Disclaimer: Characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and I make no profit from this

Some nights you dance with tears in your eyes

Out of all the possibilities, all the scenarios, the what-ifs, among the crowd of attendants and special guests, among the glitter and glamour of this special night, their eyes met. And Sakura forgot how to breathe.

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Now

Sasuke woke up with a mean hangover.

He unconsciously scratched his bare chest, his eyes adjusting to the blinding morning light that shone through the large window of his apartment. His body still felt numb, his senses slowly coming back to life like they always did when he spent the night this way. It had been a while since he'd gotten to this point. Normally, he would wake up with enough energy to get up, prepare a quick protein shake, and head over to the gym in spite of his nighttime activities.

But this time, Sasuke took his time while he sat up on his bed, the bed sheets revealing his upper body and the other attendant (or attendants?) who took up the other half of the mattress. He could vaguely remember last night's events, though he always chose to drink enough to forget how he got from point A to point B. He'd developed a habit of always forgetting faces, never learning names, and never bothering to ask questions because he was not in search of a connection.

He got up from his bed, noticing that he was completely naked. The thought of covering up crossed his mind, but he once again looked at the other people using his bed and decided that they would take much longer to wake up. He could make out heads hair of different colours and lengths, and more than one pair of arms and legs, but did not bother to look at their faces. He'd probably met them at the club, having left the people he'd gone with behind to fend for themselves.

Walking over from his king sized bed to the kitchen in search for an aspirin and water, Sasuke's mind began to drift back to last night's thoughts. A hurling feeling settled on his stomach and his chest felt heavy. He ran his hand through his hair as a distraction from those thoughts, trying to find the bottle of aspirin in one of his cupboards.

His jaw tightened as he found what he was looking for. At the same time, the thought that spiraled him out of control last night and into his current state came back into his mind.

Sasuke inhaled and exhaled, all too aware that his hangover made him feel worse and more vulnerable to sensitive matters. He filled up a glass with water and quickly swallowed the aspirin pills, waiting, hoping, that the unsettling feeling he had would go away with his headache and sluggish behaviour.

But it didn't, and he walked towards the large window that gave his entire apartment a view of the other skyscrapers that filled the city.

From an outsider's perspective, Sasuke had everything. An aspiring career, a promising future, enough to get his own place in one of the most expensive properties in the city at the mere age of 22. He held himself respectably in public events and tried his best to keep his composure in check. He wore the best clothes, drove luxury cars, and could have anyone and anything at any time.

Except for the one thing, the one person, who could see behind all of this superficiality to find that he was not what he pretended to be.

Sasuke had spent the last couple years trying to forget her. Trying to forget her intelligence, her personality, her laugh, her smile, her green eyes. Whenever he had thoughts about her that were too unbearable, he ended up in this situation. He ended up going too overboard with his drinking, kissing unknown faces and sleeping with unknown bodies because it helped him forget. It helped him forget and mask the constant pain that always crept into his chest whenever a memory of her was triggered in his mind. A memory such as her birthday or her future plans.

Sasuke tried to forget about her by being with other people, by adopting a new life far away from where she was. He tried to reinvent himself because it was his best and only option. He had successfully gotten to the point of not missing her. Yet Sakura always found her way back to him, or rather he always found her in his surroundings. He found her in the way he drank his coffee, in the way he wrote his reminders and his notes during meetings, in the way he drank his alcohol because his drinks made him remember her vividly before his mind blacked out and he forgot. In rare times, he caught himself looking for her wise words, for the strong arms and hands he can no longer touch.

It had been years since he last saw her. He was only fooling himself by hiding the fact that he counted every day and every month since that last time.

He drank to forget. He drank to mask the pain, to reset his thoughts and rearrange them until they went back to what had become his new normal. Because, deep down, Sasuke knew that if he ever had the smallest possibility of seeing Sakura again, she would not forgive him.

Then

This was ridiculous. Naruto was ridiculous.

This whole party was ridiculous.

"Remember, Sasuke. The secret to happiness is to have low expectations in life."

His mother always reminded him with that sweet smile of hers whenever Sasuke was disappointed with something. And that tended to happen (and still happened) quite often. In all honesty, now that he stood in this party with a red cup in his hand, he had no expectation that he was going to enjoy this night. After all, what type of party could a bunch of thirteen and fourteen-year-old kids organize that could be considered the best event of the year?

Only Naruto would consider it, he concluded in his thoughts.

