nothing on you
Callista Miralni
disclaimer: always.
Guys, I'm not even going to lie, but there will be so much fluff, you will probably hate me at the end of it.
.:loop00.4_2:.
.:hold hands:.
Sakura had a routine. She would wake up early, some time between 6:30 to 7:30, stretch her muscles, and take a shower. She would get dressed, eat breakfast, and brush her teeth. After all that, she would put on make-up before strapping on her watch and sliding her class ring and the friendship ring she shared with Shizune, her childhood best friend, onto her middle and ring fingers on her right hand.
The oddity lay on her left hand.
For her birthday, Sakura received a beautiful silver ring shaped like a twig with a silver cherry blossom perched atop. Normally, Sakura didn't wear jewelry on her left hand, but it was too beautiful to leave at home.
Even though the ring claimed to be adjustable, it would only fit on her ring or pinky fingers. Sakura wore it on her ring finger, subjecting her to constant teasing from her two cousins and twin brother.
It wasn't so much the ring on her left ring finger, but the person who gave it to her in the first place.
Sasuke Uchiha.
On a rare weekend home, Sasuke brushed his bangs out of his eyes before concentrating again on the Orgo question Karin asked him. He remembered this problem—if he added chlorine, it would distribute in a trans configuration across the alkene.
"Well?" Karin nagged him impatiently. "Do you know how to do it or not?"
Sasuke ignored her. Maybe it wasn't a trans... was it cis?
"Sasuke!"
"Calm your tits!" The Uchiha shot her a glare. "I'm trying to decide if it's cis or trans!"
His best friend's blank stare almost made him bang his head repeatedly against the table.
"You're so stupid," Sasuke grumbled.
"Hey! You're the one who can't tell me what the right answer is!"
Sakura moved about in the kitchen with her cell phone pinned between her ear and shoulder. She added a couple more pinches of chopped basil to the bruschetta before mixing it with a spoon.
"No, Lils, it's fine," she told her best friend. "What? No, I've got this. I already made the mock-up and thinking about taking next weekend off to work on it. Of course it'll be done by the time school gets out. You of little faith."
Someone outside the door was fumbling around with keys. Sai probably. He was supposed to come back with Ino, Tenten, and Sasuke for dinner.
"Tadaima!" Her twin announced loudly. "We have guests!"
In her ear, Lily snorted. "Is that Sai being a dumbass again?"
"Mhmmm." Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'll call you later. We're about to eat."
She pulled the bread out from the oven and distributed the tomato mixture over the slices before putting them on a plate. Mixing in the leftover tomatoes with the lemon cream sauce, Sakura grabbed as many dishes as she could and brought them to the dining room.
"Okaeri," the woman finally answered. "You're just in time."
Ino rubbed her hands in anticipation. Italian food was Sakura's specialty and the dishes her cousin made were better than the sad excuse of an Italian restaurant campus had to offer.
"So what are we eating?" Tenten inspected her plate. "Looks good, Saki."
Her cousin emerged from the kitchen a second time with two more plates. "Angel hair pasta and parmesan chicken in lemon cream sauce with bruschetta."
Ino already had pasta twirled around her fork. "This is divine," she gushed. "Feed me everyday, mkay, Saki?"
"You're such a pig!"
When Sasuke arrived on the second floor and sat down across from Sakura at their usual table, he was surprised to see her books and notes shoved to the side, paper and pencil in front of her laptop, and the girl herself entirely engrossed in her computer screen.
She muttered something under her breath every once in a while and after the twelfth time hearing "God, these fucking artists have no concept of believability," he pushed her laptop closed.
"Hey!"
"Sakura, you're being annoying. What are you doing today if you're not doing homework? For once."
She gave him a dirty look before looking away, guilty.
"Uhh… stuff."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Such as?"
The woman sighed and pleaded. "Promise me you won't laugh?"
"When have I ever laughed at you?"
Her scowl deepened and he chuckled. "Okay, point taken. But why am I not supposed to laugh?"
Sakura sighed in resignation before launching into an explanation. She was spending the rest of the day hunting down materials for her competition cosplay piece. This weekend, Sakura decided to take a break from studying and spend it crafting instead.
