Sakura's Point of View

Standing before his fridge ten minutes later, my mouth was open and my eyes were wide.

"What do you eat?" I sputtered, shocked.

Sasuke had casually strolled into the kitchen to retrieve a stack of papers he had apparently left on the counter while I was bickering with Naruto—who still had his nose buried in a bowl of ramen. He seemed to be on the go, but I interrupted him before he could leave the room.

In return, he threw me a blank look. "Food, Sakura."

"Don't play smart with me, Sasuke," I snapped, slamming the fridge door closed. "There's nothing in there! Don't you cook?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Do I seem like the type of person who has time to cook?"

A second was all it took for his statement to sink into my mind. My eyes narrowing, I barely restrained myself from lunging for his throat.

From his seat at the table, Naruto straightened in alarm, noticing the telltale signs of my anger.

"You say that like it's below you, bastard," I seethed, my blood positively boiling in my veins.

Now, my temper was short and explosive and everything you want it to be. I was quick to lose it because I was emotional, and as much as people said that was bad for a shinobi, I had accepted it a long time ago. But no one—and I mean no one—got on my nerves as much as the Uchiha did.

Sasuke took a step closer and had the guts to look contemplative before he gave me an answer. "Perhaps it is."

For a moment, I saw red.

"S—Sakura-chan!"

But then Naruto's panicked voice reached my ears, and I was suddenly reminded of where I was and who I was facing. Sasuke was challenging me, and the hell if I was going to deny him, but I wasn't going to do it with my best frien there, and I most definitely wasn't going to do it in his kitchen. Because, according to our previous deal, that was my space, as well, and I happened to be quite fond of cooking.

Taking in a deep breath, I tried my hardest to calm down. "Well, it isn't below me," I answered levelly, taking a step back to put distance between us and to lower the crackling of electricity that seemed to travel back and forth between our bodies like an out of control Chidori. "So I'm going to do you a favor and buy some food. But I'd be damned if I share what I cook with you."

I spent the rest of the afternoon grocery shopping. I should have been tired from the long journey, and I was, but I didn't want to spend a second more than was necessary in that house, especially when I had left the Uchiha there. Not to mention that I couldn't go to sleep on an empty stomach.

I had been serious when I demanded explanations from him—his fridge was completely empty, looking as though it was hardly ever used. It made me wonder, yet again, how much time he actually spent in that huge mansion he had bought for himself… But as I still didn't have an answer, I let the subject go and reminded myself that I didn't have a reason to care, in any case.

After having successfully restocked his kitchen, I set about making myself a light dinner. I pulled out cereals, fresh fruits, and whipped cream, and threw them together in a large glass. I had taken a seat at the table and started to dig in when Kakashi entered the room, with a look in his eyes that clearly told me he had not come there to keep his mouth shut.

My shoulders sagging, I sighed. "Let me guess," I said, as he pulled out a seat for himself. "I need to be nicer."

"Now, now," he answered, and I could tell that, behind his mask, he was smiling. "Who am I to tell you that?"

"Then you want to know why I'm behaving the way I am."

"Perhaps," he said. "But I think I might have already found the reason for that."

I sighed. "I never expected to see him again, Kakashi-sensei, much less under such circumstances," I said, leaning back in my seat. "When I realized he wasn't coming back, everything I might have still been feeling for him went down the drain. It pisses me off that he hasn't come back. It pisses me off that he's forgotten us. And it damn well pisses me off that, now that he decides he wants our help, we're giving it to him. It pisses me off that I'm here to help him. And I know—I know—I'm actually helping these people, and not him. But I'm playing his stupid game, sensei, and it's killing me. I have to make his medical system work when all I want is to smash his face in!"

I recognized the look on his face when I finished my rant, and although, under normal circumstances, I would have been angry, I could relate to him now. And for the first time in quite a long time, I agreed with him.

This was surely going to be interesting.