A little something for any SasuSaku shippers out there! This is, I think, a more appropriate Valentine's story. Somewhat. It's still not exactly light and cheerful, though. then again, this is Sasuke.
Song: We Might As Well Be Strangers by Keane rather fits the mood of the story. Though I did not write it while listening to this song, it came on while I was editing the story and seemed appropriate, so I adopted it for the title.
Warning: Blatant alternate timeline, the divergent point being sometime around chapter 354. So no, Sasuke has not met Tobi. Also, OOC as a result, but hopefully it's still believable. (We all know Sasuke would be out seeking revenge instead of moping.)
Enjoy!
After everything she'd been through for him, the last thing Haruno Sakura expected was to find him in a tree.
A fucking tree. In the rain. Two other shinobi were there, a large male with orange-looking hair (it was hard to be certain in the discoloring mist) and another whose slicked-back and thoroughly soaked locks looked white. The former stood under the boughs of a tree next to Sasuke's, and the latter's arms were stretched out, head tipped back in acceptance of the torrential downpour. The rain was loud and hard, sending minute vibrations down the shaft of Sakura's umbrella as she stood staring. There was no reasonable way the three ninja could still be ignorant of her presence, but not even one of the men looked her way.
After the initial spike of disbelief and subsequent surge of anger, Sakura found herself entirely too exhausted to start a confrontation and, sighing, walked over to stand under the branch Sasuke was balanced on. His arms were loose, relaxed—one slung over his drawn-up knee and the other loose hand in his lap. He was soaked to the bone, having apparently done away with his cloak the same way the silver-headed man had done. Head tipped back, rain sluicing down his handsome face, Sasuke looked... exhausted, actually. There were circles under his eyes, and his limbs looked heavy. Was he sick, or had he finally realized how tiring a life he had signed up for? Sakura shoved the concern away.
Crossing her arms, umbrella propped against her shoulder, Sakura tipped her head to the side. "Do you want to get pneumonia?" she asked sharply, in the same tone she had used so often on Naruto as a Genin. "Or do you just not care?" If it was the latter, she could understand; from her unexpected words it was clear that she no longer cared not to bait the tiger that was her ex-teammate.
And he was her ex-teammate. He didn't matter anymore, not to Kakashi and not to Naruto and certainly not to her.
If only she could believe the words as easily as she said them.
"Juugo," Sasuke said after several seconds of non-acknowledgement. "Give me some space."
Without a word, the orange-head (Juugo, apparently) flipped up his hood and moved out into the rain. Hand tightening on the handle of her umbrella, Sakura watched him pass in silence before redirecting her attention to the brunette. She swallowed, then scowled. "That was a hell of an answer, Sasuke," she said dryly, making certain her voice would carry to his perch. Lowering the parasol, she shook it out and closed it, setting it against the tree trunk. "I'm moved to tears."
The corner of his lips twitched, and when he spoke it was as though all the intervening years melted away. He suddenly became Uchiha Sasuke, the slowly-warming-up teammate, when seconds before he had been the utterly remote missing-nin. "Oh, shut up, Sakura."
"Oh, so you do remember me?" she said archly. "The last time we met, I couldn't quite tell."
"Where're the others?"
"There aren't any others," she answered stiffly. "I'm on a walk, not a mission. You're awfully close to Konoha."
"Hn."
"You are loquacious, aren't you?" she asked pointedly. "Never at a loss for words, that's Sasuke."
"What happened to the '-kun'?"
"You broke my heart. Not that you care."
He shrugged almost agreeably. "No, it doesn't really matter."
"You're a jerk."
"And you're annoying."
The words washed over her, making her gut clench and her sight blur. "Bastard."
"Only Naruto gets to call me that," he said swiftly, softly. "It's not your place."
"You are one, though," she spat.
Again, that almost comfortable shrug. "That's not really the point. What do you want?"
"I want you to not get yourself killed via the flu. I think a kunai to the back would be much more fitting."
"Just like my family, then. I suppose there would be a certain poetic justice to that. Would you care to be the one to deliver the final blow?"
Just that easily, the concern was back, riding Sakura like a demon on her back. "What," burst out of her before she could really think about what to say.
"I would let you," he continued in the same detached, almost amused voice. "If Naruto isn't available, I think I would let you be the one to kill me. Kakashi never did anything to really earn my esteem. He never put himself out there the way you two did."
"You're not making sense," Sakura pointed out when she felt confident that she could speak without her voice wavering too badly. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Me. Dying," he clarified, as though she didn't already know that. Suddenly agitated, he sat up and looked at her for the first time that day, running hand through his soaked hair. "Did you hear about Itachi? He died of an illness two weeks ago. An illness."
