#ssm21d1

[queen-serena]

Sasusaku Month day 1: Glances

[airashisakura]

My first entry for @ssskmonth | Prompts used Glances and Years Past

Evolution

Summary: In the journey of life, they lost and found something along the path.

_

Fixing her red ribbon, Sakura glances at the dark-haired boy. Sakura looks around before looking at him again. The classroom is lively as ever — Naruto and Kiba are fighting, Ino is bickering with Choji while Shikamaru yawns and mutters something, Hinata fidgets uncomfortably in her seat while Shino observes everyone. Sasuke’s elbows are resting on the desk, his chin supported by his interlaced fingers. Sakura’s green eyes wander on his face, and a shade of red stains her cheeks. Lucky for her, his eyes are closed. She wonders what he’s thinking.

The classroom is too noisy for his liking. Sasuke wants for Iruka-sensei to start class as soon as possible, because his 5 year old brain thinks the sooner the class starts, the sooner it will end. Today, he wants time to fly fast because his nii-san has promised to pick him up after school.

_

Everytime Sakura glances towards Sasuke while Iruka-sensei lectures about five basic nature of chakra, she finds him gazing out of the window. Strange, she thinks, because Sasuke-kun is always attentive to lessons. She hears Naruto get scolded for not paying attention, and he grumbles that he doesn’t understand a single word. However, this is not the case with Sasuke. She is confident of that. She nods and tells herself Sasuke-kun is a genius. He already knows what sensei is teaching.

Sasuke doesn’t want the class to end today, because he has been tired of being greeted by an empty house and crying himself to sleep. It’s only been a week, and he misses his mother's lap, his father’s voice, and his older brother’s presence. But he shouldn’t miss his older brother, should he? It’s too hard of a question for an 8 year old to figure that out. He bites hard on his lower lip; he doesn't want to cry in front of his classmates.

_

Sakura glances lazily at the campfire in front of her. Still in slumber, she hears Kakashi-sensei waking Sasuke-kun up for the watch. She recalls they were returning from an escort mission, and they were all tired, especially Naruto, to return back to the village immediately. So they settled to sleep under the open sky accompanied by a summer breeze. Sakura smiles in her sleep, thanking her sensei and teammate for giving her some more time to spend with Sasuke-kun.

Sasuke looks toward the sky. The darkness of the night is fading slowly, and in the distance, he could hear the birds chirping, ready to start their day. Kakashi said he needed an hour of rest before they start again for the village. Sasuke doesn't like that. He frowns, mulling over the fact that he isn't making any progress in his plan of revenge with a lazy sensei and two unskilled teammates. However, the 12 year old genin hums in gratitude because these people protect him from lonely nights.

_

It's been a year since Tsunade-sama took Sakura under her tutelage. Sakura tries to slip into a dream where Sasuke hasn't left the village and Team 7 isn't disbanded. But the pain that washes over her body doesn't let her. Grunting, Sakura glances over the picture of Team 7 kept on her bedside table before she shuts her eyelids again. Her 14 year self doesn't know which was more painful — broken bones or a bruised heart.

_

Sakura glances at her reflection before she punches the mirror. Her knuckles bleed, but her punching doesn't stop. Her short breaths change into sobs while her body shakes violently. While tears overflow from her green eyes, she thinks it's better now because broken shreds can't reflect the dark marks of Sasuke's fingers on her pale neck. She cries harder, realizing that the mark would disappear after some days, but the pain that her love for Sasuke brings won't. Her 16 year self was now wise enough to know that bruised hearts hurt more than broken bones.

_

Sakura wonders whether the examination rooms of the hospital are too small? She presses her fingers gently on Sasuke's left stump, examining it. She applies more pressure and glances at Sasuke's face to determine whether his arm still hurts. Sasuke doesn't flinch, though his expressions are unreadable as ever. The 17 year old Sakura isn't naive to deduce a silly conclusion. Although she can't read his thoughts, she feels a pain stirring behind his mismatched orbs.

Sasuke suppresses a gasp when Sakura touches his arm. It hurts a little when she prods him with her fingers, but he doesn't complain. However, it hurts more to accept that Sakura has forgiven him. He wants to jerk away from her touch and tell her not to treat him so gently. He doesn't do that and diverts his mind to search for answers that trouble him — the definition of home, his loyalty to Konoha, and his bonds with Team 7. His wandering mind is dragged to the present moment when Sakura applies more pressure. It hurts more than before, but he doesn't flinch. Instead, he notes that he should thank Sakura before he leaves for his redemption journey tomorrow.

