February – Week 3 (Part II)

"Sorry I'm late," Suigetsu sneered as Sasuke slid into his spot at the lab table and readjusted his goggles. He was pulling into his lab coat as he ignored his partner continuing onward with his imaginary conversation, "It's no problem, man, we're all late sometimes. Except, I'm late all the time, Based God Sui–"

"I would never call you that," Sasuke interrupted.

Juugo handed Sasuke his copy of the lab protocol with a soft grin and agreed, "He wouldn't."

Suigetsu scoffed and groaned, but decided to let the argument go. It would be unwise to get on Sasuke's bad side; between the three of them, the Uchiha was the only one who was consistently able to decipher experimentation to Orochimaru-sama's incredibly specific fancy.

From the head of the classroom, Orochimaru began reading the instructions shortly after Sasuke got the chance to breeze through them himself. The class, which previously held a light buzz of conversation, hushed entirely. This was the only time that the professor would be willingly answering questions and providing clarifications. As soon as the clock struck 2:45, the students would be on their own.

Normally, this sort of do-or-die pressure exhilarated Sasuke and sharpened his senses, but today, he was more distracted than usual. His mind kept returning to a certain rosette, wracking through memories trying to figure out why she seemed so familiar to him. And, more importantly, why it was proving so damn hard to shake her (and their incredibly mundane interaction) from his mind.

Sakura cracked her neck and stretched as she exited Hashirama hall.

"What a day," she sighed.

The sky was painted purple and orange in the telltale signs of evening. The way the colors contrasted the stark white of fresh snow was truly breathtaking. Konoha University, for as annoying and arduous as it was, sure was beautiful.

Feeling inspired, Sakura fished her iPhone out of her pocket and lined up a photograph. She grinned at the product for a few moments before she recognized a small, parking meter-monitor car in the background.

Her heart skipped.

She hadn't paid a damn thing.

She took the stairs down the building two at a time, nearly slipping on a sheet of ice as she scrambled to her car. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no," she muttered. This was a disaster. She'd been ignoring her last parking ticket for months – adding the accrued fees from that to whatever fine existed for this offense would definitely be out of the budget. Gingerly, she approached her car and winced as she brushed the snow off her windshield, searching for a ticket that she knew was buried underneath the dust.

Except...there wasn't one there.

Instead, a handwritten sticky note.

Her eyebrows furrowed and she grabbed it, curious.

"Didn't know when your class would end," Sakura read slowly, green eyes squinting slightly to read the fine print. "You're welcome. Uchiha Sasuke."

Interesting.

Sakura bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. He'd paid the max fare for her, and she didn't even know it. She told herself that it was because of her small town upbringing that she felt the need to make it up to him.

It had nothing to do with anything else.

Sakura could hear Shikamaru and Ino arguing from outside of the apartment. If this didn't happen like clockwork around all significant celebrations – birthdays, anniversaries, holidays – she would be more concerned. She peeked through the half-closed blinds of the doorside window, trying to see if they were fighting in the living room or not. Unsure, she decided it best to text TenTen and Hinata to find out.

Group Name: Trouble in Paradise *palm tree emoji*

anyone home? :D

Tentacles – I haven't left my room in 20 minutes for fear of my life.

Sheesh yeah I hear it out here too

Tentacles – Hina escaped ;) *eggplant emoji*

Sakura gagged. Eggplant emoji?

Tell me you're kidding

Tentacles – lol she's only liked Uzumaki since sliced bread.

Tru

You think it would be weird if I stopped by too? Like are they actually...

Tentacles – Nah I doubt it. She said they were just gonna play Mario on Switch and eat and I believe her.

Tentacles – She packed a whole bag of ingredients for pastaaaaa I'm jelly D:

I'll bring leftovers :)

Tentacles – I'll lyk when it's safe to return. Play as Yoshi in my honor, noblewoman.

Since Naruto had first invited Sakura – and by extension, her roommates – as welcome into his apartment, their visits had become incredibly regular. Or, rather, as regular as their busy schedules allowed. Usually it was just Sakura and Naruto hanging out. He was fantastic company and all around a good guy. Perhaps it said more about her that she expected someone as privileged as himself not to be as down to Earth as he was, but she was always pleasantly surprised by his character.

She was nervous about Sasuke at first, but she quickly found he tended to stay in his room when he wasn't pulling all-nighters at the Engineering Library.

"Basically, it's like living alone," Naruto had said one day when Sakura built up enough will to ask him about it.

Needless to say, Sakura was beyond surprised when the door was opened by none other than the man in question.

"Parking spot girl. Here to take my apartment as yours, too?" Sasuke smirked, crossing his arms and leaning against his door frame. Sakura would have noticed him fiddling with a small charmed necklace around his neck had his eyes not been boring into hers with the same intensity as they had earlier in the day. And, just like earlier, his attention threatened to bring a heated blush to her cheeks.

