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short teamwork sidefic -- between TW 2 and 3
No title yet, 1800~ words, Team Seven goes shopping. The ending was written half-asleep so I think it might be a bit weak, I can't tell. If you notice any grammar no-no or unclear bits or sentences that fall flat, i'll be happy if you tell me. but don't feel you have to; if you don't, I'll just bug Saro or Jo to beta. >3
Happens about one-two weeks after they've put the seal thing on Sakura.
And the day came when Tsunade let Sakura go early and so she wasn't too exhausted to notice that they were missing everything but bandages and instant ramen.
"Guys? When was the last time either of you went grocery shopping?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto. Naruto looked at Sasuke. Naruto grinned at her nervously. Sasuke looked vaguely startled.
"... You haven't been, huh?"
She wasn't even that surprised. In the last week they had developed a routine where they downed Sakura's stolen-from-Ino boxes of cereals in the morning, snacked on Sasuke-made rice balls at noon, and descended en masse on Naruto's favorite ramen shop when Tsunade let her go in the evening. Then the boys guided her as she dragged her feet home and she fell dead asleep until the next morning.
"There's enough rice for two more weeks," Sasuke said; he'd bought in bulk. Sakura was pretty sure that was more because he didn't want to waste time shopping than because he was trying to save money. "We're not going to die of hunger yet."
"There's nothing but rice, Sasuke-kun."
"... It's filling, versatile, and cheap."
"It's boring," she replied. Naruto looked gleeful; Sakura bumped the top of his head with her knuckles to teach him not to find her berating Sasuke so entertaining. "No offense, Sasuke-kun -- if we were so poor we could only afford one item then rice would certainly be the best choice, but we're not, and we're going shopping."
Sasuke scowled in a vaguely mutinous way.
"We can pick up fish and vegetables for rice ball fillings," she added, conciliatory. "Along with dishwashing liquid and some more soap; I don't know if you've noticed but the only whole bar of soap left is my honey-scented one."
She had them out of the door before they were done grimacing, and kept them distracted along the way with a steady stream of questioning on their afternoon activities. Turned out there wasn't a lot of positive things to say about four hours of pushups while Iruka's students practiced balance on moving objects on their backs, but ranting prevented them from bickering with each other or complaining that you didn't need three people to shop.
She just wanted to do things with them that weren't training or discussing D-rank missions. They didn't have any time to go on real dates, she knew that -- and it wasn't even really about dating. It was just that sometimes she felt as if they were roommates who happened to share a bed. She didn't even like the house very much, with its bedrooms too small for three; its main selling point was that she was living with them in it, but it wouldn't sell anything much if that promise of togetherness stayed empty.
She wanted... she didn't know. Domestic things. Even something as silly as washing dishes -- one at the sink, one with a drying cloth, and the last one teasing them to make the chore go by faster.
They couldn't bond over washing dishes together if they never ate at home. And they couldn't eat at home if they didn't have any food. And if they had food sitting in the fridge then that meant they had to cook it to avoid waste. And cooking was definitely another group activity.
"Whatcha grinning about?"
"You in an apron," she retorted, and grinned even harder because she wasn't even joking.
"Whoa, Sakura-chan, I never expected you to have that fantasy."
Naruto dodged preemptively, but the only punishment she gave him was a knowing smirk, which made him look twice as worried.
"... Uh. Sakura-chan?"
She arched her eyebrows, sending him a polite, bland, totally unreadable smile. "Oh, look, there's a grocery store."
"Hey, no, wait, what did that mean?!"
Sasuke was smirking behind them, and gave her a hint of a respectful nod when she caught his eye.
The store wasn't very big, but it was the closest to the Uchiha district and pretty empty at this hour. Six aisles, a bored cashier, and seven housewives of varying ages...
"...We should probably have written a list," she said as she realized it was still big enough to be confusing.
Naruto shrugged and crossed his arms behind his head. "What for? Just look at everything as you walk around and you'll remember what's missing."
"Plus pick up a dozen things we don't need because you have no self-control," Sasuke retorted as he tucked a shopping basket into his elbow.
