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Sasuke left his home in the middle of the night. Under the cover of darkness, so that there was less chance of being stopped. As far as anyone else was concerned, he was safe within the confines of the all-but-abandoned Uchiha district, surrounded by ghosts and nightmares as he was every night for the past five years.
As he caught sight of a lone figure standing just out of reach of the last street lamp before the gates, he realized his plan wasn’t going to go as smoothly as he hoped.
His heart stuttered when he realized who , exactly, was standing there near the village entrance. Waiting for him, because of course she was.
Sometimes, he got the impression that Sakura knew him better than he knew himself. It was terrifying, because it meant he’d made himself vulnerable in some way. He couldn’t hate her for it, though. As much as Sasuke tried to keep from getting attached, she’d wormed her way into his heart. All of Team Seven had, but Sakura even moreso than the other twk.
He didn’t see a point in hiding himself from her. He was more than capable of defeating her in a fight, if he couldn’t talk her out of letting him go without one. He’d made up his mind to go with the group of Sound ninja waiting for him outside the safety of Konoha’s walls, to go to Orochimaru and gain the power he needed to finally kill the man who’d upended his whole world.
Even if his heart told him he belonged in the village, that he belonged with his team.
When Sakura turned to face him, he felt himself wavering even more. She was so beautiful in the moonlight, but so sad in a way that made his chest hurt. She knew what he was doing, and she was going to try to stop him. Part of him wanted her to succeed—the part of him that was weak and soft and still held on to foolish notions like bonds.
She wasted no time in making her case, pleading with him to stay as he drew closer to her. He could smell the foolishly scented soaps she used, could feel her body heat from their proximity.
“Please, Sasuke. Please don’t go.” His fingers twitched, itching to reach up and wipe the tears falling freely down her face. “I love you!”
His single thread of resolve snapped.
To be loved, truly loved, wasn’t something he’d ever expected after the murder of his entire clan. He was used to the empty platitudes of the girls that flocked around him, the words spoken without understanding the gravity of caring for someone so deeply wounded as he was.
But Sakura did. Sakura had seen him in some of his lowest moments and decided he was still worth saving. Still worth loving. He had her heart in his hands, and he wasn’t going to crush it like his brother that man had done to his own.
In the blink of an eye, he was standing behind her rather than in front, and his fingers swiftly struck the pressure point he knew would knock her out.
“Thank you, Sakura.”
He took her to Kakashi, knowing her civilian parents wouldn’t look kindly upon him dropping their unconscious daughter off in the middle of the night. His teacher opened the door before Sasuke could even knock.
“You were going to leave.” It wasn’t a question, but Sasuke nodded anyway.
Kakashi’s eyes drifted down to Sakura’s limp form, then back to Sasuke. With a sigh, he stepped aside, allowing them into his apartment.
“I suppose this is the one time I should be thankful for teenage hormones.” Sasuke felt his ears redden at the remark, but didn’t deny it. Silently, he placed Sakura down on the couch, where Kakashi indicated he should. His fingers twitched again with the urge to smooth a few stray pink locks of hair from her brow, but he resisted. He wasn’t that far gone, and besides, he had something important to talk about with Kakashi.
“They’re going to try and take me anyway, those people from Sound.” He could feel his curse mark pulsing beneath his skin, a siren call to the power Orochimaru was offering, and his hand clamped over the spot where it sat.
He couldn’t do that to Sakura. He wouldn’t.
“You’re in luck, then,” Kakashi replied as he shuffled toward his kitchen, dragging out a kettle that looked like it survived all three Great Wars. “You happen to be surrounded by shinobi who can fend them off.”
But if Orochimaru came back for him personally… Kakashi hadn’t been able to defeat Itachi, so how could he hope to beat a sannin?
Their forces were stretched thin after the invasion—it was why he would have been successful in sneaking out of the village, had he not had a sudden change of heart courtesy of Sakura. Most jounin and ANBU were out running back-to-back missions to build up the village coffers again, and those who could be spared for in-village security were probably scanning for threats trying to enter the village, not leave it.
“If you don’t think I’m capable enough,” Kakashi cut right to the chase as he handed Sasuke a mug of what smelled like chamomile tea, “then you should at least trust Lady Tsunade. If anyone knows how to handle a sannin, it’s another sannin, right?” He ruffled Sasuke’s hair as he moved to sit down at the tiny, two-seat kitchen table with his own mug.
Scowling, Sasuke sat in the only other chair at the table.
“Now, tell me about who these new Sound-nin are. It sounds like you’ve encountered them at least once before? After you were discharged from the hospital?”
