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“Whatever,” Sasuke grunts, unfazed. “You’re still wrong. Right, Sakura?”
He looks towards Sakura haughtily, expecting her to defend his honor, and possibly send Naruto a right hook or two.
"Whatever,” she pouts, still peeved with the boys. “I'm tired. Go away."
Sasuke frowns. "But-"
"Now," she growls, fingers curling into a fist.
Naruto slinks away from her side rather quickly and heads back over to his sleeping bag. Sasuke lingers, rooted to the ground with his gaze flickering between his two teammates. Kakashi has to order him to go lay down, before perching himself high on a tree for the night watch.
Once his three genin are soundly asleep, he releases a breath. Thankfully, the sun has dipped and if he closes his eyes, he can delude himself into feeling a breeze.
That could've been a whole lot worse. At least everyone kept their clothes on.
Kakashi smirks behind his mask. Good job, Hatake.
He jinxed himself. Sasuke is acting strange. The kid has always been a little weird, but now he’s bordering on creep.
Naruto and Sakura are walking ahead as they normally do. Mainly because Kakashi likes to lag behind to discretely read his book, and Sasuke is an antisocial punk. Or used to be, as it seems. Now he’s basically on their heels, and quite literally breathing down their necks.
“Dude, what's wrong with you?” Naruto asks, turning around and flinching.
“You guys are walking too slow,” Sasuke retorts, though he makes no inclination to pass them.
“Sorry Sasuke-kun,” Sakura apologizes. “I was just explaining to Naruto the medicinal benefits of some of the plants we pass by. It could save our lives someday.” she explains.
“Why don’t we chart the stars too, while we’re at it,” he snaps. “Since we’re gonna be stranded here another night with this pace.”
They move faster after that. Sasuke is still sulking.
A few hours later, they arrive back at the village. It somehow became an unspoken rule that their first stop after the Hokage’s tower is Ichiraku’s. Naruto manages to trip over a rock on the way. Sasuke moves swiftly towards Sakura, grabbing her wrist and hauling her back.
“Sasuke-kun?” She questions, stumbling slightly.
“That was close,” he sighs, before dragging her away.
Naruto and Kakashi share a look as he helps the boy up. Kami help him.
By Kami’s grace, everything goes back to normal for about twenty minutes until their food comes.
Sasuke begins poking around his bowl. For all his faults, Kakashi has never deemed him to be a picky eater.
And he’s correct.
Sasuke is sneaking his vegetables into Sakura’s bowl like it’s a common occurrence. Sakura is wholly oblivious to the reappearing vegetables in her bowl, too engrossed by Naruto retelling some tale about when he took Lord Third for fishing.
It’s none of his business, really, and a lifetime as a shinobi has taught Kakashi to mind his own.
But still…
“Not a fan of bok choy today?” He inquires cheerfully.
Sasuke glares at him in response but says nothing.
Meanwhile, Sakura is laughing so hard that ramen broth shoots out from her nose before tumbling out of her seat. Naruto howls, head tossed back and even Kakashi cannot hide his chuckle.
“You moron!” Sasuke shouts, scrambling for napkins before leaping out of his seat. “What if she started choking!”
“Sasuke-kun, I’m fine,” Sakura mumbles, shielding her face. She wipes the broth away as he helps her up. She’s still giggling, either from embarrassment or residual laughs from Naruto’s story.
Sasuke looks like he swallowed a lemon. His expression is sour and he folds his arms with an undignified huff.
Kakashi sincerely hopes for the kid’s sake that whatever crawled up his ass and died works itself out soon because he only has so much patience to spare, and Sasuke is supposed to be the easiest out of the bunch.
He retracts that statement soon after.
During a training session, Sakura began to sway slightly, arms cinching around her abdomen.
“Sensei, do you think I can take a break for a moment,” she rasps. Kakashi, despite popular opinion, has been around his fair share of women and knows what a period cramp looks like.
Sasuke, however, has not.
“What’s wrong with you?” He demands, abandoning Naruto mid-spar.
