timeless Chapter 10: Navigate Me, a naruto fanfic

(A/N: Originally not the song I planned not to write this to, but I was in a CIWWAF mood. Also not the pairing, but it just fit. NaruHina will be in the next chapter.

This is gonna be a long one…

And now I change the main characters every chapter to the ones of the new one-shot. If you don't like it, sue me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing…at all. Including the epic song.)

I'm creeping your way,

And these sheets aren't stopping me.

That's right, it's quite simply,

These sheets aren't stopping me.

'Cause my mind's on a mission.

And a mind on a mission,

Is a mind that you just set free…

Navigate Me by Cute Is What We Aim For

You know, life sort of has this way of biting you in the ass once something good happens. We've all experienced it once in our lives, right?

But this? This was like…the epitome of the I hate you so much life feeling.

"Sa-ku-ra-cha-a-a-an!" I heard Naruto whine at me. Fuck him. This is my only day off this month, and hell if I wasn't going to sleep in. I tried to pretend I was still asleep and didn't hear him.

Yeah. Didn't work out too well.

He continued to bug me…and bug me…and bug me, until I finally lost it, snapped my head up and growled at him. He backed off immediately and I dropped my head back down again.

Then he did it again.

"What the fuck do you want, Naruto?" I snarled, finally sitting up, glaring at him. "It's my day off and you have me up at…" I looked at the clock quickly, "…seven o' clock?"

"But, Saku — " I cut him off.

"But nothing. I have to work 4-hour shifts at the hospital every day plus my regular missions and I sub for Academy senseis. It's. My. Day. Off." I raised my eyebrow at him, challenging him to continue to try getting me up. He looked at me sheepishly.

"But Sasuke's here."

Blink.

"He's what?"

And so started my day from hell. Naruto had gotten me up because we had to have a meeting with the Council — oh wow, I'm so honored! (hope you heard the sarcasm in that) — to decide his punishment. You know what I would have chosen? Life sentence in jail. That's how much I hated him right now.

You don't get it, do you? You don't get how I would hate him, right? Because I'm in love with him and would do anything for him and blah blah blah, right?

Wrong. Dead wrong.

If he had come back just maybe a little bit later, I would have been more okay with it. I had just — and I mean just — gotten over him. Yeah, you heard me. I no longer loved Sasuke Uchiha. I didn't even like him.

And then he has to come back and ruin it all.

You can see why I'm so pissed off, right? Just the thought of him here, wanting to come back to the village both annoys to me to no end and makes me want to cry joyful tears.

But the latter isn't going to happen. Why? 'Cause I don't cry any more. Crying is the old Sakura — the useless one. And I'll be damned if I was useless.

My stomach had started turning when we turned on the street to the Hokage's office. I sort of felt like puking and I could tell my face was probably green. Naruto patted my back as we entered and headed up towards Tsunade's office and I shrugged his hand off.

I can handle this, I told him with my face. He nodded.

Okay.

I took a deep breath, then grabbed the knob and opened the door.

Sasuke stared me right in the face. He looked the same as always — pompous, arrogant, and a tad bit sexy. (a tad bit? my mind asked) The corner of his mouth lifted as if he'd heard my mental comment. I just glared in response, deciding that it was just my mere presence.

Tsunade-sama just looked at me in exasperation with an I feel your pain look. I replied with a No, you don't.

"Okay, we all know why we're here," Tsunade announced. I rolled my eyes, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. She glared at me and continued speaking. "He's going to be on probation for three years, then promoted to Jonin. Sensei, if he wants."

"So we're going to trust with our Genin?" I snapped. "Our untrained, defenseless, brainwash-able Genin? Just like that?"

"There will be time to test his loyalty," she said, and I could tell she was at the end of her patience. "He came here knowing the consequences."

(does it look like I give a shit?)

"Anyway," she continued with emphasis, "it has been decided that until his probation is over, and he has access to the Uchiha compound, he will be staying at your place, Sakura."

I saw red and my mouth fell open.

"He's going to be what?"

And this is how my day turned even shittier. My house — why mine? He could have stayed at Kakashi's, even though he's a perv…or Naruto's, even though he's living with Hinata now, or…or…anybody but me.

It was an awkward walk home. I was seething and PMS-y the whole way, and he followed behind me, ignoring all the looks and glares sent his way.

The only time we stopped was when Ino came running out, wondering what the hell was going on. I told her I would tell her later, and she huffed, shoved a candle in my hands, and went back into her shops.

"Hey." I turned around and faced Sasuke. We were at my apartment door now; it was the first time he had spoken all day. "You're being really pissy at me. Why?"

I looked at him blankly. (is he honestly that stupid?) "Wow. You really wanna ask me that question?"

