Prompt 23: a hot cup of tea
Summary: Sasuke makes a really good cup of tea. She's really going to miss that.
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Sakura has always known Sasuke will go back to the Uchiha.
It's not like Sasuke needed to tell her and it's not like something like Sasuke's father suffering from poor health needed to happen for her to connect the dots. It's just always been the natural order of things for people like them.
The rich kid grows up in the world of money, fame, and privilege. Gets educated in all the best schools. Feel restricted. Rebels, do something crazy to get the family to banish them. Stay away for a couple of years, and then come back to take their rightful place in the family's hierarchy. It's like a cliché TV drama plot written and recycled over and over again. Except it's real life and Sasuke is living it.
Not that she's one to talk. Her life is like a cliché TV drama plot too if she's being honest. Just with more drama, a sprinkle more family secrets, and a dash of politics. Not to mention the fact that she and Sasuke just had to link up and combine both their shitty cliché TV drama plot lives just to make one giant clusterfuck of cliché TV drama plot networks would probably kill to get their hands on. Sakura thinks they'll make it to at least five seasons with twenty-five episodes each.
It seriously pisses her off.
Their cliché TV drama plot lives aside, Sakura has always known Sasuke will go back because he hasn't done anything to actually permanently cut himself off from his family. He still uses the name in all his documents and uses its influence for his convenience. Granted, it's not like he can avoid it. It's not like it's a common name and it's not like Sasuke can hide the fact that he belongs to them when he looks every bit like he's related to them. Sasuke maintained his connection with the family by the crowd he associates with, the company he kept around, and by continuously showing up at places and events only someone from their world could possibly get in to.
Not to mention his continued liaison with his brother which of course Sakura couldn't and wouldn't fault him for but—oh, his brother.
Sakura never had a problem with nor did she ever even spared the time of day to think about anyone from Sasuke's family until most recently.
A day before Sasuke was scheduled to come back to the apartment, Sakura gets a visit from Itachi Uchiha himself.
Sakura has just finished assisting her second surgery for the day when a nurse came up to her to inform her that Itachi Uchiha is waiting for her in the office shared by the neuro residents. The nurse looked as shocked as she did.
She's not proud of it, but if she is being honest, she wanted to turn tails right then and there. Even considered shooting a text to all the attending physicians she's in contact with to ask if she can assist in any surgeries they have. She'll even take a simple appendectomy.
In the end, Sakura squared up and marched her way to see him. Sakura has always thought he and Itachi Uchiha would inevitably cross paths, what with Sasuke being their common denominator. She just didn't think it would be in this situation and at a time when the Uchiha family is in such a delicate situation.
Sakura takes a deep breath before going into the room. On the little window at the door, she spies him standing by the windows looking on outside. She pushes the door open and Itachi slowly turns to give him a smile in greeting. He gives off a charming vibe and if she were anyone else, Sakura might have smiled back, charmed as all hell. As it is, Sakura just bows and asks him to take a seat. Itachi thanks her and politely declines her offer of coffee but asks if they had Oolong. They sit in front of each other after she placed two steaming cups of Oolong tea on the table and Sakura, not sure of what to say, waits for Itachi to speak first.
"How are you, Dr. Haruno? I haven't seen you since the Namikaze wedding. I hope you are doing well?"
"A-ah," Sakura is startled out of her musings. "Yes. I—I'm fine thank you."
"I trust you've heard of our father's condition from Sasuke?"
"Yes. How is he? Sasuke tells me he's been recovering well?"
"As well as he can, yes." Itachi smiles at her once again and Sakura unwittingly smiles back. "You must be wondering why I asked to see you."
Well, he didn't so much as sked as he did ambush her, but Sakura is not about to tell him that of course.
