apples
fandom: naruto characters/pairings: sasusaku
He always picks the reddest ones.
They are often not the best onesâthe ones she buys are always the best, not too sweet and not too sour either but hers are not red like blood, theyâre more of a color of red and yellow like an autumn leaf. Sometimes, she buys green apples too, the same color of her eyes.
Sasuke doesnât complain about the taste. Heâs not one to be picky with food. Neither is Sakura, but she is more comfortable than him in the marketplace and always takes her time to pick the best products so that the food she buys from the market and cooks taste always good.
Sasuke functions in the plainest ways and having wandered for some years around the world have made him quite the minimalist, even more so than before. He ate what he found on the road, and drank water from rivers. When he stopped at villages, he simply bought omusubi since this was practical food. Since he came back to Konoha, when Naruto doesnât invite him to Ichiraku or when Sakura is too busy to eat with him, he only eats what he buys from the market, fresh products and easy to cook.
Grocery shopping is a small affair, but Sasuke finds comfort in the routine and the time he spends with her. They donât lead an ordinary life but they do simple things like simple people and it is goodâit feels nice.
Itâs a processâfor him to buy his apples. Whenever he adds them in the basket, Sakura eyes the fruits for a moment and then looks at him in silent wonder, as if she wants to say, are you sure? but she never says anything and smiles gently at him. She knows better to ask silly questions.
He knows Sakuraâs gaze is always fixed on his face when he takes the first bite, musing if the fruit is sweet enough or sour because itâs not completely ripe yet. Over time, heâs developed the mannerism of looking back at her when the fruit is good, frowning slightly when it feels a little too sweet on his palate, and he stops chewing for a short instant when it is too sour.
Still he eats.
They might not taste the best but Sasuke finds pleasure in choosing carefully the reddest ones, but also the moment when they reach Sakuraâs hands after dinner, the stark contrast of the fruitâs red skin against her fair hands. He watches as she holds the apple in one hand, full in her palm and the sharp knife in the other, peeling off the skin slowly, and yet effortlessly. Thereâs something about the way she moves her hands, one turning the apple around as the other holding the knife peels the skin away, moving in the opposite direction. Thereâs something about the crimson color of the apple against her pale complexion that makes him wonder why red is such a good color on her.
It also makes him wonder about a crest that would suit her back, or at least heâd like to think so.
One day, he thinks, when theyâll want more of this routineâmore than doing the grocery shopping together, feeling her gently tug at his cloak when she wants to stop at a particularly stand, walking side by side in the streets, helping her cook and wash the dishes, watching her peel off the skin of his apples and cutting them into quarters on a small plate she pushes before him.
When he swallows the first bite and looks back at her, Sakura giggles and loudly bites into a quarter.
(âArgh, Sasuke-kun! Itâs sour!â
He just smirks and takes another bite.)
One day.












