A/N: So here's the last chapter! If you like this story feel free to check out Mixed Messages!
Now it's time for Sasuke to have a very annoying day...dun dun dun.
Annoying!
As Sasuke promptly left his home after the phone call with Kakashi he mentally went over his options on whom to go for help, then realized there was a slight problem...
He had never got around to remembering all the names of the other girls that Sakura spent her time with. He vaguely recalled a loud mouthed blonde, whom he planned to stay far, far away from. Even though the fangirl would have been the most helpful since she was Sakura's best frenemy. But no, he refused. He had his limits. There was also a brunette girl, a tomboy who was on Neji's team. He ruled her out immediately since he had absolutely no idea where she lived.
Thinking of Neji's team however, another, more reasonable alternative flashed in his mind. Neji's younger cousin, Hinata Hyuuga.
The shy and timid Hyuuga heiress would be the best bet he decided as he headed to the Hyuuga's large estate. It also helped that Hinata never once fawned or obsessed over him, as she was so obviously enamored towards Naruto.
Well, it was obvious to everyone else except the loud mouthed dobe.
Sasuke also hoped that her quiet nature meant that she would keep what he was about to do between themselves. If Naruto got word that Sasuke Uchiha needed help from a girl, the dobe would never let him hear the end of it. He scowled to himself at the thought as he arrived and stood in front of the door.
He raised his hand and pressed the doorbell. The chime echoed loudly in the house. A few moments later Sasuke could hear footsteps approaching the door.
'Don't let it be Neji.'
He didn't want to explain himself more than he needed to, especially to the other young prodigy, it was already a somewhat embarrassing situation enough as it was. The door opened quietly and to his silent relief it was Hinata who answered.
"A-ah?! G-good morning Uchiha-San!" Hinata greeted with a squeak, clearly shocked that he was there. The dark haired girl bowed slightly and offered him a small smile. "A-are you here to see Neji-nii-san?" She politely enquired.
'No way in hell.'
"Actually, I'm here to ask you about Sakura" Sasuke stated calmly. For a brief moment he swore he saw her eyes flicker in interest but it disappeared in an instant.
"W-what do you wish t-to know?" She asked softly. He chose his words carefully before he answered.
"As you're aware her birthday is today. I was told to get her a gift. Hence why I'm here." Was his roundabout way of asking for her help. Hinata nodded in understanding.
"I s-see. U-um let me think..." She trailed off, looking deep in thought as she pursed her lips. Sasuke waited patiently for several moments until she snapped out of her reverie.
"A h-headband!" She smiled, quietly pleased with herself.
"A headband?" He prompted, wondering why she had chosen that as her answer. Though he was secretly relieved she didn't say perfume or make up.
"Y-yes! I r-remember Sakura-chan telling me a few w-weeks ago that when your team had a mission in T-Tanzuku, you fought a bunch of thieves and she lost her favourite forehead p-protector headband and wasn't able to retrieve it." Hinata explained, "It was r-red." She added helpfully. He nodded as he processed the information.
"...Thanks." Sasuke uncharacteristically uttered much to Hinata's surprise as he took his leave.
When he was halfway to the shopping district he wondered what the other two males on his team would get Sakura. A sudden spark of competitiveness flared inside him. There was no way in hell he was going to lose to those two idiots. Especially the dobe.
But going by what Hinata said, his gift should hold more value over Kakashi and Naruto's gifts.
He smirked wickedly.
'This won't take long at all.'
-3 hours later-
Sasuke scowled deeply as he left yet another store that did not have the item he was searching for, much to his annoyance.
Seriously, how hard was it to find one headband?
As Sasuke entered the next store a bell chimed on top of the door to signal a customer entered. His dark eyes scanned the small clothing store as he walked around, trying to figure out where it would be. As he passed another rack of dresses, a man came from behind the counter to approach him, much to his ire. He found these types of store persons extremely annoying.
"Welcome! Welcome!" The man greeted, as he stood only a foot away from Sasuke. "Oho! What brings you here young man? Buying a gift for your girlfriend?" The merchant questioned cheerfully with a wink, he even had the gall to nudge him lightly. Sasuke bristled at the unwanted contact.
"No." Sasuke ground out immediately, resisting the urge to punch him, only because it was illegal to harm a civilian.
"Family member?" The merchant pressed on, oblivious to the deadly aura coming from the raven haired teen.
"No." He snapped.
"...For yourself then?" The man asked hesitantly with a strange smile on his face. Sasuke caught onto what the older man was implying, and sent him such a murderous glare the man finally became aware of the atmosphere and scurried to hide behind the counter, away from the young man's wrath.
