GIFTS | S. HARUKA

Peonies

"Sakura-san! There you are!"

Haruka Sakura has never felt more embarrassed in his entire life.

Here he stands, face red beyond recognition as his fists tremble, yet as much as he wants to get out of this mess, he just knew he couldn't, especially when he had so much pride resting on this encounter alone.

"Ahah, I was a bit worried you wouldn't show up," His heart races in his chest further as the girl grins.

"But you managed to! I'm really happy."

He grits his teeth.

If I didn't, you'd just go looking for me like an annoying fly!

Well. He wasn't necessarily wrong. (Y/n), as nice and simple as they come, would have gone searching for him if he didn't show up at the shop, or, if things came to that, she'd simply deliver the flowers she wanted to gift to him to his apartment building. That was just how passionate she was about her feelings towards Haruka Sakura.

No, you did not read wrong.

For over the course of four months now, (Y/n) (L/n) has been absolutely enamored by Sakura Haruka, and she's been doing everything she could to possibly convey these feelings to him. After being completely shot down when she confessed to him back when he first began attending Furin High School, instead of being completely dejected and hurt by his rejection, she instead had been expecting it, and went on to make a sole promise to both him and herself;

"My feelings will never change. I'll do whatever it takes to make you fall for me the same way I fell for you, Haruka Sakura, so until the day you tell me you've had enough with all of your heart, I'll begin gifting you every day."

Of course, Sakura had been completely shocked by her statement. He didn't understand why she was so adamant on being with him or liking him so much, and he's told her over and over again that he would never change his mind, however she still insists on doing these things.

Was it a lie about her ever giving up? Maybe she only said that as a way to make the painful feeling of being rejected easier on her heart, but he couldn't tell. As outgoing and happy as she is, there was always something about (Y/n) that made her hard to get a clear picture on.

Maybe that was why he detested her and her antics, because he just couldn't understand.

"Here you go, Sakura-san." He's knocked out of his thoughts as he comes back to reality, and he's blushing once again as he watches (Y/n) gently smile and hand him a bouquet of today's flowers. "My gift for you today: Peonies. They symbolize my prosperity and deep feelings for you." Sakura scowls, but nonetheless, he takes them into his hands and huffed.

"Y-You really are so annoying. Wh...What if I just throw the flowers away?"

She smiles.

"Then, you throw them away. I can't control what you do with them. I just want you to know the meaning behind my gifts and know that I l-"He immediately lets out a loud shout to cut her off, making her blink widely.

"W-Would you cut that out already?! I get it, so there's no point in repeating yourself! Gah!" She couldn't help but burst out laughing, in which he shoots her multiple glares over. She then proceeded to close up shop since the day was coming to an end, and with a pep in her step, she was hanging up her apron and headed out to lock with the doors with him waiting for her.

Although Sakura didn't like (Y/n) in the same way, he did see her as a good person and someone somewhat worthy of his time. He had once stopped a man from coming onto her when he first moved to Mokachi, and ever since, she's been popping up all over the place wanting to see him more.

He found it annoying at first and hoped she would stop, but after hearing what Kotoha had to say about her, he had admittedly been wanting to change his drastic approach to her and her antics.

"(Y/n)-san is a really kind person when you get to know her. You should try befriending her instead of pushing her away. You definitely won't regret it."

"Regret it I do." He grunted to himself, and (Y/n) happily turned to face him, making him recoil.

"Regret what?"

"Nothin'." He quickly responded before looking away. The girl she sighed as she stretched her arms above her head, and she then looked over to the side. "Well, did you have a good day patrolling? I heard there was a brawl earlier today, so I figured you were apart of it." Sakura scoffs.

"It was hardly even a brawl. Those weaklings barely put up a fight." She hums. "Really? I'm sure at least one of them had to have been a good opponent." He shrugged as he looked over and away from the front. "Nah. Their leader was a coward and tried to get away, but of course," He grins.

"I did 'em in."

Her eyes brighten and she begins clapping.

"Ah, amazing! As cool as always, Sakura-san!"

His expression falters into a deadpan.

"You sound sarcastic as hell." Her jaw drops. "Huuuh? I don't sound sarcastic at all. I was being serious there, you really are cool." He merely waves it off before blinking as her house comes into view. (Y/n) notices too and lets out a disappointed sigh as they come up to the corner of the street. When they get a bit closer, Sakura is stopping in his tracks and she's pausing to look back at him.

"This is you, right? Well, bye." She flinches a bit. "Ah, yeah. Bye..." As he makes his way back down the street they just came up, (Y/n) smiles at his back before chuckling to herself as she turned around and began her way home.

"I wonder what I'll gift him tomorrow..."

If you couldn't tell, this doesn't follow the manga at all and is in its own little story since its a fanfiction LOL!

I adore Sakura sm, so I wrote this <3