#ssm15d4

[arounagein-art]

うちはサスケｘうちはサクラ

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Festival time...

Day 3-4: Carnival, The Games We Play

[Aoda plush o(〃＾▽＾〃)o I combined these two days because when I thought of a carnival it made me think of festival games and prizes! I was too late to post this for Tanabata, but oh well... I hope you can forgive me! Please take care!]

Characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto ©

[behindheremeraldeyes]

SasuSaku Month 2015 .

Day 4- The Games We Play .

Title: The Things We Find in a Magazine .

Summary: after taking love advices from the worst person in the world, Sakura decides to make a little surprise to the one who holds her heart. .

Notes: okay… I’ve changed the story around 3 times and this is finally the one I chose. I tried to make it a funny one and I hope you guys enjoy it! Also a new part of Sakura Hiden was translated! Don’t forget to check it out!

🌸

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Sasuke was avoiding her. He had been avoiding her ever since the week has started. Ever since they has had an argument about how the lack of romance had been affecting their relationship. Of course the girl was the one who brought that up and of course the boy saw nothing wrong with the romance levels between them. He saw nothing wrong about the way they would spend their time together and his friends really believed his initiatives were pretty good. Yet, what Naruto, Sai and Sasuke couldn’t see- and one of them had both the Sharingan and the Rinnegan- was that inviting her for a sparing wasn’t really the best definition of a romantic gesture. The girl, according to Ino, couldn’t keep quiet about it anymore. And, ever since the day she said what she was told to, Sasuke had been conveniently pushing her away with the whole silence treatment. And, for the pinkette, this was simply unacceptable.

For being so anxious, the Haruno girl wasn’t the kind of person who could leave things without a full resolution. She couldn’t simply accept his actions and give him a time to think about what had happened. She knew that, If she really gave him the time he needed, the Uchiha would only make his decision after some years and Sakura had already waited for too long. She was tired of wasting any other second of their time as an official couple. She was tired of staying away from him. All of those years he had been away were more than just enough to make her miss him like crazy. She didn’t want that whole thing between them to end because of a stupid fight like that. And, due to this paranoid side of hers that had already imagined a regretful future without him, the pinkette was ready to swallow her pride and do something to fix their relationship. She would save their love, or her name wasn’t Haruno Sakura.

The girl, with a little help from her blonde girl friend and her love magazine; planned for everything to happen in that cold Wednesday night. She had tried to talk to him one last time during the morning but, as it had been happening, the Uchiha set her off. He had said something about meeting Naruto for some important discussions regarding Kaguya and had told her that he couldn’t have dinner with her. Sakura knew it was a lie, of course, and, since she had been left with no choice, the Haruno girl was about to do something she would feel embarrassed about for her whole life. But she didn’t care about it, no. At that moment, no matter how much he would tease her about that in the future, she was decided to get him back. She was decided to fix everything.

The whole thing started right after the clock stroke midnight. A girl wearing a black leather coat left her apartment with no weapons to assist her in her mission. She made sure not to be seen as she jumped over the roofs of the village until she reached his own balcony, from where, through the window that was left uncovered by the curtains, she saw his body laying down on his bed. For every light was turned out and his thorax was going up and down smoothly, the pinkette concluded he was asleep and, if she was lucky enough, dreaming about her. Sakura was certainly a greedy girl and, for the first time, she admitted it. She admitted everything and she even condemned herself for being so possessive over him. Perhaps all that jealousy he had of her was contaminating her as well. She wanted him to dream about her as she dreamed about him. She wanted this and much more from the Uchiha. And she was going to have it all from her Sasuke-kun. Or that was what she expected.

For knowing he slept with his window unlocked in case he forgot the keys to the front door; Sakura carefully made her way inside his room. Unlikely all the times she had been by his side while he slept, the boy under the covers was, oddly, snoring. Sasuke was never the kind of boy to snore. Not when they slept together, at least. Perhaps he was just really tired of whatever he had done during the day and of that whole bad atmosphere between them. Yes, it could only be that, Sakura thought. Luckily, for them, she was about to fix that situation. She was about to apologize to him- what was already something that deserved to be celebrated- and she was about to do it in a way only she could. There was no way she would be rejected by him, she knew. And she was right. Uchiha Sasuke would never reject what she was about to do. But not just anyone would, to be honest.

Once she was close enough to his bed, an embarrassed blush covered her cheeks as she took one last breath. If she really wanted to give up, that would be her last chance. After that point, there would be no return and eternal memories would certainly be craved in their minds. Eternal memories that would b the end of hers if someone else found out. But, since she knew how much of a gentleman her boyfriend was and since she had already gone that far, Sakura Haruno was ready to face all of the consequences. She was ready to take the next step of her plan. She was ready to heal their love.

Thanks to a reason she didn’t know, the boy was still sleeping as a rock. She saw as his legs would be kicking under the covers and she couldn’t help but smiling at that. Sasuke was really cute when he slept alone, for sure. He even reminded her of the nights when the whole team 7 had to share a tent in the middle of the forest and the blonde idiot would always keep them all awake with his unconscious hits. Those nights had, certainly, showed them how torturous sleeping with someone could be. But, at that moment, the pinkette was about to change that vision. At least that was her plan.

Not wasting any other moment, the girl took off that leather coat she had been wearing ever since she had left home, allowing it to slide through her curves. Under that vest, there was nothing but her soft naked body ready to join his. Everything seemed to be going exactly as Ino had read on that magazine. And, if things kept going that way, she would have her boyfriend back in no time. All she needed to do was getting under the covers with the love of her life. Simple as that. But, for being Haruno Sakura, simple wasn’t a word that belonged to her vocabulary list.

“ give me some space…” She whispered in his ear, and, indeed, he did what he was told.

“ look… I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to fight and… I really can’t stay mad at you at all… Please, forgive me this time…”

Sakura slowly wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against his back, pressing her breasts against his skin. This kind of touch certainly made a smile appear in his sleeping lips and, of course, even if he was still unconscious, even his dreams knew where that whole thing was going to end up. And you bet he liked it. The only one who wouldn’t like it was the one who was sleeping in the guests’ room. He certainly wouldn’t like to know what those two were about to do in the room he normally calls his.

Laying on a bed just a stair away from them, the owner of the house had been forced to sleep in another room. Even if that idiot he called best friend was the reason why he had that guests’ room in the first place, Naruto would still sleep on his bed because he claimed the mattress was better. That idiot certainly didn’t understand much of manners but, on that night, specifically, Sasuke wasn’t really that mad because of that. On that night, his reason for not being able to sleep was not his blonde friend or his countless nightmares. His reason for not being able to sleep was, certainly, his pink haired girlfriend.

Ever since they had fought, 2 days before, the nights had been longer than they normally were. He missed her and he really wanted to have her in his arms on that cold winter night in Konoha. But, since that social inept that he used to call"replacement" told him that girls like the guys who play difficult, they had been apart from each other. It might have been stupid but, somehow, those words were kept inside his head. He knew that it was probably a stupid advice and that Sai was just an idiot who had read something somewhere. He knew it all but, when she came talking about romance, the Uchiha freaked out and, fearing losing to someone who gave her flowers every day, he decided to try the artist’s technique. And that, for sure, had been his worst decision.

