A Basket of Bread, Tomatoes, and Rice Balls
by Diana-san
Sakura hummed to herself as she walked along the streets of Konoha with a woven basket in her hand. Inside the basket lined with a white tablecloth was freshly baked bread and hand-picked tomatoes from her garden. She had also packed rice balls that she had made last night.
As she walked closer to her destination, she slowed her steps before coming to a full stop in front of a familiar apartment. She glanced up as she walked up the steps to reach the front door. As she placed the basket down on the mat in front of the door, she wondered if she should knock to see if he was home. After all, what if he wasn't home? She wouldn't want the food to get eaten by some small rat.
She picked the basket back up. As she raised her hand to knock, she froze in mid-knock. What if he's asleep? Would she be waking him up this early in the morning? She stepped back as her forehead crinkled with worry.
A little stumble backwards and she realized she had bumped into something. Or rather, someone.
"What are you doing here?"
She whirled around to the sound of Sasuke's voice. "A-ah," she stammered as she tried to come up with a good response to that. "Here!" she said as she shoved the basket into his open arms. She turned to run back down the stairs in embarrassment but he had grabbed a hold of her wrist.
"Come in," he said as he released her wrist and opened the door to his apartment.
He flicked on a light switch and walked inside as he placed the basket of food on top of a small dining table. Sakura timidly walked behind him as she slipped off her sandals to step inside the place. It was her first time in his apartment and true to her imagination, it was clean and tidy like Sasuke's personality. She smiled. It was worlds different from Naruto's ramen-infested apartment. Seeing Naruto's place had scared her into thinking all males had dirty apartments. She was relieved that it was not the case.
"It's very clean. Do you have a live-in maid or something?" she joked.
Sasuke paused before opening his mouth to speak. "I haven't been living here for the past two years so all I had to do was dust the place a little when I came back."
"Oh, right. Of course," Sakura quickly replied. She realized what a dumb comment she had just made. He had only been back for a week. How messy can it get in a week? Scratch that. She was friends with Naruto.
"Do you want some tea?" Sasuke asked as he began to fill a kettle with water.
"Ah, sure. Thanks!"
"You've been leaving me baskets of food every morning?" he asked, with his back turned to her as he faced the stove.
Sakura sat down on a kitchen chair. "Oh! Yeah. I didn't think you would have time to go get groceries since you were just settling back in. I hope the rice balls were okay. I got you mostly fresh fruits and vegetables from the market and the rice balls were the only things I made myself."
"They were fine."
Sakura blushed a little. "Ah, I'm glad."
It was silent for a moment as the only sound was the sound of the low whistling of the kettle.
"So, what were you doing out so early in the morning?" Sakura asked as she tried to strike up a conversation.
"Hokage tower. Had to report some things back to Kakashi."
"Ah, I see."
It was silent again. The awkwardness was killing her inside. Maybe two years had been too long. Maybe he was regretting inviting her inside because he had to sit through this silence with her. Maybe that was why his back was turned to her so she wouldn't see his annoyed face.
"Um, actually. I don't have to stay for tea. I have a lot of things to do today. Like go to the hospital. And probably see Kakashi-sensei as well. I should get going actually. Sorry for bothering you! You can leave the basket out by the door and I'll get it tomorrow." She got up from her seat as she turned to leave.
He stood in front of her as he held up a cup. "Green tea or barley tea?" he asked.
"I s-said it was fine," she stuttered.
"Green tea or barley tea?" he asked again.
"Green."
"Okay."
He walked over to the dining table as he placed the cup down and then threw in a tea bag before pouring water over it from the kettle. Sakura slowly sat back down in her seat as she watched him return the kettle to the stove. She cradled the cup of tea in her two hands as she slowly picked it up to take a tiny sip. It was burning hot and she clicked her tongue against the bottom of her front teeth as she winced from the pain. That was stupid of her.
"It's hot," he said as he eyed her before sitting down.
She blushed. "Yeah, I'm a bit out of sorts."
"Why?"
Did she just say that out loud? What kind of response was she going to give him? Oh, she couldn't possibly tell him how nervous and awkward she was feeling being around him again. Nope, that was out of the question.
