There were few things in life Sakura enjoyed more than shopping for new school supplies.

Her dads had been saving up for her college fund since they'd adopted her as a baby; their years and years of responsible scrimping in a separate bank account proved unnecessary, however, when their genius girl was given a full scholarship to her first choice school. Out of sheer pride, they'd merely transferred the funds to her own bank account and told her flatly, "Do whatever you want with it."

Sakura had been too touched by their fiscal sacrifice to blow it all on something extravagant, like a new car or an entirely new wardrobe, but she figured that with all that had been going on lately in her life, she deserved to dip into the kitty just a little for some school shopping.

"This is so boring," Naruto moaned; she'd dragged him along to the store for some company. She knew he'd been hoping for clear skies, which meant minigolf and ice cream. "C'mon, Sakura, you're obsessing over this like it's something actually interesting, it's just stupid school shit."

"I need more," she said dismissively, chucking four thick, blank notebooks into the basket she was making him carry. "You can't tell me there's anything in life that holds more promise, more potential, than a fresh new notebook!"

"Literally ANYTHING else is better than this."

"Be quiet, Naruto, I need to concentrate."

"You're deciding between three different pairs of scissors. Sakura no offense but I'm going to kill myself if we don't get out of here and actually do something fun."

"Fine! Wet blanket. Give me five more minutes."

Despite his whining, complaining, and natural aversion to anything educational, Sakura was glad for his company. She hadn't gotten to see too much of Naruto lately; being around him sometimes reminded her too much of Sasuke. It was as though they'd gotten divorced, and Naruto was an asset that Sasuke got to keep in the messy mediation.

But she'd missed him lately, and texting him this morning with an invitation to spend the day together was a decision she was glad she'd made. Just being near the big goofball made her happy.

"When are you moving in to KU?" he asked as they stood in line at the checkout, laden down with all of Sakura's impulse buys.

"June 1," she replied.

"That soon?"

A little brokenhearted at his tone, Sakura pretended to be more interested than strictly necessary in the superstore's gum collection at the front checkout.

"Yeah, but it's pretty sweet anyway. I'll end up getting a dorm to myself."

"I thought you were gonna share with Ino?"

"Nah, not anymore. The Head Start program is so rigorous that all the students are expected to room alone. Less distractions."

She winced at her choice of words – hopefully Naruto wouldn't feel like he and her other friends were 'distractions' – but he didn't seem to notice. He was staring hard at her, with those piercing blue eyes she sometimes resented for their omniscience, and finally blurted out, "Sasuke was thinking of doing Head Start, too."

She was proud of herself for not jumping at the sound of his name.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, with a valiant stab at casualness.

"Yeah." Judging from the look on his face, he wasn't impressed at her practiced apathy. "But when I told him you got in, he said he wasn't gonna do it anymore."

Sakura hadn't been prepared for the hurt of that revelation, but it felt like a punch to the stomach. Was Sasuke that angry with her? She seized her things from Naruto's basket and began setting them up meticulously on the conveyor belt.

"Says he doesn't want to crowd you," Naruto went on.

The pain didn't go away. She'd been fighting so hard to move on from Sasuke, avoiding him so completely, that she hadn't stopped to think that maybe he might want to move on from her, too. Their conversation in the bathroom a few weeks ago – the pain on his face, the longing – had she misinterpreted all that? Had she, yet again, been giving Sasuke too much credit?

"Anything else, Miss?" asked the kindly old cashier who had rung out her absurd collection of new notebooks with a smile.

Sakura felt like crying.

"N-No, thanks, just that," she said, unable to return the smile, so she merely turned her back on Naruto.

"Sakura, come on. He's trying to give you space, like you asked for."

"That's nice." Her tone was so cold that even the cashier looked taken aback as he handed her a receipt. "Thanks."

She seized her bags, ignoring Naruto's dive to help, and hurried out of the store. She didn't want to cry here. She did NOT want to cry here…

"He misses you!" Naruto yelled when they got outside.

"I miss him, too!"