It was not like he had never stood days without talking to her before but this time was different. This time he was aware he had to avoid her in order to have her back. It was certainly the most contradictory of the plans but, since he wasn’t an expert in love, he decided to follow it anyways. Yet, Sasuke discovered that a plan like that was a lot easier in the theory. Or not even there. He just couldn’t spend one day without seeing that smile of hers or holding her hand. He couldn’t spend one day more without her and, once he had reached that conclusion, the raven haired boy stood up from that bed, ready to go after his girl. If not for what was about to happen, Sasuke would have certainly gone to her house to make her a little surprise. Fortunately, his feet managed to save some steps until her apartment. But, his unlucky ears didn’t avoid the deafening scream that echoed in his house.

“ AHHH! YOU PERVERT!”

After hearing those words and a heavy noise of something falling on the wooden floor of his room, Sasuke ran as fast as he could towards the origin of the problem. He was sure he had heard her voice there but that was just impossible, right? She would never be there and scream those words to her best friend. That whole idea was just pointless but, somehow, there was something telling him that Naruto was the one to be blamed for that. And, as soon as he opened the door of his room, such feeling became a lot stronger.

What his dark eyes saw at that moment won’t ever be forgotten. He saw his girlfriend completely naked and messily wrapped around his covers. A blush as red as a tomato was painting her whole face and her eyes weren’t really opened as she randomly threw the pillows at the blonde. Naruto, in the middle of that mess, was shirtless and covering his also red face from her pillow attacks that were coming with inhuman strength at him. His body was on the floor due to the jump he gave when she screamed and, on his head, Sasuke could already see a hematoma growing. What on earth had happened in there? And why the hell was Sakura naked?!

“ W-What the hell happened here?!”

“ Teme! This whole thing between you and Sakura-chan should not involve me!”

“ shut up, Naruto! You shouldn’t even be here at first!”

“ Y-You already know I love Hinata!”

“ I brought you two together, you idiot! Of course I know that!”

“ then why the hell were you abusing me!?”

“ I was not abusing you! You were the one in my boyfriend’s bed!”

“ if Sasuke isn’t satisfying you, Sakura-chan, it’s not my fault! Maybe you should try looking for more experienced guys-ttebayo!”

“ NARUTO! I’m going to kill you!”

“ BOTH OF YOU, SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Green and blue eyes scaredy turned to face red ones. Sasuke was really mad at that time and someone had serious risks of dying at that moment. Perhaps it would be better if they just ran away or let him give the orders for that moment. Pissing the Uchiha off was certainly a synonym to signing your death sentence. And Sakura and Naruto, somehow, seemed to be experts in that. Maybe they should really just shut up.

“ what the hell happened here!?”

“ Sakura-chan was trying to seduce me!”

“ what!? Shut up, you idiot! That’s not what happened!”

“ of course it is-ttebayo!”

“ of course not!”

“ is!”

“ not!”

“ is!”

“ not!”

“ is!”

“ not!”

“ SHUT UP!”

“…..”

Defeatedly, the Uchiha sighed. He was probably gonna go mad if those two were to stay in the room while he searched for answers so, as the first thing to be done, Sasuke had decided to get rid of the one who probably didn’t know what was going on. And, as probably all of the other times he had to do so, the raven haired boy’s decision was made as quickly as his eyes returned to normal. If you could ever call them normal.

“ get out of here, Naruto.”

“ eh!? Why me!??”

“ because I’ve said so! You’re not staying in the same room as my girlfriend while she’s naked!”

“ tch… I think it’s a little too late for that-ttebayo…”

“ NOW!”

“ tch tch… Fine! Hn, you better give Hinata a good explanation, mis!” He said, jumping through the window. Somehow, the team 7 ninjas had a serious problem with the front door. But that didn’t really matter at that moment. The one thing that mattered was what had just happened in his room. And you could bet he would want the whole truth from his girlfriend.

Sighing once more, Sasuke finally went towards his bed and towards a pouting Sakura. She was still wrapped in his covers and, her eyes, were carefully looking at him as he sat right next to her. His eyes, at the moment they met hers, told her pretty much everything. They told her he wanted the real answers no matter what they were. They told her that he also knew that there was something wrong going on between them and, of course, they told her they would fix it. Together.

“ what. happened. here?”

Sakura sighed. There was no use of lying anyways.

“ I was trying to make you a surprise in the middle of the night by coming to you bed and laying…” She blushed, looking down. “ naked… By your side… But it ended up that you weren’t here and I hugged Naruto instead.”

“ how could you not know it was me!?”

“ it was really dark, okay!”

“ still, he has two arms. TWO arms!”

“ yes I know and… When I hugged him, I realized that… And then I screamed and he fell from the bed and then you came and… Well, here we are…”

The Uchiha kept looking at her for some good twenty seconds before he could even blink. Of course that pissed her off and made her want to punch him in order to make him talk. She wanted to hear him scolding her, or breaking up with her or even calling her annoying. She wanted to hear anything coming out from his mouth that didn’t really push her away for later. Sakura wanted a definition, no matter what. But that was not the one thing in his head at that moment.

“ … Why did you even want to hug me naked in the middle of the night?”

“… Hn, Ino told me it would work… She… She told me it would make you stop ignoring me and stop being mad… And so I wanted to try…”

“ tch… Silly.” He sighed once more, immediately looking back into her eyes. “ I’m not mad… And about ignoring you… Sai told me it would make things better for us… Trying to act difficult towards you, I don’t know…”

“ more than you already were? Tch… You were basically impossible for all these years, Sasuke-kun… If you ignore me now, it will hurt more than if you were really betraying me with Naruto, for example…”

Sasuke made a disgusted face for an instance. No, not Naruto nor any other girl would ever make him betray her. Never.

“ … You don’t have to worry about this anymore, okay?”

“ hn… Then why weren’t you sleeping here? I mean, wasn’t the guests’ room made just for Naruto?”

“ yeah but… We were playing cards and he ended up sleeping on my bed.”

“ oh, playing cards…” She glared. “ what about the important discussion about Kaguya?”

“ … Tch, I’m sorry, okay? I won’t do this again but you also should stop with those stupid ideas.”

“ hn, said the one who listened to Sai and something he read.”

“ you listed to Ino, isn’t it the same thing?”

Pretty much, but she wouldn’t say it.

“ o-of course not…” She sighed. “ look, I don’t wanna fight, okay? I’m tired of being without you. This whole playing difficult surely beat me.”

“… Were I the one under the covers, I wouldn’t have been able to resist either…” He smirked, slightly. “ I don’t wanna play this game anymore. Let’s just forget it, okay?”

“ okay…”

At that moment, when they both smiled at each other, their hearts knew that things would be okay, they knew that a stupid fight like that would never be on their way again and that taking advices from the most idealist couple of Konoha wasn’t surely gonna happen that soon. Sasuke and Sakura would certainly start trusting each other more about certain topics and, for sure, following love magazines challenges was never gonna happen again. Their love didn’t need help. Their love was just fine in the way it was. No game could win against their love. But one of them could always win the game against the other.

“ I think we haven’t learned anything from that, right, Sasuke-kun?”

“ uh? How can you say that? I’ve learned a lot.”

“ really? Like what?”

“ like… Never letting Naruto sleep on my bed again.”

She chuckled.

“ what else?”

“Uhm…” He smirked, looking dirty at her. “ I’ve learned you’re a pervert… I also think you’ve learned something.” He said, leaning closer and placing his hand on the bare part of her lower back, pulling her closer. She blushed for that.

