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The ramen at Ichiraku tasted the same as always. It was delicious. But for Naruto, it was heavenly. And Sasuke have had enough of eating ramen that when Kakashi brought them at Ichiraku he almost drag Sakura out of the place to eat lunch somewhere else. But then again, the pinkette said something that stopped Sasuke from doing such thing.
"This place sure brings back a lot of memories," she said as they sat on the stool. The place was getting bigger than before. When they were kids, the place could only entertain about six people at most. But then as time blurred by, Ichiraku Ramen had become a world class ramen shop all because of the famous Naruto Uzumaki bringing along the ramen shop into popularity with him.
"Welcome!" The owner of the shop greeted them as he took each of their orders.
Naruto pulled out a small paper from his pocket as he was about to show it to the owner when remembered something. "Ah, since it's gonna be Kakashi-sensei's treat, I'm not gonna use this."
"You seriously thought of using that?" Sasuke asked, looking at the all too familiar piece of paper. The owner excused himself to the kitchen.
"Force of habit," Naruto said, laughing as he scratch his head.
"What's that?" Sakura asked, a bit curious as she leaned in to see the paper closely.
"It's a gift from Ichiraku Ramen, an unli ramen gift card for a lifetime!" Naruto bragged, he even stood up as he held up the paper to which Sasuke just sighed, drinking a glass of water. He's seen that gift card far too many times whenever Naruto would drag him to Ichiraku. Sasuke could've swear the taste of the ramen is already embedded in his taste buds he could even taste them in dreams. He wonder if Naruto feels the same.
Their ramens arrived in no time. Just like when they were kids, the three looked at each other before nodding their head once and turning their heads to Kakashi to catch him eating. But just like when they were kids, their Sensei had finish eating and had already arranged his mask. The three sighed in defeat and proceeded to eat.
The rest of the afternoon, they strolled around the Village like the old Team 7 used to do. Until Kakashi had to come back to the Hokage's office to finish some work. Then Naruto had to go back to his house because Hinata was not feeling well. And then just like that, as the sun slowly make its way under the horizon, the two were left again together.
Sasuke and Sakura were walking on the sidewalk, near the river. They were walking slowly and Sasuke was more than fine with it. Until he stopped on his tracks, head turned towards the park.
Sakura stopped walking when she saw Sasuke's shadow on the sidewalk was gone. She turned around to see the Uchiha looking at the park where children were playing. Sakura felt a small smile tugged up her lips as she walk towards Sasuke and took his hand.
She pulled Sasuke towards the park as they sat on a bench near a tree. The bench was a good spot, overlooking the river in front as it glistened with thousand starlings from the sun rays.
The atmosphere was peaceful and Sakura realized her head was slowly falling on Sasuke's shoulder. They remained like that for a few seconds, just silence with their heartbeats drumming the same rhythm. And it was perfect.
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, tilting her head up to look at Sasuke who hummed in response.
"Are you happy?"
The question struck him. What does happiness even mean? Or if there is any definite meaning to it? Or if being happy is variant to each individual? He doesn't really know. He never had a concrete meaning to it. And so for five seconds, Sasuke Uchiha contemplated the question, is he happy?
Sakura waited patiently for his answer. She knew he was contemplating it. The question was simple yet so vague for someone who was devoid of happiness for more than eight years.
Sasuke closed his eyes, hoping to find the answer to her question. Was there even a correct answer to it? He repeated the question in his head again. Am I happy?
When he said the question mentally, something appeared in his mind.
Someone appeared in his thoughts.
Sasuke opened his eyes again. "Yes," he answered.
He could never find a more suitable answer for her question than a simple yes. He doubt if he could even explain it if Sakura were to ask why he's happy.
But it was clear to Sasuke. That when he closed his eyes and asked himself that question, someone appeared in his thoughts.
Her.
Sakura is the answer to that question. And Sasuke could never find a more suitable reason than that.
He felt her smiled. And for a while they stayed like that until the last embers of the sun set under the horizon.
_____
Morning came much too early and Sasuke woke up first. Unlike most days when Sasuke would wake up while Sakura was already eating breakfast, this time he woke up with the pinkette sleeping soundlessly beside him. Sasuke decided to get up as quietly as he could as to not wake up Sakura. He took a quick shower and proceeded to the kitchen, half expecting the pinkette to be standing in the sink preparing breakfast. But it seems Sakura was still asleep.
Sasuke decided to make breakfast. Well, as much as he could with only one arm. Sasuke find it odd. Really odd doing this kind of things. He also find it extremely trivial. For someone who has fought in war, killed someone, cut down the Raikage's arm and almost changed the course of the Shinobi history, making breakfast seems like the easiest thing to do.
Or maybe not.
Sakura on the other hand, still lie on the bed. She doesn't feel like getting up yet. She felt like she whole body is so heavy that she just wanted to lie on the bed for the whole day. Besides, today's still a day off from the hospital.
