Chapter i
Love was stupid.
Well, according to Sasuke it was.
He lost any feelings of love and affection ever since his clan was massacred. Betrayed by his own brother, the one whom he admired and loved the most, it made his heart turned into stone. Feelings of happiness and warmth buried beneath the depths of his heart, piled on top were layers and layers of darkness. He had forgotten what it was like to love someone and to feel loved.
To feel love— Not those shallow crushes his female peers had for him, but actual genuine and unconditional love.
Sasuke never understood why many of his female classmates liked him the way they do. He never understood how they could be so infatuated with someone who didn't even bothered to know their names. They knew nothing about him and vice versa, but for some reason they claimed to be head over heels over him. Because of that, he had to deal with being the cause of outrageous bickering between the other girls, some even formed rivalries to see who would win his affection. Not that he cared about what goes on in their personal lives, he just felt annoyed, and there was nothing more he wanted than to be left alone.
For a long time he felt hatred. He felt angry, paranoid, and hurt. For a long time he walked the streets with a blank stare, dozens of eyes watched him either in secret infatuation or pity because of what happened to his clan. He shrugged off their looks of admiration or worried glances. He didn't care what others thought of him. He didn't need to be pampered or pitied.
He didn't care about anything or anyone really.
He only cared about one thing, and it was revenge.
Oh how he dreamed for revenge. He often wondered how he would kill Itachi, whether or not Sasuke should kill him quickly before even realizing that he was dead, or if he should make his brother suffer long and painful.
Either way, he knew that revenge would be really fucking sweet.
But… After spending years motivated to get his revenge on his brother, years dedicated to getting stronger even if it meant betraying his village and even the one whom he considered his "best friend," he realized that his revenge wasn't as sweet as he hoped it would be.
In fact, as he witness Itachi's dying and staggered breaths, seeing the corners of his brother's lips curl into a small, maybe even relieved, smile, Sasuke realized that he was wrong.
Everything he knew growing up was a lie. He found out that he was betrayed by his own village, not his brother, and once again found himself lost in a spiraling mess of darkness.
000
Sasuke's eyes slowly opened upon feeling the warm sun rays hitting his skin as it shone through his thin curtains. He blinked at the ceiling a couple times, still drowsy with crust filled eyes. But seconds passed and the faint ring of construction drills in the distance snapped him out of his sleepy trance. He looked at the clock, seeing it was 30 minutes till 12 and frowned at how late he woke up. He slowly sat up in bed, throwing the covers aside while letting out a deep yawn. He went to stretch his arms, but remembered that only one arm remained intact while the other had to be amputated due to his dispute a couple months ago with Naruto.
It all felt too surreal.
Not too long ago the entire world could've been put under the Eternal Tsukuyomi. Everyone would be trapped in a dream world, a world where all their fantasies and guilty pleasures would come true. He wondered what his paradise would be like; would his family still be alive, living in peace with the village? Would he be grown up, have a beautiful wife and kids to rebuild his clan? He scoffed at his ridiculous thoughts, knowing that despite how sweet it sounds to live in a world where everything went according to plan, it still would be a lie.
He looked outside his window, and what he saw was far from beautiful. The village went through some serious damage during the war, many lives were lost and homes were ruined.
This was far from paradise. But this was real. All too painfully real.
His feet touched the cool surface of his temporary apartment and he couldn't help, but frown knowing that he wasn't at his usual home— the Uchiha residence. As much as he wanted to stay there instead, Kakashi insisted to stay in one of the local apartments which had the least damaged compared to the areas near the borders of the village. He told him that they would be reconstructing in that area, so it would be more convenient for the workers to rebuild without having to worry about anything dangerous happening to any civilians, and also he wouldn't be bothered with the construction noise as much.
But Sasuke wasn't stupid. He knew Kakashi ordered him to stay there because it was easier to keep an eye on him.
The Uchiha residence was near the outskirts of the village, where it's easier to sneak out if one so happens to chose. Kakashi wanted him to stay at this small apartment near the center of the village so that no matter what, eyes would be on him wherever he went. Did Kakashi think that he was going to betray the village or run away again? He knew very well that despite being let back into the village after assisting Naruto in stopping Kaguya, it was still hard for others to trust him again. Sasuke wasn't surprised of their skeptical glares, but if he wanted to turn his back on any of them, he would have probably already done so, even with just one arm.
