Chapter 5 – How Could I Forget?
With it being just the two of them, there was no drama.
There was none of that childishness or pathetic behaviour that he often saw in other couples. Once or twice (more like ten times), Sasuke had witnessed a couple getting into an argument about one thing or another and it really pissed him off. He didn't want to hear about their problems, especially when they were tiny in comparison to other problems people were facing.
That was why he liked being with Sakura. She understood that about him. She knew how much it angered him, so would never try anything like that.
In all honesty, Sakura didn't have to do anything to gain his attention.
And Sasuke knew that he could trust her feelings for him because they had never changed. They'd known each other since mere days after his birth, even though they obviously couldn't remember. In all that time, through all the ups and downs and everything else life had thrown at him, not once had Sakura's feelings ever wavered for him.
Aside from Itachi and maybe Naruto and Shisui, Sakura was one of few he could trust.
Handing out his trust wasn't easy for him. Actually, it was damn near impossible and only became more so after the death of his parents.
It was… nice that he didn't have to worry about much. Sakura would never hurt him or betray him. Her feelings weren't going to change any time soon and, if Sasuke had his way, they never would.
His mother had often joked about how he and Sakura could be like an old married couple at times. She was always saying that she wouldn't be surprised if he one day approached her with the news of their engagement. Perhaps it was a little too much for a ten year old boy, but his mother had always been an intense woman.
However, now that Sasuke had grown and matured… He could see it, too. There were so many things about Sakura that he'd never noticed before. Her beauty, for one. Sure, he'd always known she could be attractive if she put the effort into her appearance, but now it was like Sakura didn't even have to try.
There was also her intelligence. One thing Sasuke absolutely despised was not being able to have an intelligent conversation with someone – he grew tired of them after mere seconds. With Sakura, though, he could have that conversation. She knew what she was talking about and had even managed to outsmart him on several occasions! No other girl, besides his mother, had been able to do that. It was so refreshing.
A knock on his bedroom door gained his attention, but because he knew who it was already, he simply muttered, "Come in" instead of getting up to properly greet them.
"Sakura is downstairs," Itachi informed him as he opened the door. "She has a surprise for us both."
A surprise? And when the hell had Sakura arrived? They'd made plans, of course, but usually she would text him before turning up. What happened?
Forgetting about his textbooks, Sasuke got up from his desk and followed Itachi out of the bedroom. Working hard and making sure he passed every single subject at school was incredibly important to him, because he knew it was what his father would have wanted. Sasuke didn't want to disappoint him in any way, shape or form. Failing a single lesson, exam or assignment would mean he had disappointed him.
As expected of Sakura, she was lounging around on the sofa, flicking through the channels on the television until he made his presence known. Well, more like Itachi did as he took the remote from her hand and switched off the television, but whatever.
"Are you going to fill us in now, Sakura?" questioned Itachi with a raised brow. "You asked me to find Sasuke, as there is something you must show us."
Sasuke frowned.
Green eyes brightened as Sakura shot up from the sofa and grabbed one of Itachi's hands, reaching for his own a second later. He didn't make a fuss of it. Her hand felt warm and soft and so very small compared to his own.
"Okay, so I know it's a week before my birthday and all-"
Wait, what?
He hid his look of shock as Sakura pulled him and Itachi out of their home and onto the drive. Sakura's birthday was in less than a week and he had forgotten. How could that have happened? He never forgot anything like that! And this year Sakura was going to be turning sixteen years old, meaning she would have been nagging on and on about her birthday and how she was-
A bright red car stood out sharply on his driveway and Sasuke felt his breath leave him.
Already?
"You shouldn't be driving this yet, Sakura."
She grinned and released Sasuke, wrapping her small arms around Itachi's waist and pressing the side of her face to his chest. "Come on, Itachi!" Sakura whined playfully. "Don't suck the fun out of this."
It was a decent car for a girl – for Sakura, should he say. Leaving the two behind, Sasuke walked up to the car and inspected it closely, even going as far as to opening the door and sitting inside to see how it appealed to him. It was okay. His own car was much, much better, but he wouldn't say that to her since the car was clearly a precious gift to her.
However, Itachi was right. Sakura shouldn't be driving until after she had passed her driving test – something she couldn't take until she was sixteen. Why her parents had given her the car early, he would never know.
"Look how pretty it is!" Sasuke heard her continued whining. He was tempted to shut the door to block out the sound, but refrained from doing so.
"It doesn't matter how pretty it is. You have not passed your test."
"But-"
"Do not argue with me on this."
Glancing over at the pair, Sasuke found himself feeling vaguely amused by Sakura's expression. She was puffing her cheeks out and scrunching her nose up, looking very much like a scolded, angry child. Itachi, in response, stared her down seriously and Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes. Surely Sakura would have learned by now that hell would freeze over before Itachi backed down from anything? Nobody could win against him.
Okay, maybe Shisui could, but that didn't really count.
Shisui was like their older brother and had always had both of their backs, but had obviously had Itachi's a lot longer than his. Like with himself and Sakura, Shisui had been there since Itachi was only days old and had continued to be there for him, filling in the big brother role without even thinking about it. Over the years, it had been a great source of comfort and support for his older brother, who'd had so much pressure piled on top of him.