"Are you really that good to be able to finish this thing in three days?" Sasuke was incredulous.
"I'll have you know I've been doing this since I was in middle school. I think it's safe to say I'm good enough for something as simple as this."
He still wasn't convinced but instead asked, "Can I come with you?"
Sakura shrugged. "Meet me at the library after your last class."
Sai slid into the chair next to Ino. "What are you guys up to?" He rested his elbows on the table.
"Homework," Tenten grumbled. "If it weren't for the fact that Shikamaru's party is tomorrow, I'd be goofing off instead of slaving away on a Friday night."
Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. Her twin caught her silent dismissal and wagged his finger.
"Now, now, Saki. not every one is as driven as you. Though it makes me wonder… why don't you have your shit spread across half the table?"
"No point," Sakura checked her phone for the time. "I'm leaving soon. Sai, the Prius keys please."
"What? How am I supposed to get home?" He whined as he reluctantly gave her the remote.
Sakura spotted Sasuke walking up the stairs and shrugged on her knapsack. "Ask Ino," she said before meeting the Uchiha at the stars and tugging him back down the steps.
Sasuke held the door to the fabric store open for her. She thanked him quietly before grabbing the sales advertisement and flipping through it for coupons.
"So how exactly do you know what kind of fabric to buy?"
She shrugged. "I just do…"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "So how am I supposed to help you?"
Sakura giggled. "I'll tell you a color and you'll see if you can find it. I'll pick the fabric type."
He trailed behind her through the rows of fabric, wondering if Sakura actually knew what she was doing. She ran her fingers over each bolt as they walked, pausing when she found a texture she liked.
Sakura eyed the color, frowning slightly, before yanking it off the shelf and checking the label for the textile and color names. She scanned the shelves again before finding another color she liked.
"Sasuke," Sakura turned to him. "Pull that red one on the third shelf off for me?"
He found the bolt with ease and handed it to her. She smiled and moved to the next row, spying something and running over to it. She eagerly yanked the black and white bolts off the shelf.
Sasuke sighed and tugged the fabric bolts away from her. Sakura gave him a grateful smile before leading him to the back of the store and picking out rolls of black triangle lace and white fur trim.
"Almost done," she murmured.
"Hi again, Sakura!" A young woman behind the cut counter greeted. "Whatcha making today?"
She showed the clerk something off her phone. The girl whistled. "That's a lot of work. How much of each?"
Sakura rattled off her list, pulling bolts from Sasuke's arms and handing it to her. Six yards of the white sateen, two of the black sateen, and one yard each of the red bordeaux crepe and white stretch poplin.
"Twelve yards of the black lace and… six of the fur trim."
Sasuke leaned against the counter, idly listening to their chitchat before checking his phone for the time. It was 5 PM and his stomach was persistently reminding him that it was dinner time.
At a pause in their conversation, Sakura tilted her head and gave him a wide smile. "I made dinner at home," she said softly in Japanese.
His eyes widened and he looked the other way, slightly embarrassed.
Sasuke settled into the twins' couch after dinner, barely paying attention to the Miyazaki movie playing on the television. Sakura settled on the floor in front of the coffee table, plugging her sewing machine and another complicated-looking machine into the power strip they used for charging their laptops during late night study sessions. She set a dress form up by the couch and unrolled a bundle of fabric, sorting the pieces into piles.
He watched her unfold the fabric they bought earlier in front of the TV and draw around her cloth patterns with green chalk. Sakura stopped every once in a while to watch a scene before going back to work. When she was done drawing all the pieces for one fabric, she cut them out with her scissors, making another pile on the floor.
"So… how long have you been doing this exactly?"
Sakura laughed. "Since I was thirteen maybe? Lily and I started learning how to sew after she transferred to St. Scholastica. I think we started competing when we were fifteen or something."
"Why do you do all this?" Sasuke gestured to the pile around her. "If you love making clothes so much, why not major in fashion or something?"
She paused and continued to cut the patterns out.
"It's an escape," Sakura answered softly. "When I was fifteen, I thought I wanted to be a fashion designer. Then every thing around me started crashing down and cosplay became an escape. I couldn't turn one of my passions into my job. I love cosplay too much to make a living out of it."