There's always been something about the older Uchiha that she can't quite put her finger on. It's not that he's unsettling or that he makes her feel uncomfortable. It's more of…Sakura couldn't quite place what to make of him. It's like he's a wall—a blank wall. He maintains a neutral façade, makes sure he can't be read, and only lets the other person see what he wants them to. Still, Sakura appreciates the bluntness. It must be an Uchiha thing.
"Yes, but I figured Sasuke has something to do with it."
"Indeed it does, but more importantly, it has something to do with you and the Sabaku."
Sakura tried really hard to not roll her eyes and exhale out loud. Of course, it has something to do with the Sabaku. People like Itachi Uchiha only ever cared to talk to her when it's about her family. She doesn't try to make an effort to denounce her affiliations with them because people like Itachi Uchiha know for a fact that it will be just empty words. Whether she likes it or not and no matter her efforts of cutting herself from the name and everything associated with it, the fact remains that she is a Sabaku.
"What do you wish to know?"
"Nothing that the media hasn't disclosed and the Uchiha hasn't found out by ourselves. Precautionary measures. It's not exactly a secret within Konoha's elite society that you associate with one of our own and other people in our circle. Not after the Namikaze nuptials and the news about Suna's elections after all. You understand of course."
"Of course."
Of course, the Uchiha had her checked. Sakura is not surprised. Truthfully, she's more surprised by how unbothered she is about it. Normal people should be freaked out that they've had their backgrounds checked, but then again Sakura has always been anything but.
"You and my brother are dating, are you not?"
Sakura's mouth goes slack. What a loaded question. Itachi probably already knows and this is just for formalities' sake—or a lead up to some point he's trying to make. Is she allowed to tell Itachi Uchiha the truth? Will Sasuke even want that? It's clearly a trap. Sakura is not sure what to say so she keeps quiet, but Itachi looks at her expectantly and so she decides 'fuck it' and just comes clean. There's no use denying it when Itachi obviously knows the truth.
"Yes."
Whatever. Sakura has always been the one to insist on keeping it on the down-low. Sasuke did always say he doesn't care about anyone knowing. What's the harm if his brother knows?
"During the wedding, Sasuke introduced you as merely…a friend, but you were already together then weren't you?"
Sakura tongues the inside of her cheek. Right. It is a trap and clearly a lead up to some point Itachi Uchiha is trying to make. What it is, Sakura has no idea, but she gets the peculiar feeling like she's under the Spanish Inquisition. The whole thing feels like an interrogation.
"We decided it was best to not let people know. Considering, well, you know."
"Smart. Sasuke probably thought it best for the Uchiha to not know about you, but what's the harm of letting people know I wonder?"
Sakura's clenches her jaw. The implication shouldn't affect her, not when she was the one who wanted to keep them a secret in the first place, but Itachi's words are cleverly constructed to get a rise out of her. Well, not today. Sakura would sooner gut herself with a rusty scalpel than give Itachi Uchiha that satisfaction.
"I thought you said the Uchiha did their homework?" she says through gritted teeth, lips twisted in a rueful smirk, and an eyebrow cocked in challenge.
Itachi laughs sounding genuinely amused by her retort.
"Oh, make no mistake, Dr. Haruno. The Uchiha can easily find out about everything. They just haven't as of now because they have yet to decide whether the Uchiha being involved with Suna's politics is a good or a bad thing." Itachi moves to stand up, pushing back his chair, making it clear that their little meeting is over. "Right now, I'm calling the shots and the elders are on my side. However, I don't know just how long I have the reigns."
Sakura watches Itachi straighten himself suddenly feeling more exhausted than when she came in despite just sitting down and exchanging no more than a couple of words.
"Why are you telling me all this?" because Sakura has not grasped the intention behind Itachi's visit. "What's the point of coming here?"
"My stupid brother probably hasn't told you about the important things," Itachi buttons his suit jacket and grabs his coat from the chair beside the one he previously occupied, tucking it on his arm. "But I thought you should know."
As with anything involving the Uchiha, Sakura's head is swarming with questions she never knows how to articulate.
