#sakuraweekd7

[kairi-chan]

Red Rose

A/N: Written for my favorite girl’s birthday, and Sakura Week! Have some SasuSaku with a side of BoruSara.

Genre: Romance/ Hurt/Comfort

Rating: T

Summary:  Real world AU. It’s Sakura’s birthday, and Sasuke just wants to spend a day with his wife. However, things don’t always go according to plan.

Beta read by: @levadia

Today, she turns thirty-eight. Yet whenever he would set his dark eyes on her, he always does a double take, and think she’s only twenty-three. Her beauty and youthful appearance never changed, like her courage and strength, it never wavered.

The sun was rising a little too high for his liking. He usually rose with the sun, in favor of meditating. But not today. Today, he wanted to be with her for as long as she would have him.

Gingerly, he moved a lock of her pink hair away from her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb. She shifted and her long lashes fluttered. “Sasuke-kun,” she whispered, without really opening her eyes.

“Happy birthday.”

Her lips curled up in a smile, and slowly, she opened her green eyes. She snuggled closer to him.

He wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled her closer. “Let’s have breakfast in the garden. I had the servants prepare it under your favorite cherry blossom tree.”

She hummed. “That sounds nice, but I can’t.”

He pulled away, his lips dipping lightly to a frown. He had this day planned for months. “Why not?”

She shifted her gaze up to face him. “I have patients today, waiting for me at my clinic.”

“Take a day off,” he grumbled.

She laughed. “Just because you did, doesn’t mean I should, too.”

He pouted at his wife and pulled her closer, snuggling at her neck, effectively hiding his face.

She laughed again. “Stop being such a spoiled baby!”

Sasuke scowled. “Alright, fine. But I’m going with you to your clinic.”

Sakura blinked a few times. Sasuke was a very busy man. He almost never interfered with her work, because he firmly believed that he did not want to bother her in any way. With that kind of thinking, Sakura did the same. They always lived their own worlds when it came to their careers. This whole business of him coming with her to her clinic was a bit of a shock for her. “Alright,” she said slowly. A wide grin started to form on her lips. “I’m sure my patients would just love to have you.”

Sakura was sitting in front of her dresser when her husband approached her and presented her with a single red rose. She looked at him through the mirror, a soft smile on her face.

“Every year, you get me one of these,” she said sentimentally.

“And I will keep giving you one on your birthday for the rest of my life.” He smiled.  “It’s more than just tradition to me.”

She turned to face him and accepted the rose. He swooped down and planted a chaste kiss on her lips. He pulled away and presented her with a small red box. “Sarada wanted me to give you this.”

Her eyes lit up. She almost forgot. Her daughter was coming back from boarding school later in the afternoon, to join her and her husband for her birthday dinner. She took the box and opened it. There was a single platinum clip, with a Sakura pattern engraved on it. At the very edge sat the Uchiha clan’s crest. The craftsmanship was impeccable. A wide grin grew on her face.

“Is this…” she looked at her husband to explain.

He smirked. “I bet she convinced Sai to sell it to her commission free.”

Sakura giggled. Sai was a famous artist, he recently tried his hand into designing jewelry. “How thoughtful of her,” she said lovingly. She picked up the clip, and cut the stem of the red rose her husband gave her. She then entwined it with the clip and slipped it into her hair. She looked at the mirror to inspect her handiwork. The left side of her hair was swept back with the clip, holding the rose in place.

Sasuke leaned down to look at her through the mirror. The red rose complimented her beauty even more.

He walked through the white hospital walls, his steps even and measured. He walked right next to his wife, who was being greeted left and right by various hospital staff.

“Doctor Uchiha!” A young nurse greeted. “Happy birthday!”

She smiled kindly and bowed a bit. “Thank you.”

The nurse smiled and nodded at Sasuke with a dreamy smile before walking away.

“Always the popular one.” Sasuke smirked.

Sakura feigned hurt. “I’m nowhere near as popular as you, darling.”

He glared at her for the quip, without any real malice. She stuck her tongue out at him playfully in return. He hid his smile, and landed his dark eyes at the door to her clinic.

There was a long line of patients waiting at the right side of the door, sitting and waiting. On the left side, it looked like the Yamanaka flower shop decided to change residence. There were bouquets of flowers, and presents stacked on top of the chairs.

Sakura’s green eyes widened. Her secretary came out of the clinic to greet them. “Good morning, Doctor Haruno. Happy birthday!” She smiled cheerily.  “Mr. Uchiha,” she shifted her gaze to him, her smile growing a little wider. “It’s so nice to see you again.”

Sasuke only nodded in acknowledgement. He was far too distracted by all the flowers and presents waiting for Sakura.

“Good morning, Yuki.” Sakura smiled. She shifted her gaze to the left side of her clinic’s door. “Are these for me?”