Sakura sighed. "We'll write a list for next time. We could stick it on the fridge and write things in as we remember, what do you think?"
They could make it a little tradition, she thought, one of the first of their life together. Because so far the house still felt as if they were camping in it rather than moved in. Perhaps they could even start writing each other notes and everything... 'Visiting Iruka tonight, don't worry if I'm late'; 'Going to be in Ino's district for a mission, will pick up that book for you'; 'We really need a pool! Let's start digging tomorrow.' Oh, she'd like that.
Sasuke shrugged; Naruto gave her a distracted "Yeah, sure" as he zeroed in on the ice cream. Sakura sighed, put her vague daydreams of daily love notes away, and went to the produce section.
They didn't attract too much attention at first -- just three teenagers in all likelihood planning for a party or a team mission. That pretty much ended when Naruto, who had wandered ahead of them, waved and called back; "Hey, Sasuke! What toothpaste brand do you want?"
He was attention-grabbing enough to get a couple of other shoppers to look up; but the real double-take didn't come until Sasuke replied, not loud exactly but in a voice made to carry across the shop to where Naruto was, "I don't care, I can use Sakura's."
She blushed, sure that they were completely transparent. Sharing a toothpaste tube -- a clear sign that they were living together! Well, at least she and Sasuke, which was flustering enough on its own.
Sasuke nudged her then, and gave her a puzzled frown. She was about to answer that it was nothing when Naruto called out again.
"Yeah, I don't care either. We should just buy jumbo size!"
... She'd only thought she was blushing before. And she was aware that no one would probably care or even think twice about the fact three people were sharing one toothpaste tube if she could only not look so awkward, but that was a lost cause. She groaned, head hanging, as a grandma blinked at them.
"Oh hey, there's a toy with this one! And it sparkles!"
Sasuke inclined his head toward her, tone caustic. "Do you ever feel like we're already parents?"
She groaned again, and then she laughed, giddy with the thought -- parents. Oh, who cared what random people in a grocery shop thought. "Only every other day. Put that down, Naruto, I'm not washing my teeth with anything that sparkles!"
"Aw, come on, I need to find out if they get stuck in the teeth."
Sasuke lightly bumped the shopping basket on Naruto's head when they joined him. "You just want the toy."
Naruto's lower lip jutted out. "No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"And now I'm a single mother with two kids," Sakura commented dryly. "Come on, guys. Soap, shampoo, toothpaste... What else do we need around here?"
"Sparkle toothpaste?"
"...What do we need that won't go to waste because it tastes like happy diabetes?"
They got toilet paper and insect repellent, a half-dozen real -- but kind of ugly -- plates to replace the cardboard ones, and had to put back the ice cream because they couldn't agree on the flavor and their fridge wasn't working so well anyway. Naruto made faces at Sasuke's tomatoes and Sakura made faces at Naruto's cereals and Sasuke pretended he wasn't making eyes at that apron. Sakura hoped very hard it was only because it reminded him of his mother's and not because he had some secret wish to actually wear the thing, because she didn't think she would ever stop laughing if she ever saw him wear it.
"... Sakura... I don't think you're going to need those anytime soon."
Sakura replaced the box of tampons back on the shelf and pretended one of the grandmas hadn't just harrumphed at her. "I was just -- looking at the picture," she mumbled.
"I'm sure," Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto sneakily took her hand and squeezed.
She squeezed back, and nudged Sasuke with her elbow in revenge. "Oh, like you never get distracted."
"I don't," he replied primly.
"Of course not!" Naruto agreed. "He broods instead. Let's hope the kid won't come out of the womb already gazing into the distance all soulful-like."
Sasuke's lips twitched in what he would probably deny was trying to be a smile. "It would be less wrong than if he gazes into the women's onsen."
"-- Hey, what does that mean? You're thinking of Jiraiya, not me. I don't do that stuff."
Sakura looked at him.
"...Anymore. Shut up. And maybe it'll be a girl, so hah! She won't even have to look over any walls to ogle."
