A/N: Hey everyone! This my new fic titled, To Love You, and it's pretty much a interpretation of what I think could've happened after the end of the manga and before the epilogue (so between chapter 699 and chapter 700 of the manga). I'm writing this one mostly for Sakura, because I always believed that she deserved better. I hope you enjoy it!


"Sneaking off already?" Sakura asked. She leaned against the doorframe and flicked the light switch on.

The room flooded with brightness and Sasuke's lean form, swathed in a navy cloak and hood, was revealed to her bleary, sleep-worn eyes.

He stiffened. Sasuke was never one to act like the deer caught in headlights, no, he was too damn sophisticated and unfeeling for that. Nothing fazed him, and naturally, neither did her sudden appearance. He simply slipped the kunai he'd been holding into a holster on his belt and turned to face her.

"Go back to sleep."

Sakura wrapped her arms tighter around her body. She tried to cover what she could of her chest since she wasn't wearing her bra underneath; she'd gotten up from bed so suddenly at the sound of his creaking bedroom door that she hadn't given a thought to her attire. She was wearing a very scant gold nightgown that barely covered her thighs; if Sasuke had any thoughts about it, he didn't give them away. He just stared at her stone-faced and brooding.

Oh, she hated it when he brooded.

It made having him back in Konoha the past two weeks, infinitely frustrating. Ever since the Fourth Ninja War ended, and Kakashi became the sixth hokage, pardoning Sasuke of his previous transgressions, Sasuke had been living in her home.

It hadn't been an intentional decision, just a practical one.

The Uchiha clan households had all been destroyed long ago, and Naruto's own solitary home had been brought down to rubble by Madara's antics in the war. Once the war ended and he was out of the hospital, Naruto had begun staying in the vast Hyuga clan household, where Hinata (under Sakura's direction) kept a weather eye on him and his new prosthetic arm.

Meanwhile, Sasuke, with no home, and with no sane person willing to let him stay in their home after everything he'd done, had no choice but to come and stay with Sakura in one of the small houses her family owned, which was one of the few of the houses in the village to actually survive the war, besides the Hyuga's.

It hadn't been a very eventful two weeks. Sasuke had barely been in her home. He'd been in the hospital for the first week, along with Naruto, recovering after the amount of damage they'd done to each other. Sakura didn't even have to lift a finger, Tsunade and Kakashi had pulled a tag team lecture on them both, ordering that they stay in bed for at least three days. Afterwards, it had been slight physical therapy for them both. As a medical ninja, and their friend, Sakura was there every day, even though they had infinite reserves of energy, and were easily on their feet by the fourth day, their arms were in less than stellar condition. Without an arm, Naruto was clumsier than ever, and Sasuke…he needed more help than he wanted to admit or ever let on.

Unable to perform jutsu, or do basic tasks, the pair of them were as useless as a pile of rubble.

Tsunade had gotten them both exercising the nerves on their severed arms, making sure they had maximum functionality before fitting them for the prosthetic arms that she would grow from Hashirama's cells. It had been a mere two nights ago that the arms had fully grown and Tsunade attached them to the boys. And tonight, marked the first night Sasuke would be physically sleeping and not just "staying" in her house.

And here he was, already poised to leave.

"You're one to talk. You should be in bed, not waltzing off in the middle of the night to do God knows what when you've only just got back your arm!" Sakura nearly yelled. Her arms had left her chest and her fingers balled in fists by her sides. This was just like Sasuke. To go looking for danger, for a fight. He would never be satisfied being idle. He never had been.

He stared at her.

"You can't honestly be leaving for good right now, are you?" Sakura's voice caught on those last words. She looked away, a knot forming in her throat. It wasn't that she hadn't suspected he'd do something like this. If there was anything she was sure of, it was that Sasuke would always be leaving. She had just hoped that this time would be—different.

Sasuke shifted, after so long in one position. His gaze flipped down as he said, "No. I'm not."

"Oh," Sakura let out a breath, more relieved than she realized. She straightened. "Then what are you doing with your cloak on? And that kunai?"

Sasuke glanced at the kunai he'd holstered. His eyes met hers again, one infinitely black, the other, hypnotic rings of silver. She still hadn't gotten used to the sight of his rinnegan. She still remembered the boy Sasuke had been years ago, with two completely black eyes. Before he left. Before everything that had ripped them all apart.

"It's none of your concern," he said as if by automatic response. So quick and sudden that the sharpness had Sakura reeling.

She stepped back, the blow sinking in. "None of my concern?" She bowed her head, letting her hair cover her eyes and her view of him. "Right. Of course it's not my concern. You always liked doing everything by yourself anyways." She stepped out the door frame towards her bedroom, but stopped to say, "You may not care what I think, but that prosthetic will be fragile in the first few weeks. Push it too hard right now, and you'll destroy its functionality."

