Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Summary: In Sasuke's defense, he never took kunoichi classes.

Rating: K

Hanami

"Sasuke-kun, let me see it," Sakura asked with a forced patience, but the clenched fists and the annoyed look in her expressive green eyes didn't hide that in fact she was getting fed up with his mulish attitude.

"No," Sasuke replied shortly, hands deep in pockets and a scowl in place. "I'm fine. Can I go now?"

"Not until you show it to me so I can finish with your check-up," Sakura ground out in frustration. How many times did she have to repeat herself? She had never thought that Sasuke would be a worse patient than Naruto.

"There's no need for that," he stubbornly replied.

Sakura wanted to throw her hands in the air... or better just punch something. A shame she couldn't do that. Attacking even the most irritating patient or demolishing her workplace wouldn't be very professional of her, so she restrained herself.

"Sasuke," she began sweetly, "are you a medic?" When he refused to answer, she smiled with satisfaction. "Thought so. Now be reasonable and let me see it. I promise I will be quick."

"Can't you just skip it? I told you, I am fine," Sasuke tried again to talk his way out of showing her his very sensitive part of anatomy.

"That's for me to decide," Sakura said firmly, then took on a softer tone as she looked him in the eyes. "Kakashi-sensei told me you bled again. I need to see the damage or I won't stop worrying. Please, do it for me?"

Sasuke withstood her pleading gaze for a few seconds before caving in. He couldn't say no when she was asking like that. Unbeknownst to Sakura, she was his greatest weakness.

"... Fine," he uttered, closing his eyes.

When he opened them again, they were gleaming red with his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Sakura leaned in without thinking, just a few short centimeters between their faces, as she looked straight into his eyes with fascination. She'd never seen them up close in this form, so it was the first time she could examine their appearance.

Sasuke leaned back warily and quickly avoided her gaze. Didn't she realize these eyes were dangerous? They were his most coveted weapons and the only physical reminder of his brother's sacrifice. Yet, Sakura didn't seem concerned about their power and the potential to maim and torture that was contained in them. Was she that fearless?

"They're beautiful."

Sakura's comment took him completely off guard. Sasuke scoffed. "Aren't you afraid?"

"Why should I?" she asked in puzzlement. "You're not going to hurt me."

The assurance in her voice, the absolute confidence and trust she had in him, even after everything that had happened between them, stunned him for a second.

"And how do you know?" he asked.

Sakura smiled. "You changed, Sasuke-kun. That's how I know."

Her hands were charged with green chakra and she put them on his temples with light pressure. "Relax. It may tingle a little," she warned as she began checking the condition of his eyes.

Sasuke felt her medical chakra trickle into his head and eyes. To distract himself from the remarkably odd sensation he focused on Sakura. In this close proximity he could smell her fresh scent, reminding him of summer peaches. As she was standing before him, her neck was directly in front of his eyes. It looked interestingly bare and vulnerable to him, and he briefly wondered how it would feel to cover it with his lips...

"You know, your Mangekyou looks a lot like a flower with six petals," Sakura commented, interrupting his train of thought before it went too far into the strange territories of his mind. Recently, it had been happening to him more and more often and at the most inopportune of times. "Do you think it has some meaning behind it?" she speculated.

"Maybe," Sasuke replied without much interest. The pattern of every Mangekyou was unique and differed from person to person. He'd never felt the need to analyze it in depth as he had never believed its shape represented anything in particular. Trying to find some significance behind it was equally useless to looking for a meaning in random ink splotches.

Sasuke smirked at another thought that entered his mind. Sakura was probably the only person in the world who would compare his Mangekyou, the source of the most destructive powers known to the ninja world, to something as harmless as a flower.

"I'm done," she announced after a short while and released him. "Some blood vessels were torn so I healed them. Other than that, you're okay, though you shouldn't strain your eyes anymore for at least a week."

Sasuke nodded. This wasn't the first time he heard this particular advice, but it didn't make it any less valid. Not that he ever overused his Sharingan on purpose, usually he activated it for a good reason.

"Say, Sasuke-kun..." Sakura began hesitantly. "Do you have time tomorrow? I thought we could go out for hanami." She fidgeted, when he kept his silence, and rushed to convince him to agree. "It's your first spring back in Konoha and I know a really good spot to watch flowers. And I could invite Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, too, so it would be a team outing. It'll be fun!" She cast a hopeful look at him.

Sasuke remained silent for a few seconds, observing her rising anticipation for his answer. He smirked. "I don't know, I wanted one day without dobe talking my ear off or waiting for hours for Kakashi..." he drawled.

"Oh... Then I could show the spot just to you?" Sakura offered, trying to appear unaffected by the implications of her words. She mostly succeeded, though there was a noticeable smidgen of rouge on her cheeks that hadn't been there earlier.

"Good," Sasuke accepted her proposition easily, surprising the kunoichi who was already mentally preparing herself for a rejection, just like in their old, genin days.

After he left the exam room, having agreed to pick her up at eleven next day, she was on cloud nine. She pinched herself to see if she had dreamed it all, but the pain was real. She was really going to go on a date with Sasuke! And even though she tried not to get her hopes up too much, even though she was repeating to herself that it didn't mean anything and they were just meeting as friends, the happy fluttering in her stomach didn't stop for the entire day.

