Gentle practised fingers looped a small white bow around a few stalks of lavender and a sprig of cherry blossoms. Yamanaka Ino eyed it critically for a second before being satisfied with the result and presented it to her best friend.

"It's a pretty combination of colours," she noted as she removed her work apron. Haruno Sakura hummed from the other side of the counter, her eyes trained on that small cluster of flowers. "Is it for someone?"

"No," the medic ninja just smiled to herself and tucked the flowers gently into a pocket of her red dress. She watched Ino wash her hands as she answered, "I can give myself flowers, right?"

"You definitely can," Ino murmured, wiping her hands. The way she was looking at Sakura indicated that she already knew what the medic nin was thinking without her needing to say it. "So it's for him."

"It's for me," Sakura repeated the implication, embarrassment crawling up her cheeks in the form of red splotches. "He's… not here to give any to him anyway."

"That's true," Ino sighed. The two girls made their way out of the Yamanaka's flower shop, the quiet silence between them accompanied by the slow chatter of the lively market they were in. "You don't talk much about him anymore."

"What can I say that I haven't already?" Sakura said quietly, tucking her hands together behind her back as she walked. They traced the familiar path to the small restaurant close by that they often frequented since their teens. Now at 20, it was an unconscious habit for the two of them to end up there whenever they were both free from work.

"I suppose not much," the blonde directed them to their usual table, settling down on the seat that granted her view of the Hokage tower. "Still. It's me. You can say whatever you want, any number of times."

"I know I can," Sakura smiled, "but I don't want to anyway."

"Loving Sasuke is like an eternal game of patience," Ino quipped, gesturing to the waiter to get their usual. "One I certainly wasn't equipped for. B–"

"Guess you weren't," Sakura teased her. Ino's crush on Sasuke had faded long ago for both of them to now laugh over it and not hold any hard feelings. Their friendship had only gotten better in the years after Sasuke left the village. "But you are equipped for a certain someone else, hm?"

Ino just smiled and took a sip of water.

"How are things between you and Sai?"

"Good," she answered with a light blush that faded the next second when she narrowed her eyes. "I know what you are doing. Don't try to change the topic, Sakura. I'm not equipped for it, but I'm worried about you. Are you okay with it?"

The pink haired ninja's smile slipped a little, and the careful construct of unbotheredness that she had built, crumbled under her best friend's appraisal. She stared at the table while Ino stared at her; the silence between them was not awkward. Ino knew she needed a little while to organise her thoughts – because Sakura always tried her best to not think about anything regarding the Uchiha. She buried herself in her work to ensure that she won't think of him, that she won't miss him.

"I am okay with the waiting," she said after a while when the waiter had served and left. "But somehow, I'm also restless. I am ready to wait but at the end of it, what if it's not me for him? I'm afraid that while I'm waiting, I'm losing him without knowing."

Ino didn't say anything at first. She quietly ate the small snack in front of her, eyes lingering over Sakura's face thoughtfully.

"The more I think about it," Ino sighed, waving her hand lightly, "the more I wish you would move on from him. Sometimes, I feel like he has given you more trouble than happiness. And yet, there is no one in this village who knows better than I do about how much you love him. Even if I said that, I know it's not that easy for you."

And it really wasn't. Even if she tried, her heart had long chosen him. When you love someone, you are more likely to forgive them. Sasuke and Sakura… they had come a long way. From those carefree genin days at the end of which he had called her annoying, to the them of now, who didn't need to speak to let their intentions be known. Slowly, carefully, this relationship had grown with time, scarred and rebuilt anew every time because she loved him. And that meant that in spite of what he did, and in spite of her own mistakes, she was always rooting for him. Even when no one believed him, she would. Because she loved him.

I'll see you soon.

"But Sakura," Ino paused, carefully weighing her next words before speaking them out loud. "I still want you to try and enjoy your life. You're young, a hero, a powerful and beautiful medic ninja– do you know how many people look up to you? And how many more want to be with you?"

Even as she spoke, Sakura could sense the envy sitting light on Ino's tongue.

"I'm not asking you to go out with someone else, if you don't want to," Ino shook her head. "But the way you bury yourself in your work and refuse to acknowledge that your admirers exist… Go out a little. Not seriously, but have a fling here or there. Have some fun. Relax a little and live your life. We are no longer teens, and as ninjas who participated in the war, our lives aren't normal. But it's okay to let loose and enjoy yourself once in a while."

