145Date: October 7th, 2014
Pairing: SasuSaku, Team 7-centric
Prompt: The Beginning
Title: Bonding Over Bento
Summary: History repeats itself.
Disclaimer: Naruto, not mine since 1999.
"...You..."
"Pass!"
Three sets of bewildered eyes stare down the older jounin.
Blackbluegreen.
Suspicion. Confusion. Amazement.
Two bento lay forgotten at their feet.
Kakashi does not yet know what lies in store for this team, only that they are the first. The first to see that they need each other, even if they don't particularly like each other. They are still a ragtag team of misfits, but now they are a real team. And they are his team. Maybe he is going senile early, but he swears they remind him of another team he used to know.
Sasuke does not think much of Kakashi's test, but he can see his point. He cannot kill Itachi, not yet. He needs these two, the dead-last and the annoyance, even if he doesn't want to. He needs this elite jounin sensei, even though he will waste dozens of hours of his precious time waiting for him to show up. He will leave them someday, he thinks, but he cannot yet calculate the collateral damage he will cause.
Naruto doesn't really know what just happened, but he is a shinobi now and his head has no room for anything else. He's going to be Hokage and Sakura-chan will be there beside him. Even that bastard Sasuke can't bring him down now. The whole world's going to know his name, dattebayo!
Sakura's heart is still pounding. There are three heady thoughts crowding in her mind and she is not sure what to feel first. Panic, because she has broken a rule. Pride, because she has earned the title of kunoichi. Excitement, because she gets to stay on the same team as Sasuke-kun. She allows herself a tremulous smile on the outside and a SHANNARO! on the inside, because this is the best day of her life.
The beginning of Team Seven.
.
.
.
"...You..."
"...fail."
Sakura giggles at the sight before her. It is familiar and yet different. Six years later, she is here at Team Seven's favorite training ground taking the bell test for the third time . And failing for the first. However, the warmth in her heart and the laughter in her throat have left her indifferent to their failure.
Her boys are home, all of them. Team Seven is reunited.
No matter how many tests they pass or fail, grateful will always be the first thing that she feels.
This attempt reminds her of their first in some ways. There was no teamwork. Naruto and Sasuke-kun immediately launched into an argument over who would take a bell from Kakashi first, and proceeded to fight each other instead of their old sensei. Sakura was left rolling her eyes and covering her face with her palm. She swears their rivalry makes the world go round.
In the end, Sakura is the only one to get a bell (with a well-placed harem no jutsu). Kakashi stands by, delicately covering his (bleeding) nose with a handkerchief. Her teammates are...indisposed. Naruto is once again suffering the ill effects of Kakashi's Sennen Goroshi technique, One Thousand Years of Death. Sasuke is the unlucky sap who is tied to the stump.
Sakura tilts her head and considers the Uchiha as she absentmindedly eats from her bento. They have all changed, but she thinks Sasuke's journey has been the farthest. He is still quiet and surly, and Sakura suspects this will never change. But he is...thoughtful now. Considerate. He listens to what they have to say (even if half of what Naruto says is about ramen and not worth hearing).
Uchiha Sasuke returned home willingly, leaning on the shoulder of his best friend, emptied of the rage that drove him for so many years. He is still unhappy with Konoha, but the Godaime (and her inevitable bewhiskered successor) have promised that things will change. For the first time, he almost remembers what hope feels like.
And slowly, oh-so-slowly, he relearns to trust the people who have never let him go.
An amused smile curls Sakura's mouth as she watches the progression of mortification, then irritation, followed by resignation on his ridiculously handsome face. A loud gurgle reveals that he skipped breakfast (he really should know better after the first time, and she giggles at the thought). He sends a disgruntled glare her way at the sound of her laughter.
Kakashi leans down and pats his pupil's spiky head in sympathy. He winks at Sakura and tells her, "Remember, no feeding the failures!" before disappearing with a poof.
Sakura smirks slyly at her bound teammate (the other one is still writhing on the ground) before picking out a cherry tomato from her bento. Holding it before her face, she raises a suggestive eyebrow in the direction of a certain tomato-phile.
Sasuke's eyes narrow to slits at the tomato, then he stares obstinately off in another direction. He won't ask (definitely won't beg), she knows, but Sasuke would never willingly refuse a tomato. So she spears the tomato with one of her chopsticks and sashays over to where Mr. Sunshine is tied up. Squatting in front of him, she holds the tomato between them teasingly.
"You sound awfully hungry over here, Sasu-cakes," she taunts, "and this cherry tomato looks pretty tasty." She holds it out for him to inspect. He turns his nose up and away. Undeterred, she taps the tomato against his lips. "C'mon, Sasuke-kun, I know you're hungry." Glareglareglare.
She shrugs.
"Fine, suit yourself."
The cherry tomato is enveloped by cherry lips, veridian eyes fixed on his coal counterparts. She bites down slowly, the juice running down her chin, and he dies a little inside. Sakura makes a noise of satisfaction.
He watches unblinkingly as she swallows half of the small red fruit, holding the bleeding other half with the tips of her slender fingers.
"You sure you don't want a taste, Sasuke-kun? It's the last tomato." She smiles coyly at him, dragging her tongue slowly across her bottom lip to lap up the juice there.
Sasuke growls and throws his head back against the stump. Her smugness is unbearable, but he is really hungry and it's a tomato. Damn Sakura.
"Fine," he bites out. Glareglareglare.
Her smile is real and no guile this time as she kneels in front of him. "Say ahhh!"
Sasuke scowls before closing his eyes and opening his mouth...
...only to have his eyes shoot wide open again as she kisses him.
And she's using her tongue, her tongue which tastes like tomato.
Touché, Sakura.
She smirks against his mouth as he responds to her kiss, plundering her mouth for the tangy taste of his favorite fruit. He licks her lips and her chin to get at the remaining juice. The uneaten half of the tomato lies forgotten on the ground.
Sakura can't quite remember untying Sasuke, but one of his hands rests at the base of her neck and the other is buried in her hair, and as he continues to kiss her senseless, she can't help but think that maybe this is a new beginning, not just for Team Seven, but for her and for Sasuke and for SakuraandSasuke.
She smiles against his mouth as she thinks that this is the new and improved best day of her life.
a/n: So, I'm back after 7 years. Going to attempt to do a month's worth of prompts based on a countdown marathon I found on tumblr (link in my profile). I'm trying to get back into the writing and fanfiction game after a long haitus, so be kind; rewind. Or is that review? Whatevs. And for anyone who liked my old oneshot Cure For the Itch, I'm working on a companion piece/sequel thing. Also thinking about working on other old things. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. More to come!