The Comeback Kid, a naruto fanfic

The Comeback Kid

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Dark alleyways, hidden corridors, they are dark and sketchy for a reason. Never go looking for trouble down one if you don't want any disturbing or even painful experiences. That's what Sasuke believed at least, as he witnessed the most painful and morbidly familiar interaction.

One thing that came with going back to Team 7 was dealing with the replacement. Sai and Sasuke were both, as everyone knew, not the most social people in the world (try not social at all). But Sakura insisted that they try to get along, and neither of them wanted to experience the wrath of her supernatural fist (Sasuke had experienced the earth-shattering pain once during battle, and even though he hadn't made any loud noises to indicate that it hurt-it did. As did Sai, who had all sense knocked out of him that time he insulted her dear "Sasuke-kun").

However Sai more or less didn't care, because it wasn't in his nature to care about making peace with Sasuke. The two of them hadn't had any breakthroughs, and Sai could care less about the person he had replaced. Plus under the watchful eye of Sakura, he was always able to conjure up the fake smile and kindness when in the presence of Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't give a shit either, however his case was different. He could not stand that fake smile of Sai, it annoyed the hell out of him. He '.him. Also, he was well aware of the fact that Sai held the position of power as he was constantly reminded of it. Sai was the one that dutifully served Konoha with them despite their initial coldness and rejection. Sai was the one that came up with such endearing nicknames for his former teammates as a sign of his stilted, but emerging emotions. Sai was the one that still remained in good relations with Sakura and Naruto despite Sasuke's most untimely return.

Sai was the one dating Sakura.

Perhaps that was the one that bothered Sasuke the most about his most unnatural counterpart. The little piece of info was passed on to him one afternoon by Naruto, who had caught him staring at Sakura after a particularly exhausting training session.

"Psst….Sasuke! Don't let Sai catch you staring at Sakura, or else!"

"Shut up, idiot."

Annoyed that Sasuke didn't ask about Sai, Naruto continued.

"You do know that they're dating, don't you?"

"Who's dating?"

Out of nowhere, that asshole popped up with his fake smile.

"You and Sakura," Naruto leered at Sai with wriggling eyebrows.
"Yes, she is very dear to me," Sai's smile melted into something a little more natural, "But I don't think that is any of your business, do you?"

"Of course that is my business, you ass!" Naruto shouted. Then they engaged in a raging one-sided argument, leaving a very perplexed Sasuke.

He had come very close to talking to Sakura about her relationship. It had been tormenting him ever since that overly nosy and self-important best friend of his unceremoniously spilled the beans. He hadn't planned on asking her about it, in fact he had planned on just returning to that time when he hadn't known, hadn't cared. As someone who had hidden his emotions for most of his life, he imagined that it would be pretty simple. But the mere fact that Sakura was dating someone feasted and grew so uncontrollable in his mind that one day he had to get rid of it.

With the words hovering at the edge of his tongue, his inner ego taunted the Sasuke that talked to girls about relationships.

Hahahaha, you pussy, you're jealous and you know it.

How are you gonna deal with it? By talking to her?

I'm ashamed of you.

"So Sai…," Sasuke said quietly, ignoring the voice inside his head.

Sakura jumped slightly; obviously surprised that Sasuke would address her about such un-Sasuke matters. She looked at him inquiringly.

He just raised an eyebrow at her, and she understood.

Why him?

"He…he cares about me," she smiled sadly but truthfully.

"What about Naruto?" Sasuke asked, seemingly blasé about it.

"He's dating Hinata-chan you dummy!" Sakura's somber smile twitched into a wide smile. She seemed awfully happy that Naruto had found someone to be with. Maybe she had finally realized, while Sasuke was gone, that the idiot used to be terribly fond of her.

Everyone in Konoha knew of their relationship. Apparently in the beginning Kakashi had teased Sakura constantly (not Sai, because Kakashi held somewhat the same degree of liking as Sasuke, towards Sai), giving her obscure, but perverted encouragements, and often 'accidentally' dropping copies of his orange books in her apartment. He always politely asked her to give them back after 'studying' the material, and Sakura would gladly oblige, sending the book towards his head at breakneck speed without having read them.