The anticipation of the next day was so great, Sakura stayed up late, fantasizing and worrying over what would happen. When she finally woke up, it was already half past ten. Sakura looked at her alarm clock in disbelief – how could she have slept through it? - then jumped out of the bed and dashed to the bathroom in a state of panic.

Ten minutes later, she rushed out to pick her clothes while simultaneously blow drying her unruly pink hair. She agonized whether to wear her casual red vest and black skirt combo or something nicer, then in the end went with her recently bought pastel pink blouse and denim shorts.

Sakura was in the middle of figuring out the extensive make-up kit Ino got her for her birthday when the doorbell rang. She cast a startled look at the clock and saw that it was already eleven. For the first time in her life, she wished Sasuke to be as unpunctual as Kakashi.

Another ring.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura nervously went to the door and opened it. "Hi, Sasuke-kun..." she started, then became tongue-tied as she noticed the change in his appearance from the everyday Sasuke she always saw. Instead of his shinobi clothes, he was wearing a nice navy blue kimono top and black slacks. Even his hair looked more tame than usual, like he had brushed it extra hard so it would lay flat on his head.

Sakura swallowed. Did he put in all this effort... to look good for her?

Sasuke's eyes slid up her figure, appraising her in an equally fascinated manner.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked coolly.

"Uhh... I still need to prepare food for us, so maybe you should come in and wait for a bit... I'll be quick!" she said, wincing inwardly, ashamed that even though she was the one who invited him to hanami, she was now making him wait for her.

"No need. I brought everything," Sasuke said smoothly and showed her a wicker basket he was carrying.

"Oh, that's great, Sasuke-kun! Then I'll just lock up and we can go," Sakura beamed, marvelling at his forethought and preparedness. No wonder Sasuke-kun is such a good ninja! she thought. He really saved her this time.

The two went to the outskirts of the village, Sakura leading the way confidently through the surrounding trees.

"It has to be somewhere around here..." she muttered under her breath, looking for some landmarks. Finally, she found the right path, which they followed to a small clearing. In the middle of it, a cherry tree was in full bloom.

"A cherry growing in the wild! Isn't it rare, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura presented her discovery proudly.

Sasuke nodded. He had to admit, Sakura chose an excellent spot for hanami. There were no other people to interrupt or annoy him and the tree was a sight to behold, its top resembling a dreamy cloud with its pale pink flowers fluttering gracefully in the air and falling slowly to the ground.

Sasuke and Sakura spread their blanket on the ground beneath the cherry tree and sat down to admire the beautiful canopy above them. It felt like they stepped into a fairytale, a different, magical dimension.

A low growl interrupted the relaxed atmosphere and Sasuke looked curiously at Sakura, who ducked her head down in obvious embarrassment.

"I didn't have any breakfast," she said with a small blush.

Sasuke just unpacked the lunch boxes from his basket and handed her one. Sakura opened it and stared in amazement at the contents. While it wasn't overly decorative, there was a sense of elegance in how the food was carefully arranged by colours. While most of the vegetable pieces were cut in plain circles, some of them were also in the shape of a star. She was sure there was no way any store sold lunch boxes like this.

"It's so pretty," she complimented, then carefully ventured as her curiosity got the best of her, "Did you make it, Sasuke-kun?"

"Aa," he confirmed stoically.

"I didn't know you could cook. I wonder how many other things I don't know about you," she mused and took a bite. Her eyes widened in delight and started glowing. "Mmm, delicious!" She enthusiastically dug in her meal.

Sasuke watched with satisfaction as she speedily polished off the food he had so painstakingly prepared with the help of his mother's old cookbook. He was glad he had found it laying in a cupboard at his old house, which was still in ruins after Pain's attack.

When they were finished with eating, Sakura returned the empty lunch box with a grateful smile. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun. It was really, really good."

"No problem," he said and put the container back in the basket.

The rest of the time they spent talking about small, inconsequential things. Sakura told him about some of her funnier cases in the hospital and Sasuke shared a bit about his latest missions. The atmosphere was pleasant and relaxed and they fully enjoyed each other's company.

Sakura didn't know how they ended in a sprawled position, side by side, their legs touching and backs propped against the trunk of the tree. She observed the petals dancing on the wind in wonder, when Sasuke suddenly raised his hand and reached into her hair, pulling a small flower out of it. He turned it over in his fingers, looking at it closely, then picked up a few other flowers that were laying around for a similar examination.

"What is it, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, her curiosity picked.

"Nothing," he said and gently placed the first flower back in her hair.

She didn't need to know that only now he realized that he had always been wrong about cherry blossom flowers. For the longest time Sasuke could have sworn they had six petals, not five.

He smiled, contented by the small blush his gesture brought on her pretty face. He supposed Sakura may have had a point about his Mangekyou Sharingan. Even if it didn't get the number of petals right, the meaning behind it was still there, unchanged.

Some day, he could even tell Sakura all about this. But for now it would stay as one of his prized Uchiha secrets.

The End

AN: I didn't intend it to be this fluffy. I think I watched too much of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and it was giving me shoujo ideas. I tried to keep Sasuke in character as much as I could in this setting.

Just to satisfy my curiosity, I made a poll on my profile page. The question is "What do you like the best in my stories?" Check it out and vote if you're interested. :)

Thank you for reading!