Sometimes, it was patently unfair, having friends as beautiful as the ones she had.

She didn't want to sound ungrateful or petty, but on her wedding day? Would it kill them to look just slightly less like supermodels?

Hinata sighed as she waited for her friends to try on their bridesmaid dresses. Ino, Sakura, and Tenten absolutely refused to agree on anything, so in the end, she'd relented and let them all buy black dresses in various styles; she regretted the free rein she'd given them, though.

They were bound to look amazing in just about everything. And Hinata knew it was a childish thought, but she wanted to be the prettiest one on her wedding day. With just two weeks to go, it was looking more and more like a certainty that her bridesmaids were going to outshine her like they always did, and it just didn't seem fair.

"What do you think of this one, Hinata? Classy enough for your wedding?" Sakura asked, emerging from behind one of the dressing room curtains to anxiously model her latest selection. It was the simplest design in the world, strapless and knee-length, cinching in at her waist. Maybe the cheapest dress in the store. (She looked like a rock star.)

"A-absolutely," she said with a cheerful smile, inwardly miserable; even with her intricate, extravagant white dress, she would stand next to her maid of honor in that slinky little number and look like an overdressed showpony.

Maybe she'd make them all wear burlap sacks. The thought pleased her for an entire second before she dropped her head in her hands and groaned.

They'd probably look gorgeous in burlap sacks, too.


The text Sakura received – the anonymous one – had frightened her enough to give up this little fantasy role-playing with Sasuke.

They'd fallen back into an easy routine. He didn't resent spending time with her anymore, in fact sought ways to see her of his own volition. And it was the easiest thing in the world to remember all the ways she still loved him whenever he smiled that crooked smile at her. With every passing day, she felt the bitterness of the past fading into something more irrelevant, and just when she relaxed her guard…

Madara interfered again.

Not for the first time, she wondered if she was doing the right thing, keeping Sasuke in the dark about his uncle.

The thought of sullying the reality of his last surviving relative was repugnant. She couldn't do that to him, not when he had no other family and not when his regard for the Uchihas was so high.

But on the other hand, was this somebody Sasuke should be so close to? Sasuke, who was good and kind in his own way, and headstrong and…

What if she was going about this all wrong? What if it was her duty to tell Sasuke that his uncle was an amoral, corrupt, intimidating thug who'd been threatening her for years to keep away from him? What if she was, essentially, condemning Sasuke's future to the custody of a man who'd been trying – and succeeding – to control his every move?

With her inaction, how much damage was she preventing, compared to how much she was causing?

She unzipped the slinky black dress and let it fall to the floor of her dressing room, shuddering. She was getting so confused lately; it used to be so easy to identify her own feelings and motives. Everything she'd done had been in Sasuke's best interest, she could swear to that. At least before. But now that she was spending so much time with him, letting him fill up her heart the way he used to, how much of her desire to out Madara and come back home was rooted in selfishness?

Was she really considering taking away his only family just so she could come back home?

Stop it, she told herself harshly, hanging the dress again on its hanger and slipping back into her black leather shorts and gray cropped top. This isn't 'home' anymore. Home is Suna. And enough is enough. You can't be here anymore, it's over.

It's over.

"I'M GETTING THE HIGH-LOW DRESS!" Ino shouted from the changing room next to hers. "NOBODY ELSE GET IT SINCE IT'S MINE!"

God, she would miss this place. And these wonderful, wonderful people. It would hurt so much to leave them again.

Two weeks, she had left.

With grim, shaking fingers, she pulled out her cell phone and responded to the anonymous text:

"You don't have anything to worry about. When the wedding's over, I'm leaving."

There was no reply, but she hadn't really expected one in the first place.


"Pass it, asshole!" Naruto shouted, weaving his way out from Sai and Kiba, who were guarding him.

Sasuke dribbled between his legs, smirking at Neji, who was attempting to block his shot (he was lightspeeds faster than any of his friends) and, ignoring Naruto's demand, faked going left before hurling the basketball in an arc over his head.

