Disclaimer: Nobody on own nothin', ya hear me!
Warning: If you hate convenient New Years Eve plotlines, please turn back now.
When It Comes
So there was this girl. And there was this boy.
And the Village of Konoha was readying itself to usher in a new year…
-
Midmorning sunshine ended up being the one thing that woke Sakura up. She had managed to doze through the roosters' cuckoo-ing, her alarm clocks chiming and her mothers repeated attempts to wrench her and her blanket off the bed.
But the midmorning sunshine somehow did it.
Sakura rolled onto her back, pushing the blanket so that it lay dejectedly in a pile at her feet. One hand scratched at her stomach, the other holding her hair out of her face as she peered at the sun through narrowed eyes.
She briefly considered staying in bed all day. After all, it was the day after the Christmas celebrations and no-one would question her need to stay in. But she knew that she only wanted to hide out so that she could avoid Sasuke. However, since that day in the garden with Sasuke (the engraving Friends since 15/12/05 flashed briefly in her head), he had spent an hour or two with her everyday. If he didn't see her around Konoha, he'd eventually find her at home. Sasuke wasn't dumb – he'd figure out that she was avoiding him and that would really make it awkward for them.
Sakura sighed as she sat up in bed. Stretching, she glanced at the pictures on her desk, eyes refusing to look at those with Sasuke. She walked to the bathroom, tugging her sleeping shorts up to a respectable height around her hips and deftly knotted the drawstrings. She looked in the mirror. Her face was pale and her eyes a little puffy from too much sleep.
She oozed toothpaste onto her toothbrush and began to clean her teeth, with a little too much gusto, as she thought about the night before.
The kiss had left her with pink cheeks and a racing heart, of course. Sasuke had broken it off, running his hand through his hair and hastily showing her through the gates.
That night Sakura found herself surrounded by an excited Tenten, an envious Ino and a wide-eyed Hinata, all subjecting her to a fearsome style of interrogation. She'd had to repeat several times that "No, we're just friends!" When Ino pointed out with glee that Sasuke had been seen holding Sakura's hand, she corrected herself with "we're good friends".
The whole festival she had to endure Ino and Tenten's talking (in scandalized voices) about her love life. Sakura swiftly decided that being in the Konoha limelight was not as exciting - nor as rewarding - as it sounded.
It didn't help when she would find Sasuke looking at her. They'd hold eye contact for a moment before he smiled charmingly at her. She looked away quickly when it happened (and it seemed to happen a lot), experiencing a whole range of symptoms – flushed cheeks, a heady feeling, sweaty palms, a fluttering heart and a nervy stomach. She wondered if she should beg off sick and run to Tsunade-shishou.
The night had begun, proceeded and ended with photos being taken and Sakura let Sasuke walk her home, exciting more talk. Before she collapsed into bed, she'd taken a shower, hoping it would cool her sudden fever. Needless to say, it didn't work.
Sakura spat and rinsed her mouth out. She splashed water over her face, hoping to put the colour back into her face and relieve the puffiness from her eyes. She ran wet fingers through her hair, soaking it.
Sakura paced back to her room, rubbing her head vigorously with a towel before combing her hair. She then tipped her head upside down and used her fingers to separate the strands and make it fluffier. She let her hair dry as she chose something casual to wear: a pair of baby pink shorts (ending just below the tops of her thighs, it revealed more leg than her parents could appreciate) with a snugly fitting tee-shirt which proudly proclaimed that "his noodly appendage" had touched her 1 – if you don't understand this, search "flying spaghetti monster" on wikipedia dot org. It's great, funny and will change your life. She finished by pinning her hair back.
Sakura drank a glass of milk a waved to her parent's goodbye. Wearing a pair of magenta thongs, she sprinted to the grocery store, its attendants still sleepy.
Sakura figured that if she subtly avoided Sasuke, without avoiding him, she'd encounter no gross mishaps. She would spend this morning with Naruto.
