he makes himself known when the stars are out and the moon’s big and yellow. it’s when sakura leaves her makeshift office, when it’s a little too close to midnight and her plans for that children’s hospital has not grown passed a seed of ambition and ideas.
it’s cold out and the crickets no longer sing because winter’s settled in. it snowed the day before and the ground’s still covered in small bunches of snow, dirtied by dirt and leaveless branches from the trees.
sakura hugs herself as she walks, tucking her chin into the soft feathery parts of her coat, enough so the bottom tips of her ear can manage to get some of the heat. the streets are empty and the streetlights glow yellow-orange on the cobblestone ground.
sasuke-kun falls into step with her as soon as she turns a corner. sakura’s cheeks burn pink; it’s different than the pinkness the cold air kisses there. this burns with embarrassment and coyness but she smiles because she’s known he’d been trailing her from the rooftops.
sasuke-kun’s hawks fly over the village when he’s near, after all.
“you’re here,” she comments, tilting her head a bit.
“am i really?”
sakura rolls her green eyes and takes a moment. “i doubt you’d send a clone in your place.”
“hmm,” sasuke-kun hums, dipping his chin into the wide collar of his shirt. he shifts his shoulders a bit, adjusting his opened coat. the hood that rests against his shoulder-blades shifts with his movements and the wind. “i guess not.”
“you guess?” she teases.
“that would make you angry, wouldn’t it?”
sakura laughs at this, spinning around to face him, nose pink and cheeks pinker. “is that why you don’t do it?”
sasuke-kun doesn’t reply right away, rather, he looks away from her, mismatched eyes trying to settle on anything but her. sakura observes him; his hair’s gotten longer from his last secret visit. the spikes are almost entirely gone in favor of falling down to his neck, forelocks in his face.
“it’s gonna snow,” she mentions when he doesn’t reply after a while. “it’s in the air.”
“s’already snowing,” sasuke-kun says and he looks up to the dark sky, hands shoved into the pockets of his unzipped coat.
brow furrowed, sakura looks up and instantly grins as the first few drops of snow fall, fragile and almost invisible. she laughs a bit, lifting a hand up to catch a few in her cupped palm. she feels sasuke-kuns gaze on her, heavy on her skin like it’s always been when his attention’s zeroed in on her and nothing else.
he does it often, when he steals these moments in between his personal missions and self-finding. watches her, observes her, like engraving her in his mind and memorizing every curve and angle that builds her. sakura turns to meet his stare, cheeks warm against the cold and heartbeat fast and quick underneath the layers of her clothes.
“i like coming personally,” he says and for a moment sakura doesn’t get it.
but sasuke-kun’s moved in by the time she does, he’s dipped down and pressed his chapped lips to hers in the softest of kisses. a mere press of soft skin against soft skin but it’s a kiss nonetheless. he pulls away much slower than how he’d invaded and as he looks at her, his eyes are as soft as his intentions, half-lidded and his hair just about shadowing them.
sakura has to rethink of what he’d said, why he’d said it.
a clone transfers its memories into the summoner just as soon as it disappears. but sasuke-kun’s said he likes to come personally, likes to go out of his way and carefully planned out traveling strategies in favor of sending a clone to find her and spend what little time they get together.
sakura furrows her brow and narrows her eyes.
how is it possible that he can be so cute and romantic without trying. the littlest gestures he makes are just--sakura reaches over, cupping his face on either side and pulling him back down towards her.
she kisses him with much more fierceness. the press of their lips almost painful. sakura loosens her hold a bit, pulls away just enough to get the chance of repressing their lips together in a much more gentler way. and then she guides sasuke-kun away from her, hands still cupping his cheeks, fingers just about entangled in his messy hair.
sakura blushes and looks down and away from him for a second before she realizes--after tonight, how much longer will she wait to kiss him again? he’s initiated this stage of their relationship--he kissed her first.
she sucks in air quickly, pulling him back down for another kiss. this one’s as fragile and quick as the snow that falls around them. sasuke-kun looks at her, cheeks red against his tanned skin; from the cold or from this, she doesn’t know.
but he pulls a hand out of his pocket and guides himself to wrap an arm around her waist. he’s hesitant and she can tell by the slowness of his movements but he pulls her flush against him anyway in an embrace that very well defines their entire relationship.
sakura lets herself sink into it for just a second. the warmth of his person, his fingertips that burn through the layers of clothes she’s wearing. and then she grins, sharp and mischievous as she wraps both her arms around him and squeezes.
“f-fuck,” she hears him hiss just as she feels a crack or two.
“uh-oh,” she nervously laughs.
“you’re annoying,” sasuke-kun groans, pulling away and pressing a hand to where sakura’s hands had locked to give him the hug.
“i’m sorry!” she laughs, guiding him through the darkened, snowy streets. “i’ll make you some tea. you’ll be better by the early morning, i swear!”
sasuke-kun mutters a few things. but sakura isn’t too sure if he’s called her annoying once again or if he’s silently making plans of sending a clone next time around.
