Naruto one-shots [Requests OPEN]

Baki x reader

-------- = time skip

bold text will be baki speaking

Flower meanings (for anyone who is interested):
Yellow Tulips - "There's sunshine in your smile"
Red Rose - " I Love You"
Red Tulips - "Declaration of love"
Forget-Me-Nots - "True love, Faithfulness, Remembrance"
White Lilies - "Sweetness, Purity"
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It was a beautiful morning in Sunagakure. The sun shone brightly through the shop windows leaving the room pleasantly warm as you tended to the bunches of different flowers. Sighing, you gaze out onto the streets, the sand whisking into the air as people, both shinobi and civilians, walked past your shop. You own a flower shop. More often than nought, you are questioned about why you decided to open one in the middle of the desert. Well, your answer often includes explaining your rare chakra, which enables you to grow plants anywhere – which often results in your skills being used for medical ninjutsu.

You were once a jōnin, however after fighting for so long you had decided that you would exchange your shuriken for shears and brighten up Suna with your flowers. It had been 10 years since you opened your shop, and in that time your small business had went from being a quaint shop in the outskirts of the village to a large greenhouse-like shop in the heart of the village; you had catered to many events including weddings, academy ceremonies, and even events which the kazekage attended!

You are often found tending to the needs of the flowers in the early morning, followed by delivering the special ordered bouquets to your customers. During this time, you entrusted the shop to a few of your friends who would take turns at managing the plants and ensure that things ran smoothly. Today was like every other day, you went on your rounds and had the occasional chat with the other shop owners around the village. However, the normality ceased when you returned you found a lone tulip lying on the step of your home – which, fortunately, was located next to your shop. Lying underneath the vibrant yellow petals and long stem, a letter was left. Tentatively, you open the letter and are welcomed with shaky, scribbled words which you struggled to read.

'Y/N, like this tulip, which brightens up the gloomiest of gardens, you illuminate my life. From your laugh to your smile, you make my life worth living if it means I get to see you every day. You are the only one I love and yet I cannot even tell you face to face.'

Your face flushed as your eyes skimmed over the words a second time, finding it hard to believe that you had received such a letter. You had always been helpful and kind to others, but you generally kept your head down so you didn't have many friends (with the exception of your friends you made while you were a shinobi).

You picked up the tulip and entered your shop. Distracted by the note, you failed to notice that one of your closest friends, Baki, was serving a customer. The smile was still plastered on your face as you smelled the sweet scent of the flower, until the clearing of a throat disrupted your trail of thought. You looked up and were met by the questioning gaze of your dear friend, followed by his gruff voice echoing throughout the now empty shop. Baki had always been there for you from when you were both academy students and he has always been supportive of you, even after you had decided to retire. It is not foreign for you to find him looking after your shop when you are unable to, he is one of your closest friends. In fact, you could even say you've grown to love him over the years.

"Y/N, now that you're back I need to return to Lord Gaara, I'll see you tomorrow if I can...what's that?"

"I found it on my doorstep...it's a love letter and a tulip of all flowers" you replied, a smile graced your features at the thought of the coincidence that it would be a tulip. A flower which was often used to represent one's adoration for their lovers' smile, often describing it like sunshine. Who could have send it?

"Do you have any clue as to who sent it? There can't be many people in the village with an extensive knowledge of flowers"

"I have no idea... I mean I've never really considered that someone could feel this way about me."

"Trust me, I know there is."

"I don't know, but what can I do? I mean I can't just drop everything for one message, can I? This whole thing is giving me a headache."

"I see. Well I have to leave so I will see you when I can."

The discussion ended after a brief hug and before you knew it you were busy serving new customers, this continued until you closed the shop for the day. The thought of the mysterious flower lingered at the back of your mind all day, arising whenever you caught the eye of one of your male customers or simply seen them browsing your displays. However, none of them gave a second glance to the display of tulips, making you doubt any of them were the mysterious person who left you the gift earlier that afternoon.

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Tossing and turning until you were buried in your bed covers, you stated at the tulip which stood alone in the tall, thin vase which was placed upon a wooden table next to your bed. The moonlight that illuminated the room made the clear, cool water in the vase gleam. Squinting your eyes, you tried to focus on the beautiful, bright-coloured petals of the flower as you recalled coming across the note earlier that day. Reluctantly you reached your hand out from the warmth of your quilts and carefully caught a grasp of the paper which was buried underneath your pillows. You held the paper in your hands, the scribbled words made your heart unintentionally quicken and the corners of your lips to pull into a faint smile. Despite this, the message left by your 'admirer', if you could call him that, made your head spin with the questions which arose, and by the time the clock struck twelve, you felt sleep was unattainable.

It would be a long night of staring at the ceiling as thoughts of your admirer made it near impossible to sleep, but little did you know if only you had been a fraction more observant you would have noticed that Baki left your shop carrying a bag with him before he left. Your endless questions would have been answered for that bag contained a single red rose which would appear on your doorstep the next morning, this occurring every morning until he encouraged himself to confess his feelings.

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Every morning, you awoke to a single red rose on your doorstep. Accompanying each flower were letters describing how even a single perfect rose could not compare to you. You gradually felt more towards this stranger, however you could not help but worry over Baki. It may have been silly, but you felt like you were being unfaithful, despite you two not being in a relationship.