“ w-what did I learn, Sasuke-kun…?”

“ simple…”

He kissed her, leading her body to have its back pressed against the matt. Once his body was over hers, his voice came out as a whisper, sending shivers down her spine. Sasuke certainly liked to play dirty. And he did that because he always knew how everything would end up. Playing games with him is, certainly, a dangerous thing. Specially when the pinkette is his opponent. Specially when his love was at stake. When that happened, he could not lose.

“ I always win…”

[ebondeath]

ss month: day four prompt: the games we play note: late but great. or something. -x- Sasuke swears she's doing it on purpose. Veridian eyes flicker from the board to his face, one hand lazily fanning herself as she contemplates her options. The lavender strap of her tank top dangles off of her shoulder, but she gives no indication of noticing it. Sasuke has no idea how she can ignore it; it's driving him to distraction. If only that were the only thing. Damp tendrils of bubblegum pink hair cling provocatively to her exposed neck, and instead of watching her face for tells, he finds himself wishing he could drag his tongue up the column of her throat. He should be planning his next moves; she's already taken nearly half of his pawns. But all he can think about is the way she bites her lip as she thinks, the way she swipes her tongue across her plump bottom lip as she debates moving her rook or her bishop. It doesn't help that the air conditioner is out. A sheen of sweat glistens across her chest, and it's as distracting as the way she taps the tip of her knight piece with one finger just before she makes her move. As he looks down at the board, Sasuke realizes with a start that she has him cornered. And then suddenly Sakura fills his vision as she crawls over the chess board on all fours, scattering black and white pieces to the floor. The smile curling her lips is sinfully sensual, and he doesn't have time to wonder about being right as she hooks one finger beneath his chin and pulls his face toward hers. "Checkmate," her lips brush across his, "Sasuke-kun."

[zunairaghazalsultan]

These Games We Play Summary: Where Sarada is a pro at Carrom and her parents her sore losers.

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Game night, was a budding tradition. For the past few weeks, every evening, after dinner, Sarada would set up a Carrom board and challenge Papa to play. At first he’d looked dubious, but after hearing Mama’s challenging, flippant, “He might suck at it,” he’d accepted graciously.

And so, game night, had become a common place tradition, of sorts. It was a time of family, trust, camaraderie, mutual trust—and unequivocally, a challenge, a call to arms, not with one another, but against. It was a showdown of epic proportions. Failure was not an option.

As Sarada watched Papa aim carefully, back hunched, arm angled for a particularly tricky strike, she felt the blood pump in her hands. This was the last piece. If it hit the hole, Papa would win. That was unacceptable. “Just do it, already!” she snapped.

On the other side of the table Mama waited with bated breath, brow furrowed, mouth tugged in an urforgiving snarl. Sarada always knew she was a sore loser. She was hoping Papa would miss the piece.

And frankly, so was she. She had become an unexpected pro at this, and she knew every time she smirked smugly at her parents, they bristled. It made her giddy.

Papa, flicked the striker. It struck its mark—but alas, luck was not on his side that night. As the mark whizzed to the hole on the opposite side of the board, it slowly lost its velocity, and stopped about two inches from its intended destination.

There was a pause, then Mama grinned. “Hah!” she laughed, and smacked Papa on the back. Papa doubled over, but caught himself before falling face first on the board.

Sarada leaned back on the floor and gave Papa a smug look.

Papa sulked.

“My turn,” she said sweetly, then twined her fingers over her head, arched her back and let out a series of crackling pops. She shifted a little, stretched her arms out to the piece she was to strike, calculated the angle, the acceleration and the speed, took a deep breath and struck. It whizzed past the mark, connected with the side of the board, then doubled back and hit the last piece which angled back and whizzed into the nearest hole.

“YES!” Sarada cried, pumping a fist in the air, “Who’s your next Hokage?” she asked her parents in a complacent, holier-than-thou voice.

Both of them bristled.

“I am,” she smiled, satisfied.

Papa sighed, looked at Mama helplessly. “How?”

Mama looked back, smiling and just as bewildered, “I think the more appropriate question is, when, honey.”

-

fin

[sasusake]

Title: Missed You Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto. Prompt: The Games We Play. Sasusaku month 2015 - July 4th. Rating: Was supposed to be fluff but... M.

--

"Welcome home." Okaeri, she said.

Okaeri, tenderly, with a bubbly smile and open arms.

"I'm home." Tadaima, he responded, with a bow of his head.

Tadaima, thank you for being here for me, thank you for making this the place I can return to. Thank you for being my home.

When she hugged him -- so tight, Sakura, you'll squeeze the air out of me -- he pressed his lips against her forehead and held the small of her back, letting her render him breathless.

"I've missed you," she said.

"I've only been gone a week."

She helped him settle his bag and prepared his bath, smiling always, fetching a soft new soap that he attempted to decline (but she insisted, of course, because it would make him smell of lavender and vanilla). She hummed and bustled with an apron cinched around her waist, wearing a light blue sundress that stopped at an unusually high spot around her thighs.

"You look..." His mouth twitched. He almost bit his lip. The words tripped on the hesitation that stilled his tongue and he cleared his throat, twice, now feeling a little overwhelmed under the gleam of her green eyes. "Tired."

Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot.

Her shoulders sagged and she sighed a forlorn sigh, handing him a soft white bath towel. "Well, I didn't want to complain, since Sasuke-kun has just returned from a mission and... and I'm happy, I really am!" She waved her hands and grinned, almost bouncing. "But... my schedule has been crazy! We've had some tests going on at the clinic, and an unexpected case of food poisoning that even affected some of the hospital staff, so it's been a really crazy week for me. Then doing the house chores, and I had to file some big reports..." She turned her head toward the living room, where a large pile of paperwork occupied most of their dinner table.

"Now that I'm here, I can help out around the house again," he offered; Sasuke always made a point of sharing household tasks.

She dismissed him with the wave of her hand, and shooed him toward the bathroom. "Now you bathe, and take your time to rest up while I cook dinner."

Protesting halfheartedly, he let her relieve him of his heavy cape and ambled down the hallway. Sometimes she would offer (coyly, always with her eyes a little downcast and her cheeks a little pink, and he could never admit he found her expression terribly endearing) if he wanted her to rub his back in the shower. She did not offer this time, and Sasuke felt it was ill-advised to ask her -- partly due to his ego and decorum, partly because she was already busy as it were, and he loathed to burden her any further.

...

.....

...

He set the table after returning from his bath, hair still damp, and thanked her when she handed him the newspaper ("Sorry, Sasuke-kun, it's from yesterday. I didn't have time to buy today's.").

Sakura then squeezed herself between her husband and the dining chairs, probably unaware of the way she pushed her behind against his crotch in the process. He almost jerked his hips forward, reflexively. Instead,he just stood there perplexed for a moment, while gathering his posture.

He allowed himself to slouch on the sofa -- now comfortable enough around his wife to let his guard down, to indulge in some unseemly laziness -- and stretched leisurely, fully relaxed in his lounging clothes.

Sasuke felt slightly guilty. He had found his clothes washed and appropriately ironed, just the way he liked it. Sakura had insisted he show her how to iron clothes when they first got married, as she couldn't quite seem to get the hang of it before. After a few burned t-shirts and an oddly marked pair of pants, she had jumped up and kissed him when he'd finally given her his seal of approval. So passionate had been the kiss, in fact, that they'd somehow managed to become breathless and eager and tangled and very much distracted with one another, and before they knew it the living room had become laden with the smell of yet another burnt shirt and a worrisome cloud of smoke.