_

After taking a shower, Sakura settles with a cup of tea beside the window. She sips the jasmine tea and hears the sound of falling rain along with metallic sound coming from the room. Sasuke, on the other side of the room, is busy taking care of his chokuto. It has been months they've been married, but Sakura still blushes on the thought that they share a room together. Perhaps she won't ever stop feeling giddy around him, but the 19 years old Sakura knows Sasuke better than before. She knows some of his past, can tell when he is bothered although she doesn't always know the reason, and has seen the little upward tilt of his lips when he is happy. She steals a glance at Sasuke before closing her eyes, and a satisfied smile creeps on her face.

The summer rain had drenched them badly, and out of habit Sasuke settled on the floor after a shower to wipe off the water from his and Sakura's weapons. He almost smiles when Sakura fumbles with the tea pot and watches her as she settles beside the window. He sighs and wipes his chokuto. He is still amazed by how comfortable he is around Sakura. It's the same feeling he had when he was around oka-san, otou-san, and Itachi; he realizes. His fingers abruptly stop on the blade when he remembers something oka-san had said years before. He looks towards Sakura — eyes closed, smiling — and realizes a rented room to take shelter from rain can turn into home because Sakura is there with him.

_

Sakura is tired. The exhaustion from the hours of labor has seeped deep in her bones. She glances at the dark ceiling of the hideout and clutches the sheet closer to her body. She cranes her neck to see the little human she had given birth to, and she smiles softly. Sasuke is curled on the other side of bed, watching their newborn daughter with awe. She catches something in his eyes that she has never seen before, and she feels tears pooling in her eyes. Sakura has once accepted that she couldn’t give Sasuke what he had once lost, but little Sarada has proved her wrong.

Sasuke watches as Sarada scrunches her eyes and wiggles. Sasuke places his index finger on her little palm and starts counting her fingers. Although he stops when she hears Sakura giggling softly. “She is so small,” he tells her, and Sakura says, “She is only a day old.” He hums and though he doesn’t say it out loud, he thanks her as he stares into her green eyes. Sarada’s little adorable fingers wrap around his index finger, and he realizes that at 20 he has found what he lost at a tender age of 8.

_

Sasuke glances at the clock before he slips under the sheet beside Sakura. It's late, and he almost groans on the thought that he has to leave early in the morning for a mission without seeing his daughter. At the age of 33, he wonders sometimes if he has taken the right decision to spend his life out of the village, working from the shadows, protecting the village. He turns around to face Sakura's back and snuggle closer to her body. Sakura stirs in her sleep and sleepily murmurs, “Okaeri.”

“Aah, Tadaima.” He realizes this way he can always come back to Sakura — and come back to his home.

_

FFN | AO3

[pinkhairedlily]

Every Glance A Step Closer

Prompt: Glances | AO3 link here. Connect with me on Twitter. Happy SS Month everyone! 🌸🍅🥗 @ssskmonth

“This one barely goes out of her laboratory. I swear to god she smells like formaline.”

“He smells like the dust and cobwebs in the library. I cannot even pronounce what he’s doing – archi…something. I just know he handles lots of old papers and books. B-o-r-i-n-g.”

“So anyway, Haruno Sakura meet Uchiha Sasuke.”

This was her one free day in her experiment period week, but she needed to steam off for a night and so she allowed her friend to tug her along for a chill night drink. What Sakura didn’t expect was to socialize with a small group of people in their year and to suffer the cold indifference of the guy in front of her.

To her another surprise, he held out a hand to her. “Hello there.” She took it, slightly conscious whether she used her formaline-cancelling hand lotion. A brief and firm shake and he quicky turned away.

“Sasuke finally speaks.”

“That hello sounded a little spicier.”

“Oh my, that hand holding definitely had some electricity.”

The cajoling and teasing finally stopped when the first round of beers came in. Local university gossip was the go-to conversation opener, from the open secret student-teacher relationships to recent couple break-ups. It eventually led to Sasuke and his list of confessions.

“I heard you turned down Mio from fashion design department.”

“No way. I heard she was approached by Celine for a gig.”

“Really Sasuke? That makes her the fifth girl you dumped for this week alone.”

“You never actually had a girlfriend, did you?”

Sakura stared at him doe-eyed, genuinely curious of his answer. He returned her gaze and raised one brow. “I have high standards.”

Oh wow, what a douche, Sakura thought. Hoots erupted in their table but only for a few seconds. While the drinking and the exchanges went on, Sakura found herself wanting to go home early. She was bored and her neck was tired from not looking at him. Under the guise of stretching her already strained neck, she stole a glance, hoping to have a brief moment to take in all of his features and remember his face.

