Redemption |complete| (SasuSaku)

Take it off (no lemon)

Saturday, 25th of July.

"If you laugh, I will punch you."

"I won't laugh. Come on out, I'm hungry."

The bathroom door opened and a very uncomfortable Sakura came out of it. Sasuke looked at her outfit. He genuinely thought that it will be ugly but she made it look good. The top was tucked into the skirt and she had put her hair up to avoid the contrast between her pink locks and the bright orange of the top. She was wearing her usual black shoes.

"Judging by your face Sasuke, you are regretting the outfit you picked for me."

"I'm not." this was going to be fun.

He walked up to her and stopped inches away from her face. She seemed uncomfortable and kept looking away. He moved his hand behind her head and untied the ponytail that she had done. "I like you better with your hair down."

"But orange and pink-"

"The hair down is part of the outfit. Should we go?"

"Mh."

She locked her arm under his and the two walked out of the apartment. On their way to the restaurant, they picked up Sarada. Sakura did not address a word to her mom and she was purposely avoiding her. Sasuke understood, she was hurt.

They quietly travelled the streets of Konoha. It was the first time that she was going out in two days and he wanted her to enjoy her time. He knew that this dinner was supposed to be for his birthday but in reality, it was more to celebrate her recovery. He was so happy to bring her out with him. Her arm holding his was making him extremely uneasy. He knew that back in Tsukigakure he didn't mind her making physical contact but it was an island away from everyone. Here he knew people and even if he didn't know someone, that person definitely knew him. He hated that about Konoha.

Sasuke stopped to let Sakura walk in first as he held the curtains for her. A man brought them to a table and they both sat in front of each other.

"This place is very intimate." he knew what she meant. Echa tables were put far away from each other. They were also surrounded by bamboo walls that hid them from everyone and that was the case for every table. They couldn't hear anyone and no one could hear them.

"How did you hear about this place?" he asked Sakura.

"Oh, Hinata brought Naruto here. She doesn't mind Ichiraku but when she wants a romantic night, she drags him here."

"Hn."

"Why?"

"For no reason. I just wondered."

The same man that brought them to the table gave them the menu and lit up a candle. When he left, Sakura laughed.

"Well, this is probably making you uncomfortable. I'm sorry I didn't know that it was this romantic."

"It's fine. So what do you want?"

They each looked at their menu in silence. Sasuke was hiding it but inside of him his mind was at war against his emotions. He could realise that he was getting extremely cold again, even to her, simply because they were in public and it was frustrating him. He wanted to be able to talk like he had when they were alone but no matter how much he was trying to force his brain to find a subject of conversation, nothing came up.

The man eventually came back to take their orders and Sasuke only realised that he didn't know what he was going to eat. He picked the first hing he landed his eyes on. When the man left he found himself staring at Sakura wondering what to say. She was looking around her at the bamboo walls. Her teeth were biting her bottom lip as she took a deep breath. She looked at him and he looked away embarassed.