He smiled fondly at the memory and hid his face uncer the journal, sprawled with his arm and legs hanging off the couch, listening to Sakura as she mindlessly hummed an old lullaby. It was nice, listening to her sing, even when she didn't know she was doing it. Her voice was nice, soothing and melodious and homely. He would sometimes catch himself humming a tune (something he would never have done before), and eventually came to realize that whenever he had a song stuck in his head, it was because of her. Because she had been singing it.

The tune abruptly ended with a deep exhale. "Oh, I forgot to buy pepper... This head of mine, I swear!" Sakura groaned and mumbled a little more, complaining about how one day she might need a housemaid, or would move to a hotel, or just start going out for dinner every day like a Daimyō lady and never have to worry about groceries again.

Sasuke made a mental note to take her out for dinner, some day.

"Aha! I can't find the pepper, but..." He heard her rustle about with the contents of a cabinet. "Look, Sasuke-kun!"

Begrudgingly, he slid the papers off his eyes.

"Tsunade-sama sent this over, she said we should try it out as an appetizer." In her hand, she held a small porcelain flask with a bright red cap, 'SAKÉ' handwritten on it.

How odd, Sasuke thought, genuinely curious. Saké usually served as an after-dinner thing; although, given Tsunade's appreciation for the drink, he suppposed any time of the day was a good time for Saké as far as she was concerned. Probably even breakfast.

He politely declined.

"Oh, come on! I've been itching to taste it, but I waited for you to come back first... Please?" She shook the flask in her hand and popped the lid off, reaching for two small glasses. No amount of nose-wrinkling on Sasuke's behalf was enough to dissuade her; he eventually gave in, considering he felt the need to oblige to her plea (damn his heavy conscience, and damn that infuriatingly adorable way she batted her eyelids).

The taste wasn't so bad. In fact, it was surprisingly tolerable; almost pleasant, even for someone who didn't appreciate drinking . Before he knew it, the fifth and final glass had been emptied and he finally sunk back into the couch, slipping behind the press again just to shield his vision from the glaring light bulb radiating from the ceiling.

"Hmmm, this is nice," he heard her say as she noisily smacked her lips. "Who needs a housemaid when I can have an energy drink, eh?" Her giggle was contagious, truthfully, and Sasuke chortled discretely. 

Then he remembered something.

Now, Sasuke wasn't the kind of man who made jokes. It simply did not happen. However, as in some other bizarre occurrences in life -- like turtles being born with two heads or Kakashi arriving on time to a scheduled appointment --, there were occasions where he would slip out a series of conjoined words that could, within context, be perceived as a sort of joke (or, more often than not, a sharp jab at someone else's incompetence). These were usually accompanied by a disdainful look on his face, or uttered with a sort of scowl, or declared in a downright haughty way.

This time, however, he managed to sound somewhat satirical, despite having a few sheets of paper laid upon his face. "Maybe you could clone me in the lab. Cheaper than a housemaid, at least."

Sakura gasped with appallment, and loudly protested; very loudly, in fact, and something fell on the floor with a dull and heavy thud. Sasuke feared it might be the rolling pin, instinctively tensing his muscles in case of impact. 

"Absolutely not!" She roared, and he could almost see her with both hands fixed on her waist, glaring at him. He lifted the newspaper to check; he was right. Brow crumpled, hands on hips, legs apart.

That dress was too short, he thought again, too short, and retreated back behind the couch.

She seemed upset. Maybe the reference to Tsumiki Kido's actions [*] had been a little too much. But then she added, her voice light, "One Sasuke-kun is already enough for me to handle, as it is."

He attempted to decipher her comment, taking a moment to ponder if he could take the jest a little further. Sasuke wasn't a gambling man, but he decided to take his chances.

"Am I that troublesome?" He asked, not bothering to conceal his amusement.

"Well, that's not what I meant... But, actually..." Sakura crossed her arms pensively, and sighed. "I always worry when you're away. If you are doing well, if you are warm and comfortable, if you are eating properly, and..." A light tint of blush graced her cheeks, and Sakura shrugged and huffed. "Nevermind. I just worry too much."

"Aa," Sasuke nodded, agreeing with her. "Aa, you do worry too much. However... it shows you care."

Sakura smiled brightly. "Do you worry about me as well, Sasuke-kun?"

Hopeful, Sasuke thought. She always looked at him with that hope and wonder in her eyes, with a care so deep that it made his heart clench a little. Sasuke could never understand why he deserved such devotion, and he hated the fact that he made her worry so. But now, after all they had been through, after all this time... he had grown far too fond of her nurturing nature.

Far too dependent on it, in fact.

Yes, Sasuke thought of her often. He wasn’t exactly worried, however. So he said, rather flatly, "I do not."

And Sakura's smile faltered a little.

Curse his lack of tact with words. He was not a man who could pull his feelings across easily; in that aspect, he actually envied his wife a little. She expressed feelings for the both of them, so he seldom felt the need to say his out loud. He acted upon them though, and put his heart into them, but he knew (and he almost understood, almost) that she needed to hear him vocalize how he felt.

"Because I know you can take care of yourself. Also, I..." He tried to think of the right words. It wasn't easy. "I have faith in you." And you're strong and smart and beautiful, he added in the back of his mind, but you already know that... don't you?

Her lips curled (wide, alluring and modest) and she lowered her head, bashful. Bashful, but her dress was so short.

"Anyway," she huffed, turning her back to her husband and sticking a wooden spoon in the bubbling pot, stirring slowly, "what if your clone had a mind of its own, and decided to go around the world seducing other women?"

"Hn?"

"What would the people say? Imagine that, Sasuke-kun," she turned the heat on the stove down and put a lid on the pan, "people whispering in the streets that you were not a respectful husband... or that I was not a skillful wife!" Comically, Sakura cupped her cheeks in mock distress.

Still, Sasuke frowned. "I will always respect you," he said, and narrowed his eyes at her when she seemed to be choking back her laughter (was he now taking this too seriously?). "And what do you mean by skillful?"

He could see her ears glowing red, almost like the tomatoes she now gingerly attempted to chop up. The answer clicked in his mind before she spoke up (and he found himself a little flushed, much to his chagrin), but he was far too entertained to let her know.

"W-well, I mean... n-nothing, really."

With a devilish smirk, he sat up on the couch. He spoke pausedly, as if checking off a list in his mind. "You're skillful with taijutsi, and highly accomplished with medical jutsu. Your chakra control is excellent... what would people whisper about?"

She washed her hands after chopping up the vegetables, still not facing him, chewing her words. "Around the house, I mean... household... skills..."

"Hmm, what about it?" He stood up, and silently made his way toward her. She jumped up a little when she heard his voice up close, but kept focused on her task. "I enjoy your cooking. You keep the house clean, despite your schedule. You handle the bills, you get the groceries when I'm not home."

He knew exactly what he was doing. His effect on her whenever he initiates contact is always visible, just under her skin.

He made sure to keep his voice low and rumbling. She likes it when he sounds deep.

“And also..."

She sighed timidly, expectant, biting her lips; pretending to fiddle with the order of the glass containers in the spice rack.

He stood there, close enough to make her aware of him, but keeping a considerable distance (even though he wanted nothing but to close it, to press his mouth upon the nape  of her neck).