Anyway! What had he been worrying about? Oh, Sakura's birthday. Shit. What was he supposed to do now? Last year he'd gotten her… What had he gotten her again? He could remember what Itachi and Naruto bought her, because the latter's gift had her laughing for a while and the former's had her squealing with happiness. Had his done that? Sasuke wasn't so sure that it had.
Usually all he did was accompany her on one of Sakura's shopping trips and during it, he would buy her something that she really wanted, even though she could buy it for herself. What had it been last year?
It annoyed him that he couldn't remember.
Shrugging it off, he climbed out of the car and shut the door behind himself. It was probably something like a bracelet or a necklace. Maybe even a bottle of perfume.
And as he re-joined the two, Sasuke pushed the thought to the back of his mind, deciding to worry about it later. What mattered now was keeping Sakura from attacking Itachi and getting her ass kicked by him, since she was growing more and more annoyed with him by the second. He couldn't blame her, really. When he first received his car, Sasuke had wanted nothing more than to drive it all the time.
"Come, Sakura," Itachi sighed, clearly realising it was a waste of time and breath arguing with her. "I will drive you home."
"But then how will you get back-"
"It is a walk that takes ten minutes, at most. I will be fine."
"Fine," Sakura also sighed, but then clutched the keys tightly in her hand. "But can I drive?"
"No."
"But-"
It never ended with them, did it? They truly were like brother and sister. Itachi was the overprotective older brother and Sakura was the annoying little sister who got angry whenever something didn't go her way.
"You'll be in the car with me!" argued Sakura. "And I'll drive safely! Please?"
"Sakura-"
"You let Sasuke!" Oh, so that was her trump card? How weak. "You've been teaching Sasuke how to drive for months now and you let him drive if you're in the car with him. Why can't I?"
She had a point, in all fairness. Sasuke looked between them, wondering how the conversation would end. Would Itachi be swayed by her words? He highly doubted it. Itachi never backed down from anything, not even Sakura could–
"On one condition."
Wait, what?
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"You can drive to the highway and back to your home, but only if you keep to the limit."
And then he winced at Sakura's answering squeal of happiness.
It was official. He gave up with trying to figure out how she managed to sweet talk Itachi.
Sasuke always knew that Uzumaki Naruto had his uses.
There was no need to worry about how to approach the subject of Sakura's birthday with the blond, because he was already in panic mode about it. The second he'd realised what the date was and what it meant for next week, Naruto had more or less dragged Sasuke to the large shopping mall Sakura often frequented.
He despised the place.
It had too much going on all at once and it never failed to give him a headache. Music blared from every single store, their words blending together and becoming impossible to tell a part. Smells violated his nose from the cafeteria on the ground above the one they were currently walking along and if they looked up, they could see parts of the floor where people were eating. The floor was marble, but the balcony that gave that level a view of downstairs, was made of glass. To go with it was the expected screaming children and ridiculous gangs who thought they were all badasses.
"Shit, Sasuke, what're we gonna do?" whined Naruto. He folded his arms behind his head and made a beeline for a specific store. Sasuke merely followed wordlessly and gave his best effort not to be touched by anyone, since he was a guy who needed his personal space. "Sakura-chan's birthday is in three freaking days!"
Like he needed reminding.
His… Wait, was Sakura his girlfriend, or not?
It didn't matter.
Whatever she was to him, she had a superficial streak, so for the past few days, all Sasuke had been hearing was "What've you got me, Sasuke-kun?" or "Is it a surprise?" which kind of made it impossible to have a decent conversation with her. Every now and then, Sakura would ask a smartly worded question and if it weren't for the lilt in her voice (it was such a giveaway and made her so easy to read), then Sasuke would have had no idea that she was dropping hints about her present, wanting nothing more than to find out what it was.
What could he get her?
It had to be something she wanted, because Sakura also had a brat-ish side to her, too. On more than one occasion, he'd been made to sit through a rant of hers. She would be going off about how useless a specific gift was to her and saying things such as "What the hell were they thinking, buying me this?" and so on. It annoyed him, sure, but Sasuke simply went along with it.
What could he get her?
The pressure was on, that was for sure.
Already he and Naruto had visited seven stores and even though the blond kept picking random novelty items up and buying them, Sasuke had been unable to find anything.
He didn't want it to be like all the previous years, where he couldn't even remember what he'd bought for her. This year had to be special for three reasons. The first was obviously because it was her sixteenth. The second was because this was the start of new (and hopefully incredible) things for them both. The final reason was because Sasuke couldn't find the words to express how grateful he was for her presence over the past few years. She'd been there for him even when he had pushed everyone away and refused to leave him alone. Even when he was such a dick to her, Sakura had still had his back and stood by his side almost protectively during his parents' funeral and all the times before and after it.
Without her… He'd be lost.
It was terrifying how much she meant to him, so Sasuke did his best to shove the feelings away and pretend that they didn't exist. It was what he was best at! Now, however, they were there and they demanded his attention. They demanded that he did something about his feelings before it was too late.
It was with that thought that Sasuke turned to leave the store with a single chuckle, ignoring Naruto as the blond yelled after him and shook his fist.
Gifts were material items.
What he wanted to give her, had to come from the heart.