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**Author's Note**

So I've been reading some fanfiction about Sasuke and Sakura over at and I really want to add a story that I wrote about their not so hinted romance because I like the two of them together. Well, I've imagined the story up until chapter 3 already but you know, my human hands just can't keep up with the flow of ideas. If I could just write what I was thinking then probably I've written a lot of books already

It's been a long time since i've uploaded anything in so i'll probably keep this up until this one is finished...

Please Review!

~HIMERU CHAN~


Prologue:

Her Art

Sakura gazed at her reflection at the oval shaped mirror and pouted her lips quickly. Her pink locks of hair were tamed on the sides, some escaping to block the view on her beautiful yet paled face. Her long silken hair had grown up to her waist but she always kept it braided. The dexterity of her youth was still there, lips were still lustrous and her eyes were still attractive to her own point of view. It should be there! She didn't want her work to cause her to age. She was still young after all. Being a 20 year old with a lot of life responsibilities is bound to make her old soon. That's why she placed a mirror directly in front of her so she can check herself out every so often.

How long has she been doing this? 15 hours? She sighed as she brought a hand to massage the throbbing temples. She pointed two fingers on her forehead and tried to relieve her headache using her chakra. She smiled, learning that this is one of the best ways to use her energy. If she had more time, she's bound to develop a new jutsu for dealing with minor ailments like this only because she needed one.

She sighed and focused her attention to the multitude of papers on top of her desk. The papers contained information on the number of casualties they had for the past month. Sakura deemed this important because it contains essential intel on the methods of attack their ninjas usually receive in their missions, how much ability do other ninjas have during combat and how much defense or offense do their ninjas use. Using this to Konoha's advantage, it will help their village to strengthen their ninjas to adjust to such attacks.

She could have easily left the job to the secretary but she knew how to classify the papers more than anyone else. Being an accomplished medical ninja, her skills have reached a level where even other countries recognize her work. She doesn't really think of the prestige she's been receiving though. More like, she doesn't have time to think about it. She's always juggling classification work, patients and missions that she hardly gets any time to appreciate the fruits of her efforts. Besides, the influx of patients that required a higher level of fixing had kept her body at its limits every single day.

"Tea?" a brown haired woman offered as she settled the drink at the near edge of her busy table. Sakura nodded once and smiled at her before she spoke again. Sakura knew about the envelopes she had in her hands and before she could even tell her about those, Sakura had eyed her already. Her eyes told the other woman that she was busy. Extremely busy.

"So I'll just put these in that basket over there?" she seemed a little depressed as she made a walk over to the basket that was on top of an unused table in the corner.

"Sarah, just put it." Sakura ordered with a raised brow when she saw the other woman hesitated.

"But you have to read it you know? You have like," she stopped for a moment as she turned around and described the mountains of letter that was inside a hollow container. "See? It's a basket full of letters already!" Sakura sighed and when she took a quick peek that the other didn't seem to notice, she was spot on. It was a basket full alright. She shook her head and shuffled the papers into one folder.

"That's just exaggerating it." Sakura immediately countered.

As she placed the folder in one empty spot in her table, she turned her attention towards the tea. She grabbed it slowly and started to take small sips on it. She smiled when she smelled the aroma of Jasmine that she truly loved. It released the tensions of her muscles before she leaned back on her chair. She started playing with her chair, moving it back and forth to divert her attention away from work.

"You know?" Sarah started. Instantly, the pink haired kunoichi knew she'd have to endure another life lesson lecture from her.

"You never go out. I mean, you're all work! Sakura you're still so young! Why don't you try going out and choose a ninja from these love letters?" She grabbed a handful of letters on the table and brought it up to reiterate her point. I looked at her and tried to digest what she just said and a slight chuckle left my unwilling lips. It didn't actually bother her if she was the only one in their generation who has no boyfriend. She's just happy that her friends, Ino, Tenten and Hinata, are happy.

Ino and Shikamaru just clicked together, and she knew it would eventually come to that even when they were still teammates. Now they are both jounins of their own right and have been kicking it off to check whose team was much better than the other. Shikamaru loved Ino's futile competitiveness against his and Ino loved how Shikamaru would sometimes let her win just for the sake of making her blissful. She wouldn't have cared much about it but Ino's ranting mate turns out to be her most of the time. In the end, she knows their love story by the back of her hand.

Tenten and Neji took quite a long time before it had blossomed to the point that Konoha knew of their relationship together. She remembered it on the fast track when Tenten was kidnapped and Neji was the one who rescued her along with Kiba and Naruto. Neji wouldn't want to advance into a relationship especially when he knew Tenten was not ready. Tenten on the other hand was embarrassed to hint that she was ready. So they waited for a long time before it became official.