"Fucking stupid," Sasuke muttered underneath his breath, talking to no one as he made his way to the shower. He turned the faucet on, waiting a minute or so for the water to heat up before going in and letting the warm liquid softly hit his bare skin. He thought about what he should do today. There wasn't much to do with most of the village practically destroyed, he didn't really have a lot of options. He could always go to the training grounds and get used to the fact that he had one arm, but honestly, he just wasn't in the mood today, or at all.
After defeating pretty much the strongest opponents there was, he felt like he had no more reason to train, no more reason to get stronger.
With all his enemies taken care of, he felt empty. As if he's just rotting the days away, living in a blurred existence.
What's left to live for?
His thoughts were interrupted after hearing the doorbell ring. Quickly finishing up washing his body, Sasuke exited the shower and wore fresh pairs of boxers and slung the towel over his damp hair. He didn't bother throwing on the rest of his clothes because the one at the door wouldn't stop their excessive ringing.
Sasuke opened the door irritably, and without even giving them permission to let the uninvited guest in, they barged in anyway.
"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto greeted loudly as he walked in. "Did we interrupt your shower?" Seeing his friend soaking the wooden floors.
Sasuke only glared at him, not wanting to answer because it should've been an obvious, "Yes you did, idiot." He looked to see who was behind him, and of course it was Sakura, who's face was flushed red.
"Good afternoon Sasuke-kun." She greeted, her eyes trying hard to focus on his face.
He only nodded in response and raise a brow, only to realize why she was red in the face.
Right. He was half naked, dripping wet. Any girl's fantasy, he assumed. And Sasuke's pretty sure she's thinking of something obscene, catching the small smirk she had.
He sighed, making his way back to his room, putting on a simple pair of sweats and a shirt that clung nicely to his body and rejoined them back in the living room. "What do you guys want?" He asked, not really annoyed, but not happy at the same time. He dried his hair with the towel quickly before throwing it lazily at the hamper that stood near the bathroom.
Before Naruto could answer, Sakura was already in front of him, "Well it's been kind of hectic since the war is over, with all the construction going around, but a new barbecue restaurant recently opened, so we think this is a great time to get the old team back together and hang out like old times!" She gleamed brightly.
Sasuke contemplated on refusing, but Naruto added, "If you say no, then Sakura-chan and I could always crash at your apartment and have a nice dinner here later."
000
And with that, Sasuke found himself with a face full of smoke, his eyes slightly watering from it, and burning meat filling his nostrils.
"Naruto you're burning it!" Sakura whined, as she took away the metal tongs from the frantic ninja.
Naruto frowned in defeat, his shoulders slumping forward. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, I'm still trying to get used to only one arm— I was right handed, so using my left hand for everything now is really confusing!" He whined.
Sakura gave him a sympathetic look, and sighed, "Don't worry too much about it, Tsunade-sama said that the prosthetic arm should be ready soon— For the both of you," She said, eyeing Naruto and Sasuke. "Luckily you guys have more than enough chakra to power the joints with ease."
Naruto smiled, leaning closer to Sakura, "Then how about in the mean time, you feed me since I'm currently handicapped?" He suggested as he wiggled his eyebrows.
Sakura's expression immediately grew disgusted, giving Naruto a hard, but playful slap on his shoulder, "No way! You should get used to using your left hand in the mean time."
Naruto only laughed, rubbing the sore area on his shoulder and Sakura smiled as she cooked the meat. Sasuke couldn't help, but feel out of the loop with the team dynamic. Then again, he hasn't seen them in years, so it should be obvious that those two were able to get closer, but didn't know they were this close.
"You guys going out or something?" Sasuke asked bluntly with a bored expression.
Both of his former teammates expressions changed, Naruto's face grew tomato red as he tried to refrain a smile and Sakura almost flung a piece of meat across the room from shock.
"W-what no way!" Sakura denied, "Besides, it's hard to even think about getting into relationships when you were away." She told him.
Sasuke just shrugged as he looked out the window. Naruto coughed and looked at his quiet friend's missing arm. "So, how are you holding up with just using one arm? I'm sure you're not having much of a hard time since you are right handed."
