Serena- Ha. Wow… my first one-shot with a canon pairing and what do you know? It's a SasuSaku one! (Bows) Thank you, thank you! Actually, thank my teacher for giving me tons of free-time in her class and my aching hand that didn't want to continue writing Freedom at the time.

A/N- This is set after the time-skip, and unless you read the manga (damn Golden Week, which is keeping me away from the new chapter) you won't understand who Sasuke's three teammates are. Sorry for the spoilers.

Disclaimer- I own nothing but the very minimal plot. The characters belong to the creator of Naruto. I bow before him.

Counting on a Star

By: Serena

The stars were too bright. That seemed beyond impossible, but still, the great Uchiha Survivor felt it to be so. The stars were practically blinding him. That's what I get for sleeping in complete darkness for nearly three years. Sasuke thought, rolling over and lifting a white-clad arm over the half of his face still being covered by starlight. That helped- Slightly. The impact was not as noticeable but… It just didn't feel right.

Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo were still fast asleep, but Sasuke… he just couldn't seem to find the slumber he so desperately wanted. It had always been like that- it had always difficult for him to dive into the unconscious bliss that was sleep. It was too dark. It was too bright. It was too hot, it was too cold. It was too loud- which made absolutely no sense due to the fact that Sasuke had lived alone for five years.

He was a slight insomniac, especially when the open woods were involved- except one time… It had been a mission with his old team, the people that haunted his memories and reminded him of what he had given up by striving for revenge and power. They had slept among the constellations and the one thing to finally bring sleep to his door had been… Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun?" A weary-eyed bubble-gum haired girl asked, sitting up and slowly climbing out of her bedroll. "What are you doing awake?" Of course, the ever- present curiousness of one of his biggest fangirls had been sparked.

Sasuke debated mentally between giving her an indifferent shrug- the same thing he would have given anyone who had stuck their nose in where it didn't belong. However, his tongue had a different scheme. "Too bright," was all he said as she slithered down to take a seat next to him. She had gotten smart- there was enough of a space between them that Sasuke wasn't overcrowded and yet they sat close enough that Sakura was satisfied that Ino would be horribly jealous when she told her later.

Sakura smiled her normal, confused-but-doesn't-want-to-show-it, smile of hers, "The stars?"

He nodded.

Silence ensued before Sakura sighed, and took a chance, "You know," she beamed at him, "whenever I can't fall asleep, I count the stars… I know it sounds childish-" It did sound childish, "But, it works." She shrugged, hesitated, and then sighed again. "Goodnight Sasuke-kun." She got up and trudged back to her bedroll.

Sasuke waited until her breathing followed a steady pattern. Then he too found his way back to the bedroll that was calling his name. Resting his head against the pillow, he looked up at the stars. They were still too bright, but slowly and reluctantly he began counting…

"1…2…3…4…5…6…7…" And that was all it took to make the great Uchiha Survivor fall into a deep sleep.

Years later, the method still seemed childish to him… and yet- Sasuke rolled over again onto his back and gazed at the stars again. Still too bright… but it comforted him to some extent that somewhere, the pink haired female could be gazing at the same stars above. "1…2…3…4…5…6…7…"

"Sasuke-kun…" A pink haired young woman whispered, careful not to wake her teammates. It comforted her to know the somewhere, her mysterious had-been-crush could be gazing at the same stars above. That even worlds apart, they were never truly separated.