What important things? What else is there to know other than they're getting Sasuke back for good? And what exactly is she supposed to know now? Itachi didn't tell her shit other than that the Uchiha got her looked up and that they know about her and Sasuke's relationship. What does Itachi even mean about not having control for long?
But it is clear that Itachi Uchiha has deemed their conversation over and she doubts he'll be willing to answer any of her questions even if she manages to ask. Sakura herself isn't quite sure she's up for with. Their brief exchange just now was enough to put her in a catatonic state.
"Give my regards to your brother."
"O-oh," Sakura is momentarily caught off-guard at how random the remark was. "You're friends with Sasori?"
"We're…old school acquaintances you can say."
Itachi pushes the chair back towards the table, smiles, and tips his head in a bow to Sakura, before making his way out the door. Sakura watches him leave the room before her eyes returned to the Styrofoam cup with his untouched tea now cold.
Their meeting ends with Sakura not entirely knowing if Itachi Uchiha is a friend or foe.
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"Penny for your thoughts?"
Sakura looks up when a mug of steaming tea is put in front of her. She inhales and smells—
"Jasmine?"
Sasuke just shrugs sitting in front of her with a mug of his own.
"You drink tea whenever you don't feel good and you look stress lately. Long shifts at the hospital? Or is it your mom again?
"A mix of both mostly." She blows on the cup to cool it down. "You noticed that?"
"What? That you're stressed? No offense, Sakura, but you hardly hide it. The bags under your eyes says it all."
"No, idiot. I know I always look stressed why do you think I put make-up every time I step foot out of the apartment? I meant that I drink tea when I'm stressed, you know, more than usual."
"Sakura I've known and lived with you for more than a year. I'm bound to pick up stuff about you whether I want to or not."
"Still." It's not like Sakura drinks tea often. She's more of a coffee drinker, the strong, punch in your gut, guaranteed you're wide awake the whole day, complete with heart palpitations on the side bitter kind. "How did you know I like Jasmine?"
"Please," Sasuke scoffs as he gathers the papers and medical tomes scattered on the table to a pile on one side. "How do I know you like jasmines. Everything you use is jasmine scented. My bed smells like jasmines because of your shampoo, your body wash, your detergent, the fabric softener—you want me to go on? It's like your obsessed with it."
"So, I like jasmines. What about it? I've never heard you complain about it anyway."
"Eh. It's okay. I don't mind."
Sasuke shrugs slinging an arm over the back of the chair as he takes a sip from his mug. Under the table, Sakura feels his fuzzy slipper clad foot nudge hers and smiles.
I don't mind you.
"This tea is good. What brand is this?"
"Just the regular ones you buy. I think it's the Marks & Spencer ones? I don't know, you're the one who bought it."
"Are you sure? It tastes different. It doesn't usually taste this good when I make it."
"It's all in the water. Don't use water that was boiling just a second before. Let it rest for a bit. Boiling water blasts out the tea's flavor and makes it bitter."
"Woah. As expected from someone who grew up with the finer things in life and a fancy education. Did you somehow study making tea too? Is that part of rich people's education curriculum?"
"First of all, you don't study making tea, idiot, you study tea ceremony."
"Oh, but of course. Pardon my ignorance, young master." Sakura inclines her head in a bow and laughs against the rim of her mug when she felt Sasuke bump his knees against her none too gently.
Sasuke tells her that it's because his mom is a huge tea drinker. She and Itachi are more partial to tea while he and his dad are the coffee drinkers. He used to brew tea for his mom whenever she's upset because she never quite makes them right when she's in a mood. She always says that the tea tastes off so Sasuke learned to brew them for her.
"Kind of like when you don't like what you cook because it doesn't taste right because you were in a bad mood when you were cooking."
Sakura feels a rush of affection for him, all of a sudden, and completely out of the blue. Sasuke has always had that effect on her even when they just first met. He'd say things, do things, that are so out of his way yet so simply kind and it's like—Sakura can't believe such a sweet pure being exists.