Sasuke rolled his eyes, dumping incense in the basket. "She's not even born and you already think she'll be a lesbian."
Naruto huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm ready to be supportive. You're the one already thinking she'll be a man. Yeah, that's not gonna give her gender issues at all."
Sasuke rolled his eyes again and huffed.
"To be fair," Sakura interjected, "female is the default gender, at the most basic developmental level."
"Hah! I win." Naruto pumped his fist in the air.
"For now."
Sighing loudly, Sakura surveyed the rest of the shop. Nothing else came to mind, and a few too many people seemed to be at just the right distance to listen in. It might have been her paranoia talking.
"There's aisles we haven't checked out," Naruto noticed.
Sasuke eyed the contents of his basket. "Anything else will just be superfluous crap. Coming, Sakura?"
She smiled, and nodded. Yes. They had the essentials.
On the way to the cashier she grabbed one of those silly bird-shaped fridge magnets with a tiny notepad included.
It was entirely necessary. Maybe not immediately obvious, but anyway. They might never write her love notes -- or for that matter remember to mention that broken door handle that needed changing or keep track of their food stocks; but she would. From now on, it would be her tradition.
On the way back home she composed the first note in her head. 'Naruto, it's been a week and that mirror is still smudged with your handprint, were you finger-painting or something? Clean it up. Sasuke-kun, will you please fix the broken lamps in the dojo already? Not everyone can see in the dark. And there's ink to sand out of the wooden floor, which has been here for about two weeks now. Hint, hint?
Love, Sakura.'
There. Entirely necessary.
Happens about one-two weeks after they've put the seal thing on Sakura.
And the day came when Tsunade let Sakura go early and so she wasn't too exhausted to notice that they were missing everything but bandages and instant ramen.
"Guys? When was the last time either of you went grocery shopping?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto. Naruto looked at Sasuke. Naruto grinned at her nervously. Sasuke looked vaguely startled.
"... You haven't been, huh?"
She wasn't even that surprised. In the last week they had developed a routine where they downed Sakura's stolen-from-Ino boxes of cereals in the morning, snacked on Sasuke-made rice balls at noon, and descended en masse on Naruto's favorite ramen shop when Tsunade let her go in the evening. Then the boys guided her as she dragged her feet home and she fell dead asleep until the next morning.
"There's enough rice for two more weeks," Sasuke said; he'd bought in bulk. Sakura was pretty sure that was more because he didn't want to waste time shopping than because he was trying to save money. "We're not going to die of hunger yet."
"There's nothing but rice, Sasuke-kun."
"... It's filling, versatile, and cheap."
"It's boring," she replied. Naruto looked gleeful; Sakura bumped the top of his head with her knuckles to teach him not to find her berating Sasuke so entertaining. "No offense, Sasuke-kun -- if we were so poor we could only afford one item then rice would certainly be the best choice, but we're not, and we're going shopping."
Sasuke scowled in a vaguely mutinous way.
"We can pick up fish and vegetables for rice ball fillings," she added, conciliatory. "Along with dishwashing liquid and some more soap; I don't know if you've noticed but the only whole bar of soap left is my honey-scented one."
She had them out of the door before they were done grimacing, and kept them distracted along the way with a steady stream of questioning on their afternoon activities. Turned out there wasn't a lot of positive things to say about four hours of pushups while Iruka's students practiced balance on moving objects on their backs, but ranting prevented them from bickering with each other or complaining that you didn't need three people to shop.
She just wanted to do things with them that weren't training or discussing D-rank missions. They didn't have any time to go on real dates, she knew that -- and it wasn't even really about dating. It was just that sometimes she felt as if they were roommates who happened to share a bed. She didn't even like the house very much, with its bedrooms too small for three; its main selling point was that she was living with them in it, but it wouldn't sell anything much if that promise of togetherness stayed empty.
She wanted... she didn't know. Domestic things. Even something as silly as washing dishes -- one at the sink, one with a drying cloth, and the last one teasing them to make the chore go by faster.