But he was already looking at her. His eyes went to the door of the restaurant then back to her. Bored? He mouthed.

Sakura looked at the door, knowing perfectly what he meant. She chugged her supposedly last bottle of beer and made a small gap with her thumb and index finger. He caught her signal and started to stand up. Their group was tipsy enough not to notice their sudden movements as they shuffled out of the door.

She halted after a few steps, Sasuke’s figure already paces in front of her, wondering whether she should say goodbye or just walk towards the opposite direction back to her apartment. She didn’t think too much of it and quickly chose the latter.

She had to get ice cream first though, a sugar rush to help jolt her senses awake. She was choosing between chocolate and strawberry when a large figure stood beside her.

“A vanilla one, please,” Sasuke said, looking smug with his hands both in his pockets. “Your treat.”

Sakura felt weirded out by the fact that he actively kept on engaging her. His reputation preceded him, but she decided to humor him for tonight. “So library science and you’re an archivist.”

“Intern archivist actually. So you actually know me.” There was arrogance in his voice that made Sakura almost choke on her ice cream.

“Process of elimination. There is no male major in our year in the History department.” She glanced at him and saw that smug look slowly transition into a slight flush of embarrassment. Cute.

“And what if it was a hobby?” Sasuke fiddled with his still unopened vanilla ice cream.

“There was a job posting in the bulletin specifically calling for Library Science students.” Their feet led them to the park still bustling with university night life and settled on a bench under the canopy of a fully bloomed dogwood tree. “See, I’m not your admirer.”

“Well, that’s a downer,” he smirked.

They talked like that for a while, fleetingly exploring related topics to their degree programs, the usual prominent teachers, the busy schedules, until Sakura finished her chocolate and strawberry popsicles. It was on her way home, finally this time, that she realized he never ate his ice cream.

--------------------------

She next saw him on their building’s rooftop with a group of friends, a piece of unsmoked cigarette in between his fingers. He quickly met her eyes, did a brief nod, and looked away. She inadvertently expected more than that but she wasn’t here for a smoke break, and it wasn’t her intention to take it further. She was here for a quick getaway from her microscope and to appreciate the city view dotted with the flowers of spring.

He kept glancing her way, however. He would be in the middle of a conversation and his eyes would stray to her, and she would catch it in her periphery, trying not to notice it. She got tired after a few repetitions of this, and the next time he glanced, she caught his gaze.

Stop it, she mouthed.

I’m bored, he mouthed back. Walk with me. His fingers mimicked the gesture, his fingers walking in the air.

She put her hands together and slightly bowed in apology. Next time, she winked at him before running back to her laboratory, a small smile painted on her lips.

--------------------------

It became like this for the next few weeks; they conversed through glances and awkward gestures whenever they were in public with their friends. When it was time to come home, they would walk in separate ways and meet again in the park under the same dogwood tree and they would converse for hours. It was mostly Sakura word-vomiting about her experiments while Sasuke would look at her with abandoned fascination.

“Stop doing that,” Sakura called him out one time.

“Stop doing what?” Sasuke asked, his ember eyes never leaving her face.

“You stare too much I feel like I’m melting.”

Sasuke made a small grunt and wore his hoodie over his head to mess with her more. He waved his hands on both sides of his face, and she immediately understood the reference of a horse having its blinders on. “Good because usually I’m the one being stared at.”

Sakura reached out to his hoodie and tightened the strings around his neck. “You’re hopeless.”

He leaned forward, almost touching her lips, his face still between her palms. “Hmm, maybe I am.”

Sakura moved away just as quickly as he moved into her personal space, a hot flush creeping to her cheeks. She hated this particular situation since blushing always made her look like a cherry tomato.

“Cute.” Sasuke apparently said his thoughts aloud because he was taken aback the moment she glanced back at him. “Cool, I said cool.”

She laughed this off just as he completely covered his face inside his hoodie.

--------------------------

She visited the basement section of the library for reference materials. Her writeup was due tomorrow and she was missing a section on historical evolution of vaccines and dosages for the viral DNA she uncovered. The small library slip in her hand, she made her way to the dimly lit rows on Biology. The shelves were twice taller than her, but there were spaces in between stacked books.

Would make it very easy to spot a ghost, Sakura chided to herself. A shadow moved along the row adjacent to the Biology section, but she dismissed this as the library staff. Her fingers traced the spines of ragged books and examined the list of recommended titles in her hand. When she raised her head, ember eyes stared back at her between the spaces of the opposite row.