"I can agree to that," Sakura admitted. Even to herself, she could no longer deny that she had a tendency to push herself too far when it came to her work. Couple that with her fears and it was the right recipe for a tensed Sakura on edge. "Maybe you're right…"

"Not maybe, I am right," Ino flicked her hair over her shoulder with her left hand, the other one curling tight around the cup of tea she held. "So, go out with those younger medic nins who keep asking you to join them for a meal. I know you have been saying no to them to keep working at the hospital."

"Oh, you knew?" Sakura straightened up, feeling a little embarrassed. She never knew where to put herself when others complimented her. Those juniors seemed to look up to her and while it was flattering, it also felt like it would be weird to join them if they kept looking at her like that. She wasn't used to it.

"For a while now," Ino hummed, sipping the last of her tea. "Listen to me. Go out, have some good food, share some stories, get drunk and have fun. Sometimes, I think you need time away from all of us too; I'm sure seeing us only reminds you of him more. So go out with those ninjas where you don't have to think about him. Yeah?"

Sakura swallowed the last of her snack and smiled softly at Ino. "Yeah. Thank you, Ino."

"Don't be silly," Ino rolled her eyes as she flagged down the waiter to get their bill. She looked Sakura straight in the eyes as she spoke without the hint of a smile. "I'm the one who told you what lavender means, remember?"

In the language of flowers, lavender means 'I'm waiting for you'.

❀

A man in a cloak appeared right outside the gates of Konoha. The two guards standing there walked over and exchanged a few words with him and then he was let in. The late evening breeze blew in his face, gently lifting the locks that covered his rinnegan before he automatically covered it again.

Konoha was a weird place for Uchiha Sasuke. Try as he might, he would never feel truly at home in this place, not after the grudges he held and the fact that he chose to leave it everytime. This was the place where he had lost everything. But, this was also the place where he had met and known some of the most important people in his life. That's why, he found himself coming back, even though it pained him at times.

Hidden underneath his dark cloak, no one could recognise him. While Sasuke didn't care about what other people thought, it was nice to be able to move quietly through the crowd without attracting any attention for once. Like an invisible man walking through these people, who are unaware and ignorant of the true happenings underneath the facade of a perfect village.

He was supposed to make his way to the Hokage's office directly but a flash of pink in the crowd distracted him. Her. There was no way he wouldn't recognise her in the middle of a crowd, her pink hair like a glowing beacon drawing him in.

She was sitting on a large open table, surrounded by a lot of people outside a restaurant. The guy sitting across from her was saying something that she was laughing at, her shoulders shaking. Something about it made the Uchiha pause and blend himself into the shadows of the tree closest to the table.

When was the last time she had laughed like that with him? He couldn't quite remember, but knew that it was probably back when they were genin. When they were both free of the burdens they hold now– no, that's not right. When she was free of the burdens he left on her. Sasuke was never free. With his obsession of revenge, he was a boy who never got the luxury of a normal childhood or teens.

He had pushed away everyone then, thinking that he didn't need anyone. People and relationships would only be a troublesome burden. And yet, the members of Team 7 had invaded the space in his heart, each one special to him in their own way. The Sakura of back then who had clung to him, always trying to impress him, always fawning over him, had now matured into a beautiful woman who commanded the attention of so many.

He wasn't blind. Sasuke could see the way the guys at the table were looking at her with varying degrees of admiration and lust. The medic ninja herself had red cheeks, and a glass of alcohol in her hands. It was a sight the Uchiha had never seen before and strangely, it made something curl in his gut.

Even back during their academy days, Sakura was the most popular girl in their class. While Sasuke was busy pushing people away, he had never given her the attention that she bestowed him in favour of ignoring all her admirers. Now, it felt like the roles were reversed. He was gone too long, and her attention was now spread over those admirers instead of him. It made his insides feel strangely cold.

When did his feelings shift? Sasuke wasn't quite sure. In their days as Team 7, the annoying girl had wormed into his heart, carving a place for herself even when he hadn't wanted her to. Annoying. He didn't need someone like that to fawn over him, but he also couldn't deny that it felt good. To have her love him despite his flaws. To always have her support.