Sasuke looked around his best friend's apartment. Naruto's parents were gone for the weekend, a turn of events that seemed suspicious enough for Sasuke to deduce that Minato and Kushina allowed their only son to have fun on his last weekend of junior high at home with all of his friends. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to distract himself from Naruto's annoying screeching voice among all the other voices of the people in their year.

Truly ridiculous, he concluded.

What was the point, really? If they were going to spend all summer together only to see each other in high school? Same people, same events, different setting, different uniform. Sasuke never paid attention to these meaningless milestones in life. He'd already been disappointed enough times in his short thirteen years to find significance outside of the mundane tasks of waking up, eating, and going back to sleep.

His mother's words rolled back into his mind. If Mikoto had taught him to have low expectations in life, then Sasuke was the prodigy student. He briefly wondered what his mom was up to this Saturday night. She was probably waiting for him to get home, ready to ask him questions about this stupid party. Questions that he didn't even want to answer. Not because hated talking to his mother, but more because he did not feel like he had anything interesting or important to share about Naruto's notorious get-together.

Low expectations, low expectations.

Sasuke knew that if his best friend turned around from the TV, in which he was fully immersed in beating Shikamaru in a video game, he'd notice the uninterested expression that painted his face and would invite him over. Then, Sasuke would reject the invitation but still come closer, only to pretend to be paying attention to the screen.

Tch, annoying.

"Sasuke!"

And now, even more annoyance came along. He knew that voice way too well to know that standing in this spot without moving was a bad idea. Sasuke spotted the red hair from the opposite side of Naruto's apartment. He internally groaned, knowing that this moment was going to come at some point or another tonight.

As she approached, Karin flashed him a smile that looked way too excited to be in the face of a fourteen-year-old. She never gave up, did she? Had she ditched all of her friends to come out here to greet him?

In any case, that was his cue to leave.

Sasuke did not even greet Karin back (which was something that she should be used to by now) and opened the first door he could find.

However, he did not know what to expect when he went inside.

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This was not supposed to happen!

She looked at the deep red stain on her panties and began to freak out. Sakura repeatedly thought no, no, no, impossible! while she pulled her long pink hair in desperation. This was beyond the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to her.

The worst of all wasn't that she was wearing a skirt. It was that she was wearing a white skirt. And white panties.

Oh, no. She vividly remembered her mother's words before she left home today.

"Careful with wearing so much white, honey! You never know when your little flower may shed her petals. Your cycle hasn't found a pattern yet, so you have to -Hey, Sakura! Bye, honey! Enjoy the party!"

Sakura left her house before she could continue listening to her mother talk about the beauty of womanhood. And it was a very lucky escape, for her father had not shown up yet to lament the loss of his little girl.

Being the smart fourteen-year-old she was, she thought that the skirt looked really good with her top and the lilac bow she wore on her hair. It made her feel good when she looked at herself in the mirror. It made her forget the huge zit that had found residence on her jaw line. Besides, she never got to wear this skirt because her days were spent wearing the dull-coloured school uniform. This was a treat for her.

Boy, how she wished she had listened to her mother's words. She shook her head, making an internal promise to never say those words aloud.

Sakura's eyes began to frantically search the bathroom for something -anything- that could save her in this compromising situation. She opened the cabinets under the sink and, much to her relief, found a cardboard box that carried the message to her salvation. She took a pad out of the box, thinking that its owner would not notice the absence of one single pad before she sat down on the toilet and began to clean herself.

Luckily, her skirt did not bear any evidence of her womanhood.

Unluckily, right after she put on the pad and raised her panties, somebody opened the door.

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She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, Sasuke thought.

The door closed behind him as he realized the mistake he had made. He wanted to punch himself for being so careless. Who went inside a bathroom without knocking on the door? Yes, Naruto's apartment was his second home, but with so many of their classmates attending this excuse of a party, Sasuke should've known that checking where he was going (and which door he chose to open) would have been a much safer choice.

Sasuke tilted his head, wondering if this schoolmate of his could move, talk, or breathe. He took a sip from the cup on his hand and crossed his arms. It seemed that she was done doing whatever she was doing in here and was ready to leave. Which was a perfect opportunity, really, because it meant that he could stay in this bathroom without somebody bothering him. She'd probably go back to join Karin's group.

But the girl didn't move. And so Sasuke leaned against one of the bathroom walls, bent his knees, and dragged his back down the cold ceramic until he reached the matching floor. Then, he settled his drink in front of him.

