A/N: Hi =)


Sasuke didn't know why he did what he did. He could hardly be called a considerate person. So why did he help the girl he recognized as his classmate that morning?

Maybe it was because he recognized the look in her eyes or it was because of the way she had overworked herself to the point that she couldn't even hold herself up on the train. He's been there before. His brother was still there. Anybody could argue that Sasuke was still there, too.

So when her head fell against his chest, he made no move to push it off or to move away. He didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. There were no ulterior motives. She wasn't trying to flirt with him. It was truly an accident.

So when it happened the second time, Sasuke was slightly tempted to reach up and hold her against him to steady her. But they had already gotten off the train, so it was okay if he didn't.

As they walked to school from the station, Sasuke walked a few ways behind her to keep an eye on her slightly swaying form. It wasn't the first time he's seen her tired, snail-like pace on the way to school. He first noticed her tired, zombie-like walk a few weeks ago. He recognized it like a kindred spirit.

The pink hair was the primary indicator that she was his classmate, as there weren't too many people out there with such bright colored hair. It always caught his attention when the sun shined on it in class.

Sasuke didn't know why, but he felt the need to look out for her, as someone who didn't have any help after his parents passed away, he knew what it was like to feel alone. His brother had drowned himself with work and he, even now, was still wading in deep waters with work up to his chin. Sasuke understood that he was trying to get more work to have a better income to support them both, but he wasn't there when Sasuke needed someone to tell him that it was okay. That it was okay to cry.

And so, Sasuke had missed his turn to cry by a long run. He missed it so bad that even if he wanted to see it in the distance behind him with a telescope, it'd still only be a small speck of dust.

And so, when he saw Sakura's withered form tilting forward at an angle that he knew that she wouldn't be able to catch her balance again, especially in her state, he rushed forward to catch her. He didn't care that he had to bump into other people to get to the girl in time, he just cared that he caught her before she hit her head on the cement.

At the last moment, he was able to get his arms around her waist, before kneeling on the ground with her. He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding when he looked over her and saw that she hadn't gotten any bruises on her knees or anywhere else.

Ignoring the stares and whispers of the passersby, Sasuke thought about what he should do now that the girl had fainted. The best choice seemed to be getting her to the school nurse. With the decision made, Sasuke carefully maneuvered her onto his back and continued his way to school. Once he got to school, he dropped her off at the nurse's office and went to class. He didn't care that he was late.

During lunch, he went to visit her without eating first. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. Shortly after he got there and after the nurse thanked him again, they saw that Sakura had finally woken up.

When she looked at him, he could see the dark circles under eyes and the exhaustion lines starting to form on her face. He recognized that look. He saw it in the mirror for months after his parent's funeral. He saw it on his brother's face.

When she offered him her bentou as a thanks, Sasuke, who never accepted anything from his admirers or anyone really, felt like he couldn't turn it down and took it. It was then when Sasuke found out that despite how tired the girl was, she could still make very delicious food.

So when she invited him over for dinner to meet her brother-in-law so that he could thank him, it only took Sasuke a few moments to agree to it. It'd been a long time since he's had a home-cooked meal, especially dinner. At home, it was usually convenience-store-bought packaged bentous that were really getting boring. Itachi was too tired to cook and Sasuke was in no mood to cook.

As they made their way to her house, Sasuke realized how comfortable the silence between them was. He wasn't much of a conversationist to begin with, but sometimes even he felt the need to fill the silence. When he stepped into her house, he couldn't help but feel welcomed. But he could still detect the underlying sorrow and restlessness and exhaustion in the air.

When he saw the baby, he instantly knew why she was even more tired than he had been before. He could only guess how tiring it was taking care of a baby as a student, much less a baby who just lost her mother.

It wasn't that hard of a decision to offer to take care of the baby while his classmate cook dinner.

Though he had never really taken care of or even played with a baby before, it was soothing to hear her giggles as he played with her. A few chuckles even escaped as the little baby tried to use his face as playdoh, her tiny palms patting his face to shape it.

When Haruno's brother-in-law came home, he almost thought it was his own brother coming back exhausted from work. Now he fully understood the situation at home for Sakura. But when he heard their seemingly light banter that camouflaged deeper meanings, he felt that they would recover much easier and much faster than him and his brother.

When he looked over at Haruno, he saw a girl patiently waiting for her turn to cry. She was just waiting for a signal to let the dams open. And Sasuke felt like he needed to be there with her when she did finally let everything out.

Maybe that'd help him let everything out, too.

And just maybe he hadn't missed his turn yet.


A/N: How was it? Did it surprise you a bit? A whole chapter from Sasuke's POV?

Updated – 5/25/2013

EDITED – 9/6/2014 (Oops...took me so long to go back over and fix all the grammatical mistakes...my bad...XD)