She gestures him to come forward, laughs when Sasuke raises an eyebrow and shoots her a suspicious look. He leans over the table as Sakura puts a hand to his cheek and leans to close the gap between them with a soft wet kiss.
"What was that for?"
"Thank you for the tea."
"Oh, well," Sasuke blinks, swallows, still a little confused at the turn of events and that too Sakura finds endearing. "It's nothing, really."
"I know." Sakura kisses him again, this time longer and with a little tongue. "That one is just because I can and I want to."
"I should be making you tea more often then, huh."
Sakura likes to think she does her best in letting Sasuke know just how loved he is, but if she's being honest, between the two of them it's Sasuke who has always been more vocal about his feelings for her, has always been the first to verbalize them clearly, impulsively, decidedly, and so easily. Like he's been doing it for a long time, way before they first met. Sakura admits she's lacking in that department, but even if she doesn't often put them to words, she reciprocates it in ways she knows how and hopes they're enough for Sasuke to know.
"I hope you don't ever get tired of making me tea."
"You don't have to worry about that." Sasuke shifts forward so their legs are between each other under the table. "You're so lucky I love you."
"I love you," Sakura says kissing him again. She feels him smile against her lips and it's contagious.
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Sakura tries not to think about her conversation with Itachi in the following days. She tries but it's hard when Itachi Uchiha somehow figured out a trigger Sakura didn't even know about.
'Sasuke probably thought it best for the Uchiha to not know about you, but what's the harm of letting people know I wonder?'
His words are ringing through her head for maybe a couple of days now following their meeting but then the hospital gets extremely busy around the time the holidays are nearing and Itachi Uchiha eventually gets pushed out of her subconscious.
What she does think about is this:
Has Sasuke never told anyone about her because he's ashamed of her? Or is it because having people know about Sakura seems like too much of an addition to his already hectic life?
Look, it's not like she has some grand delusions of Sasuke declaring his love for her or for him to hold a press con and announce to the world that they're together. Sakura knows that it's for the best that no one knows about them and Sasuke keeping her from his family is to protect her—probably.
Oh, she doesn't know anymore! Lately with all the sneaking around and news about their families left and right everything just blur together. It's fueling her paranoia and her brain conjures up all kinds of shit.
Sakura honestly doesn't know what the hell is her problem. After all, it was Sasuke who said that he doesn't want to treat whatever it is between them like some dirty little secret but it was her who told him that they should keep a low profile in the first place.
And of course, Sakura believes him, of course she does. She knows she's told him before that she's used to it—used to being kept as a secret. Growing up with a mother who never sticks around for PTA meetings long enough for the other mothers to get to know her and always asking Sakura to wait in the car or go wander around whenever she runs up to an old acquaintance from her socialite life tends to make a child feel like that. Sakura is used to it.
It's just that—it still hurts.
Whether Sasuke denied her unintentionally or not, it still hurts that she's always treated like she's some dirty little secret no one is supposed to know about.
Sakura doesn't understand why she feels so bad about it. Wasn't it was her idea? Wasn't she the one who kept on saying she doesn't think they're a good idea, that if they're going to continue regardless they should keep it on the down-low? Isn't she treating Sasuke—them—like some dirty little secret too?
And when is he going to tell? When the Uchiha decides that being involved in Suna politics is actually a good thing? Does her and Sasuke's relationship depend on whether the winning party will be friendly with the Uchiha? His cousins are in good terms with the Namikaze as far as she knows. Does her and Sasuke's relationship actually depend on her mother's winning?
She's thought about telling Sasuke about it, thought about discussing with Sasuke the stuff that's threatening to rot her brain, thought about seeking comfort and reassurance that it's all in her head and her brain is just being an asshole and there is nothing to worry about. She's thought about telling Sasuke of Itachi's visit when she's idle and her brain goes to places it shouldn't be. But just the thought of having a whole conversation about her doubts and about Itachi and possibly creating a rift between whatever precarious state their relationship is in now is enough for her to scrap the thought out.
