I Think I'm in Lab With You
-A Valentine's Day Story
Walking through the village's massive gates was like taking a breath of fresh air, at least in Sasuke's opinion.
His tired limbs screamed out in protest as he took step after step. Normally, he would take to the rooftops as he traveled because it was faster and less likely to run into annoying women who only wanted to press themselves up against him as he walked. Tonight, however, he barely had the energy to lift his feet, let alone jump, as he willed himself toward his apartment.
Under the cover of darkness, Sasuke didn't try hiding his exhaustion. It wasn't like anyone was out to see him anyway.
He shouldered open the door and proceeded to enter without turning on any lights. Originally, the plan had been for a hot shower, maybe fix himself something to eat, then bed. But once he sat down on his mattress to pull off the assortment of weapons and clothing from his person, all bets were off.
Sasuke was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
Morning was no better as he awoke with a start.
Heart racing, eyes wide, sleep quickly drained from his system as one hand tried disentangling the sheets that had snaked themselves around his legs, while the other clutched at a kunia knife from under his pillow. The only thing he could hear was the adrenalin rushing in his ears... And a banging coming from his front door.
That must have been what had awoken him.
With a snarl, Sasuke flung the kunia in the direction of the front door. It didn't even come close, but that wasn't the point. He was annoyed someone had disrupted his sleep. Didn't they know he had had a very long and tiresome mission, and only just come in last night?
With one last scowl towards the entryway, he walked in the opposite direction and made his way into the bathroom to pick up where he had left off last night.
Fifteen minutes later and the irritating banging had yet to cease. The only thing to change was that now there seemed to be more than one person. While he was in the shower, Sasuke had thought that it might be his annoying best friend. Although, if it had been Naruto, he would have just barged in within the first two minutes of not being let in.
So not the idiot. Then who...?
He got his answer when a voice from the other side of the door yelled, "Sasuke-kun! Open up! I have a gift for you!"
Followed by: "I got you something, too. And you can open me up all night!"
"Don't listen to her! I'm your only valentines, Sasuke-kun. Be mine!"
That explained it. Valentines Day. The most annoying day imaginable. Only next to his birthday.
I need to get out of here, he thought, eyes darting around his small bedroom like the great strategist he was. His first thought was the window. They were all clustered around the front of his apartment, it was the perfect escape route.
Just as the screaming and banging intensified, Sasuke opened the window, quickly jumped out, and rolled gracefully to his feet.
It was only then he realized he could have just as easily teleported elsewhere.
As a rule, he avoided the streets like the plague. They were always crawling with screaming girls on a regular basis. Amplify that by twenty when Valentines came around and it was a war zone. One fight he was perfectly fine not being a part of.
Flash stepping his way across town he came to the conclusion that he needed a place to hide out until everything blew over. Problem was, no place was safe. The training grounds, especially, were typical Sasuke Uchiha look-outs.
It was then a thought occurred. The one place his fangirls would never think to look for him.
The Lab. He smirked.
Without a second to waste, Sasuke dashed straight to the Hokage's tower for a personalized clearance card.
The machine on the wall beeped the all clear as he finished swiping his card through the slot. Only the rooms on the bottom level were accessible to shinobi with the Hokage's personal clearance. Which was why no one would dare look for him here.
He grinned slyly.
Tentatively pushing the door open, Sasuke peeked in, hoping to find his teammate hunched over her microscope, working on some important project of hers. Or like he had found her last time, "isolating toxins for fun."
Sasuke rolled his eyes but couldn't stop the smirk that tugged on the ends of his lips whenever he thought of his smart teammate. Sakura was brilliant, brilliant than even himself. She spent her days learning new advance medical jutsu, pouring over books in the library for hours. Her idea of fun was being locked in her lab creating, solving, discovering.
I'd have gone insane by now, he thought, looking over one of the Petri dishes left out. It held some sort of clear goo with a brownish-green center. It also looked to have hair growing out of it. Sasuke grimaced. Only Sakura, he shook his head.
Pushing further into the room revealed it to be abandoned.
Where is she? Sakura's always working on something or other, even on her days off. Sasuke frowned. Of all the days to be gone. She had to go and disappear on Valentine's Day.
Sasuke suddenly paused, his mind putting two and two together.
Sakura was missing from her lab...on Valentine's Day.
It could only mean that Sakura had a date. Or was on a date. Or was getting ready to go on her date.
He violently shook his head to try and rid the thoughts that made him see red while simultaneously making his knees tremble. There was no way. For the twenty years he had known her, Sakura had never mentioned a guy she was particularly fancied in seeing romantically, let alone a boyfriend. His friend was content in being single, unlike her more salacious half, Ino Yamanaka, who had men for every day of the week.
She's probably just resting, he reassured himself. She needs a day off too once in a while. Besides, she loves me. This time when he paused, his stomach churned widely as his breathing picked up.
There had been a long time ago, when they were prepubescent teenagers starting out on their first rounds of missions, where Sakura had confessed she liked him. And being the stupid boy he was, Sasuke went and made it worse by hiding from her...for four days.
She hadn't brought it up ever since.
Maybe because if she had, you would have reverted back into your inner child and went back into hiding, Sasuke chastised.
Although, if he was being honest with himself, Sasuke liked to believe he had changed. Now, he would willingly converse with her, and none of that monosyllable crap he did back then, either. He would even be the one to start off the conversations, much to her pleasure (and his delight). Even going as far as to seek out her company.
Like now. If she were her, that is.
In the midst of deciding on whether or not he was going to stay by himself with the hairy specimen, a noise came from the other side of the door he had originally come through.
