#florflor writes

[saknra]

title: at last summary: no matter how long it took, she would wait. prompt: sasusaku month 2014 / day 2 - late

-

Hopeful eyes scanned the horizon for any glimpses of the pair. She knew she ought to give up, she knew she ought to run to their side to check what was going on—

But this was their fight.

She just had to believe in them.

"They’ll be okay. Trust me this time."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to nod slowly. Kakashi knew best. He had been the dependable teacher to her team for all this time—he was surely right.

Wasn’t he?

As her eyes frantically searched the horizon once more, she spotted a flicker of movement near the edge of her vision. She quickly turned, mouth dropping open in surprise, to see a battered Naruto slowly making his way towards the crowd of people, supporting a limping Sasuke.

Oh, god.

They were safe.

They were back.

Letting out a strangled cry, pink hair flying, Sakura dashed towards the pair. Tears leaking from watery green eyes, she tackled them both, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders and tugging them into an embrace. Oh, how she had missed this feeling. How she had missed being able to be close, to hug them and cry into their shoulders. How she had missed…

Naruto gently untangled her arms from around his neck, smiling gently at his female teammate. Giving the Uchiha a don’t-hurt-her-or-I’ll-kill-you look, he hurried off to find a certain Hyuga who had been waiting for him all her life.

Sakura sniffled and pulled away from Sasuke, the latter being as unresponsive as ever. For some reason, it relieved her. She was glad he didn’t change—didn’t change into someone unrecognizable.

"I… Thank you." She managed to choke out, lips curving into a slight smile despite her puffy eyes. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure about how Sasuke felt about her at the moment. With all the times she had tried to kill him, she was pretty sure he was disgusted with her, really. Backing away slightly, she hid the pain with smiling eyes and took it all in—the image of him, actually standing in front of her, a grown man now—before turning to leave. He had missed a large part of her life, and she had missed his. Who knew when those gaping holes would fill again?

A hand tugged her back.

"Wha—"

The next thing she knew, she was pressed against his chest, mouth half-open in surprise. It was all so sudden, yet so familiar. A memory of a crying girl pulling a broken boy to her chest. She dared to wonder, perhaps he remembered. Perhaps, he cared.

"Sasu…ke….?"

"Sorry I’m late."

[saknra]

title: a new beginning

summary: it's never too late to start over.

prompt: sasusaku month 2014 / day 1- the smell of fresh paint

-

It was worse than she had thought.

She knew he loved cleanliness and organization. She knew he was not one to approve of apartments like Naruto’s (or hers, for the matter). But his was a whole different story.

Dust covered everything in sight, as would be expected of a place abandoned for more than a decade without any human interference. Paint peeled off the walls in blotches, and creatures she did not wish to know about scuttled in the dark corners. It was empty. Silent. Alone.

She tiptoed—as if there was anything worth disturbing—to a room darker than the others. The whole house smelled of death—of blood and tears and last breaths. No wonder he had refused to come here again. Her sharp eyes detected the marks on the floor where a certain Uchiha had tried his best to scrub away the remainders of his past. Dark stains of what he could not erase marked the walls and some areas of the floor. She bit her lip; she could see the tearful boy in the past, trying to clean the blood of his own parents off of his hands.

Sakura placed her hands on her hips, surveying her surroundings. The Uchiha Compound needed a lot of work.

But first, she needed to buy as many buckets of paint as she could find.

.

.

“Sasuke-kun. Welcome back.”

A smile on her face, the blossom-haired kunoichi slowly led the man through the streets of Konoha by the hand. His eyes covered in gauze wrappings, the Uchiha allowed her to take him wherever she was dragging him to with an ever-present scowl on his lips.

"The Hokage won’t like this."

"Oh, don’t worry. I got special permission. It’s not like she doesn’t trust me to take care of you, anyways." Her hips swaying slightly, Sakura gently steered Sasuke around a group of rowdy civilians as the male cursed slightly about his helplessness. She allowed a small chuckle to escape her lungs as she noted the great Sasuke Uchiha in this vulnerable state.