She also doesn't want to create ripples in Sasuke and Itachi's relationship. It's not like Itachi said anything bad. It was just a couple of questions about her and Sasuke's status and the fact that they had her looked up, no big deal. It's not like it hasn't happened before. All her past relationships have had her background checked. Even Ino's family did. It was insulting at first but then it stopped being a big deal after the second or third time. It's just what rich people with too much money and time on their hands do.
Besides, Sasuke is only back on weekends and she wants to spend every moment with him and not spring up problems and burden him with her silly thoughts. God knows Sasuke must only ever have a moment of peace whenever he's in the apartment. Sakura knows Sasuke tries to hide it, but she can see the bags under his eyes and can feel the exhaustion radiating off of him whenever he picks her up from work on Friday nights so they could go home together.
And Sakura's not naïve. She knows what's happening on Sasuke's end without him having to tell her. It's hard not to when Konoha seems to revolve around the Uchiha at the moment. The television in the hospital waiting rooms are almost always tuned in on the news channel. The pantry and the nurse's station always has the day's broadsheets and tabloids. The newsstand she passes by on her way to work and back home almost always has publications displayed on the stands with the words 'Uchiha', 'group of companies', 'succession', and 'new management' on the headlines at least every other day. It's like the whole of Konoha has a vested interest in whatever fate the Uchiha Group will inevitably succumb to.
Sasuke may not talk about it, and much as he adamantly avoids seeing and hearing the news at the apartment, but Sakura knows everything that's going on especially with the way he keeps on showing up in well-pressed suits, shiny Italian leather shoes, and slicked-back hair every time he comes home. She sure as hell appreciates the view but she misses the days seeing him relaxed in just a comfortable pair of jeans, a nice fitted shirt, and his worn-out Converse. He even took off all his piercings.
People always find weekends pass by too quickly but Sakura feels like it's on fast forward with the speed turned up to sixteen times. Two days is not enough when she's gotten used to seeing Sasuke every day and basically living with him for the past almost two years. It was…disorienting at first to come home to an empty apartment waiting for Sasuke to come through the door all sulky and grumpy depending on the day and then suddenly realizing that he's not coming home until the end of the week. She's had to remind herself to not fill up the Keurig in the mornings because Sasuke is not around to finish the other half of the brew. Next day's lunch is always last night's leftovers because she has gotten used to cooking for two.
So, when Sasuke comes to pick her up on Friday night, Sakura pretends like the meeting with Itachi Uchiha never happened. Sakura pretends like she knows nothing, acts like nothing is wrong, and they act like Sasuke doesn't go away come Monday morning and like they won't see each other until the end of the week. Even though she already knows, she never brings it up, doesn't ask about what he does or what happens when he's away unless he tells them about it himself. They go home, have dinner, fight over who gets to choose what to watch, bicker over the littlest of things, and they act like nothing has changed.
An unspoken rule was set in place. No phones, no checking of emails, and the TV will only be turned on for Netflix. The apartment became their little bubble where weekends feel like they're suspended in time. Sasuke and Sakura stop and pretend that two days last forever as life and the real world continues to move forward without them outside the four walls of their old building.
Weekends are sacred and Sakura tells herself it's okay to pretend to not know anything and that everything is going to be just fine. Even for a little while.
After all, Sakura already knows what she has to do before she can even think about it.
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"So, my parents said they got an interesting call the other day." Ino starts nonchalantly filing her nails on the armchair across the couch Sakura is sprawled on. "Interesting because it came from Suna's governor's office asking my parents to dinner. Privately. With the Sabaku family."
Sakura groans and grabs the pillow propping her head up to put it over her face.
"They sent an actual invite too by the way. Fancy scented envelope with a wax seal of the Sabaku insignia. Excessive and very classy for a simple private dinner. As expected of the Sabaku."