Perhaps the relationship just wasn't a physical one. Neither of them were very physical, to tell the truth. Sai, no explanation was needed. Sakura was a no nonsense girl who hugged or touched people very rarely out of emotion. She was an emotional girl, but that emotion seldom translated to physical comfort, to the disappointment of Naruto.

Although there were many juicy bits of gossip going around about the two's explosive sex life, Sasuke was grateful that he hadn't had to experience any of their displays of affection first hand. The secrecy of their relationship was what kept the rumors alluring and alive, and of course the occasional unconfirmed sighting didn't hurt (Sakura highly suspected that these 'sightings' were sequences imagined by an overly bored and annoying Kakashi).

He didn't really care about their relationship; as far as he was concerned, it didn't exist. As long as there was no solid proof, he could keep pretending.

And he was fine just pretending until the incident with the dark alleyway.

It was after their last training session of the week, Sakura had left without joining the two for Ichiraku ramen, and Naruto had been sending Sasuke knowing looks (which he ignored). The sky was quite dark but the two figures were illuminated in the yellow light of the street lamps. Of all the places they could've gotten together, they chose the one closest to Sasuke's apartment.

Here was the proof; here was the thing that Sasuke had been avoiding.

His little illusion shattered right before his eyes, but he couldn't stop staring.

What he saw, he hated.

He hated the way Sai was devouring Sakura's mouth like a wolf feasting on a helpless lamb. That Sai towered over her smaller frame and completely dominated her, like he would if he had been the one kissing her because of their similar height (with Sasuke being only slightly taller). He hated the way she held her own against him by twisting her hands feverishly up his torso, around his neck and in his jet-black hair. He hated the way Sakura's cheeks were slightly shiny and pink because of the lewd movements of his pale substitute. He hated that the light made everything so clear, down to the last twitch of her jaw, the exact movements of their mingling tongues.

He wondered if Sakura felt shy being so visible to the outside world, and if it was made okay because she was with the one whom truly mattered. He imagined what it would be like if it was his lips against hers, and her warm breath that fanned over his face during the short periods that she pulled back from their passionate embrace to catch her breath.

He hated that other people thought they looked similar. He knew that they looked nothing alike, but if he squinted his eyes a little from his distance, he could see the resemblance and it was kind of like watching Sakura kiss himself. That sickened him enough to break the curse that bound his gaze to their unbearable actions. He strode off in the opposite direction and ended up taking the long route back to his home.

Sometime between that night and the next morning Sasuke snapped.

The first signs were apparent when they sat under the tree during lunch to enjoy a picnic provided by Sakura. Sasuke ground his palm against the grass when Sai joined them and sat down next to Naruto (because Sakura was already sandwiched between him and Sasuke). His palm ground even harder when he saw Sakura lean in and say 'hi,' in a casual manner. It made him realize that it was these small things that communicated their relationship; that he was just too blind to notice before.

He relaxed once he started eating Sakura's food. The sandwiches she made were really quite delicious, and the egg salad filling had been creamed to perfection.

"Sai, could you please pass the pepper?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke's previously perfect triangle of a sandwich was squeezed into mush when he heard her mention his name. He quickly stuffed the mush into his mouth to hide any evidence of his mishap, but was forced to suffer many near-gags because of his sticky mouthful of egg salad.

He was barely forcing down large lumps of egg salad when she mentioned his name again.

"So, what have you been up to today, Sai?" she asked conversationally.

This time he crushed the paper cup in his hands, causing the tomato juice inside to splash in a neat line down Sai's face and torso. Some of the thick, red juice got on to himself so Sasuke got up and chucked the paper cup randomly into the woods. The last thing he needed was to see Sakura wipe down her boyfriend, as she had already begun to do. As he left he congratulated himself for his stupidity as well as the gruesome scene he had produced. If only it had been real blood, Sai's blood.