"Your eyes will heal eventually. I’ll make sure of that."

He gave a huff in return. She halted suddenly, making him bump into her slightly.

"Why—"

"We’re here."

Sasuke breathed in deeply. Ever since he had lost his eyesight after his battle with Naruto, he had trained himself to rely more on his other senses. At the moment, he smelled something vaguely familiar—a remnant of his memory, perhaps—along with the unmistakable scent of fresh paint.

"If we’re looking at new housing for me, I don’t need it."

The female at his side didn’t answer, only leading him further into the cause of the achingly familiar smell. She lifted his hand and placed it on a cool stone wall with some kind of engraving on it. His fingers immediately traced the pattern. A fan.

"Sakura—"

"I repainted it and tidied things up a bit. I thought… you might want to move in here, since you’re staying…" She lifted expectant eyes to his face. "I thought you might want to start anew, instead of dwelling on…" A breath. "Old nightmares."

He paused, hand trembling upon the engraving.

"Now you can always come home."

[saknra]

levi tending to a sick petra? :)

"Heichou?" She coughed feebly, struggling to raise herself from her awkward position on her pillows. "What are you doing here?"

He didn’t answer, instead placing a steaming cup of tea on her nightstand. 

"Oh, you didn’t have to do all of this." For me.

"That’s black tea on your nightstand. And I have soup boiling in the kitchen for you. We’re going out to do a quick survey of the land."

She widened her eyes, her hand instinctively reaching to where her 3D Maneuver Gear was stored beneath her bed.”I’ll go with you—” Her shoulders heaved in yet another bout of coughing before she could say anything else.

Levi eyed her with a hint of worry before turning to leave her room, his footsteps echoing on the wooden floor.

"Get well soon, Petra."

"B-but—"

"That’s an order."

[saknra]

write a yatori thing

"Whatcha doin', Hiyori?" He looked curiously over her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the object she held in her blistered hands. "And what happened here?" "N-nothing. Aren't you supposed to be out with Yukine-kun today?" She hastily moved her hands away from his fingers as he reached to inspect them more closely."Yeah, yeah, that can wait." He crossed his arms, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. "But really. What happened?""I already told you. Nothing.""Hiyori.""Fine, fine. I--" A breath. "I was going to carve this out, since you liked the shrine I made for you, and I thought since you're a god you needed something to be remembered by, you know? So..." Her cheeks burned crimson as she uncovered her hands. Hidden under them was a small wooden figurine--deformed a bit, with uneven eyes and a slightly disturbing smile. "Is that... supposed to be me?""Y-yes. Don't get too full of yourself. I just did this because... because..."He smiled slightly and turned on his heel, his back to her."Yato...?""Thanks... Hiyori. But make me more attractive next time. I'm not that ugly, am I?""Hey! Are you making fun of my carving skills?!"He couldn't let her spot the tearful grin on his face.

[saknra]

Title: Capitals

Pairing: Sasusaku

A/N: I'm so sorry. I really couldn't resist this prompt. But I changed it a bit because I literally don't know anything about debate. 

"You should really join our team.”

She gave him a once-over, twisting around in her seat to take a better look at him. The presently frozen hand that had been scribbling furiously on the piece of paper just a moment ago. The glasses perched smartly on the bridge of his nose. The incredulous stare he was giving her with those dark eyes of his.

Perfect.

“...Do I know you?”

Her green eyes flashed as she slammed a hand down on his notes, glaring at the male formidably.

“Do you know me? I’ve been sitting right in front of you all trimester.” What an asshole. A pretty attractive asshole. “I’m Sakura Haruno. I lead the quiz bowl team at our school. And I think you, Sasuke Uchiha, would make a pretty great teammate.”

He frowned, placing his pencil down in front of him and leaning back into his chair. Partly because he was tired, partly because he wanted to escape the impending aura of this girl. “Why do you think that?”