She unfolded another bolt and started the process over again.
"So what are you doing this weekend?" Sakura said lightly, switching the topic as the ending credits of the movie began to play.
Sasuke leaned back. "I dunno. Probably go to Shikamaru's. I don't have any homework this weekend."
"Sounds exciting," she drawled, moving onto the third fabric roll.
Sasuke picked up the PlayStation controller. "Can I play a game?"
"Go for it. I'm clearly not using it."
When Sai came home at eight, he wasn't too surprised to see Sakura sprawled out in the living with all her sewing supplies.
"I should have known," he shook his head as he moved into the kitchen to reheat some food. "There's no way you would have ditched doing your homework so early on Friday afternoon."
"Shut up, Sai."
He came into the living room with his plate. "Wanna play co-op?" The younger Haruno asked his friend as Sasuke navigated through the winding hallways of the game he picked out from Sai's collection.
"Yeah sure," Sasuke agreed. "Beats listening to Sakura talk to herself."
He ducked under the roll of scraps flying at his head.
"That's just Saki-chan for you," Sai said airily. "So, nee-chan, I take it you're not going to Shikamaru's tomorrow?"
"Nope," Sakua popped the letters in her reply.
Her brother sighed.
"What am I going to do with you?"
When Sasuke showed up to at the Harunos' apartment door the next evening, he was surprised to see pinned to the dress form a mostly completely strapless dress. The flowing skirts created a train in the back, the tiers edged with the triangle black lace. The sewing machine had a piece of white fabric with the fur trim partially attached.
"Oh hey, Sasuke," Sakura greeted him as she emerged from her bedroom with a green art book in hand. The girl settled on the floor in front of her sewing machine and continued to work.
Sasuke took a seat on the armchair. "Are you seriously shutting yourself in this weekend to finish that dress?"
"Mhmmm," she replied. "Besides, I don't like going to parties anyways. I'd rather sleep or read manga."
Now that she mentioned it, Sasuke realized Sakura hardly ever went out. He mostly saw her at the library or whenever he came over for dinner. She never went to the AASA general meetings—only showed up during their big events like Winter Potluck or fundraisers. Sai never commented on his twin's absence, and neither did anyone else.
"Karishma will be there," he mentioned, trying to change her mind.
"I know," Sakura stood up, the fur trim now attached to three sides of her white fabric. "She already barged in here."
She pinned the side without fur around the shoulders of her dress form. Sasuke watched her mark and pin the excess into darts.
"And Karishma didn't drag you off? Amazing."
Sakura shook her head, an amused smile playing on her lips. "Kari knows better than to interrupt me when I'm crafting. You clearly haven't needed to learn that lesson."
A flash of silver caught his attention. In the bright lights of their living room, a silver cherry blossom winked back at him from Sakura's left ring finger. He looked away, the back of his neck warming up.
"Ready to go?" Sai finally came out of his room, rolling his shirtsleeves.
Sasuke had never been so thankful for the distraction.
"Yeah."
Ino and Tenten arrived at Shikamaru's house a little after ten. The house was quiet, despite the loud Drake album filtering through the speakers.
"I told you we were too early," Tenten grumbled. "Now we have to help cook Pizza Rolls because our moms raised us to be these ridiculous little housewives."
Ino gently shoved her in the shoulder and pushed her way into the kitchen. "It's not like it's that hard to cook Pizza Rolls," she rolled her eyes at her cousin. "You stick them in the oven and bake for ten minutes."
"Oh hey guys!" Shikamaru's girlfriend, a nameless whelp Ino didn't particularly care for, chirped. "Can you help me cook pizza rolls?"
Tenten gave Ino a pointed glare. "I told you so," she grumbled in Japanese.
Then, their eyes landed on the disaster on the kitchen counter.
"What… the hell is that?" Ino shrieked, pointing a freshly manicured nail at the gooey lump.
"Homemade pizza rolls!" The nameless girlfriend explained with pride. "We spent most of our cash buying drinks so I looked up a recipe for homemade pizza rolls! They're supposed to make about eighty."
Ino and Tenten shared a long look.
"Sit there," Tenten forced her into the dining room chair. "Do not move."