When she had offered to give up everything to follow him, his heart had wavered for a second. And then he squashed it the next second, annoyed at her for always swaying him from his goals. He couldn't sit back in Konoha and play house with her, even if there was a part of his heart that desired the domesticity and warmth of it. All he could say to her as he left was a thank you, to convey to her that even though he couldn't take her, he appreciated her feelings. Even though he didn't feel the same…

Or did he? In the following years that he spent apart from her, she sometimes invaded his thoughts like an unwanted guest, fluttering around with her pure warmth. There was something about her innocence that had always irked him, that he envied about her. Her life was so different from his, with none of the bloodshed or trauma. It felt wrong to taint her with his own future.

Push, push, push.

Everything about their relationship was an unrelenting game of push and pull.

The carefully suppressed feelings in those years peeked their head out again when he and Naruto had their last fight. An apology could barely begin to cover everything he had to say to her, but somehow, like always, one look at her eyes told him that she understood. She always understood.

Sometimes, he couldn't quite understand why. The way she loved him, so reverently and unwaveringly, the way she stood by his side despite his wrongs– it was a little scary, how much he wanted that. That reassurance that even if no one believed in him, she would. She was always there, like a pure, bright light he couldn't quite reach– or maybe he could, but he shouldn't, lest his darkness dimmed it.

He had to leave Konoha again, to try to atone for his sins. She had asked to join him then, but he felt undeserving of her at that moment. Shouldn't he become someone she would never have any regrets about choosing? He had walked away then, telling her that she wasn't a part of his sins.

Staying away from Konoha, from her, was a choice he made to sort out his own heart and thoughts. They had been muddled in an abyss of hatred and the thirst for revenge for so long that he had forgotten what it meant to simply love and long for something. That distance between him and her reminded him of that. He had taken his time, leaving only messages, briefly coming for a few seconds every time they needed him but never staying too long.

Now he was back to see Konoha for a few hours. To catch up with Kakashi on a personal level, to congratulate Naruto on his new marriage that he hadn't been able to attend. To see Sakura from a distance. And then he was going to leave again. He was supposed to be doing all that now, but his feet remained rooted in that spot behind the tree, eyes trained on the familiar yet unfamiliar figure of Haruno Sakura.

The pink haired ninja swayed a little in her seat, eyes flickering over the girls sitting to her left where they were talking animatedly about something. A soft smile on her face as she leaned back, slightly into the shoulder of the guy sitting to her right.

The curling feeling in Sasuke's gut intensified but he stayed rooted to the spot, watching as she tried to stand up. The guy she was leaning on helped her up. She said something to the people at the table and waved goodbye. Their incoherent jumble of goodbyes was loud enough to carry over to where the dark haired man stood by his lonesome. He watched her walk for a few feet before the guy ran after her.

Finally, the Uchiha moved from his spot, masking his chakra carefully and following her. The guy said something to her and she smiled stiffly. (Or was that just Sasuke's wishful thinking?) She said something to him, backing away a little as she shook her head. The guy probably didn't get the hint because he stepped ahead to cover the distance, saying something intently. Sasuke was tempted to step between them, to keep him away from her if he was making her uncomfortable, but he didn't need to.

Even in the light of streetlamps, he could see the way Sakura's face became a little more sober and serious as she firmly said something. The guy finally seemed to have gotten the hint, bowed and left her alone. The evening had long ago blended into night, and the pale moonlight coupled with the streetlamps made her usually rosy complexion look golden, her green eyes watery and silver.

Now was a good time for Sasuke to join her but he paused when he noticed the way her face crumpled. From her pockets, she pulled out what seemed to be a small bouquet of lavender and cherry blossoms. She smiled sadly at it and held it closer to her chest when she brought her arms up to shield herself from the breeze.

Sasuke was next to her in a second, casting his cloak around her shoulders. The action startled her and she almost got into her combat mode, thinking him an enemy until she registered the familiar chakra.

"Sasuke-kun…?" Her eyes widened, pretty pink lips parting in shock. Sasuke just gave her a tiny smile, tightening the cloak around her. "Wh- What are you doing here? When did you get back?"

"A while ago," he answered shortly. She seemed to be staring at his face, so he stayed still, not wanting to interrupt her. He took this time to hungrily look over the planes of her face, same yet different from the Sakura he once knew. She truly was the most beautiful girl he had ever come across.

"Will you… walk with me?" She asked after a while, voice timid and unsure, as if she was afraid he would say no.

Sasuke hummed his affirmation and placed a hand on the small of her back to turn her back to the path she was walking. They walked a few steps in silence as he tried to articulate his thoughts enough to ask her a small question, anything. In the end, she spoke before him.

"How long are you going to be here?" She asked, looking up at him as they walked.