“Wha–hey!” the orange boy yells, left punching air.
“Nothing. Just not feeling the best,” Sakura wheezes, curling into a ball on the ground.
“What do you mean? Are you sick?”
Sakura shakes her head, face turning red.
“Then what’s wrong with you,” he presses, frustration mounting.
“Really, Sasuke I’m fine-”
“No you’re not!” he cuts in sharply. “What if this is serious? You could be dying and you don’t even realize- just stop being so stubborn, Sakura, and let me-”
“Sasuke!” Kakashi interrupts, waving a hand. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
Sigh. He’s really going to regret asking-
Sasuke stalks over, the little grump. Kakashi crinkles his eyes and lowers himself to the kid’s height.
“So,” he begins. “Something going on between you and Sakura?”
“What are you talking about?” Sasuke scowls, crossing his arms.
“You two seem closer than normal, that’s all.”.
“There’s nothing going on between us,” he scoffs. “We’re just teammates.” Kakashi supposes some jokes really do write themselves. All that’s left to do is wait for the delivery.
Well, at least no one can say he didn’t try.
Sasuke is doing his laundry, trying to remove the stubborn grime from a spar. As he’s scrubbing furiously at the dried blood on his white shorts, something clicks in his brain.
He freezes, cheeks flaming. Oh.
Sakura came home later that day after stopping by Ino’s house to debrief. She toes her shoes off in the genkan before hearing her mothers voice.
“Honey,” her mother called. “One of your friends dropped by. They asked me to give you this.”
There was a rather large, brown box waiting for her. Inside she found a box of tampons, various sizes of pads, painkillers, and a book called “The Girls Guide To Growing Up.”
Sakura smothered her face in pillows to muffle the raw mortification.
Impossibly, it only goes downhill from there.
“You idiot,” Sakura lectures, while wounding a bandage around Naruto’s head. “You need to be more careful.”
Sasuke glares at the pair, fingers distractedly weaving handsigns to light their campfire, before releasing a sizable fireball, one which decimates half their surroundings. Once they’re all done coughing and hacking from the smoke, they stare at their charred campfire sight. Sakura lets out a silent scream.
Naruto quickly seizes the opportunity to call Sasuke a flop.
“How come you never pull that off in battle, Teme?” he snickers.
Kakashi runs a hand down his face. Somehow, he has the feeling that his hair just turned more silver.
“Sasuke-kun! It’s just ash-“
“Shut up,” he hisses, while dabbing a salve on her wound. If you can even call it that. Apparently Sakura got burned by the explosion, according to Sasuke. So now he has to tend to her before she develops an infection and dies.
Eh, knowing Sakura she’s probably excited at the prospect of getting attention from her crush. Kakashi turns a blind eye and goes to bed.
Turns out he was mistaken. He’s awoken by shouting.
Think. If you kill them, you’ll just be saddled with a new team.
With a groan Kakashi opens his eyes. Based on his elite observation skills, this is what he pieced together what happened: Sasuke covered Sakura’s shift last night to keep guard. Sakura is pissed.
“Despite what you think, I actually am a capable kunoichi, Sasuke!” Sakura yells, fists clenched.
“Why are you complaining?” Sasuke shoots back. “You got a full night of sleep!”
“Stop treating me like I’m incompetent-“
“Are my cute little genin having a disagreement?” Kakashi intervenes, eye twitching.
“Stay out of this!” They both shout in perfect sync.
Kakashi backs off. Maybe this is one of those life lessons moments he’s always hearing about. He’d hate to take that away from the kids.
“Boss.”
“What is it?”
“The brat is at the flower store now.”
Kakashi groans, head falling backwards.
“Dare I ask what he’s doing there?”
“Buying sunflowers,” Pakkun grunts, sitting on his hind legs and folding his arms.
Kakashi wonders if all Uchihas are cursed with bad luck or if it’s just Sasuke who happens to be a dunce. Sakura is allergic to sunflowers. Fuck.
How come none of the other sensei’s have to deal with this shit? Why is it only me?