They couldn't bond over washing dishes together if they never ate at home. And they couldn't eat at home if they didn't have any food. And if they had food sitting in the fridge then that meant they had to cook it to avoid waste. And cooking was definitely another group activity.
"Whatcha grinning about?"
"You in an apron," she retorted, and grinned even harder because she wasn't even joking.
"Whoa, Sakura-chan, I never expected you to have that fantasy."
Naruto dodged preemptively, but the only punishment she gave him was a knowing smirk, which made him look twice as worried.
"... Uh. Sakura-chan?"
She arched her eyebrows, sending him a polite, bland, totally unreadable smile. "Oh, look, there's a grocery store."
"Hey, no, wait, what did that mean?!"
Sasuke was smirking behind them, and gave her a hint of a respectful nod when she caught his eye.
The store wasn't very big, but it was the closest to the Uchiha district and pretty empty at this hour. Six aisles, a bored cashier, and seven housewives of varying ages...
"...We should probably have written a list," she said as she realized it was still big enough to be confusing.
Naruto shrugged and crossed his arms behind his head. "What for? Just look at everything as you walk around and you'll remember what's missing."
"Plus pick up a dozen things we don't need because you have no self-control," Sasuke retorted as he tucked a shopping basket into his elbow.
Sakura sighed. "We'll write a list for next time. We could stick it on the fridge and write things in as we remember, what do you think?"
They could make it a little tradition, she thought, one of the first of their life together. Because so far the house still felt as if they were camping in it rather than moved in. Perhaps they could even start writing each other notes and everything... 'Visiting Iruka tonight, don't worry if I'm late'; 'Going to be in Ino's district for a mission, will pick up that book for you'; 'We really need a pool! Let's start digging tomorrow.' Oh, she'd like that.
Sasuke shrugged; Naruto gave her a distracted "Yeah, sure" as he zeroed in on the ice cream. Sakura sighed, put her vague daydreams of daily love notes away, and went to the produce section.
They didn't attract too much attention at first -- just three teenagers in all likelihood planning for a party or a team mission. That pretty much ended when Naruto, who had wandered ahead of them, waved and called back; "Hey, Sasuke! What toothpaste brand do you want?"
He was attention-grabbing enough to get a couple of other shoppers to look up; but the real double-take didn't come until Sasuke replied, not loud exactly but in a voice made to carry across the shop to where Naruto was, "I don't care, I can use Sakura's."
She blushed, sure that they were completely transparent. Sharing a toothpaste tube -- a clear sign that they were living together! Well, at least she and Sasuke, which was flustering enough on its own.
Sasuke nudged her then, and gave her a puzzled frown. She was about to answer that it was nothing when Naruto called out again.
"Yeah, I don't care either. We should just buy jumbo size!"
... She'd only thought she was blushing before. And she was aware that no one would probably care or even think twice about the fact three people were sharing one toothpaste tube if she could only not look so awkward, but that was a lost cause. She groaned, head hanging, as a grandma blinked at them.
"Oh hey, there's a toy with this one! And it sparkles!"
Sasuke inclined his head toward her, tone caustic. "Do you ever feel like we're already parents?"
She groaned again, and then she laughed, giddy with the thought -- parents. Oh, who cared what random people in a grocery shop thought. "Only every other day. Put that down, Naruto, I'm not washing my teeth with anything that sparkles!"
"Aw, come on, I need to find out if they get stuck in the teeth."
Sasuke lightly bumped the shopping basket on Naruto's head when they joined him. "You just want the toy."
Naruto's lower lip jutted out. "No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"And now I'm a single mother with two kids," Sakura commented dryly. "Come on, guys. Soap, shampoo, toothpaste... What else do we need around here?"
"Sparkle toothpaste?"
"...What do we need that won't go to waste because it tastes like happy diabetes?"
