DISCLAIMER: I don't own it, okay?

A/N: Well, as promised, I made a happy one. Well, it's a slightly-happy one. Or, at least one with a happy ending anyway. Please review. It would really make me happy. XD

CRUMPLED

Sasuke just got back from a long and trying mission, silently grumbling to himself. The mission was just too long and he was pretty sure that it was quite impractical to send just one man to do it. And he wondered if the Hokage deliberately trying to kill him – perhaps to free Sakura from his grasp? Maybe – he surely wouldn't put it past that old hag – yes, she was probably doing it on purpose. He had been to three consecutive S-class missions, each mission taking a month to complete. Thankfully, he was an Uchiha, and he sustained only minor injuries.

And it was exactly those thoughts which he voiced out to the Godaime when he gave his mission report.

In reply, he had gotten a curt "Serves you right Uchiha, you don't treat her well enough."

And in return, he had given the Hokage a rude glare.

To which, the Hokage sighed sadly and said, "Just get her something nice before you go home. She deserves a lot more from you. No, let me rephrase that, she deserves a lot more than you. It's really the least you can do."

He really had no intention of doing what the Hokage advised him to do. But as he passed by one of the Hyuuga's flower patches, he saw a bunch of Hyacinths that were blooming quite nicely. Thinking that it really wouldn't be too bad to give Sakura something and that he would be making the Hyuuga garden 'less beautiful', he deftly clipped a clump of Hyacinths from their stem with a Kunai and shoved them into his pocket. After all, he didn't want to be seen holding flowers. But that in itself was an irrational thought, the whole village hated him anyway, so what would something like this mar his reputation even worse?

When he got home, he took one look at the wall clock. It was 7:30. He figured that she would be cooking dinner by now and so, he made his way into the kitchen. His wife had her back turned to him, and she seemed to be oblivious to his arrival. In fact, she was so sure that nobody was watching her that she was singing and shaking her hips. He raised a slender brow at the comical sight and the much more comical sound; he never knew that Sakura's singing was out of tune. If he was 'normal', he'd have laughed at how poor a singer she was. But he wasn't normal, far from it, and so he merely shook his head and coughed a bit to alert her of his presence.

Her reaction was priceless. The vegetables she had been sautéing had all flown up into air and then dropped to the floor, her apron and his ANBU uniform got all stained with the reddish sauce that she was making, and – her… her cheerful manner had vanished in an instant, only to be replaced by a timid and apologetic one.

"Sasuke-kun, you're home. I'm glad you're safe." – that sounded a bit too 'routine'.

"Uhm… Gomen, let me help you clean up. I'm sorry I'm such a klutz. Sorry. Uhm… it won't happen again and well, gomen. Please don't be angry. Gomen gomen."

"Sakura", he cut her off. He opened his mouth to say something but closed them promptly when he realized that he had nothing to say. Sakura had her head bowed and she was determined not to meet his gaze. It unnerved him that her mood had changed from 'happy' to 'sad' the moment she saw him. Did he really upset her that much? And why was she apologizing? It wasn't like he was going to punish her for something as mundane as staining his uniform – did she think he would? Was she that unhappy with him?

He remembered what Tsunade said about Sakura deserving more than him. His thoughts eventually led to the bunch of flowers he had in his pocket.

He reached into his pocket to retrieve the flowers and was slightly surprised that his palms were sweaty. Was he nervous? It was, after all the first time he would give her something. He took the flowers out and was quite dismayed to see them all crumpled up. He had this nagging thought that everything he had to offer her was 'all crumpled up' too.

"Gomen, they got crumpled.", and he got the feeling that what he was saying shouldn't be taken in a 'literal' sense at all.

Sakura, who had her head bowed, looked up at him in astonishment and her jaw literally dropped. Apparently, she couldn't believe that he had done something 'nice'. She promptly recovered from the blatant display of shock, and mumbled an incoherent 'thank you' before bowing her head again in a futile attempt of hiding her blush.

But those few moments were enough for him to see the spark that came into his wife's eyes. He had made her happy. It was such an alien feeling. He was so accustomed to making her sad that he had forgotten how it felt to make her happy. Even if his flowers were 'all crumpled up', she could still appreciate them. And he was grateful for that.

That night, before he went to sleep, Sasuke saw Sakura place the flowers lovingly into a shoe box and smiling wistfully before climbing into bed with him. He reckoned that she looked rather pretty wearing a smile. And it was then that he realized that he was smiling too.

He went to sleep with a new resolution – he would make her smile more often.