title: love month
prompt: SASUSAKU MONTH ON LJ!
rating: T-M
summary: oo5; "What's a pretty girl like you doing all by yourself in the rain?" In which a stranger gives her an umbrella, and she meets that stranger again. As her teacher.
.oo5.
Umbrella
"What's a pretty girl like you doing out in the rain?"
Sakura, her eyes teary and red, looked up at the asker. He was a handsome man, at least twenty or maybe even twenty-one, and he held his own umbrella over her sopping wet head.
(Not that it mattered, because she literally looked like she jumped in a swimming pool. A few more drops wouldn't hurt, right?)
"Ah," she croaked out, her voice hoarse from crying and from shivering. "It's nothing."
Suddenly, the man took her hands out from her pockets and shoved the umbrella into her small, slightly-blue fists. He also unwrapped his blue scarf from around his neck and put it securely around her, giving her a small smile as he patted her shoulder.
"You shouldn't cry. You're too pretty to cry. It makes my heart ache knowing that someone like you is suffering."
He gave her a small smirk as he turned to leave, his own body becoming cold and soaked. Sakura, just realizing what had just happened, shouted out. "Wait—" she began. The man turned around, his dark hair dripping, and, for some reason, Sakura forgot about everything and was sure that she fell in love for this stranger.
"Hn?"
"What's your name?"
The man smirked again, walking back to her as he leaned down and whispered in her ear.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
Then, in the blink of an eye, he disappeared on the 4:00 train going to the middle of nowhere. Sakura, feeling her flushed face, dropped the umbrella.
She wasn't dreaming.
The rain slowly stopped.
.
.
.
Sakura always kept the umbrella with her on rainy days, and made sure it was safely in her possession. She also placed the scarf in a safe place, hoping that nobody but her would touch it.
Sometimes, for pleasure, she would open the dresser drawer, take it out, and sniff it, sighing. It smelled just like him, when his wet bangs were dripping on her shoulder to whisper his name.
"Will I ever meet him again?" Sakura sighed as she fell back onto her bed with Sasuke's scarf in her hands. "It seemed just like a fairytale…"
And, looking back, it kind of was: Sakura had just been dumped by her boyfriend. Without knowing what to do next, she ran off to the train station (she had already told her parents that her now-ex would be driving her home) to catch the ride home, cried for an hour or so, causing people to stare at her, had thoughts about jumping into the rails and hoping the pain would end, and, even worse, it started to rain.
It wasn't the type of rain that ended in about ten minutes. It was die-hard pouring rain, as in, the power went out in nearby houses and thunder was everywhere, along with some wicked monsoon that nearly took the trees off their roots.
Then, her savior came. Tall, dark, and handsome, with a stunning personality to match.
Plus, he called her pretty.
Now that was a compliment, coming from somebody like him. Sakura took another whiff of her drug, sighing as she counted the stick-on constellations on her ceiling.
"But I'm so young…"
.
.
.
"Sakura, did you hear?"
"What?" Sakura had come to school the next day, convincing herself that she was over her ex and made sure she walked the halls tall and proudly.
"We got this really, really hot TA. I mean, he's seriously hot. If I weren't lesbian, I'd totally go for him."
Sakura, knowing that her friend was die-hard for girls, knew that he must've been absolutely beautiful.
There was a group of students around something, as if somebody got hurt. Instead, she saw a tall man in glasses chuckling at a few jokes and talking to the students with great curiosity.
"Holy…" Sakura raised a hand up to her mouth. Her friend, peering over to look at her, asked, "What's wrong? Not what you expected?"
Something like that. Sakura immediately felt sick and turned on her heel, racing for the girls' bathroom, locking herself in a stall and gagging on the vomit that wouldn't come out.
He's my "teacher…"
Every time she thought of that, she would become sick again and feel tears coming out of her eyes.
"I wanted to meet him again, but not like this. Not as my teacher. Anybody but that…"
.
.
.
"Hi, everyone. My name's Uchiha Sasuke. I'm just a substitute for Hatake-sensei on his paternity leave, but when he comes back, I'll be your teacher's assistant. I trust that we won't have many problems…and if we do, well. We'll just deal with them when we get there."
Sakura saw that all the girls were swooning over her savior, but bit her lip to keep from talking out. The guys were enviously eyeing him, others admiring him.
"So, right now, I'm going to take roll call. Please say 'here' if you're here." With this innocent expression, some of the students chuckled. Sakura rolled her eyes. They were so immature.
"Hyuuga Neji?"
"Hn."
"Hyuuga Hinata?"
"H-Hai."
"Nara Shikamaru?"
"Zzz…"
"I'll take that as a here. Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Here, and handsome!"
"Sit down, blondie. Yamanaka Ino?"
"Haiii!" she squealed. He had gotten through nearly everybody, except for Sakura, who was ducking behind a book in hopes that he wouldn't recognize her from her crying face and her pink hair.
"Sensei, you missed Haruno-san." Hinata, the goody-two-shoes (Sakura of course, loved her, but sometimes she wished that she could just show Hinata through secret signals to shut up). Sakura peeked over her book, wishing that Sasuke could have an expression change (did he remember her?). Instead, he remained cool and calm.
"Haruno Sakura…aa, sorry, I did miss that," he said, going down the list of names, as if nothing was wrong. "My bad."