The chain-link hoop rattled to signify he'd made his shot.

"DAMN IT!" Naruto yelled, not in the least bit happy that Sasuke's two points put them ahead in the game. "I WAS OPEN!"

Pick-up basketball games in the park were a tradition among the boys since they were children, one of the very few they hadn't outgrown. Sasuke was sweating like crazy in the hot summer heat, but even the sky-high temperatures hadn't affected his drive to play. It was a great way to burn off some steam, as well as impress upon everyone why he'd played D1 basketball in college.

It was weird to think of 'college' as something in the past. He'd only ever heard grown-ups well into their thirties say things like, "Back in college…" and now he was thinking it, too. He was 22 now, fresh out of his undergrad program and enrolled in law school, and it was surreal to imagine that he was a grown-up now, too.

Sometimes it didn't feel like it, like when Naruto called him a name for not passing the ball and he flipped him off in response. Sometimes it still felt like that first year of college, when things were still fresh and new and competitive.

Made all the more complicated by Sakura's unexpected return to Konoha. Now that she was home, it was impossible not to lapse into old freshman year habits. Responding to her texts. Looking for her when she ran off. Spending time with her. Her presence was intoxicating, and sometimes he forgot that she had a different home now, hours and hours away from him.

A home that she would be returning to in two short weeks, unless someone or something gave her a reason to stay.

It was getting scarily easy to disregard what happened in the past. Her abrupt departure from Konoha, an unforgivable offense at the time, was starting to look more and more negligible; really, everyone made mistakes, and she was home now, right? That was the important thing.

That was the dangerous thing about Sakura Haruno. Even when he knew he was supposed to be mad at her, she had a way of getting him to lower his defenses, to relax his rigid stance on just about everything.

She remained a steadfast, unyielding exception to his every rule.

And he didn't even mind.

"Pay attention, bro!" Naruto yelped, as Sai made an easy lay-up. "You're on D!"

Sasuke cussed under his breath – here he was, letting her distract his thoughts even during a basketball game – and against his will, he was plunged three years into the past, to another game with the girl who refused to bend to his whims, or even acknowledge that she was supposed to.

He could still taste vomit in his mouth as he waited with the other starters of Konoha's D1 basketball team for tipoff. No one would know it to look at him, but the six-foot-two point guard had spent the last hour throwing up in nervousness. This was his first college basketball game, and as the only starting freshman on the Konoha team, he had more than enough reason to be anxious.

Games were televised. Fans showed up by the thousands. And expectations were high for a team like Konoha University, who made it to the Final Four every single year without fail. Placing a freshman in the starting lineup was relatively unheard of, and Sasuke knew he had a lot to prove to back up his talent and competitive drive.

He'd never been so nervous before in all his life, even if he never let a second of it show on his face.

"Jump ball," called the referee, and he stood between the two guys chosen to jump for possession: some seven-foot monster from Iwa College and the captain of Konoha's team, a guy named Kotetsu. Then he tossed the basketball in the air between the two.

Sasuke's anxiety vanished the second the ball was put into play. Kotetsu was shorter than the guy he was jumping against, but he also had a lot more lift; he managed to smack the ball towards his own teammates, directly into Neji Hyuuga's waiting hands.

Sasuke took off like a shot down the court, his defender hopelessly unable to keep pace with him. His speed was unrivaled back in high school, and his stamina outmatched, except by his best friend Naruto, who was sitting on the bench despising him for making it onto the starter squad.

Neji passed the ball to him and he tossed it in effortlessly for the first score of the game.

The fans ERUPTED. A sea of green, white, and gold screamed his name, some of them wearing his jersey already, while the cheerleaders turned cartwheels in approval. He smirked as his nervousness ebbed into nothingness, replaced with gameday intensity.

