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It was still dawn. The fresh air traveled through the sky and the clouds showed a magnificent show of colors. There were tints
of orange and pink in the firmament. Despite of the cold air that brings anyone back to sleep, Sakura and Sasuke are already
awake.
After waking up and stretching her long arms, Haruno Sakura fixed her bed, took a cold bath, got dressed up, and ate breakfast.
Sakura checked her appearance on the mirror and discovered one thing:
HER FOREHEAD PROTECTOR IS MISSING.
"Where is it? Where is it" Sakura murmured to herself. She looked under her bed,searched for it in her drawer,
and much more.
"What a careless girl." said Inner Sakura, crossing her arms.
"I heard that!" thought Sakura, with a temper vein on her forehead.
"Without it, my hair will be ruined!" roared Inner Sakura.
"Oh man, I don't have a headband or anything!"
"How bout the ribbon Ino gave you?" asked Inner Sakura.
"I lost it." said Sakura.
Sakura continued the search for her precious hitai-ate. She searched for her forehead protector on every corner of her
house; panicking.
Who else wouldn't panic if her hard-earned prized possession was missing?
Uchiha Sasuke did the same as Sakura. He also fixed his bed, took a cold bath, got dressed up, and ate breakfast.
Ah yes, it was just a regular day. Training, waiting for the lazy, always late, and excuse-making sensei, getting annoyed
by Konoha' #1 Loudest Ninja, getting chased by rabid, crazy, and annoying fan girls, and much more.
However, Sasuke felt something... strange. He felt uneasiness on his forehead. Something was just not right.
But, as usual, due to his stubborn will to train, he just ignored the uneasiness on his forehead and went through his
regular daily routine.
He walked to the training grounds slowly. He had a strange feeling that Kakashi is going to be later than before. He decided
to bring his dark blue jacket with the Uchiha emblem with him. The weather is chilly nowadays.
Sakura was the first one to arrive on the training ground. She did nothing but watch the leaves of the beautiful cherry
blossoms fall to the cold ground. She also appreciated the blue-gray sky. She shivered a bit because of the cold air.
The cool wind blew all over the place, causing Sakura's hair to spread out. She does not have a forehead protector to
keep her hair neat. Besides, she did not have anything to keep her hair tidy.
After a while, Sasuke appeared on the spot.
"Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn" "This girl's a mess" thought Sasuke.
Everything became quiet.
"Hehe" Sorry for my hair's a mess." said Sakura, scratching her head and sticking out her tongue.
Before Sasuke could reply, there was an...
"OHAYO SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN!" said Konoha&'s #1 Loudest Ninja.
Sasuke just let out a slight smirk. "This is going to be a long day."
After two hours
"Ah hello my students! And" Kakashi halted.
"Um... Sakura? You're a mess." he added.
"Huh? Oh yeah, about this..." said Sakura after pausing for a while, looking at the stray strands of pink hair.
"Okay... Naruto, Tsunade-sama called us so we have to go." said Kakashi.
"OKAY!"
"How about our training?" asked the Uchiha.
"You two just wait here, we'll be back later." said Kakashi.
The two disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Then everything became silent. Only the breeze, the birds, and the footsteps of passers-by are heard.
However, Sakura broke the silence.
"Anou, Sasuke-kun..."
Sasuke didn't respond but decided to break the silence.
"Let's train." said the emotionless and cold voice.
"Hai."
After a while, the ninjas trained; throwing shuriken and kunai on the targets. Sakura hit nine out of ten while Sasuke
hit only four out of ten.
"Curse this uneasiness on the forehead..." thought Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun, are you okay? Your aim became terrible." said the kunoichi with a concerned voice.
"Yeah. I'm okay." said Sasuke coldly.
"Oh." said Sakura.
The two continued training. After the kunai and shuriken throwing, they sparred Bunshins, or replicas of themselves.
Sakura dodged the attack of the Sasuke replica and Sasuke did the same. The two continued sparring until Sakura decided
to have a break.
"Sakura?" said Sasuke who noticed Sakura go to a nearby bench.
"Huh? I...I'm just going to take a break,Sasuke-kun." replied Sakura with a weak voice.
Sasuke sighed. "I guess I need one too."
Sasuke sat on the same bench where Sakura sat. The cold wind blew all over the place again, causing Sakura’s
hair to spread out. Because of that, Sasuke was bothered.
The Uchiha Sasuke was bothered.
