Sakura twisted her fingers together and slowly, achingly, stretched her arms up to the ceiling. It had been a long day at the hospital – two broken arms, a twisted ankle, and a fractured tailbone had occupied her morning, and just before she was set to leave an emergency case came in, which meant Sakura spent far more hours at work than she'd intended.

In many ways, Sakura was jealous of Sasuke and Naruto. Ever since Sasuke returned after the war, he and Naruto had been thick as thieves. Not that either of them would admit this of course, but they were constantly doing missions together. Sakura meanwhile, had been promoted at the hospital, something which she was proud of, but also meant she had lost all of her free time to spend with her former teammates. She and Naruto still managed to get lunch together once a week, but with Sasuke, it was more… complicated. Things, while civil, had been awkward between them ever since his return, and she wondered whether or not they would ever truly be friends.

But what if you don't want to be friends, what if you want to be something mo-

Sakura shook her head, shutting down the thought. Sasuke had made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with her, and the best she could hope for was some kind of friendship.

She peeled off her clothes and stepped into her bathroom. Reaching into the bathtub, she turned the tap as hot as it would go, and waited a couple of minutes before lowering herself into the warm water, sighing gently.

Her brief moment of bliss was shattered when her cell phone rang. She slithered further into the soapy water, and pointedly ignored the phone. After all, it was probably Ino calling to complain about Sai's most recent antics. But unfortunately, her caller was persistent. After the twentieth ring, Sakura eased herself out of the tub, and grabbed her phone.

"Ino this better be important or I am hanging up-"

"Ssssakuraaa! You finally answered!" A voice, decidedly not Ino, screamed from her screen. Sakura winced, and glanced at caller ID.

"Naruto? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Sakura asked, already mentally preparing to knock him into oblivion the next time she saw him.

In response, Naruto just laughed wildly. "Who cares? Sasuke and I just saved Konoha, and we're celebrating!"

Sakura noted his slurred speech, and the background noise behind him. If she had to guess, he was at Ichiraku's, drunk off his ass.

"Do you need a ride home, Naruto?" She asked, tiredly, grabbing her towel as she reluctantly stepped out of the tub.

"Ssn't me you have to worry about!" Naruto giggled. "Hinata's coming to pick me up. Wasn't that sweet? She's so pretty, isn't she Sakura? Tonight, Imma tell 'er how pretty I think she is, how much I just want to kiss 'er every time she looks - "

"Naruto." Sakura growled, making a mental note to call Hinata and warn her that Naruto might be a little more amorous than usual tonight. "Get to the point."

"The point is, Ichiraku's is closing, but Sasuke says he won't leave until he sees you!"

Sakura blinked. "Sorry, what?"

"Sasuke says he isn't leaving until he sees you. He's pretty drunk."

Sakura frowned, confused by the latter half of Naruto's statement (she refused to think about the first part.) Sasuke, drunk? She'd never seen him so much as touch alcohol, so this was a concerning new development.

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as possible."

"You'd better!" Naruto sang. "Hinata's here, so soon Sasuke's going to be allllll alonnnnne…"

Sakura didn't like the sound of that. She didn't know what inspired the Uchiha to take up drinking, and she wanted to make sure he didn't accidentally chidori someone in a drunken rage.

She quickly toweled off her hair and slipped into the pajamas she had put atop her bed. She wrapped her long wool jacket around her body, and slipped out of her apartment into the chilly night air.

Ichiraku's was only a ten minute walk from her flat, and Sakura quickly found herself in the main parlor of the restaurant. The place was pretty empty, aside from a very annoyed looking cooking staff and a dark lump at the bar.

Looking closer, it appeared the lump was Sasuke. Sakura marched over, and none too gently tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sasuke-kun!" She hissed. When this yielded no response, she prodded harder. "Sasuke-kun! We have to leave, the staff can't clean up until you get out of here."

Slowly, the lump shifted, and a hand shot out to grab Sakura's wrist. Sakura startled, and stared in shock as Sasuke's dark eyes lifted up to meet hers. And then, just like that, he smiled.

"Sakura." He said, eyes unfocused. "You came."

Sakura was stunned. Sasuke was known to smirk, but never to smile. She had certainly never seen the carefree grin that was currently spreading across his face.

"Uh, yeah." She replied awkwardly, slipping her arm out of his grip, as she gently helped him off the bar. "It's time to go Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke went willingly as she shepherded him out of the restaurant. Once outside, Sakura placed her hands on his shoulders and whirled him around to face her, taking her first good look at a drunk Uchiha Sasuke.

And damn, how did he even make intoxicated look good?

His hair was messily tousled across his forehead, dark as the night sky behind. His normally alabaster skin was flushed, no doubt because of the alcohol. He still wore his ninja clothes, and Sakura realized that he and Naruto must've just come home from a mission. She noticed with concern a small gash running the length of his jaw, and without thinking she raised her hand to heal it.

Shaking her out of her revelry, Sasuke reached up and mimicked her movement, placing his cool palm against the side of her face.

"You came." He whispered, like it was a secret. Like a prayer.

Sakura stood frozen, slowly bringing her eyes to look at his, and she almost had to look away. His eyes were staring deeply into hers, perhaps the first time he had looked at her, really looked at her, since he returned. His thumb slowly traced from her cheekbone to the side of her lips.

As much as she wished to lean into his touch, Sakura knew this wasn't real. His eyes, which looked so open and loving, were too bright. It was the alcohol, she reminded herself sternly. Sasuke would never act like this if he were sober.

She slowly pulled away, trying not to notice the hurt look that that flashed across his face.

"We need to get you home, Sasuke-kun. Can you tell me the way to your house?" Sakura asked. She knew he stayed in the old Uchiha compound, but had never been there and didn't know the way.

Sasuke looked at her, frowned, then looked away. "Hn. No."

"What do you mean, no?" Sakura implored incredulously. "You don't know the way to your own house?"

Sasuke stubbornly shook his head, and then promptly emptied the contents of his stomach into the street.

Sakura sighed, gently patting his back as he coughed. She needed to get him in bed with a glass of water before she was forced to take him to the hospital, and because he clearly wasn't going to take her to his house, it appeared she had no other choice.

"Alright Sasuke, let's go. I'm taking you home." She looped his long arm around her shoulder, letting him lean on her as they stumbled down the street.