.
He loves her.
(He thinks)
She was awfully pretty.
Almost as pretty as his kaa-chan.
With her pink hair, and her green eyes.
.
When it was coloring time, he'd share his box of crayons with her. (And no one else)
When it was snack time, they'd trade animal crackers. Because she loved only the tiger cracker. "It tastes the best." She'd laugh, before biting into the biscuit.
When it was nap time, he'd secretly slow down or speed up; pretend to talk to someone, or aimlessly walk around the class until she sets down her blanket.
He'd run for the spot next to hers.
.
He's in love. (He thinks.)
Love is when you share crayons, and trade animal crackers and... do stupid stupid stuff, just to be close to her.
He's in love.
.
x
. P u l l i n g
P e t a l s .
He loves me, he loves me not.
x
He loves me not.
.
"Ne! Sasuke-kun, can you find me a pretty flower?" She'd ask.
"Why?" He'd question her.
"Because!" She'd reason with him. "I learned this super cool game at school!"
Blinking once, then twice, he nods at her request before walking a fair distance away from her to pick up a wild flower from the field.
.
"Here." He hands the wish puff to her.
She frowns. "No no! That won't do!"
He frowns. "Its a flower though."
"Its a wishy thing! Its not a flower Sasuke-kun!" She'd explain to him. "See look!" She blows the wish puff infront of him, making the dandelion seeds scatter into the air. "As long as one of these stays in the air, my wish will come true!" She explains, "These are wishy flowers! Not flower flowers!"
.
He coughs a bit, having inhaled one or two of the seeds into his mouth.
"Ne Sasuke-kun!" She asks in a worried tone.
"I-I'm fine." He'd tell her.
She frowns. "You ate my wish you meanie butt!"
.
They were best friends.
.
"Your wish nearly killed me!"
"Heheh.." She'd laugh nervously. "Gomen, Sasuke-kun!" She'd hug him from behind. "I love you very very much! So Sasuke-kun can't be mad at Sakura-chan, okay?" Hmph. He'd cross his arms and turn his head to the side. Not being able to answer her because he was putting all his effort into hiding the upcoming blush on his cheeks.
.
.
"Here." He'd try again, handing her another flower. This time, not a dandelion puff; a simple wild flower, purple and skinny.
"Ah! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She'd happily cry, accepting the small flower and taking it into her own hands. She closes her eyes for a moment, in a praying pose with the flower grasped tightly in her hands. (Say the persons name in your head 3 times.)
He stares at her, wondering what on earth she was doing; thinking with a flower in hand. Her green eyes opened, and she started.
"He loves me." She pulls off one petal.
"He loves me not." She pulls off another.
"He loves me." Another petal falls.
"He loves me not." And another.
"He loves me." One last petal.
"He loves me not..."
A frown grows on her baby face as she stares at the naked flower, its fallen petals on the grass below her.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun..." Her voice has a hint of sadness in it. "Lets go home... okay?" She asks him, dropping the stem of the petal-less flower on the ground before standing up. She started walking without him, and he could only look at her fading back wondering what he did wrong.
.
He loves me.
.
They are older now; in their second last year of highschool.
He loves her.
(Still.)
But he doesn't think now. He knows.
She's the one; Haruno Sakura.
Annoying, stupid, aggresive, clumsy, naive, kind, loyal... and... "Sakura!"
Haruno Sakura, everything.
.
She turns around, her curious green eyes shining with a certain light. "Hai?"
He watches from a safe distance as she talks and laughs with her group of girl friends.
And he absentmindedly nod a few times, pretending to listen while standing with his own group of guy friends.
"Sweet! We're all meeting tonight, get your own drives okay?" Naruto; his other best friend asks.
He snaps back into reality as he blinks a few times. "S-Sure." He replies, almost by reflex.
"Great man, see you there." They hit their knuckles together before saying goodbye.
.
.
The club was packed.
Multi-colored lights rotated around the dancefloor as the music blared from the speakers, drowning out most of the conversations going on in the building.
He didn't know he agreed to this.
"Dude, get yous butt off dur and do somethin'!" A half-drunk Naruto slurred, waving the cup of alcohol in his hand. "Ah. Ba-hooy with yous." Naruto scoffed. "Stupid teme never fun." The blond turns his head away from Sasuke when his eyes catch sight of the girls. "The gurls-they be here now!" He happily clapped, skipping (literally skipping) towards a certain pearl eyed girl entering with her group of friends.
.
His eyes saw pink. Sakura.
"Ah! Sasuke-kun! You actually came!" She'd greet him, sitting across the table.
"Yeah." He'd reply.
And they'd talk over the blasting music, for a long time.
He'd notice her eyes would look towards the dance floor every so often while talking to him.
.
"Go." He tells her, his head mentioning towards the group of dancing people.
"Huh?" She replies.
"You can go. You don't have to sit here the whole night." He explains.
She pretends she can't hear him over the music, cupping her right ear. "What?" She half yells. "I can't hear you!"
