When Sasuke left, there was little to fill the void, so she threw herself into being Tsunade's apprentice. She could shatter earth with a punch, break bones with a flick of fingers and had the jutsu and chakra control to heal the injuries she inflicted. Over the course of 2 years, Sakura Haruno had become a force to be reckoned with. No more the girl with the childish infatuation with her team mate, Sakura vowed any feelings she once held towards Sasuke were purely platonic now. He was unstable and simply needed to be healed, nothing that being dragged back to Konoha wouldn't fix. She smiled to herself; best friends don't give up on each other.

Until HE arrived, bearing an uneasy resemblance to him, making Sakura's stomach lurch during the first briefing with their new sensei. The filth that spat from his mouth stung more than any poison that Sakura had to extract from dummy patients.

Naruto's manhood, Ugly Dog and that heinous Traitorous Homo remark only made her want to break his jaw even more... but the fucking resemblance... the cold eyes, pale features but GOD that damned smile... she wanted to hurt herself more for wanting him.

She held back. Gave him bruises instead of abrasive ruptures, surface wounds instead of blowing his limbs off and the stink eye in warning to counter his smile.

If she could place 'Platonic' with the image of Sasuke, she could force it with HIM, but he made it impossible as he went from getting under her skin to growing under it.

Perching that umbrella on her forearm on that rainy day and running away to immerse himself with 'better understanding' within the confinements of the library, the place where she would seek him out intentionally as she grew to accept what he made her feel. Desperately wanting to knock over that tower of self help books and help herself to what he hid under his clothes... though she got an eyeful of him during missions and the occasional practical mock exams because the bastard would never say 'No' when she asked for a body to study on.

He stayed oblivious, mostly, until he'd quote a passage from a book that he imprinted to memory that suggested he knew damn well what he was doing and he knew what she felt. She'd wish he'd stop, wish he was where Sasuke was now. She knew she'd have no problems having just murder him 2 years ago in Orochimaru's lair. But that wasn't the case... Sakura got him and Sasuke got death. She feels a burning between her legs every time his breath is felt against her ear with a teasing remark and Sasuke feels nothing as a corpse in the ground and she can never help but turn whenever the scent of ink passes her on the street.