Not finding anything remotely to what he was after, Sasuke sent the merchant one last withering glare then stalked out of the building to proceed to the next store, noting to himself to never visit that store again.
After a couple more hours passed, Sasuke was still searching. His slight annoyance had now become full blown irritation. His hands sporadically clenching into fists, wanting nothing more than to take out his frustrations on something. If only the dobe was around...
It must be some sort of severe test for his patience, one that he felt he was not going to win.
He guessed he could have given up and just picked something else, but it was out of pure unadulterated stubbornness that he continued his search for the elusive item. He will find it. And once he did, he would make sure that Sakura would never lose the damned thing again, even if he had to glue it on her head.
This was why he didn't buy gifts, it was so annoying!
As he was sifting through a box of head accessories in a different store, he sensed a disturbance around him.
He was being watched.
Onyx pupils darted up from his searching to find several overly curious sets of eyes, staring openly at him as they began to chatter loudly amongst themselves.
"Oh my gosh it's Sasuke-kun!"
He tensed, mentally cursing that they knew who he was.
"Kyaa! He's wearing casual clothes! So cool!"
"What's he doing in a shop like this?"
"He's buying something for me!"
"Or is he buying it for himself?" One girl asked skeptically.
"As if!" The rest of the fangirls screeched in unison.
His jaw ticked. If he heard one more person questioning his orientation, he was going to Chidori someone. Illegal or not.
'Just ignore it.' He mentally scolded himself, taking a deep breath to calm himself down as he headed to the exit.
Once Sasuke left the store it did not escape his notice that several sets of footsteps echoed closely behind him, signalling a few girls had followed him. Sasuke discreetly took longer strides, trying to act nonchalantly as possible as he continued the brisk pace. The footsteps behind him quickened.
'Shit.'
When he had passed two blocks of buildings he glanced behind them to see if they were still following.
Only to notice their numbers had increased. His eyes widened a fraction in exasperation.
'Where the hell did they come from!?'
"Sasuke-kun!"
He started running.
'So freaking annoying!' Turning into an alleyway he made several twists and turns down the narrow corridors as he came up with a plan. He swiftly masked his chakra, performing hand signs with practiced ease.
"Ehh!? Where did he go?!" Their voices were quite close.
"Shadow Clone Technique." The Uchiha whispered as he finished the last seal of the jutsu. A small plume of smoke appeared beside him which quickly dissipated to reveal a clone that looked exactly like himself. Not needing to relay his plan, the clone darted out of the alleyway and was soon spotted by the fangirls.
"Ah there!"
"Sasuke-kun! Come play with us!"
"Don't let him get away this time!"
The real Sasuke was now hidden on top of a nearby roof, glaring down at the girls who sprinted to try and keep up with his other self. He did not envy his clone. Jumping down he resumed his search, coincidentally enough, there was only one store left that he hadn't checked.
So when he did enter the store he fought the urge to laugh like a madman at the irony as something red caught his immediate attention on a nearby table.
Approaching the table, his hand grasped one of the ends of the headband-
-the same time another foreign hand snatched the other side of the item, an older woman. She tried tugging the headband towards herself.
No.freaking.way. There was no chance in hell he was going to relinquish his hold. Not after the type of day he has had to endure.
Besides, it would look so much better on Sakura.
"I saw it first!" The middle aged woman hissed, giving him a sour scowl that could rival his own. She had no idea who she was up against.
"Let go woman." Sasuke growled.
"How rude! You need to learn some manners!" She berated.
"I'm not going to repeat myself." He warned.
"No! It's mine!"
'I don't have time for this.' Sasuke thought irritably as he let his black pupils quickly turn red.
"Let go of it young man! Or I'll-!"
"Sharringan."
Her eyes instantly glazed over as she stared off into space. He smirked victoriously.
"U-um..." The cashier stuttered nervously, unsure of what to do in this type of situation. Approaching the employee, Sasuke pulled out several money bills from his wallet, placing them on the counter.
"Keep the change."
As he exited the store he noticed that the sky was starting to turn amber. How much time had passed? His hand darted into the pocket of his pants...
Only to notice his phone wasn't there, remembering belatedly that he left it on his bed.
He darted back into the store to check if it had a wall clock. It did.
The clock read 4:15.
He was late.
"...Shit!"
Sakura hadn't seen Sasuke at all today.
"Teme isn't answering his phone!" Naruto cursed from beside her, redialing Sasuke's number yet again with an irritated scowl, kicking a nearby rock.
The pinkette turned away from the blonde, trying to hide her disappointment by pretending to be interested in her surroundings. It was starting to get to her.
She had been so shocked when it was Naruto who arrived in front of Ichiraku first. Though knowing Naruto, he just wanted to eat ramen.