Yuki nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. There’s more inside. Mr. Uzumaki’s flowers were taking up most of the space, so I had to move some of them out. He also sent a cake over.”  

She raised her brow. “Naruto?” She followed her secretary inside her clinic, and that’s when she saw it. It was the largest display of Sunflowers she had ever seen. It sat on the top of her secretary’s desk, taking up all the space. There was a bright orange card sitting in the middle. She took it and read the scratchy handwriting aloud.

“Happy birthday, Sakura-chan! Don’t let that bastard get you down for not throwing you a party today. I planned one for you tomorrow night. Hope you like the flowers. Hima helped me pick them out from Ino’s shop. Enjoy the cake, too. Hinata baked that just for you! See ya tomorrow. Love, Naruto.”

Sasuke growled. He knew it wasn’t beneath Naruto to throw Sakura a party. The three of them were childhood friends, after all. There was a reason why Sasuke didn’t throw parties for his wife. It was because he wanted to spend time with his wife and daughter, undeterred by anyone else’s presence. It didn’t mean that his friends weren’t important. He just wanted to be selfish every now and then and have the two most important people with him.

“Well, isn’t that nice of him?” She grinned. Sakura turned around and faced her husband. “You get today, Sasuke-kun. Tomorrow,” she lifted the card and waved it at his face. “We’re going to celebrate with everyone else, okay?”

“Aa.” He was not going to defy any of her wishes today. Maybe he could try to convince her to skip it tomorrow morning, instead.

“Yuki, please send in the first patient after five minutes. I’ll just set up.”

“Yes, Dr. Uchiha!” Her gaze shifted then to Sasuke, who was just standing there at Sakura’s reception area. “Umm.” The girl fidgeted with her clipboard. “Do you need anything else, Mr. Uchiha?”

Sasuke slowly shifted his dark eyes to her. “No. I will wait for Sakura to finish her shift.”

“Ah, oh… Okay.” She stuttered. “Just make yourself comfortable, then.”

Sasuke nodded and sat down at the bench at the corner of the clinic. He pulled out a book, and started to read. From his perch, he could see Sakura talking to her patients through the glass window, Yuki’s desk, as well as the entrance to the clinic. He saw more and more people leaving presents and flowers outside, some even entering just to inform the secretary that they had left a gift.

“Please tell Dr. Uchiha I left her a gift.”

“Please send her my thanks, and to have the happiest birthday.”

“She has done so much for my father. Please tell her I am forever in her debt. Say, does she life daffodils? The Yamanaka shop owner told me likes those.”

“Can’t I please see her for just a minute? I want to hand her my gift.”

Sasuke watched silently from his seat. He knew his wife was popular, but he was still surprised that they always went out of their way to send her gifts and warm greetings on her birthday, and on Christmas. Yuki kindly turned all of their requests to see her down, explaining that she was busy and had a lot of patients to deal with. Some of them waited outside, while others simply left their gifts.

Sasuke’s presence did not go unnoticed. Sakura’s patients would stare at him, some far less discreet than most. He ignored them, and pretended not to hear.

“Look at him! He’s so handsome.”

“Is he a movie star? You know, I heard Dr. Uchiha has some popular patients.”

“Isn’t that… isn’t that Sasuke Uchiha? The CEO of Uchiha Corp?”

Sasuke’s lips pressed into a fine line. He was not in the mood to brush off any fan girls right now. He only wanted one girl’s attention for today, and he was already frustrated enough as it is that she was not giving it to him. Well, not really. But you get it.

A woman with blond hair came in. Her honey colored eyes scanned the clinic’s reception area. “Where is Sakura?” She asked Yuki firmly.

The secretary looked up from her computer and stood at attention immediately. “Dr. Senju! Dr. Uchiha is inside with a patient.”

Her eyes hardened at the secretary. “Will she finish soon?”  

“She-she should!” the girl was a nervous wreck. Sasuke smirked. He knew Tsunade had a penchant for scaring staff.

“Ah, you’re here.” Tsunade regarded him.

Sasuke stood up and nodded. “Tsunade.”

She smirked. “Waiting for her this year, I see.”

He inclined his head. “I told her to take the day off.”

The doctor snorted. “I’ve been trying to get her to go on a vacation for two years.”

They were interrupted by two teenagers who entered the clinic.

“Sarada.”

The girl with dark eyes slightly widened. She was holding a bouquet of pink roses. “Papa? What are you doing here?”

“I’m waiting for your mother,” he explained simply.

“Hey uncle Sasuke.” Boruto grinned. He was holding a bouquet of red carnations.  

Sasuke’s lips dipped into a slight frown as he eyed the flowers. He also didn’t like the thought of his daughter being with him. “Boruto.”

The blond’s grin was as bright as the sun. “Just wanted to stop by and drop off these flowers for Aunty Sakura.”