Ino rolled up her sleeves and started to work on saving the pizza rolls. The girl had already made the dough and placed the marinara, cheese, sausage, and pepperoni inside. Tenten was already rummaging through the drawers for a knife.
"Easy to cook Pizza Rolls, ne?" Tenten snarled pleasantly in Japanese.
"I'm still wondering how she couldn't figure out a simple recipe," Ino replied in the same language as she flattened the roll and started chopping it into smaller pieces. Sauce oozed from the sides. "Hey, seal these edges up, will you?"
Tenten dipped her fingers in the bowl of flour to stop the dough from sticking to them. "I just bought this outfit too," she complained.
"Urusai," Ino said.
"Hey, are you planning to drink tonight?"
Sasuke tilted his head. "Maybe just a little. I haven't really decided."
Sai parked a little ways down the street from Shikamaru's house. "I get the feeling I won't be driving home tonight." Sai tossed his best friend the keys to the Z.
Sasuke scoffed.
"You're ridiculous."
There were a lot of people in the house. Sasuke could barely hear Sai talking to him over the loud bass as they slipped through the crowd.
Tenten and Ino were already playing beer pong and judging by the scowl on David's face, they were winning by a large margin.
"Sasuke!" Karishma and Nikki waved at him. He warily made his way to the kitchen. Nikki shoved a tall glass of some fizzing mixed drink in his hands. He sniffed it. Rum and coke.
"Is Saki here?" Karishma craned her neck to scan the crowd. "I hoped you and Sai were able to drag her out."
He shook his head. "She's deeply engrossed in her work. I mean, she threatened harm to my well-being."
Karishma shrugged. "Her loss. It's time to take shots!"
Sasuke was bored.
He wasn't interested in getting high, nor did he want to fill up on cheap beer and mixed drinks. Besides, the heavy weight of the Nissan keys reminded him he had to cut himself off at midnight if he wanted to go home by two.
At this point, it was 1:30 and the party showed no sign of winding down anytime soon.
Someone squeezed through the gyrating crowd to his dark corner.
"Hey," Sai slightly slurred. "You bored?"
Sasuke sighed. "A little," he admitted.
Sai turned to look at someone behind him. "Take my car and go home," he instructed. "I think I'm gonna crash at David's."
Itachi always instructed him to never leave anyone he went to a party with behind. When he first heard the advice, Sasuke brushed if off, but now, it seems like a useful thing to remember.
"I dunno, Sai," Sasuke said slowly. "I don't feel right leaving you here."
Sai laughed. "It's fine. Saki will pick me up from David's. She'll know where to go when I don't show up for breakfast."
Sasuke frowned. He shouldn't have been surprised but the realization that Sai had a whirlwind of a social life sank heavily into his stomach. How often had he gone out leaving his sister behind to pick up the broken pieces the next morning?
"I'll let her know where you are when I drop off your car tonight," Sasuke finally said.
His best friend clapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks man! I owe you one."
Sakura brushed her bangs out of her eyes and looked at the piece on her dress form with a critical eye. A little bit of ironing and the dress and cape were done. All she had left to do was finish the gloves and shoes, and dig out the leftover Wonderflex from her last cosplay to make her crown.
She sighed and looked at the clock. 2:15 am. It was time to stop before she made some grievous error she couldn't fix.
A key turned in the lock and Sakura looked up in surprise. Sai was already home? Did going out with Sasuke make her wayward little brother more responsible?
Instead of her brother's lithe form, Sasuke stepped through the door. "Hey," their friend greeted her. "Sorry to just barge in. I just came by to drop off Sai's car keys and to let you know he's at David's."
Sakura sighed. She should have known. Her brother would always be like this—carefree and whimsical.
"Have you been drinking?" She asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "A little. I stopped around midnight."
The woman beckoned for him to follow her to the kitchen. Sakura filled up a glass of water and pushed it into his hands.
"Drink," she ordered. "And stay the night in Sai's room. I don't feel right leaving you by yourself tonight."
Her words made Sasuke pause. Didn't he say something similar to Sai before he left?
"Okay."