"In the bedroom..."

Her breath hitched. "Sasuke-kun..." She began to blink furiously, while standing very still. Waiting.

"You always make the bed very well."

Sakura turned her head -- slowly, very slowly, her eyebrows knitted together, her lips settling into a thin line -- and said, "What?"

This was one of the times where keeping his face straight actually required some effort.

"You arrange the pillows well and keep most of the wrinkles off the bedspread. I am satisfied with your indoor skills."

Sakura, on the other hand, developed a bit of an eye twitch.

"That's it?"

"What other household skills are required?"

He wasn't fast enough to dodge the kitchen cloth that collided with his face (but she'd been fast enough to grab it across the counter, somehow).

"Ah... I forgot about how you can actually iron, now. Oof!" Her fist connected with his ribs, but Sasuke figured it was worth the bruise.

"Maybe I'd be better off with a clone, after all!" And with that she stormed off, yanking her apron with more irritation than disappointment, sporting an undignified (but adorable) pout.

"Very well then." Entwining his hand's index and middle fingers, Sasuke formed the seal.

With a distinctive poof, another Sasuke appeared just in front of Sakura, who immediately stopped in her tracks. "Eek!" Weakly, she pushed the shadow clone away. "That's not funny."

Sasuke shrugged noncomitally, refusing to break his poker face (it was getting harder by the minute, and he wanted to kiss that grimace off her beautiful features).

"Can I help you?" Said the clone, placing its hand on Sakura's (very tense, very stiff) shoulder. Her skin is hot, little hairs standing to attention.

She glowered at both of them, snapping her head back and forth, strands of flowy pink hair swaying flawlessly around her face. "Sasuke-kun!!" She snarled, and both the Sasukes in the room said, in unison, "Yes?"

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. Her foot tapped dryly on the floorboard, the sound muffled by fluffy slippers. "I didn't make dinner for three."

"I'm not staying for dinner," said the clone, its facial expression betraying the original's ploy. Its hand moved to cup her face, thumb grazing her lower lip. "But I will have you."

Sakura's jaw slackened. She gasped, her hands flying up to her chest, and when she attempted to take a step backwards she collided with her actual husband.

The look she gave him (them, in fact, as she couldn't quite decide which one to focus on) only settled his resolve. Apprehension, perplexity, fear, excitement, lust, yearning.

Sasuke wastes no time.

He tastes the pulse on the side of her neck, feels the pace of it quicken when his hand reaches under her dress. His clone smirks on his behalf, since his mouth is busy, its hand trailing south toward Sakura's cleavage.

"Wait! No... Sasu... honey?"

It is known that shadow clones can have a mind of their own, although mirroring the personality of the authentic shinobi; this this one is no exception. Its fingers hook into her dresse's neckline, tugging at it, teasingly announcing its next move.

"Sasu...! Sssaah... hmm!"

Sakura, poor Sakura... Her lackluster struggle never ceases to tug at his deepest urges.

"You said," he begins, mouthing her neck, "you couldn't handle..." he runs his nails up her thighs, feeling the goosebumps as he goes up, "two of us. But you've never..." he kneads the muscled flesh firmly, climbing toward her heat, "even tried."

Her breathing is shallow, now, and she pushes herself heavily into Sasuke's lap -- this time, he infers, very much on purpose. Through half-lidded eyes she watches the clone touch her, cup her breast through the fabric, doing what Sasuke himself would if he had another hand.

Sasuke's fingers press into her underwear, tormenting her with exquisit circular motions. He does not stop even when her thighs compress his hand; he runs his tongue up to her ear, hardening against her backside, until his fingers become slick with the dampness he coaxes from her.

She holds on to him desperately, clinching to his pants, sliding them partially down his hips. Her moans are greedy, dragged, impatient; but she is just as hesitant as he is, just as surprised (because, yes, this entire situation is as new and arousing as it is titilating to him), and they both tremble together as their clothes fall to the floor. It is not just the fact that there is another hand added to the mix -- another set of nimble fingers, another soft palm, when they're only accustomed to having three hands in the set -- but it is, obviously, the extra presence with them.

Like looking at an odd reflection in the mirror, Sasuke thinks as he slowly buries himself into her (she's sleek, and so hot, and she can't stop squirming around him). He moves cautiously, fully pulling out before each thrust, driving as far into her core as possible when he returns to her heat. Her voice comes out strangled, strained, as if she needs to say something but can't seem to form the words. Her cries are soft and hushed, at first, but she gradually starts to lose the restraint on her volume.

"Ahh... ahhhnn... hhhhh... hhHHHHNN!"

The clone begins kissing the sides of her mouth -- avoiding her lips, just barely --, leaving a scorching trail between her breasts, down the center of her body. Sloppy but earnest lips claim more and more inches of her skin, force the muscles in her stomach to undulate in sinuous waves. The clone suddenly lifts Sakura's thigh and hoists it over its shoulder, almost threatening the couple's balance.

When its tongue finds itself inside her heat, Sasuke, -- her husband, the real one, that man who would so often blush when he kissed her and who looked away when she held his hand -- Sasuke slows down and groans with exertion, overwhelmed. "I can...I can taste it too," he gasps into her ear, ecstatic, and begins to suckle on the bend of her neck.

She's close, he can feel it. She's grappling to maintain her footing; back arched and hips grinding incessantly, spearing herself into his shaft with forsaken decency, so slick he almost slips out several times. The flavors of her sweat and her nectar flow together, mingle on his tongue, burn inside his mouth.

"Both... both... I can... guh.... Sasu... ke!!" Her muddled speech debases into a series of moans and groans and rippling sighs. Her nails bury into the skin of his hips, her toes curl -- one foot in the air, one foot on the carpet -- and she grinds, viciously, on the brink of her peak.

That built-up energy coils restlessly around her midriff, brimming, flickering like en ember ready to burst into a forest fire.

The clone vanishes with a sudden pop, cold air contrasting unpleasantly with her slickness. Like a bucket of cold water putting off a flame, Sasuke pulls out.

"What the

hell --"

Disentangling herself from his arm, struggling with the weakness in her legs and the unsatisfying coldness in her belly, Sakura whips around and faces him with a murderous glare.

She wants to slap that insufferable, handsome smirk off his face.

Instead, she roars at him and gathers her clothes in her arms, seething. "Go turn off the stove like you did me." Wrapping the dress around her body for some attempt at modesty, she filed herself out of the living room with solemn strides.

To say that Sasuke was shocked with her reaction was an understatement. He was used to the shy, demure woman who pleaded with half-lidded eyes for him to resume their lovemaking. He was used to having her cling to his neck, her calves timidly locking behind him, trying to draw him back into her heat with breathless prayers. He was used to watch her struggle with her own frustration as he made her edge, sometimes more than once, before mercifully allowing her to come.

This had been their silent little game of seduction; one he indulged in on occasion, one that always drove him unreasonable with satisfaction. He loved to play, to tease, to watch her thrum with yearning, to see how she tensed with each of his insinuations. He would lure her in, push her away, let her soak up her frustrations; before making her come undone and going down with her.

Something went wrong this time. Very wrong.

Sasuke looked down at himself, still covered in his wife's flow, and sighed.

..

....

..

"Go away." He found her naked in their bed, looking troubled. At the sight of him she hastily tried to cover herself with a pillow, heat rising up her neck.

"I'm sorry." Padding cautiously toward the center of their bedroom in an equal state of undress, Sasuke sat down beside her.

