toothy grin and a discrete thumbs-up at him.
Watch and learn, Sasuke.
-o-
Ino bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. She couldn't get over the news about Sakura and Sasuke, and she couldn't believe she hadn't seen it coming! All the signs had been there...
And even now, he stood so close to her that her sleeve brushed his arm. She squealed inwardly. He was being all protective! It was so cute!
"Sakura, Naruto, and Kiba," I want you to go to Takigakure. A feudal lord there has fallen ill and Sakura is needed to heal him," Tsunade began. They nodded. "I have my suspicions about the cause of his sickness: Hero Water. I want you to find this water, stop it from being leaked to anyone else, and bring a sample for me to study. You leave tomorrow morning."
"Sasuke, Neji, and Ino," she said, looking at the other three, and particularly intensely at Sasuke, "You also leave tomorrow morning. The six of you will travel to the border of Fire Country together, then split up." She paused, wavering slightly. "Sasuke, if you feel uncomfortable about this mission, you don't have to take it."
Bemused – and more than a bit annoyed that she didn't seem to trust in his abilities – Sasuke nevertheless nodded, although he knew there was no way he would refuse a mission. Tsunade seemed to sense this.
"Don't be so quick to dismiss me," she warned. "The mission's in Sound, where we think a ninja that defected from Konoha may be hiding. Even if he's not there now, we're sure he was there at some point. You need to find him or some information about him."
"Shouldn't this be a job for hunter-nin?" Ino asked.
"It would be," Tsunade agreed, "But we want him alive. Does everyone accept?" she asked, looking directly at Sasuke. His face remained carefully blank as he nodded, as did everyone else. "Good. Go home and pack now. Sakura, stay for a moment, I have some things that may help you with the healing."
Sakura nodded seriously, her brows furrowed as she tore her gaze from Sasuke's face. Sasuke understood. He wasn't too thrilled about his mission either.
The other five filed out of the room. Ino called a merry "See you tomorrow, Sasuke!" and Kiba fought a bit with Naruto ("I'm going on a mission with you?" "Can't handle it, dog-breath? Ask the old woman for something a bit more your speed – like weeding."), and Neji nodded to the two politely, and then Naruto and Sasuke were alone in the hall, waiting for Sakura.
Sasuke glared at the wall a few feet in front of him. He wouldn't snap at Naruto; it would make him look weak, like he couldn't handle the stupid mission – which of course he could…
"I'm sorry," Sasuke," Naruto said. "I asked her for missions for us and those guys; I set the teams, but I didn't know what she would assign us." Sasuke didn't reply, so he babbled on. "If it's hard for you or whatever, you know I could always ask her to change it. Neji won't say anything, I'll make sure of it—"
"It's fine," Sasuke said, a little more sharply than he intended. But he couldn't back out of the stupid mission – what would that idiot Hyuuga say?
"You sure?" Naruto asked anxiously.
Sasuke would have preferred to go on the mission with someone he could at least stand, but he wasn't about to say anything. He would go on the mission, and then he'd come home and get Sakura to beat Naruto around for his amusement, and it would be alright.
What else was he going to do? Blubber like some stupid, whining baby? Hardly.
"I'm sure."
-o-
"Are you sure about this, Sakura?" Tsunade asked once she had given Sakura all the equipment and knowledge she would need.
Sakura blinked. "Sure about what? The mission? Of course I am."
Tsunade sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She didn't mean the mission. She meant… everything.
Tsunade remembered a time when she would find Sakura staring out the window, completely lost in thought, when she would have to shake the girl before she came to her senses, always beginning to form the same name.
"Sas—" she would begin, before she realized where and when she was, and who wasn't there. And then she would smile apologetically and be back to business.
When had that stopped? Why?
"Yeah, the mission," Tsunade sighed. "Be careful, and bring me back some sake."
Sakura laughed. "Will do!"
And then she left.
-o-
Sakura really did like missions. Sure, she missed her bed and her bathroom, but it was always nice to get out of the village for a bit, and she liked bonding with her teammates under the stars and over a fire.
She just really didn't like waking up so early.
"You look like crap," Sasuke observed when she arrived at the village gates, bleary-eyed and yawning.
"Love you too, dear," she mumbled sarcastically. His eyebrows shot up at this, but when she moved closer to lean tiredly against him, he didn't move away.
"You better wake up at some point. We leave as soon as the others get here," he reminded her.
"Mmm, I still have a few minutes," she told him, moving her face to bury her nose in his sleeve, Sasuke guessed to hide it from the weak light coming from the rising sun.
Not ten feet away there was a bench where he could set her down. She'd be more comfortable and so would he. But that bench held too many memories for them, and setting her there now, when he was about to leave for Sound – though admittedly not for the same reasons – didn't seem like the best idea.
So he allowed her to sag against him until someone arrived – just preferably not Neji.
-o-
Kiba arrived first, and he seemed too tired to comment on their position, for which Sasuke was grateful. His arrival also prompted Sakura to finally pull away from him, and so the other three had no idea of their earlier position when they finally came.