-
Sasuke rubbed his eyes; he hadn't expected the curtains to let in this much light when he'd pulled them to the side.
Sasuke stood, basking in the warm light, his hands resting on the sill.
He saw Sakura running on the rooftops. He wanted to open his window and call out to her, but he didn't want to come off as desperate or clingy. He knew they were just friends. Despite what all the boys told him, what they had said about him and Sakura spending time together, holding hands, coming to the festival together and kissing passionately (was it that passionate?) he knew they were just friends. In fact, the engraved pocket watch Sakura had given him screamed agreement and ultimate witness to the fact.
Friends since 15/12/05.
Sasuke understood what they were. Sakura understood what they were.
So why all the confusion? Sasuke ran his hand through his hair in agitation. He startled when Sakura tripped. She sat up and seemed to realize with a shock where she was and slapped her forehead with her open palm, as though she'd done something so obviously wrong. Her eyes immediately flew to his apartment building, straight at him.
She sighed. Sakura raised her hand, waved and smiled nervously before hastily getting up and running off again.
Sasuke's eyes remained trained on her legs. Since he'd come back, all he saw Sakura in were in her red Haruno shirt, knee-length beige skirt, black shorts and shin-guards, other than yesterday in her kimono (he secretly hoped she'd wear another like it again) and today.
In her baby pink, seriously short, shorts.
This was a new side to Sakura that Sasuke had never seen before. Literally.
He ran his hand through his hair again.
What would Neji, Lee, Naruto, Shino, Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kakashi, Genma, Asuma, Gai and every single other man in Konoha know anyway?
-
Sakura knocked tentatively on Naruto's door. Not getting an answer, she softly turned the handle and the door clicked open.
"No sense of security," Sakura snorted to herself.
She set her bag on Naruto's overcrowded kitchen bench top and padded over to Naruto's sleeping body. Sakura touched his hand lightly.
"Naruto? It's me, Sakura. If you hear anything, it's just me cleaning your ramen factory," she smiled.
Naruto stirred slightly in his sleep and rolled on his back. "OK, Sakura-nii-chan…"
Sakura felt an upwelling of affection for Naruto and felt like waking him up so that he could move over and let her sleep next to him. She instead settled for setting her lips against his forehead and tucked his sleeping cap back on.
She sighed, hands on hips, as she quickly devised an action plan to deal with the growing threat of Naruto's… kitchen. She threw all the empty ramen cups, milk cartons and disposable chopsticks into garbage bags, grimacing as she did so. No wonder no-one ever visited Naruto at home.
She was on her third bag when there came a knock at the door. Sakura peeled off her rubber gloves and opened it.
"Hi!" she said cheerily, only to have the smile slide off her face when she realized who was standing in front of her.
Sasuke was leaning against the side of the door, his arm above his head. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans with a black polo, its collar turned up. His raised arm caused the shirt to ride up slightly on one side, revealing a slide of toned stomach muscles.
"Aa…" Sasuke replied lazily. Sakura's heart slowed down painfully, each thump reverberating throughout her chest. She fought for each breath.
Why was this so awkward for her?
Sasuke grew fidgety under Sakura's intense gaze. Is she checking me out? He stood up properly and put his hands in his pockets, resisting the urge to run his hand through his hair. "Can I come in or is there something about Naruto I should know?"
Sakura pinched herself, trying to get herself into working order. She switched into Jounin mode and swiftly assessed the situation.
You tried to avoid Sasuke. You figured you hadn't out with Naruto for a while so you hid out at his place and decided to play housemaid. Only Sasuke managed to find you. He's standing there, as hot as the sun, and Naruto is snoring somewhere in the background. You and he have finally become friends only to kiss under mistletoe with half of Konoha watching. He's your friend and you want him bad. But not bad enough to ruin this budding new friendship…
In a split second Sakura retorted, "I think you should know you have a big forehead"
Sasuke blinked? What? Where did that come from? With a slightly wary air of someone dealing with a madman, he said patiently, "it only looks big because I don't have my forehead protector on like usual"
"Nope," she said, "it's definitely big," and as if to prove her point, Sakura flicked at his forehead. She went on seriously, "Be careful, someone might walk into that thing"
"Oh, only if they somehow manage to dodge yours first" he retorted.