She rounded on him, ignoring the rain that was coming down in torrents, ignoring the fact that it was probably soaking through and ruining the notebooks she'd just painstakingly selected. She was so angry. So angry with Naruto, for cornering her like this, so angry with Sasuke, for maybe wanting her out of his life for good, and so angry with herself, for letting Naruto's words upset her so much after so much time.

"What does it change, Naruto?" she demanded, hoping that her tears might blend in with the rain, and that the wind might drown the sound of her broken hiccups. "He reacted badly. I reacted badly. It's over. It's done with. I can't keep going back!"

"I know he wants you back, Sakura! He's miserable without you. He hates himself for what happened. And…"

"And WHAT? I'm supposed to…to what, just open my arms and let him back? Forgive him, like nothing happened? He doesn't TRUST me, Naruto! Me! That's a fight I can't fucking win, okay? He's…he's too messed up."

As she said it, she hated herself for it, but at the same time, she knew she'd spoken the truth. Naruto's expression was that of a man sucker-punched, and she despised herself for speaking the horrible, horrible honesty.

"He's too messed up," she reiterated. "And…and I must be, too, because after all that, after everything…I miss him, too. So much."

Naruto's face brightened instantly. "Then you've got to take him back, Sakura! He's different now. He's an asshole, yeah, but he loves you. He loves you so much, and I know he can't say it, but…"

"He did say it," she blurted. "He…he told me. I knew. I know."

"Then what are you waiting for? What are you putting him through all this for? What are you doing to YOURSELF?"

Sakura bit her lip.

"He's what's gonna make you happy again!" Naruto yelled impatiently. "He's the answer! He…"

She cut him off by throwing her bags on the ground, in a murky, muddy puddle, destroying them; Naruto stared in surprise at the water-logged notebooks, the soaking wet index cards, the wrinkled folders that could never now hold important medical papers.

"I can't rely on him for my own happiness," she snapped. "That's got to come from me!"

Naruto's eyes were wide, and he opened his mouth to counter, but shut it just as quickly. Neither of them spoke for awhile as they stared each other down, the rain heavy between them and the wind even fiercer.

"I'm being selfish, aren't I?" he finally asked.

Sakura didn't answer.

"I am. I know it. I just…I want my friends back. Neither one of you are the same since…since everything went down. And neither of you are happy. But I tell you what, Sakura, you're right."

She blinked. "I am?"

"Yeah. Seriously. You need to be happy yourself before you can be happy with someone else. Same with Sasuke. He never understood that, which is why he's so miserable now. He leaned on you too much."

He closed the distance between them, and wrapped his arms tight around her in a hug. She felt fresh tears spring to the surface at the concentration of love he focused into the embrace, and clung to his soaking wet jacket almost desperately.

"I'll stay out of it," he promised quietly, patting her wet hair in a brotherly way. "I think you guys belong together…but it's got to be on your terms. Your timeline. Not mine. I'm sorry if I pressured you."

Sakura burst into tears and clutched at him even tighter. The tension between them had evaporated; Naruto, like so many other times before, understood her, understood where she was coming from. She'd never been so grateful for an argument. Fighting with him like this had brought them closer together.

"Can you do me one favor, though?" he asked gently.

"What?" Privately, she vowed that anything he asked of her, she would give him. It felt too wonderful to have her brother back.

"…talk to him soon. Just…see where he's at. Let him know you're doing okay. No one's asking you to jump back into each other's arms or anything," he added quickly, when he felt her stiffen in his embrace, "but you guys were friends before you were in a relationship. And that…that's got to mean something, too."

Sakura winced before admitting, "I know, Naruto.

"And maybe that's why this hurts so much."

Sasuke wondered if he would get jailtime for this.

Stalking was a crime. But maybe this didn't count as stalking? It wasn't as if he was crouched in the bushes outside the museum, peering in with binoculars, handcuffs and duct tape in his pocket.

No, he figured that, if questioned by police, he would be able to avoid prosecution by explaining it was merely a coincidence that he'd happened to spend all day at the Konoha University Museum of Medical Oddities and Anomalies, the same day that Sakura came with her parents.