"Oh my god, Ino. I am so sorry," comes a muffled reply under the cushion. Sakura is honestly not surprised at this point. She can even say she's expected it. Of course, the Sabaku will stop at nothing to get to her even going so far as contacting her acquaintances.
"Oh, don't be. Daddy didn't want to go but of course, he has to. He works for the government after all. Work politics is important. Mom promised they wouldn't say anything and will send a lovely flower arrangement afterward instead. You know. As compensation and a show of goodwill or whatever."
Ino sounds all too unbothered about it all that Sakura truly envies her.
"Why do you sound so nonchalant about all this? Your father works at Suna's Security and Interrogation Unit. His job might be on the line because of me."
"Oh, please. Don't give yourself too much credit. Let me rephrase that for you. Daddy is the head of Suna's Security and Interrogation Unit. That place will fall apart without him. Besides," Ino turns sharply towards her, blue eyes hard and cat-liner sharp enough to cut. "Yamanakas ain't no snitches."
"I love you and your family so much, you know?"
"As you should."
"I'm still sorry though."
"Oh, will you quit it." Ino sits up from her slouch and threw her nail file at Sakura. "None of this is your fault, okay? None." She points a finger at Sakura for emphasis before standing up to go to the kitchen.
Sakura sits up, picking up the nail file thrown at her and putting it on the coffee table. Ino returns with a new bottle of Pinot Noir.
"More wine?"
"Yes, please."
Ino pours them both a glass before plopping down on the couch next to Sakura. They clink their glass to a toast where Ino says, "Snitches get stitches but bitches who are snitches end up in ditches needing stitches," before tipping her glass to her lips.
"I really love you and whatever shit that goes on in that pretty little blonde head of yours." Sakura laughs. "How you didn't even stutter through that is beyond me."
"That's how you know I ain't a snitch who's ending up in no ditch."
"Listen, have you ever perhaps considered being a rapper?"
"Right? I drop them bars like it's nothing."
"Ino, please. You rhymed snitch with 'bitch' and 'ditch'. I was being sarcastic."
"See, despite your attitude, I know for myself that I can break through the hip-hop scene if I want to." Sakura rolls her eyes and laughs when Ino nudges her with her foot. "Alright, then. Lay it all out. To what do I owe this sudden visit?"
"What, can't I just visit you because I love you and miss you? We haven't seen each other in a month."
Ino levels Sakura with a look that if she were anyone else, Sakura would have caved in under the cold stare of sparkling blue eyes.
"Be that as it may, Sakura," and oh, she just used her name. Ino never calls her by her name unless she means business. "You need at least three business days before you can even come out to meet for dinner. Which means this visit has been thought up and scheduled by at least five. You know Sundays are my only days off. So, tell me. What's the emergency?"
Sakura holds her stare for three, five seconds tops before she tips her glass to her mouth and downs its contents in one go. She sighs and Ino is ready with a refill.
Ino listens as Sakura talks about the things she's had to deal with since her mother came out to the press to announce her candidacy and decided to pull Sakura into the fray. She tells her of the month she's had with the Sabaku sending her 'a summon' ("Was it in a parchment scroll?" "Nah. Just a simple white envelope with a wax seal." "Boring.") and the text message she received from her mother ("That explains the new phone. I thought you finally realized how embarrassing that old brick you had was.").
Against her better judgment and because she thought she might as well get it all out in the open, she tells Ino about Itachi Uchiha's visit too. As much as she tells herself that the whole meeting is out of her mind, the surrealness of it just won't let her.
"It must be really serious if Itachi Uchiha himself came down to see you. You know I've never seen him in person? Not even one visit to his mother's fashion house. So, what's he like?"
"What's Itachi Uchiha like? Honestly, I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? You said you guys talked."
