notes: modified this and fixed the typos! (12/28/2018)
rating: K
disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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12. roses
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Sarada once remember her Aunt Ino explaining to her that flowers—all of them—have a specific, special meaning behind them. There exists more about a flower behind its colored petals and stem if one would just find the time to dig deeper. When Aunt Ino lends her a book from her shelf to indulge little Sarada, she already cracks it open the moment it was entrusted into her hands, the unique smell of book paper basks on Sarada's nose and inside her nostrils.
She'd read it for a few minutes, only looking up from the pages and to see that an hour or so had passed rather than the fifteen minutes she'd envisioned. Ino had pondered, for some time, if giving her that book was a good idea; last thing she needed was a raging Sakura pounding her door down. But the more she observes Sarada's delighted eyes and awestruck lips, the more Ino felt that maybe she had just opened a brand new perspective for her.
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( i. pink )
Sarada lurks behind the huge stack of presents after she gave Sakura a congratulatory hug. Sakura's other friends and family does the same and offer her smiles for her birthday, but Sarada merely uses the commotion to scope. Aunt Ino had allowed Sarada to keep her flower book after seeing how Sarada was attached to it ("Sure, you can keep it! I can always buy another one. Just take good care of it, okay?") and it wasn't like Ino didn't already owned about a good chunk—93%—of all the botany-related books Konoha had to offer.
Aunt Ino offers Sakura a rose, promptly making Sarada turn to her bookmarked page of the book. Aunt Ino releases Inojin's hand to lean forward and hug her longtime best friend, and gives Sakura a vast grin—Ino proceeds to walk away to bring Inojin to where the other children were playing at, sans Sarada, of course. Nobody seemed to be curious of her whereabouts; maybe Boruto told people that she felt like she was too cool for birthday parties, which she laughs at a lot—let her be damned if she missed her own Mama's birthday. Sarada scoffs momentarily before reading the meaning of Aunt Ino's rose to her mother, which glows an innocent bright pink.
(Pink roses—a token of appreciation and admiration.)
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( ii. white )
As she walks around aimlessly through the streets of Konoha, Sarada stops to hide behind a tree near Ichiraku because she knows if she walked any further, she would've interrupted a sweet moment. She peeks out an eye to see the Nanadaime, Uzumaki Naruto, grinning as if the sun was a piece of him as he gives his wife, Uzumaki Hinata, a certain flower that sparks Sarada's knowledge-loving mind. Noting that Boruto and Himawari were by Naruto's side, Sarada reels herself back a little.
Before Sarada could read its significance, Naruto guffaws aloud, heartily and cheerily, as his arm slips around his wife's shoulders appreciatively. Hinata, with pink colors prettily at her cheeks, slips the flower behind her ear before she runs—almost apprehensively—after Himawari, whose arms were flailing and flailing as she runs to the direction of the Hyūga compound. Boruto sighed, exasperatedly, as if he were embarrassed whilst Naruto casually chuckles, grabbing his son's hand before going off on a slight sprint to catch up.
Sarada could hear Boruto's complaints, but she could hardly focus on it as she reads her book.
(White roses—a perfect way of saying "I'm thinking of you.")
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( iii. orange )
"Hey Himawari!" Sarada hears Boruto bellow, and she grumbles to herself how he has the energy to sound so loud. "I have something for you!"
"What—" Himawari speaks back, putting down her doll to regard him with wide inquisitive eyes. "—is it, onii-chan?"
Normally, Sarada doesn't care about what the Uzumaki siblings did, but she—yet again—looks into Aunt Ino's book for an answer she wants to her question when she saw what was in Boruto's hand. She hears Himawari reply to her brother with a jubilant "Thank you!" and tackled him when Sarada hears him grunt rather loudly from her impact.
Though, Himawari tells Boruto with a small grin, "But I think it suits you too." Nonetheless, her petite hands slip the flower into her hair and for a moment, she pauses before she stands up, fingers picking at the edge of her sundress. A twirl and another twirl, Himawari grins almost dreamily. "Now I feel like a princess!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Boruto pouts at her other statement when his little sister stands on her tip-toes to ruffle his hair messily, which he had to tackle her back for.
(Orange roses—symbolizing enthusiasm, passion, gratitude, they are the wild child of the rose family.)
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( iv. yellow )
When Sakura buys a rose after she bought her groceries, Sarada tilts her head at her, but stays quiet when her Mama strays from the usual path home and steps into a familiar place filled with flowery goodness.
Inojin looks up from his conversation with ChouChou and Shikadai to greet Sarada with a small wave, as did the other two, and resumes their conversation. Being polite as she was taught, Sarada allows herself to nod in his direction. She'd wished to join them, but she knew she has limited time here and had to go with her Mama to help put away the groceries and start on lunch. Seemed too bad; it seemed like ChouChou was offering samples of a new flavor of chips she'd bought.
"Hey, Ino-pig!"
(Sarada once questioned her Mama's habit of calling Aunt Ino that nickname, but all Sakura told her was, "It's an affectionate thing we had since childhood!")
"Forehead, why did you give me a flower when you know I run a flower shop?" Aunt Ino inquires as she raises an eyebrow and she leans forward on the counter, idly twirling Sakura's gift in her fingers, an unspoken challenge sparking in her eyes.
"Ha ha," Sakura dryly laughs (Sarada wonders if some of her Papa's dry humor rubbed off on her) and waves a dismissive hand. "You know what day it is, right, Ino-pig?"
"Oh? It was a special day today?" Even Sarada could hear the fake obliviousness in her voice, and Sarada flinches when her Mama glares at her aunt. "Yeah, yeah, I know," Aunt Ino laughs, freely exposing her amusement. "Today's the day when we first met!"
"Exactly. So here, I picked this up on the way here." Sarada did't even notice her Mama buying that—after all, people bought flowers here and not elsewhere.
"Gee thanks, I'll be sure to add this to my collection of many, many roses."
"Why do I bother with you sometimes?"
"Because you obviously love me too much?"
"Ha ha."
Ino lightly whacks her on the arm and then pokes her shoulder with a finger. "You've been around Mr. Grumpy Pants for too long."
"Well he is my husband..."
(Yellow roses—they are a traditional symbol of friendship, a perfect way to say thanks or just, "Hey, thanks for being you.")
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( v. red )
Sarada's eyes never budged a bit when she witnesses her beloved Papa handing her beloved Mama a rose—its deep vermilion hue instantaneously attracts Sarada as if she were a hummingbird.
Sakura, with cheeks tinged pinker and lighter than the flower, smiles and smiles some more, letting Sasuke see the stars in her eyes. Sasuke allows her to hug him, wraps her arms around and clutch at the back of his cloak as her face buries into his chest, and he, in return, would let his chin rest upon her head as he inhales. From her perch outside the window, Sarada continues to watch—Sasuke whispers something to Sakura and even though her Papa's back is to her and blocking her Mama's face, she can make out the briefest movement of Sakura's shoulders. Practically the sun was engraved on her smile as Sakura finally cants her head up, meeting her husband's face with love and adoration as if she'd found the moon to her sun, the night to her day.
Finding the moment much too intimate, Sarada gives them some privacy, quietly tiptoeing off as Sakura had gripped onto Sasuke's collar, lips ready awaiting. Once far enough, she hastily turns to the rose section of Aunt Ino's book and presses her fingers along the page until she found her answer.
(Red roses—a way to say "I love you.")
