First off, don't complain about the pairing. It's not even that fluffy. And I know that the title's really lame, but I hope the story isn't. It's like my second fan-fiction (the first one was deleted, as it was an absolute disgrace to literature). Just a little story... a little tiny bit of fluff at the end if you squint. A tiny bit OOC through the whole piece as well... just be warned. Thanks for reading... please excuse any errors, they're probably either technical things or just negligent mistakes.
Thank You
"Kakashi-senseiiiii..." Naruto whined. "Can't we call it quits for today? It's already seven and I'm starving!"
"Ha..." came a quiet chuckle from Sasuke, followed by a shake of his head.
"You want to start something, Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto yelled.
"Shut up, idiot. It's not my fault that you're so weak. You just ate a few hours ago."
"Why you..." Naruto began as he created a bunshin and charged up the Rasengan. Kakashi looked up from his book, sensing the conflict, and quickly stepped in front of Naruto, ending the confrontation.
"I guess that's enough for today..." Kakashi sighed, putting his book back up to his face. "Go get some rest."
Sakura got up from the seat she'd taken by a tree when the two childish ninjas had started fighting. "Well," she started, stretching, "if we're done, I'm going home. Bye, Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun! Bye, Kakashi-sensei, you pervert!"
"Bye, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called. Kakashi waved at her retreating figure. Silence reigned for a few minutes before Sasuke said "hn" and walked off, hands in his pockets. Naruto raced off, presumably to get some ramen. Sighing at his students, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sakura slowed down as she entered town and decided to pick up some bread for her nearly bare fridge before heading home. When she came out of the bread store laden with various baked goods, she was surprised to see Sasuke across the street and a bit ahead of her at a fruit and vegetable stand.
"Let's see what he's up to!" Inner Sakura demanded, but Outer Sakura contented herself with a more ninja-like approach: hiding and spying from behind a shrub.
As Sasuke wandered away from the stand, Sakura noticed that he had a number of sacks filled with some produce. The next step was clear: find out the contents of the sacks.
A new goal in mind, Sakura followed behind Sasuke, using every available opportunity to sneak closer. She was soon rewarded with the fruit of her labors as Sasuke tripped over a small rock, making one of his purchases fly out of its sack and onto the ground along with Sasuke.
"Tomatoes?" Sakura yelled in disbelief. Quickly realizing her mistake, she covered her mouth and darted into the nearest shop, hoping that Sasuke hadn't seen her. She couldn't believe that anyone, let alone Uchiha Sasuke, liked tomatoes that much. "Wait... I've got an idea!" she cried as a plan for garnering Sasuke's attention began to unfold.
Sasuke left Naruto and Kakashi in the forest as he headed home for the evening. Naruto had been wearing on his last nerve all day, and Sakura wasn't letting up on the whole clinginess thing. At the moment, all Sasuke wanted was to go home, relax, and enjoy some tomatoes.
"Wait..." Sasuke thought. "I'm out of tomatoes... what a hassle..." he said as he stopped at a fruit and vegetable stand full of juicy, ripe tomatoes.
He spent a good amount of time examining the tomatoes and picking the best ones. Once he was satisfied, he walked over to the vendor and gave him the numerous tomatoes to be counted so he could pay and get home to relax. If the vendor was surprised at the sheer number of this sale, he hid it well. Sasuke paid the considerable sum as the owner of the stand piled the fruits into bags.
"Thanks," Sasuke muttered as he walked away with his favorite food. Soon after his departure, he felt like he was being followed, but put it down to his overwhelming fatigue.
Just as he got a particularly strong dose of the feeling, he tripped over a small rock, sending one of his tomatoes flying out of its sack.
"Shit," he cursed as he got off the ground and picked up the fruit. "Just my luck. Ruined." Suddenly, he whirled around, certain that he'd just heard someone scream the word "tomatoes." His anxiety doubled when he thought he saw a flash of movement by a nearby store entrance. The feeling he couldn't previously shake immediately dissipated.
