as they made their way through the streets of yet another village, naruto stopped suddenly and leaned down to pick up a rather unusually violet pebble.
sasuke paid no mind and continued his conversation with kakashi until their voices were drowned out by the blonde-haired boy excitedly chattering to himself about how much hinata would love this rock.
"hey, do you mind?" sasuke practically growled out with a very tired yawn. "we were trying to go over the aspects that went well in this mission and what areas could use some improvement but i can't hear over your gibbering."
"what is it naruto?" kakashi lazily side-eyed.
immediately upon being asked, the next few minutes were filled with naruto's voice, ranging from high to low, as it quivered in nervousness and excitement. he was preparing to give hinata this token of his love to her, even managing some remark about how it perfectly captured the color of her eyes and held up the little rock as if the whole land were interested to see.
the other two audibly sighed when naruto started on yet another rant, at this point tripping over his own tongue to keep up with those increasing thoughts of his.
sasuke could hear a steady buzz in his own ears over the ridiculous amount of noise coming from the bundle of sunshine (who was practically jumping around now) next to him.
the uchiha passed a knowing smirk at kakashi and they nodded, forming a plan without words.
"oh ok, yeah. you can tell us about it once we are back home. speaking of, do you want to stop at the bake—" at the very mention of naruto's favorite spot in konoha for sweets, he darted ahead of the other two, focusing now on their cookies no doubt.
when kakashi and sasuke finally caught up, they leaned up against the bakery door to stop and catch their breaths.
they had somehow managed to book through a full forest, the entrance of their own village and down the main road a bit before stopping.
"are their cookies really that good?" kakashi muttered through breaths from behind the ever-present mask.
"not sure, I normally don't eat sweets." but the ex-sensei watched as sasuke stretched his arms over his head, breathed in slowly, opened the door up and headed in to the counter anyways.
from the outside, he could see the two lingering at the counter talking to a girl he recognized, there weren't very many people running around konoha with cotton-candy pink hair, but didn't really know.
he thought about leaving, per usual, seeing as the mission they went on kept him from visiting the centograph for almost a week but decided against it this time and waited on them.
"so, do you come for her then?" kakashi didn't even miss a beat as the grin crept across his lips, causing the little bit of his face showing to move and visibly crinkle next to his eye.
naruto seemed to find this statement quite amusing and fell back into his rambles about needing to go find hinata. as the blonde made his way in front of them he turned, smiled from ear-to-ear and waved with his usual charm, heading in the general direction of the hyuugas. if sasuke wouldn't have known better, the boy's exit seemed a tiny suspicious.
the remaining two walked a bit further down the street before they would part ways, when kakashi distinctly recognized the noise of a little paper sack hitting the side of sasuke's leg. he eyed the pink bag that clearly had something in it and thought for a moment before turning to go his own way.
realizing this might be his only opportunity to confront sasuke, he sighed and turned back to face the uchiha, "i didn't mean that question for naruto, he has already mentioned her to me before yet you haven't…"
his accusation hung in the air for a moment as they held eye contact and kakashi pointed to the bag only to receive an eye-roll from sasuke, then they both threw their arms up in a salute bye and kept going.
the whole walk back to the uchiha compound was as quiet as arriving and staying there alone was.
sasuke remembered the times as a child, before anything had fallen apart and the grief and revenge had clouded his judgment.
he sat down on the edge of his bed when he reached his room and remembered his brother, although this one memory proved to be far more painful than anything he had once found worth focusing on.
feeling a growing sickness in his stomach, he rubbed there idly and caught on the back of his hand a light layer of grime. this was of course nothing unusual considering their mission had been to the land of wind and it was a particularly grueling summer there. he smirked at the sensations of a current breeze blowing in through his open window and sat the little pink bag aside. he grabbed a clean t-shirt and boxers, heading to the shower.
even when he had finished washing himself and cleaning his hair, he leaned against the wall as the steaming hot water poured over him.
images of a bloody tap to the forehead and a "goodbye" left him exhaling a breath he didn't realize he had held since his mind wandered to itachi.
since that day he had heard the word "love" in a different way. it had never really appealed to him in the same way it did others but now it had attached every bit of distrust, pain, and hurt with it. because of this, he had been so hesitant about giving naruto the go-ahead when he had earlier that week admitted to sasuke, kakashi, and clearly himself too, to the feelings he had so quietly burned over for hinata.
sasuke knew the risks of the shinobi lifestyle well but his few experiences with the risks of caring for someone else openly, especially loving them, were something he knew he did not want.
it all always ended, his thoughts running to a girl behind a counter and his eyes skimming the room and falling back onto the pink bag. and for him, it ended badly.
he had wondered a while when naruto spoke on his deeper feelings for the byakugan-holding girl but knew naruto had a joyful radiance that could put the sun to shame. his blonde friend could come out of some of the worst situations in his childhood and choose to put others first still and take a chance with being so available to everyone he met, never not making friends in foreign lands or the very streets of his own village.
sasuke knew naruto was this way and understood that if things didn't work out in the long run with hinata, that the two would probably still remain friends and naruto's feelings wouldn't falter or change even then because that was just… who he was. his very nature was both loving and understanding.
as sasuke made his way to his bed, feeling lighter now that he was clean and had comfortable clothes on, he grabbed for the cookies and realized this naruto-stuff didn't really matter in his case. the uchiha would never be like that and would never allow someone else in.
unlike gaara, the kazekage from the land they had just had their mission in, he knew love wasn't something he wore on his forehead and unlike many of his friends, wasn't something he had in his heart. not anymore.
he fell asleep laughing softly at the mere notion that he still even had much of a heart.