Sasuke hated trying to put his thoughts into words. Writing mission reports was bad enough, but having to untangle his jumbled thoughts and speak for long periods of time was his own version of torture. But it was worth it—at least, he hoped it was.
He had to tamp down on the urge to glance over his shoulder at where Sakura was sleeping, knowing he was already going to get enough teasing from Kakashi. She was safe, and that was what mattered. (It was hard for him to think that in another life, he might have made a different choice—might have hurt her in his bid to escape, or knocked her out and just left her there in the open for anyone to stumble upon and hurt.)
It was only when he’d finished saying everything he had to say, when Kakashi mused silently over his empty mug, that he allowed himself a peek.
She had a strand of her newly shortened pink hair in her mouth. It was cute.
Kakashi was watching him when he turned back, and Sasuke glowered, daring him to comment. His teacher just raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Then, it was back to business.
“We’ll have to tell the Hokage, once it’s a more decent hour.” Sasuke wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He knew it was vital to village safety, but Senju Tsunade was definitely not like anyone he’d ever met before. She was strong, though, so he had to admire that.
Strong but with such good chakra control… The wheels in his head began turning. When Sakura accompanied him (and Kakashi) to the Hokage’s office later, his half-baked idea began forming into a real plan.
The Godaime grumbled and snarked and scowled as Kakashi, then Sasuke, and finally Sakura gave their version of events. Sakura didn’t have much to add, only that she’d had a sense that something was wrong that night, and that Sasuke would try to leave. Tsunade looked like she wanted to call her bluff, but after swinging her sharp amber eyes between Sakura and himself, she moved onto the next order of business.
Naruto would be leaving the village with that weird pervert of a sannin (not that he was worried for Naruto’s safety or anything), which would leave Team Seven down a member.
“Quite frankly, Hatake, you’re too valuable to waste any more time training a couple of brats.” Sasuke bristled at the insult, muscles tensing that much more when he noticed how Sakura’s shoulders hunched in defeat.
“But,” she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “We can't just have the last loyal Uchiha wandering around without a decent teacher. Especially not with Orochimaru so keen to get his hands on you and your special eyes.”
Sasuke tried very, very hard not to glare at her. He already disliked ANBU, and he was sure the ones hiding in the corners of the office would give him even more of a reason to mistrust them if he came off as threatening.
“You can train the brats between missions. I need you back in the Black Ops for at least the next few months.”
Kakashi got a very strange, faraway look in his eye at the order, but didn’t say anything more than Yes, Hokage-sama.
“Good, we’re all agreed. You two,” she jabbed her finger at Sasuke, then Sakura, “can get out. Your teacher and I still have a few things to discuss.”
Sasuke waited to say anything until they were outside, still within view of the exit so they could catch Kakashi-sensei (if he left the normal way—unlikely). Then, he started explaining his idea. Or, he tried to, at least.
“You need to get stronger.” He hated seeing Sakura flinch at his statement, but he hated even more how she so readily agreed with him.
“You have good chakra control, and so does Tsunade. Why don’t you ask her to take you on as an apprentice?” They both knew if Kakashi was going to focus on training one of his students, it would be Sasuke. He’d done it more than once before, after all. It wasn’t fair, but it was how it was.
“I couldn’t! She’s the Hokage, Sasuke-kun!” Sasuke shrugged.
“So? That just means she’s strong.” All the more reason for her to ask, in his opinion.
Still, she hesitated. Sasuke grunted in obvious disapproval.
“What do I even say to her?”
“You’ll figure it out.” She was the only one with proper manners on Team Seven, so if anyone would know how to, it would be her. In all honesty, he was a little incredulous she asked him for advice on it—he wasn’t exactly known for his speaking prowess.
“You think so?” Sakura’s eyes were shining as she looked at him, her cheeks pink with the excitement of being acknowledged. His stomach felt like someone had let a wind jutsu loose in it.
“I know so.”
He would deny with his dying breath the way his heart rate picked up when she beamed at him.
To ensure he wasn’t easy access for Sound ninja, Sasuke was moved into one of the many shinobi apartment buildings. Conveniently, his unit was right beside Kakashi’s.
Honestly, he was just grateful the Hokage hadn’t made him actually move in with his teacher, but he didn’t dare say that aloud as he stood in the Hokage’s office for the second day in a row. She seemed like she had a sadistic streak.
Maybe he’d made a mistake in telling Sakura to ask for her help training.
It was too late, though, because just as he was leaving to go collect his belongings from the Uchiha Main House, Sakura burst in.