He blinked blandly, looking at me. "Yeah. Why else would I have asked it?"

I shrugged angrily, turning back to unlock my door. "I dunno — maybe just to be an asshole? You're good at doing that."

I didn't let him answer as I opened the door and stomped inside. I heard him follow me and close the door behind him quietly. I went straight to the kitchen to fix me a mimosa — I was definitely going to need to be a tad bit drunk to be able to make it through the night. When Sasuke saw me getting out a bottle of vodka he raised his eyebrow.

"You drink?"

"Only when I feel pretty damn shitty." Hopefully he got the meaning.

"You feel shitty around me? And, for another — you curse?"

Awesome. He did. "I feel shitty just thinking about you. It's twenty times worse when you're actually there. And yes, dickwad, I do curse. Why wouldn't I?" He was starting to piss me off.

"Because you're Sakura."

I abruptly slammed down the orange juice carton, whirled around and looked in the face. "Listen here, Sasuke," I spat, tired of his crap. "I'm not that weak little Genin I used to be. I don't cry every fucking three seconds, I don't obsess over you, I have three different jobs, and I don't abandon my village."

That should piss him off, right? Really worm its way into his heart and stab at a sensitive point.

But he's Sasuke Uchiha. He doesn't have a heart.

"But you probably do still have a crush on me."

Blink.

This was unbefuckinglievable. I just…wow. I was ready to tear his throat out with my bare hands and use his head as kunai target practice.

Now I was mad. Not the OhmygodIcan'tbelieveyou mad (though I did feel like that), but the mad where you act calm, and the other person can tell if they don't shut up, they're going to get their asses handed to them.

"Sasuke," I said, bitingly, and took a small sip of my mimosa, "I'm going to say this once and only once, so you better fucking listen. I. Don't. Like. You. I don't love you. I don't even remotely prefer your presence in my house.

"So I'll make a deal with you. I don't even acknowledge your existence, and you make sure I don't have to. Capeshe?"

I started to walk away with my drink, and was halfway down the hall to my bedroom, until he called out, "This is an apartment, not a house."

I was gonna fucking kill him.

I'm pretty sure I had passed out in my bed, mimosa drained and only in my panties and camisole, when I got woken up.

"Sakura." Droning voice…nice smell…soft hair brushing my face…

"What the hell do you want, Sasuke?" My head felt like it had been hit multiple times by a two-by-four. I groaned and sat up, clutching my head. (damn strong Vodka) His face blurred in and out of focus, but I could still hear him speaking clearly.

"Where am I sleeping?"

I gave him an exasperated look. "Normally, I would make you sleep on the couch, but I think the alcohol has made me merciful for the time being." Oh, so I was being merciful now? "Until I get a mattress for the spare bedroom, sleep on the other side of my bed."

He made that little "Hn" sound and it almost made me change my mind again. I fucking hated that sound.

"But," I stopped him, still clutching my head, "get me a painkiller out of the cabinet in my bathroom. And no pervy stuff, or I'll kick you out to the couch." I could sort of see him nod, but everything was pretty blurry and Jesus, my head hurt.

He came out of the bathroom with two aspirins and a glass of water. I dry-swallowed the pills and chugged the water. I gasped for air and sighed happily.

"Thanks." So I was thanking him now? What the hell? I was supposed to mad at him…I was supposed to be hating him and cursing him out every second I could…

He made another little grunt that immediately made me ashamed for thanking him. (him and his effing little grunts) I frowned again before looking at myself. My choppy, semi-short pink hair was all over the place, and I brushed it back behind my ears. I grabbed a pair of shorts to sleep in and wiggled them on, embarrassed Sasuke had seen me in my underwear.

He started to take his white shirt-jacket-thing off, and my eyes kind of bulged. "What the hell are you doing?" He looked at me and continued taking it off before replying.

"I'm not sleeping in this." He said it so blandly that it was like he only spoke monotone. (like, boring, much?) Eventually he had stripped down to everything but his boxers and I was trying hard not to stare. His chest muscles rippled every time he moved, and he was just so thin and lean…

No. No naughty thoughts about the dickwad.

"We should probably go shopping for some clothes for you tomorrow…" I said, trailing off. "I guess I'll pick them up for you tomorrow after my hospital shift." He nodded absently, with the Whatever I Don't Care kind of vibe. I glared at him, but he didn't notice. (he's thwarting my plans, damnit) He tossed his clothes into a corner of the room and then proceeded to get under the covers on my bed.

That I was going to be sleeping in.

Why did I have that drink again?

"Sakura." (why does he always have to be robotic-y when he talks?) "You changed."

No shit, Sherlock.