After spying on the Haruno household from a distance like some creep, Kakashi finally spots Sasuke approaching with a rather large bouquet. He manages to swap it out for the roses he bought instead. A much more straightforward declaration, if you ask him.
Kakashi has no shame in patting himself on the back for going above and beyond for his little genin.
Sakura makes zero mention of her gift the next day. Sasuke is getting irritated and testy so Kakashi decides to do the kid’s snooping for him because he cares about the emotional wellbeing of his squad. But also to satiate his own curiosity.
“Sakura!” He calls cheerfully. “Someone looks extra radiant today. Anything interesting happen recently?”
Sakura hums in thought before shaking her head.
“Not really sensei. Funny story though, my mom found flowers on our doorstep this morning. My dad was so upset she might have a secret admirer that he threw them away," she says with a shrug.
Sasuke stares up at the ceiling, calculating how much of a lead he has before Naruto surpasses him. He needs to do something drastic. Something to solidify his place.
But how? Sasuke doesn’t think he can crack a joke to save his life. He refuses to dumb himself down to Naruto’s level either. So what else, what else? He furrows his brow in thought. Maybe if he dyed his shirt orange–no. He has a better idea.
This is such a stupid idea.
Sasuke winds up on the doorstep of one Ino Yamanaka, who immediately bursts into a creepy grin when she sees him. Maybe it’s not too late to run away…?
“Sasuke!” She yells, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “What a nice surprise!”
He winces slightly. Do all blondes have to be this loud?
“I need your help,” he mutters begrudgingly.
Over the course of the next few hours, Sasuke comes to realize that evil not only lurks, but breeds itself inside this girl. She had him running around all over town on errands just to tell him that Sakura’s favorite comic has been out of stores for quite some time and only she possesses the latest version. Sasuke stamps down the urge to set her obnoxious ponytail on fire.
“But if you really want to impress Sakura…” she says airily while examining her nails. “Take her on a date somewhere. Like you know, a cute coffee shop or something.”
Immediately he scowls. Obviously the best way to impress a girl is to take her out on a date! He knows that! He didn’t have to buy her a set of purple shampoo and conditioner just to receive that information.
Sasuke comes to the conclusion that Ino is useless and it baffles his mind how someone as sweet as Sakura could've ever befriended this.
He stalks home furious. A perfectly good day wasted in the hands of the Yamanaka. Meanwhile, who knows how deep Naruto had sunk his claws into Sakura.
If someone told Ino that all it took to get over her big fat crush on Sasuke was to spend a day with him, she probably would’ve called them crazy. But now as it stands, the boy is absolutely insufferable! Rebuking all her good advice backed up by years of friendship in favor of winging it. She hopes Sakura at least has the smarts to sell whatever stupid gifts Sasuke gets her for extra cash.
Ino slams the door behind his retreating form. Last time she’ll ever help an Uchiha out!
Sakura can write an essay on all the things about Sasuke-kun that make her swoon, and it still wouldn’t be enough. There’s simply so much she admires about him that it feels impossible to contain it. But all of this is to say, even she can admit that Sasuke is a little strange. She wouldn’t call him a weirdo—that’s mean—but he’s an oddball for sure. A charming oddball, if you ask her. These days, even more so.
She caught him reading intently before he immediately tucked the book away once he saw her. For a moment, Sakura thought he was perusing one of their perverted sensei’s even more perverted novels, but as it turns out, it was a book on comedy. Something Sakura found even more astounding. After all, Sasuke-kun doesn’t joke. He doesn’t even smile!
He’s also been hanging out with her and Naruto a lot more often. Not that she’s complaining; Sasuke-kun is the best, so any time around him is also the best! It’s just that she finds all these changes to be a bit… peculiar.
Especially now, as he walks into her parents’ bakery on a slow Sunday morning. Sakura lights up like the sun itself came to grace her. “Sasuke-kun!” she greets.
Sasuke feels horribly out of his element. Everything around him is warm and cozy and smells like sweets. He hates sweets, but that doesn’t mean he can’t get them for someone else. Sakura is behind the counter, waving frantically. “What can I get you?” she asks cheerfully.