“Please, Hokage-sama! Take me on as your apprentice!” She got a glass paperweight thrown at her head in response, but miraculously, Sakura dodged.
Sasuke turned back to face Tsunade just in time to see an appreciative glint enter her eyes.
“Why should I waste my time training you , brat?”
Sakura looked at him from the corner of her eye for a moment before straightening her spine and focusing her full attention back on the frowning hokage.
“You won’t find anyone in the village with better chakra control.”
“So? Being my apprentice isn’t just medical work. You’ll have bones broken and scars on your pretty little face. You’ll go home sweaty and covered in dirt, if you can even drag yourself home. You can’t honestly expect me to believe you’ll stick to it?”
“I will, Hokage-sama! I don’t ever want to be left behind by my team again—I want to stand beside them in a fight!” She bowed so deeply, Sasuke thought she might fold herself in two. “So please, let me be your student!”
There was a long, uncomfortable moment of silence while Tsunade studied her intently. To her credit, Sakura didn’t cower under the scrutiny. If anything, she seemed to stand that much straighter.
“Shizune!” The heavy atmosphere was broken by the Godaime shouting for her assistant. When the younger woman poked her head in the door, looking confused, the Hokage snapped out her order. “Give Pinkie all the required reading. And Uchiha?” Sasuke stiffened as she focused on him again. “Get out.”
He disobeyed orders only to pause in the doorway, giving Sakura one last look before finally getting on his way.
She looked so excited, which made sense, because books were her thing. He’d rarely seen her happier than when she had a new book to devour. Sometimes he was envious of the literature, to hold her attention like that for so many hours on end.
Now, with her apprenticeship all but confirmed, she’d have even more drawing her attention away. Even if there would still be joint training with Kakashi, it didn’t seem like enough.
He tried not to pout as he ferried storage scrolls from his clan’s compound to his new apartment.
They saw Naruto off the next day as a proper team. Sasuke still didn’t like the creepy sannin that would be training Naruto for the next two years, but Kakashi trusted him, so it was probably okay. Besides, he’d faced down Itachi that man and come out victorious, so at least his safety was assured.
Plus, Naruto was a boy, and Jiraiya’s perverted tendencies seemed only to extend to women. So when he angled his body just enough to block Sakura from the old man’s view, it was purely to keep his teammate safe. He was just being considerate, that was all.
If he allowed her to reach down and give his hand a single squeeze of reassurance once Naruto finally disappeared from view of the village gates, well… That was purely for her benefit. That his stomach felt like it was tying itself in knots was a completely separate matter.
“Don’t look so gloomy, you two!” Kakashi smiled down at him, his eye crinkling forebodingly. Sasuke’s suspicions about impending doom at his teacher’s hands were proven correct a moment later as he cheerfully announced, “To celebrate Sasuke’s move, we’re having a housewarming dinner tonight!”
If looks could kill, Kakashi would have crossed into the Pure Lands ten times over.
“Oh, you moved?” Sakura turned inquisitive eyes his way, her jade irises sparkling with curiosity. Sasuke had to fight back a flinch.
“He’s my new next door neighbor,” Kakashi answered for him, still far too cheerful. Sakura nodded in understanding, but began to look pensive after a moment.
“Is it…is it hard to get a spot in the subsidized apartments?”
Sasuke furrowed his brow. Sakura had parents, both of them! So why would she need to move out? Sure, it was probably irritating for civilians to be woken up in the middle of the night for their not-yet-thirteen year old daughter to slip in and out of bed for missions, but putting up with annoyances was part of being a family. Sometimes he missed the way Shisui would call him Sasu-chan and pinch his cheeks.
She caught the questioning looks on both his and Kakashi’s faces, because she hastily started explaining, gaze dropping to her feet as she did so.
“Mom, uh, might have said that since I was considered an adult in the eyes of the village, I should think about moving out.”
Sasuke was flabbergasted.
“Sakura-chan, are you sure she wasn’t just teasing you?” Kakashi asked. Saskura shook her head, but didn’t elaborate.
“Alright, well, how about we go to the housing division and start on the paperwork while Sasuke gets whatever groceries he needs for dinner, alright?”
“You’re inviting yourself over and still making me do all the cooking?”
“Sure am. See you in a few hours!” With a jaunty wave, he placed a hand on Sakura’s shoulder and teleported them both away in a swirl of leaves.
Unbelievable.
Sasuke was almost certain Kakashi had threatened whatever poor genin or chuunin was manning the housing desk, because a week later, Sakura moved into the unit across the hall. Kakashi tried to make her throw a housewarming party, too, but she was so busy with the studying and extra training Tsunade assigned before her official induction as an apprentice that she was barely ever home.
