Insanity, mother had once told him, was contagious. He never did quite understand what that meant until he met Uzumaki Naruto. There wasn't anything seriously wrong with him as such, but just being in his presence caused one to feel like bashing their head against a wall repeatedly until something knocked loose enough to afford some reprieve from his deranged ideas, ignoramus personality and unflinching perpetual positivity.
Sasuke sighed tiredly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he sat behind the cashier counter watching the six people milling around the little shop with mild irritation. It was a slow evening and all he could think was that there were so many better things he could be doing right then. He had an essay due in for his night classes and the little apartment he shared with his brother hadn't been vacuumed for more than four months. The laundry hadn't been done, he still hadn't finished writing the letter to his mother (who didn't feel phones were appropriate forms of keeping in touch, no matter how convenient it was) and his brother probably wouldn't cook himself any dinner and just crash onto the sofa and fall asleep until he got back.
A customer came up to him and he rung up his purchases, mentally cursing Naruto for the nth time since he started this shift. His best friend (tentative self-appointed title) had gotten sick and, knowing no one else could fill in for him on such short notice—he'd been on his way to work when he started feeling extremely dizzy and nauseated—he had asked Sasuke to take his shift, promising to make it up to him. Sasuke emphatically wasn't a people person but he supposed he owed Naruto for putting up with him all this time, so he graciously (not really, but he would never admit it) agreed.
A dismayed shout from aisle 3 pulled him out of his thoughts and he made his way there. The drinks aisle was covered in purple sticky squash and a girl with bright pink hair was holding a bottle with the lid missing and a phone in the other hand. She looked to him and began stammering an apology and he gave her an irritated look before telling her not to move while he went to get the mop. She nodded meekly and he went to the storage closet and dragged the bucket and well-worn mop with a carefulness that would surprise no one who knew about his anal retentive tendencies. Meticulously cleaning every surface infected by the sweet drink, he ordered the girl to go man the cash machine and to ask people to patiently wait for him to finish cleaning up.
She timidly made her way there and he barely glanced at her. Losing himself in the task, he didn't realise until he'd finished that he'd spent a good half hour cleaning and as he put the cleaning supplies away, he wondered what the customers had done.
As it turned out, the girl had managed to be useful and rung up all their purchases and he sighed in relief because his shift was over and someone else was to take over. He didn't wait for the handover and simply left after getting his coat and dumping the work apron in the laundry basket.
The girl followed him out, once again apologising and hoping that she hadn't caused any inconvenience. He generally didn't converse with other human beings so he merely nodded brusquely and continued walking. She kept up with him and mercifully shut up.
It was dark by the time they had left so he didn't really mind that she was walking with him, but when she suddenly started crying and sniffling, he couldn't really ignore it.
"What's wrong with you?" he sneered, his mood turning to panic because he just couldn't deal with emotions, let alone female ones, and Naruto wasn't here to make up for his emotional stunting.
She muttered between huge sobs and then screamed, "Everything! I'm clumsy and lazy and not good enough and—"
And then she fell to the floor and really let go. Sasuke stood there awkwardly and contemplated leaving the obviously distraught girl on the pavement and pretended he didn't know her. But no, he sighed mentally, he couldn't do that. He wasn't quite that heartless and he was raised better. Besides, he would feel extremely guilty if something happened to her when he could ostensibly have prevented it.
Cursing himself mentally, he got on his knees and lifted her face, telling her to breathe slowly and tell him what her problem was. Even as he said it, he knew it sounded harsh and reluctant, but she didn't seem to mind or notice.
Through sniffles and heavy breathing and hiccups, the story was that her boyfriend had broken up with her as she'd been shopping for his birthday dinner. He'd done it over a text and then promptly blocked her number like a true coward and in her miserable anguish, she'd squeezed the bottle so hard that the lid had popped clean off and the entire drink had been squeezed out of the bottle from the pressure of her grip.
After that she dissolved into wet apologies and sobs. Sasuke decided that he was going to murder Naruto for putting him in this kind of situation, and then attempted to placate her.
"Well, with that strength, you could probably just rip his balls off with one good yank anyway."
She looked at him, startled, and then dissolved into a sobbing and giggling mess. "I could, couldn't I?" she asked breathily, a smile burgeoning on her face through her hiccups.
He sat there beside her, his knees cramping and his calves aching, as she put herself together. Hiccups subsiding and tears wiped sufficiently enough that she didn't look like a drowned puppy, she thanked him and asked him what she could do to repay him for the mortification she undoubtedly must have put him through.
He grunted and held a hand out to her. She grasped and he lifted them both up, walked her home and lifted a hand in goodbye before stuffing it back into his pocket and sauntering away.
"I'm Sakura by the way, Haruno Sakura."
He turned around partially and nodded at her expectant face. "Sasuke."
He walked away and she went inside, a small smile on both their faces.