He almost rolls his eyes at her childish actions. "YOU." He said, pointing at her, "GO DANCE." He points at himself, "I SIT HERE."
"You want to dance with me?" She yells, "Sure, why not!" She grabs his hand in hers.
"W-what! No, I-" He protests as they walk towards their group of friends, already paired up. When shes content with their spot, she turns around to face him and smiles. "Smile, Sasuke-kun." She tells him gently.
He doesn't hear her voice over the music, but he knew in his mind (in his heart) she'd say that.
.
It was... such a Sakura thing to say.
Smile, Sasuke-kun.
He'd hold her close and lightly burry his face into her hair.
And he'd smile.
Just the tiniest bit.
.
I love you.
I love you.
He wished he could tell her.
.
He loves me not.
.
"He loves me."
"He loves me not."
"He loves me."
"He loves--" "Sakura."
She lets of a quiet gasp at his sudden arrival, dropping the rose she was holding in the process. "Sasuke-kun." She greets him. He raises an eyebrow. "What's with all the gifts?" He asks her, mentioning to the red, pink and white wrapped presents that laid on her desk.
"These?" She asks, "Um.. Well, they were gifts."
He walks a bit closer and stops beside her desk, picking up the box of heart shaped chocolate. "From who?" He asks, examining the other gifts after putting the first one down.
"You know... people." She explains.
"Valentines Day presents?"
"Mm.." She nods, fiddling with the hem of her school uniform skirt.
"Ah... " He replies. "I got a few too."
"A few?" She asks in a disbeliving tone. "You've got to be kidding me!" She laughs. "You must've gotten enough chocolates to last you a life time!"
"I don't eat chocolate." He said bluntly.
"My point exactly!" She laughs.
He's caught off guard for a moment, but quickly plays it off by scratching the back of his head and turning away from her.
"Why are you here so late after school?" She asks him.
.
"... Counting." He answers after a moment.
.
She tilts her head to the side in a questioning manner, but is unable to voice her question as he interupts her. "Hn. Lets go. Your mom asked me to bring you home today." He picked up a few of her gifts. "I'll meet you by my car." He walks out of the classroom.
.
She looks down at the remaining un-opened gifts left on her desk with a hint of disappointment.
She should have known better than to expect a gift from him.
.
He loves me.
.
"Here." He throws a bouquet of flowers into her face.
"W-whats all of this?" She asks in shock.
"What do you think." He mutters.
She regains her composer as she hesitantly scoops the packet of flowers into her arms. She stares at the beautiful arrangement of fresh flowers for a moment. "...Why?" She asks him.
He looks into her eyes for a moment.
"Because."
Not answering anymore, he stops infront of her house.
"T-thanks for the ride... And the flowers... I guess." She says in an uncertain tone as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door.
He doesn't leave her driveway until she enters her house.
.
He loves me.
.
Sakura lets out the breath she was holding in as she quietly closes the door behind her. Looking at the bundle of flowers in her hand she makes her way towards her kitchen to find a vase to put the flowers in. Filling up the glass container with water, she carefully unwraps the bouquet and sets each flower into the vase.
"Because." She mimics his voice in a stupid tone.
"What kind of answer is that?" She says outloud, eyeing the flowers that sat before her.
.
"Counting."
.
She studies the flowers sitting in the vase for a moment, before hesitantly reaching out for one. Closing her eyes, just like she did 10 years ago, she grips the stem of the flower in her praying hands. (Say his name 3 times)
She pulls on the petal.
"He loves me."
Another petal. "He loves me not."
"He loves me... He loves me not."
"He loves me, he loves me not."
"He loves me..." She says outloud to herself as she eye'd the bare flower.
.
Shaking her head a few times to herself, she quickly takes another flower from the vase.
"He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not."
She pulls the last petal off of the 2nd flower.
.
"He loves me."
This is just a coincidence. She tells herself.
.
She picks up her 3rd flower from the vase.
"He loves me."
The 4th flower.
"He loves me."
The 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th flower.
"He loves me, he loves me, he loves me, he loves me."
She suddenly stops when she notices the mess of flower petals around her and sees that only one lone flower was left sitting in the vase. "One last time." She tells herself, before reaching out for the last rose.
She pulls on it's petals; the same action she had been doing for the past hour.
.
"He loves me."
"He loves me not."
"He loves me, he loves me not."
"He loves me."
"He loves me not."
.
She frowns as she looks at the last petal, she pulls on it.
"He loves me."
.
.
She heard her cell phone ring from her school bag. Wondering who it could be, she quickly digs through her bag for the phone. Flipping it open, she clicks the button, 'View Message.'
A blush quickly creeps onto her cheeks as she re-reads the message over again.
She snaps her phone close with a fake huff, the redness never leaving her cheeks as she went to clean up the flower petals.
.
"... Stupid idiot could've just told me."
.
AN // In case you didn't get it. Sasuke was counting the petals on every flower so they'd all end up with 'He loves me.'