“I can hear you mumbling to yourself behind me, you know.” A small smile crept up her lips as she caught the hints of red on the tips of his ears. “I guess the quiet kids really are the smartest here.”

He fidgeted in his seat, becoming a bit disturbed at the way she was staring at him so intensely.

“Who… is on this team, anyway?” he mumbled, trying not to sound too interested.

“Well, it’s a pretty small team as of now. There’s Sai, who takes all the art history questions; Ino, who takes most of the pop culture; Shikamaru, who takes history; and Naruto--I don’t even know why he’s on the team. But I guess he’s useful at times.” She cocked her head slightly, noting the way Sasuke’s eyes hardened at the mention of the last name. “Why? Are you and Naruto--”

“I’m not joining.” He adjusted his glasses, proceeding to ignore the confused girl while he continued taking notes. Naruto, the loser. Naruto, the idiot.

Naruto, the one who had beat him in the geography bee last year.

Sakura chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully. “Okay, how about this--”

“I said no. Give it up.”

She narrowed her eyes, switching her focus to what she had heard about the infamous Uchiha prodigy around school. She would have to resort to Plan B.

“What’s the capital of Somalia?”

He froze abruptly, pencil hovering over his paper.

“Wha--”

“The capital. Of Somalia. What is it?” She tapped a slender finger on his desk with every word, a single eyebrow arching pointedly.

“...”

“You don’t know?”

“...hn.”

“I guess I underestimated you. Sorry for bothering you, Sasuke.” Acting like she couldn’t have cared less, Sakura glanced at him coldly and turned to face the front of the classroom once again. She could practically feel his discomfort radiating off of his body in waves. It was either his pride, or surrender. One of them had to go.

She had just started on her own page of notes when she felt a hesitant tap on her shoulder. Cautiously, she leaned back in her seat, all too aware of Sasuke’s lips stopping inches from her ear.

“Mogadishu.”

She could barely keep the stupid grin off her face as she slowly leaned forward once more to write something down on the corner of a fresh piece of notebook paper, proceeding to rip the corner off and place it in the middle of his desk.

'Room K101. Right after school. Don’t be late.'

[saknra]

Title: Hanabi

A/N: Here's the first fanfic. I seriously wish I could see this happen before the manga ends.

Can also be read here... I finally made a ffnet account ^^

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" 

Sasuke frowned as his female teammate started running towards him and the dobe. At this rate, she was surely going to trip over the hem of her yukata. Pink hair flying, she did just that.

"AH—" Sakura’s arms windmilled as she started to fall face-forward onto the ground, when strong arms steadied her from both sides.

"Thanks…" The kunoichi peered up at the faces of the men on either side of her. "Me and my clumsiness, ne?"

"No problem, dattebayo! It’s a relief you didn’t get hurt, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned from ear to ear as he scanned her up and down. "By the way, you look really great today!"

Sakura blushed slightly at the blonde’s comment but proceeded to punch him playfully on the shoulder. “Are you saying I don’t look great on other days, Naruto?!”

The duo started to bicker with each other, spouting nonsense about “attractiveness” and this and that. Sasuke, on the other hand, didn’t know why he had let himself get dragged to this festival anyways. They had not left him alone until he had agreed (“And promise, Sasuke-kun!”) to go with them to the stupid festival.

Sasuke took this time to scrutinize the pink-haired medic carefully. She had on a red yukata embroidered with cherry blossoms, and her hair was pinned up messily, as if she had remembered to style it in the last second. He remembered their younger years when Sakura had always fussed about her hair and how it was too tangled, too messy, or too thin. What had happened to that Sakura in the past…?

 He couldn’t deny it though—Sakura did look better than on most days he saw her. Maybe it was that glow of happiness she seemed to radiate, maybe it was the new sparkle in her emerald eyes. She just looked more… innocent.

"Oi, teme! Temeeee!" Naruto waved a hand in front of the Uchiha’s face as Sasuke blinked and scowled at his action. "Sakura-chan wants to go watch the fireworks. Heh, brings back old memories, ttebayo!" The jinchuuriki smiled and folded his hands behind his head.