The harsh sunlight shone directly on his face. Sai groaned and threw an arm over his eyes. The doorbell rang and he muttered a few curses under his breath. Why wasn't anyone else answering the door?
Barely coherent, Sai opened the door and clumsily caught the bottle of blue Gatorade his sister tossed to him. Her green contacts seemed brighter in the spring sunlight and her pink highlights nearly blinded him.
"Good morning," his sister said pleasantly. "I see you look like shit."
"Too early, Saki," Sai grumbled.
"It's ten-thirty," Sakura retorted. "Half the morning is gone."
Sai turned to put his shoes on and blinked when he realized Sasuke was following behind his sister, freshly showered and wearing new clothes.
"She made you stay the night, huh?"
Sasuke sighed. "Yup. Hope you don't mind I crashed in your room."
Sai waved him off. "Can we get pancakes? I'm starved."
Sakura must have anticipated his answer because she herded them both into the Prius. "I made some at home. Take a shower first. You're gross."
Sasuke decided that hungover Sai was a lot like his sober sister. His best friend was sedate and lacked the energy to do anything more than push buttons on his PS3 controller.
At some point before he woke up, Sakura cleared the living room of all her cosplay supplies and set up her workstation on the dining room table. A plastic sheet was draped over one end and a metal cookie sheet sat on top. An assortment of paints, brushes, beads, findings, and string lay before Sakura but she ignored them in favor of concentrating on the piece of white plastic between her fingers.
Sasuke watched her work in fascination. The outline of an intricate crown was drawn on the flat plastic before Sakura cut it out and started shaping it using heat and her fingers. When she was done transforming it from a flat piece to a curved crown, she set it atop her head and struck a pose.
"What do you think?"
Sasuke blinked. "It fits your head."
Sakura rolled her eyes and got up to look in the hallway mirror, catching it with one hand as it slid off her head. Apparently satisfied by what she saw, Sakura came back and sat down to bore holes into the plastic with a piece of wire. When she was done, she grabbed another plastic drop cloth, some tape, and a spray can of black paint, and went out onto the porch.
"Want to play?" Sai's voice broke through his ears.
Sasuke took a seat next to him and picked up the other controller. The two went through a co-op mission in near silence, only broken by their simultaneous yells at the screen whenever another team stole a kill. Sakura went back and forth between the porch and the kitchen, still working on her crown.
A few hours later, Sakura emerged from her room. Reflexively, Sai hit pause and searched for his cell phone.
"What's up?" Sasuke asked.
"You'll see," Sai said. "She always does this."
On cue, Sakura appeared in the living room wearing her completed outfit. "Ta-dah!" She proclaimed with a flourish.
While Sai told her to move to better lighting and snapped a couple pictures for her, Sasuke could only stare. She actually did it. Sakura actually finished the entire costume in a single weekend.
"What do you think, Sasuke?" Sakura asked him.
He swallowed. "I can't believe you actually did it."
The white corset made her look even thinner than before. The long train of her skirts, edged in black lace, gave her the illusion of height. Atop the honey brown wig, the crown Sasuke watched her make only hours before gleamed in the light.
"I sent them," Sai announced, picking up the controller.
Sakura beamed at him. "You're the best. Thanks, Sai."
Sasuke dropped the study guide, a hodgepodge of notes exchanged between him and Sakura, down on the table.
"There's nothing else to study," he groaned when he caught sight of the eager expression on the girl's face. "Sakura, there is no way in hell you are going to fail this test. Quit being so anxious."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Unlike you, I have plenty of reasons to be anxious. This is the summer I'm doing all the other stuff for my med school application and I can't afford to fail this class if I'm applying for early decision. Plus—"
"Sakura," Sasuke leveled his gaze at her. "You're making excuses. Go the fuck home. It's already four-thirty and the banquet starts at six. You promised both Karishma and your brother you would be there."
She opened and closed her mouth, eyes wide and pleading.
"Do I have to go?"
Sasuke sighed. "Yes."
Her lips pinched into a pout. "Ugh. I hate dressing up," Sakura grumbled as she shoved her folders back into her backpack.
Sasuke followed suit, gently bumping shoulders with her as they descended the stairs. "It won't be so bad. At least there will be food."