The doorknob turned and popped open. In came in his pink haired teammate, backside first as she carried two giant cups of coffee. She kicked the door closed with her heeled-shoe and set her drinks down on a wheeled table. But before Sasuke could announce his presence, her form stilled and her head snapped to him. With wide, frightened eyes, she exclaimed, "What are you doing here!"
She didn't give him a chance to explain as she pushed a red button near her desk. There was a wailing noise before the door was sealed shut, reinforced with steel bars.
"Take off your clothes."
Sasuke stilled. Had he just heard right? She wanted him...naked? It was like his worst nightmare and most wicked fantasy come true!
"Take off your clothes, now! Hurry, there's no time to lose!" Sakura was already helping him with his shirt. And she was moving onto his pants next. His head swam. "Sasuke!"
Her demanding voice finally willed him into action. With each article of clothing lost came a ripple of excitement. Or at least, that was how he felt up until she pushed him hard into what looked to be like a cylinder-shaped shower room.
What was she doing?
"Sakura, what-" his words cut off, though, as the girl quickly shut the door and hot water was blasting him in different directions. His skin felt raw and numb by the time the nozzles shut off and the door opened with a soft swish.
He was met with a white, fuzzy towel, handed to him by Sakura while her eyes were averted for privacy. "Here. Dry yourself off. I'll find you a robe."
He did as he was told. "Where are my clothes?" He suddenly felt foolish. Sasuke may not have had an idea as to what was going on, but it was clear it hadn't meant sex in the lab. What had he been thinking? And having Sakura witness his weakness just added to the humiliation.
"I took care of it. They have been disposed of."
What! His eyes widened in shock. "Sakura, what is going on?" Embarrassment be damned. She had just thrown away his clothes without an explanation. The only time that happens was when...
"You have been contaminated with the radiation poisoning from my specimen. Naturally, your clothes were, too, so I burned them. Hope those weren't your favorite pair of pants. Oh. And here's the robe," she finished, handing him a white robe.
He could barely process her words after radiation poisoning. Poisoned? He had been poisoned?
"Don't worry, Sasuke," Sakura smiled warmly, reassuring him as if reading his thoughts. "Just take this pill and you'll be fine."
He grabbed the little yellow pill from her outstretched hand like his life depended on it. Which, sadly, it kind of did. "Aren't you suppose to close down the entire wing or, I don't know, at least put up a sign at the door or something?"
"Protocol demands it but, everyone was already leaving. I wasn't expecting guests, either," she added, sounding like he was to blame for all this. Sasuke glared. "What are you doing in here, Sasuke? Who let you in?"
"I used the key card Tsunade gave me when I asked to come down here. She didn't warn me I'd almost lose my life, though."
"That's because she doesn't know I'm down here," Sakura sighed. "She had told me to go home, get some rest, go out." She smirked, "You know me, I don't like to leave anything unfinished."
He nodded. Suddenly, a thought accrued. "Why didn't you have to take a decontamination shower?" Not that he wanted to see her naked, or anything, he told himself, but more because he was worried for his friend's well being. Wasn't she also in danger of poisoning?
"I have been working on this for days now," she explained. "My body has become immune to the radiation in that time. But since this is your first time exposed to it, I'm afraid the pill won't fully start to work until six hours after you've taken it, which means..."
Oh, shit. She was going to tell him he was going to die. "Which means?" He proded, his throat barely able to get the words out.
"You're going to have to miss Valentine's Day." Sakura bowed her head in apology. "I'm sorry, Sasuke."
For what? Saying the three most beautiful words he'd ever heard?
When he didn't say anything, she panicked, taking his silence for disappointment. She quickly rushed to say, "I'm so sorry! If I had just taken proper measures and followed protocol you would not be stuck down here. I'm sure I ruined any plans you had, and you're probably mad-"
"I'm not mad, Sakura." And to further show her, he smiled. Not a smirk or a grin, but an honest to goodness smile.
The woman faltered at that smile. "B-but it's Valentine's Day... Didn't you have any plans today?"
Sasuke merely gave her a deadpanned expression.
"Right..." Clearing her throat, Sakura moved the conversation along. "So you never answered my original question. What are you doing down here anyway, Sasuke."
"Hiding out." His tone sounded annoyed.
Sakura didn't need to know why. "Fangirls?"
"Hn."
"And you thought the Lab would be a good place as any," she noted. "That's actually kind of smart."
"When I didn't see you down here, I thought maybe you..."
Sasuke fell silent after that. Sakura moved to stand closer to him, fully aware that she was standing in front of him and he was naked underneath the robe. The thought sent shivers down her spine. "That I was out on a date somewhere with someone?" He didn't deny or agree but she knew him well enough to know she had hit the nail on the mark. "There were offers..." she admitted, watching him tense up. She smiled in delight. "But ultimately there was only one person I wanted to spend today with. I just wasn't sure you'd show up."
Sasuke's widened in surprise. "You still... after all this time?"
"Yes. I never stopped," she answered firmly, taking the last few steps and pressing her lips against his. Sasuke didn't hesitate to press her closer.
Their kiss was hot but short. After a few seconds she pulled away with a grin. He sported one of his own. Taking her hand and intertwining it with his, he asked, "What's with the coffee?" He nodded towards the two cups still sitting where she had left them.
"Well, since I was planning on staying down here all day, I needed something to keep me going." She eyed him with happiness. "Not that I think that'll be a problem now."
They stood grinning at each other, before Sakura quirked an eye in question. "Want to take another decontamination shower together?"