But still...if this were a mission meet up, it would have been Sasuke to have been the first person to show up.
Sakura wondered if he even remembered, it had been a busy week from them after all. And studying, especially for Ibiki's exams, took a lot out of a person.
Sighing to herself she rifled through her bag, retrieving her phone to check the time.
It was 4:15.
He was late.
A plume of smoke appeared in front of the duo revealing a silver haired man.
"Yo!" Kakashi cheerfully greeted as he raised one of his hands to wave, the other one holding one of his pervy books. Naruto openly gaped at the older man in horror.
"Kakashi arriving before someone else?! Holy crap the world is going to end! Sakura-chan I'm scared! Hold me!" Naruto cried, hugging the kunoichi to him like a teddy bear. Not realizing he was inadvertently crushing her from his tight grip.
"Baka!" Sakura wheezed out as she punched him, sending him sprawling to the ground. He groaned from the impact as she tried to regain her breathing.
"Ow..." The blonde whined, slowly getting up. "Stupid teme! Where is he?! I'm starving!" And true to his word his stomach let out a large grumble.
"You're always starving." Sakura muttered under her breath. He was like a bottomless pit!
"It's not polite to keep people waiting..." Kakashi commented idly, not looking up from his book.
"Like you should talk Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto accused. Kakashi placed his free hand over his chest, looking at Naruto like the blonde had kicked one of his ninja dogs.
"Why Naruto, I'm offended! It's not my fault that I was confronted by a-"
"Liar!" The blonde cut in, not believing the silver haired man for a second.
Sakura let out another sigh. As much as she wanted to keep waiting for Sasuke, she had a feeling she'd be standing out here all night. She quietly turned around to walk inside Ichiraku, her team mates quickly noticed her movement, and change in mood.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto called out hesitantly, "Do you want me to try to call teme again?"
She turned to give him a sad smile. "It's okay Naruto, he's probably busy and didn't want to come..."
"Are you sure Sakura?" Kakashi asked, concern evident in his low voice.
"L-let's go eat." She stuttered. Mentally cursing herself for acting like a crybaby.
She was not going to cry!
Naruto, not liking the sad atmosphere, decided to be the one to cheer it up, grabbing both of his team members by their arms, much to their protests, dragged them to the empty bar stools, conveniently leaving an empty seat beside Sakura, just in case. He sat between Kakashi and Sakura, waving towards Teuchi to take their orders. Naruto punched a fist into the air as he cheered.
"Alright! Let's eat! And Kakashi-sensei's gonna treat us!" Naruto grinned. Sakura rolled her eyes at his overzealous attitude.
"Since when was I paying?" Kakashi asked to no one in particular, then sighed in resignation as it would have been rude for Sakura to pay.
They placed their orders and while they waited, helped themselves to tea. Sakura sipped slowly on her tea, noting the bitter taste when Kakashi clapped his hands together to signal for their attention.
"While we wait for our orders do you want your presents Sakura?" He asked cheerfully.
"Um..." Sakura trailed off, not knowing if now was the time-oh who was she kidding!? She smiled slightly despite herself. "Sure."
"Me first! Me First!" Naruto shouted excitedly. Reaching into his jacket, he produced a card and held it out towards her. Curiosity piqued she plucked the card out of his hand, examining it closely before she let out a small laugh. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Guess you won't have to pay for my ramen now Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said, showing him the card that stated the next year's worth of ramen for her was now free. Typical Naruto.
"I wouldn't have minded paying for you Sakura, it's Naruto that I fear will drain my bank account. But! Here..." The silver haired man reached into the pouch resting on his hip, retrieving a small wrapped rectangular package. His visible eye crinkled as he smiled behind his mask while he handed Sakura what appeared to be a book. Sakura's eye twitched, she had a feeling she knew what was under the orange wrapping paper.
"You're such a perv Sensei!" Naruto instantly accused, thinking along the same thought Sakura was.
"This better not be what I think it is Kakashi-sensei..." The pinkette warned as she slowly, almost hesitantly, began to unwrap the gift.
The book revealed itself to be an in depth guide on how to identify and effectively use different types of healing herbs. Both Sakura and Naruto's mouths dropped open in shock.
"Oh wow! Thank you Kakashi-sensei! I can't wait to read it!" Sakura grinned, flipping over some of the pages.
"Woah, something that's actually useful!" Naruto chortled loudly.
"Give me some credit! I swear, teens have no respect these days..."
"Thank you for the gifts guys." Sakura said with a small grateful smile.
"Oh finally! The ramen is here!" Naruto hooted, not wasting a second as he started shoving noodles into his mouth. Kakashi's book was hiding his eating habits from view, yet again.
