A/N: Ready? Sept. Go! …hehe see what I did there? Cause it's the seventh chapter and sept is like in French? But it sounds like set…okay bad French joke. And I don't even take French, so we're moving on…

Disclaimer: Naruto? Yeah, not mine.

Chapter title from the Shinedown song of the same name.


The Next Morning

How well Sakura slept that night. When morning came and the sunshine shimmered through the window and onto her face, the pinkette felt completely ready for the day ahead. For a few minutes she sat idly in bed awake, but with eyes shut, savoring the silence before deciding to get up, but once she tried to do so she found a weight pressed on her.

She forced her green eyes open and gasped at the sight of a strong, pale arm stretched across her body and forming some kind of half embrace.

"Crap," she murmured, her breathing slightly constricted by his arm. It was the first time Sakura realized how rough his fingers felt on her skin. Deciding to try not to wake him she began to slowly lift his arm off of her and roll off of the bed; however, her nearly silent actions awoke the Uchiha anyway. He sat straight up and with his eyes still shut he asked, "What time is it?"

Sakura checked his clock radio and replied, "A bit past 7:30."

He nodded and got out of the bed to cross the hall into the bathroom. From the rattling sound, Sakura deduced he was taking his pills. Sakura waited for him to come out before crossing the hallway as well.

He stopped in the threshold, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, half heartedly, "Thanks for putting up with my meltdown last night."

"Hn," he grunted with a shrug and began to pass her stopping when she asked, "Do you believe in ghosts, Sasuke?"

"So you really think this woman's a ghost?"

"I asked you a question first."

Heavily, Sasuke told her, "When I was a little boy my grandmother always told me stories about ghosts and how they could get attached to a human, either to haunt them or help them…"

That wasn't an answer, "So do you?"

"I think that these kinds of things could be walking nightmares and dreams, caused by stress or sleep depravation. Having the actual essence of a deceased person wander earth is a bit implausible…now, you answer my question. Do you think a ghost is haunting you?"

Sakura averted her eyes, "I've been afraid of ghosts ever since I was a little girl."

"So yes," he implied.

"If you saw this woman I'm sure you'd think so too."

"Maybe I would," he uttered walking away.Sakura went into the bathroom to take a shower so she could head off to work. While in the shower, she was left alone with nothing but her stray thoughts...Why am I so set on this woman being a ghost? I must not be thinking straight...Just listen to Sasuke. The idea of ghosts is...'A bit implausible?' Well, that's kind of up in the air isn't it? Open to some interpretation...A little interpretation later and she realized, Damn it Sasuke...that still isn't really an answer to my question.

A Few Hours Later

Dr. Tatsuya's Office

Tatsuya, a man of 51, sat in his arm chair facing his young patient, Sasuke Uchiha, who sat up on the couch.

"You know," the middle-aged man, "I encourage you to actually lay on the couch. It'll help you unwind."

"No."

Tatsuya let out an exasperated breath, "After all this time we've spent together in these sessions, I still have no idea whether or not you're at all fond of me."

"I have nothing against you," his obsidian eyes jolted to meet the older man's brown ones, "It's only your duty to treat me like a psychopath."

"I never said you were a psychopath," Tatsuya defended.

"I never said you said it."

"Do you think you're a psychopath?"

Sasuke shrugged, "You're the doctor."

"And as the doctor you want to know what I think?" he waited a split second for a response he knew as never going to come, "I think you're a good kid, Sasuke." The doctor ignored the teenager's scoff, "You chose Konoha instead of Kumo because you wanted the possibility of a future where you could stop killing. In Kumo they would have used you like a weapon of mass destruction, and, Sasuke, if you were a true psychopath you would have welcomed that opportunity."

The boy was silent.

"It's good that you want help, but that future you want isn't going to come with a fist full of pills, that's only a temporary fix. Do you really want to be able to restore your clan honorably?"

"Yes."

"Then your objective for this week is to try to make a meaningful connection with someone. I want you to find a way to express to them that you give a damn. Okay?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Good, I'll see you next week."

The Uchiha stood up and headed for the door.

"And Sasuke," the boy stopped at the threshold, "I'm proud of what you did for your friend, Sakura. Perhaps it would be best to start with expressing your feelings to her."

Coal eyes didn't spare him another glance.

Tatsuya smiled and shook his head thinking, I wish he would admit just how bad he's got it for this girl.

Tsunade's Office

This did not look good. Tsunade stared at the envelope delivered to her earlier that day by a boy named Hosei Rokuro, the Raikage's emissary. The boy from the story Sasuke told her and the court over half a year ago. The envelop no doubt contained a declaration of war and Tsunade was just biding her time before opening it and making it official.

In the time she put off reading the message she thought seriously about how to get the information the Uchiha brat claimed to have without full forgiveness. But damn it we've tried just about everything we can with that boy…Ibiki's totally out of torture techniques.

A knock on the door.

"Come in," she shouted.

"Tsunade-sama," her pink haired student stood in her doorway, "You wanted to see me?"

"Oh, yes, sit down," she slid the envelope off her desk.

Sakura did so, "Is something wrong?"

