He was seventeen years old when he saw her for the first time.

It was move-in day for his first year of college and there, on his roommate's dresser, was a picture. His roommate, blonde and obnoxious, was pictured laughing with a fair and equally bright young woman.

Her hair was pink. Pale pink, like cherry blossoms, he thought. But it wasn't her unusual hair that drew him in; it was her eyes. Green like ocean his family visited when he was child. Their color was almost unnatural. Seafoam. Bright. Intelligent.

They glowed.

His roommate, having been previously engaged with sorting his stacks of instant ramen, turned his attention to Sasuke. Naruto followed his gaze to the photo.

"What ya staring at, weirdo?" Naruto asked with playful suspicion. Sasuke rolled his eyes; Naruto was awful familiar for someone he met in person just that morning; it was irritating already.

"Who's your friend?" Sasuke asked, pointing to the pink-haired girl.

"That's Sakura. She's my best friend!"

"She has pink hair." Sasuke said lamely.

"No shit. But don't tell her that." Naruto replied. "She always claims it's 'strawberry blonde.' But, nah, it's straight up pink, you know?"

Sasuke hummed in response, but Naruto continued.

"That's, like, her natural color." Naruto explained.

Sasuke shot him a skeptical look. Naruto raise his hand defensively.

"I'm serious! I've known her since fucking kindergarten. Her hair has always been that color. She doesn't dye it. I mean, her name is Sakura, I guess it makes sense… But she's pretty cool. She's doing her pre-med at John Hopkins 'cause she's a fuckin' genius." A blush blossomed on Naruto's cheeks as he spoke.

And Sasuke, for reasons he didn't understand, did not like that blush on Naruto's cheeks.

"She's going to come visit over fall break!"

Naruto drove Sasuke fucking crazy, but either Sasuke didn't show it enough or Naruto was really that oblivious, because the idiot seemed to think they were best friends.

But, as freshman year came to a close, Sasuke found himself dreading moving out. Naruto, he almost hated to admit, connected with him in a way that others couldn't. He was an orphan from birth, alone most of his life and was shifted around the system until his godfather reconnected with him and intervened.

Sasuke was alone too, but he was new to his aloneness. He was 16 when his mother, father, brother, and brother's girlfriend, Izumi, drove off and never came back. He had a cousin on the west coast, but that was it. He didn't have any other family. He kicked his own ass to college.

They were two kids together in their aloneness and the random draw of college roommates brought them together.

And they remained roommates for the next 12 years.

He guessed they'd rather be pissed off at the world together than pissed off alone.

If Sakura came to visit over fall break, Sasuke never heard about it. While he was mildly curious to meet Naruto's brilliant pink-haired friend, he'd been visiting a friend in his hometown on the day she was set to arrive and when he had returned, she was nowhere to be found. Something seemed to have happened because Naruto was unusually quiet and tolerable for the next few weeks and the photo of Sakura was gone.

It was during finals week of his freshman year that Sakura's name came up again.

"I just don't understand! She's brilliant. She earned a great scholarship. I know it doesn't cover everything, but... The hell is she thinking?" Naruto whined from his desk. Sasuke spared him only a glance before returning his attentions to his study guide.

"She doesn't need to do this. What if she gets hurt? I mean, don't get me wrong, she regularly kicked my ass growing up, but like… she's… small…"

"Hn."

"Like, it's not fair. It's-" Sasuke slammed his laptop shut and got up.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Library because you won't shut up." And with that, Sasuke closed the door behind him.

Apparently the pink-haired, green-eyed woman was dropping out of John Hopkins to enlist in the army.

All Sasuke could think about was those glowing green eyes but heavy, like his, with the knowledge of death and loss.

He shook the thought from his head and carried on.

When they returned to school the following fall, the picture of her had returned to Naruto's dresser.

When Sasuke was alone in the room, sometimes he'd glance at that photo and find himself wondering what her voice sounded like.

He never found out what her voice sounded like. She was busy, too far away.

One time Naruto hinted that she was purposefully distant because of whatever had happened during that fall break in freshman year, but he had never explained anything beyond a hint and Sasuke didn't care enough to ask.