It was only in that moment that the girl flinched, squeaked, and then reached for the flush before she lowered the toilet lid. Sasuke he had to contain his blush as he realized that this girl had not finished her business in the bathroom, and he had carelessly interrupted her before she was done.

He was ready to apologize, but she beat him to it. "I -uh, sorry!"

Her voice was soft and only then did Sasuke begin to pay attention to her. She had bright pink hair that went past her shoulders, with a bow at the top of her head. Her green eyes, which had been watching him in embarrassment, complemented her pale skin, her soft purple top, and white skirt. Sasuke has seen this girl around school. They were in the same year if he remembered correctly.

She was an array of colours. And he was black and white, to put it simply.

What was her name again?

"I'll leave now, Uchiha-san! Sorry to bother you."

She walked towards the door and was ready to turn the doorknob until she realized that Sasuke was blocking her exit with his legs. The girl gave him a look, asking if he could let her pass. Sasuke stared right back at her in silence. He did not move his legs.

"You're Sakura, right?" he asked.

Sakura did a little skip at hearing her name, and her cheeks turned into a rosy pink. "Yeah," she stammered, "that's me!"

The look she gave Sasuke indicated that she was mentally adding things that she wanted to say, and that her level of embarrassment was about to go up the roof.

But Sasuke, for once, did not mind the ridiculousness of this situation. He was intrigued. There was something about Sakura that caught his attention.

And it seemed that Sakura was going to give up trying to escape from this bathroom. It was fortunate that Naruto's guest bathroom was larger than the one in Sasuke's apartment. Otherwise, he and this girl would be in a very confined space and he would not feel comfortable enough to stay locked in. Sakura took a couple of steps until she was in front of the toilet and sat down. She settled her elbows on her knees and the palms of her hands supported her chin.

"We go to the same school," she said after a silent pause. "I'm in the other class, though. With Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. Ino's my best friend."

Sasuke knew those names. Those three were friends with Naruto and Karin, which meant that they were also in this party. His mind slowly started making connections. Sakura, whom he had never paid much attention before, must be here because of her connection to the Yamanaka girl. If Sasuke remembered correctly, she and Karin talked here and there.

"That's why you've probably never seen me before," Sakura continued. Sasuke deduced that she liked to fill the awkward silence with follow-up sentences.

"Haruno Sakura?" he finally asked after searching his mind for the last name.

"Yup! And uh," Sakura noticed that he was looking at her and her cheeks turned pink before she looked away. She felt self-conscious. "How do you find the party?"

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his drink. It was too sweet for his taste and, if he remembered correctly from his father's mixes during his childhood, this drink was more soda than alcohol. He stared into his red cup, noticing that it is still half full. He extended his arm towards Sakura and hoped that she would understand the gesture.

The girl gave him a soft thank you before she held the cup with her two hands and took a sip. "That's really sweet," she commented.

"You can have it."

This may have been the first and last time that Sasuke gives his drink to anybody. He wouldn't remember, for all the times his lips touched alcohol he'd fall into a blur.

Sakura took another sip of his drink, her eyes filled with an innocence that Sasuke had not seen in the people his age in a while. It could be that this is her first time drinking alcohol, he wondered.

"So..." once again, Sakura was trying to fill in the silence that Sasuke was beginning to enjoy, "high school, eh?"

He looked away, uninterested by the topic that Sakura chose to discuss. She started to tap her foot, and Sasuke guessed that she was trying to conceal the discomfort of his silence.

And so, he said, "It's not a big deal."

Low expectations, like always.

"Really? I think it is," she corrected him, her voice gaining confidence. This must be the Sakura that usually hung around her friends, a short glimpse into who she really was. "After all, so many things change. I'm looking forward to all those changes!"

Sasuke redirected his eyes towards Sakura's face and he could swear he could see her shine. Her mouth was curved upwards in a tiny smile, her eyes filled with a positive attitude that he had not seen in himself since -it's best not to think about that moment right now. Instead, he preferred to focus on the hope that radiated from Sakura and she continued to talk about her goals for this 'new and exciting' stage in their lives.

"Maybe we'll be in the same class," Sakura added as an afterthought. She gave him a friendly smile before she finished Sasuke's drink.