"Neji, I'm appalled," Sakura teased, as everyone checked to make sure they had all their things. "I thought Hyuuga were always early for everything?"
Neji had the grace to look embarrassed. "I was… unavoidably detained."
"What happened, Neji?" Naruto snickered. "Did you run out of strawberry shampoo?" Kiba roared with laughter and Ino giggled.
"Sakura uses that too," she informed the group.
Sakura reddened. "Enough talk. Can we go?"
"Please," Sasuke muttered. "Let's." He turned to walk through the gates. "Neji and Kiba, take the lead. Sakura and Blonde Girl—"
"I have a name!"
"—Follow them. Naruto and I will bring up the rear."
"Who made him leader?" Kiba grumbled as he walked past the girls to lead them out with Neji.
"When he saves your butt, you'll be glad he took up the job," Sakura told him, smiling proudly because he was her teammate—and to everyone not in the know, also her boyfriend. And sure, he wasn't really her boyfriend. But still, to everyone but Team Seven, she had the cool one!
"Typical girlfriend," Kiba muttered under his breath. Sakura stuck her tongue out at his back.
"Let's go," Neji suddenly said, and as Sakura turned to him, she realized with a jolt that he had been staring at her, and she felt her heart skip a beat. Was Naruto's plan working?
Only one way to find out.
"Yeah!" She pumped her fist in the air, all traces of sleepiness gone. "Let's kick some butt and heal some lords!"
And off they went.
-o-
"You're quiet, Sasuke," Naruto commented. Sasuke shot him a very dry, irritated glance. Wasn't he always quiet?
Instead of replying, Sasuke tuned out Naruto's continuous rambling and turned to his own thoughts.
He really wasn't upset that Sakura had flirted with Neji. That was the point of all this, wasn't it? For her to be with him. And for him to be bothered it was ridiculous, since he really didn't want to be the objected of her gooey affections again. It was just that…
Well, to Neji (and Ino and Kiba), Sakura already had a boyfriend: him. And she shouldn't be flirting with other men when she had the most sought-after bachelor in the village, should she?
He knew he wasn't really her boyfriend, that the one she really wanted was Neji, but it still bothered him, to have people think he couldn't hold on to his own (pretend-)girlfriend.
"—Were you jealous?!" Naruto asked incredulously, his voice finally cutting through Sasuke's thoughts.
"What?" he asked, alarmed.
"Of Neji," Naruto said, low enough that the others wouldn't be able to hear. "And Sakura."
Sasuke finally rolled his eyes in disgust. "No, you idiot."
He was not jealous, he was just insecure.
Wait, was that any better?
-o-
"When are we going to get there?" Ino demanded, brushing her blonde hair irritably out of her eyes. Honestly, sometimes she almost wished she kept it short like Sakura had. Which reminded her…
"Probably tomorrow morning," Sakura answered, her eyes on the three figures ahead (Neji probably had his Byakugan activated, and Kiba and Akamaru were, no doubt, on alert for any strangers who might appear. They were a good match.), just as Ino burst out with, "So, Sasuke doesn't prefer girls with short hair, huh?"
Sakura gave the blonde a half-incredulous, half-amused look. "I guess not," she told her.
"What do you mean, you guess?! He's your boyfriend, isn't he?"
For a moment, Sakura longed to tell the truth. That Sasuke wasn't her boyfriend, that he wasn't even the one she was currently crushing on, and that no way would he ever have feelings for her, long hair or short.
But then she chose to take advantage of her situation. "Yeah, he is," she said, before she delved into all the half-truths of their delicious new (fake-)relationship.
Sometimes, it was nice to gush.
-o-
When the two teams stopped to make camp for the night, Sasuke was immediately called over to Kiba's side, along with Naruto and Neji. Ino and Sakura had left to scout the area. Sasuke had meant to go with them before he had been stopped.
"What?" he asked as he and Naruto neared the other two.
Kiba was grinning. "I heard parts of Sakura and Ino's conversation and thought you might want to know what they said," he began.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. he had been stopped for this? "I honestly don't care."
"Not even about how Sakura told Ino that you're 'the boyfriend every girl dreams of'? Or that you're 'so charming and caring, even though you look like a jerk'? Or about how you are 'the perfect knight in shining armor'?" he asked, laughing.
Naruto joined in. "Sakura's blinded by her love. This guy's just a loser with a pretty face." Out of the corner of his eye, he watched for Neji's reaction. His face remained carefully blank, but Naruto's experiences with his best friend had taught him a thing or too.
That was forced neutrality.
Naruto grinned.
Beside him, Sasuke glared at Kiba.
"I asked Sakura out a few times, you know, but she never accepted. It was a real blow to my pride, let me tell you."
'I'll show you a blow,' Sasuke thought fiercely, unconsciously clenching his hands into fists. He didn't know why he was so angry, but he was.
"But now it turns out she was just waiting all these years for you." Kiba grinned sheepishly. "Guess I never stood a chance."