Hi, Sasuke mouthed. He glanced around and seeing no one, he whispered, “Can I come over to your side?”

She found it hard to stop her grin from rising. “More eyes, the better.”

It took only a few minutes for Sasuke to find all the titles in her list, but they littered around, walking in between shelves, taking one random book and flipping its pages, stopping when they find something interesting. When heavy footfalls were heard on the stairs, Sakura inclined her head, gesturing she needed to go.

Sasuke seemed to misunderstand as he pulled her through the sleeve of her cardigan to the area further behind the room, and as the shadows grew darker, and the noise became more muted, she heard the racing beat of her heart.

Finally reaching the wall, Sasuke slumped to the floor and patted the space beside him. Sakura followed suit, consciously leaving a space between them as she was slowly becoming hyper-aware of their proximity.

“How are you faring so far? Done with the requirements?” Sasuke asked, his voice low but audible enough for her.

Sakura nodded, and after beat, rolled her eyes at him. “Shouldn’t you be out there assisting others?”

“I believe you need more immediate help.” Sasuke pulled his knees in to rest his chin on and trained his eyes on her. “Sakura.”

“Sasuke.”

The longest minute of silence hung between them, tension strung by the stare, until Sakura broke it off with her eyes shifting to the floor. “What are you doing?”

“Flirting,” he said like it’s a matter-of-fact. “This is what they usually do to me.”

“And what should I do?” She let the words roll out of her mouth, unsure why she asked, uncertain also of what he felt. She met his gaze again.

And in that moment, he just sincerely looked at her. “Flirt back.”

--------------------------

Sakura was done for the school year. She will be officially graduating in a month, and to celebrate, she went out with their group for a sem-ender discotheque clubbing. She was gonna shoot her shot for a one-night stand with literally anyone who had chemistry with her – haha she was just kidding. As this seemed to be the final cap-off to her university life, she went all out with her clothes Sakura-style – basically a boxy cropped tea, high waisted jeans, and old heels her best friend gave to her in pity.

This was actually her first club experience, but she was glad to be with veteran friends. The first few minutes inside a closed space with bass boosted, unfamiliar crowds, and lots of skinship made her very uncomfortable. Her only reprieve was the free-flowing drinks – ironically she can handle alcohol well. The disco lights would have made it difficult to spot faces, but she found him in the dark, on the corner directly across her group, his eyes already glued on her.

She wondered if he ever forgave her for scrambling out of his presence in the reference section last time, explicitly avoiding his request to flirt back. It seemed like she worried for nothing since Sasuke raised his glass to her and mouthed congratulations. She raised her glass back, resolving to mind her own business tonight. But he kept looking, a smirk etched on his beautiful face, urging her to meet him halfway.

She didn’t need to look for an excuse as her friends suddenly pulled her into the harmless mosh pit of friendly grinding. Sakura allowed herself to move to the beat, enjoying the bubble offered by the club to lose herself for a few seconds. But she kept glancing towards his direction, his eyes looking for her in the mass of bodies. At first, the glances were mischievous, like playing hide-and-seek, then they held gravity, heavy lidded and palpable.

Sasuke was impatient, and soon enough, at her next spin on her heels, he was right behind her, his hands hovering over her arms, seeking consent to touch. Sakura turned to face him, one part shy, other parts unnerved, and she slowly encircled her arms around his neck, her eyes a definite yes. His hands went to her waist, and he brought her closer to his embrace.

“You don’t have your hoodie though,” Sakura said, a little louder over the crooning of Carly Rae Jepsen to Gimmie Love. “Someone will definitely see you.”

Sasuke closed whatever distance was between them and brought his lips to her ears. “That’s a relief then. I want to be seen with you.”

“Simp,” Sakura teased. “You’re probably expecting a confession out of me, aren’t you?” This was a long time coming and she wanted to get it over with tonight especially when she had alcohol buzzing on her side.

“I am actually,” Sasuke said. “I was hoping to beat you to it in the library last time, but you ran away. Coward.”

“What?”

“What? Didn’t you hear me?”

“You like me.” Sakura said in realization. She edged her face away from his hold to take a good look at his embarrassed face. “Oh, you really do.”

“You could be dense sometimes, Sakura.” Sasuke poked her forehead playfully, and he was rewarded with a bubbly laughter from her.

Their friends finally noticed them and the intense skinship happening. The yells and woots started to drown out the speakers.

“That took you two long enough, huh?”

“They really waited for the end of the school year to do their big reveal.”