As though they didn't learn their lesson from Sasuke's previous actions, his name just kept coming up.

"Sasuke-kun, are you okay?" Sakura asked him in a caring, but annoying voice. It was the type of voice that teachers used on sick or tired children. Sasuke was neither sickly nor tired, and he was definitely not a child.

"Hn."

"Honestly, what was up with you before?" Sakura asked, sounding annoyed now, "Sai's kinda pissed off cuz you stained his favorite shirt."

"I don't fucking care."

The words slipped out before Sasuke could mask them with an annoyed grunt of 'hn.'

"Excuse me?"

Now Sakura was pissed off, her cheeks flushed like the night before, but not quite for the same reason.

Thankfully, Naruto came running towards them with an urgent look.

"Sasuke and I both have missions on Monday, so I was thinking we should go celebrate today!" Naruto smiled.

"You have missions? Without me?" Sakura squeaked, her voice sounding more surprised than sad.

"Yeah, apparently Tsunade really needs your help the next two weeks," Naruto shrugged. Sakura didn't say anything, but merely looked pensive.

"So are you free tonight? When is Sai free?"

A major tick developed in Sasuke's temple, but he managed to keep in control.

"Hmm, well Sai should be free…," Sakura thought aloud as she tapped her chin, "Yeah, Sai's mostly free on Saturdays." Sasuke's fist clenched-hard. "I think he can come!"

"Alright, just bring him to the place, drinks on Sasu-teme, HAH," Naruto sang as he ran off.

Sasuke was clenching his hands so hard that his nails drew blood from his palm. God help him, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Sasuke-kun! Your palms are bleeding!" Sakura's eyes widened as she walked close to him. She took his hand in hers despite his initial attempts to turn away, just like she did when he first returned. She once promised him everything, but despite that she chose his replacement over him? Well, no longer.

As she healed his palms softly Sasuke spoke.

"I saw you near my apartment yesterday…"

"Hmm?" she asked absently, looking more at Sasuke's hands than paying attention.

"Yesterday, night."

"Oh!!" Sakura looked surprised and embarrassed, "Well I'm sorry you had to see that, we usually try to be private about…things, because of…you know."

"No, I don't know," Sasuke glared. There was a reason for their secrecy?

"Er…well it's really nothing." Sakura looked awkwardly away.

"No, tell me."

"It's just that," Sakura looked up at him pleadingly, "Um…Naruto mentioned that you might…," Sasuke's glare intensified, "be…jealous?"

At that statement, Sasuke became absolutely livid. He wanted to destroy something, but since Sakura was the one nearest to him, he could only shake he was so irate. If Naruto had been there, his fate would've been worse than death. Oh the embarrassment, the insufferable pity. They couldn't be public about their relationship because they were concerned that he would be jealous? How preposterous and completely degrading. On some level, Sasuke suspected that Sakura agreed to this to get back at him. He knew she wasn't the diabolical, vengeful type, but it was really the perfect way to completely destroy his ego, to get back at him for rejecting her.

"Sasuke-kun, please, I know that it's probably not true…Naruto was just…he meant well."

Sasuke took a deep breath before carefully articulating his words.

"I'm not jealous. Don't let me see you near him again."

"What? So… you are jeal-"

"No. I don't accept your relationship."

"Why not?" Sakura was looking a little ticked off now.

"If you're going to be with someone that's so similar to me, it might as well be me."

"I…I've never heard you say anything so stupid," Sakura sputtered, "What a f-foolish thing to say."

Sasuke wanted to smack his head against a tree for letting another thing just slip out of his mouth, but his inner ego goaded him.

Finally showing some balls now, eh?

I almost thought you were Naruto, blurting out idiotic things like that.

So what now? Her feelings for you already reside in the graveyard, so you might as well keep going.

You have nothing to lose.

"I'm serious. Don't ever let him touch you again."

For that he received an ear-ringing slap across his right cheek. It was so painful that he actually lost his motor skills for a second and stumbled a few steps.

"Don't bother coming tonight; the only person I don't want to see is you."

