"Only for you."
Sasuke's hawk circled him, round and round until he lifted his arm up; creating a perch for it to settle on. It squawked at him noisily and ruffled its feathers then shook off before settling as he moved to find a safe place to put him down.
Attached to the bird's left leg rested a tightly bound scroll; inside it, a precious sentiment from his beloved. Sasuke's given her access to this particular aviary since he was the most docile and friendly of all of his feathery companions; knowing he wouldn't try to peck at Sakura's fingers when he returned to her with a letter written in Sasuke's scrawl.
He sat on a fallen tree branch and opened the letter with careful precision; unwilling to risk opening it quickly in case he might rip the paper. His insides warmed as he read her response to his previous letter; the corner of his lips lifting on occasion when she went into a detailed rant about what some of their old classmates were up to, especially when it came to her tirades about team seven. When he'd reached the part about her work and the efforts she was going to in order to make sure her children's clinic opened up on time, he did smile then; full and genuine.
He rolled the letter back up with care and placed it in his pack with the rest before reaching inside for his own pen and paper to write her a reply. It didn't take him long, his sentences fairly short and to the point, but he was sure to answer all of her questions and give a little more in-depth details about a few carefully selected missions; the ones that were (for him at least) a little bit more interesting than the rest.
Using a small spool of twine, Sasuke tightly wrapped his note into a cylinder shape and placed the twine around it; cut it and tied it then attached it to the bird's leg in place of Sakura's old one. Sasuke wasn't normally one to respond to letters of sentiment, but Sakura seemed to always be an exception so he indulged her… secretly enjoying it, but not letting anyone know that of course.
The small predator jumped onto his forearm when it was placed in front of him and pecked at its wings as Sasuke walked into a more open area to release it. 'Only for you,' he thought as he lifted his arm higher. The hawk spread its wings, flapped them once and screeched, then took flight; carrying precious cargo back home.
… back to Sakura.
Author's Notes:
If any of these sound like your own writing or another you have read I apologize but I didn't copy anyone's work. This is entirely my own writing. As stated on Twitter, I'll be going at my own pace and not follow a daily upload schedule more than likely. I'll just post when they come to me. They'll probably be pretty short, and maybe a bit random, but I'll do my very best!