When Sasuke heard her stumble through her front door just before midnight one evening, he put his foot down. The next day, he conveniently happened to pass by the table Sakura had camped out at in the library, right as dinner approached.
“Nothing will stick if you don’t take a break,” he warned. “And you need to eat more to keep up with all the extra taijutsu.”
Sakura’s head shot up from where it had been bent over her ludicrously thick medical tome, taking a moment to register who had started speaking to her. Once she recognized Sasuke, though, she relaxed, and even had the decency to flush with embarrassment at being caught taking such poor care of herself.
“It’s fine, I—”
“We’re going out to eat. Come on.” His tone left no room for argument, and he watched her like a hawk to ensure she was packing up all her supplies—he didn’t want her coming back to study until ten or eleven after they ate. She needed rest , and if he needed to force her into doing so, so be it.
“Is this–um, I mean, it’s not like, a date or anything, right?”
“Hn.” He grunted, neither confirming or denying it. He…didn’t hate the thought of it being a date as much as he might have a few months ago. “Let’s go before all the tables at the good places are taken.” He was intent on never touching ramen while Naruto was gone—he was sure there would be plenty of sodium-laden noodles in his future once he returned to the village, after all.
They settled on a small, quiet family restaurant just a block from their apartment complex. While they ate, he let Sakura regale him with all the facts she was learning (even the more gruesome ones—he had been raised in a shinobi clan; a little talk about blood and organs over dinner was normal). He could tell from the way she babbled and the sparkle in her eyes that she was having a great time. More fun than she’d had training with Team Seven, not that he was bitter about that.
After her training had been neglected in favor of his and Naruto’s, he didn’t really have a right to be. Especially since he was the one who’d suggested she try to convince Tsunade to take her on as an apprentice.
But he was allowed to not like the way Sakura ran herself ragged for the sake of improving quickly.
“Do you need to start training before sunrise, though?” He finally spoke up in order to ask a question as she took a bite of her tempura.
“Well, that’s when Lee and Gai-sensei go running, and then they help me with my taijutsu afterward, so I can’t just…not show up?”
Sasuke felt something sour rise up in his gut. Rock Lee? She was spending her early morning alone with Rock Lee?
When Sakura tried slipping out the next morning, Sasuke was waiting.
“I’m joining you. Since Kakashi’s out of the village.” Yes, he was going purely for his own benefit. Lee had been a decent opponent before the chuunin exams, and he’d apparently been building back the strength he’d lost after his match with Gaara, so it was only natural that Sasuke would want to fight him again.
It definitely didn’t have anything to do with Sakura. And, when he won three sparring matches with the other boy in a row, he certainly didn’t look over at her for approval.
He kept joining them for training, even after Kakashi returned from his mission and implemented regular Team Seven meetings. He also continued to drag Sakura away from the library whenever he caught her there past eight, corralling her to the family restaurant that quickly became their usual spot. On days it was closed, he even let her come over to his apartment and cooked for her.
Those nights, Sakura would curl up on his couch after washing the dishes (a fair trade off—he cooked and she did the clean up) and organize her notes from earlier in the day. Most of the time, she would read interesting tidbits she’d found, or speculate over the connection between certain things. Whenever Sasuke offered a comment, she would pause to look over at him and beam.
Thankfully, she never called him out for how pink his cheeks got whenever she did it.
Kakashi crashed their dinner once, after he’d just come back from a week-long mission to the border of Iwa. He’d stayed only long enough to watch the way Sasuke looked at Sakura while she washed the dishes, and then, with a grin that turned his eye into a little half-moon, he ruffled Sasuke’s hair and said his goodbyes.
He didn’t interrupt their dinners after that.
Almost a year to the day since they’d returned from Wave, Kakashi informed them they would be attending the chuunin exams in Suna the next month. Sakura looked bewildered.
“They’re holding the chuunin exams in the desert? In June?” She wasn’t wrong; it would be good to prove survival skills, but given the pass rate of previous exams, it seemed like the proctors were asking for needless deaths.
“They sure are.” Kakashi was as annoying as ever in his response. But Sasuke had another question.
“Don’t we need three people to enter?”
“That’s why you’ll be joining teams with vacancies.”
“We’re getting split up?!” Sakura let her alarm be known—privately, Sasuke felt icy panic grip him. He and Sakura were finally starting to work well together, and they were going to be torn apart when it counted most?