"Yeah, but—" How would Sakura even explain it? "It's like—it's like everything he did was planned. I mean, I don't know if it was, but the whole thing felt controlled, almost scripted. Like him coming to see me was scheduled ahead of time and not just something he decided given the recent things happening. He went straight to the point," and straight for Sakura's jugular, "and honestly, I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing." If it was a warning or a threat or giving her a head start for something Sakura doesn't even know what for.
"Ooh. Mysterious. That's sexy."
"Ino, please."
"So, what now?"
"What do you mean what now?"
"What's your plan? Come on, Sakura. Don't even think of telling me for a second you don't already have a plan. I know you. You always have a plan."
They're on their second bottle of wine for the night and Ino is demanding Sakura to tell her about a plan. It's a testament to how well Ino knows her because of course Sakura already has a damn plan. It's a solid one too.
"I'm thinking of taking a page from Sasuke's book."
"What?" Ino sits up from where she's slouching on her end of the couch and regards Sakura with a sharp glare. "You're going back? After everything, you're just giving up the fight? Bitch, I thought I raised you better than that."
"Please. As if." Sakura scoffs. For all of Ino's confidence in Sakura having a plan, she thinks Sakura is just going to cave in just like that? Unbelievable. "I'm just going to set things straight. Take care of business once and for all."
"Uh-huh. And how do you plan of doing that pray tell?"
"That part I have yet to figure out," she shoots a finger gun and a wink at Ino who only rolls her eyes at her. "Do you have anything stronger maybe? I think it's about time we break out the good stuff."
"I'll go get us the good vodka. God. You'd think you'd at least bring some food when you decided to have this spontaneous drinking session, you freeloader."
Ino doesn't have any vodka but she does have half a bottle of MacLean and an unopened Bombay Sapphire. They make their way through the MacLean quick and by the time they're halfway through the Bombay, Ino and Sakura are both slumped on the carpet, back against the couch, and taking turns drinking straight from the bottle. Somehow along the way, they managed to order wings and chips. Ino complained because 'I just got my nails done!' before Sakura got the brilliant idea of using latex gloves which Ino somehow luckily have.
"Why do you even have these here?"
"Fuck if I know. Sai must have bought it for his artworks or something. Or did we used that for sex stuff? Damn. Who even cares?"
"I'd ask what sex stuff can you actually do that involves latex gloves but I'm scared I might actually throw up on your, I'm sure, very expensive carpet."
"Man, you are so unimaginative. There are lots of things you can do with latex. You and Sasuke must be vanilla as fuck."
"Excuse you! We are not vanilla! I'll have you know Sasuke and I have crazy animal jungle sex all the time like you wouldn't believe!"
"Oh, yeah? I bet none of it can top what Sai and I do when we get freaky. In fact, just the other day we were—"
"Oh my god, shut up! I wasn't gonna tell you anything! What made you even think I'd want to hear yours!"
They dissolve into laughter with Ino still trying to tell Sakura the stuff she and Sai get into in the bedroom, the kitchen, the very couch and carpet they were sprawled at while Sakura tries to simultaneously cover her ears and Ino's mouth to make her stop talking. They laughed and laughed and laughed some more until they were out of breath and Sakura is lying on her back watching Ino's white ceiling spin in her vision.
"God! I'm so tired of running away!" Sakura sighs out at the end of another laughing bout. "I am so! Fucking tired! I just want to live my life! I never asked! And I never wanted! To be a part of all this!" She rubs at her eyes tiredly and also because she can feel the pinprick of drunken tears threatening to spill at the back of her eyes. Embarrassing. "I'm so tired of running away! Why can't they just leave me the fuck alone?!"
"You know you don't have to, right?" Ino says lying down beside her and lightly bumping her head against Sakura's. The resounding 'ow' brings a smile on Sakura's face.
She knows what Ino means. And it's tempting, she's not gonna lie, it really is. The idea of facing the press and just basically throwing the Sabaku under the bus has crossed her mind multiple times in the past month. As tempting as it sounds, however, Sakura won't because—
"She's still my mother."