“As if the whole school doesn’t know already.”

“What?” Sasuke and Sakura asked in unison.

“It was the constant eyesmex.”

“Really, they do it every time with no shame. It gives me secondhand embarrassment.”

“Right? Sometimes I think I need to yell get a room.”

“Maybe they’ll get a room tonight.”

“Oh my god, shut up."

🌸 It's my first time participating actively for SS Month so please go easy on me haha. Work is loosely inspired by Nevertheless webtoon (which now has a Netflix adaptation). Hope you enjoyed reading!

[kishillaa]

SSM21 Day 1: Glances

She tried to be subtle, god knows how much she tried, but the more she tried the more it doesn't seems as subtle as she hope it be.

Once again, her eyes returned to the sitting figure of Uchiha Sasuke. She admires him, he excels in everything in academy; from theory to physical, and from such young age, he throws kunai like he has been doing it since he was born. She admires all that, and it didn't help that he looks so handsome for such young boy either. She however didn't prepare for his eyes to caught hers almost instantly. Sakura heave a sigh of relief when he just scrunched his forehead in confusion and return his gaze to Iruka-sensei's lecture.

It's the first day after one long week without Uchiha Sasuke. Sakura bits her lips, as she glances his way. She has heard what happened to his family, to his clan. She feels her heart pain for the boy, not because he is her crush, but simply because it's a terrible thing a boy that age to be experiencing, a terrible thing anyone to be experienced really. She hopes she's courageous enough to go to him and give him a hug, that she knew he must've needed. But she isn't that–brave, or courageous. She only hope that someone may offer him that gesture. This time, she was ready when his eyes meet hers, but unlike last time, his gaze was filled with accusation, rage and dismissal, his eyes narrow at her before he snaps his eyes back to look outside of the window, of what she isn't sure.

They were on the same team together. Kakashi-sensei's bell test have been a weird one if she has to say so herself. Naruto manage to pull both Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei into Ichiraku after their test. Like any other day when Sasuke is around, Sakura steals a few glances in his direction, watching as he consumes his ramen graciously, slowly putting the noodles in his mouth after dip it–making sure its coated by the soup–before putting it into his mouth, using the chopsticks again, he hold the other end of the noddles and tuck 'em inside his mouth. All those without making any noise, contrast to the obnoxiously loud blonde at the other side of Sakura. When he caught her gazing him this time, she smiles which causing a grunting sound making its way out of his throat. She doesn't understand what it means.

She glances at him again, worried. Her eyes swiftly moves to his curse mark that he's holding onto, wincing a little at the sight, the memory of him grasping her hand tightly as he endures the pain play in her mind. She looks back up only to meet the black obsidian eyes of his. She couldn't look away, not when he stares at her like that, its as if he's communicating with her, like he's pleading, I need to do this. This time though, its Sakura who first turn her gaze away from him, nodding her head wishing he would understand that she understood him for this, but not entirely like the idea of him continuing into the exam with everything he has been through.

She tries to get his eyes to hers. She kept talking, in hope that he will turn to look at her, and maybe, just maybe, he will put away his needs for power, and be the Sasuke she knows, she admires, she loves again. But this time, it was different. He didn't once look her in the eyes. And when he moves so inhumanly fast behind her back, her heart stop beating. This was it. Sasuke's leaving. The boy she loves, left; without sharing their glances. That night, Sakura feels what Sasuke has called solitude. For the length of 3 years, she doesn't have anyone to throw her shy glances again, to get caught doing so, and sharing them, also understand each other as they did.

When they meet again after that. It happens again, their eyes meet one another. And she knew, no matter how long she didn't see him, one glance is enough to acknowledge that he is the boy she has always love.

[xlalalandx]

Day 1: Glances - ssskmonth

Source: Ep. 212 from Naruto Shippuden

IB: [x] 

[kotokoharuno]

Día 1 miradas

[twofourninetwelve]

Glances

ssm day 1: Glances

She looked down at the cute boy eating a cherry tomato. The boy everyone had been crushing on. Uchiha Sasuke. He always had a straight face which somehow never failed to make Sakura Haruno turn into a mess. He glanced back up when he felt someone staring at him and as expected, Sakura turned red and took off while holding her lunch in her hands. “Annoying.” Sasuke said as he finished up with his tomato.

................................................................................................................................

Here they are now. Sleeping side by side as husband and wife. He never thought this “annoying” girl would be his life partner. He glanced at her sleeping soundly beside him and smiled. It took just one glance for him to meet his beautiful wife.

[ssskmonth]

Glances

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32298238