"... I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"It's fine."

She wasn't looking at him.

"I don't know what happened."

"My fault," he admitted. He pretended to ignore the evidence of pink curls showing just under the end of the pillow, focusing on her bare shoulders instead. The little purple marks on the surrounding area were a sore reminder of his appetite for her.

Sighing, Sakura hugged the pillow closer. "I never thought..." A pause for breath. It was shaky, and she seemed like she wanted to bury her face in the bed. "...to do such things with a clone."

"Never?"

His response was too fast, too natural. It was his turn to look away, to hide his embarrassment from her. She said nothing of it, thankfully; he didn't want to sound like a pervert, but... Using a clone for pleasure wasn't really something that had crossed his mind more than once or twice. A fleeting fantasy; nothing more than one of those invasive, unbidden thoughts that you push away and think nothing of. He'd never considered actually acting upon it.

"I'm just... I've missed you."

I missed you too. "I was only gone a week," he said instead.

"I miss making love to you," she explained with a small voice, her point now undeniably clearer.

"Ah."

He doesn't need to be told again.

There is a time and place for everything, he thinks, lowering himself to her side. The moment beckons for intimacy, for tenderness, and this is how he kisses her -- not with the rush of lust that marks her skin with its flames, but with a soft cadence and deftly deliberate caresses.

There is salt in his lips after he kisses her face. "Sakura..."

"I'm fine," she suspires, her hand pulling the black hair off his face, blinking the rest of her tears away. "As long as you hold me, I'll be fine..." Her lips search for his, hungry for affection. "And with each kiss, I feel better. So please... kiss me. Kiss me."

And so he does. Again, and again, and again, oh so sweetly, the way she likes it (the way she's taught him to appreciate). He slides between her legs, stays there, just settled flush upon her body. Riveted to her.

They make love like flames, winding gently, with long fluid movements and languorous hot breaths. Opening, swaying, pushing, blending; a coalescence of limbs and sounds and sweat.

He accompanies her as she rises like the wind in a storm; entwines his fingers with hers to let her know that she's his and he is hers -- that their feelings are connected, always, as their bodies are during these moments. To reassure her that this is not a game: this is real, and it is theirs, and it is forevermore.

He stays very still during her zenith, feeling her shudder around and beneath him while she squeezes every inch of his shaft with warm, silky muscles. And before she is entirely done shuddering, before he gets the chance to catch his breath, he reaches his own climax.

Sasuke is always silent, keeping his breath under control without fail, unaccompanied by voice.

But now, he can't; just like he is powerless to stop his hips from jerking into her. It's the first time he calls her name as he tumbles toward ecstasy, the first time he continues to moan with his lips pressed to her neck, all control fleeting from his grasp. It is a shaky prayer, a trembling hymn to these overhwelming sensations, a cry rippling from his very depths.

She says his name, too, in hot little gasps, her nails biting into his shoulder blades. It's a chorus, a symphony of their voices rising together, the ode of life.

He doesn't quite know what to do with himself afterwards; he lets Sakura guide him through little kisses and fleeting fingers, gingerly following her lead as she rests her head on his chest and twirls his arm over her waist. He likes the weight of her there, the warmth of her skin, her scent, their scent, alive against his heart.

"I love you."

Kissing the crown of her head, closing his eyes in her embrace, he mimics her words in his mind.

"I missed you, too."

...

.....

...

[*] In Sakura Hiden, it was revealed that two individuals, Kido Tsumiki and Magire, collected Sasuke's DNA to form clones as to ruin Sasuke's reputation, in an attempt to lure him back to Konoha. Read it on Reddit, translated by OrganicDinosaur -- (x)

[rooftoptabby]

SasuSaku Month: Day 4

title: Truth or Dare author: Leanne Ash prompt: the games we play

summary: A simple game to pass the time before a mission literally blows up in their faces

–

“Hey, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura yawned as she wearily watched the shifting tree branches in the distance. With the wind participating as much as it was, it was becoming difficult to decipher nature from the anticipated horde of would-be assassins.

She didn't wait for an answer from her teammate perched close by. “Truth or dare?”

Sasuke sat several shingles away, eyes scanning the trees surrounding the luxurious mansion they were guarding. “Neither,” the Uchiha ground out. “Stay focused.”

“I am,” Sakura answered simply, having developed an immunity to Sasuke's hard outer shell. “I've been focused for the past 24 hours and I don't intend to stop. Truth or dare?”

His head tilted sparingly in her direction. She was met with annoyed swirls of purple and red. “Is this a game to you?”

“Isn't it obvious that it is? C'mon, Sasuke-kun, we've been sitting in silence for days, can you humour me? Look, I'll go first.”

The pink-haired girl cleared her throat, and straightened her posture, “I pick truth. Ask me anything.”

“Fine,” Sasuke snapped begrudgingly. “Why are you doing this?”

She ignored the ridicule from his deep, velvety voice. With a finger to her chin, Sakura pretended to ponder deeply. “Because I'm bored and I'm actually starting to miss the way Naruto doesn't shut up. Now, truth or dare, Sasuke-kun?”

The Uchiha sighed, and with a careless wave of his hand, temporarily surrendered his resistance. “Truth.”

Delighted, she did her best to keep a straight face. “What do you really think of this mission?” Sakura asked eagerly.

The question did little to phase Sasuke as he returned his hardened stare to the forrest. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” she rolled her eyes, as if it were obvious. “This whole protecting Soma the war lord from assassins. You read the parchment outlining our next mission right?”

Indeed this was a conflicting assignment, handed off by a their former Team 7 leader who was now the sixth Hokage of Konoha. Soma had hired shinobi from the Hidden Leaf to protect him after several assassination attempts on his life. It was to be expected. Soma was responsible for the deaths of hundreds in his despicable tirade and everything was slowly catching up to him as he grew older. The task of bodyguarding Soma was assigned to Sakura and Sasuke, and accepted without too much argument. The money would be beneficial to the slow rebuilding of their village, their Hokage shrugged.

But it was the cheeky apologetic laugh of Kakashi, as he handed the pair their next mission briefing, that had them drowning in scepticism. This other mission was to be conducted several months later. And they were to assassinate Soma the war lord themselves. It all seemed like one big oversight on Kakashi's part but he maintained his optimism for both outcomes.

“It doesn't matter what we think,” Sasuke commented dryly. “It's just one mission to the next.”

Sakura cleared her throat sharply. “You picked truth,” she reminded.

The prodigy went silent for a moment, and she feared he was not going to indulge her any further. The anticipation of his rejections always made her perspire with embarrassment.

“We’re wasting our time,” Sasuke finally revealed, and Sakura felt relief cool the anxious warmth that had enveloped her. Finally, she was getting somewhere with this pastime.

“I pick truth!” she announced giddily “Ask me something.”

The red and purple shades of his eyes slid to meet hers. “What would you have us do?”

Sakura couldn't help blushing as the question without context brought up several romantic scenarios in her head. What wouldn't she have them do?

“You mean,” she began with a nervous giggle, “Us, like, right now... or...?”

“The mission,” Sasuke clarified impatiently. “It seems you don't agree with it. So what would you have us do?”

Her insides fell, chastising her silly childhood obsession for resurfacing. “I guess I'd allow the assassination attempt to succeed...”

The Uchiha smirked at this. “And the funding needed for Konoha?”

