Prompt: Harvest
Prenotes: Eep! Many thanks to thegeneralgirl for bearing with me through the various different versions of this prompt I wrote. I promise I'll write insane!Sasuke again…eventually. Title inspired by the theme song of As Told By Ginger, the old TV show. Written for SSM 2012.

Summary: Maybe the grass really was greener on the other side. Sasuke/Sakura.

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In Between
— seleneswan

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Sakura was always a weird one. When Sasuke first saw her, she was digging up the dirt in search for some lady bug that had apparently fallen from her finger into the soil beneath her. Mostly, she looked like an overexcited, small puppy digging up the earth to bury something dead.

He wouldn't be too surprised if she did that, too.

She was a weird one; she always would be.

So he wasn't too surprised when on that Tuesday morning, she had grass in her hands.

Apparently, it was for show and tell.

It wasn't as though she'd forgotten about their activity and pulled some out of the ground on her way to school—no, she had in her hands a little clay pot of green, soft, healthy, springy grass.

But it was her face—not the grass—that made Sasuke curious the most. It was the look of pride and cleverness and something akin to the feeling of success…but subdued. She took a seat at her desk, the grass directly in the center of it, and crossed her legs at the ankles.

It was just grass, he snorted.

She was so strange.

He couldn't stop staring at her and her stupid fidgeting and her grass and her—

His hand shot up as Iruka was taking roll. He'd had enough of her nonsense.

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"Sensei, why does Sakura have something as dumb as grass?" he said, pointing rudely.

Sakura's face contorted for a moment, and he took pride in the brief hurt look that flashed across her face. "It's not grass, stupid! Take that back!"

Iruka's eyes widened. "Now, now. Sasuke, you shouldn't be mean to Sakura. And Sakura, you shouldn't lose your temper like that. Both of you need to apologize to each other."

Sakura looked down at her shoes guiltily, and tugged on her hair. "Sorry, Sasuke."

He sniffed, nose in the air. He was right and she wasn't and even though he was apologizing, he didn't mean it. He didn't because he was an Uchiha and Uchiha always won arguments. "Sorry."

Iruka quickly took the rest of attendance and then looked at Sakura who was still pouting at her desk. "But you know, Sasuke does bring up a good question. Why don't you tell us about your plant?"

Sakura looked up and nodded quickly, bringing herself and her plant to the front of the classroom.

"This is Japanese Forestgrass—"

"So it is grass!" Sasuke interrupted rudely.

She shot back quickly, giving him a dirty look. "It's Forestgrass," she corrected snidely and cleared her throat and turned her head away from him, effectively ignoring his existence. She could hear Iruka-sensei sigh, exasperated, but chose to ignore it. "Anyways, I've been growing it with Ino-chan because she's been teaching me about plants. Apparently, Forestgrass is said to give the successful grower one wish when it first blooms with the coloring it's famous for."

"Oh, and what color is that, Sakura-chan?" Iruka encouraged.

"Magenta! The grass turns magenta at the tips, and only when it does that the first time does the grower get their wish. It's said that it always comes true," she chirped excitedly. "It's a little like a genie in a bottle, but more accessible."

Iruka's lips pulled up. "Well, you're certainly very knowledgeable on the subject."

"Not as much as Ino-chan," Sakura said bashfully, flashing a grin at her best friend who gave her a thumbs up in return.

"What do you plan on wishing for?" Sasuke interrupted once again.

Sakura exhaled, annoyed, and turned back towards him. "Well, I can't tell you because it won't come true. Duh, Sasuke. Everyone knows the rules of wishing."

He sneered. "I bet you're just afraid to tell."

She screeched indignantly, and Iruka winced. "Am not! You know, I was going to wish that we could get along for once but I guess that won't happen because you're such a butt!"

A hurt and shocked look flashed across Sasuke's face briefly before melting away.

The class started laughing, then, and Iruka ushered her back to her seat before any more commotion could ensue. Sakura slumped in her seat, angry and hurt, as class went on. Shino presented his show and tell then, something she usually paid attention to but this time didn't, and she pressed her cheek against her desk.

It was then that she felt the paper slide onto her desk. She sat up briefly and unfolded the note. It was in a handwriting she wasn't familiar with.

You're weird and you dig in the dirt like a dog, but I guess we can be friends if you give me some of that grass to grow.

She stared at the note, bewildered, and then looked at the desk next to hers where Sasuke sat, picking at a scab on his hand, trying to act cool and unconcerned.

"Fine. But you'd better start being nice to me."

He smirked cockily, and stuck his hand out to shake. She took it without a second thought. "Deal."

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Postnotes: For the record, I know only what I researched about Japanese Forestgrass. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't have magical wish properties as I made that part up. However, it does turn partially magenta when fully grown and makes a colorful addition to any garden or flowerbed!

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