I need a (Wo)man
Summary: Being a Cancer and so utterly sentimental, one would have thought that they would have had Sasuke Uchiha all figured out. He was an emotional crybaby with a brother complex and an arguably irritating need to be the best of the best. So why was it so damn hard for him to love a woman? Maybe his brother knew and had an idea on how….
Chapter One
" I love you."
Every time Sakura said the words, she felt the dull pain of an invisible blade piercing through her chest. She had gotten used to the sensation of feeling as if there was something missing, and she had gotten accustomed to the hollow feeling that encompassed her every time she met his obsidian eyes.
She meant the words she said once, she used to mean it intensely, and would have done anything for him, but now, it just seemed like it was more work than she was willing to do.
"..."
Again, she was met with silence. She was hardly surprised. This happened every time. So why was she still with him, one might ask? It was just what was expected of her. She had always been his biggest supporter, and always believed in him when everyone else had remained doubtful. So entering a relationship with him had just been what everyone assumed was bound to happen. One of these years, she was expected to lay down and spread her legs for him, and subsequently pop out an Uchiha heir in nine months.
They had yet to be intimate though.
" Sasuke, I think," She paused, almost too afraid to proceed with her words. The Uchiha had moved slightly, she had seen his form shift, and despite not turning around, Sakura knew that he was willing to listen to what she had to say. " I think, I think we should spend some time apart."
There.
She had said it.
Never in a million years did she ever think she was going to be the one suggesting an idea like this- the mad in love twelve year old in her screaming at her for doing this- but she could no longer ignore the harrowing distance between them. They lived in the same house, and they saw each other quite often outside of home as well, but the bedsheets between them never felt more cold.
Sasuke never touched her, he never claimed to love her, and for so long, she had just taken it as he wasn't the type to be very vocal about his love for her. She didn't know what they were. They lived together and shared a bed together, yes, but the more time passed, the more it seemed like she was a convenient and caring roommate to him instead of someone with emotional significance. Did he love her? Sakura truly would never know. And, she couldn't do that anymore. She couldn't wait around hoping that one day he would acknowledge her as something besides his former classmate and teammate.
She wanted more.
She desired more.
She deserved more.
"...Do what you want, Sakura." He replied in a low tone before turning to leave.
His reaction broke her heart.
Here, she had poured her heart out in a few trembling words, and once again, she was met with his infamous indifference. Maybe it truly wasn't meant to be. Maybe this break apart was what she needed to recollect herself. Did she truly want to be with such an emotionless man like Sasuke? She had thought that he was the most magnificent man she had ever met, but instead of striking and powerful, he seemed more washed out to her than ever.
"..Do you feel that moving out of the compound is necessary?" Sasuke asked her, watching the woman he shared his home with pack up her belongings into cardboard boxes of varying sizes.
Sakura sucked in her breath. " Sasuke, I need a break from all of this."
" Where will you go?" He asked.
Sakura smiled thinly. " Ino and Tenten's third roommate moved out, so they suggested that I move in with them."
" Won't that be too crowded?" He continued.
Sakura laughed. " Sasuke, I'm a bit perturbed by all these questions. This is the most you've spoken to me all week."
Sasuke's face became tight. " I have a mission to get to. Good luck with your move, Sakura."
And once again, she was alone.
Sakura attempted to concentrate on the piece of clothing she had been folding, but after trying to fold it into a square four times, she tossed the shirt to the other side of the room and plopped down on the large bed that they shared.
She knew she wasn't going to be lonely. In fact, living with the likes of Ino and Tenten put together probably wouldn't leave her much room for her to have some time alone. She had discussed the idea of moving out with the girls a few days ago, and they had all surprisingly supported her decision to find other means when it came to love.
" Sasuke is a self-obsessed narcissist," Ino had shouted loudly, the alcohol she had been drinking making her words come out a slow, yet steady drawl. " You should leave him!"
" Not to mention you guys haven't banged, like, what the actual fuck?!"Tenten joined her, her voice coming out a high squeak. " How long have you guys been living together?"
" Six months," Sakura mumbled under her breath.
" SIX MONTHS!" Ino shrieked, absolutely gobsmacked. " You're telling me that, all those times you were rushing off to head home, it wasn't to ride on his Uchiha pride, but it was to like, catch up on TV or something? Like seriously?"
Sakura blushed heavily, embarrassment and alcohol collaborating to create the furious blush on her cheeks. " You're too loud, Ino Pig!"
" Th-that is pretty unbelievable, Sakura-chan," Hinata chimed in, her cheeks tinged a rosy pink.
The fact that Hinata and Naruto, probably the most oblong pair out of all of them, had progressed farther than she and Sasuke ever had was unbelievable. Hell, the Hyuga heiress wasn't even betrothed to him yet and here they were, frolicking behind the rest of the clan like a bunch of teenagers-not that they had to, everyone in the village loved Naruto.
" Honestly...I was thinking of moving out," Sakura admitted slowly. " But where would I go? I can't move back in with my parents, there would be too many questions; I could move out alone, but I think I'd feel even more lonely than how I feel living with Sasuke, if that were even possible."
" You're thinking of moving out?" Hinata repeated. " I think you could move in with Ino and Tenten, you guys did mention about having to find a new roommate soon, right guys?"
The aforementioned two perked up at the idea. " Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Hinata's right; our roommate is moving out in four days, you can take her room and move in with us. We're not your parents, and we're going to always be around each other, so no way you're going to be lonely."
Her friends were right. Living with the girls would be the perfect solution to her dilemma.
" Ok, let's do it," Sakura nodded. " I'm going to tell Sasuke tonight."