It wasn't necessarily his fault that he recalled most things Sakura told him throughout their lives together; she talked enough to fill a thousand silences, and while he wasn't the most loquacious conversationalist, he'd always been a cognizant listener. The things she said must have been important to him, because he never forgot them.

And one thing that stuck out in his mind was her annual birthday tradition of coming out to this freak museum after lunch with her dads.

It was a strange, macabre ritual – he figured she'd been here so often that there could never be anything new, nothing that would justify the hour's drive and take up so much time on her birthday – but one, nonetheless, she looked forward to. Sometimes he wondered if she'd picked Konoha University just because of its proximity to the museum.

He paced the cramped halls for the fifteenth time since arriving at noon; he had no intention of speaking to her, which made his sojourn here all the creepier.

But Naruto had talked to him last night, told him of his day spent with Sakura, told him of the way she'd burst into tears in the parking lot and the argument the two had had; Sasuke hadn't slept afterwards. He knew Sakura wasn't his to worry about anymore, but he knew he wouldn't be able to let this go until he'd seen her himself, verified for himself that she was happy, especially on her birthday.

He'd ruined enough for her. The last thing he wanted to be responsible for was a miserable 17th birthday.

Hours it had been since he'd paid the five dollar entrance fee, and he wondered now if maybe he'd made a miscalculation. Maybe Sakura had grown finally bored of seeing all these shrunken heads, pickled limbs, baby corpses suspended in jars; maybe she'd elected to celebrate her birthday in a different way this year, and he was wasting his entire Saturday for nothing.

I'm an idiot, he thought. Not just an idiot but a fucking idiot. Worse than Naruto.

There was no point to being here, was there? Even if Sakura showed up, he wasn't planning on speaking to her, confronting her, even wishing her a happy birthday. It was inappropriate. It was violating the boundaries she'd established the minute he'd broken her heart.

I'm out of here, he thought irritably, turning his back on the mutilated skull of a long-dead king.

And coming face to face with the one person he'd been hoping to avoid the rest of his life.

…

Iruka's expression was unreadable, and that was what made him so suddenly terrifying to Sasuke. Sasuke had known all along that one of Sakura's fathers didn't like him; Iruka made no secret of his blatant mistrust. And it hadn't helped matters that Sasuke had gone and fucked everything up so royally that Iruka's initial suspicion proved justified. As Iruka must have expected all along, Sasuke had interfered in Sakura's life, hurt her as predicted, and walked away from the fallout unscathed.

"Uh," Sasuke said intelligently.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke," said Iruka stiffly.

"…good afternoon. Sir."

If Iruka was impressed at his hasty manners, he didn't show it. Still, he let no emotion on his face; Sasuke found this more frightening than if he'd simply started shouting him down.

"I'm going to assume that your presence here today isn't some massive coincidence," Iruka said dryly.

Seeing no reason to lie, since his death was imminent anyway, Sasuke shook his head.

"…I heard that…Sakura was upset yesterday."

"So you wanted to…?"

"I just…had to make sure she felt better today. I had to know she was happy, on her birthday."

Iruka hesitated, and Sasuke wondered if he was trying to find fault in his explanation. Eventually, the older man's face broke into a tired, resigned smile.

"I guess there's nothing I can do about it, huh?" he sighed. "Do you love my daughter, Sasuke?"

Again, lying seemed pointless. It wasn't as though how he felt about Sakura made any difference anyway.

"Yes."

"What an inconvenience, huh?"

"Yes."

Iruka chuckled and shook his head. "I'm sure it comes as no surprise that she loves you as well. Understandably, she's upset with you…"

Understatement, thought Sasuke, shifting his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"…and she's figuring herself out right now. Where she is, how she feels, what she wants to do going forward. You hurt her quite badly, you know…I'm sure you must have guessed as to how I would react to that. I bypassed the usual maiming, disfigurement, slow and painful exsanguination…you know, something that might merit your corpse a showcase here…" He waved behind him at the wall of mutilated bodies, and Sasuke wondered how many of the corpses on display belonged to stupid men who hurt good women with good fathers.