“What do you like?” he asks.
Sakura hums in deep thought. “Do you want savory or sweet? Probably savory, right?”
Sasuke shakes his head in frustration. “I asked, ‘What do you like?’” he presses, leaning forward.
She blinks in confusion. There’s no way Sasuke-kun will enjoy the sickly sugary treats she devours. He can barely tolerate tea with honey, for Kami’s sake! Maybe he’s just confused about what he wants.
“Umm… the seeded melon pan is good…?”
“I’ll take one.”
Oh joy! She only hopes Sasuke-kun won’t crucify her if it isn’t to his liking. Sakura packages the bun carefully with gloves before ringing him up.
After paying, he lingers.
“Is there something else you wanted to try?”
He sighs and shakes his head again before sliding the package back over the counter to her. “It’s yours. I got it for you,” he explains slowly.
Normally, Sakura probably would’ve fainted at the thought of her Sasuke-kun paying for her food. But now, she is panicked because his eyes keep darting expectantly between her and the melon pan. The melon pan with sunflower seeds in the cookie crust.
“How sweet of you, Sasuke-kun! I’ll save it for dessert,” she laughs awkwardly, trying to push it away from her.
“Why not just eat it now? It’s nearing lunchtime anyway,” he insists, pushing it right back.
Sakura bites her lip. How is she supposed to explain her allergies without revealing she lied about her recommendation? Sasuke-kun hates liars too! Oh, this is so embarrassing!
“I… um… not really hungry—”
Sasuke’s mouth tugs downward ever so slightly, and the sight sends her into a frenzy. Shannaro, she’ll be damned if she ever makes him cry!
“Sure! Why not!”
Shit.
Sakura slowly unwraps the bun, feeling an impending sense of doom. Sasuke watches in satisfaction as she takes a small bite. Look at them. He ended up following Ino’s suggestion after all. They’re in a quaint little shop, with Sasuke buying Sakura sweets. Wait a minute, does this mean… they’re on a date?
The implication makes his head dizzy.
Sakura must also be coming to the same realization as him because her face is turning red.
Very red.
Are those… hives?
“…Sakura?”
She makes a wheezing sound before reaching up to scratch her mouth.
“I doth feel thoo gooth.”
Kakashi is less than surprised when he arrives at the hospital.
Sakura's swelling has gone down a little, and Naruto can manage to look at her without bursting into laughter. Sasuke is pouting in his own little way, glaring at everyone and everything.
“Why didn’t you just tell me you were allergic?” he demands.
Sakura makes a funny sound, which he assumes is supposed to be a scoff. Her string of words don’t make sense to Kakashi, but apparently Sasuke has already become fluent in her gibberish.
“What do you mean you tried to tell me? All you said is that you weren’t hungry—”
His students bicker back and forth, and just when he thinks it couldn’t get worse, Naruto makes a face.
“Sakura-chan, you mind closing your mouth a little? You’re spraying spit everywhere.”
A hospital pillow goes sailing straight at Naruto’s head.
“Shuth the futh up, Narutho!” she shouts, pointing her swollen finger at him.
He understood that.
“This is all your fault,” Sasuke mutters beneath his breath, which earns a squawk from the other boy.
“How!? I wasn’t even there when it happened! You know what? Maybe you’re the thing she’s actually allergic to. That’s why her face is always red. Ever thought of that?”
Sasuke retaliates. “That’s rich coming from someone who showers once a week. I bet she’s developed a rash just from being in your vicinity—”
Sakura lets out a scream of mortification. Just like that, the boys begin arguing their nonsense with Sakura in the middle, whacking each of them with another pillow.
Something inside Kakashi snaps. He would like nothing more than to escape their overlapping loudness, but this is his pack of hellions, and if they kill each other, he is definitely going to have to fill out some paperwork.
“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!” he roars.
The three stop to stare at him. He’s fuming.
“Naruto, please shower more often,” he begs. “Sakura, you really are spraying spit everywhere, so stop talking. And Sasuke, stop trying to impress Sakura!”