"You wouldn't stand a chance against your dog," Naruto cut in snidely.
"Your girlfriend's very popular, isn't she, Sasuke?" Neji asked. Sasuke shrugged.
Naruto, overhearing, broke off from his argument with Kiba and said, "You bet she is! Because Sakura's the nicest, strongest, smartest, prettiest girl in the whole village!"
Nicest? Sasuke could agree with the rest – but he would never go that far. Not considering how Sakura once smacked his and Naruto's heads together, just to see what it would do.
But Sakura and Ino arrived then, so he had no chance to say so. Instead, he leapt into the trees to find some sort of stream to wash up.
-o-
"I don't think you guys should sleep so close together," Kiba remarked, eyeing Sasuke and Sakura's sleeping bags, only inches away from each other (Naruto was on Sasuke's other side).
"Like we haven't before, right?" Sakura snapped sarcastically, not budging from her spot.
"Just don't get noisy in the middle of the night," Kiba muttered under his breath. Sasuke flicked a well-aimed kunai at him.
Ino made to settle down beside Sakura, but Naruto stopped her with a hasty, "Uh, Ino, can you sleep on this side? I don't want to be near Dog-Boy."
"I think Naruto likes you!" Kiba crowed, ignoring the insult. "Can you imagine your babies?"
While the three loud ones fought, Neji quietly settled in beside Sakura, much to her embarrassment. Her heart was beating so loud and fast she was sure he could hear it as she whispered a shaky, "Good night, Neji," and smiled.
"Good night, Sakura," he replied, holding her gaze for a moment before she broke it, whipping her head around to face Sasuke instead.
He was looking at her. "Good night," she said, adding a "Sasuke-kun," for good measure.
Sasuke didn't reply, only closed his eyes until everyone's breathing evened out as they dozed off. Then he opened his eyes, sat up, and inched Sakura's bag closer to him and away from Neji's, carefully so she wouldn't wake up. When he was satisfied by the distance between the two, he too fell asleep, face turned towards Sakura and breathing in the scent of her shampoo.
Ino was wrong; she used watermelon shampoo, not strawberry.
-o-
The next morning, Kiba and Ino teased Sasuke mercilessly about how close he and Sakura had been when they woke up, and Naruto laughed at Sakura's flushed cheeks and mock-threatened Sasuke until Neji barked at them to hurry up so they could get going.
It took only a couple of hours until they hit the border of Fire Country and prepared to go their separate ways.
"Are we going to meet up to go back together?" Sakura asked.
Neji nodded. "We might as well. Be back here in four days. If the other team hasn't arrived by nightfall, go on ahead."
"Alright." Sakura turned to lead her teammates away, but a hand clamped around her elbow.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Ino demanded shrilly. "No goodbye for your boyfriend? Aren't you going to miss him?"
"Ino," Sakura began tiredly. "We can't waste time…"
"Romance is never a waste of time," Ino protested passionately.
Sasuke would have dearly loved to argue with that, but Naruto had joined forces with Ino and was dragging him over to a secluded spot to say his goodbyes to Sakura.
"Have fun, you two," Naruto said. "And check out Neji," he added quietly.
Sakura did so. He was frowning.
'Yes!' Inner Sakura cheered.
She wanted to say something to Naruto, but he had already disappeared, and she was left alone with Sasuke. A few feet away, she could see the others watching.
"So nosey," she mumbled.
"What do they want – a show?" Sasuke agreed venomously.
Sakura laughed, moving closer to press her face into his shoulder. "I think that's the idea."
Sasuke sighed, winding his arms reluctantly around her. "Why am I doing this?"
"Because you looovvveee me?" she sang.
Sasuke just snorted.
-o-
Ino scowled. "Why aren't they doing anything?" she hissed to Naruto. "Your best friend is romantically inept."
"That's why he has me," Naruto murmured, crouching down and searching before he picked up a decent-sized pebble.
"What are you doing?" Ino asked.
"Watch and learn," Naruto said, aiming carefully. Thankfully Neji wasn't looking at them, and trying not to look at Sasuke and Sakura.
Naruto knew Sasuke had a sensitive bruise on the back of his right calf from a mission a month ago. No one but he and Sakura – Sasuke's medic – knew where it was. He had never thought of it as valuable information.
Until now.
Naruto squinted, one eye shut, cocked his arm back, and let loose.
-o-
If Sasuke had been expecting something to hit the sensitive patch of skin under his right knee, he might've been able to control his reaction. Instead, just as he was pulling away from Sakura, the pebble (although he didn't know what it was at the time) hit, made his leg jerk and buckle, and he stumbled forward.
Right into Sakura.
He tightened his grip on her waist instinctively, just as her eyes bugged open from surprise and she pressed closer in response. Their lips brushed for only a second, but it was enough to make Ino squeal and clap excitedly.
They broke apart, shocked.
'Was that…?'
Sakura pressed two fingers shakily to her lips, her heart beating as fast as it had been the night before.
'…our first – and only – kiss?'