Still, sometimes he'd find his roommate on joyous, animated phone calls with Sakura. When they moved to an apartment in junior year, he'd find letters with her name listed with the return address.

She always sent Naruto a Christmas and birthday present. One time, she'd sent a package filled with German candy she'd picked up while briefly stationed in Europe. The package had been address to both Naruto and Sasuke and her note had said in neat script:

...Sasuke, don't let Naruto hog all of the candy. Be sure you hide your share away for yourself...

He didn't eat any; he doesn't like sweets.

But, he now knew she was aware of his existence; that was enough.

He shook off that thought quickly. He didn't even know her. It was creepy.

So the grew out of their teenage years and into adulthood. Not much changed.

Sasuke and Naruto remained roommates even after college. Naruto still annoyed the shit out of him. Sasuke continued to choose being annoyed in favor of being alone.

Sakura sent packages for Christmas.

Sasuke's family was gone.

And yet, everything had changed.

He had always wanted to be a lawyer. For as long as he could remember, he said he'd be a lawyer. But as his final semester of college approved, he didn't apply for law school. His father's expectations seemed to still influence him.

He applied for the Police Academy. Naruto, whose interest had always been in politics, had proved to have been too relaxed as a student. He moped for a whole day over his rejection letters to grad school before changing gears and deciding to apply to the Police Academy as well.

"I mean, I've got a criminal law and justice degree, so it seems like a good idea, you know?"

Sasuke had briefly been horrified, but not much changed and he was thankful he didn't have to go back to being alone. They stayed in their apartment. They graduated from the academy and got jobs. After a few years, Sasuke was promoted to a detective and Naruto followed him shortly after. Their new captain made them partners, apparently, if rumors were to be believed, because he thought no one else would be able to put up with them. They moved to a townhouse on the other side of the river.

The picture of the pink-haired girl sat on the mantle above the fireplace. Her green eyes still glowed.

January 23rd.

He had six more months.

Six more months until he turns thirty.

Fuck.

He stares at his phone, still illuminated the contact screen pulled up.

Sakura Haruno

415-948-3929

His finger hovered above the call button and then the message button until the screen finally turned off from inactivity. He tossed the phone aside and let his mind recall the conversation that got him in this predicament.

"Hey, I gotta ask you a favor." Naruto said from the other end of the phone.

"Hm?"

"You know how I told you Sakura was moving back to town?"

"For her residency."

"Yeah, well, I've got too much going on with the campaign down here in Richmond this week and then next week we start touring all the way down in southern Virginia… Bristol, then Blacksburg… Anyway, I told Sakura I'd help her move, but I don't think I'll be able to get back to DC until the end of February."

"And?"

"Ugh, learn to take a hint, Sasuke. Will you help Sakura for me?"

"It's not my fault you're shit and managing your own schedule. Doesn't she have other friends that can help?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"No."

"Don't be an asshole about-"

"I don't even know her."

"Alright, well, I think you guys would get along."

"..."

"Look you don't have to help her move, just like, take her out and show her around the neighborhood. She's in a building just a few blocks from us; it'd be nice and I actually think you guys would get along. I'm gonna share her contact with you."

"That does not sound like something I want to do."

"Just think about it, okay?"

Normally, Sasuke would have just blown Naruto off, but he actually wanted to meet her. He wanted to show her the neighborhood and that was a whole new level of annoying that he wasn't sure he was equipped to deal with.

So he did nothing.

He buried in face in his hands.

Dammit.

He was going to be thirty in six months.

...TBC...

A/N: Well, folks, I've been slowly pecking away at my MinaKushi fic; I want to write half of it before I continue to publish it on here, but I promise it's coming.

In the meantime, I've been on a SasuSaku kick lately. I used to not like this pairing back when the manga was ongoing, but man, I love them now.

I've been wanting to write a modern day detective!Sasuke and doctor!Sakura fic for a while. I was originally going to set it a western US city (I was thinking Denver), but the more I worked on the plot, the more I wanted to add a political twist…. So it's in DC so that all of that will make sense.

I'm not very familiar with DC or really city life in general…. So please forgive me locals. Suspend your disbelief. And please, feel free to offer suggestions.

i do not own naruto