“Oh, everyone’s here!” Sakura padded out of her office.

All eyes turned to her, however, Sakura’s eyes instinctively gravitated towards her daughter.

“Sarada, you’re home. Welcome back!”

Sarada flung herself at her mother and hugged her tightly. “Happy birthday, mama!” She pulled away. “For you.” She presented the bouquet of pink roses and grinned. “Do you like the clip I got you?” She peeked at her mother’s hair and saw she was wearing it, along with a red rose. Her grin widened. “I’m glad you understood its intended purpose.”  

Boruto piped in. “Oh, yeah. Come to think of it, you always wear a red rose in your hair on your birthday every year, Aunty Sakura. Is that, like, for good luck or something?”

“It’s an Uchiha family tradition,” Sarada explained. “Family and close friends usually present pink roses to show appreciation.” She then eyed Sasuke carefully, a small smile on her lips. “Lovers and admirers present the female celebrant with a single red rose. It’s up to the celebrant to choose whose flower she will wear in her hair, as a sign of her reciprocating her love.”

Boruto’s blue eyes widened. At this, Sakura explained further. “Usually, it’s only done on the celebrant’s eighteenth birthday. But Sasuke-kun has been doing this every year since then, just to make sure I still love him,” she teased.

Sasuke felt his cheeks heat up. He looked away and scowled. Everyone laughed.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, then.” Tsunade nodded. She shifted her gaze to her pupil. “Happy birthday, Sakura.” With that, she left the clinic.

“Mama,” Sarada spoke. “I’ll be heading out to have lunch with Boruto, and then we’re meeting up with Mitsuki. I’ll see you later for dinner?”

Sakura nodded. Boruto handed her the bouquet, and smiled. He promised he would bring Sarada home before seven. Sasuke’s body stiffened, but he chose not to speak about the matter. He had a feeling something was going on with those two, but he wanted to wait for Sarada to tell him. His eyes shifted to Sakura, who gave him a sweet smile. His eyes narrowed. He knew that look.

She giggled and handed the bouquet over to Yuki. “Darling,” she started. “I have a few more patients. After that, let’s grab some lunch?”

Sasuke nodded and sat back down on his perch. He tried his best not to think about how his wife had just embarrassed him earlier, and that his daughter may be potentially dating the dobe’s son.

The two of them went to one of Sakura’s favorite restaurants near the hospital. It was a quiet little shop that only accommodated four tables for two.

Sasuke knew that Sakura chose this restaurant today in order to give him some reprieve from her crowded clinic. She was just that thoughtful.

“I’m sorry, darling.”

Sasuke lifted his brow. “What are you apologizing for?”

“I’m apologizing that you had to wait outside my clinic all morning.” She held his hand, which was resting on top of the table. “I know you planned for us to have lunch at The Leaf today.”

His eyes narrowed. He didn’t tell anyone of his plans. He even made the reservation himself, just to make sure his secretary didn’t blab about it.

Sakura giggled. “I heard from Ino.”

“Tch.” He looked away. That blonde always was good at retrieving information. He forced himself to calm down and sighed. “It doesn’t matter.” He shifted his gaze to her. “I just want to spend the day with you, but it seems like I’m forced to share you with everyone else.”

Sakura blinked a few times. “Share? Sasuke-kun, you know I’m all yours.”

“It’s not that,” he replied cooly. “You’re loved and appreciated by a lot of people for very obvious reasons. I just…” He didn’t want to say it out loud. This was always a sort of insecurity for him. For years, he and Sakura had been together, and yet he always felt like she was better off with someone else who could make her happier. He was never the type to give flashy gifts, or throw grand parties for her. He doesn’t even recall ever giving her a bouquet of flowers in public.  

“I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for what I have now, darling.” She looked at his dark eyes, and he knew she was looking into his soul. She smiled warmly at him. “This is by far the best birthday ever, because I get to have you near me the whole day.”

He felt his lips tug up into a small smile, and he gave her hand a squeeze. No one ever understood him the way Sakura did.

Their food arrived, so they retracted their hands. As the server placed their food in front of them, a sly grin crept up Sakura’s face.

“Did you notice the way Boruto’s eyes lit up when Sarada explained the Red Rose tradition to him?”

Sasuke scoffed. “He probably doesn’t understand it.” He lifted the tea cup to his lips.

She chuckled. “Do you think he’ll be giving her a red rose on her eighteenth next week?”

He choked on his tea, to which Sakura laughed heartily.

A/N: I told myself I wasn’t going to join Sakura week because I was travelling. But while I was travelling, all I saw were Sakura trees. I felt inspired to write a birthday fic for my favorite girl, in her man’s perspective.

I hope you liked this! Thank you so much to @levadia for quickly beta reading this for me. 

You can read more of my fics here on tumblr, or on ff.net.