"Yeah. Food I have to bring as well."
Pinning one last curl back into place, Sakura sighed at her reflection. Her make-up, though applied with an expert hand, could not completely obscure the dark circles under her eyes. Maybe she should go with a smoky eyeshadow look?
"Hey, is this all the food?"
She locked eyes with Sai's reflection. "Yeah," she put her makeup brushes away with another sigh. "Be careful—they're still hot in the pan."
While her twin loaded the aluminum pans in the backseat of the Prius, Sakura spritzed her neck and wrists with her favorite perfume. Locking the door behind her, Sakura balanced precariously on the strappy wedges she didn't remember buying.
Come to think of it, Sakura didn't remember buying anything she wore tonight.
Sai grinned at his twin as she fastened her seatbelt. The heather gray suit vest fit his lean form like second skin and his hair was swept back out of his eyes for once.
"We look good."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Humble as always."
The Prius slid into a parking space in front of the venue doors. "Smile," Sai commanded as he reached for the food. "You spent way too much time on your hair to be scowling in all your pictures."
Karishma spotted her at the door and sped to her side, gushing over her dress. Nikki too crowded around her, analyzing the mass of curls pinned to the back of her head. The flash of David's camera nearly blinded her as her two friends pushed on either side.
Sakura almost missed the featherlight touch at the small of her back but there was no mistaking the soft tenor in her ear.
"I told you it wouldn't be so bad."
She prodded Sasuke in the shoulder, laughing at the reference to their earlier conversation. "And I told you I'd be bringing all the food."
David lined his eye with the viewfinder and released the shutter. Sakura rarely smiled nowadays, between focusing on her classes and making sure she had everything in line for her medical school applications. She'd hate him now but David knew years later, Sakura would appreciate the genuine smile spreading across her face as she bantered with Sasuke.
Someone tapped a fork against their glass. "Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats! Welcome to the Asian American Student Association End-of-the-Year Banquet!"
The room erupted into cheer.
Ino swung her legs over the edge of the stage. "What are you guys doing later?" She directed to Shikamaru.
The other man stretched his arms. "Hitting up the Strip. We're finally old enough to do so."
"Is Sai going?"
Shikamaru scratched his head. "Yeah? Doesn't he always?"
He was afraid what the shit-eating grin stretched across their faces meant.
The folding chair lay untouched under her palms. Ino and Tenten pounced, begging for Sakura to join them for the traditional post-banquet bar crawl through the Strip.
She blinked.
"Uhh… okay?"
Ino and Tenten squealed before engulfing her in a tight embrace.
"SAKI'S GONNA PARTY!"
Three bars in and Sakura was bored.
Her cousins and brother were busy throwing back shots with the rest of their friends, cheering loudly after each round. The Prius keys were safe inside her clutch, a heavy reminder to drink in moderation lest she spend her carefully budgeted allowance on a cab back to her apartment.
At least tonight Sakura had Uchiha Sasuke to trade eyerolls and snide comments with.
"'kura," David slurred, swinging an arm around her shoulders. "'M glad you're here tonight. You need to lighten up and smile more."
She removed his arm. "I'll keep that in mind, David."
Shikamaru commandeered an empty table and their group settled in as best as they could. Sakura found herself next to Sasuke again. He nursed a bottle of cider and offered her a sip.
Grateful, Sakura took a swig. "This is ridiculous," Sakura groaned. "Twenty people to a four person table is not going to work."
"They're drunk," Sasuke said with an amused smile. "But they couldn't comprehend that sober either."
"ANOTHER ROUND!" Chouji hollered, waving a waiter over.
Sasuke emptied his bottle and tossed it in the trash. "Want to go out on the patio? It's hot."
Thankful to be out of the chaos, Sakura followed him. They settled on a bench under one of the heat lamps to ward off the crisp spring night with the pack of cards someone left on the table to their right.
"So what's up with you and David?"
Sakura grimaced. "Nothing."
Sasuke dealt out the next hand. "Sure didn't sound like nothing."
She drew a card. Bust.
"David's been like that since high school. If he was going to ask me out, he should have done so already."
Sasuke drew a card. Stay. His hand would give him the third win of the night.