Sakura blinked away the sleep in her system and stare at the ceiling. And then it clicked to her.
Today is suppose to be her training with Sasuke. That's right, Sasuke. The pinkette put her hand on the bed, there's no one there. She turned on her side and saw that Sasuke had long since woke up considering the side of the bed was already cold.
Then Sakura felt her eyes widen. What if she overslept? What if Sasuke had already gone to train? What time is it anyway? She looked at the small clock on the side table and squinted her eyes. It's almost half past eight already. Realizing that Sasuke might have seriously gone to train, Sakura jolted up from the bed so fast she started to get dizzy.
She held her forehead and massage it a little before slowly standing up. She almost stumble on her own feet but managed to get to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
Maybe the shower could help her ease the heaviness she is feeling. But to no avail, she still felt unwell. It must be the fatigue and overwork from the hospital. Hence why she need a day off.
But she doesn't want it to ruin a training day with Sasuke. And she doesn't know when she'll be able to have another training with him.
Sakura arrived at the kitchen and the smell of food wafted in her nostrils. The Uchiha was sitting on the table, sipping a coffee when he saw Sakura.
"That's the best I could do," Sasuke said, looking at the food on the table. Sakura's eyes traveled on the food. A plate with sunny side up eggs that look more than perfect than any world class chef could do. Then her eyes averted to the sink where almost a dozen cracked eggs were placed.
"I think we need to buy a new tray of eggs." Sakura laughed and shook her head before digging in the breakfast Sasuke had a hard time making.
When they arrived at the Uchiha Compound, Sasuke payed a visit to the shrine first before they proceeded to the forest near the border. The surrounding was so peaceful, despite the sun hovering above it is not that hot since tall trees are serving as shades from the harsh sunlight.
This is a perfect place to train.
Once they settled their things on the side near a tree, they stood before each other.
"We'll start with shuriken training after that, we'll proceed to taijutsu."
Sakura nodded as she adjusted her gloves. Sasuke took off his cloak and conjured three shurikens. Sakura looked up and around and she noticed the target boards on trees. Sasuke aimed the shurikens and all three landed on the bull's eye.
They did shuriken training for a while. Sakura kept tabs on their points and Sasuke's shurikens targeted the bull's eye with a hundred percent accuracy while Sakura missed a few.
Then it's taijutsu training. Sakura cracked her knuckles as she stood before Sasuke.
"Don't go easy on me, Sasuke-kun," she said with a smug smirk. Sasuke return the smirk with a smug look.
"You charge first," he said, dropping his sword. "And I won't use any weapon. You, however, can use any weapons you want."
Sakura is pissed. The smug look and the gesture of him throwing his sword screams he's underestimating her. Sakura took off her pouch full of shurikens and tightened her forehead protector. In a matter of seconds she charged towards him with lightning speed but Sasuke side stepped her. Her fist that was aimed to Sasuke came in contact with a tree and the trunk shatter info pieces.
Sakura turned around and dodged Sasuke's leg as she jumped up, she landed near Sasuke as they exchanged blows. Nothing serious and Sakura knew he was enjoying it judging by the smug look that was replace now by a small smile.
Sasuke took her fist as he yanked Sakura forward. His face was so close and Sakura froze for a second. "Let's stop this," Sasuke said, breath fanning her face.
For a second Sakura was almost swayed. Almost. Until she smirked and dove downward squeezing her way out of his grip and jumping backward a few feet away.
"We're not stopping until I win," Sakura said, a playful smirk as she cracked her knuckles.
"You mean we're not stopping until I win."
The two continued their training, both were stubborn enough to let the other one win. But they weren't taking it seriously. They were having too much fun to think about it. That's right, fun is it? Sasuke remembered this feeling. He felt this when he was a kid. Here on the same exact forest. Sasuke felt this feeling when he's training with his brother. And now he's feeling it again while training with Sakura.
The excitement, the fun, the happiness. He never knew he missed this kind of training until now. And it seems that Sasuke was too preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice Sakura had him cornered. His back hit the ground as Sakura pinned him. She was straddling him as her hands were placed on both side of his head. Not really a good idea and definitely not a good position.
"I win," Sakura said, a triumphant smile on her face as Sasuke sighed in defeat. She stood up and offered her hand to Sasuke. The Uchiha took it. But he had other ideas than to let Sakura help him up.
He took her hand and sat up before yanking the pinkette towards him. She landed in front as Sasuke held the back of her head and pulled her towards his face, lips landing perfectly on top of hers.
Sakura gasped as the kiss did not last for four seconds but was enough to make her fluster.
"I win," Sasuke said with a smirk as Sakura felt her face heat up. The Uchiha stood up and offered his hand. The pinkette took it with shaking hand as she felt her knees weaken.
It has been a while and Sasuke still has this effect on her. Sakura knew she might get used to this. But it seems that would be a long time from now.
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