Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
As Sasuke made his way to Sakura's office, he could feel all the stares on him. It was really quite annoying. No doubt they were coming up with ridiculous rumors. He didn't care though. At least, he tried not to.
When he opened the door to her office, he found her sleeping. Drool was getting on the unfinished paperwork and he almost laughed. It was a pretty comical sight. He cleared his throat and she instantly jumped up. Now he could not help but chuckle.
She looked up at him confusedly and asked, "Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here?"
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. She looked tired, he noted. Naruto is right; she does overwork herself too much. He shook his head.
"I was sent to come and get you for dinner at Ichiraku's," he answered simply.
She was about to answer, but a yawn escaped her lips instead. She needed to get some sleep. She always tells others to stay healthy and she lectures them for not doing so, yet she does not even take her own advice.
"But I will tell them that you cancel because you're tired."
She instantly shook her head and said, "No, I'm coming."
His eyes narrowed and he said, "Sakura, you need to sleep."
"I'm fine, Sasuke-kun."
Before he could reply that she was not indeed fine, a young man that looked like their age appeared in the doorway. He had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. He would be considered a catch to most girls. Sasuke glared at him.
Sakura smiled at him and said, "Goro-kun!"
He came into the room and Sasuke saw the blush that was on his cheeks. Who was this guy? How did Sakura know him? He just continued to glare at said boy.
Sakura stood up and pointed at Sasuke. "This is Sasuke Uchiha."
She pointed at Goro and told Sasuke, "This is Goro Arato."
Goro put his hand out for Sasuke to shake, but Sasuke did no such thing. Now things really started to get awkward. Sakura gave Sasuke the what-is-your-problem look. He just stood there impassively.
"So what's up, Goro-kun?" she asked him finally.
Goro put his hand back down at his side and answered, "Tsunade-sama wanted me to tell you that the meeting will be tomorrow at noon."
Sakura smiled at him and said, "Oh, really? Well, thank you for letting me know."
He grinned at her and she blushed.
"I'll see you then, Sakura-chan."
He turned to Sasuke and said, "It was nice meeting you, Uchiha-san."
"Hn."
As soon as he was gone, Sasuke asked, "What meeting?"
"Is everyone already at Ichiraku's?"
He scowled at her and said, "Sakura."
She groaned and said, "It's for all the potential senseis."
He looked at her confusedly. Sense when had she wanted to be a sensei? Why didn't anyone else know about this? He kind of felt hurt that she hadn't spoken about it.
"You're going to be a sensei?" he asked finally.
She nodded and answered, "Yes, I would like to."
"You know you won't be able to work constantly at the hospital if you do that, right?"
She rolled her eyes at him and said, "Yes, Sasuke-kun, I know that."
Sakura went back to her seat and proceeded to finish her paperwork. She needed to get this done now if she was about to become a sensei. She wouldn't have a lot of time once she took that on. She would not be able to go to Ichiraku's tonight.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
She sighed and said, "I have to get this finished. Tell Naruto that I'm sorry that I could not make it."
He glared at her now. She was becoming annoying. She's just so damn stubborn. She doesn't listen to a word that he says. She needs to go to sleep.
"No. You're going home to sleep."
She didn't even bother to look up at him as she continued to work on the paperwork. There was no way that he was going to convince her to leave here tonight. He gritted his teeth and decided that he was going to have to do this by force.
It only took him a second to appear behind her and knock her out. As her eyes closed, she swore that when she woke up that she was going to kill him. How dare he do this to her, again?
He picked her up and held her gently against his chest. He smirked down at her and did a teleportation jutsu to her apartment. He walked into her bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He covered her up and caressed her face.
"You shouldn't be so damn stubborn, Sakura."
He watched her sleep for the rest of the night. When she had a nightmare, he would caress her face or play with her hair. He found that it made it go away somehow. Someday, he would ask her what she dreamt about.
Sakura awoke groggily, and something felt different somehow. Her breath hitched when she heard someone else breathing beside her. She quickly looked over and saw Sasuke sleeping beside her. She gripped her erratic heart to make it stop beating so fast.
The previous night came flooding back to her. She became angry when she remembered the fact that Sasuke had knocked her out, but all her anger went away as she looked at his peaceful face. Last time he had knocked her out, he had not been there when she awoke. Now, though, he was here right beside her. It was comforting.
"Go back to sleep, Sakura."
She looked back down at him and was met with dark eyes. He looked tired, she noted. Why he had decided to stay, she could not guess.
"I can't believe you knocked me out."
He rolled his eyes at her and didn't even bother to answer her.
"I really needed to get that paperwork finished, Sasuke-kun! Now I'm going to be behind!" she exclaimed exasperatedly.