"In case you hadn't noticed," Sasuke said. "But you are fairly intimidating. Maybe he doesn't have the guts to be completely decimated by you. I win."
Sakura cursed and threw her cards down. "Intimidating? What universe do you live in? I'm barely five feet tall and weight one-hundred-and-seven pounds wet."
Sasuke gathered the cards to shuffle. "In every universe. You're the smartest person in the room and they know it. I'd be intimidated by you except I know your weakness for green tea ice cream."
"Oh?" Sakura said. "In that case, I'd be intimidated by you too but I know your weakness as well."
He scoffed. "I don't have one."
She leaned forward. "Are you sure about that?"
"What weakness do you know of?"
The wicked grin should have sent Sasuke scrambling for some excuse to back away but pride rooted him in place.
"How about," her breath was warm on his ear, "your weakness for… THIS!"
Sakura tickled the edge of his ribs with her fingertips. Sasuke recoiled into a ball, laughing breathlessly along with her.
She loved the sound of his laughter. Sakura found opportunities to torture him during their Organic study sessions when it was just the two of them sprawled out in her living room.
His arms shot forward to encage her and pin her arms out of reach of his ribcage. Her laughter echoed in his ear.
Their eyes locked and Sasuke could finally tell the subtle shifts in color between Sakura's green contacts and the warm maple underneath. Her lips parted in surprise and he leaned forward just a bit to find out if they were as soft as they looked.
"Hey!" Ino's voice rang across the patio. "There you are. We're headed to the next one!"
Sakura pushed herself out of Sasuke's hold and rushed to join her cousin. "I hope the next place has better seating inside."
Ino laughed and herded the other woman in front of her. "We'll see. They're starting up karaoke. Hey, Sasuke, do you sing?"
He scowled at Ino's knowing smile. "Not on your life," he grumbled.
"Too bad," she said in a light voice. "I've been told it's easier to tell someone you love them in a song."
Shikamaru fell in step with him. "That's only true if you have any kind of musical sense whatsoever, Ino." Shikamaru spared Sasuke from responding to Ino's barb.
Love? What did Ino know? Sasuke couldn't sort his own head out, much less define the particulars of his relationship with Sakura. Sai is his best friend—of that, he was certain—and Sakura was his best friend's twin sister.
In many ways, Sasuke felt closer to Sakura than Sai. They formed a study partnership based on their similar class schedules. Objectively, Sasuke spent more time with Sakura during the week.
The weekends were a different story. Intramural soccer season officially came to an end earlier in the week but Sai had a habit of showing up unexpected at his dorm and dragging Sasuke off somewhere. Some times it was to the architecture building to show off his latest project. Other times, they wandered downtown Ann Arbor. Rarely, Sai traded the Z keys for the Prius remote, and they set off on an impromptu road trip to Lansing, the lake, or as far as Windsor. Sasuke didn't know how Sai managed to keep up with his architecture projects and disappear as often as he did.
She's not a pretty face who gives you good tips anymore.
No, she's always been more than that.
"Sasuke?" Sakura's eyes were luminous in the dim bar light. "You good?"
The crowd pressed inward as the door opened to admit the next group of people. Their friends marched ahead, oblivious to the lingering pair.
Sasuke wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her through the tight crowd lined up around the bar.
"Never better."
Author's Note:
Hello. It's been a while.
Truth to be told, I did not mean to stay away for so long. As I mentioned on my LJ, nothing on you has an outline and an end. Real life likes to take hold and I've had to prioritize my own responsibilities over writing.
But I've never stopped thinking about this fic or any of the others I have lying around on my hard drive. I may have not been actively working on it, but I do remember I still have so many stories to finish telling. There are so many experiences I want to share with you and a million possibilities to chase. Perhaps that makes me an erratic writer needing to rely on my own life stories and the what-ifs I could have chased to tell a tale but it's the only way I know how to write.
There are six chapters left to this tale. It may take me a year to write. It may take me four years to write. I can't promise when they'll be done, only that they will be done.
Thank you, thank you, to all my readers over the years. Your patience is my lifeline and I honestly could not tell this story without you.
This one is for you, the patiently waiting.
Ja ne-
Callista Miralni