He wasn't sure how he found her in the crowd – maybe it was her bright pink hair – but as Iwa took possession of the ball and he found himself on defense, he just happened to glance at the right part of the crowd at the right moment, and there she was. With his number – 17 – painted on her cheek, her hair in pigtails, decked out in shorts and tube socks and his jersey, screaming her support for him.

He smirked. Prettiest, loudest girl in the crowd, and she was cheering for him.

(Knowing she was watching, Sasuke scored 26 points in his first college game, and Konoha throunced Iwa 86 to 65. He was a hero from that moment on.)

But nothing was as satisfying as what happened later that night.

Besides sharing a few drunken kisses every now and then since Prom, Sasuke's relationship with Sakura remained murkily platonic. Until that night when they were alone. She'd grabbed his arm and tugged him away from the party, up the stairs from the common room to the third floor, where her dorm was.

His breath caught in his throat. Exhausted muscles came alive again with adrenaline as he realized her intent. It was hard to misjudge, with the look burning in her eyes.

"Sakura," he choked, but she merely smiled, unlocked her door, and pulled him inside. When they were finally alone, she didn't waste any time; her arms wound around his neck and she was kissing him passionately. Like her life depended on it.

Sasuke forgot absolutely everything, from his astounding first college game to his slight intoxication, all the way to his very name. All that mattered in that instant was kissing Sakura, was feeling her skin underneath her T-shirt, was hearing her breathy little sigh in his ear when his tongue found her pulse point.

"Sakura," he growled, and she giggled, pulling back enough to look up into his eyes, her own full of playful promise.

"A girl could grow old waiting for you to make the first move," she teased, and she laughed when he all but threw her onto her bed, not far behind.

Sasuke couldn't name the date when they made their relationship official – in fact, he couldn't remember ever properly asking her out – but he always sort of pinpointed it as that night. It was cold outside, for Konoha, anyways, and there was a raging party celebrating their victory over Iwa that lasted long into the night, but the real celebration was in Sakura's dorm room. That was the first time he'd slept with her, the night he learned she'd been saving herself for him – even years later, he still took a possessive, masculine pride in knowing that he'd been her first – and for all points and purposes, the first day of their relationship.

So here he was, playing basketball and Sakura was on her way to the park with the rest of the girls. It was impossible not to drown in old memories, impossible not to want to replicate them.

His slow burn for Sakura hadn't cooled over the years, and after kissing her in a fit of anger a few weeks ago, it had only gotten progressively more intense.

And when she arrived with Ino, Hinata, and Tenten, dressed in leather shorts (he loved when she wore leather shorts) and a shirt that showed off her flat stomach, he had to look away from her.

She was leaving again, wasn't she? So getting all worked up over her was a complete waste of time.

"You guys are all gross and sweaty!" Ino shouted from behind the fence, where they all paused to wait for the boys. "C'mon, we're starving! Feed us!"

Sakura giggled, instantly drawing his attention, and he saw that she'd piled her long hair on top of her head in a messy bun, showing off the long, slender column of her neck. Instantly the back of his neck colored as he remembered how sensitive her neck was, how easy it was to get a reaction out of her whenever he kissed it.

Knock it off, you idiot, he thought harshly, joining the others as they headed off the court. You're friends now. Don't fuck it up, or soon she'll take that away, too.

He didn't like giving one person so much power over his life. He didn't like the way he had to scrape and scrounge for any semblance of attention Sakura was willing to give him, the way he would so readily take whatever (little) she deigned to offer him.

He also didn't like the way he had absolutely no control over it in the first place.


She was probably just being paranoid.

It wouldn't be the first time.

And granted, with the way Madara kept leaving her subtle hints that she needed to stay away, maybe she was overthinking things.

But at dinner that night, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

They were all gathered at the counter at Ichiraku's, knocking back shots and scarfing down fries and having a grand old time. With her maid of honor dress all picked out and paid for, there was very little Sakura had left to do in preparation for the wedding, which meant the next few days could be devoted to relaxing, and enjoying her limited time left in Konoha.