There is silence for what feels like days before Sasuke sputters.
“I-I wasn’t! That’s not what—” he babbles indignantly. His face is bright red, and if Kakashi gave a shit, maybe he’d even feel a little guilty for embarrassing the boy in front of his crush.
Eyes bulging out of her skull, Sakura gawks at Sasuke. “Whath?”
“Don’t listen to him!” Sasuke strives to save his dignity, but the gears in her head are already turning.
“Th-the flowerths…” Her eyes widen into saucers. The menstruation package. The melon pan.
Sasuke shakes his head vigorously, vehemently denying the accusations. The boy truly is a terrible actor.
“He’s lying! Why would I—I’d never—” he panics. “I don’t even like you!”
Sakura remains speechless.
Sasuke pauses for a minute before shaking his head. “Actually, no, that's not true,” he mumbles. “Okay, fine, yes. Maybe I was trying to… impress you.” Sasuke makes a pinched face as though the words physically scraped his throat while coming out. “But it’s not what you think!”
Kakashi stifles a snort. It’s exactly what he thinks.
Sakura sits up a little. Her swelling has reduced significantly now, thank Kami.
“Then what is it?” she asks quietly, anticipation in her voice.
In a well-intentioned attempt to provide his little genin some privacy, Kakashi grabs Naruto by the scruff and drags him outside the hospital room.
“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” he explains while casually leaning against the door, ear propped close to it.
Now Sasuke and Sakura are alone with no distractions, and there is no way for him to weasel his way out of this confrontation.
Sakura is staring expectantly, her fingers fiddling with each other. The red on her cheeks is definitely due to blush now.
Sasuke lets out a defeated sigh. “Why is Naruto your favorite?”
She cocks her head. “What do you mean?”
He can’t believe he has to explain this to her. Doesn’t she remember? “When we played two truths and a lie, you confirmed he was your favorite teammate,” Sasuke accuses. “So why? What changed?”
Sakura blinks once. Then twice. And all of a sudden, she is laughing. No, howling. Head tossed back, tears in her eyes, the whole nine yards.
“Y-you really thought… oh, Sasuke-kun!” She wipes at her eyes. “That was just some stupid game. It didn’t mean anything. I don’t even remember what I said.”
Sasuke is rendered stunned while she gathers her bearings. Slowly but surely, he begins to feel embarrassed.
“So Naruto isn’t…”
Sakura shakes her head, still grinning. “Don’t get me wrong, Naruto’s great and all! Kakashi-sensei too. But they’re not—” Sakura ducks her head shyly before glancing up through her long pink lashes. “You know…” she mumbles, waving her hand.
“I don’t. So tell me,” he says, leaning forward. Suddenly he’s the Sasuke she’s familiar with. Calm, confident, maybe just a little cocky.
She goes beet red now, and Sasuke wonders how it’s so easy for her to make her feelings so perfectly clear. Maybe it’s even a little… endearing?
“They’re not you,” she declares.
Okay, it’s very endearing.
A weight he didn’t know existed lifts off his shoulders. He couldn’t explain why it had rattled him so much that Sakura might not like him anymore. It’s not as if he’s ever done anything to gain her affection, and yet the thought of losing it…
Well, it scared him. For an unknown reason.
The door opens behind him, and the rest of their team trickles back in.
“So, have my cute little genin made up yet?” his sensei asks.
Sakura gives him a look, her mouth curved into a gentle smile. Something inside him softens, like frost beneath the sun. The corners of his own mouth mimic hers, if only a little less graceful.
“Yes, sensei. And we’re sorry for stressing you out,” she apologizes.
Kakashi waves his hand and ruffles her hair. “You did nothing wrong, Sakura-chan. These two, on the other hand—”
“Why am I always getting dragged into this?” Naruto groans.
Sakura giggles.
Sasuke remains unfazed by the old man’s blatant favoritism. He gets it. She might be his favorite as well.
And he is hers.
This is one thing Sasuke is confident will never change. He’d even bet his right arm on it.