. . . . . .
she woke up to the sound of footsteps and voices outside of the room. cracking open her eyes reluctantly and letting out a yawn, sakura shuffled her way out of the bed and walked into the hallway toward the bathroom.
she had maybe three hours of sleep at most because ino had invited her over for a sleepover and this meant staying up all night with boy-talk, snacks, and movies.
so as when she looked into the mirror she expected to look more tired than she did but it wasn't too noticeable and she rinsed her face and brushed her teeth before making her way into the living room.
"so, why are you up so early again?" sakura groaned out as she rubbed her eyes.
she quickly opened them up when she overheard ino snicker and the clearing of a familiar boy's throat. apparently ino's other team members and naruto had arrived recently and must have made all the noise that woke her. she noticed the group also included the reclusive uchiha boy of whom she fleetingly glanced at and away from.
"um, sakura…" ino was looking like she might burst into a laughing fit, staring down at sakura's waist. it was only then that the girl noticed an odd breeze across her front and looked down to see she was standing there in her underwear.
her eyes wandered back up and over to sasuke's face but his expression proved to be unreadable as he turned to look out the window instead and she immediately ran back to the bedroom, mortified.
"you really mean to tell me you couldn't have maybe said something about them being here when i was in the bathroom!?" sakura turned to her friend as she entered into the bedroom too, still carrying that smug look on her face.
"i didn't exactly know you would run around in your underwear in the daylight, plus i had no idea that i would get called out for a mission this morning either."
at the mention of a mission, sakura grimaced.
"oh…" she looked down at the floor for some pants, continuing while pulling them on. "are they all going with you?"
"yeah. tsunade had nothing better for naruto or sasuke to do since they were rather eager for missions even if they just arrived back home yesterday afternoon." they shared a knowing grin and the blonde chattered away while putting things together in her backpack. "ah, you know how they can get. especially uzumaki and his ridiculous stamina and even worse persistence." ino flung her hand into the air in a very dramatic way and further went on to impersonate the boy. "BUT GRANDMA TSUNADE!"
they both shrieked with laughter, falling back onto the bed, at the sound of a very annoyed naruto in the other room and looked at one another, still giggling but a seriousness touching both their eyes.
sakura thought against it at first but then shoved her thoughts away and pulled her friend into a hug. "be safe, pig."
"yeah well don't show your underwear to everyone while i'm gone, forehead."
"aw, come on ino. this is seriously such a drag." they heard shikamaru complain and open the front door. sakura followed ino back into the room to join the others, watching as her friend swatted at her dark-haired teammate affectionately.
"sakura-chan, i'll be back and expect more of those new cookies too! sasuke actually liked them!" naruto beamed over at his partner and the boy shot him a glare.
"tch. i merely said they were alright." but as the attention was drawn away from the moment and the others were making their way into the yard, sakura noticed sasuke turn back to glance at her once more before they were all off the porch and heading to the front gates of the village.
she watched them as they left and thought to herself how "alright" was the farthest sasuke had come to actually being nice to her, since that one night forever ago whenever they were younger.
she felt a tiny bit of warmth in her chest at this, thinking back to the night that sasuke chose to leave the village and how she had known his intentions far before any of his fellow ninja had, how he had stopped to explain things to her when he never had to, how he had tried to thank her while his voice cracked and exposed a new side to him, and finally how he had glanced back at her in the same way then as now.
but sakura gritted her teeth and remembered who he was and more importantly… who she was; him practically one of konoha's greatest and her an insignificant baker who only made an impression due to her hair color.
"gah i need more sleep." she muttered as she made her way back into ino's apartment and headed to shower since her mind was too awake to go back to bed now.
. . . . . .
trekking through the woods wouldn't have been so bad if sasuke was alone or even just with naruto and kakashi. (or maybe if he had slept more and spent less time thinking about the small icing-heart on his cookie he got from the bakery when he knew naruto's had been plain. not that it mattered.)
since no serious needs had come up in quite a few weeks, tsunade had allowed for them to go with team asuma on an escort mission for a higher-up person from the neighboring village.
it would be a breeze, he thought. well as long as they managed to stop filling every moment of quiet with unnecessary conversations.
"oh come on, sakura didn't know you guys would be there."
"yeah well… do girls normally stay in their underwear when they have sleepovers? we should join next time." naruto nudged sasuke's arm at this in a very playful yet innocent way. sasuke realized this we stuff must include him.
he looked off in the distance ahead of them though, ignoring any invitation to this conversation.
this was really not helpful to the mission.
"yeah you can join them when you aren't at the hyuuga's which is never anymore. but back to sakura, i overheard some of the other jonin talking about her the other day on the streets. ino have you been parading her around to other ninja? you know rock lee is interested in her." shikamaru added in.
"actually no, they just have eyes and can see her which explains why they want to talk about her. hate to break it to them and rock lee though, her thoughts seem to be occupied by some mysterious guy. i tried to get her to spill last night with no such luck."
sasuke had to fight the urge to wonder why his ears had instantly been drawn to the conversation, causing ino's last few statement to echo throughout his head.
"ah probably some guy who works at the bakery with her," shikamaru stated with a shrug as he pulled out a cigarette.
"yeah, bakery… sweets… food. when are we stopping for lunch?" choji sheepishly grinned up at the rest of them as his belly growled, causing naruto to whoop for joy and expectantly nod at the others.
"i swear you two have one-track minds," ino and shikamaru shared an amused look at one another and glanced over at sasuke.
he was still miles away in thought though, wondering who sakura could be harboring feelings for, then wondering why it even mattered. this really wasn't helpful to the mission.
"uh i am sorta hungry too." the others looked down the row at him in surprise, then started talking through possible places to stop at on the way.
he was thankful his focus was now somewhere else, well… should have been.