Sakura's heart broke.
.
.
.
Two weeks and still no sign of Sasuke having any memories of Sakura. Perhaps it was better if he didn't remember her. After all, a student and a teacher having relations outside of the academic standpoint…what would everybody else think?
She would only be doing him, her, and the school harm, anyway. More people would be hurt than benefit from it.
"It's getting cold out," Sakura murmured as she stared out the window, looking at the small bits of frost creeping up on the glass. In her bag, she took out Sasuke's scarf, still with his scent, and fisted it tight. She wanted to go up to the passing Sasuke, who was answering questions about schoolwork "Sensei, can you help me with my math?" "No, sensei, I need help in English!" "Sensei!" and wave the scarf in his face. Honestly, she wanted to punch him in the jaw and say, "DO YOU REMEMBER THIS? DO YOU REMEMBER ME?"
Instead, she passed by silently, not knowing that Sasuke's eyes followed her all the way until she turned.
.
.
.
"It's raining."
There was an announcement on the loudspeaker from Sarutobi. "Students, please stay calm. We have a small monsoon, but there is nothing to be afraid of. If you have a cellular device, please call your parent or guardian to come pick you up. We cannot teach in this weather due to the power outage. Stay inside until you receive further notice. Thank you."
The loudspeaker clicked silent, and students began to talk loudly between each other.
"Kyaa! I'm scared of thunder!"
"Sensei, please hold me. I don't want to die!"
"PARTY!" This, of course, came from Naruto, who tried to make the best of a bad situation.
Many students pulled out their cells and began to call their parents. "Mom, can you pick me up?"
"Dad, can you get me?"
"Bitch, you better be on that motorcycle with an extra helmet for me!"
Sakura was probably the only student without a phone, and just sat in her desk in the dark, hoping for the storm to pass and that the ruckus would quiet down. She folded her hands and held back the tears that were threatening to fall.
Every time it rained, she would always think of Sasuke and that rainy day.
It was an exact replay of the first time they had met, where he had given her his scarf and umbrella and then left without a word.
Hours passed, and soon, students left, until all there was was only Sakura, still sitting at her desk, and Sasuke.
"Do you have a ride?" he asked her from across the room. He was packing up his things and was ready to go home.
"Yeah," she lied through her teeth and tears. "They're coming soon."
"It's been four hours, Haruno-san. If they're not coming, I'll just have to wait with you longer."
He made it sound like he didn't want to stay with her.
"Then just go! Go, damnit!" Her voice began to crack and raised to a shrill pitch. "I'll be fine by myself." Sakura blinked, feeling the tears drip down onto her hand. She saw that Sasuke was approaching her, and she turned away in embarrassment.
"Sakura…" he murmured, looming over her and having his lips against her ear. Just like before.
"Please, just…just leave me alone."
His hand was on her shoulder. "Listen to me, alright?"
She turned around, and with a quick motion, slapped him. He stood there in silence for a second, and Sakura, realizing what she had just done, didn't say anything. She looked at her hand in disgust and took her things, attempting to leave the room while he was still in a frozen state.
Sasuke grabbed her wrist and held her tight to his warm body. Sakura stiffened.
"Mm, what are you—" she struggled against him.
"Ever since we first met, all I could think about was you. And when I found out that you would be one of my students…" Sasuke sighed. "You don't know how much pain I was in. You were so mature, so innocent, and so beautiful…there was no way you could have been so young. In my eyes, you were a woman."
Sakura softened in his tight grip on her. She continued to listen to him.
"When I saw you crying, my heart broke for this sad girl. I wondered who made her like this and saw her crying alone in the rain by herself. Someone once said that they loved the rain, because nobody could tell when they were crying."
Sakura wanted to say something, but he kept on going.
"I gave her my umbrella and my scarf and told her my name without knowing hers. And I hoped to meet the girl with pink hair again and again. But instead, she became somebody I had to like from afar. I wonder if she still remembered me."
Pulling away, Sakura looked at his chest, embarrassed to look up. "I…wow."
"Yeah."
Wiping her tears away, Sakura said, "I don't have a ride home."
"Then let me bring you home. I have a car, and I'm not that bad of a driver." He managed to make her crack a smile.
"That's okay. I'd rather walk, if you don't mind."
"Then we'll walk together."
"What about your car?" she asked. He smirked.
"What car?" This caused a laugh from Sakura.
Sasuke grabbed his stuff, slung it over his shoulder, and Sakura made sure that she was all ready to go. She held out her hand for him to take, and he, without hesitation, intertwined his fingers with hers.
As they stepped out into the cold rain, he noticed that she shivered. Taking his scarf out of his bag, he wrapped it around her neck, along with his (thank God it was long enough), bringing them both closer together. He saw that she was getting soaked, so he took his umbrella and shook it free, opening it and bringing her closer to him so that they would both fit under the black star.
"You got a new one?"
"Yeah."
He walked with her towards the train station, where people were lining up to get in, shivering and cuddling with their significant others.
Sasuke and Sakura both waited for the train doors to open, and managed to squeeze their way through. Unable to find seats, he held on to a railing while holding Sakura closer to his body. He felt her smile, and smiled, too.
"Honestly, you're too pretty to cry," he murmured against the top of her head. She didn't say anything but held onto his waist tighter.
Slight changes 7.8.14