He gave her a look as if to say you-were-tired-and-needed-sleep. Now she rolled her eyes at him and looked at the clock. It was eight in the morning. It was a good thing that she didn't need to work today, but she did need to get to that meeting at noon.
She slowly sat up and yawned. She stretched and her shirt went up to expose some of her creamy skin. Sasuke tried, but failed, to look away from her. Then his onyx eyes noticed something. He saw a nasty scar on her stomach. Medical ninjutsu doesn't normally leave scars…
"What's that?" he asked curiously.
She instantly stopped stretching and blushed.
"W-What's what, Sasuke-kun?"
"That scar on your stomach," he answered while looking at the crimson on her cheeks.
"Oh, that," she said.
She lifted her shirt back up to show him a better view of her scar. Her heart started to beat extremely fast when his hand started to trace it. His skin on hers felt like an electricity bolt going straight through her and down to her very core.
She could feel how hot her cheeks were and wished that he could not see it. It is embarrassing.
"It's on my back as well," she said.
His brow instantly furrowed and he frowned.
"You were impaled?"
She just nodded and turned to the side so that he could see that as well. Each of his hands was touching the two scars left over from the impalement. She felt a shiver go down her spine.
"How did it happen?" he asked.
She could hardly think with his hands on her, but she finally managed to tell him about her battle with Sasori and how he was going to land the blow on Granny Chiyo, but she had jumped in the way. It had been a long time since she had thought about that fight.
He could just picture Sakura doing something like that. She always put others first, above herself. That is how she has always been. It was a wonder that she was even still alive at all. She had gotten this while he had been away, after he had left. He instantly felt blame for her scar, for everything she had gone through.
He dropped his hands back down and she let her shirt fall back to where it belonged. She looked over at him with a smile on her face.
"You know, Sasuke-kun, it's rude to stare at someone."
"I'm not staring."
She laughed and said, "No, silly, earlier when you noticed my scar. You had to have been staring to notice it."
He scowled at her and that just made her laugh even more.
"What do you have dreams about?" he suddenly asked.
She instantly stopped laughing and looked away from him. She bit her lip. She did not want to discuss her nightmares. They were something that she didn't even want to ever think about, much less speak about.
"They are not dreams."
He just continued to stare at her and she could feel his gaze one her. She felt like she was on stage about to give a big, very important speech or something of the sort. This was personal and painful.
"They're nightmares."
She realized something then though. If she could not share things like this with him, how did she expect him to ever open up to her?
She sighed heavily and said, "They are always about you. You're either: fighting Naruto, trying to kill me, or leaving."
She finally turned to look at him, and met his onyx eyes. They were not filled with pity, but with guilt and understanding. She bit her lip because she could feel her eyes start to water. It had been a long time since she had cried.
"I'm sorry, for everything."
The tears were heavy and she could not hold them back anymore now. They slid down her cheeks form her green eyes. She looked like she was in pain and anguish.
Her eyes flashed open when she felt Sasuke's hand on her face, wiping away her tears with his thumb. She sniffled.
"You don't have to cry, Sakura. I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere."
Her watery eyes widened in shock at his words and actions and she finally met his intense gaze. Her tears stopped flowing and Sasuke wiped the rest of them away. He reluctantly dropped his hand when he had wiped them all away.
She managed to give him a broken smile and said, "Thank you, Sasuke-kun."
"You don't have to thank me, Sakura."
"And you didn't have to thank me all those years ago."
"Your students will graduate from the academy at this time in a week. You will be given a team while they are on their lunch break and informed on which room to go in," Tsunade explained.
"Hai," all the shinobi answered.
Sakura looked around the room and saw that Lee and Ino were here. She was glad that some of her friends were deciding to do what she was going to do.
"Sakura-chan," she heard from behind her.
She turned around and saw Goro's smiling face. She smiled back at him and said, "So are you ready to be a sensei?"
He nodded and answered, "Yes, I am. What about you?"
"Yes, more than ready."
As he looked closer at her, he noticed that she looked happier than usual. He wondered what had been the cause of it… Sasuke Uchiha instantly came to mind. He and everyone else knew all about team 7. They are a legend.
"Uchiha-san doesn't seem to like me very much."
At first she didn't know what to say to that. Sasuke had shown a little more coldness towards Goro than he did to others, which was saying a lot.
"He doesn't like people very much."
Goro nodded and was about to reply, but some of her friends came up to her and started to talk. As he watched her, he couldn't help but think that she was just absolutely beautiful. He wanted her, and he was going to damn well try to get her. Whether Sasuke Uchiha tried to stop him, or not.
"I believe that we can be extraordinary together rather than ordinary apart."
-Meredith from Grey's Anatomy
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