A silence. Believing the conversation over, Sakura moved to leave.

"Then how can I get back my strength? Without destroying my arm again?" he asked. His voice was almost…tentative.

Sakura pursed her lips. "You'd have to train without using your left arm first, allow it time to heal, and then start simple and build up with movements in the prosthetic," she said honestly. She and Tsunade had been industriously working on the development of the prosthetics; there was nothing she didn't know about their development.

Then she shook her head. "But even training using your real arm, you'd need someone to monitor the prosthetic in the first few weeks. We don't know the full extent of what Hashirama's cells can do. For all we know, you could reject the prosthetic or it could be atrophying your nerves this very moment and eventually become a dead weight. The best course of action is to let it be and heal."

"So you're saying I need someone to monitor the arm while I train?"

Sakura bristled, "No! Are you not hearing me? I'm saying you shouldn't exert yourself, before you lose your arm!"

Sasuke stepped toward her. "Yes, but you also said that I could essentially build up my strength, if I had someone to watch over the arm."

"That's not the point—"

He cut her off. "Get dressed. You're coming with me."


The night air was chilly and biting as Sasuke and Sakura pulled up into a wide expanse by the forest behind her house. Owned previously by one of her shinobi relatives, various training equipment littered the grass. "What are we doing here?"

"Training," he said. He unclasped his cloak, letting it drop to the ground, revealing his black training shirt which uncovered his arms, allowing them the freedom to move, but also displaying he harsh scar tissue of where his real arm ended and the prosthetic, wrapped in bandages, began.

"I figured as much from what you said before. I mean—what are we doing training in the middle of the night?" Sakura demanded.

Sasuke seemed pensive. He looked up at the moon, high in the air at this time of night, waxing as it provided what little light it could. The stars were nowhere in sight, as if they'd been scared off by Sasuke's ever-present scowl. But, when Sakura looked at him now, Sasuke did not wear his frown and neither were his eyebrows drawn low over his eyes. Instead, a sight rare to behold, he looked relaxed, as if standing under this solitary glow was the only time in his day he ever felt at peace.

"I prefer the nighttime," he said. Grabbing the pack of training weapons from her hands and throwing it to the ground, he forced her to follow him to one of the standing wood dummies that were scattered around the field.

He pointed at it. "If I start hitting this with my real arm, will it hurt the prosthetic one?"

Sakura glanced at the dummy. "I don't think it should, but I'd advise holding the prosthetic behind your back for the few goes."

Sasuke nodded. He stepped up to the dummy, staring it down as if it were an attacker. He laid a swift blow to the mid-section of the dummy, then swinging his forearm up to hit the first jutting arm of the dummy. He repeated this, moving his forearm down and up and around the jutting arms, with a stagnant position to his feet. Once he got the rhythm of the motions, he began incorporating footwork, sidestepping and dashing around the dummy.

Sakura hadn't realized she'd been staring until Sasuke suddenly stopped moving and threw her blank stare.

"Oh, I—uh, should I guess check your arm. To see if the physical exertion is causing any damage so early in the process…" Sakura trailed off, approaching him warily. Her fingers curled as he extended his arm for her to examine. Her hands hovered over the spot where the prosthetic and his real arm connected and met. And yet, for some odd reason, she couldn't bring herself to touch him.

"Yup! I think it's fine! You know what, I should just go. You look like you're doing fine on your own," she said, scrambling excuses together and making to leave him. But she was stopped by the arm she had just examined as she tried to get past him.

He bent his head near hers and flicked his wrist as if to say—step back. Wait.

Unable to resist that kind of silent command, she stepped back. Sasuke had a curious expression on his face—amused even. He gestured with his eyes to the dummy.

Sakura pointed a finger at the dummy and then at herself. "You want me to fight the dummy?"

Sasuke nodded.

She rolled her eyes. "You may not have noticed, but I'm a jounin level shinobi. I can shatter the earth beneath us with a single finger. I don't need to fight a dummy."

He shook his head. Then, out of nowhere, he grabbed her arm and swung her in front of the dummy. "Hit it."

She sighed, ignoring the still laden sensation of his cold fingers on her arm. She raised an arm and punched the dummy, hard. The resounding impact was loud in the night air, but Sasuke was unsatisfied. He flicked his chin at the dummy. "Hit it again."

"Why?" she demanded.

He didn't reply.

Sakura gave up trying to get answers for his stupid behaviour and imagined his head, his annoying expressionless face, on the dummy's torso. A target worth hitting. This time, she punched the dummy hard, enough that the wood began to splinter and the bones in her hand groaned under the pressure.