But no sooner had she sat down between Naruto and Sasuke – in her usual seat – did she get that feeling. A sudden hyperawareness of everything and everyone in the crowded room.

"Sakura, you all right?" Ino asked, frowning from further down the row. "You look nervous, why do you keep looking behind you?"

"Oh, me?" she asked stupidly, then remembered that Ino was the only one who knew about Madara. She was sworn to secrecy for the moment, but Sakura couldn't let Ino know anything was wrong, or she'd go right to Sasuke. "Hahaha sorry, I thought I knew that one girl from the softball team, that's all," she lied, a good cover.

Ino seemed to buy it, but Sasuke had always been a little more difficult to fool. When conversation resumed, he leaned closer to murmur, "You do look nervous."

"I do?" she squeaked. "Oh, well I bought my maid of honor dress today but I think I look like a total goober in it, so I'm not really looking forward to wearing it at their wedding, you know?"

"You're jumpy." His tone brooked no argument.

"I am not," she argued, narrowing her eyes. Leave it alone, you idiot. "I'm just…gonna run to the bathroom really fast."

Without waiting for another girl to accompany her, she hurried away from the counter, vanishing to the solitude of the ladies' bathroom.

She locked herself in a stall and tried to calm her racing heart.

Knock it off, she scolded herself. You're acting so fucking suspicious. There's nobody watching you, it's just your overactive imagination. Keep this up, and Ino's gonna shoot her mouth off to Sasuke, and all this will be for nothing.

But she couldn't shake the feeling. There was security here in the women's bathroom, but it wasn't like she could stay in here forever. And now knowing that Madara had his eye on the situation between her and Sasuke, she felt exposed and vulnerable nearly every minute of the day. Maybe it was just her imagination running away on her, but she was terrified.

"S-Sakura?" a voice called, and she stiffened, realizing she was not alone in the bathroom anymore. Swallowing a lump of fear in her throat, she called back, "In here, Hinata!"

"Are you o-okay?"

"Yup, I'm fine!" Sakura replied cheerfully, flushing the unused toilet to avoid suspicion, and emerging with a smile on her face. "Lemme just wash my hands."

Hinata didn't look convinced – maybe her abrupt departure from the table was more conspicuous than she thought – but she didn't say anything, just smiled. "The food just c-came," she said. "Let's go."

Sakura followed her friend out of the bathroom, drying her hands on her shorts, and when she took her seat again, she pointedly ignored Sasuke, who was looking her way with narrowed eyes.

If she wanted to get out of this situation, and if she wanted to keep Sasuke in the dark about his uncle, then she needed to hide her emotions better. Letting anyone see how jumpy and anxious she felt was bound to raise a few eyebrows, and Ino was too smart not to put two and two together. For everyone's sake, she had to keep smiling.

The feeling never went away.


"Tailed her like you told me to, Boss."

"Good. What did you learn."

"She went dress shopping at the Boutique this afternoon, with three of her friends. Including the one who's getting married. Then they met up with your nephew and his friends at the park. They went out for dinner afterwards as a group to Ichiraku, no conspicuous or noteworthy contact between her and Sasuke. She headed back to the blonde girl's apartment after that, and he went home."

"And does she knew you're following her."

"She kept looking over her shoulder…she suspects something."

A twisted, evil smirk. "Excellent."

"Excellent, Boss?"

"I want her to know I'm watching." A deep, dark chuckle. "I warned her to stay away."


note.. getting creepyyyyy. but spoiler alert: i always promise a happy ending eventually. i realize i've been gone a little on this one, but i appreciate your continued patience. i do my best but writing is not my only thing. it's not even my favorite hobby! (but there are children reading this so i can't really say what my favorite hobby is. just that i am a newlywed.)

ANYWAY. did you like it? did you miss me? do you hate me? hollaaaa.

love y'all. xoxoxo daisy jane.