"A lot of things are wrong right now, but in relation to you in particular…nothing is exactly wrong per say."

"Um…okay, so what's this about?"

"I've received Intel saying you have moved in with Uchiha Sasuke, is that correct?"

"No! Sensei, I only took your advice and I'm just staying with him as a friend for a few nights before I feel better about going back home."

Tsunade took a deep breath, "Are you at all attracted to him?"

"What? No! We're just friends!" Liar, liar, pants on fire...

"You're getting pretty defensive about it."

Sakura scoffed, "Well, I get defensive when someone starts accusing me!"

"I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm only asking, just calm down."

Her student made a visible effort to do so, but was obviously still bothered.

"I don't know what's going on between you and Sasuke, not saying that anything is, but I know you Sakura. You want to believe everything can go back to normal, but the truth is he's been changed forever. I just feel as your shisou as well as someone who cares deeply about you, don't get attached to Sasuke."

"And why not?"

"You might get hurt."

"You think he'll hurt me?" Sakura didn't let her teacher interrupt her, "If you think he's so dangerous, why did you let him out of jail?"

Tsunade sighed, "Hear me out, okay? This war with Kumo is moments from becoming official, and the moment we accept the terms of war, I intend on having Sasuke's chakra unsealed and offering him forgiveness if he pledges his loyalty to Konoha. Eventually he'll be taken off medication and given full reign to attack the enemy however he sees fit. Now, Sakura, I don't think for even the slightest moment he'd ever attack you."

"Why not?"

Tsunade ignored her, "But I don't want your faith in him to cause you pain when you see whatever it is he may do. What you witnessed in the hospital was only a glimpse. He has the capacity to do horrible things."

Tsunade could tell her pupil was only half listening to what she was saying anyway, but she added, "Sakura, just don't get too attached."

"Hai, sensei," she remarked quickly, "May I go back to work now?"

The Hokage let out a deep breath and motioned for the younger girl to leave. She'll wish she listened to me…

~()~

"It sure feels good to hang out with you again, teme!" Naruto said through the slurps of his Ichiraku Ramen, "I actually really missed you being an asshole to me!"

Sasuke remained silent as he took his time and ate his ramen with dignity.

"So living with Sakura, huh? What's that all about?"

Sasuke scoffed, still holding his peace.

"I see," Naruto squinted and an adorable grin appeared on his face, "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

A look of disgust crossed the pale face of the black haired boy, "We are not living together. She's only staying over for a few nights."

"Sure…" the blonde whispered skeptically, almost escaping Sasuke's notice.

"Don't treat this like academy gossip."

"Oh, I'm not. It's much more…mature than that."

"Dobe, I'm genuinely considering shoving my chopsticks in your ear."

Naruto held up his hands in surrender, "What Sasuke says, goes."

Damn straight it does, Sasuke thought as he went back to eating.

The blonde let out a loud sigh, "Alls I'm saying is Tatsuya wants you to make a connection wi-"

"How do you knows what Tatsuya wants?" Sasuke's head snapped up, sending his raven hair in flying in all directions.

"Sometimes he tells me your little weekly objective so I can give you a little push…don't worry he doesn't tell me what you actually talk about. Doctor/Patient privilege, yeah?"

"Hn." Doctor/Patient privilege my ass!

"Anyway he told me you should start by trusting someone with something dear to you."

"He give any suggestions on how I should go about that?"

The Uzumaki shook his head, causing the Uchiha to rest his on his entwined fingers.

Naruto sported a mischievous smile, "But I have one."

Later That Night

Sasuke was sitting on the floor next to his bed with various boxes and pictures strewn across the room by the time Sakura came back to the apartment.

"What are you doing, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, standing in the doorway.

He took his sweet time in answering her, "Looking for something."

"You want some help?"

"Being left alone would help."

Message received. The pink haired girl thought while going into the kitchen. She made herself dinner and just as a small jab at Sasuke for him being borderline rude to her she decided to eat in front of the TV. It's not like he was totally against it, he just thought it wasn't dignified plus Sakura tended to leave some crumbs, so she did him a small kindness in sitting on the floor and not the couch. Although that was also undignified and also frowned upon, but whatever.

"Hehe…Stewie you so funny," she giggled to herself as she often did while watching TV alone.

"Sakura," the deep sound of the coal eyed boy signaled his approach and she could soon feel him standing a few feet behind her.

"Okay, it's either this or I'm sitting on the couch until I finish this Family Guy marathon."

"Sure, but I just—uh—want to talk to you about something."

Now she was interested, "Really? What is it?"

"Finish your program," he turned to leave.

"No, I've already seen them all."

"A couple seconds ago you were dead set on watching it."

She shrugged, "I was just using it as an excuse so you wouldn't nag me about eating on the living room floor…what do you what to talk about?"

"Well, I…erm…actually I wanted you to have something," he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a raggedy brown box with an Uchiha crest drawn on the cover.

"Okay…" …Where the hell is this going? She observed the large rise and fall of his chest before he said, "I want to give you this." He opened the box, revealing a shimmering necklace on a silver chain. At the center of the links was a small, onyx gem stone with the kanji for dignity written in jade. Ironic...

