SasuSaku OneShots

🌸Swimming Freestyle - Part 3🌸

[swimming AU, funny]

"Itachi?" Sasuke poked his head into the small hospital room, "it's me."

"Sasuke!"

He casually walked right in and up to his brother's bed, "I brought a friend."

"Friend? Pssh, I don't think I could ever call you that. More like teammate." Sakura rolled her eyes as she followed not too far behind.

"Ha. It's a girl." Itachi smirked as he turned the running tv off and tossed the remote onto the couch across the room, "how've you been?"

"Fine." Sasuke sat down, "practice has been a killer. But we're ready for the olympics, you can make certain of that. How about you?"

"I think someday, I'm going to be high on these meds." Itachi laughed, and Sasuke laughed in response.

Are you sure the guy is sick? Sakura shivered.

"So what's your name?"

"Sakura Haruno, sir."

"Aha, don't be so formal." Itachi grinned, "I'm Itachi, though Sasuke's probably already told you that."

"Yeah."

"So how do you know Sasuke? Are you one of his ultimate fangirls?"

"Actually." Sasuke chuckled, "she's the complete opposite. She absolutely hated the sound of my name."

"Heh. I did at one point, too." Itachi agreed, "wait a second, you're the swimmer girl that Sasuke told me about! I remember you now!"

"Yep. That's me." Sakura smiled sarcastically, "Sasuke's told me all about you, too."

"Well, she's certainly a keeper." Itachi elbowed Sasuke, "eh, am I right?"

"Give her time." Sasuke reassured his brother, "she'll fall for me eventually. Just watch."

These two... Sakura's brow twitched in annoyance, "listen, Sasuke, I can go, if—"

"No, no, you're fine. We're just having a little fun." Sasuke laughed.

"Ah."

"Oh, Sasuke. I need to have a word with you." Itachi eyed Sakura, "I didn't know you'd bring her, though."

"What? What is it?"

"Sakura, I hope you wouldn't mind stepping out for a second." Itachi smiled.

"Not at all." She nodded as she turned to head out of the room. Once she shut the door behind her, she leaned against the wall. I hope everything's okay. Hold on a second... What if they're talking about me?! Oh Sasuke, you wily little brat...

A few minutes later, Sasuke came out to join her. But he didn't go back in. He let the door close behind him.

"Sasuke! I swear, if you two were..." Her voice trailed off when she took in Sasuke's appearance, "Sasuke? You okay?"

"Y..." Sasuke turned to her and smiled, "yeah, of course. Ah, Itachi... Just needs to get his beauty sleep. You know, he looked really pasty today because he was up all night watching a game. He's dumb that way. We should go back to the pool and get some swimming in. We can't be slacking on our day off, ya know?" With that, he hurried off in the direction of the exit.

Sakura watched him, then peeked through the crack in Itachi's open hospital door and saw him peacefully sitting there and staring out the window. She looked off after Sasuke, then followed him out. What was that about...

____________________

As soon as Sakura hit the wall, she resurfaced and waited patiently for her time.

"One ten!"

"Seriously?!" Sakura slapped the water angrily, "shanaroo! That's way too slow! I should be at least twenty seconds faster!"

"And you have been getting faster." Kakashi sighed, "but don't worry, this is just practice."

"What do you mean?! I can't slack off like this! The Olympics are in three days! We can't afford to be lazy!"

"Oh yeah?" Naruto resurfaced in the next lane and wiped his mouth after spitting into the drain of the pool, "tell that to Mr. Lazy Uchiha. What'd you do to him this time?"

"Absolutely nothing!"

"What? I thought you two were on better terms now."

"We were..." Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, who was just sitting on the bleachers, earbuds in and music loud, "hey, Sasuke!"

He glanced up at her and nodded to her existence.

"Get in! In case you haven't notice, we have the Olympics in a few days!"

"Oh... Yeah, I guess..." Sasuke turned his phone off and tossed the electronics onto his duffel. He dropped his towel to the side and slowly waded into the water.

"What's up with you?" Sakura gave him the look as he swam through her lane, "you were perfectly fine yesterday."

"It's..." Sasuke smiled softly in her direction, "I can explain later..."

The rest of practice, he didn't say a word to anyone. Not even her, and if she was being honest with herself, she kind of missed it. Missed his flintiness and his stuck-up demeanor.

"What happened?" She turned to Kakashi, who just shrugged casually and continued on.

I can't let a weak teammate bring our entire team down. Sai and Naruto are giving it their alls, I'm trying my hardest, but Sasuke is being way too overconfident in himself. Does he just think he doesn't need to practice? I need to talk to him if that's what he thinks. Maybe that's all he needs? A pep talk? After that visit with Itachi... Ah! Itachi! Of course, he should know! I'll stop by after practice! There shouldn't be anything wrong with that. Or... She glanced over to Sasuke, who was just floating on his back. I'll try to talk to him, first...

__________________

"I felt like practice would never end..." Sakura groaned, rolling her shoulders back and stretching her arms as she and Sasuke walked back to her place.

"Yeah..."

Sakura eyed him for a few seconds, "okay, what's going on? Just because we swam a whole lot yesterday doesn't mean you get to slack off today! The Olympics are in three days! We can't afford to lose anymore time!"

"What's the point?" Sasuke leaned his head back.

"What the hell?!" Sakura snapped, "are you hearing yourself?! For your brother's sake! You must've really hit your head hard to really forget that, you jackass! If you don't win first in the Olympics, what makes you think you can help your brother?!"

Sasuke stopped walking.

"Sasuke. I can tell you're scared." She turned to him and put her hands on his shoulders, "but don't worry. Naruto, Sai, the rest of the Konoha swimmers, and I, we'll all be here to support you! We believe in you. More importantly, Itachi believes in you."

"I..." Sasuk felt his hands trembling, "thank you. But... I have to go." Without turning back, Sasuke walked right to his door, went in, and quickly shut it before Sakura could ask anything else.

"S-Sasuke..." Sakura stared at the door, "what happened... Why can't you tell me anything?"

I wish I could... Sasuke leaned against the door and clenched his fists. But this is a family problem now, Sakura... And... I don't think I could ever go back... For Itachi... Anymore... It's too late.

--------

Written by xX_Fang_Xx , who may no longer be on hiatus?