You decided to keep everything a secret from Baki, until one morning which would change your life forever...

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It was a crisp morning and you could feel it was going to be a chilly day, well as chilly as Sunagakure could get.

You awoke groggily, having managed to sleep for a couple of hours before your alarm went off at 5:30am. After preparing yourself and eating breakfast, you could feel the lack of sleep taking its toll on your body. Despite feeling fatigued you continued your day as usual, refusing to cancel people's orders because of your own mistakes; you should never have thought so intensely about the flower and note before bed, and now you are paying the price.

Upon opening your front door, you almost failed to notice the bouquet of red tulips and forget-me-nots as well as yet another note from your admirer. Picking up the flowers and the note, you returned back inside to read it instead of at the shop. After finding a vase and putting the tulips in along with some water, you sat down and admired them a while. The tulips had long vibrant green, healthy, stalks and the petals were the most radiant shade of crimson; the forget-me nots subtly enhancing the beauty of the tulips as the small, white flowers brought life to the deep shade of red. It was obvious that the stalks had been cut evenly, everything was perfect. So what of the letter?

Your eyes travelled down to the letter which was in your hands, you had not realised that you had been fiddling about with it during the entire time you were sat at your table. Two diagonal corners of the letter were crumpled and twisted.

Releasing a deep sigh, which you had not noticed you had held in, you opened the letter to once again read the scribbled words which you, after having read the previous letter countless times, could understand without any problems. The letter said:

'Y/N, I hope that you were not too caught off guard with my gift yesterday, I hope that you understand that my feelings are true
- I love you'

You didn't know what to think. This was a complete stranger, as far as you know, who has declared his love for you. You set down the letter onto the wooden table and stared at it. After what felt like hours, which in reality was only 20 or so minutes, you heard a knock at your door. It was still early in the morning, so it could only be one person who could possibly be knocking on your door at this hour – Baki.

Opening the door, you were greeted to your dear friends face. Well, half of his face, seeing as his shinobi clothing covered half of his face, the visible half showing his most distinctive features – two red markings across his cheek. You shifted to allow him through the doorway, taking in the familiar scent which you were accustomed to – it was a smoky, rich blend of cologne, ink, and tobacco. It was an unusual scent that would deter most people but to you it felt like home and comforted you.

He strode past you, after gingerly placing a hand on your upper arm and lightly squeezing it before hugging you. It was not uncommon for the two of you to hug, although it has only been recently that you have felt heat rising to your cheeks and your heart fluttering when you come into contact. Once you shut the door, you turned to him before watching him make a bee-line towards the new bouquet which was on your kitchen table. Unconsciously you kept your head down and slowly moved forwards behind him, not entirely sure what he was thinking. He was a quiet person for as long as you had known him, but you felt – for what seemed like the first time – that you were unable to read his emotions. You kept quiet, stopping yourself from questioning him, feeling a strange emotion wash over you...you couldn't pinpoint the emotion, but you felt almost – dare you say it – ashamed?

Were you ashamed that Baki could see that some other man was interested in you? While pondering on that thought, your trail of thought was broken by the heavy sigh released from Baki's lips. Looking closely at his face, you could identify the emotion that was swept over his face – anger.

For a second your heart stopped, fear overcoming you, as you looked at him closely. You mentally prepared to hear him speak – well shout – about how you were receiving the flowers. However, what fell from his lips was not at all what you had expected. All the preparation you had was useless for what was said.

"Idiots, I told them tulips and lilies since they're your favourite! I might as well have done it myself."

You stood there dumbfounded at the words which seemed to echo through the room, the silence afterwards dragged on for what felt like eternity until he spoke again. This time, more calm as he composed himself and turned towards you.

"Well I guess I have no choice but to tell you, even if they did mess up with the bouquet... Y/N, I am the one who has been sending you the flowers and the letters. I have loved you since we were kids, and there has always been something in the way of me confessing my feelings. At first it was other guys, but then when we got older the only person stopping me from telling you was myself. I was worried that you would not return my feelings, I should have told you sooner than now, but I love you. I always have, and I always will."

To say that you were shocked would be an understatement. Baki...loved you? He was the one you had been falling for all along, and to think that you had been worried about him finding out...

While both disbelief and joy overcame you, all you could manage was a wide grin. Tears sprung from your eyes, and warmth spread through your whole body as you took in what he had said. Well, most of what he had said, your mind went crazy which made it difficult for you to focus on his voice.

You looked into his dark eyes with tears streaming down your reddened cheeks. He truly loved you, you could see it in his gentle gaze. You mirrored this and spared no second in rushing towards him. Cupping his face with your hands, you leaned in and your soft lips met his rough ones. Feeling him react to the kiss by running his fingers through your hair, feeling a jolt of electricity run through your entire body you leaned further in to the kiss. You could go on like this forever, but unfortunately your need for air soon ended your kiss. Leaning your head on his chest, you moulded into him as his heavy breathing relaxed you. He wrapped a toned arm around you while the other cupped one of your cheeks.

The flowers long forgotten, both you and Baki felt at ease basking in each others presence. Lifting your head from its place, you carefully remove his hand from your face and leave soft kisses on each fingertip – more love going into each kiss than the last. Finally, you laced your fingers through his, and looked up at his face before saying the three words he had longed to hear:

"I love you"