"Calm down, Uchiha," he told himself. "You've just had a little too much of Naruto's stupidity today," he rationalized as he entered his home and put his tomatoes in he fridge. Once safe in his home, he relaxed almost instantly and rested for the rest of the substantially shortened day.
As soon as the idea had been formed, Sakura acted on it, running around purchasing the various items necessary to her plan's success.
"Let's see..." she began. "I'll need... one of these, one of these, some of this, and about a dozen of these!" she quickly bought the items and practically sprinted home.
"I'm glad that Kakashi-sensei let us out a bit early today... even if he's not technically our sensei anymore...now I have a little bit of time to start working on my fantastic plan!" Sakura silently thanked Kakashi for his unwitting kindness.
Upon her arrival at her modest home, she attached the hose nozzle she'd just bought to the hose, moistening the soil in her small yard for planting. Once that was finished to her satisfaction, she got on her knees and began making a dozen little holes with her new spade, filling each hole with a tiny tomato plant seed and covering it up again.
She stood back admiring her handiwork before remembering to spread the fertilizer she'd gotten over them to make them as good as they could be.
"Sasuke-kun will love my perfect, home-grown tomatoes!" Sakura assured herself. She quickly glanced at the sun. It was already nine o'clock, but the sun had just set on another summer day in Konoha. Giving a small sigh, Sakura rewarded her hard work with a light dinner and rest.
Over the next few months, the kunoichi faithfully watered and cared for the delicate plants every day between training with Tsunade, missions, and the occasional training session with Kakashi. After some time, the tomatoes were ready for their destination.
Finally, after all her hard work, it was the day she was going to visit Sasuke. Sakura sighed, remembering all she'd done for these plants, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't just blow her off, even though she was prepared for the worst.
Putting all fear of rejection in the back of her mind, the kunoichi put about a dozen tomatoes in her basket and headed out her door to finish this mission.
As she passed people on the street, she received a myriad of confused stares. After all, who skipped down the street with a basket full of tomatoes? Well, that wasn't going to get her down this day.
As she neared Sasuke's residence, she felt an edge of anxiety, but, determined to push though it, knocked lightly on Uchiha Sasuke's door.
When the dark-haired shinobi answered, Sakura lowered her head a bit with nervousness, but held out the fruits.
"Sasuke-kun, I grew these tomatoes myself. Please accept them... as a gift of friendship..." 'Or maybe more...' she thought to herself.
Sasuke wasn't surprised to see that it was Sakura that had knocked on his door, but he was surprised to see the basket she carried filled with his favorite food.
"Sasuke-kun, I grew these tomatoes myself. Please accept them... as a gift of friendship..." she said hurriedly and with her head tilted slightly downward.
"Hn," was all he could think of to say.
"Hn," came Sasuke's customary reply. Sakura faltered a little bit. She'd been prepared for this, but it still hurt.
"Well..." she started, "um... here. Just take them," she stammered as she forced the basket into his free arm, the other being occupied with the door.
"Have a nice day, Sasuke-kun. I have to go see Tsunade-sama now," she said as she turned to leave.
Sasuke felt the basket being shoved into his arm.
"Have a nice day, Sasuke-kun," she said, her head still down and hands now shaking a bit. "I have to go see Tsunade-sama now." She turned around and started to leave. Without really thinking about it, Sasuke reached out and grabbed her wrist, causing her to look at him unsteadily.
"Thank you, Sakura," he said as she smiled.
Yay, I'm done. I decided that tomatoes were fruits, choosing the happy yummy side on the veggie/fruit debate. And if you think that the time the sun sets in here is odd, it sets at that time here in the summer, just so you're not too confused if you live up north or something (I'm very ignorant of people in the Northern half of the country/world/what have you). If you liked it, please review. If you have constructive criticism, please review. If you just want to rant, go do it in your online journal.