After Sakura explained a rather weak excuse, she expressed that she wanted to come out of the bathroom. This time, Sasuke let her go, already too buried within his thoughts to want to pay attention to the colourful and cheerful demeanour that Sakura had after she overcame her embarrassment. He remained sitting on the bathroom floor, feeling how its ceramic tiles were making his whole body cold after a while.

But he did not care. He stared the door, wondering, thinking.

Low expectations are what mother always told him to have. Sure, he understood where her opinions came from. Sure, he knew why he should follow that same mantra for looking forward to things had only taught him to be disappointed. Yet Sakura's excitement, her innocence, and what seemed like a lack of experience in dire situations reminded him of a time when he once felt like that too.

It somehow interested him. She, with her ridiculous complementary colours and her upbeat attitude, had truly caught Sasuke's interest in a way that no other person had.

And so Sasuke decided that, after half an hour of hiding in the bathroom, it was time to come out. Naruto and the guys did not even notice his absence as they were too busy with their video games. He decided to leave the party unannounced, knowing that tomorrow his best friend would scold him for not wanting to socialize with guests.

He walked home, repeating over and over the brief conversation he had with Sakura. Sasuke wondered how he could remember everything about it; the way her voice sounded; the way her mood changed from scared to embarrassed to awkward to welcoming and warm. He wondered if he would ever have the opportunity to interact with her like that again.

Sasuke decided to add a footnote to this ridiculous party. That sudden and short encounter with Sakura had taken away some of its ridiculousness.

If his mother asked him if something interesting had happened, he would not tell her about Haruno Sakura, but he would definitely store their conversation and revisit it later.

Now

Sakura knew that her life was better off without Sasuke.

That was something that she told herself a year after it happened. She knew that if he had stayed or if they still had any sort of communication, she would not be where she was and she would not have the same opportunities.

So yes, whenever she was too caught up in her thoughts, she'd tell herself that her life had only gotten better after Sasuke left. There was no one to rip her heart apart into little pieces, leaving her to her own devices in trying to mend it.

Sakura looked out the window of her university's library, taking in the rare sight of a clear blue sky during this spring season. She had recently turned 23 and was living some of the best years of her life. Her birthday party had been fun, dynamic, filled with the friend who had helped her become the young woman she always wanted to be when she was younger.

She had moved on, evidently. She had found herself a supportive boyfriend, a complete opposite to Sasuke, someone who encouraged her to continue with her goals and who did not leave her. It had taken her years to open up to accept love again, knowing that she gave it away too easily. She'd learned that her love was valuable and that it should not be shared with people who did not appreciate it.

Sakura had developed excellent skills in hiding and suppressing her dark thoughts and feelings. Even to her closest friends at school, she always seemed to have her head on her shoulders. She had a promising career, access to great opportunities, always searching for new possibilities in making her life a fulfilling one. She had everything she wanted and needed: her family, her friends, her intelligence, and her determination.

Yet thoughts of Sasuke came back to her, oftentimes catching her unaware. At first, Sakura always thought about her choices and how they would've affected Sasuke. Then, her imagination had begun to ask her how Sasuke would react to something, the type of advice he'd give her, how the little things in her life reminded her of him.

Now, Sakura stopped her mind when it began to remember dark hair and dark eyes because she had told herself that thinking about his wasn't going to change anything.

She had moved on, mentally and emotionally. But in days like these, when she was sitting on her own at the library studying for a final exam, the bitter aftertaste of coffee in her mouth, she allowed her mind to drift back to certain moments she shared with Sasuke.

But if there was one thing she was certain of, it was that if they ever saw each other again, Sakura would turn and walk in the opposite direction.

What? Another story? Is she gonna stick to this one?

Weeeeell, I am hoping to update at least once a week, which gives me about three weeks to come up with more material. I have a rought outline of this story, but I'd like to get some feedback on this first chapter before I continue. This idea of a coming of age story has been dancing in my mind for a while, and I've always wanted to touch upon the more "human" aspects of these characters to see where it takes me.

You could say that the "Then" and "Now" timelines are turning into a signature writing style for me. This story finally gives me the opportunity to build towards something while also hinting at the final result if y'know what I'm sayin'. The "Then" timeline is how they met, while the "Now" timeline is where they currently are in their lives.

If you have any questions about this, leave a review or PM me! I've missed this very much and I finally have TIME to write woohoo!

And finally, HAPPY SASUSAKU MONTH 2k17! (lowkey decided to post this chapter in July because of it lol)

Sincerely,

MSM