Alternative versions - SasuSaku One-shots

6 - Opposite

Sakura remembers her parents telling her about 'boys' and 'love'. They told her boys were too embarrassed to admit they like a girl. That's why they pretend to hate the girl.

She never really understood it. If boys that pretend to dislike a girl, actually like the girl, what about boys that don't?
What about boys that fully admit they like the girl?

■

Earlier point in time

Sakura was wandering around the village when she spotted a group of boys gathered around something.
She walked a bit closer to see that they were standing around a dog - no, a pup - , poking it with sticks. All of them were laughing at the animal wincing in pain.

Sakura decided to step in.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing there?! Stop hurting that puppy!" She ran in-between the little animal and the boys.

"Huh? It's not a big deal. Just let us have some fun playing with it." One of them stepped forward.
"Playing? You're obviously hurting it! Go play something that doesn't hurt animals!" She was now completely filled with anger. How dare these boys abuse an animal and call it 'playing'?

She swiftly turned around and grabbed the pup before jumping on top of the wall behind her.
"Hey! Don't run away!" She heard the boys behind her. That moment, she really appreciated her skills as a soon-to-be kunoichi. Fortunately, those boys were untrained civilians and couldn't come after her.

When she got far enough away, Sakura sat down under a tree. The pup was still during the whole time and she was starting to worry whether it was still alive.
After making sure it wasn't wounded, Sakura checked the name tag tied around its neck.

"Uchiha?"

She got up and made her way towards the Uchiha compound, though she had no idea which one of the black-heads the pup belonged to. Hopefully, the owner was searching for it around the compound.

People gave her strange looks when she entered the compound but she continued walking around the complex, hoping the owner was somewhere around here.

"Hey, isn't that Shiro-chan?" An older lady suddenly asked when Sakura passed her.
The girl turned to her.
"You know this puppy? I've been searching for the owner because it was lost."

The woman took a closer look.
"That's Shiro-chan for sure."
"Where should I bring him?"
She pointed to the center of the compound. "Just walk straight on the way until you get to the biggest house"

Sakura gave her a big smile."Thank you, oba-san! Have a nice day!"
She started running to the direction the lady pointed to, happy to finally return the pup to its owner. The rather small animal in her arms was as silent as it had been the whole time. Whether exhaustion was the cause or if it was just a meek dog, she didn't know.

The house the lady talked of wasn't hard to spot. It was right in the center of the complex. Sakura wondered who the owner could be to have such a nice home. Maybe one of the eldest in the clan? She heard those have a good amount of power and control over the their clan.

She knocked on the door. Soon after, she heard steps nearing the door and the door slightly opened.
"Who's it? I don't have time, so make it quick." A seemingly young, cold voice said, not even bothering to fully open the door.
"I found your puppy, Shiro" Sakura answered, starting to worry she knocked on the wrong house.

Surely I am right. The oba-san said I had to go to the biggest house.

The voice talked again.
"Okay, I gue- WAIT you found Shiro?!" The door suddenly opened and a boy around her age was staring at her with wide eyes.
"Shiro!" He exclaimed, taking the animal out of Sakura's arms. "Kaa-san, Shiro is back!" He shouted towards his back in a much lighter voice than before.

Someone came through a door inside the house.
"Really? How did he find back?" A pretty lady asked.
"This girl brought him" the boy said, pointing at her.
"It's rude to point at people, Sasuke-kun" His mother scolded him, before turning to Sakura. "Thank you for bringing back Shiro. He was gone for a few days and Sasuke-kun here was really worried."

Said boy took Sakura's hand out of a sudden.
"Thank you. Really. Like, REALLY."  His attitude from just a few seconds ago had completely vanished, replaced with genuine gratitude.
Sakur was starting to get flustered.

"Er...No problem"

■

Ever since that day, Sasuke had been following her around. Turns out they were in the same class but never noticed each other. Sasuke was, as he had already expressed on multiple occasions, really grateful.

At first, he was just thanking her for saving his Shiro from those boys, after hearing the full story. 'You could've got hurt!" he had said once. Sakura didn't really care, as she didn't end up getting hurt.
After a few days she asked him why he was following her and that she knew that he was really grateful now.
'I still owe you' he said. Sasuke seemed to use that as an excuse to follow her everywhere, mentioning it at least once every time they happened to see each other, as if he expected her to forget every other second. At some point she stopped trying to get rid of her newly gained 'friend', as Sasuke decided. This went on for about half a year, before he suddenly declared she was his girlfriend now. 'So I can protect you.' he explained.

She never agreed to it.

Now, he was following her all the time and doing what she learned to call 'flirting'.
"Sakura-chan!" The boy ran up to her, as she walked to the academy. Sakura didn't know when exactly he started adding 'chan' to her name. It just happened one day and she went with it, since Sasuke wasn't bothered by it.
"You're as pretty as always today!" he exclaimed. Sakura never knew how he could be so energic and drained at the same time. At academy he wouldn’t act even half as energic as he would with her, where he'd seen to have an infinite amount of it.

Sasuke had started to go to the academy with her, although there was a much shorter way to the academy from the compound. But he didn't seem to mind taking a longer way.

"Did you cut your hair? It looks beautiful"
"No, I didn't. It looks the same as it did yesterday, the day before yesterday and the day before the day before yesterday." she sighed. He was really getting on her nerves.
"Really? Maybe it's because you're wearing a different ribbon today. You look wonderful either way. Red still suits you the best though."
She was, indeed, wearing a violet ribbon that day. She unconsciously made a little mental note to switch back to her old ribbon again.

They finally entered the classroom. Sasuke would always shut up and return to his Uchiha-self when people were around. Seems like showing his affection infront of people was too embarrassing, even for Sasuke.

However, he still always sat down next to her, though he'd make it look like a coincidence, to the fangirls' anger.

■

The bell rang, signaling the start of lunch time. Sakura left the classroom while Sasuke followed shortly after. Of course, the fangirls too.

Sakura jumped onto the roof of the school building. Just a few seconds after, she spotted Sasuke coming out, followed by a crowd of his fangirls.

Sakura took out a little pebble and threw it towards one of the girls, making sure to miss her just by a little. The girl screeched and everyone turned towards her. Sasuke used his chance to run into an ally and jump onto the roof where Sakura was sitting.
"Thank you again, Sakura-chan." Sasuke smiled at her.

It was always like that. They never really decided to do so, but every lunch break, Sakura would do something to catch the attention of the fangirls and allow Sasuke to escape. Although he was getting on her nerves with the flirting, eating lunch alone wasn't the best too.

■

Sakura remembers her parents telling her about 'boys' and 'love'. They told her that boys are too embarrassed to admit they like a girl. That's why they pretend to hate the girl.

She never really understood it. If boys that pretend to dislike a girl, actually like the girl, what about boys that don't?
What about boys that fully admit they like the girl?

She never asked her parents about tha. Her parents are always right.
Surely, Sasuke was just a special case.