"Eh... It's annoying, but I guess it's better than being dead." Sasuke answered as he continued to stare out the window, watching by passers walk by. From the entrance of the restaurant he heard the bells chime.
"Ah well if it isn't Team 8. What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, his voice bouncing off the walls of the restaurant.
"What do you think we're here for? To eat obviously! I'm tired of the ration foods we've been getting, so I'm glad that we're finally able to eat something good." Kiba answered back, equally as loud.
Great. Another annoying team was here, Sasuke thought, not bothering to turn around.
"I know right? I'm glad that we're able to find a table before the lunch rush." Sakura added.
"Ah-! That's right! Crap we got here too late, the place is filled!" Kiba yelled in distraught. "I knew I shouldn't have stayed at the vet an extra hour for Akamaru-"
There was a light chuckle from Sakura's lips. "Feel free to sit with us! We do have a six seater table anyway. We'll just order more meat and split it amongst ourselves."
Sasuke had to stop himself from sighing out loud. He didn't even want to eat lunch with his own team, now he has to eat it with his team and this other one.
"Excuse me." A soft voice came from his right.
Sasuke almost jumped because he didn't even realize that someone was there. He turned his head to be met with pale lilac eyes, but the eye contact was quickly broken when she looked away. "Um... I was wondering if you could move a bit so Shino-kun and I could have a b-bit more room to fit in Sa- Uchiha-san."
Hm... What was her name again? She's a Hyuuga that's for sure. Sasuke said nothing, but scooted over. Despite the fact that he gave them a lot of room, the Hyuuga girl was distances away from him and for some reason, that annoyed Sasuke a bit, but he didn't care enough to say something about it.
Kiba ordered more meat. Besides Kiba, the rest of his group was actually pretty quiet. "Sakura-chan, how is it like working at the hospital?" The Hyuuga asked softly.
Sakura's eyes perked up, just barely catching the question, "Ah it's hard. Tsunade-sama has me working my ass off to tend to the patients since there were a lot that were injured during the war. I don't mind at all though, but..." Sakura pursed her lips, a slight annoyance evident on her face, "There was this one patient that keeps trying to get me to go out with him."
"Was it Lee?" Naruto joked, earning a high five from Kiba.
Sakura's eyes widen, "What? No! It's just a guy name Takeo. I'm pretty sure he likes me because I treat him, other than that he knows nothing about me, so it's strange that he would try so hard."
Sasuke snorted thus causing everyone at the table to look at him.
"What was that?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke stared back at them, but said nothing and looked out the window instead to try and drown out their meaningless conversation. She should know full well of wasted efforts on a crush, Sasuke thought as his eyes wandered to the clouds.
000
"Okay the meat is done cooking!" Sakura announced. Naruto and Kiba made no hesitation to dig in and Sasuke finally turned around. He waited till everyone was done fighting for the meat to finally get his share.
"This is so good after all the work I had to do earlier this morning." Naruto smiled, savoring the taste of the meat.
"Bah honestly, I was hopping I wouldn't see you today. It's annoying seeing your clones constantly running around everywhere in the village. One of you is more than enough." Kiba scowled with food in his mouth.
"Careful Kiba-kun, your food might spill out." Hyuuga softly commented as she smiled.
"Hey! After the war, there's a limited amount of workers to help with construction.." Naruto argued back, "Besides, I'm the only one with enough chakra to create and maintain that amount of shadow clones heh." A big grin was plastered on his face.
Kiba rolled his eyes, "Whatever, we're doing stuff that's equally as important, right guys?" He turned to his team and Shino nodded his head and the Hyuuga gave him a smile of approval. "We're part of the tracking unit, so we help find those who went missing, whether they're fellow shinobi or missing family members."
They all slowly turned their heads to Sasuke who was quietly eating his food. He looked up from his rice with an emotionless gaze and chewed slowly.
"What?"
"What do you mean what? it's your turn to share what's been going on in your life after the war." Naruto told him. From the corner of his eyes, Naruto spotted Kiba trying to steal a piece of his meat and quickly swatted it away.
Sasuke shrugged, "Nothing."
"Nothing?" All of them chimed in.