They got toilet paper and insect repellent, a half-dozen real -- but kind of ugly -- plates to replace the cardboard ones, and had to put back the ice cream because they couldn't agree on the flavor and their fridge wasn't working so well anyway. Naruto made faces at Sasuke's tomatoes and Sakura made faces at Naruto's cereals and Sasuke pretended he wasn't making eyes at that apron. Sakura hoped very hard it was only because it reminded him of his mother's and not because he had some secret wish to actually wear the thing, because she didn't think she would ever stop laughing if she ever saw him wear it.
"... Sakura... I don't think you're going to need those anytime soon."
Sakura replaced the box of tampons back on the shelf and pretended one of the grandmas hadn't just harrumphed at her. "I was just -- looking at the picture," she mumbled.
"I'm sure," Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto sneakily took her hand and squeezed.
She squeezed back, and nudged Sasuke with her elbow in revenge. "Oh, like you never get distracted."
"I don't," he replied primly.
"Of course not!" Naruto agreed. "He broods instead. Let's hope the kid won't come out of the womb already gazing into the distance all soulful-like."
Sasuke's lips twitched in what he would probably deny was trying to be a smile. "It would be less wrong than if he gazes into the women's onsen."
"-- Hey, what does that mean? You're thinking of Jiraiya, not me. I don't do that stuff."
Sakura looked at him.
"...Anymore. Shut up. And maybe it'll be a girl, so hah! She won't even have to look over any walls to ogle."
Sasuke rolled his eyes, dumping incense in the basket. "She's not even born and you already think she'll be a lesbian."
Naruto huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm ready to be supportive. You're the one already thinking she'll be a man. Yeah, that's not gonna give her gender issues at all."
Sasuke rolled his eyes again and huffed.
"To be fair," Sakura interjected, "female is the default gender, at the most basic developmental level."
"Hah! I win." Naruto pumped his fist in the air.
"For now."
Sighing loudly, Sakura surveyed the rest of the shop. Nothing else came to mind, and a few too many people seemed to be at just the right distance to listen in. It might have been her paranoia talking.
"There's aisles we haven't checked out," Naruto noticed.
Sasuke eyed the contents of his basket. "Anything else will just be superfluous crap. Coming, Sakura?"
She smiled, and nodded. Yes. They had the essentials.
On the way to the cashier she grabbed one of those silly bird-shaped fridge magnets with a tiny notepad included.
It was entirely necessary. Maybe not immediately obvious, but anyway. They might never write her love notes -- or for that matter remember to mention that broken door handle that needed changing or keep track of their food stocks; but she would. From now on, it would be her tradition.
On the way back home she composed the first note in her head. 'Naruto, it's been a week and that mirror is still smudged with your handprint, were you finger-painting or something? Clean it up. Sasuke-kun, will you please fix the broken lamps in the dojo already? Not everyone can see in the dark. And there's ink to sand out of the wooden floor, which has been here for about two weeks now. Hint, hint?
Love, Sakura.'
There. Entirely necessary.
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That was fantastic love, Asuka. Hee hee. Happy diabetes tootpaste FTW! XD
I love the whole tone of it, the search for domesticity and togetherness that couples seem to have. I think Sakura as narrator was the perfect pick for that, because as a girl she would be the one most concerned about that sort of thing. And the interspersed moments of hilarity were hilarious XD The image of the two of them as Naruto's parents during the toothpaste quest and then of her as the single mother was just priceless XD
Really, overall, fantastic and so realistic and beautifully written!
Two tiny things I picked up on at the beginning.
"Guys? When was the last time either of you went grocer
iesshopping?" --> grocery shopping"... You haven't been, huh." (the huh feels like it should either be a standalone statement after a period--like Sas' 'hn'--or that it should be a ?)
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♥♥♥ thank you for the comments, love, and I fixed it. ^__^
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Lol, I do! I have the b&w original and the coloring I did for it. The art isn't mine (haa haa, me artistic, lol). Actually, I found the original link in a comment on your page months ago, when someone linked you to the artist on DA. I can't remember the artist's name though. I just ganked it to try coloring it.
colored: http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=team7colorzo1.png
b&w: http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=team7bwkl0.jpg
(if you remember/know the artist, let me know?)
