rating: K
disclaimer: i don't own naruto.
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35. dance
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"Please?"
His head gives a slight shake. "I'm an arm short."
Sakura's fingers clutch at his sleeve, the light melody of one of her favorite tunes gently blasting in the background. "Just for a bit. I'll even lead." The song is soft in volume, and it's as if the pit-pats of the rain outside doesn't even matter anymore. He looks quite unsure and she wouldn't have that. In a few seconds, Sakura coaxes him by resting his hand on her waist as one of her hands settle on his shoulder as the other rests lifts up his left sleeve as if pretending there is a hand to hold hers. "Just for a bit," she ends up repeating, and Sasuke can see the pleas in her eyes.
He concedes, if only to make her happy. She likes it when he makes her happy. "Fine."
In silence, she begins to shift them to the right—then steps back, then to the left. A waltz, she had chosen. Sakura thought he would prefer something else, perhaps casual, but the prospect of waltzing indoors (Sarada had informed her of a sleepover that same day) to her favorite slow tune during a rainy night just screams romantic to her and a part of her would like to experience it at least once in her life.
After what Sakura counts to be ten seconds—ten seconds of seeing dimmed moonlight reflect in his eye—she begins to chat, idly, "It's not so bad, is it?" His movements are refined as ever, like his movements on the battlefield: not too subtle or discreet, light and graceful on his feet. A part of her wonders if he had ever danced before. He doesn't seem like someone who does, let alone waltz.
His lone arm twirls her out. "No, it isn't." Sasuke twirls her back in.
"How did you learn to get the moves down? Doesn't seem like it's your thing," she tells him, somewhat skeptical, but then her eyes start to gleam in a teasing way that he could recognize it with ease. "Does it have anything to do with any old mission of ours?"
They had many missions: retrieving cats from tall trees, walking angry dogs, escorting arrogant figureheads, recon, babysitting—the list goes on. Maybe he had learned dancing as a prerequisite for something like an undercover mission, she thinks.
She can hear him inhale for a bit, thoughtfully. "My mother." His feet moves in accordance to hers as he talks. "When I was little and she was bored at home, sometimes she talked me into dancing with her."
He looks a bit wistful, and Sakura almost regrets asking him anything. "Was she good at it…?"
The silence is unlike the other kind from when they began their dance. "Not too sure," Sasuke finally says, looking like he would shrug had his hand not been occupied on her waist. "Hard to know when her dance partner barely reached her knees and I had to put my feet over hers so she could lead."
There's a slight curl of the corner of his lips, but Sakura isn't sure if it could count for a half-smile. "At least she didn't have to worry about her toes getting stepped on," she lightheartedly jokes to soften the atmosphere a bit. If he's this good now, then he might've been good when he was younger. He is a prodigy, but she supposes it's a testable title.
"I did the very time we started," he casually pipes in, twirling her again.
When he twirls her back in, she feels a little daring and leans her head on his chest. "That sounds devastating." She tries to imagine a young Sasuke stepping on his mother's toes—the thought is immediately branded as ridiculous and she doesn't think of it anymore, and she giggles. "Funny to envision it, though."
She watches him part his lips and say, "She told me something that day, after I did that."
"What?" There is pressure on her head, and she doesn't have to check to know it's his chin. She half-heartedly assumes it was something about how clumsy he was, even if it is hard to imagine Uchiha Sasuke being clumsy. "That you had two left feet?" she has to tease.
"That, and—" Sakura can feel the hand around her waist wrap around her tighter. "—to dance my best when I find someone to share my life with."
Her heart nearly explodes and her cheeks are prettily red like her dress. "I-I see…" There's a thump and another thump, then another and another, and she wishes that it could somehow stop before she embarrasses herself.
It has always been her who gave him attention and love—Sakura's always greeted him with smiles, and it's always her who initiates the hand holding. It's always been that way when they had first met; Sasuke gets all of her undying attention. Sometimes, she forgets that they're husband and wife—he's always off and she's always just here that it sometimes doesn't feel that way, but her feelings for him never fades and that's how she faithfully waits.
But even so, Sakura still feels like a teenager, love-struck and dumb, whenever Sasuke does something to surprise her.
"So," he murmurs into her hair lowly. "You should let me lead this time."
The music had been trailing off, but then it seems to start all over again. Sakura stirs a little back to reality. She had forgotten the song was placed on repeat. "You sure?" Lulled by the warmth of his embrace, she didn't notice they had both stopped.
The rain continues to fall.
"I insist."
"Go ahead then."
He starts off strong, feet gliding in perfect strides and she follows along nearly harmoniously. "What about you?" he asks after a while, and she thinks he's trying to indulge her because he knows that she loves small talk.
Sakura hadn't bothered to move her head, enjoying the feel of the fabric of his vest against her cheek. "What about me?" she softly goes to ask.
"How did you learn how to dance?" He twirls her again.
She smiles as she twirls back in. "Would you believe it if I told you that I tried to take a few dance lessons when I found out I was going to attend the Academy?"
Fondly, she recalls Mebuki ardently telling her that if she wanted to become a ninja, then she must learn to develop some grace and poise—and what better way could she do that than to learn how to dance and be nimble on her feet? Kizashi had been lenient. He guffawed and reassured Sakura that she would be a great shinobi in the future whether she took those lessons or not, but he promptly shut up when Mebuki heavily insisted on dance lessons. Sakura, herself, had been somewhat hesitant, but she did wish to improve on her grace definitely.
"I do," Sasuke nonchalantly answers her, shifting them to the left.
She nearly pouts because is she really that predicta—
"You're really good, that's why."
"You and your two left feet were better than me, probably," she retorts not seriously at all, then rolls her eyes a bit. "I stumbled a lot at first. I kept falling and then my mom embarrassed me at the sidelines."
He leans the side of his face against her hair. "You improving mattered more."
"We both improved," Sakura chimes, slowly maneuvering her head a bit for comfort.
Then there is silence. They continued to sway idly at the music, and Sakura closes her eyes as Sasuke press a kiss to her head. And the rain continues to fall.
