title: 7:31
prompt: SASUSAKU MONTH ON LJ! 2012
rating: T-M
summary: oo5: It's blazing hot outside and Sasuke still needs to harvest all the plants. When Sakura "saves" him from dying of heat exhaustion, he has to find a way to repay her for her helpfulness.
REVISED 6.30.14
.oo5.
Harvest
Sasuke wiped the sweat off his forehead as he leaned over to pick up more of the corn his family had grown for the winter. He was in these tacky jean overalls with a gray T-shirt underneath, and he was sweating waterfalls.
Itachi, on the other hand, was taking the vegetables easily, not a drop of sweat on him. Sasuke growled, forcing himself to work at Itachi's pace without seeming like he was going to die of heat stroke.
"You tired, Sasuke?" Itachi called out, tipping his bamboo hat so that the sun wouldn't get in his eyes.
Sasuke didn't say anything. He kept working on picking the vegetables.
"You want me to get you some water? I'm going inside to take a break. Can I bring you anything?"
"No," Sasuke shouted out. "I'm fine."
Truthfully, he wasn't. He felt as if he would keel over due to heat shock, but there was no way he show his weakness to his perfect brother Itachi.
"Alright. Call me if you need anything." Itachi took off his bamboo hat and walked inside the house as Sasuke was left alone to pick the food from the garden. He cursed under his breath.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun!" his neighbor Sakura called out, waving to him as she was walking her dog. "What's up?"
He stopped what he was doing and gave her a small wave back. "Hey."
She walked towards him, carrying her puppy in her arms in fear that he would ruin some of his crops.
"It's blazing out here! Are you alright?" she asked. She reached for his cheek with one hand, but he turned away.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good. Do you need anything? Some water?"
"I'm alright."
He knew that Sakura liked him. She liked him ever since they were young. But they had just remained friendly acquaintances, and although he knew that she wanted to be more than that, he just went with the flow.
Sasuke went back to picking the garden, feeling a little uncomfortable that Sakura was still watching him from behind. "You're really hardworking," she said, as if she didn't know what else to say.
"Thanks."
"I mean, really. If I had to do that I would probably die within the hour. So that's really admirable of you."
"Thanks."
Sakura could see that Sasuke was getting sort of impatient, so she said, "I'm going to keep walking Gin. See you later, Sasuke-kun."
"Bye."
She left, putting Gin down onto his four legs, and kept walking, sniffing every part of Sasuke's house as they left the garden.
"You like him too, huh?" Sakura asked. "I know."
.
.
.
Sasuke was almost drowning in his sweat. He groaned as his arms felt weak and how he thought he couldn't go on any further. Lying down on the hot soil, he looked up at the Indian summer sun and squinted.
He felt his head go dizzy and decided to sleep for a couple seconds. He took a big whiff of the smell around him. But instead of smelling dirt and crops, he smelled a floral scent instead. It was Sakura's smell.
He took another big inhalation and closed his eyes, almost in peace.
.
.
.
"Sasuke? Sasuke! Wake up!"
He opened his eyes slowly, groaning as he put a hand to his head. He struggled to get up.
"W-Where am I?" he muttered, feeling dizzy and nauseous.
Sakura pushed him back down. "In your bed. I found you while I was walking Gin back to my house, and I saw that you were lying on the ground and you were barely breathing. So I had Itachi carry you to your room and stuff, and I, uh, stayed here until I woke you up." She was blushing, refusing to meet Sasuke's gaze.
"Oh."
"Do you feel alright?" she asked, putting a hand to his forehead.
"I've been better." He reached for the edge of the blanket so that he could get back to work, but she made him stay in his bed.
"You need to rest! Here, drink some water," she said, giving him a cold bottle of ice water. He downed it thankfully, some water dripping onto his shirt and overalls, and sighed in relief. "Thanks," he said.
"You're welcome." She blushed again, and said, "I was really worried about you."
Sasuke didn't say anything. Sakura was fiddling with her thumbs and looking down at her lap. She was about to say something else again, but Itachi came in the room to check on Sasuke, holding Gin in his arms.
"Hey, Sakura," Itachi said. "Gin is such a good boy." He handed her dog back to him and her puppy licked her face sweetly. She giggled before Gin saw Sasuke, jumping onto his bed, and licking his face excitedly.
"Gin! No! Bad boy," she said, reaching to pull her dog off him. Instead, she saw that Sasuke was laughing, too, saying, "Stop, Gin," but not minding the dog's affection at all.
"Looks like Gin's got a crush," Itachi said, putting a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "So Sasuke, if you and Sakura don't work out, you and Gin could probably hook up," Itachi joked.
Both kids froze, and Itachi, realizing that he had made the situation more awkward, pulled Gin off him and carried him back in his arms.
"Come on, Gin. Let's go play a game."
He closed the door behind him, hoping the two fifteen-year olds would fare well.
.
.
.
"So," Sakura began.
"So," Sasuke repeated.
"How's the farming going?" she asked, not knowing what else to say. "Or the homeschooling? I think it would be really cool to be homeschooled."
He shrugged. "Both are alright. Farming's hard work. Homeschooling is kind of boring because the only person I get to see is Itachi, and I see him every day."
"I can always keep you companion. You can just give me a shout out or something. I mean, we live next to each other, so…"
"Yeah."
Sakura looked at the clock on his wall. "It's nine o'clock already? It's already dark out! I need to go home!"
"Wait," Sasuke said. Sakura froze as she reached the door. He stumbled as he tried to find his footing. "Do you want to see something great?"
She smiled. "Of course."
.
.
.
She walked a pace behind him, her arm hovering over his back in case he was about to fall. But he finally found his feet, and opened a window, climbing out onto the roof.
"Come out," he said.
"B-But…it's dangerous!" she said, scared that she would fall.
"You won't get hurt. Here, I'll catch you in case you lose your balance," he said, holding his arms out. Sakura stepped out the window and took ahold of Sasuke's hand.
"Wow," she said, breathless. She had never been out past dark, nor had she ever been on a roof.
Sasuke sat down, and she made herself comfortable next to him.
"It's going to get cold soon," he said. "So we're preparing food for the winter."
"Yeah."
"You see the moon? Right there?" he pointed up to the sky, and Sakura squinted her eyes to see the white orb that glowed in the middle of the sky.
"Yes! It's beautiful!"
"That's called a harvest moon. It's seen near the time of the autumn equinox."
"It's lovely," Sakura said.
Sasuke looked over at Sakura and noticed how pretty she was in the moonlight.
They heard barks downstairs, and Sakura said, "Gin's barking."
"Yeah."
"Sounds like a wolf howling at the moon, huh?"
"A little bit."
They continued to look at the sky, when Sakura rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder. It felt good, having her lean on him like that. So he didn't say anything.
Sasuke looked down at the garden, thinking about how much work he would have to do tomorrow. Instead, he forgot about it for a little while and looked back up at the harvest moon.
The two stared up at the sky for a little while longer, while downstairs, Itachi petted Gin furiously. "Shh, Gin," Itachi said. "Don't ruin this for them. They're very happy together right now. Come on," he said, taking Gin's leash. "You wanna watch it, too?"
Gin panted in response and Itachi smiled, carrying the dog in his arms as they went outside in a lawn chair, Gin resting on Itachi's lap comfortably while Itachi stared up at the orange moon.
Gin closed his eyes and slept peacefully as Itachi stroked the top of his head.
Slight changes!