“Just until the exams are over with,” Kakashi raised his hands in a placating gesture. “You’ll be joining your friend Ino-chan’s team, and Sasuke,” his eye shifted to focus on him, “You’ll be filling Neji’s spot, since you seem to get along so well with Lee.”
One of Sasuke’s eyes twitched.
“That means, starting today, you’ll be training with Teams Ten and Gai, respectively.” Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but Kakashi cut in before she could form so much as a single syllable. “Yes, Sakura, Tsunade-sama already cleared it. You’re to report to her as usual tomorrow morning, and she’ll give you your adjusted schedule.”
This meant Sasuke was about to see even less of her than he already was.
Settling into Gai’s team was a struggle—Neji was still there, but haughtier than ever because of his higher ranking. The girl, Tenten as he learned, was easy to get along with. She wanted to be a weapons mistress, so she was the best person to go to for a kenjutsu spar, and she wasn’t half bad.
The real problem was Lee.
“Please, my rival, you must tell me the way to win over Konoha’s most beautiful blossom!” Lee begged as they traded blows in the last taijutsu-only match of the day. They only had a week left until they left for Suna, and while most of the kinks had been worked out of their formation, it still didn’t feel natural. Lee’s constant pestering about Sakura hadn’t exactly helped, either.
“She’s not interested,” he shot back, sweeping Lee’s feet out from beneath him and pinning him bodily to the ground. “And I’m not your rival.”
“But she—”
“She said no. Multiple times.” Suddenly, the world around him was sharper, with a slight red cast. Hurriedly, he got up and moved to begin his cool down stretches, ignoring the concerned look Gai sent his way.
He found Sakura waiting for him by the training ground’s exit when he was finally dismissed for the day, as she was wont to do whenever her own team practice was let out early. It seemed she had much less trouble integrating into Team Ten than he was having with Team Gai.
“Asuma-sensei told me you could join us for barbecue!” Her cheeks were pink, likely from exertion (but a part of him hoped—). Sasuke tried not to show just how much he didn’t want to go out to eat with her temporary team. “But I told them you had an extra training session with Kakashi-sensei tonight and couldn’t come.”
His eyes widened for a moment, before he was able to school his expression back to its usual neutrality.
Sakura had lied. She’d lied for him.
“Thanks,” he grunted, avoiding her gaze as he began walking in the direction of their apartment complex, his ears and the back of his neck burning.
Sakura squeaked at his thanks, then managed to get herself under control enough to go back to her usual self, chattering on about how she’d beaten Ino and Chouji in a two-on-one spar and how she was supposed to move on to healing minor fractures the next morning during her medical training. He let the sound of her voice wash over him, making little noises of agreement or disagreement as she spoke to assure her that he was actually listening. It was only when they finally reached their respective front doors that he spoke real words, though.
“Come over for dinner?”
“Yes!” Sakura blushed at her own display of eagerness, then hurried to amend herself. “I mean, um, that would be great. Thank you, Sasuke-kun! Is seven o’clock okay?” It was just past five, judging from the way the sun had been positioned in the sky on their walk home. That should be enough time to shower and actually cook.
“Seven,” he nodded.
Sasuke was pleased. He wouldn’t ever say it, but the smirk on his face was proof enough. He had good reason to be—he was the official winner of Suna’s chuunin exams. Second place, the one who fought him in the last battle of the tournament, was Sakura.
Naturally, they both received their official promotions and chuunin vests from Tsunade once they reported back to her after making it home. They were only given the rest of the day off, though; the next morning, they’d have to go right back to their usual training routines.
“All the date nights you two had to miss turned out to be worth it, huh?” Kakashi mused, watching Sakura shrug on her new vest as all three of them left Hokage tower.
Sasuke grunted, but Sakura? Sakura looked bewildered.
“What do you mean, date nights? We’re not dating, sensei!”
“What?” Both Sasuke and Kakashi asked in unison, Sasuke having to whip his head around from where he had started trailing ahead of them, eager to get home. Their confusion only worsened Sakura’s own uncertainty.
“Well, when I asked it that first time out was a date, you said no, so I just figured—”
“I never said no!” Sasuke quickly turned back to hide his face, embarrassed at his own outburst.
“Oh.” All three of them fell into pensive silence for a moment. Then, with his ability to make everything much more uncomfortable than it already was, Kakashi announced his departure.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to work out your love life.” With a far too jaunty wave, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
“So…” Sakura trailed off, and Sasuke slowed down so she could catch up to him, walking side by side through the administrative district. “Does this mean that if I ask you out, you’ll say yes?”
“Why would you ask me out? We’re already dating, Sakura.”