As they were preoccupied in eating, they didn't notice her smile turning sad again as her shoulders slumped. She idly poked at her food, not really feeling that hungry. Don't get her wrong, she was happy that she had Naruto and Kakashi there to celebrate beside her, really. But as she glanced to the unoccupied seat beside her, it reminded her of her aching heart...a massive empty space that could only be filled by Sasuke's presence.
After what felt like the most annoying and longest day of Sasuke's life, he finally saw Ichiraku come into view over the city's rooftops, where Team Seven was supposed to meet. Seeing nobody at first he thought that he missed the entire thing and felt like punching himself until he felt Sakura's chakra, frowning as he noticed that it wasn't as bright as it usually was, and by the feel of it, she was upset. A sense of guilt washed over him then was quickly replaced with resolve. He was going to do right by her.
His chakra was still masked, glad they weren't aware of his presence just yet as he jumped towards them.
Sasuke landed right behind her. Clearly seeing the slump in her shoulders, he frowned. Reaching out a hand to one of her shoulders he lightly grasped it to spin her around on her stool, hiding his other hand behind his back. Sakura squealed at the sudden movement, alerting the other two men as well. As soon as her eyes met his, her mouth parted in disbelief.
"S-Sasuke-kun!?" She gasped breathlessly, shocked that he was in front of her, if it weren't for his warm hand on her shoulder she would have mistaken him for an illusion.
Sasuke thrust out his other hand that was holding her gift out and dropped it on her lap. He hadn't bothered to wrap it up, it would have wasted more time. Her green eyes gazed at him a few seconds longer before they dropped towards her lap.
Sasuke heard her breath hitch and her large green eyes widened even further as she gently picked it up. He frowned slightly as her eyes began to tear up, did he mess up after all? She quickly blinked the tears away then lifted her head, giving him such a dazzling smile he forgot to breathe for a second.
"Y-you...This is...Sasuke-kun!" Sakura was at a loss of words, looking like she was close to tears again. The next thing he knew she had jumped out of her chair, wrapping her thin arms around his torso, giving a light squeeze. He froze.
Usually in this circumstance, he'd be pushing her away.
But since it was her birthday, and he was late...
He raised his arms to tentatively hug her.
He guessed he could allow brief physical contact a little longer.
Just this once.
"Happy birthday Sakura." Sasuke said quietly, not wanting the other two to hear him. He could feel her smile against his the fabric of his shirt.
The scent of cherry blossoms wafted up to his nose at their close proximity, it triggered an odd feeling inside his chest, but he tried to ignore it. Sakura was the first to break the embrace as she took a step back, a very noticeable blush adorning her face. He saw Naruto making a stupid face at him from behind her, he glared at the blonde, mentally telling him to shut up.
"Thank you so much Sasuke-kun. I love it." She smiled as she secured the protector behind her short pink locks. When she met his gaze again there was something very different in those emerald depths. She looked genuinely happy, but there was something else, it was a look that went beyond just a passing crush.
That wiped the frown right off of his face as continued to stare.
He wanted to look away, in fact he should have looked away, because from behind Sakura he could see not only Naruto, but Kakashi, waggling their eyebrows and making extremely stupid faces at him. Even if most of Kakashi's face was covered, Sasuke could just tell.
Sakura broke their gaze, blushing further as she sat down, motioning for him to take a seat. Sasuke obliged as she slid her bowl over towards him. He wasn't going to refuse, he was starving.
"By the way...you look like hell teme. What happened to you?" Naruto asked mischievously, wanting to annoy his best friend.
"Shut up dobe. I don't want to talk about it." Sasuke said tiredly, sending the blonde a glare before he went back to eating.
"Ah but now I really want to know!" Naruto whined. Sakura lightly hit the back of his head.
"Naruto just eat your ramen!" She ordered. He nodded vigorously as he wolfed down more noodles.
"Though don't overdo it please. I have bills to pay." Kakashi pleaded quietly, but he knew his pleas would go unheard.
They all sat in companionable silence as they ate. Well Sakura was drinking tea but stole a few bites from Sasuke's bowl. It was hers in the first place so he didn't complain.
After awhile Sasuke discreetly slid his gaze to look over Sakura's form.
He didn't know if it was the trick of the light or something else...
But he never realized until then just how pretty Sakura was, and stranger still...
He didn't find her annoying anymore.
End.
A/N:What a day huh? Don't worry, it will be better for Sasuke in Mixed Messages!
And done! I hope you liked it! Hopefully it wasn't too drawn out. If you have time to leave a review it would be greatly appreciated~
See you in the next story!
-KC