This was perhaps not what she expected, but nevertheless, it was okay. Maybe.
Naruto was caught by Shizune and dragged back to his office to complete rest of his paper work, which meant that Sasuke and Sakura was sitting at Ichimaru ramen by themselves.
"This brings back memories." Sakura awkwardly said, trying to start conversation. She was hyper aware of all the noises in the restaurant, the creaking of chairs, murmuring of people, and the stares.
People's eyes followed them in curiosity. Curious of Sasuke and curious of their interaction together. It felt uncomfortable and unnerving; she wondered if Sasuke had to deal with this level of attention everyday.
Sasuke grunted back in response, which was honestly more than Sakura expected. She let out a soft laugh. "Your small talk skill hasn't increased." She mildly joked, while signaling to order.
Teuchi appeared from the counter with his normal welcoming demeanor. "Hello, Sakura, how's your day been? Is that Sasuke that I see? Oh wow, it's been a long time." The man let out a hearty chuckle. "You were so little when I first saw you!"
Sakura smiled back. "My day's been good, thank you for asking. Yes, this is Sasuke, it's been a long time." She said while gesturing the black haired male.
"Hello." Sasuke said.
Teuchi seem to overlook Sasuke's partial silence. "Welcome to best ramen shop in Konoha." He exclaimed. "Our pork ramen is famously delicious."
"Well, then one pork ramen for me. What do you want Sasuke?"
"Pork ramen."
"Two pork ramen for us, and dumplings." Sakura ordered.
Teuchi scribbled the order down on his notepad. "Coming right up!" he said and left.
Sakura and Sasuke sat staring at each other.
Sakura fidgeted, not sure what to do. "Uh, so how was your journey?" that you refused to have me as company?
"It was very insightful. I've learnt new things about myself and built myself to be a better person." Sasuke replied with such heartfelt sincerity that shocked Sakura. His gaze was solely on her and Sakura wondered when was the last time she had Sasuke's whole attention.
Probably never.
When they were younger, Sasuke's thoughts were dominated by revenge. As they got older, Sasuke's attention was always split with the fights.
Sakura sighed. It felt like their conversation was going around in circles, probably because they were avoiding the matter of contention. "So, yesterday." She tried to prompt.
"I apologise." Sasuke rushed out to say. His face turned immediately blank.
The suddenly change in demeanor was surprising. It looked like Sasuke was guilty, or maybe even embarrassed.
"No, no. I just wanted to make sure… you're okay." She finished lamely. Questions such as "why the fuck were you high" to "Why at my house?" all lingered in her mouth, but sitting in front of the Uchiha who looked so dearly uncomfortable, she didn't have the heart to ask those questions. She didn't want to interrogate him with all these question and bombard him. She wanted to be his friend, to give his space.
The seat might have been comprised of needles because that's how it felt. She wanted to bolt out of here, not be confronted by this awkward social situation.
"Your concern is noted but I am fine." He answered.
Bullshit. Sakura wanted to call out. Although her medical expertise was more toward the physical side, working at the hospital, she could call out brave fronts no matter how stoic the person is. Without even meeting Sasuke, knowing about his rocky childhood and adolescence hinted her that this man was not okay.
Sakura knew that she was about to give into her mother hen tendencies, but she didn't care and stared at him with a look she was fully aware that was intimidating. Naruto called it 'medic stare' the one that didn't have room for any arguments. Sasuke met her look with the familiar emotionless look. "When's the last time you've been to therapy?"
If silence could kill, everyone in the shop would've been dead. The stretch of silence was so incredibly uncomfortable, Sakura wanted to ram her head against the table for bringing such matter up. Of course, it was a private affair that Sasuke didn't really want to talk about. She just had to voice her concerns didn't she?
But going to therapy was a normal part of ninja life; it was an essential part of ninja life. Killing people everyday while not developing immense PTSD and paranoia was a pretty important thing to achieve if one wanted to be in the field for a long time.