"Hn." Sasuke rolled his eyes as he thought back to all the other times Team 7 had watched the fireworks together as genin. This ritual had always been the same, with Sakura trying to be "romantic" with him, and with Naruto trying to be "alone" with Sakura. Sasuke didn’t want to go through all this immaturity again. But a part of him wondered how this new, grown Sakura would react. 

‘Tch. Probably hasn’t changed at all.’

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and allowed himself to follow his laughing teammates as they all headed towards the fireworks. . . . The first one flew up with a shrill whistle, blooming into a large burst of shimmering light and illuminating the entire night sky with its brightness. Sakura’s eyes grew wide as she stared, entranced, at the glittering brocade above her. Her lips formed a tiny smile and her full attention was caught on the colorful fireworks.

Sasuke stole a quick glance at her—she was so captivated by such little things. He sighed deeply. He remembered not only his genin days when he had watched these same fireworks, but also further back in the past, when he had excitedly pointed up to them while sitting on his brother’s shoulders. 

‘Look, Nii-san! That one looks like a flower!’

‘Aa. It does.’

Sasuke’s lower lip quivered, but he quickly bit down and suppressed his emotions. Shinobi didn’t allow themselves to be ruled by feelings. Shinobi didn’t—

"Aa, Sasuke-kun! That one over there looks like a flower."

Sakura pointed a slender finger towards a pink explosion of light. She sucked in a breath when it faded away, her jade orbs dulling a bit as she gave a sad smile.

"Fireworks are like people, aren’t they? They come and go." Her eyes fixated on the sky, she didn’t notice the dark-eyed Uchiha staring at her intensely. 

"They’re beautiful. But their beauty lasts for only a few seconds before they fade away into darkness." She gave a forced little laugh, a heart-wretching sound. "That’s why I don’t really like fireworks. They’re too short—too transient. One moment, you’re captivated, and before you know it, they’re gone. It’s pretty sad if you think about it."

The kunoichi placed a small hand over her heart as she continued to gaze at the bright bursts of light. “But the main reason I enjoy watching the fireworks is because… Well, I know that even though the fireworks may disappear in an instant, at least you and Naruto won’t. At least… You guys are always by my side.”

Sasuke felt his heart clench uncomfortably at these words. He wasn’t always by her side. He left her and Naruto for the tantalizing sweetness of revenge, and even tried to kill them numerous times. But how could this girl…

"Sakura." The Uchiha clenched his fist and bowed his head, dark bangs shading his face. "I wasn’t."

He was never one of many words, but at this particular moment, the very sight of this pink-haired, innocent female was enough to choke him of his voice.  'Don't say such ridiculous things…' 

"No, Sasuke-kun, you weren’t always by my side, physically.” Her fingertips trailed briefly along his arm, making him inhale sharply. “But you are now.”

She turned back to the blossoms in the sky and smiled. “Ne, people who are far away aren’t really… unreachable. They always stay in here—” she pointed to his heart— “and here.” Placing a light finger on his forehead, her lips quivered and her large green eyes blurred with tears. 

A vision of a certain Uchiha prodding him on the forehead like that filled Sasuke’s mind like a flood and something—the barrier he had been building for all of these years—broke inside of him. He looked up, and for the first time, stared at Sakura with completely open, helpless eyes. His mental walls had broken and he couldn’t repair them in front of this damn, annoying girl.

So he did the next thing that he could. His body seemed to act on its own as he grabbed her wrist with one hand and pulled her against him, placing his other hand gently on the back of her head. 

Sakura finally let the tears fall from her eyes. He was embracing her. He was embracing her. A muffled sob rose up in her chest and she gripped the back of his shirt tightly, burying her face into his chest. The two stood, oblivious to the fireworks, oblivious to the sleeping blonde by their feet. 

"Welcome home, Sasuke-kun."

"Sakura. Thank you."