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"Sasuke-kun, please."
Sasuke sighed for the umpteenth time that day and wished that he left the training grounds as soon as the training finished. Kakashi left the training grounds as soon as possible saying something along the lines of "new Icha Icha book coming out". That pervert, old man.
Sasuke returned to Konoha a year ago and was under probation. He was thankful to his Team 7 teammates for helping him settle in Konoha. He denied staying at the Uchiha compound as he was not ready to face the ghosts of the place yet. So, Tsunade let him have a living quarter near the Hokage Monument.
He finally realized his true feelings for his female teammate. Now that he thought about it, Sasuke never considered her annoying. The fact that she made him feel cared during their childhood days was the reason why he felt she was annoying.
"Sasuke-kun, are you listening?"
Sasuke looked at her impassively and let out a grunt.
"Will you come to the festival with me?"
Sasuke Uchiha was never for festivals. Or crowds. The last time he went to a festival was before his family was massacred. He remembered Itachi taking him to the festival.
"No."
"Please."
Even though Sasuke wasn't looking at her, he knew she was having the expression of a wounded puppy. He wouldn't fall for that look.....again.
"No. I don't like festivals."
He finally turned to look at her. Instead of having a wounded-puppy expression, she had a neutral face.
At his reply, Sakura shrugged her shoulders and said nonchalantly, "Okay. You don't need to come. I will go with the new medic, Jiro then. Ja ne."
She poofed out of the training ground in a flurry of cherry blossoms. Sasuke picked one of the blossoms and let it flow in the wind. He was still registering in his mind what she said. Wait. Did she just say she would go out with someone else? What an annoying woman.
It was not that he cared with whom she went. Nope, not at all. He didn't care (denialdenialdenial).
Damn.
He did care.
He can't let her go with that worthless no-one. Everyone knew that Sakura, at 18, was the strongest and the most beautiful kunoichi in the five great nations. Every man would grab the chance to go out with her. He can't let that happen. No way. She was a strong kunoichi so she should go out with a strong shinobi (himhimhim).
He went to his apartment and passed the festival grounds. He could see a lots of cherry blossom trees in full bloom. Nothing out of the ordinary. But it seemed like this year, the festival would be a bigger one than the earlier years. Perhaps the Fifth Hokage was just looking for a chance to celebrate the victory of the Fourth Shinobi War and have lots of sake.
At sharp 7.30 p.m., he knocked on Sakura's door. He was still wearing his regular navy blue coloured, high collared shirt and his shinobi trousers. After waiting for a few minutes, Sakura opened the door. He was surprised to see that she wasn't ready yet. Wasn't she supposed to go out with that lowlife?
"Hn, come on. Get ready."
"Ah sorry? What, Sasuke-kun?"
"Tch, get ready. Didn't you want to go to the festival?"
Sasuke's heart skipped a beat when Sakura beamed at him with a radiant smile on her face.
"Yayyy. Come in, Sasuke-kun. Wait for 15 minutes, please. Make yourself at home."
He got inside her house and sat down on the sofa. He always thought that Sakura would have a girly house but her house had a quite a homey feeling with warm colors painted on the walls. She had three photo frames on the wall. One of them was from their genin days which Sasuke had in his room too, courtesy of one insistent blonde. The other two were of her with Ino and her parents.
True to her words, Sakura got ready in fifteen minutes. Sasuke almost dropped his tea mug when he saw her. He had never seen her outside her training clothes. If Sasuke was a lesser man, his jaw would have dropped at Sakura's appearance.
Sakura wore a red kimono with cherry blossom patterns near her sleeves. Her equally pink hair was pulled up in an elegant bun. She completed her look with a dash of mascara and a pink lipstick. Sasuke never realized how much she had grown up from the once 12 year old child she was. The kimono highlighted her womanly figure and made her look beautiful.
"Oi Sasuke-kun, are you listening to me?"
Sasuke realized that he was staring at her (definitely, not ogling). He nodded his head and got out of her house.
They reached the festival grounds and saw that the Fifth Hokage was already drunk. Kakashi was reading his dirty, orange book as usual but his expression seemed to be a bit different. Their suspicions were confirmed when they heard that he was named as the Rokudaime. Sakura and Naruto laughed on his face while Sasuke smirked at his misfortune. Everyone knew that the Hokage work was, borrowing from Shikamaru's dictionary, too troublesome and Kakashi was a lazy man.
It was 9 p.m., but the festive feels were all around. Sasuke thought that festivals weren't that bad. The trouble was worth it if he could see Sakura in her traditional clothes in every festival and hear her talk about her days at work. She also said Jiro had a date already so he wasn't able to take her out. This made Sasuke a tad happier. Sakura managed to change many of her habits but the habit of babbling remained even in her adulthood. Not that Sasuke was complaining. Far from it. He was enjoying her company too much.
"Come on, Sasuke-kun. Let's go there. The fireworks would start soon."
"Aa."
Sakura pulled his wrist along with her and he let her drag him.
They found a comfortable place to sit under one of the cherry blossom trees. He could smell the sweet smell of the tree and also Sakura's minty perfume. They were still holding hands under the tree. Sakura leaned her head on his shoulder and was stiff for a few minutes before she relaxed when she realized that Sasuke wouldn't push her away. Sasuke intertwined their fingers together and wrapped his prosthetic arm around her.
They sat there for a few minutes in silence before the fireworks started. Sakura looked at the sky in awe. Her green eyes were shining and looked like endless pools of emerald. She looked at him and gave a small but real smile. Unconsciously, Sasuke returned her smile with a slight upturn of his lips.
"It is so beautiful. Isn't it Sasuke-kun?"
"Aa."
But Sasuke wasn't looking at the fireworks. Sakura felt his eyes on her so she turned to regard him. She realized what he meant before and flushed at his implications.
Was Sasuke-kun flirting with her? Oh-em-gee.
She looked at him once again and this time their eyes met. Emerald clashed with onyx and both of them were trying not to end this moment. They didn't know who leaned against whom but soon they were kissing each other passionately. It was one of those kisses where you feel like no one is around you except the person you are kissing. Inner Sakura had already fainted.
They were breathless once they pulled away and looked away from each other. Sasuke didn't know what possessed in him to kiss her. It would be a lie if he said that he didn't enjoy it. Infact, if he got the chance, he would kiss her senseless again and again.
The fireworks ended and Sasuke was walking Sakura to her house while holding her hands. When they finally reached the door, Sakura leaned against the door and smiled at him.
He kissed her on her forehead and said, "Would you like to go out with me tomorrow?"
Sakura's smile was brightened and she whispered, "I would love to."
"Goodnight Sakura."
"Goodnight Sasuke-kun."
Maybe festivals weren't that bad.
END