"Sasuke-teme, you can't be doing nothing. Kakashi sensei gave us all a duty to do." Naruto told him, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Sasuke only shrugged again, "Believe me if you want, but all he did was give me some shitty apartment and that's that."
Sakura tapped her chin in thought, "I wonder why he wouldn't assigned you a duty."
"Maybe he forgot?" Naruto suggested.
"Why the hell would he forget? He's the Hokage now, he's even got the two bums, Shikamaru and Chouji working their asses off." Kiba added in, quickly shutting down that idea.
Sasuke grew irritated, slamming his chopsticks down. "We all know why." Earning all of their concerned looks. "He doesn't trust-"
"If you want, you could always help us out at the tracking unit." A soft voice interrupted.
Sasuke was taken aback- Actually all of them were surprised as they turned to the Hyuuga.
"Oi, what are you saying Hinata-chan?" Kiba questioned.
Oh right her name was Hinata, Sasuke clarified to himself and waited for her to explain further.
"W-well..." She started, with her gaze fixated on her bowl of rice, "I think Uchiha-san would be very useful because he'd be able to use his Sharingan to help find people that are still missing."
Sasuke scoff, "Why do you need me when they already have you. Your eyes have a greater perception than mine."
"Whoa was that a compliment?" Kiba whispered.
"I don't know, I can't tell. With the way Sasuke talks, he always sounds like he's insulting someone." Naruto whispers back.
Hinata stayed quiet a bit, her cheeks showed a tinge of red, "True... But there's only one of me and still more people missing. More help would be nice. J-just think about it for now."
The awkward silence was interrupted when a new order of meat came in. Kiba and Naruto smiled hungrily as they quickly placed the raw meat on the grill.
Hinata turned her attention towards the food and Sasuke couldn't help, but glance her way. He didn't notice that she knew he was staring at her and tried her best to keep her hands from shaking.
000
With the majority of the meat gone, everyone sat with their bellies stuffed.
"I'm so full, ugh I might throw up." Naruto joked as he patted his stomach and Sakura quickly shoved him away in disgust.
"Come on guys, there's one meat left. As much as I'd like to eat it, I feel like I'll explode." Kiba groaned, covering his nose, grossed out from the smell of meat. "Shino, you want it?"
"I, too wouldn't mind eating it, but like you, I am also-"
"Bah just say no if you don't want to." Kiba huffed out.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, might as well take it since no one else was going to. But as soon as he reached for it another pair of chopsticks were also reaching for it too.
"Ah! I'm sorry, go ahead Uchiha-san." Hinata offered as she retracted her hand away.
Sasuke clucked his tongue, "It's no big deal, you take it. You didn't eat that much."
Hinata shook her head, "N-no it's fine, I have a small stomach..."
Sasuke grew annoyed and took the piece of meat and placed it on her bowl. He let out an irritated sigh and looked out the window once again.
She murmured out a small "Thank you" which Sasuke ignored.
"Well, our lunch break is almost over, we have to leave soon." Kiba said, "Thanks for letting us eat with you!"
"No problem, let's hang out again another time." Sakura smiled.
And with that, Team 8 split the pay, said their goodbyes and they left.
There was a small chuckle, causing Sasuke to raise his brow with curiosity. "Hinata-chan is cute." Sakura commented while staring at Sasuke's bowl.
He looked down to see half of the meat sitting in his bowl. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Stubborn girl, I told her she could have it, he thought.
Seeing that Sasuke wasn't interested in eating it, "Hmm if you don't want it, might as well help myself." Naruto grinned, reaching over to the bowl.
Sasuke quickly snatched his bowl away, "I thought you were full, idiot."
"I mean I am!" Naruto started, "But I'm sure I have room for that tiny piece of meat." He laughed.
Sasuke glared at him and in a deep voice he said, "It's mine." He ate it and he should've known that it already would have been cold and lost it's juicy tenderness, but for some reason, Sasuke savored that last piece of meat and felt strangely... satisfied.
Okay this if my first Naruto related fic lool SasuHina is like my guilty pleasure- I know it'll never happen, but I can't help, but just ship it ahaha but anyway I hope you like it! Fanfiction is so confusing, how to you even use this site omg.