Permanent Marker- A Naruto AU by:

Uchihaflower14

Sasuke Uchiha sat alone at a counter in Starbucks cafe. In his right hand he held a steaming extra-caffeine chocolate mocha cappuccino with mint foam. In his left he held a small 2x3 photo of a smiling pink haired girl in a jade green dress. " She looks so beautiful in green," he thought sadly. "It compliments her eyes."

His thoughts were interrupted when a young woman sat next to him. She had long blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her eyes were electric blue and highly understanding, and she wore purple gym clothes which were surprisingly flattering for being gym clothes. "You okay?" she asked smilingly.

"Hnnn..." he vacantly replied.

"It's about her, isn't it?" The girl pointed at the picture in his hand.

" What makes you think that?" he said defensively as he stowed it back in his wallet.

"Oh, just the general behavior. Moody responses, staring at her picture, and the extra caffeine cappuchino you have in your hand," she answered. Her bright eyes gazed kindly into his own as she put her hand on his shoulder, "But you know what they say, 'Love makes time pass; time makes love pass.' "

"Who was this girl? Who did she think she was that she could lecture him about love," he thought angrily. But, instead of voicing his opinion, he asked her a question, "How did you know my coffee has extra caffeine?"

She beamed. "It says so on the sticker."

"Wow, Sasuke. Of course, it says so on the sticker," he thought disparagingly. And suddenly, he couldn't explain why, but he found himself wanting to talk to her and tell her about the breakup. He wanted to tell her how out of the blue it had been, and how perfect their life together used to be.

" Where do I start?" he said quietly. She stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm... I have time. Why don't you start at the beginning? That's always easiest."

"Hnn." He stared at the ceiling, and little by little the story came out. He gained slowly gained confidence as he went on, and soon found himself pouring out his heart to her. He didn't have many guy friends he could tell this stuff to; it would ruin his Mr. Untouchable image.

"I was six when we really met. We went to the same kindergarten, but we never really got to know each other. In first grade though, Naruto Uzamaki came to school. He was everything I wanted to be. He was kind, brave, and had a way of making everyone around him feel happy. We became rivals. We would have little battles. Who could climb up the basketball pole the farthest. Who could drink their orange juice the fastest. All little kid stuff. I always won until that day. It was winter and bitterly cold. My first grade teacher, Mister Iruka, took the lot of us down to Harlem Meer. It was frozen over and we were going to go ice-skating. Our teacher warned us not to go over to the far side out of his sight because it wasn't fully frozen over. Like idiots that we were, Naruto and I completely ignored her warning. Naruto whispered to me that we should go see who could cross it the fastest. We snuck away easily. Mr. Iruka was distracted and lecturing Kiba not to bring dogs to school. We didn't notice that one of our classmates was following us. 'On your mark, get set, go!' yelled Naruto. We sprinted across the ice. I was ahead of him until I looked back. I lost my balance and went flying across the ice. I hit one of the weaker sections really hard, and fell through. The water was enough to freeze h-ll over. I couldn't breathe at all. I felt myself slipping under the surface. I lost hope of ever seeing my parents again. And then, I felt hands tugging my up. I was pulled out, and wrapped in a fuzzy green blanket. I looked up at my rescuer. It was a girl. She had jade green eyes the exact same shade as the blanket that she had wrapped me in. That's when I remembered who she was- Haruno, Sakura. She was the one who always stood alone at recess, clutching her blanket and watching the rest of us play. That day, I fell in love with her. That day I swore that I would never let her go," he said softly. "Little did I know that one day she would let me go. I don't even know what I did wrong. When we were sixteen, I asked her to go out with me. She said yes. We were so happy. We dated for nine years, and then last month, she just came up and told me it was over. She didn't even cry. But I did. I cried for all the years that I had lost over her. I cried for all the heartbreak I was having over her. I cried for all the times that I told her I loved her and she didn't reply. I asked her if she would stay, if we could get counseling or something. But she just smiled at me and shook her head. 'I need to move on, Sasuke,' she said." Sasuke looked at the girl to his right. She was watching him in rapturous silence.

"I was going to ask her to marry me," he added so quietly that only the girl could hear.

"Oh, Sasuke," she breathed, " how awful."

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this. You're probably another fan girl who's just glad I'm available." She pretended to be offended.

" I don't even know you! And anyway, I am very happily in a relationship right now thank you." He smirked at her.

"Of course, you are."

"But I am!" she laughed, and pulled out a picture from her purse. "See, Sasuke! Look right there! That's him." Sasuke took the photo from her. He immediately sobered.

"This is Shikamaru Nara," he said with his eyebrow raised.

"Uh huh! That's my favorite picture of him."

" Isn't he the one who dropped out of college to design computers and is currently a billionaire?"

"Yup! He's a genius but normally he doesn't apply himself."

"I see." Sasuke pushed the image back across the table to her. He should have known. Her purse and sunglasses were Gucchi, her earrings and choker were real diamonds, and she had on a pure gold bracelet. She was probably spoiled and stuck up. But he sneaked another peak at her face. His gut instinct told him that she wasn't like that. In all the time that they had been together she hadn't interrupted him once to talk about herself. She had just listened patiently with those great empathetic blue eyes. Now that he thought of it, he didn't know anything about her. He had been going on about himself the whole time.

"So," he began, "here I've been talking about myself all this time, and I don't know anything about you."

She smiled evasively. "Of course you do, Sasuke. I'm in a relationship with Shikamaru. I go to the gym a lot. I like jewelry. I'm perceptive. I talk to strangers. I'm a good listener. I go to Starbucks on the weekends and order a latte with extra cream."

Sasuke shook his head. "I would only know that if I was as perceptive as you are." She giggled.

"Well we can work on that." She put a little piece of paper in his hand. "Now you know my name and my number."

As she walked away, Sasuke watched her go. A quote came to his mind from one of the many books he had read. "I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you."