Sakura scoffed, "No," she hiked her backpack higher up on her shoulders and sighed. "Thank you for paying my meter."

Sasuke grunted vaguely in recognition of her thanks, locking eyes with her and staring unabashedly for what could have been eternities. He looked at her curiously, as though he was trying to solve a puzzle. Sakura felt entranced...and even a little bit dizzy. But, for whatever reason, she didn't want to look away. She figured that if he was like this with all girls he came across, it made perfect sense why he was the most sought after bachelor on and, honestly, off campus. She couldn't imagine all the ways in which women threw themselves at him.

She certainly couldn't compare.

In the same instant that both Sakura and Sasuke had taken a breath, presumably in preparation to say something meant to fill the awkward silence that was beginning to settle between them, Naruto's booming voice from deeper inside the home bellowed.

"Teme, come on! Close the door; it's getting cold in here!"

The moment was broken.

"You can leave your shoes at the door," Sasuke instructed as he stepped back to allow Sakura into the entryway. Shortly after locking up behind her, he escaped into his room and didn't come back out for the rest of the night.

The next evening, Sakura sat at her desk and reviewed her session plan notes in preparation for the call she would be having with Sasuke in the next coming minutes. She nibbled at her nails as she practiced the particular ways in which she planned to phrase her questions. She felt like she had most of the information she needed from him in order to complete her Case Conceptualization that was due the following week, but was feeling anxious about coming up with a way to ask him more personal things without being too invasive.

She should have told Kurenai about the conflict of interest as soon as she had a chance.

"Ugh," Sakura groaned. She dumped her head onto her desk and cried, "Frick my liiiiife."

"I don't understand what the big deal is."

Shikamaru and Ino had made up. Already.

As per usual, they were now inseparable as a result. Sakura rolled her eyes and contained her anger before turning her desk chair to face the cuddling couple on her bed. She wanted Ino here for her session as support, as always, but she didn't realize Shikamaru would be coming as a package deal. How naive of her.

Sakura smacked her lips and explained for the 100th time her predicament. "The 'big deal' is that the genuineness and authenticity of our interactions is at risk now. He may not feel like he can trust me if he thinks that I'm deceiving him or acting like someone else."

"So, don't act like someone else, then. Just be yourself."

"That would be in direct violation of contracting! He literally signed up for anonymous support. If I'm no longer anonymous, that would obviously limit how effective therapy can be. Back me up, Piggie-chan."

Ino's blue eyes flicked between Sakura and Shikamaru and she realized she had unintentionally become the swing vote for who was right and who was an idiot. She scratched the back of her head and chuckled, "I think you both make great points."

"You think I'm right, don't you, babe?"

Shikamaru planted a very manipulative, non-coincidental ass kiss onto Ino's cheek.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

Blushing, the blonde separated herself from her boyfriend and raised her hands in surrender, "That is not what I'm saying, Shika-kun," Sakura scoffed smugly, "Or Forehead. I'm just saying, you guys both have sound logic and that it's also almost 8:00. Why don't you, I don't know, play it natural and keep things light for tonight? Ask about school and then let the rest flow."

Sakura bit the inside of her lip and tapped her pen on her notebook. "I don't know," she mumbled. She wasn't entirely convinced.

"You got this!" Ino encouraged her as she snuggled back into Shikamaru. "If you need help, I'm right here. Just think: Sasuke's not stupid. Even if he does know it's you, he wouldn't do anything to put you at risk. Plus, you also don't even know for sure it's him, either. Relax. You can do it, chica!"

Sakura bit her lip. She sure hoped her friend was right.

That Friday, Sasuke left Orochimaru's lab section aggravated. For the first time, he wasn't able to complete the experiment satisfactorily. On top of that, he couldn't figure out where he went wrong. His lab report tonight would undoubtedly be a complete mess to put together.

His grumpiness lifted away as he approached his car and noticed a small note taped onto his windshield. It read:

Guess who! Sorry I can't pay for your meter bc a) I'm broke and b) you already had it covered, but instead I leave you with this 1 Free Pass to park in my spot, non-expirable. Happy Valentine's!

Parking Spot Girl

Sasuke couldn't help the smirk that tilted his lips as he pocketed the bright pink note, careful not to crumple it because he was sure it would come in handy in the future. His hand brushed his phone at that moment, and an idea popped into his head.

He should thank her.

Impulsively, he dialed the Counseling Center's number and half-hoped she would pick up. The other half of him hoped that he was wrong about his hunch altogether.

A/N: *it begiiiiins* I feel like I should state very candidly that I ship both ShikaIno and ShikaTema (and, likewise, InoSai). Along the same lines, there's nothing unhealthy going on with ShikaIno in this story besides them probably being past their expiration date as a couple. I hate to have them arguing and whatnot, but it's necessary for this story in particular. Anyhow!

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Thank you for all of the support,

~hot