note.

I've had a guest repeatedly leave a review asking whether this is truly SasuSaku because of the supposed lack of 'moments' and slow development... I don't usually leave replies on my notes because I reply to those that leave signed comments directly - but this is getting on my nerves.

It's labelled SasuSaku for a reason. It's labelled M as a reason as well.

Sasuke is an emotionally constipated human being, you should know that if you've read the manga/seen the anime. It took him a total of five years to realize his feelings, and I'm compounding it all in a year. If that's not fast enough for you - I sincerely apologize and I kindly propose that you read another story =]

On another note, PTL is in slower updates for May since I have exams!

track 42.

Speckled shadows are cast by the morning sun and foliage leafs, between them lines of gray from Sakura's dangling legs cut through while She swung them off the rickshaw at the same time as each bump on the road until they reached a pit stop for the pullers to go for a drink.

They're travelling to the beach for their last full day in Wind. It stretches wide, and though they're still being on the road, its visible that the sands are pearl white, and the ocean is an emerald city. A perfect postcard location. It's easy to see why the place is so popular as a honeymoon location. To be able to come for their pre-grad trip, their class must have saved a nation in their past lives.

Glancing over Naruto towards her raven haired companion, sitting across from her side, she pretended to be deep in thought. "Sasuke-kun, remember how you owe me a White's Day present?"

"I do not..." Sasuke's voice trailed off. He definitely did, didn't he? Was there any way he could throw off her focus? A quick recall of Sakura's faintly accusing tone made it apparent that there probably wasn't. "Doesn't Naruto owe you one too?" He might as well drag the dead last in as well if he was already doomed.

"No. He treated me to ramen." She deadpanned. Eyes half lidded in exaggerated disappointment. Naruto flashed a peace sign in his face over the cheeky victory.

Running a hand over his face, he gave in. There was no way he would ever hear the end of it now that she remembered. "What do you want?"

"Hm..."

"Decide quickly or get nothing."

"That's too much, it's not my fault that you forgot about White's Day -"

"Ten... Nine... Eight..."

"I know you're mean, but you're not that mean, Sasuke-kun. You can't be serious."

Oh, he was serious alright. Sakura had a nasty habit of ordering him to do the things he loathed to do the most at freakishly unconventional times. Who knew what she was going to say?

"Six... Five... Four..."

"Stop! How about this - since it's been a while since you've sang me something..." She laughed, knowing that he caught her meaning from the crooked features on his face.

Dammit.

It hadn't been 'a while'. He'd sung her to sleep when she stayed over, but he couldn't say that when Naruto sat on his right. It didn't help that the blond had on a wicked grin, highly amused by his annoyance.

"What do you want me to do about it then? Get the usuratonkachi to sing for you right now?" Sasuke grabbed the band's main vocal by his chin, squishing Naruto's cheeks together, hoping that she wouldn't make him sing.

"Can't the both of you sing for me?" She asked sweetly, eyes blinking. Slowly. Just like the femme fatales in action movies would tilt their heads at exactly the right angle and look up. She knew neither of them would say 'no' to her, even though they would be heard by everyone around them. The two jinrikisha runners in front of them and their classmates included. And it wasn't even that he didn't want to sing for her, or that he was shy. Heck, they were already plastered on Oto Entertainment's homepage because of her. It just seemed so out of place.

He was going to just ignore her if Naruto's clear vocals hadn't started singing, and Kiba - who had appeared out of nowhere with those doggish instincts of his - starting drumming a beat on the rails and using the top cover of the vehicle he was on as bass, matching the blond. In some twisted sense of luck, Shikamaru sat next to Kiba and had proceeded to lazily beatbox a slow one for them. The mid-tempo rhythm easy to listen to. They were only missing Neji in this impromptu performance.

The song was - unsurprisingly - still un-named, but relatively easy to sing without warm up. As such, it was one of Naruto's preferred tracks. The beta-male lyrics, pining after the subject right up their main vocal's alley. For a group of alpha ego males, he often wondered how they always came up with such lovesick sap when the whole band practice room was filled to brim with testosterone.

Sighing, Sasuke joined in on the second verse in order to not miss the beat.

From the time we met
How much time has gone by?
One day. One year. One eternity.
Do you remember?

Before long, a crowd had developed.