"She's all right today," Iruka finally revealed. "Smiling and happy. She's with Kakashi right now in the gift shop."

"I don't want to talk to her or anything," Sasuke muttered stiffly. "It's…I don't want to ruin her birthday. I just had to check on her. If you say she's happy, that's good enough for me."

Iruka was quiet as he regarded him for a few moments.

"You know you'll never do enough to deserve her," he said finally.

"I know that."

"I happen to know that she plans on texting you tonight."

Sasuke's eyes widened marginally; he hoped his shock wasn't so pathetically evident.

"She…does?"

"Talked about it the whole way here. It's the first time since you two broke up that she's been so vocal about it; whatever Naruto said to her yesterday really got through. I was hoping I'd get a chance to see you beforehand, give you the heads-up so you're fully prepared."

Sasuke was confused, and he didn't bother to hide it. He folded his arms, almost pissed off at his inability to understand anything that was happening today.

"Why? Why do you care if I'm…prepared, or whatever?"

"Because Sakura loves you. And I love Sakura. And that means I want this shit to work out, because it would make my little girl happy. She deserves that, even if you don't deserve her. So I'm giving you a little notice, so you can get your thoughts in order, and if your responses are anything less than sufficient to what my daughter has to say to you, then I will come down on you like the wrath of Thor."

Sasuke was completely wrongfooted by all of this, and even more so at Iruka's gentle smile.

"We all make mistakes," he said softly. "But this time, try not to fuck it up, all right? And if she chooses to give you another chance, so will I."

…

When it reached eleven that night and Sakura hadn't yet texted him, Sasuke just about put his fist through the wall.

After his discussion with Iruka at the museum, he'd driven straight home, plugged his cell phone into the wall so it had no chance of dying, and sat on the sofa beside it. His eyes hurt from staring at the brilliant screen for so long; he ignored texts from all his friends, even Naruto, to whom apparently he owed a huge debt. It sounded as if he'd really gotten through to Sakura the previous night.

But as the hours ticked away, he found himself feeling like he had at the museum: stupid.

Maybe she'd changed her mind.

And who was he to trust Iruka anyway? Iruka had hated him since he and Sakura were children, despised him for the connection he had with his daughter, suspected (rightfully so) that one day he would break her heart for good. And then the old man had caught him on the lookout for Sakura's special birthday trip.

I'm so fucking stupid, he thought, hating himself for his own pathetic optimism. He probably saw a chance to get some revenge on me and took it. He knew I'd believe it if he told me Sakura wanted to talk.

He couldn't quite find it in himself to hate Iruka for it, though. He knew that if anyone hurt Sakura in any way, he'd take it upon himself to exact most painful revenge; if anything, Iruka was letting him off easy.

Of course Sakura wasn't going to text him tonight. Of course she wasn't going to ruin her own birthday, sully the happy occasion with some horrible conversation with the person who'd betrayed her. Even after Iruka's 'heads-up,' he hadn't been able to think of one thing to say to her that might fix things between them.

Iruka was right: he didn't deserve her. Not now, not before, likely never again.

Bitterly, he turned off his phone and laid back on his sofa. There was no point in waiting on a text that would never come.

...

It was raining, and it was very, very late, and Sasuke was going to kill whoever was knocking on his door.

Roused from a disorderly, unpleasant sleep by the incessant pounding, he sat up with a growl. If it was some drunk neighbor of his knocking at the wrong door, he was going to hit someone. If it was Naruto or one of his other asshole friends, he was going to hit someone.

He threw the door open wide, ready to give someone a verbal and/or physical beatdown for such a late, inconvenient visit, when he stopped short, the wind sucked right out of his lungs.

Abruptly, any vestiges of sleepiness vanished. He'd never felt more alert.

"Here's my problem," said Sakura, without preamble, dressed in pajamas underneath a thin jacket. "I broke up with my boyfriend a few months ago, and I really need to talk about it with my best friend, but I'm really fucked because both my boyfriend and my best friend are you.

"So what are we gonna do about that?"

note.. almost finished. have a good week.