Sakura wasn't sure what to say to that, and somehow settled on, "Were you there?"
"Yes," he answered, swinging his legs down. The slightest twitch of his right hand where it rested on the branch next to his thigh indicated that she should join him, and after just a second Sakura did so, crouching at Sasuke's side lifting a tentative hand to his back. From so close, she could hear the unnatural rasp in his usually silky voice and wasn't sure if it was emotion or sickness creeping up on her old friend. "I was. The monster. He was at an old Uchiha base, a place where our family used to store equipment. He was being tended by the-" he cut off, them mumbled, "the cats," as though embarrassed. "The ninja cats," he clarified, giving her a look that dared her to mock him. She didn't, far too concerned with the buildup of bacteria in his right lung. How long he had been in the rain was no longer an issue-it would only have been exacerbating an already-existing problem.
"He was in the back room, on his damned deathbed. Kisame was nowhere to be found, so Suigetsu started to throw a fit, and then when Karin tried to heal whatever Itachi had so we could fight, it killed her. Itachi as well. I don't know what the hell it was," he rambled, not even seeming to notice the chakra Sakura was applying to his back. "And I don't want to," he added vehemently.
"What do you want, Sasuke?"
"Sasuke-kun," he stipulated, glaring at her with suddenly red eyes.
She relented, dropped her gaze to his jawline. "Sasuke-kun. What do you want?"
He spat, "I want my fucking brother back. I was supposed to kill him. Not some damned virus. Me. I've given up so much. Just for him. Just to get even. To be the Avenger he made me. And now he's fucking gone and I have nothing to show for all my efforts and sacrifice. All those risks, all that work, all this useless fucking power, and it does me no good without Itachi around to kill."
"I'm sorry you feel that way. Who was Karin?"
"My tracker."
"Who is Suigetsu?"
"The guy with Zabuza's sword on his back in the rain."
"And the other one is Juugo?"
Suddenly Sasuke's hand was tight around her wrists, black eyes boring into her green. "Stay away from him. He's dangerous without me to control him."
"Alright," she agreed quickly, thinking a fevered and slightly delirious Sasuke was infinitely more dangerous than the guy who was currently holding out his cloak to give a stray rabbit some cover from the rain at the edge of the clearing. "I will, Sasuke."
"Sasuke-kun," he insisted again.
"Sasuke-kun."
"Good. I don't like it the other way," he mumbled, barely audible under the rain, and then twisted to face her somewhat, drawing one knee up between them. He leaned over his folded leg and let his brow rest on her shoulder. "What the hell am I supposed to do now, Sakura?"
"You come home."
"I've got a team to look after."
"They can come, too," she said softly, tucking a spiky, wet lock behind the shell of his ear. "I can get all of you into Konoha, Sasuke."
"Suigetsu wants to kill Kisame, take Sameheda or whatever the hell it is. that freaky sword."
"He'll live," Sakura said, voice laced with impatience. "Come home, Sasuke."
"Juugo's not safe in a town for long periods of time."
"Why not?"
"He has a condition."
"I'm one of the best medics in the world," she told him, and his head lifted, brows raised under mussed bangs. "I can take a look at him. If I'm not good enough, Shishou will. The Hokage, Tsunade," she clarified after a pause. "My Shishou; I became her apprentice shortly after you left."
"I didn't know that," he admitted, lowering his head once more to her shoulder. Her hand lifted and started sliding up and down his upper arm, across his shoulder. "You're not going to kill me," he said calmly.
"No," she agreed, and bit her lip a little. "Not unless you make me."
"I won't."
"Then I won't," she promised.
"Naruto's gonna kick my ass. "
"You deserve it."
"It's gonna hurt."
"I'm a medic, she reminded him.
"... Oh yeah. Fine. Whatever." He exhaled, long and slow and raspy, and buried his face closer to her neck. "You were right," he said, voice muffled, "I don't give a damn anymore what happens to me. I doubt anybody does."
"I do," she said, wrapping her arms around him so her hands could rest on his back.
"I thought you'd have fallen for Naruto by now. Or that other guy, the Hyuuga—Neji."
She almost laughed. Almost. "No. Neji and I have never quite gotten along."
"Good," he said again, hand somehow finding the dip of her waist. "You're mine."
"Yeah," she agreed. "A little."
"Hn."
God, Sasuke, do you have to be such a dick about everything? All the same, I've sort of always wanted to write that. Sasuke just happens to almost never appear in my fics so I've never really had the chance.
I was thinking about maybe playing around with this story, expanding it and exploring the consequences. Yea or nay?
Ja na!