Well Hinata, she and Naruto had gone to missions together a lot lately and she had been a big part in it. She playfully asked Tsunade to bring them closer to provide more opportunities for the both of them. Unfortunately, she hasn't heard anything after that.

She smirked and brought the teacup down the saucer. Finding someone to love right now is really troubling. She never thought of it for a long time and it certainly didn't matter right now. The point is, if the men are so much eager to write her silly love letters, they should just approach her.

Are they so insensitive to know that I have been working overtime for their sakes too? I can't even imagine inserting a bit of my time to read such sultry poetries of love.

Sakura blinked her eyes off the handful of letters off the woman's hands. Love can wait. Men can wait. I can wait. Work CAN'T wait. How many injured people come and go this hospital? More than 50 a day! Some days would even have 5 badly injured jounin who really gets on her nerves. Ninja's HAVE to learn some good self defense to lessen their injuries. She hated people who didn't take good care of their health.

Before she could delve into further details of convincing the Hokage to add it to the platforms for the coming year, her consciousness floated to Sarah's voice again.

"People fawn over you Sakura, It's been 8 years now... you should just relax and hang out." She shrugged her shoulders like she had to. She knew what she meant by 8 years. She has been counting with me every year. I made it appoint to look at her strictly and she gave up with her hands up on the air courtly.

Sasuke. He was one insolent bastard who fled from the village to extract revenge on his brother who left their clan near extinction. Her old self would certainly look for him still. She laughed and joke about it for some time but the pain was still there. Lately, she realized that he wasn't the only man in the world. She realized that looking for him was useless. He was a person who never wanted to be found. I never gave up on him though and as a former teammate, that's the only thing she could offer to him now.

"Sarah," Sakura said while covering a palm over her eyes.

"Okay, I'll take a short break." Sakura stood up, stretched her arms over her shoulders and let her soft roses of hair gather around her back. Sarah thought she was beautiful. A pair of green emeralds hugged her soft eyes. Her silken soft locks of pink were loosely coiled on her shoulders. Her small cherry coloured lips matched her rosy cheeks. The black hanging top hugged her body and her black leather knee length pants fitted her like second skin. Wearing her white coat was a plus factor. No wonder men and women admired her. She was one of the prettiest kunoichi around, not to mention one that follows the skill of their hokage, or even better in the future. She was dedicated with her chakra control that none can beat her skill with it- at least not in Konoha, or those who dared challenge her to it.

Sakura took her white coat off her body and replaced it with a white hooded coat in her clothes rack in the office. She wore it and went outside from the window. Laughing as she enjoyed unconventional methods like that. Brings back memories of spying missions and all just for the fun of it. She covered her lips and ran down the streets just to feel the air brushing against her cheeks, with a speed that normally no ninja in Konoha would use while inside the bustling village. It's been a while since she went out and she certainly loved that feeling of not thinking about anything.

"Hey! Slow down there," her eyes went to the side as she saw kiba washing akamaru. She was at a rooftop directly across where Kiba was. The man called and waved at her while Akamaru barked his greetings. Sakura waved back with a smile as she jumped down from the green coloured rooftop and down the road to check both of them out.

"Feeling the air?" Kiba asked. Sakura chuckled at that and nodded. "I was getting bored in the office." The fanged man laughed so hard and stopped after a moment to explain.

"Sakura, your office is boring." She nodded. Yes, it was boring. No action. She missed the action and the time when she did her share of missions almost every week.

Apparently, being one of the top medical nins around, Tsunade was careful in choosing her missions. She will be a great loss, Tsunade explained to her once. Not that she wasn't happy being treasured like that. In fact, with the appreciation of so many people and being recognized in the village was a dream when she was still in Team 7. Her hands can cure, at the same time could kill. She was a double edge sword. She was like that Kabuto kid who Orochimaru had for his own damn selfish sake.

"Well, do you think bathing Akamaru is fun?" Kiba chuckled. "Well at least it's not paperwork. I hate paperwork." Sakura walked around and nodded her head.

"Hey kiba? Who do you think is most likely training right now?" Kiba's eyes widened with surprise but he cupped his chin almost immediately. "So you want a good knuckle fight? Well fuzzy brows training every day,"

Fuzzy brows? She knocked her head to the side and smiled. Of all the ninjas that she knows, it was most likely Lee that was training right now. He was as dedicated to Taijutsu as she was in her medical arts. She meant it, this was her ninja art.


Tried fixing this chapter :P