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I'm not sure whether my favorite line is the one about the theoretical daughter in the onsen or the theoretical Sasuke in an apron or Sakura implying things about the theoretical Sasuke in an apron...
*two thumbs up*
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Some nitpicky corrections:
"There's enough rice for two more weeks," Sasuke said; he'd bought in bulk, Sakura was pretty sure that was more because he didn't want to waste time shopping than because he was trying to save money. Run-on. I'd put a period between 'bulk' and 'Sakura.'
Sakura bumped the top of his head with her knuckles to teach him to find her berating Sasuke so entertaining. There is an expression along the lines of, "That'll teach you to think... [blah blah blah]," or "I'll teach you to [blah blah whatever]," which is understood to mean "teach you that [blah blah thingy] is a bad idea and you shouldn't do/think/be [whatever]." But unless you're using that particular word order, it's best to add the negation, to avoid confusion. So I'd change this to "to teach him NOT to find her berating Sasuke so entertaining."
Sharing a toothpaste tube, surely -- clear sign that they were living together! You said 'sure' in the previous sentence, and this reads a trifle awkwardly anyway. Maybe "Sharing a toothpaste tube -- a clear sign that they were living together!" instead?
"Aw, come on, I need to find out if they get stuck in." I'm confused. What is getting stuck in what? After rereading, I'd guess Naruto's thinking the sparkles might get stuck in people's teeth, but I'm still very unsure. Can you clarify this?
"To be fair," Sakura interjected, "Female is the default gender, at the most basic developmental level." Uncapitalize 'female.'
They might never write her love notes -- or for that matter remember to mention that broken door handle that needed changed or keep track of their food stocks; but she would. 'Needed changed' is, while sometimes used in spoken English, generally considered dialect and/or bad grammar. The correct alternatives are 'needed to be changed' or 'needed changing.'
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Yeah, I meant the sparkles in the teeth. I totally KNEW it might be confusing, but I didn't edit. Bad. .__.;
Glad you liked it! And thanks for the help. ^___^
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The ending was utterly adorable.
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Quick thing:
Sasuke rolled his eyed, dumping incense in the basket. Eyes, surely? :3
Cuteness ^__^
Love,
Lurker
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Heh. Sasuke's lazy. ^^
So if Naruto and Sasuke put in four hours of pushups, how many do you think Lee'd do?
Six aisles, a bored cashier, and seven housewives of varying ages...
Lol, nice description. ^^
I like Sakura envisioning them being more of a family. I wish her and Naruto luck in sneaking Sasuke into it, though.
Haha! "I don't care, I can use Sakura's." He can be a lazy bum too at times. ^^
Lol, Naruto wanting the toy. ^^
And then Sakura's afterthought about being a single mother with 2 kids. I'm trying to picture Sasuke's reaction to that. Probably not very big, but what's he thinking about it? ^^
Haha, Sasuke's eyeing the apron. XDD
Which of the guys told Sakura that she might not need the tampons? Doesn't matter, just curious.
"Let's hope the kid won't come out of the womb already gazing into the distance all soulful-like."
At least not right away. =)
Lol. "I don't do that stuff. . . . Anymore. Shut up." ^^ You've got some really funny lines in here. Some of the funniest I've seen in the Teamwork-verse in a while.
I like her little fantasy note.
Cute scene! I liked it! =D
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(Anonymous) 2009-01-21 08:39 am (UTC)(link)They're so cute together.
-- Guile
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"Sparkle toothpaste?"
"...What do we need that won't go to waste because it tastes like happy diabetes?"
*cause of death: giggle attack*
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(Anonymous) 2009-01-27 06:41 am (UTC)(link)When I read this all I could think was that Sasuke wants to see Naruto in the apron.. and only the apron.. for Sasuke's sake I hope he managed to get it into the basket XDDD
'And there's ink to sand out of the wooden floor' seal reference here... ? just curious ^_^
<3
And because it makes me think of "The Night"
Re: <3
Re: <3
thanks for the vid. Great minds think alike, because I also posted it the other day. XD;;;
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