Silence came.
After a while, drops of cold rain fell from the cold gray sky. That was followed by several booms of thunder. Sasuke,
thinking quickly, carried Sakura in a quick speed to a nearby hut. They sat outside the hut since they can't get inside.
"Aw man... I forgot I had a headache." thought Sasuke.
Sakura began to cough several times.
"Go- (cough cough) Gomen nasai (cough) Sasuke (cough) kun." said Sakura between palpitations of coughs.
Because of this, Sasuke was... concerned.
Sasuke slowly sat nearer to Sakura, taking off his jacket and putting
it over the shivering Sakura.
"Sa... (cough cough) Sasuke-kun, you...(cough) don't have to..." said Sakura with trembling lips.
"I have to." replied Sasuke.
"Really, no, Sasuke-kun, I'm fine by myself." replied Sakura.
"Look, you're having a cold and a cough and you want me to ignore you and let you suffer?" said Sasuke.
Sakura, surprised by Sasuke's sudden outburst, suddenly looked down at her feet.
"I'm sorry Sakura, I'm just&..." Sasuke turned away. .worried.
Sakura couldn't believe what she just heard. After all these years the emotionless, cold-hearted Uchiha prodigy who pushed
her out of his life, is worried about a kunoichi who is seen as weak by everybody?
There was an awkward silence between the two; Sakura is staring at the ground and Sasuke was looking away.
Sakura whispered, "Arigatou."
After some time, Sakura seemed to have fallen asleep maybe because of the cold rain that poured ceaselessly.
Sasuke checked Sakura's temperature. It was higher than normal and that meant that she had a fever. Sasuke carried Sakura,
leapt from roof to roof and brought her to a nearby clinic. He did not bring any medicine or anything except a jacket that
was placed on Sakura.
After a while
Sakura opened her eyes slowly. All she can see are blurred smudges of dark blue, silver and yellow. She rubbed her eyes
and she saw Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto who are concerned.
"SAKURA CHAN! ARE YOU OKAY? DID SASUKE-TEME HURT YOU?" said the concerned Naruto in a piercing 150 decibels.
"Nah, I got a...ACHOO!" sneezed Sakura.
"I got a fever." said Sakura.
"WHAT! EEEEEWWWWWWW!" said Naruto.
"Um" Sorry if I interrupted you, but Hatake-san, but we have to talk." said the nurse.
"OKay..." said Kakashi.
"I'm going too" said Naruto.
And with that, Kakashi and Naruto left Sasuke and Sakura alone.
After a while, a cold wind blew all over the room through the open window. This made Sakura's hair so spread out all over
again.
Sasuke took something out of his bag. It seemed like a piece of glossy blue cloth. He handed the object to Sakura.
"Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura, with her nose reddening because of her cold.
"Here. Take this." said Sasuke, handing the shimmering object to Sakura.
Sakura said, "Sasuke-kun, what will"
"Just take it." said Sasuke. He seemed to be forcing Sakura yet in a gentle and subtle manner.
"Arigatou, but what will I do with this?" asked Sakura, looking at the smooth cloth on her open palms.
Sasuke did not respond. He took the cloth from Sakura and began putting it on Sakura's head. He twisted, turned, made
knots, and finally he stopped from adjusting the object.
"Umm... Sasuke, what is this thing for" asked Sakura, touching the unseen object above her head.
"To keep your hair tidy; it keeps on spreading out." said Sasuke after pausing for a while. After saying those
words, there was complete silence.
Sasuke slowly went closer to Sakura.
And closer...
And closer.
Lub dub
Lub dub
Lub dub
Lub dub, lub dub, lub dub.
Sakura felt her own heartbeat go faster and stronger without knowing the cause. She never noticed Sasuke getting closer
to her until they were only inches apart.
Sasuke gave Sakura a peck on the cheek in such a gentle manner that you'll barely notice.
An uneasy silence was in the room.
Sakura was shocked, blushing very much. "Um... Sasuke-kun?"
"You look good with that ribbon." complimented Sasuke.
Sakura was speechless; the Uchiha Sasuke would compliment her on such a little object?
"Um... Thank you, Sasuke-kun." said Sakura.
Sasuke, once again, let out a smirk.
Deep down in Sakura's mind, Inner Sakura was celebrating for that wonderful event whilst Sakura was still stunned.
(Sakura's forehead protector was in her room unnoticed because it was under piles of bed sheets.)
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