She strode off in angry steps.

Sasuke walked shakily to a comfortable spot under a tree. He tentatively touched his stinging cheek and winced.

"Shit."

It was Sunday night, and Sasuke was alone again.

This time, he was resting in his apartment for the mission tomorrow. He really didn't mind getting up early, but he wasn't going to let anyone know that he was avoiding his teammates. He didn't exactly go out of his way to avoid them, but without even giving much effort he managed to not see Sakura or Sai for one day. He had a feeling though, that avoidance was mutual in Sakura's case.

Obviously, he didn't attend their little pre-party on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning, he went off into a remote part of the woods to train by himself. He knew that if Sakura was avoiding him, she wouldn't eat at an obvious place like Ichiraku, so that was where he went for lunch (where he had an awkward lunch with Naruto). Now he was sitting on his couch, quietly sipping tea made from the stupid tea set Sakura got him for his 18th birthday, which was only a month ago. When he first received the gift, he choked out a polite 'thank you,' despite wanting to punch Naruto for laughing so hard as a reaction to the unwrapped gift. He had stowed it away, not giving a second thought about actually using it, but tonight he dug it out and meticulously followed the instructions to make its acclaimed 'tea of all pleasures.'

After drinking a cup, he threw out the rest of the decidedly mediocre tea. Maybe it actually was a 'tea of all pleasures,' but Sasuke was in a sour mood so he couldn't tell. If she hadn't been so mad at him, she might have called him to rant about being careful, not making cocky moves, or just about random events in their lives. If he was lucky, she might have even dropped by, and brought him something to eat, tell him she would pray for him. Tonight, he wasn't even invited to a team dinner he knew Sakura, Naruto and Sai were having.

He readjusted his position on the couch and decided to bear the long night like a man.

On Monday morning, crack of dawn actually, Sasuke set out for the gate after taking only ten minutes to get dressed because he had prepared so thoroughly from the night before. He planned to reach the North Gate at exactly ten minutes after the official meeting time. Naruto was usually on time because of his enthusiasm, so he had no worries there, but Kakashi, who had be arranged to be leader of their mission was usually at least 10 minutes late. He would arrive at the perfect time, with no awkward waiting necessary.

When he got there however, it was not just Naruto and Kakashi there waiting for him, but Sakura as well. Seeing her there…it took the breath out of him to say the least.

Before he could say a word, Sakura walked quickly over to him and pulled him into the woods.

"Sak-"

Sakura was frowning. She shook her head and looked down, but then she looked up and said somberly, "Sasuke-kun, I talked to Sai."

"An…and we-we're not…"

Sasuke nodded.

"Why?"

"Given our history, it's only right that I give you a try, right?" now she was smiling, a sweet, bashful smile, but her eyes were tearing up.

Then she reached up and cupped his right cheek with her coolly glowing palm, and just like that, all the pain was gone.

"I can't believe that after all these years, I still haven't given up…"

She held his forearm and leaned her forehead against his chest, and he gently rested his chin on top of pink locks of hair.

"You know this doesn't mean that we're dating right?" she looked up and smiled slyly.

"You have a mission to go to," Sakura continued, "I'm going to be very busy, even by the time you get back…"

"And you still have to court me."

"Ah…"

The sides of his lips twitched into a tiny smile. Maybe it was a smirk, or a grimace, but nobody but Sakura was close enough to tell.

Sasuke returned to the gate, ignoring the smug looks Kakashi and Naruto were giving each other.

After they were well away from Konoha, Naruto started bugging Sasuke.

"Ne, ne, ever wonder what changed her mind?" Naruto poked at him every chance he got as they darted around trees.

"Hn…," Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Let's just say you owe me, big time."

"Sakura-chan, you know that whatever he said, he said because he wanted to be with you?"

"Yeah…I guess, but that doesn-"

"No Sakura…it means everything."

---

-End-

A/N: Hey guys! This was my first one shot! So what did you think? Please review, I really really would loooouurveee to hear your comments, questions, responses! Anything :) Hope you enjoyed!