She wasn’t deterred by the condescending look on his face. “I suppose it depends on what we should value more,” Sakura explained evenly. “Do we keep a dangerous man alive a little longer to get Konoha built just a little faster...? Or do we end Soma a little sooner so he can't terrorize hundreds a little earlier? Personally, I'd pick the lives of others in a heartbeat.”

The smirk vanished as Sasuke watched her in silence for a moment, expression unreadable, but that was nothing new.

She smiled back softly at him. “Truth or dare?”

He didn't hesitate this time. “Truth.”

“Am I wrong?”

Sasuke's expression didn't change, but with the tight press of his mouth, it looked as if he were debating something in his head.

Sakura continued to smile, bright green eyes downcast to scan their surroundings. “They're here,” she announced nonchalantly. They're not suppressing their chakra well.”

The Uchiha stood, resting a hand on the hilt of his Kusanagi. “They're spreading out and hovering at all the entrances.”

Moving with lightening speed across the lengthy rooftop, the pair reached the edge but Sasuke paused before dropping lower.

“You're not wrong,” he told Sakura mutedly, surprising her. “But we have a mission to complete. This is our way, and that was our choice. We're here to stop them.”

His pink-haired teammate nodded solemnly. “I understand.” She began moving toward the far right side of the rooftop. “They're still trying to gain access. One assassin pre entrance, six total. I'll cut off the ones at the side of the house and we'll---”

The both of them stopped at the same time, sensing a sudden dramatic change in the air below them.

“They're... leaving?” Sakura wondered.

Chakra signatures began to scatter from the mansion as quickly as they had arrived.

Sasuke didn't answer, instead his eyes frantically searched the infrastructure for something they might've missed. “Sakura!”

All she heard before the sudden collision into her body was the strange call of her name, as if something horrible dawned on Sasuke midway through uttering it.

With an arm twisting around her waist, Sasuke slammed into Sakura as he hurdled them both off the roof as quick as humanly possible. The explosion that followed nearly burned her vision a blinding white as the cascading flames chased after them. The sound was deafening. Debris pushed past their bodies through the fall. Glass and wood splinters rained down with assaulting speed before they tumbled into the earth. The roof they were perched on no longer existed.

Sakura saw the sky first, illuminated by the glow of Soma's mansion up in flames. Determined or not, the war lord's current existence was bleak. She coughed violently, the smoke from the blast stifling the air. She lay on her back for a few more seconds, completely dazed and unprepared to face the reality of the injuries she may have suffered. As the reality of the situation set in, Sakura's eyes widened.

She struggled to turn to her side, but her coughing refused to let up. “S-Sasuke-kun...!” she finally managed to choke out.

The groan beside her was a beaten, reassuring one. Tilting her head the side, and extremely grateful her neck was still functioning, she found Sasuke lying on his back beside her. He was sitting up slowly, pulling bits of broken glass from his arm as he did so.

“Didn't think they had the means to create explosives like that,” he grimaced. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine,” Sakura answered stubbornly as she finally managed to roll to her side. A sharp pain was radiating up her leg. Her discomfort came out in strangled gasps as she searched her body for injuries, finding what felt to be a large piece of wood stabbed into her thigh.

With a loud curse, Sasuke pulled the last shard of glass from his side and allowed himself to collapse back down. Sakura did the same, rolling back to face the lukewarm sky above. Their breathing was laboured and hoarse, but thankfully calming down.

“Truth or dare?” Sakura asked weakly, as she began to concentrate healing chakra to her hands.

“Truth,” Sasuke grunted.

“Do you... do you think we'll at least get paid for the second mission?”

He smirked. And she giggled lightly, although it was extremely painful to do so.

"Pick truth," he said seriously, without initiative.

Green eyes regarded him with curiosity. "Truth," she obliged.

“Are you really okay?”

Sakura couldn't help but laugh then for some silly, displaced reason. The act was debilitating, but worth it. “Never been better, Sasuke-kun.”

“Liar.”

[chidorinnnnn]

SasuSaku Month Day 4: The Games We Play

I’ve been in too much of an Echoes of Time mood lately...

She’s awfully small for a Clavat.

The girl that sits by the fountain, staring at her feet and tapping her toes together, isn't the first student to come to the town after the crystals' miraculous reappearance, and she likely won't be the last. It's none of Sasuke's business, really – he's a Selkie mercenary, not a student and certainly not a historian, and she looks like she can handle herself, what with the axe that’s larger than her propped up against the wall. 

For the first time in years, the town is abuzz, and the Clavat girl looks unusually vulnerable -- it’s because of this that Sasuke can’t leave her alone.

She lifts her head as he approaches her, brushing pink hair out of her eyes. “Are you trying to get into the library too?” she asks.

Sasuke sits down next to her and sighs. There had been a game among his fellow mercenaries before, where they’d compete to see who could complete the most missions -- but now, he was the only one left as his group slowly abandoned the town.

And it looked like the Clavat girl was in the same situation. “It’s such a pain to study in there,” she grumbles. “Too many monsters...” Sasuke looks to the axe, and the girl puffs her cheeks in annoyance. “Well it’s kind of hard to study when you’re too busy swinging that around.”

He manages a small smile at that. “You’re stuck here, too?” he asks.

“Mm,” the girl says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, sort of. I kind of got separated in my group, and they all went to look at the crystal in the forest, so I’m stuck here until they get back. We’re supposed to leave next week, but depending on how my research goes, I might stick around.”

And it’s stupid of him, he reasons, to dedicate so much time to a girl he’s only just met -- but he has all the time in the world on his hand, and it’s not like he has anything better to do. “I could help.”

Her green eyes widen. “Really? You’ll help me with my research?”

Sasuke shakes his head furiously -- the thought of words and and reading and studying are making his head hurt already. “No. You study -- I’ll keep the monsters away.” He gestures toward the quiver of arrows and the bow strapped on his back for emphasis.

The Clavat girl smiles at him and stands up. “I wouldn’t mind the company,” she says, swaying back and forth on the balls of her feet. 

As they walk to the library together, she chatters enough for the both of them, but it’s not an unwelcome sound -- it’s at least something different from the dull monotony of the town. “I’m Sakura, by the way,” she says halfway through a sentence on the properties of crystals.

“Sasuke,” he grunts back.

[runtedfiction]

tomorrow, then

AN: there are cavities in my teeth

[day 4: the games we play]

It's after a month of a Fundamental Change in the way that Sasuke treats Sakura that she has enough. She doesn't know what started the change—maybe he noticed her newly ripped biceps, maybe he saw the passion in her eyes when explaining the digestive system—but she's had enough.

So when they go out for food on Friday, and Naruto runs to the bathroom mumbling about spoiled milk, Sakura turns her attention on Sasuke.

"We've been friends for…five years now," she says. What she doesn't say is "I've liked you for all those five years," or "Something has changed, and I can't put my finger on it, but I think you look at me like that sometimes and I don't know if you want that."

"Yes," he agrees, leaning his head on one hand and taking a bite out of his ramen. "Is it healthy for Naruto to be in the restroom for this long."

"No," she says. She takes a sip of her water, and suddenly the lights in the restaurant are too bright, but she needs to do this. She's standing on the edge of a new beginning. It's terrifying.

"If I were to…" Sakura says, before shaking her head. "If I said something, and you weren't okay with it, would we still be friends?"

He raises an eyebrow, and straightens. "I know you gave The Idiot some hints during our last exam when the test proctor just suddenly had to step out of the room."

