||Six: Sakura's Birthday Part II
Sakura considered it to be their first date.
Even if it lasted two and a half minutes.
After breakfast, Sasuke had left Sakura to her own devices, telling her that he had to report to the Hokage. A fond smile covered her lips as she held her wrist over her heart as she remembered the smile Sasuke graced her with when he turned to the side and told her that he would wait for her in the evening.
He hadn't told her where though, but Sakura didn't mind, because he hadn't concealed his chakra, so she could easily find him. Sakura smiled to herself as she thought about what all that could possible happen this evening. Of course, she had created many unrealistic scenarios in her mind which eventually lead up to her having expectations, but she knew nothing of the sort was going to happen.
Expectations, she had realised over the course of time, was not something she should keep from Sasuke.
Now don't misinterpret, her heart still belonged to him, but there were still some things that always proved to be fruitless, for he would either completely crush her expectations or just completely exceed them. There was no in between (Sakura realized the last part on her wedding night, but let's keep that story for another day).
So, when Sakura got pulled into an emergency surgery (courtesy of Tsunade shishou passing out after getting drunk early in the morning), Sakura was disappointed. But, it was not like she could just abandon her work and let a shinobi die (not on her watch, nope!), so she just focussed all her chakra and got to work.
It was already 11:30pm when Sakura got a chance to get out of the double doors. She had dashed out of the hospital before any nurse could ask how the surgery went. They had even planned to surprise her, but it all went in vain when she used extra chakra and disappeared in a flash.
Sakura sighed as she headed towards the chakra spike that she had sensed since evening, it was Saskue-kun, who had not even moved an inch since evening when he had promised to meet her. Her eyes watered when she realized that he had been patiently waiting for her at the same spot, but she didn't wipe them, she just let the wind dry them away as she ran at her full speed, not even realising where she was headed until she spotted a lake.
She sighed, realising she probably looked like shit after pulling off a ten hour shift covered in bloodied scrubs all day long. She hadn't gotten a chance to look presentable and stuff, but she had put on civilian clothes as fast as she could.
Sakura quietly walked over the grassy slope, stepping over the wooden floor that formed the bank of the infamous Uchiha Lake, which was once used for training. Sasuke sat there with one leg straight and one bent, his lone arm was placed over his bent leg as he stared off into nothingness.
"You're here." Sasuke said, having sensed her miles before she even stepped foot inside the Uchiha compound. He didn't know why he had come here today, the place was a ghostly reminder of all the blood that was shed here, even though it was a place that once held cherished memories from his early childhood.
Didn't exactly scream romantic, did it?
Sasuke sighed as he battled an inner battle, he felt comforted now that Sakura sat down next to him and dipped her feet into the water, to him, the water from the lake just looked like a blood bath before.
Sasuke wanted to tell her not to soak in the Uchiha blood.
But her smile washed away all these gruesome feelings from his mind and heart.
"I'm sorry, I ruined everything." Sakura said apologetically as she stared at the other side of the lake.
Sasuke merely nodded his head disapprovingly, "You have responsibilities."
Sakura smiled, "Right." She spoke, mostly to herself. She wondered if Sasuke was in a bad mood, given he was here for many hours, probably brooding into nothingness as he did now.
She didn't know how to start a conversation.
"I guess my birthday is over now," she said thoughtfully, even if no celebrations took place today, Sakura did not mind, she had saved a life today—which was more than enough happiness for her.
Sasuke looked up at the moon, "Not yet." He said and Sakura could swear she had seen him smile.
"So, where is my gift, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura teased and Sasuke smiled, "Aa."
Sakura looked at him as he curled his lips—almost smiling, as if he was enjoying something that she didn't know about.
"I'm afraid I have nothing materialistic to offer you, Sakura." Sasuke spoke, "I figured there was nothing that I could give you, which you couldn't have yourself."
Sakura's heart clenched at his words, she did not understand the context in which Sasuke spoke, but the inner loveless girl inside her only spoke with a broken voice,
He was the only thing she could never have.
But he didn't realize that.
"Eh?" Sakura fake laughed and chirped as she continued to urge him to complete what he was speaking.
"I can only show you," Sasuke said as he placed his palm on her cheek as he looked into her eye. Sakura's face rivalled her name as she heated up at the gesture, Sasuke's eye turned red as the sharingan came to life, "The things that I wanted you to see, during my travels."
Sakura was pulled away from her gloomy world as Sasuke showed her some of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. He showed her different towns, vast grasslands, beautiful lakes and waterfalls, rivers and bridges from all over the world. He showed her the most beautiful sights he had ever encountered on his path to redemption, the last one was the most mesmerizing for Sakura.
It was somewhere from the grassland village where the entire sky was lighted up by the starry night as dozens of fireflies covered the surface, the sight almost made her heart skip a beat. How must it have felt to be there with him during such moments? Now she could imagine.
When Sasuke pulled her out of the genjutsu, his eye turned back to normal as he smiled as his fingers tapped Sakura's purple seal, "At times, I felt like sharing these moments with someone, so I saved them."
Sakura's face turned red after that remark.
"Happy Birthday, Sakura" Sasuke merely said as he lighted up several small flames of fire around her with a flick of his fingers, they almost looked like the fireflies from the last scene that he had shown her.
Sakura's eyes watered again as she looked at the beautiful man who held her heart, she almost wanted to bury her face into his chest and cry her eyes out now. He had matured so much over a span of four years, it was almost astonishing.
Sakura told him the next time he visited such beautiful places, she wanted to be beside him.
Sasuke merely nodded as all the small flames disappeared inside the lake water. He finally gathered the courage to put his arm around her that night.
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