"Until tomorrow morning," he murmured back, trying not to stare back at her. Wouldn't that be a dead giveaway of his feelings?

"That's…" She didn't finish her thought. It was probably too short for her, he mused, but still longer than he had ever before. "I see."

There was silence again, until he finally asked, "Who gave you those flowers?"

"Huh?" She looked confused for a second before she remembered the bouquet in her hands. Her fist tightened around it as she gave him a small smile. "I got them from Ino's shop."

The curling feeling relieved a little, and Sasuke wondered why he felt lighter knowing that it wasn't from some guy. It's not that he thought she no longer loved him; her eyes still were so expressive even though her face no longer was. But the idea that perhaps she may have gotten tired of waiting for him made his insides feel empty. If she just looked around and noticed someone else who could give her the happiness she deserves, someone who wasn't him, someone who wasn't a sinner who had done her so wrong….

"She told me about these a while ago," Sakura said quietly, looking down at the bouquet. Her fingers were gently prodding at the flowers, as if willing them to open up and reveal something. They had nearly reached her apartment. "Back when we were both going to Sunagakure for the discussion regarding the children's therapy centre, she said that lavender means ‘I'm waiting for you’."

Oh.

Oh.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks the moment he realised that Sakura had stopped. She looked up at him, eyes a hazy mix of emerald and silver as she tried to read him. Her hands trembled around the bouquet almost unnoticeably, but just enough for the Uchiha to catch it.

"Sasuke-kun."

"Sakura."

She held out the bouquet, cheeks warmer and rosier than before. The flowers had already started to wilt a little in the darkness but Sasuke closed his hand around hers before pulling her into a hug. She gasped in surprise, but he held her, inhaling her scent with an insatiable hunger that was coming from someplace he wasn't aware of. All the thoughts clambering in his head came to a screeching halt in her embrace, each one soothed by her presence and familiar scent.

"Sasuke-kun?" Her voice was muffled and a little bit hopeful. The said man stepped back reluctantly, looking at her with the warmest eyes he had ever given anyone in more than a decade.

"You've waited for a long time," he said quietly, one hand coming up to tuck a loose lock of her hair behind her ear. She blinked, flushing at the action, reminding him of her younger self. How could she still love him all the same? And yet, he couldn't bring himself to deny that he wanted that. He wanted her to keep loving him like that. He wanted her. "If you want–"

He broke off what he was about to say. He couldn't ask her to join him. To leave Konoha for him. But he couldn't stay either. He shouldn't be making her choose between anything, not when she has a life here, duties here to take care of that he has nothing to do with.

Sakura looked at him hopefully, and he couldn't quite bring himself to disappoint her, yet he must.

"I have to go meet Kakashi," he said, eyes flickering over to where the Hokage tower was standing. She blinked and the hope in her eyes was gone, replaced with an emotion he couldn't quite put his finger on. She smiled, still as warm as ever, and stepped back from the close proximity they were in. Without thinking, he chased after her, one hand cupping below her ear to tilt her head up. He pressed a soft kiss on her forehead, at the spot where he had knocked his fingers, the last time they had parted, in an imitation of Itachi. "Thank you."

And then he was gone, leaving a weak-kneed Sakura behind, with a wildly thumping heart and a new determination.

✿

He was about to walk out of the gates of Konoha, back facing the Hokage monument in the light of early morning when her familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Sasuke-kun!"

He turned around, watching her stop just short of colliding into him, dressed in travelgear and with a bag of supplies. Her hair was a little askew from the run, and her face was flushed, not from exertion but from that emotion she always evoked out of him.

"This time, please take me with you." She tilted her head, sweet smile coaxing the part of him that still felt like he did not deserve her.

He wanted her, didn't he? And she wanted this, wanted him.

So why keep pushing in this game? He was allowed to pull sometimes too.

"If you like." He turned around to hide the smile drawing on his face, admiring the way his heart seemed to be beating freely and loudly in his ears for the first time that wasn't because of a fight. As she fell into step next to him and they walked out of Konoha, he slipped his hand in hers, feeling the callouses on her delicate fingers stroke over his own tainted ones.

In the language of flowers, cherry blossoms are a sign of a beautiful soul.

°•❀•°

a/n:
I haven't written for this fandom since 2017, but it's been a while since I have written in general too, so I wanted to try my hand at some of the ships I have loved since my early teens.

If you enjoyed, drop a vote or a comment! I would appreciate that a lot 💞