title: It Was Always You
prompt: SASUSAKU MONTH 2014
rating: T-M

summary: o31: Team 7 wants to help Sakura finally fulfill her three wishes.

dedicated to: my girls reviee, DeepPoeticGirl, and SR :)

NOTE: IN THIS NARUTOVERSE, SAKURA HAS NEVER REVEALED HER FEELINGS FOR SASUKE

.o31.
Three Wishes

"So tell us, Sakura-chan," Naruto said. He eagerly sat cross-legged, waiting for her response. A wide grin stretched across his face, showing off his huge dimples, and she wanted to just take his little foxy face into her hands and squeeze him senseless. "What would you do if you had three wishes?"

"Anything you want," Sai said. "Remember, this is all hypothetical, so don't be afraid to say it."

Sakura laughed nervously. "You guys are kind of freaking me out a little bit. Anything I want? Oh, gosh."

"Come on, Sakura," Sasuke added. "We all went. Even me. Imagine you're going Christmas shopping or whatever and you're making your list."

Sakura tapped her finger against her chin. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling, and she puffed air into her cheeks. "Anything I want…well, to start out, I would want to travel."

Kakashi scoffed. "Really? Any wish in the world and you want to travel?"

"Don't judge me. For my second wish, I would like learn how to heal people to the best of my ability. At least get some practice in. After all, I'm not going to improve unless I can actually try out my skills."

"Fair enough," Naruto shrugged. "What about your last wish?"

Sasuke smirked. He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. The rest of the men waited eagerly for Sakura's answer. She returned with a big smile and said quietly, "To find love."

"Love? Seriously? I wished for a harem and a twelve-inch ding-dong that would never get tired, and you want love?" Naruto asked, his mouth gaping wide open. Sai knocked him in the back of the head to wipe that stupid expression off his face.

"Those wishes don't seem too ridiculous," he said. "They could definitely be fulfilled."

"Hopefully they will," Sakura smiled. "Anyway, are we done now?

.

.

.

Naruto grumbled while the rest of the men from Team 7 did their best to ignore him.

"I understand why we're helping Sakura-chan fulfill her three wishes, but I don't get why we can't fulfill mine. We could totally get a harem—"

"Yeah, but we can't do anything about that tiny dick of yours," Sai butted in. Sasuke smirked, hearing Naruto go from a whiny little brat to an enraged adult who was trying to jab Sai in the stomach.

"She said she wanted to travel, right?" Sai mused. He narrowed his eyes and gave Sasuke a smirk that somewhat bothered him in his heart. Sasuke put a hand on his chest as if to feel the emotion burning up, but his face remained cool as he continued to observe Sai.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sasuke asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"I think I know what I can do. I'll see you guys later; don't wait up. Until then, let's convene back here in a little bit to discuss what we're going to do," Sai said. He pulled down his small shirt over his navel—no use, Sasuke smirked—and walked away. Sasuke had no idea why Sai bothered him like that, or why he even decided to react the way he did, and that angered him.

"So," Kakashi began. "What are we going to do?"

Sasuke folded his arms. The corner of his mouth lifted, and he looked back and forth between Naruto and Kakashi for what to do next.

"She said she wanted to heal people, right?" Naruto asked. "That's easy. All we do is find some people in the hospital and have her treat—"

All of a sudden, Naruto's face was met by a firm punch to the jaw. The blond tumbled backwards, having lost his footing, and he pressed his hand up against his swollen face.

"Teme, what the hell?" Naruto shouted. His unkempt eyebrows furrowed in anger, and Kakashi's eyes brightened.

"That's it! You're a genius, Sasuke. I'll spar with Naruto and hurt him so that Sakura has a chance to heal him. And once she's done healing him, I'll just hit him again and we can repeat the process for as long as she wants."

"But why does it have to be me? Why can't she heal you?" Naruto groaned, struggling to get off the ground. Sasuke noted with pride that his punch packed some power, and saw the markings of what he had left on his best friend's face.

"Because I'm your teacher and I said so. So we've got a plan. Then…what about you, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, helping Naruto up. He held the boy close to him and gripped his wrists so that Naruto couldn't take a good revenge shot. Sasuke smirked when he saw Naruto's blue eyes light up with anger.

The third thing…what did Sakura say she wanted again?

"I can do it," Sasuke said, determined. "Just trust me on this."

"You better come up with something good," Naruto growled. "Or else."

"Hn."

.

.

.

"Naruto, I still don't understand why you're walking funny. Are you okay? Take your hands off my eyes and let me see what happened to you," Sakura said. She did her best to pry Naruto's big hands off her face so that she could see, but he only pressed them against her eyes tighter.

"Not yet!" Naruto replied, his voice coming out in a hoarse whisper. "It'll ruin the surprise."

"What surprise? I don't understand—" she began, continuing to walk haphazardly into things. "Did you guys do something?" She growled. "Did you go into my room again?"

