Laughter
While they were eating ramen at the newly rebuilt Ichiraku Ramen, Kakashi watched his students as he read his book. Especially Sasuke—this was Kakashi's first time seeing him since he'd been released from the hospital, and Kakashi wanted to see if his old student was really back to his normal self.
He couldn't have been more wrong... or more surprised.
As Naruto told a story about one of the missions Team 7 had been sent on with Sai, Sasuke rolled his eyes and feigned jealousy. Or was that real? Sasuke had never been one to show much emotion, period... Not even if he were jesting.
Scratch that. The old Sasuke had never done anything in jest.
Sakura rolled her eyes and elbowed Sasuke, telling him Sai had never really replaced him. Unless Kakashi's imagination was playing tricks on him, Sasuke actually blushed at her touch right before they both averted their eyes from each other. Interesting.
Sakura mumbled something about Sai's nickname for Naruto, which caused Naruto to flush and frown in annoyance at her—and Sasuke to burst into laughter.
Laughter.
Not a chuckle, not a bemused humph, not the maniacal cackle of a madman—all of which Kakashi has heard from Sasuke before—but real, honest laughter.
Sakura noticed, too. Kakashi saw the surprise—and happiness—on her face before she composed herself. Sasuke had been laughing too hard to see her face brighten. It was really too bad, actually, because Kakashi suddenly realized that Sasuke wanted to see her smile more than anything.
He could tell by the way Sasuke glanced at her when he caught his breath, the way his face fell when he saw her ignoring him again, the way he held his breath and let it go in a long, regretful sigh... Kakashi raised an eyebrow, intrigued at this new development. He couldn't keep a smirk off his face when the irony of Sasuke's situation occurred to him.
Well, what do you know. Kakashi had to try hard to hold back his own laughter. Looks like their roles have actually been reversed...
Kakashi knew Sakura still loved Sasuke, but he also knew why she was ignoring him now—for the same exact reason Kakashi was watching him more intently than the others.
Watching his students, especially this new Sasuke, Kakashi smiled. Perhaps it would take time to get used to this—perhaps it would take time to forgive him—but, in the end, Kakashi had a feeling everything would turn out just fine...
And when Sasuke made a joke about the ramen, Kakashi joined his students in another round of laughter.
...
Author: I wanted to try writing from another person's point of view as they observed Sasuke and Sakura for once, and since the image that came to mind for this prompt was the old team laughing as they ate ramen I chose Kakashi to be that person.
Hope you guys like it! ^^
To my reviewers:
Strings of a Puppet: Thanks for all three reviews! 1. That's fine, people do that all the time. ^^ Yes, I'm glad you remember that episode, because it's the one I was thinking of when I wrote that... only with the roles reversed. Lol. 2. FINALLY. Someone agrees. ^^ She's got plenty of strength, just not the same kind of strength as Sasuke or Naruto... 3. Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like them! I've been wanting to write a SasuSaku story for a while, and this month was the perfect excuse/motivation for me. XD The ideas have been in my head for a long time, honestly...