That hadn't gone out as planned, as Sasuke had seemingly left for a mission he had mentioned to her for three days, and even if he did stay, the heavy hangover she carried over with her into the next day and long shifts at the hospital coincided with telling him. So he ended up finding out literally the moment she commenced packing.
Needless to say, he didn't seem to care.
Sakura spread her arms across the mattress, her body touching the comfortable and cool egyptian cotton. She closed her eyes, even though she didn't want to admit it, she was sad to be leaving him; just a little. But it was necessary. She didn't even know if she wanted to continue this weird relationship they had with one another.
It was sunny here.
Sakura's eyes familiarized themselves with the terrain around her, and she recognized the bench she had sat on with Sasuke all those years ago, begging him not to leave, to reconsider and stay with her, to stay with all of them.
He had knocked her out, just as he did now.
The impact now though was hollow and dull and left an emotional scar instead of a temporary bruise on her skin that would eventually fade.
Instead of Sasuke however, a silhouette of a figure sat beside her crying younger form. She couldn't figure out who it was; the current Sasuke she knew, or possibly someone else.
" He's a stubborn one," An ominous yet distinctively male voice spoke. " Whenever he decides on something, he follows through on it, even if he has a moment of hesitation."
Sakura clenched her fist. " So why can't he follow through on loving me?"
She didn't expect this ominous voice to have the answer, but when she didn't hear a reply, she chuckled. Of course a voice in her dream wouldn't know. Her dream was a manifestation of her own thoughts, after all. She could only speak for herself and her actions, how could she know or even begin to understand Sasuke's confusing mind?
" Maybe he doesn't know what he wants yet," The reply came a few beats later, surprising Sakura. " He's been obsessed with the idea of surpassing his brother, his best friend, to becoming the best he could be. He doesn't know what love is."
" All of that's over now." Sakura reminded. " It's been four years since then, four years since his quest of redemption."
" Maybe he feels like he doesn't deserve you," The voice suggested. " Having a woman like yourself seems much too like a reward instead of a punishment."
" No one's out to punish him!" Sakura exclaimed, frustrated. " He just does this every time. Push everyone away, and he ends up hurting everyone besides himself." She paused, seeing the shadowy silhouette comforting her small figure on the bench and drying her tears. " Besides, if he thought that way, wouldn't his actions of leading me on be considered selfish? Making me live with him? Making me think I held some significance to him? He never held me, he never comforted me. He never kissed me."
" Love is something..Uchiha's are inexperienced with."
Sakura scoffed. " Yeah, you're telling me. I just wish there was an Uchiha out there that wasn't so romantically inept."
Her younger form was smiling now and she stood up along with the hazy gray silhouette, holding his hand, a look of complete adoration plastered on her face.
They walked together and she kept on smiling, until she was completely out of Sakura's peripheral.
" You'll be happy." The ominous voice assured her.
Sakura frowned a bit watching the familiar scene fade out. " I sure hope you're right."
Sakura could hear the light sounds of birds chirping, and she knew that dawn was fast approaching. It was still dark enough, and she groggily remembered that she hadn't completed packing last night and groaned at the thought of the amount of clothing she still had to pack. It wasn't much, but she had made it her goal to complete all of her packing yesterday, so that she could move out as soon as possible.
Sakura's eyes shot open suddenly.
She felt an unfamiliar presence in the room with her.
A different chakra. She shot up, her emerald orbs darting around her room.
Instead, she was met with familiar crimson eyes.
Only, these eyes didn't belong to Sasuke.
A tall and very handsome man stood before her, hair dark but not as dark as Sasuke's. He had aristocratic features, and he stared at Sakura with the same dead eyes as someone that possessed the sharingan.
" You must be my brother's girlfriend."
Sakura registered that he had spoken to her, and kicked herself inwardly for not having her guard up earlier, and not becoming aware of his presence until a few moments ago. Not to mention that she had fallen asleep in barely any clothing. Who knows how long he could have been staring down at her sleeping ( and hopefully not snoring) form.
The words he said infuriated her. Everyone thought they were a thing. They weren't!
" Oh. My mistake then. It's not everyday a woman is allowed sleeping on my brother's bed."
Shit. Had she said that aloud?
From the wry look on his face, it seemed that she had.
" I'm-" Sakura paused. What was she exactly to Sasuke. " I'm a former teammate of his."
" Right. I'm familiar with Naruto." He replied.
Sakura rolled her eyes.
Who wasn't, nowadays?
" Wait, brother?" Sakura's eyes widened, retracing the earlier statement he had made. How the hell did she manage to gloss over that like that was an everyday thing? God was she out of it. " So you must be-"
" Itachi Uchiha," He finished for her. " And you must be Sakura Haruno."
Huh. That was a first. People took a while to get her name right or even recognize her.
But wait. What the hell? Wasn't Sasuke's brother dead? The last time she checked, he had ended up being an ally to the village, and he never intended for Sasuke to turn out the way he was. But, Sakura had been certain that he died. Just what exactly was he doing here?
A/N: I'll address a few questions in this section, at the end of every chapter, in order to clear any confusion.
* Fic isn't Alternate Reality or Universe. Maybe in ending? I actually had written a completely different story with this summary, but felt that it didn't fit as well, so I decided to apply it in the shinobi world, and it seemed much better suited. AU stuck at the end of the summary and have edited it out.
** I know that Sasuke isn't technically a Cancer, but anyone who knows astrology knows that we have multiple signs, and you can carry the traits of other signs if you are born around the last/first day of said season. In this case, Sasuke is either a Leo or Cancer, depends on which zodiac you follow, and while he does act pretty pompously, he's way too emotional, and I felt that the description fit him better.