Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Me no own. You no sue.
A/N: More Team 7! Yay! Short, drabblesque thingy dedicated to all reviewers of Seasons, because all your reviews are just so amazing. Thank youuuuuu. Excuse the grammatical/punctuation/spelling errors, this was sort of done in a rush. Less than an hour! -gasp- Yeah... Credits for title goes to D' DayDreamer.
Wake Up, Darling, It's Morning
Sasuke doesn't like waking up alone. It reminds him of the morning of the massacre, when he had woken up alone from a wonderfully blissful dream of an approving father, a laughing mother, and a teasing brother to a nightmare of a cold, empty house, stifled with the stench of blood that was his reality.
Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi know this. They have known ever since they heard the strangled cries of his sleep, ever since they felt his tremors when he finally wakes, ever since they saw the wild expression on his face that gradually sifts into a blank, empty stare when he finally realises where he is.
And so they accommodate him. During missions, they always ask for one room instead of two, three, or four, and the innkeeper gives them a strange look and Naruto glares and Kakashi shrugs and Sakura hands over the money.
In the morning, Naruto makes an effort to wake up before Sasuke does, and yells in his ear – anything, nothing, everything – that is loud, so that Sasuke will wake up not alone. It doesn't matter that Naruto is loud – too loud – it doesn't matter that Sakura hits him over the head for it, it doesn't matter that Kakashi tells him to shut up, and it doesn't matter that Sasuke scoffs and calls him, dobe, because Naruto knows that inside, Sakura is relieved, Kakashi is thanking him, and Sasuke is glad.
Sometimes, when Naruto is too tired, when Sakura does not have the heart to wake him up to give Sasuke his wake-up call, Sakura does it herself. Hers is less quiet in nature, but never less in presence. She doesn't squeal and throw herself at him and call out, Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! because she thinks he deserves a break from the loudness that is Naruto and Inner Sakura. She wakes up early (much earlier than Naruto) and goes and fetches breakfast for the four of them, leaving the meal in the room to let her teammates and sensei wake up to the smell of food.
Then she sits quietly next to her dear Sasuke-kun, watching him sleep, sometimes with a smile on her face when he sleeps like a baby, most of the time biting her lip when he clenches his fists unconsciously. Either way, when Sasuke wakes up, all he sees is Sakura watching him, with a slight tilt of her head (to the left, always to the left) and a little upturn of her lips that reminds him that maybe the good dreams aren't so bad after all. And it doesn't matter that Sasuke glares at her and demands roughly, why were you staring at me? because he will get up and eat the food she had brought with a slight (very slight) blush on his cheeks.
And sometimes (not very much of the time), when Naruto is exhausted and Sakura is worn out, Kakashi takes the initiative. Because even if Kakashi himself is weary, it doesn't take that much energy to reach out, grab a pillow, and throw it to the lump of bodies that is his precious Genin cell. Naruto and Sakura does the rest, see. The former yells out in surprise, jumps across the room with such amazing speed and energy for someone so beat, throws a punch at Kakashi and of course fails to meet his target. The latter growls a deep, feral growl that would make Kyuubi proud and lets out a stream of threats extremely homicidal in nature that would make the Hokage proud.
Naruto always makes sure to make his attack as loud as possible, declaring his heroism with violent exuberance as he always does. Sakura always makes sure she is next to Sasuke when he wakes up, and is always careful that her threats are only meant for Kakashi's book collection so that she could spare Sasuke her (amazingly) accurate description of blood and gore that she could otherwise threaten her sensei with.
Kakashi smiles under his mask, and Sasuke wakes up with a headache worse than the one he had tried to sleep off, but is nevertheless infinitely grateful.
Sasuke doesn't like waking up alone. Which is why they all sleep in the same room, which is why Naruto is loud in the morning, which is why Sakura is quiet in the morning, which is why Kakashi always hogs the extra pillow.
Sasuke doesn't like waking up alone. Which is why when he wakes up in the hospital, after that fateful final battle, broken and bruised, he wakes up to a hospital room full of Naruto's yells, Sakura's pleads, and Kakashi's silent reading. He wakes up to see the Hokage standing in the doorway, telling Naruto to shut up, Sakura to please stop nagging, Kakashi to control his students, but nevertheless a small, happy smile on her face, which is but a reflection of his own.
Sasuke doesn't like waking up alone. Which is why his team doesn't let him.
A/N: Yeah... Soporific doesn't like waking up alone either. Thus the inspiration. Anyway, do review. Reviews make me happy. Constructive criticism help me improve. And if you're wondering about the title... Well, I couldn't think of a title, so I asked D' DayDreamer to help me find one. She jokingly suggested, Wake Up, Darling, It's Morning, and I was like, yes! Of course, she laughed in my face, but I persisted. Why, you ask? I don't know. I can imagine someone (maybe Sasuke's mother) waking Sasuke up gently and saying that line. Dunno. Feel free to interpret it. Cheers!