Sakura got right up onto her feet to take in the necklace's simple splendor at a better angle, "Oh my God…Sasuke, it's beautiful."

"It was my mother's favorite necklace. Apparently, her father left it to her after he died and she said she'd give it to me after she died, and so…here." He pushed it into her hands, "Naruto mentioned it was your birthday today."

"Wait are you sure you want to give me this?"

"Aa."

"You don't want to save this and give it to your child like your mother did?"

"It makes no difference to me."

Sakura smiled sweetly, "Arigato, Sasuke-kun."

He nodded, "Hn."

She took the dainty necklace and asked, "Can you help me put it on?" She turned around and Sasuke closed the chain behind her head, and without thinking about it, rested his hands on her shoulders as they both looked at the necklace.

"It really is beautiful," she whispered.

"Hn."

"I'm sure she was too." Sakura looked up at him.

"You've never even seen her."

Sakura shrugged, "I can tell whoever owned this was beautiful."

"Well, you own it now."

"I guess so… What's your point?" she was caught off guard by his hand playing with the bottom of her hair, "Is that you trying to say I'm beautiful?" she affected the high pitched voice of the stereotypical girly schoolgirl.

"I don't know," his voice was sounding tired again, "I guess so…yes."

The girl just about froze, she felt her heart skip a beat, "What?" Sasuke's hands slid down from her shoulders to his sides. "I said you're beautiful," he whispered.

Sakura finally turned around, eyes wide, "Th-thank you, Sasuke-kun." He only nodded in reply. "uh…Sasuke, why are you being so nice to me?"

"Aren't I usually?"

"In relation to how you treat others, yeah, but this is like the universal standard of nice."

"Oh…okay."

Sakura raised a dubious eyebrow, "Is there something you'd like me to do now?"

"No." His eyebrows furrowed at the comment and he gave an almost spastic shake of his head.

"Alrighty then," she breathed out another thanks for the necklace and put her plate in the kitchen before resuming taking a seat next to Sasuke on the couch.

"Why did you assume I'd want something in return?"

"Huh?" she had barely even gotten a chance to sit down.

"It's normal to get gifts on your birthday. Why would I want something in return?"

Sakura sighed, "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry if you got offended."

"But you did mean something."

"Okay…well, I still wasn't implying anything by-"

"Not on purpose, but there had to be some reason you said it so automatically."

She shrugged, "I guess it's just I expect you to be…past experiences have shown a—pattern of selfishness with you."

No response.

"But I really didn't mean anything by it, Sasuke. I don't want you to think I think you're still the same as you were before. I and any idiot that cares to look can see you've really changed."

Sakura heard a quiet hissing noise from the boy which sounded like he was trying to form the word thanks, making her smile, "You're welcome," she said letting him know she heard him and him taking her hand gently. He really did want to say thank you.

"OI! BILLBOARD BROW!"

Oh my God…Sakura jumped up, "It's Ino." And the award for best moment destroyed goes to…

"Why the fuck is she pounding on my door?" he was clearly irritated as she was at the moment ruined. He began to head towards the door to answer it.

"Don't worry," Sakura headed him off, "I'll get it." And she did.

"There you are Sakura-trick!"

"You really shouldn't have been banging on the door, Sasuke could get in trouble with his neighbors, you know."

Ino scoffed, "Che, no one in this village would dare to complain about—Ohayo, Sasuke-kun! How are you this evening?" she flawlessly changed her tone upon noticing Sasuke only standing by the couch, "Anyway, have you seriously forgotten about the date we set for your birthday?"

Sakura slapped her palm on her own billboard brow, "Shit! I did!...I'm sorry, Ino, it was such a tough day today."

"What are you apologizing for the night is still young! We're meeting Hinata, TenTen and all the guys for drinks at like—now! So get on your game face, so we can get shit faced."

"Alright, alright, just let me grab my jacket and my wallet."

"Like hell! Leave your wallet, it's your birthday! Drinks on me…well, Shikamaru."

Sakura went to the closet and began looking for her jacket, "Go ahead and wait downstairs for me, Ino, I'll be right there." And like that the blond was gone. Sakura had her jacket in hand when Sasuke said, "Here take the key."

"Huh?"

"If you come back late."

"Or you could just come with us."

The raven haired boy's head spun around, "Huh?"

"You can come out with us."

"Ino didn't invite me."

"So? Ino may have set up the party, but it's my birthday and so I can invite whoever I damn well please…and I'm inviting you."

"Hn."

"No-Yes-No?" she said eyeing the painfully indecisive Uchiha, "I'm not gonna force you, but I'd really like it if you came. You can just get hammered and ignore us all, or hand me the keys and leave."

Sasuke stood up slowly, "Sure."

"Alright, let's go!" she said heading out the door with him following close behind, "Don't you want a jacket?"

"We'll be inside."

"It's always nice to be prepared though."

"Hn."

"Okie dokey," she sighed with a shrug.

Ino ogled at the tall, black haired boy following her best friend, "Oh…so you're coming along?"

He silently nodded his head.

"Um…okay then, let's head out."


A/N: Yeah, Sakura watches Family Guy. Next up…some drunken fun