Starting from Sakura, to the students already familiar with the members of the band. As they clapped along; it had expanded to most of the people at the pit stop. They were parked conveniently at its entrance and many of the other tourists had stopped to watch them. They had never performed outside of the band practice room until they met Sakura, nor had they ever thought of performing at the school or the streets. But he understood that the others were the same as him.

When they first started the band years ago, they all had bigger dreams and aspirations. It may have dwindled because of time and diluted because of other priorities as they got older - but at the beginning, they all believed that a dream that would be laughed at if spoken aloud is the only dream truly worth pursuing.

He looked around him. At all his smiling classmates he won't ever get to see everyday again a year's time from now. The reasons that they all stayed up at night for would no longer be connected, nor would they ever dress the same way. There will not be any more awkward glances when they caught each other daydreaming in class, silly looks when they couldn't answer a question, or voices that could comfortably call him 'Sasuke' instead of 'Uchiha' without seeming rude once they graduate.

Right now, they were to be eighteen this year.

They were at an age where you felt like you could love anyone, where you can put everything on the line for the smallest of things. A young leaf, by any adult's standard. An age where you would force yourself not to laugh to look mature, yet cry at the most immature things. Yet, they were more serious than any adult, more intense than the world seemed to have space for.

The rush that performing gave them was incomparable to anything in the world. It was addictive. And the applause... a spell that would forever leave them enchanted. It scared him how precious this experience was, how it may never again happen. The crowd had begun with his classmates, most of whom had never heard him sing before, but they also saw the significance in such a performance at such a time in their lives.

Everyone was reaching for their dreams together, and despite the lighthearted tones of the music... or the entire trip... They knew that what lay ahead would truly count and mark their lives.

You were the girl
Who smiled at the same time as me
Someone who saw the same things
And felt the same emotions

Turning to capture Sakura's face in his mind, Sasuke was solely entranced by her reaction in the sea of people.

Sakura. This is the girl smiling at him without a care in the world.

It was such a simple thing. Such a simple smile. It's the same smile she gave him each time he offered his arm, brought her canned coffee, or helped her out with her homework - a light tug of her lips to reveal a duchenne, with a dimple on the left cheek.

And somehow, she could make him feel as if he was the one standing on top of the world.

As if he was already a star who had found where he belonged when he was still stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I hope that you meet
That kind of person too
A lovable person like you
A lovesick person like me

"You two are such an adorable couple." One of the rickshaw runners said as he pulled them along after the performance. The heat was beginning to show in Wind as the sun rose higher up and their performance had been a great morale booster amongst the people at the pit stop. In turn, the fare for the students had been cut. It was plain to see that dopamines were being released and endorphins were circulating around them all in a positive feedback cycle.

"Oh, we're not together." Sakura shook her head, a hand placed in front of her despite the fact that neither runner could see the gesture.

"Not yet!" Naruto shouted out, hit on the back of his head by his friends as the people in front of them burst into laughter.

Arriving at the beach, an older rickshaw puller placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. The teen had temporarily spaced out, watching Naruto and Sakura excitedly take off the shoes to feel the sand in between their toes. "Well, you better hurry up. Girls like that are hard to find. Just because the two of you already look like you're together doesn't mean nobody will steal her from right under your nose."

"Hn." He shrugged, feeling their hand slip off his personal space. "I know."

Feeling his phone vibrate in his back pocket as it received wifi, the dark haired teen realized that - with Sakura, he would always be one step behind. A quick scan of the Oto competition voting app revealed that they were now winning by a landslide. What happened had been filmed, and everything had just caught on fire. When Sakura asked for a song, she had been marketing them.

He was already running a losing race when it came to this - not knowing what to do with his dreams. But she just had to have the ability to control him when it came to his feelings as well. Noticing that Sasuke was blanked out, his feet inches from the golden dust, Sakura had ran over to pull him onto the beach. Ignoring his protests that sands was getting stuck in between his toes.

Swaying her phone with the Oto app open in front of him, Sakura's teeth were shining from the wide smile. "You're going to have to sing every time I ask for something from now on." She said, proudly linking her arm around him. Petting his head as if she had it all planned out.

Sasuke already sang for her every time she asked.

And maybe it was the adrenaline talking, and he thought it would be fine to humour her.

Or maybe to mess with her mind just as she did to him.

"I'll always sing for you."

This year, he was eighteen. And this was his first love. Singing was the least he could do.

glossary:

jinrikisha = rickshaw (basically the 'rikisha' part)