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Okay, now this is the more light-hearted chapter that the readers get after the author has just come back from a huge hiatus, where Sasuke and Sakura get to know each other better and start down the road to being good friends (with a kiss now and then) and perhaps even more…
::winkywinky::
Okay, now do enjoy!
Sakura spoke, her voice slightly muffled by the material her face was currently buried in.
“If that’s what you want me to be, Sasuke, I’ll do it. It’s worth it, if it means gaining you trust.”
Sakura didn’t see Sasuke, but when she said those words, Sasuke smiled for the first time in months, a genuine smile.
The nurse cowered before Sakura, whose anger level was currently rising extremely fast.
“G-Gomen, Sakura-san,” she squeaked.
Sakura ignored the stuttering nurse and strode down the hallway, growling.
“NARUTO!” she yelled, banging open the door to his room. “WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT RIPPING THE BANDAGES ON YOUR SIDE?”
The powerful Kyuubi jinchuuruki peered out at her from under his covers, reduced to a trembling mass with blond hair and fear in his blue eyes.
“Gomenasai, gomenasai, Sakura-chan!”
Sakura drooped and grabbed some more bandages from the cabinet, neatly affixing them onto Naruto’s injury again. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again, ne?”
Naruto grinned happily at his old friend. “Hai, Sakura-chan! I guess I just wasn’t being careful…eheh.”
“Yes, that’s how you got the injury in the first place,” Sakura observed tactfully.
“…Oh, right.”
A shadow shifted by the door, and Sakura turned to see Hinata cautiously step into the room, as shy as ever.
“Konnichiwa, Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun,” she stammered. In her arms she held a massive steaming bowl. “I-I got some ramen for Naruto-kun,” she continued, looking away.
Naruto grinned in glee. “Oh boy! Ramen!”
“Here, Hinata,” Sakura said, standing up. “You can have this seat. I have to go fill out some papers anyways. Just keep an eye on Naruto and make sure he doesn’t tear his bandages again.”
Naruto pouted. “I will not!”
Hinata blushed and gave the bowl of ramen to Naruto.
As Sakura shut the door, she heard Naruto enthusiastically attacking the ramen.
Haruno Sakura.
Haruno Sakura.
Sakura had never imagined her name would be so boring, but upon signing documents after documents the hospital required she sign (since Sakura was quite sure Tsunade was enjoying another nap on her desk), Sakura was quite sure that she never wanted to see her name again.
Haruno Sakura.
Haruno Sakura.
Haruno Saku—Wait. Sakura picked up the paper again, and her eyes widened when she re-read it.
Sakura,
I’d like you to meet me for lunch, if possible, today at noon, at Ichiraku, just to talk. Afterwards, if you have time, perhaps we could have a small spar at our old genin training grounds. I’m free all afternoon from ANBU (thank kami).
Sincerely,
Sasuke
Sakura grinned upon receiving the note, before she realized half of her name was scrawled across the bottom. Whoops.
And Sasuke wanted a “small spar”? Hah, when two jounin sparred (especially two jounin who had trained under two of the legendary Sannin), it was never “small”.
It was a good thing Sakura could easily slip out of the hospital whenever she wanted (some of the perks of being on the top level of authority), since she had a feeling that this “talk” and “small spar” would last quite some time.
At last, she failed miserably, choosing the opportune moment to laugh into her ramen bowl when Sasuke affixed the napkin neatly onto his lap and positioned his chopsticks just so perfectly.
Sakura hadn’t really meant to fall into the ramen bowl, and she didn’t, since she didn’t quite spill her ramen all over the place—
She just happened to get a face full of beef ramen.
“Elegant, Sakura,” Sasuke told her with a straight face.
“If I hadn’t been so busy laughing at you, it never would have happened,” Sakura muttered, wiping her face off with her napkin.
Sasuke leaned forward, capturing her lips in the most fleeting of kisses, the tip of his tongue gently tracing the curve of her lips before Sakura overcame the moment of shock to kiss back.
Sasuke pulled back, his chopsticks-free hand brushing a strand of rose hair out of her face.
“You taste like beef ramen,” he stated seriously, but a glimmer of humor shone in those deep onyx eyes.
Inner Sakura howled.
“Sasuke!” Sakura called, trekking through the dirt and leaves that had been churned up during their “small spar”.
“Sasuke! Come out already! I surrender!”
Sakura was not expecting Sasuke to leap at her from behind and have the kiss of a cold kunai press up against her neck.
She turned to stare into spinning Sharingan eyes, the glowing red burning into her eyes as she gathered chakra, determined not to fall into the endless depths of the steadily burning red color enveloping her, pushing against her…
And then, Sasuke abruptly broke off the contact, his eyes fading back to the normal dark color they were, the kunai snaking away from her neck and back into his weapons pouch.
“I win,” he proclaimed, turning away and striding off with his hands tucked into his pockets. Sakura expected him to start whistling any moment now, except for the fact that Uchiha Sasuke did not whistle.
“Uchiha Sasuke, don’t you dare leave me behind,” Sakura muttered, sending a burst of chakra to her feet to almost literally fly across the clearing to stand next to Sasuke.
“Hi there, loser,” Sasuke said lightheartedly.
“Forehead-girl was bad enough,” Sakura said hotly, punching Sasuke in the side.
“You hurt me so,” Sasuke mocked. “…Loser.”
Inner Sakura howled.
Again.
And if anyone had asked a twelve year old Sakura if she could see Sasuke tenderly kissing her once more under the foliage of the trees as the sun glowed a fiery orange before slowly disappearing beneath the horizon, Sakura would have swooned and fantasized about it for precisely five seconds before growling “I wish” and stomping off.
But eight years later, this was exactly the situation Sakura was in as Sasuke’s hands delicately traced her jaw line.
He was much taller than her, but at that moment, Sakura’s petite hands wound around his wrists and eased them away before her fingertips lay feather-light caresses down his cheek.
For once, Sakura hesitantly and slowly initiated the kiss, her body falling into Sasuke’s, and his arms pulling her against his chest.
When they broke apart, Sakura ducked her head, trying to clear the dazed look she knew she probably had in her eyes.
“If it’s possible, perhaps we could do this again,” she murmured, noticing all of a sudden how Sasuke’s impossibly warm arms still hadn’t released her from their grasp.
Sasuke smiled down at her, and Sakura realized just then how much she loved his smile.
Taking her slim hand in his, he led her off towards the lights that marked Konoha. “I’d like that,” was his quiet reply.
As the two shinobi entered the city gates together, the first twinkling stars appeared in the little light left of dusk.
To be continued…
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