"It's... been a while." He said. His body language was shut off, his eyes fastened on his slightly clenched fist.
Sakura wanted to rewind time so this awkward conversation wouldn't have come up but it was already too late and she was now committed. "You should go once in awhile. Do you want recommendations?"
She was trying dearly to pretend this flow of conversation was totally normal; that this wasn't getting too personal.
Sakura braced for a no, and racked her brain to come up with another conversation.
"That would be appreciated." Sasuke said.
Sakura froze for a miniscule of a second in surprise. In her mind, Sasuke was like Kakashi-sensei, stubborn and refusing to get treatment. For Sasuke to ask for recommendations was surprising.
I guess I'm learning about this new Sasuke. The person in front of her wasn't the Sasuke she kept assuming to be. This was new. This was the not murderous and potential friend Sasuke. Good.
"Uh yeah, I'll give you tomorrow? When are you free?"
Sakura inwardly groaned realising that she's setting up a future date for them to meet up, to have another awkward conversation. This sucks.
There was a moment when sparring where Sakura felt not so awkward towards Sasuke. She felt like a teammate just working on a spar. Sakura wished that moment would descend once again.
"Tomorrow at Uchiha compound. Perhaps we can spar." Sasuke said.
And to that, Sakura couldn't help but to give a wide happy smile. "Maybe you'll actually fight with me, not toy me around." Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered Sasuke telling her that he wasn't staying in the Uchiha compound but she dismissed it as a drunken mumble.
"I apologise. It seems I've vastly underestimated your capabilities."
Sakura laughed as a warm glow fuzzed inside her. Sasuke was acknowledging her strength, and what she worked for the achieve. She felt oddly validated but at the same time, slightly embarrassed that Sasuke was praising him.
"I'm definitely not a thirteen year old anymore." She joked.
Sasuke looked at her, long and hard. "It seems so."
(Line break)
The moment she arrived, she left the contact number for her therapist and they sparred
It was an unspoken agreement to attempt to kill each other and of course, Sakura lost. It wasn't a humiliating lost however, it was a constructive loss. Although Sasuke didn't bring out all his skills, it was clear that there was clearly effort going into fighting her.
And with that, they retreated back to the living room with Sakura healing his injuries.
She put the green healing glow against the nasty purple joint. "Sorry. This looks like it hurts."
Sasuke's fingers twitched and winced as his fingers painfully spasmed. "Your strength accompanied with your speed makes you a very difficult opponent." He admitted.
Sakura watched as the fingers started to turn into normal colours. "I think everything about you makes you a difficult opponent, Sasuke."
Sasuke gave a meek nod and leant back on the chair.
As she watched the male relax, Sakura took a cursory glance around the room.
It was an awfully spacey room with dead still silence lingering. The whole compound was like that; big, spacey, slight smell of blood but most importantly, empty.
"Don't you get lonely?" Sakura blurted out without a second thought. She wasn't sure what prompted her to ask such personal and awkward question. Maybe it was the semblance of old friendship, maybe it was the spar; whatever it was, she felt closer to Sasuke.
Sasuke's eyes opened in surprise and the red eye seemed to stare directly into her.
Just about when she was kicking herself for asking the question, Sasuke answered. "Sometimes."
Instead of looking flabbergasted at the honesty of the response, Sakura just smiled back. "I'll come often."
She looked down to see Sasuke's finger resembling a normal size. "All done! Now let me heal that fracture rib."
Sasuke didn't resist once as he wordlessly pulled his shirt off.
Somehow, Sakura ignored the sight in front of her and focused on healing. The ugly red that contrasted to the pale skin started to ease down.
"Have you employed any housekeepers?" She asked, making small talk.
"No, however, it does sound sensible."
Sakura had no doubts that the Uchiha could afford a housekeeper but was too used to the life on a run to remember such luxury.