Sakura fidgets with the collar of her shirt. "Ah. That. But, it's, um, it's not that."

"Okay," says Sasuke. He eyes her. "Do you have something else to say."

"…Yes." She doesn't say anything after that, but the words are lodged deep in her throat.

He looks at Sakura—sensible, smart Sakura—trembling and flushed, and clears his throat. "Sakura."

"Yes?" She breaks open her chopsticks with too much force.

"Say it."

"I really like you," she blurts out, in a rush. The words are too loud, and things are happening too fast, but it's out. There's relief coursing through her veins alongside fear. 

She pushes on. "And I, I—don't think I want to play games anymore. Sometimes I think you're leading me on, or something, but then I remember that you're—do you even have that capability?"

She looks up at him, nervous, and true to his roots, Sasuke looks impassive. But Sakura sees the slight furrow of his brows, and the tight edges of his lips. He's mulling over something. She doesn't take this as a rejection.

"I," she continues, pauses. "I want to kiss you like I mean it, and I want to make you happy. No more half-assed flirting, and glances that feel like they should be filled with something more. Or whatever the hell you've been doing this past month. Is—this isn't a game, right?"

She can't meet his eyes. Sakura counts to thirty, and the silence is suffocating.

He doesn't answer.

After a minute passes, a terrible truth begins forming in the pit of her stomach: this is probably nothing. He sure as hell isn't going to say anything, except maybe the perfunctory "I'm sorry." This was nothing; this will be nothing. And now they won't be friends, or there'll be something different, and nothing will be the same.

He clears his throat, and she prepares herself. "I—"

"Aw, guys, our food came and you didn't text me?"

Sakura is stunned by the intrusion of a happy, oblivious Naruto. She snaps, with a little more force than necessary, "Who'd text you in the bathroom, Naruto?"

"Sakura-chan, geez, no need to be so mean." He sits down, and looks between his two friends. "Hey…did I miss something?"

"We're fine," Sakura says softly. She places some money on the table, and begins gathering her things. "I'm sorry, I just stressed myself out with studying so much—"

"But Sakura-chan, you're always the top in our class! Unless this bastard tries to go for it too."

The mention of Sasuke—while he's right in front of her, still silent, still unreadable—stings. "I know, Naruto," she says with a smile. "But I hardly slept, and I'm feeling poorly. I'm going to take the subway back home."

She walks out of the restaurant, and there's a cruelty in how beautiful the evening sun looks. She considers calling Ino, but then her shoulders are shaking—I finally did it, I finally said it, that has to count for something—and she's crying, walking to the station.

There's no hand that clasps around her wrist suddenly, no boy chasing after her. Her life is not a shoujo manga, she laments, because in shoujo mangas the love interest is not a closed book who shuts down at the onset of what should've been an important conversation.

Sakura stops crying when she boards the train. She saves her tears for later, when she's changed into her pajamas and put away her textbooks. The summer begins with heartbreak, but Ino tells her everything will be okay and vows to castrate Sasuke.

"Don't castrate him," Sakura says, falling back in her bed.

"You're right, thousands of girls would be disappointed if—"

"Ino, don't be crude."

"Live a little, Forehead." Sakura laughs, faintly and pathetically, but it's a laugh nonetheless, and she can hear shifting on the other end of the line. Ino is her best friend, and it's easy to imagine her now, painting Sakura's nails as consolation and bringing chocolate. "I…I have to say I'm surprised though. I thought it would be inevitable, you two. He's always harbored—"

"Ino-chan, not now."

"You're right. I'm sorry, and you're the same bomb-ass Sakura you've always been."

"I know."

"You sound beat. Are you going to bed now?"

"I'm already in it. I think I'll read some terrible romance and go to sleep."

"Romance?"

"Yeah, never mind. I'll read something bloody and terrible."

"That's more like it."

"Good night, Ino-chan."

"'Night, Sakura."

The line disconnects, and Sakura spends the next three hours reading something terrible. But it's a good distraction, and Sakura has always been good at getting invested in stories. She binges, and she's reached the fiftieth chapter when her phone begins ringing.

It's him.

She drops her phone on her face—"fuck, ow"—and her obnoxiously loud ring tone continues until she answers it out of instinct.

"Yes," she says, and immediately regrets it. Because he must've only called to apologize, and—

"I'm outside your apartment building right now."

"You—"

The line disconnects, and Sakura's angry after swallowing her shock. He could've just said whatever he needed to say on the phone, she thinks with a glower as she throws on a sweatshirt. She pads through the apartment carefully to grab her keys, because if her mother and father saw her up at midnight meeting Sasuke, they'd really hate him then.

He's downstairs.

She takes a deep breath, and walks outside the building.

"Hey," he says, casual. His hands are in his pockets, as if this is a regular meetup, and he won't meet her eyes.

She figures she has the right to be angry. "It's, like, 2 AM?"

"Did I wake you." He's turned, and she can see his stupidly beautiful profile.

"No. I was binge reading."

"Hn."

After a silence, Sakura sighs and drags her hand across her face. "If you want to apologize, it's fine. I understand."

They watch the few cars pass on the road, and Sakura drops her gaze to her bunny slippers.

"I," Sakura says. Her anger builds. "You—this isn't a goddamn game. I'm not going to try and figure you out. You have to say what you want to say."

"Sakura."

Finally. "Yes?"

She looks up, and suddenly he takes two strides, and grips her shoulders. The tips of his shoes align with her slippers, and Sakura's senses are in overdrive—his shoulders, the way he's a head and a half taller than her, the scent of clean laundry. Sakura's blood buzzes and her mind breaks.

Will he apologize like this?

He's looking at her that way again, and Sakura's heart is going to kill her probably because what the fuck is he doing and why the fuck is he leaning in and oh my God this is—

He kisses her gently, outside her apartment building with a full moon hanging over them.

It's incredibly light and over in a second, and Sakura pulls back.

"Uh—"

"You're really annoying," he begins, and he sighs. "And I'm…I'm sorry."

"You—"

"Just listen," he says. He scowls, and they're stuck in a silence again.

"I can't listen…if there's nothing to listen to…"

"Shut up," he retorts. There's a flush across his face, and Sakura takes the time to touch her lips. He kissed me. He kissed me.

"I'm terrible with these kinds of things," he says. "I've…I don't know how to say these kinds of things. You caught me off guard, earlier today."

She nods, breathless, and he takes his hands off her shoulders to rub one across the back of his neck. "I'll text you tomorrow," he says. "As an apology, we can…go see a movie, or something."

"An apology?"

"Fine," he mutters. "A date."

She laughs, shocked, at the blush on his face. "You…you absolute tsundere, Sasuke-kun. You come here in the middle of the night, you kiss me, and you can't even say you want to date me? What kind of game are you playing, oh my god? And that I honestly thought you didn't like me so Ino threatened to castrate you—"

"What."

"Uh, nothing," she says. "But you like me. You like me. You like—"

"Enough." His ears are now red. "And…I. This isn't a game. For me."

"Pick me up at six tomorrow," she says when she steps back. "I expect dinner and a movie, as retribution. And don't get shanked when you walk back home, God, you idiot—it's too late at night."

"Hn," he scoffs, but she sees the edge of a smile at his lips. "Tomorrow then, you annoying girl."

Sakura laughs, and nods. "Tomorrow then, you annoying boy."