"With great power comes grave responsibility" Sakura replied sagely.
Sasuke smirked as Sakura moved to let him in. Before he could take out his white sneakers however, she found himself staring at two full garbage bags, suspiciously smelling of old ramen and stale milk.
"Your first mission of the day," Sakura told him shortly, pushing him out the door and down the stairs.
They spent the rest of the morning cleaning Naruto's home. When they finished and had washed themselves of any grime, Sakura whipped out – from thin air as far as Sasuke could tell – a bag of groceries and proceeded to prepare vegetables and meat for a large meal.
"What's this?" Sasuke asked as Sakura took Naruto's new ramen recipe book and flicked through it.
"Um… I'm making Naruto ramen for breakfast"
"But it's midday, ergo, lunch"
"But he hasn't broken his fast yet, ergo, breakfast!" Sakura said dangerously, a dark gleam in her eyes.
Sasuke matched her for tone. "But society's conventions bespeak that –"
"Sasuke? Sakura?"
Their heads swung around to face a bleary-eyed Naruto, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes.
"Hi guys!" he said happily, with a cute smile. One eye opened widely to show a brilliantly untainted sapphire blue. His cap lay lopsided on his head, half-covering the other eye.
In a flash Sakura was on his bed hugging him tightly. "You're so cute!" she squealed, clutching him even closer.
Naruto's smile grew even wider and he hummed happily. "I love you Sakura-nii-chan!"
Sasuke glared at Naruto. When he'd left, he hadn't expected to come home to a mothering Sakura, showing limitless affection to Naruto, her former admirer. He gathered that after Naruto had come back from his own training expedition, the two had gained a lot of respect for each other – Sakura patching Naruto up constantly and Naruto's faith in his suddenly-older-sister. Blood and time meant nothing to them; only each other.
"Alright, that's enough you two" Sasuke interjected, annoyed. "Sakura, your project is about to self-destruct in five… four… three…"
Sakura jumped up as if burned and rushed to the kitchen.
"Sasuke…" she growled, when she realized nothing had destroyed itself.
"What?" he said innocently. "Naruto's getting spoilt…"
"Feeling neglected?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. Don't read into it… she told herself sternly.
"Yes" Sasuke said, matter-of-factly.
"Aw, that's ok, Sasuke! You have me!" Naruto said boisterously, and glomped Sasuke enthusiastically.
"Get off, dobe!" Sasuke tackled Naruto to the ground and they rolled around on the floor, wrestling. Sasuke eventually won, managing to pin Naruto to the ground.
It suddenly occurred to Sakura how strange this might look to a stranger.
Naruto lying on his back, in a black tee shirt and orange boxers, Sasuke lying on top of him, bodies touching with heated glares. Like lovers…
Oh dear… Sakura thought to herself, and couldn't help but have a little giggle to herself.
"What?" Sasuke sat up, rubbing his head, glancing at Naruto. The blonde sat up as well, staring fondly at his returned friend.
They look like they've been caught doing something wrong… Sakura giggled some more.
… wrong like their first kiss! And with that though, Sakura burst into laughter. That only made the two boys give her strange looks, making her laugh even more. She fell to the floor, clutching her stomach with both arms.
"Been hitting the bottle again?" Sasuke asked Naruto.
"I can't seem to make her stop" Naruto replied sadly.
Sakura's laughter had slowed down to a giggle. "Oh you two are just priceless" she told them, and continued to cook. After a few minutes of listening to Naruto and Sasuke argue, she told spoke. "Naruto, sit at the table. Now, I want you to close your eyes – and no peeking!"