"I tend not to trust men in my bed with me when I'm only wearing a camisole and underwear," I mumbled. I was incredibly tired now that the hangover had sort-of-kind-of wore off.

He didn't really respond for a while, and I had given up on trying to get a response and went back to sleep. But right when I was almost asleep, just on that little brink of darkness, he replied.

"You shouldn't have. They were nice."

Fucking pervert.

3 Months Later.

December 24.

We were having a Christmas party. I don't know why, but apparently Ino had told everyone I was having a Christmas party so the entire group came. I had gotten severely pissed off because even though Ino was the one who told everyone about the party, we were the ones who had to go pick it up. Sasuke had sort of sympathized with me and took care of getting most of the crap. He had realized by now that the red dots on certain days of the calendar were significant, and that we were approaching one.

And this is why I live alone.

We decided to open each others presents after everybody left. Only Naruto knew what Sasuke's was — he couldn't be out by himself — and I didn't even know if he would like the one I made him.

Finally, everyone had left, some drunk because someone decided to spike the eggnog, and we were left with one giant freakin' mess. I stared blankly at the couch pillows thrown astray, the rug moved to a different spot, the rearranged chairs…

"My…house…"

Sasuke was already working on putting it back to normal. He knew what happened when people messed with how my shit was arranged. Seeing as he was taking good care of it, I took this opportunity to go clean up the kitchen, which hopefully was the least messy and disorganized.

Thankfully, it was, and I set to work on scrubbing the tile floor and counter off.

What the fuck is this? I questioned when I encountered what looked like crusted up, moldy teriyaki sauce. You know, scratch that. I don't want to know. I was about ready to get some steel wool and scrub it off before Sasuke came in.

"What are you doing?" he asked, eyeing me warily.

"Trying to scrub off whatever the hell this is. And it isn't working."

He came up behind me and put his hand over mine on the scrubber. He pushed on it and scrubbed with rough force, but not enough to break the counter. (this is an expensive counter, okay?)

"See? You just have to put enough force into it."

I tried to ignore the fact that he was holding my hand (sort of) and that he was right up against me, his arm around my waist, and his hand just grazed the skin between my shirt and my pants.

Screw you, hormones.

After he had let go of me — both to my relief and displeasure — he looked up and sighed.

"What?" I questioned. He pointed directly above our heads and a light blush fanned my cheeks. A mistletoe hung proudly above us.

"When the hell did that get there?"

"You put it up there, remember?" Sasuke said. "You made Ino and Kiba kiss." I did remember now, but that didn't make this situation any more comfortable.

"You know, we don't have to…" I trailed off. I was doing this just in case he didn't want to waste a kiss on me. But I have to say, living with a guy for 3 months and not touching him at all becomes very frustrating, especially when you haven't had sex in forever.

It wasn't like I was a virgin or anything, because I was twenty, for crying out loud. I'm not saying it's bad to still be a virgin, but that just wasn't how I worked, I guess. My first few sex encounters were with Kiba, because we went out for a while, but then we broke up because of mutual differences. (we're both okay around each other, though) Ever since then it's all been one-night stands. None of them are really bad, but I do kind of need an outlet.

"But it's tradition, after all," he said, his voice husky. He trapped me, setting his hands on the counter on either side of me. He leaned his face in closer to mine, and I could smell his breath. I would bust him for stealing some of the tree candy-canes later.

Then he kissed me. And it was kind of like…magic, I would say, but then I would say cheesy. So lets just say it was just the most incredibly fantasmic kiss ever.

Which, it sort of was.

And then I was on the kitchen counter, legs wrapped around his waist, and he was pulling me off.

"Where are we going?" I gasped, out of breath.

"Our bedroom."

I woke up that morning semi-cold, even though I was bundled up and snuggled beside Sasuke. I smiled when I woke up and kissed him gently before sliding out. I pulled on some pajama pants and a T-shirt, and went to the bathroom.

The first thing I noticed about myself weren't the various hickey marks or love bites. The first thing I noticed was the sex hair.

And this is why I love him.

(A/N: Can't really explain the ending, but I really wanted to end it. It's 3000 words for crying out loud.

And yeah. I just…yeah. I was really in the mood for this couple, so it just flowed. But was it as fun to read as it was to write?

I'm now on LJ. Yeah. I finally made a Livejournal. And the only reason I made it is for people — who don't read my profile updates that are there for a reason — to know why I don't update stories. Yeah. That and to rant about whatever crap I want. Feel free to check me out. I'm mellieforyellie and before you ask about the name, read the only post I have so far. It'll explain.

Next: NaruHina

After: mystery

Feel free to request more. I won't bite.

Thanks for reading and please review!

— Midnight Essence)