She looked at him expectantly.

Sasuke shook his head. "You lack precision, which, for a medical ninja is ridiculous. Your hits shouldn't be blatant displays of power. They should be calculated and sharp. You shouldn't seek to bruise your enemies; you should try to incapacitate them."

Incapacitate. She remembered a time when he had done exactly that to her, the night he left Konoha for the first time to follow Orochimaru's croonies, the night all had gone to hell, the night he hadn't wanted her to follow.

"Stand in front of the dummy," he ordered. She shifted to face it. She'd barely gotten her footing when he slammed his leg on the insides of her ankles, pushing them apart. "Take a wide-stance and ground yourself."

Sakura suppressed a curse, one that would have gladly flown out if this had been Naruto, ordering her around. Sasuke was a different story altogether. She didn't know how long this attention would last, and she was ashamed to realize that she didn't want it to end.

Sasuke stopped hovering and stood beside her, mirroring her pose, feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent. He pulled his hand up to block his face, waiting until she did the same. Then he struck out, with his right arm (the real one) with an open palm, hitting the imaginary dummy in front of him with the edge of his hand. He straightened. "Your turn."

Unfurling her fists, she whipped out her arm to connect with the wood. Her hit wasn't as perfect as his was, but it was much more controlled than her punches from before.

Sasuke nodded. Resuming his stance, he showed her how to weave her forearms in and around the jutting arms, while still hitting it with the same force and accuracy. He took her through the motions, demonstrating slowly, and then speeding up gradually.

However, Sakura severely lacked the same skill with the dummy as he did. "I think I've got the hang of this—OW!" She nearly swore as she nursed her elbow, which she had just brought slamming into the wood by a slip of concentration.

Focused on the tingling in her funny bone, Sakura didn't realize it when Sasuke moved, shifting his body behind her, and putting his arms out on either side of her body. She was essentially trapped between the wooden dummy and the cocoon of his making.

She shivered as his breath tickled he neck. "You have to pay attention. Don't let success or external elements distract you. Focus on your movements and the impact you want to deal out."

Sakura wasn't sure if Sasuke was doing it deliberately or not, standing so close to her and talking about not getting distracted, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of turning into a bumbling mess, that was who she'd been before he left. She was a different person now.

Focusing her gaze on the dummy she repeated the motions again. Sasuke did them with her, moving his arms on either side of her. She was quite successful, until Sasuke decided to take things up a notch. He had her shifting the rest of her body now. Each time he wanted her to duck, lean or shift her torso, he moved with her. They weren't touching, but Sakura felt like the fraction of space between her back and his chest was undoubtedly electrifying.

"Now, for your footwork," he declared. Knocking her ankles again with his foot, he got her to bring them closer together for easier and quicker movements. He always kept his left foot behind her in the gap between her feet, his right leg on the right of hers. This way, when they mirrored movements, he did not crash in to her.

Dancing around the dummy, they went at it for a long time. Weaving in and out, moving like one being, one entity. It was a sensation Sakura had never experienced before. She had trained with Tsunade and Shizune, and Kakashi before that, but never something so—intimate, never something that connected her to her trainer like she was to Sasuke in those moments.

Eventually, Sasuke extracted himself from behind her and let her tackle the dummy by herself. Sweating profusely and with the chilly air freezing the film of perspiration on her skin, Sakura was ready to run back inside to the warmth of her bed, but she kept herself out there under the moonlight so that she wouldn't have to face the smirk on his face when he saw that she called it quits. She was not a quitter and she certainly wouldn't let Sasuke be the one to show her how insignificant she was. But the training took a toll on her and Sasuke began to notice. Her freedom was short-lived when he appeared behind her again and put a hand on each side of her waist, setting aflame the skin beneath her top with his touch.

His voice was hoarse from the cold air, and his breath was maddeningly hot on her skin as he said, "You need to rotate your hips. That's where you'll get the most power and movement. Understand?"

Sakura didn't trust herself to speak in this position so she just nodded. Mute.

Sasuke lingered for a moment. A hesitation, a moment of thought—she didn't know what, but it was almost as if he stopped being aloof for a moment and wanted to stay there next to her. Of course, this was a foolish thought and Sakura knew it the moment he stepped away from her, grabbing his abandoned cloak on the ground and walking away.

He called over his shoulder like some passer-by. "I think it's time you went to bed."


A/N: I hope you liked that first little bit of the story, not sure all the chapters will be the same length, since for a change of pace I haven't completely outlined this story (with every single detail) like I have with my other stories before because i just want to let the story take me where it needs without forcing it. I also wanted to finish writing it all and then start posting but I realized I lack conviction without knowing readers are waiting on me to update, so expect updates about once a week and maybe more after this next month!