Naruto obediently followed Sakura's instructions and Sasuke reclined in his chair, watching with disguised curiosity at what Sakura was about to present.
She came out holding a tray of three ramen bowls. Naruto's eyebrow twitched. Sakura set them out on the table, and clapped her hands together.
"Open up, Naruto!"
Naruto opened one eye first, and glancing down at the steaming bowl in front of him, gave a whoop of delight and started on his breakfast (or was it lunch?). Sakura, looking satisfied, also started on her bowl, and finally, Sasuke decided to eat as well.
He concluded that Sakura was multi-talented.
-
Sakura and Sasuke were walking throughout the village, after Naruto had told them he had a training session with Jiraiya. It was a mostly silent walk, comfortable for the most part.
They reached her home and Sakura gulped, feeling unaccountably nervous. She stood outside her door, waiting on Sasuke who seemed to fiddling with something at the waistband of his jeans. She saw a glint of metal.
"S-Sasuke-kun…" she said softly, and he looked up. "You're wearing the pocket-watch I gave you…"
"Yea…" he unlinked it and gave it to her. She opened it and saw a new picture. Already changed it? She looked at it closely and saw a picture of her and Sasuke from the festival, in their festive clothes. They had been quite unaware of having their photo taken, and Sakura was laughing at something Sasuke had said. It seemed so natural.
"Sakura… we're still on break until New Years Eve… I was wondering if you wanted me to walk you to the fireworks?" he said slowly and quietly.
Sakura stared at him, stunned. "But Sasuke-kun, if we walk there together, like at Christmas… people will assume things…"
Idiot! Inner Sakura yelled at her. If you hadn't pointed it out, he wouldn't have known! Now he'll take it all back!
"We know what we are though" Sasuke said simply. "Who cares what they think?"
"Err… " she didn't know what to say. She felt disappointed. Once again, he had rejected her, turning her down without actually turning her down. It made their moment under the mistletoe seem like nothing.
My first kiss, perfect in every way but how that boy felt for me…
"We could just go as friends?" Sasuke suggested, trying to correct himself.
Idiot! Sasuke groaned on the inside. Now she'll think you're taking the friendship too far and she'll back off…
"You're right, Sasuke-kun. We could just go as friends" she smiled. She pecked him on the cheek, hoping for a reaction. She felt Sasuke fingers pressing at her wrist, but it lasted only a second.
"Bye" she said, and walked into the house. She made her way to her room and collapsed onto her bed, wondering what was happening to her friendship with Sasuke. Everything they said in private felt like there was some other message beneath the words and everything they did had a veiled meaning beneath the actions.
She noticed an odd shadow on her arm and looked out of her window. Had the neighbors planted a new tree?
There, on the windowsill, was a white envelope with a single name.
Sakura.
Sakura carefully reached out the enveloped and took it into her hands. It felt very warm and she realized it must have been laying for a few hours in the sun. She picked it open and a single sheet fell out into her lap.
Thank you for the Christmas memories.
Sasuke.
Sakura looked at the note, mouth slightly agape. So this is how he writes, she mused vaguely. The letters were perfectly formed and the handwriting was strong. It reflected Sasuke's character perfectly.
She reached into the small envelope and took out a small white ribbon.
It was Christmas under the mistletoe.
Love.
-
It was New Years Eve and Sakura sat in her kitchen, hands clasped together in her lap. Her foot tapped the tiles in a constant, nerve-wracking rhythm and for the umpteenth time she asked her mother if she looked fine.
Her mother glared at her resentfully. "No, you're hideous"
Sakura giggled at her mother's attempt to lessen her nerves and smoothed out the imagine wrinkles in her dress.
She was wearing a teal summer dress. It had thin straps and showed off only enough of her back to let everyone know she had smooth skin. The skirt went to her knees and flared out from her hips. She had made herself another white ribbon to match the one Sasuke had given her, with her memories of the night. She wore them in her hair, each one tied around the two little tufts of pink hair around the nape of her neck that she tried to pass off as pigtails.