And perhaps that's the worst thing about it.
"I know, I know." Ino sighs as she slowly pulls herself up to lean against the couch again. She cards a hand through Sakura's hair, the gentle pressure of her fingertips against Sakura's scalp making her lean into the touch and close her eyes. "You want me to come back with you to Suna? You know, for moral support or something?"
"No, no. It's fine. I know you're busy. It'll just be a couple of days and then I'll be back here don't worry." Sakura shifts so she could lean her head against Ino's thigh. "Besides, this is my mess anyway."
She feels Ino gently tug at her hair and Sakura wills herself to turn her head and look up at her friend.
The look Ino is giving her is rueful in that way that says Sakura had just said something really wrong and sad. Sakura thinks she recognizes the look and the accompanying smile with it but she's a full meter passed pleasantly buzzed and just a smidge away from being completely smashed to fully comprehend why Ino is looking at her like that.
"Sakura, I don't know how many times I've told you this but I will tell it to you over and over again until you get it past that wide forehead and through your thick skull." Ino lightly flicks her on the forehead, ignoring Sakura's flinch and soft 'ow'. "Your shitty family aside and contrary to what I'm sure you're probably thinking right now, you're not the burden you think you are to me or to anyone else for that matter, okay? And you're being a really shitty friend right now by telling me all this shit and not letting me be your friend. I just—would it kill you to admit that you're a mess right now and rely on me too?"
Ino leans down to plant a soft light feathered kiss on Sakura's forehead and it's all it took for the damn to break. Sakura lets out a sound between a choked sob and a laugh lightly hitting Ino's thigh with the back of her hand and slapping the other over her eyes.
"Alright, alright. Fine. You can come with me," she says as she frantically wipes at her eyes with the heels of her palms. "I mean, your family is in Suna. It's not like I can stop you from going home."
"Damn right you can't. And who knows? Maybe your brother will be in town and I'll get to see how hot he's gotten since I last saw him."
"Don't you, like, have a boyfriend?"
"What Sai doesn't know won't kill him."
.
.
One day Sasuke tells her that he can't come home and pick her up and Sakura knows it's the start.
Sasuke doesn't come home for one weekend, and then it becomes two, then three, and then the calls stopped and the texts stopped until eventually she just stopped waiting
Sakura has always known Sasuke will go back to the Uchiha. It was just a matter of time.
And so, she lets him go. She tells herself it's for the best anyway.
When she noticed his mail piling up on his box in the mailroom she knows it would just keep piling up. Then it was officially announced that the Uchiha Group will now be run by the Uchiha brothers. And when she saw Sasuke in a crisp suit standing beside Itachi Uchiha in a press conference on the news, it felt like an abrupt end to a really good dream, like being forcefully pulled to consciousness.
The camera zooms and pans to Sasuke's face. Sakura stares at the unfamiliar cold, sharp eyes on the screen. She closes her eyes and swallows, turns away from the screen to go back to her rounds.
From now on Sasuke Uchiha will be nothing more than a name in the news and a familiar face in the papers. His name will come up every now and then in conversations about business and the latest gossip in Konoha's high society. Sakura will smile and nod, make polite remarks just for conversation, pretend the name doesn't mean anything to her and go about her business.
And that's the end of that.
.
A/N: guys, i'm sorry i can't reply to your reviews and messages here in . i mainly write in ao3 right now and this is the only story i'm finishing here lol. if you want to talk to me or ask me stuff about the fic, y'all can reach me on twitter and curiouscat ( /proserandom). i mostly post stuff about anime (haikyuu!, mostly), bts, and my current hyper fixation: mo dao zu shi
if you're interested to read my other fics, my ao3 is /randomprose
my ARMY readers! congrats to us and the boys for the hot 100!
i hope you all are safe and healthy. and as always thank you for reading.