"Didn't get a lot of sleep last night," she lied. Well, maybe it wasn't a total lie. She did stay up until midnight to make those rice balls.
"How come?"
Ergh. Since when did Sasuke ask so many questions?
"Um, I was up making food."
"At midnight?"
"Yeah…"
"You don't have to stay up so late to make rice balls for me."
"I know… I wanted to." She glanced down at her cup of tea as she watched the tea bag float around the cup. She should probably stop playing with the string on the tea bag.
It was silent again as she listened to the quiet tick of the kitchen clock above the kitchen counter. There was a slight sound of the outside world waking up as she heard the voices of two elderly women outside. They were probably going to the market to buy groceries. It was in that silence that she realized something.
She glanced up and looked at Sasuke. "How did you know I was up at midnight? Or that I was making rice balls?"
He said nothing as he leaned his chin against his hand and stared out the kitchen window. She continued to stare at him but he didn't say anything. Finally, he turned his head slowly as he spoke. "I saw you through your kitchen window last night."
"What were you doing in my area? There's nothing around my place but other houses."
"You were there."
That caught her by surprise. "Y-you came to see me?" she asked. It seemed like a ridiculous question because why would Sasuke come in the middle of the night to drop her a visit. And why didn't he visit her because she was pretty sure that she did not open any doors or windows for him to come by.
"Yes," he replied.
That wasn't much of a response. Sakura had so many more questions to follow up after that. But she didn't want to sound too annoying or prod him too much for an answer that was probably quite meaningless. Still, it killed her inside to want to know why he was there and for what reason.
"Oh.." She took a sip of her tea. "Did you have something to tell me?"
"Not really."
He was really beginning to frustrate her. "Then what did you come by for?"
"The same reason you came by today."
Sakura gripped her teacup. The same reason? Could it be?
"That's not true," she stated softly. "Do you really know the reason I came here?"
"You wanted to see me right? It's not just to drop off food to make sure I'm not starving to death."
She blinked twice quickly as she allowed his words to settle in and make sense in her brain.
"Are you saying…?" she began as her voice broke up a little at the end.
"Yes."
It was silent again. This time, she enjoyed the silence. Her eyes began to water a little and she quickly lowered her head as she wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. He turned his head to the side as to not stare and also because it was awkward for him to see her cry. He felt that if he gave her some time to her thoughts, she would perhaps stop crying.
She whispered softly, "You wanted to see me?"
He said nothing as he reached into the basket of food that she had brought over and pulled out the bento box filled with rice balls. It was his favorite snack and she always made it with the bonito filling.
"Are you hungry?" he asked. "I assume you didn't eat breakfast," he said as he avoided her question.
"You wanted to see me?" she asked again.
"Are these tomatoes home-grown? They don't look like the ones in the marketplace," he commented as he took out a few tomatoes. They were nice and plump at a shade of brilliant red.
"You wanted to see me?" she repeated again.
"Where is this bread from? The bakery near my house or the one near yours?" he asked as he took out a baguette.
"You wanted to see me," she stated. She stood up as she pulled the basket away from him and stared firmly into his obsidian eyes.
He sighed. "…Yes."
She sat down as she pushed the basket to the side and picked up the bento box of rice balls. She opened it and handed him a rice ball with extra bonito filling. He took it and glanced at her. She smiled as she took out a second rice ball and held it in her hand.
"I am hungry," she said as she took a small bite from the rice ball in her hand.
"Maybe we should get dinner tonight then," he said as he bit into his own.
"Yes, they are home-grown. I grew them myself," she responded as she ignored his dinner invitation.
"Should I come pick you up at 6 at your house?" he asked.
"The bread is from the bakery near my house," she replied in response to his earlier question.
"Wait, you work until 8 today. So I'll come get you at the hospital instead."
She smiled. He knew her work schedule. He knew the area around her house. And he came at midnight to see her but probably only watched her from afar through her tiny kitchen window.
"You can come at 6. I was going to leave work early today."
"How come?"
"To eat dinner with my boyfriend."
He grunted. "What boyfriend?"
She shrugged. "I guess I'll see at 6."
He gave a small smile as the two of them sat in his kitchen eating rice balls for breakfast.