Sakura tugged at one nervously, trying to reassure herself that maybe Sasuke felt as nervous as she did. But knowing him, it probably wouldn't show. She decided to wait outside for him and told her mother so. She slipped out the door in her white flats and sat on the steps outside her home. She waited a few minutes before she saw Sasuke's tall, lean form walk towards her.
She thought she would be nervous with butterflies in her tummy and her heart skipping beats. But she only felt very calm when she saw him. Her hands relaxed from the tight fists they had made and her lips curved into a smile.
"Good evening, Uchiha-kun"
-
Sasuke chatted with Naruto, keeping an eye on the time.
Another tradition, he sighed to himself.
Everyone was anticipating the fireworks, said to be better this year than any other. But then, they said that every year. He saw Sakura across the park, talking happily with the other girls of their class. Every now and then, one of them would glance at him furtively, making him wonder what their chosen topic of conversation was.
Sasuke glanced around him, making sure everything would go how he planned. He saw many other boys, many other men, looking anxious and edgy.
Maybe he wasn't the only one stuck in tradition.
He felt the sudden lull in conversation all around him and Sasuke looked to the podium, where the Hokage stood, about to give her annual speech to welcome the New Year and bless everyone accordingly.
It was nearly time.
Sasuke weaved his way the crowd, none-too-gently pushing couples out of his way. He saw Sakura's pink hair and heard her laugh. To him it sounded as beautiful as rain on glass. He was careful to stay out of her sight and readied himself, breathing in, breathing out.
"… the New Year brings in so much potential for peace and prosperity for our village. May we have a good one!" Tsunade finished, raising the glass of wine Shizune had given her. Everyone around him raised their drinks as well, and toasted the New Year. Sasuke could only clench his sweaty palms.
The countdown started. Sasuke felt people still themselves, and others steadily moving towards their chosen places for midnight.
Five.
Sakura was counting out loud, smiling.
Four.
Ino tapped on Sakura's shoulder, pointing her to Sasuke.
Three.
Sakura stared at him, before breaking into a wide grin.
Two.
Sasuke made his way to her, a serene smile in his eyes.
One.
Sasuke stood close to Sakura, chest-to-chest, and took her fingers to his lips.
Zero.
"Happy New Year, Sakura" he whispered, before bending down to catch her lips in a chaste kiss.
Sakura pulled back, heaving in great breaths.
"Happy New Year, Sasuke-kun" she managed to say. She seemed very confused.
"It's tradition – you're supposed to kiss the girl closest to you at the turn the turn of the new year…" he explained huskily.
Sakura breathed in deeply, as though she couldn't believe what she was about to say.
"We might as well make it a good one then," she replied, a smirk in her eyes, as she pulled him down to kiss her again.
Sasuke thought the fireworks that year were particularly good.
A/N: There's another chapter, didn't realize it'd be out this late, so sorry! Well, I hope all of you had a great New Years, and that you all have your own Sasuke-kun or Sakura-chan to hold at New Year's Eve. I hadn't expected my story to be this popular, seriously, but thanks for all the encouraging reviews. Not one of you said anything bad! I'm sorry I can't reply to all your reviews individually like I did with my other story Cool Kind of Punishment but I heard that there was a crackdown on people thanking reviewers. Sorry for being super paranoid, but if you review, leave behind your email and I'll reply you that way
Um, there will be yet another chapter to this story, if you can believe it! A lot of you were confused at how I could continue the story from last chapter, but trust me. It can be continued. I'll just keep devising Inner Sakura Issues.
If anyone thought Sakura and Naruto's relationship was a little OOC but I really think that the way the manga is going, eventually Naruto will drop his crush and Sakura will be able to reel in her anger (for the most part). And don't you think Naruto is so cute in my story? I can sooo imagine him acting like that haha.
There is currently a review drought. Reviews are the life blood of the Fanfiction world. Please save this world. Or God help you.