Naruto released his hands from her vision. Sakura rubbed her eyes, trying to see clearly. Her best friends and teammates stood in front of her, their mouths pressed in a straight line.

"Is this an intervention?" Sakura breathed. "Did I do something wrong?"

Naruto limped from behind her towards Sasuke, and rested his head and hand on his shoulder. Sasuke shrugged him off, causing Naruto to fall upon Kakashi, who in turn pushed him over to Sai.

"Sakura," Sai began in that stupid tone of his that made Sasuke want to punch him like he did with Naruto. "I know you said you'd wanted to travel. I don't have the money or funds to help get you around the world, but I did this." He pulled out several items from his bag and handed them to her.

"What are these?" Sakura asked, taking the gifts in her hands. They felt thin, and she feared that she would tear them apart on accident.

"Just look." He walked behind her and began to go through the items with her, opening them like a book. He smiled when Sakura's eyes widened, and her fingers glazed over the surfaces covered with graphite, ink, and paint.

"These are—these are landscapes. Sceneries. People."

"Yeah. Look, there's the Great Wall. And over there, the Colosseum. That's Monet's Garden in Giverny, so it's like you're actually in France. It's the least I could do."

Sakura stared in amazement at the various places Sai had drawn for her. She actually felt like she was right there, in America, walking around on a New York street or climbing the walls of Machu Pichu. Everything was so realistic and she had no idea of the extent of prowess Sai possessed. She gracefully brought him in for a hug, pressing her head against his shoulder.

"Thank you," she said. "This means so much to me."

"Me next," Kakashi began. He picked up Naruto from the ground and slung his arm over his shoulder, walking towards Sakura. "I know how you said you wanted to heal people. So, this morning, Naruto and I got into some intensive training."

Sakura eyed Naruto's bruised and hurt figure with suspicion, and then back at Kakashi, who escaped without a scrape. She didn't question it, though. Perhaps it was just part of their gift.

"Um," Sakura began. "How does Naruto relate to my wish?"

"Simple." Kakashi dropped Naruto onto the ground, and Sakura winced when she heard Naruto groan in pain. "I fight him. You heal him. The situation repeats itself until necessary."

"I appreciate the thought, but I don't think Naruto would—"

"It's okay, Sakura-chan," Naruto breathed. "It's for you, so it's okay."

Sasuke walked towards the rest of his team and picked up Naruto by the collar, throwing him over to Sai. With ease, Sai caught the heavy blond, and furrowed his eyebrows in disgust at the purple markings around his face and the dirt caught between his teeth.

"Love," Sasuke began. Sakura stared at his eyes with such longing and hope, and felt her knees shake. She wondered what he would do and what he had gotten her. To her, it was as if they were the only people there, and that for a moment, Sai, Naruto, and Kakashi didn't exist.

Just them.

Sasuke scoffed. "You wasted a stupid wish on love."

The atmosphere was silent. Sakura couldn't breathe for a moment, and she felt her chest tighten. Sasuke wasn't here to pour out his heart and soul to her like she'd dreamt of so often. Instead, he'd just come to tell her what a fool she'd been.

"Teme, you can't—"

Sasuke held up a finger to silence Naruto.

"Sakura," he began. "You're our teammate and our friend. You've been here with us since day one. Have you been blinded by your studies?"

"I don't understand what you're saying," Sakura said. She felt tears rise in her eyes and she bit her lip angrily. There was no way she would let Sasuke ruin what had already been such a perfect day.

"Let me continue. We are Team 7. This is us. This is who we are." He placed both of his hands on Sakura's shoulder, startling her. She dropped Sai's gifts, and heard Kakashi's sharp intake of breath. All eyes were on the two of them now, wondering what Sasuke would do.

"You don't need to find love," he said. "Because it's been here all along." With a firm jerk, he brought Sakura towards his chest, placing one arm awkwardly around her. He hadn't been one for affection, but she needed to know that she was special, and that she meant something—not just for the team, but for him as well.

"Group hugs!" Naruto shouted. He pried himself off Sai and wrapped his filthy arms around Sakura and Sasuke, enveloping them as widely as he could handle. Sai and Kakashi soon joined in, and the five of them stood there uncomfortably, holding each other.

Sakura allowed herself to let a tear or two fall. With red eyes and a bright smile, she placed her hands on Sasuke's chest. She had had so much love in her family already, but the most important person was right in front of her, telling her that all was good.

"It's you," she breathed, allowing herself to confess her feelings once and for all to him. "It was always you."

I'm back from vacation and I had a lot of fun. Thank you all for supporting me throughout this month; I've gone through some major ups and downs in my life but your love really helped me through these tough times. I hope that I can continue to always have such amazing people like you by my side when I'm feeling down and pitiful because you always bring me back up again.

Happy SasuSaku month and I hope your July was fantastic. Love always xoxo!