"You should probably buy new tatami mats and do some spring cleaning." Sakura recommended.
He frowned. "I believe it is still winter."
Sasuke's frown reminded her his twisted form a smile. For few seconds, she was back in war, standing across Sasuke, reading to kill him. She could see his twisted frown and sneers and it brought a haunting chill down her spine.
Sakura steeled herself and recovered quickly. "It's a figure of speech, Sasuke. My point still stands that this compound has gone too long without being properly cleaned." She argued while finishing up his healing.
Sasuke touched his healed spot somewhat gingerly. "Thank you, you are exceptionally skilled." He paused, presumably thinking of Sakura's proposition. "Perhaps I will fetch a Genin team to do so."
"That sounds good. Let's go!" Sakura exclaimed, standing up.
The male looked at her with tea halfway to his mouth, "Are we going at this precise moment?" He asked almost in annoyance.
Sakura gave him a look. "If you didn't go now, I have a feeling you would procrastinate this until it's too late."
With a half hearted scowl that reminded her of the genin Sasuke, he stood up with her. "I'm sensing that you're offering to fill in all the paperwork that is required to hire a team." He said with utmost innocence.
"Perhaps I'll ask Konohamaru's team to clean then. I hear their team is like an embodiment of Naruto and Konohamaru"
"What a horrific thought."
They walked to the Hokage tower together, and Sakura felt herself chattering away about unimportant things. Past battles, battle formation, flower arrangements, food, the new gossip- even if asked, Sakura wouldn't be able to recite all the things she talked about.
She felt comfortable.
It was nice.
Sasuke was much more engaging than how she remembered. Although it was short sentences, he replied back at her constant spring of conversation. It reminded her that Sasuke was a charismatic leader, but at the same time, just another human being.
"You are a great sparring partner." Sasuke said, cutting through a comfortable silence.
Sakura beamed at him. "Really? I'll spar with you anytime!" Sasuke was just intensely more strong than her- Sakura was a support after all- and challenged her to think of strategies that would overcome her general weakness compared to him.
Also, Sakura was finding it nice to spend time with Sasuke. His blunt honesty was refreshing. He gave earnest compliments that were mere stating of facts which brought her impossible joy.
"What schedule will suit you?" He asked.
And those words filled her heart. The fact that he didn't consider her disposable, weak but rather wanted to schedule a spar- she would be his recurring sparring partner was absolutely flattering.
She smiled, "Well, I have hospital duty from nine to five but I'm always on call for emergencies so my schedule is a little everywhere. On the weekends and after dinner?"
Sasuke nodded. "Sounds good." He paused, seeming to struggling for a while, but continued talking. "You're free to join me for dinner before sparring if you so wish." He said nonchalantly.
Oh christ my heart.
Sasuke Uchiha just invited her to have dinner with him whenever she wanted.
"Perhaps you can introduce me to new restaurants. I'm quite unfamiliar with the new Konoha after all."
Sakura could only describe Sasuke as brazenly friendly and that was so incredibly jarring.
But not bad.
It felt like she was needed and wanted which was something she had never felt from Sasuke.
"Of course! You, uh, know where I live so drop by when you feel like it. If I'm not there, I'm in the hospital." Sakura shrugged. "You can just ask any nin and I'm sure they'll find me."
With a nod, Sasuke filled in the mission request- a mere D- Rank mission with the objective "Clean the Uchiha compound."
Even though Sakura tried her damn hardest to ignore, she could feel the stares people gave Sasuke- people saw him as a traitor and a threat still. Sakura felt the odd surge to protect Sasuke and tell people off.
And that caught her off guard.
It proved to her that Sakura didn't see Sasuke as a threat anymore, she subconsciously and consciously believed him to be a changed person.
She glanced to see the seemingly stoic figure signing paperwork. Those fingers hastily writing was unthinkably powerful but that didn't scare her.
Sasuke Uchiha felt human.
Perhaps even a teammate, comrade.