Hello peeps, I have gone through and corrected some spelling mistakes. Enjoy!

You may be wondering 'Vela, what is this? I thought you had other things to focus on?'

Well, my dear readers, I felt the need to deter. I wanted a story that was less fantastical and more...grounded. More relatable, I guess. This popped into my head and I needed to see it through. But only if it does well. So here we go!

Sakura is fresh out of college and starting her adult life, filled with lost of needles and paperwork. She's a woman who's accomplished more than others at 23, but her love life is practically nonexistent. Until she runs into handsome Sasuke Uchiha, an aspiring detective that years ago she had a one night stand with. Suddenly, she can't get away from him physically or mentally when she comes under his care in a witness protection program after getting involved in a strange situation. Is this fate giving her a second chance? He doesn't even remember her. Or does he?

Chapter 1: Bagels

I absolutely hated Walmart.

Well, not necessarily Walmart. I liked the large selection and cheap things to buy. In fact, I would go here a lot more often for all this shit if I could stand it.

So why, pray tell, would I hate Walmart?

For the fucking people, of course.

It's like this superstore has its own brand of these humanoids. Walmart people. Where wearing sleeping pants out in broad daylight and foregoing a bra even though your titties are sagging down to your waist is an acceptable and grotesquely regular thing here. And it got worse, it really did. I can avert my eyes when I'm grocery shopping; I'm on a mission, and I don't give a fuck about other people or how many teeth they're missing.

But then you get stuck behind one, and it's like road rage without cars.

I purposefully seek out the uninhabited isles, because once somebody parks their cart, it is over. They'll be camping out there for at least 20 minutes, mulling over minuscule things or talking on their phone not even properly checking out the eggs they're grabbing. Or, or, they've found one of their buddies and have stopped. Right. In. the. Middle. Of. The. Lane.

Holy fuck, just no. Because they are oh so conveniently placed right where the item you're looking for is. You casually stand there or ask them to move, and they give you that 'look.' Not the 'oh I'm sorry for being insensitive, here let me move my cart' look. The 'bitch, why you enteruptin' me when I tellin' my homegirl about my beef with her baby daddy?' look. I've gone home multiple time without vital food groups for this exact reason. I understand that there are all kinds of people, and they are raised differently, but hot damn. Some parents skipped the 'be polite, or I'll beat you' lesson with their children.

So, I go for the open aisles. But sadly, that doesn't work either.

Because I have shit luck.

As soon as I make it to my desired destination, they swarm like a flock of zombies. They sense that there is intelligent life near and they have to snuff it out. It's like they're clawing away at my brain. Figuratively. Because they don't have their own. And I hear this buzzing noise (caused by sheer irritation) suddenly, as they gather and listen to them talk or argue with their kids, and even I wanna rip my hair out, open my skull and just give it to them myself so I can stop being surrounded by idiocy. I can feel my brain cells dying the longer they linger.

And now, as I sit here surrounded by yellow caution tape and policemen with knocked over shelves and preserved goodies, I've found an entirely new reason to hate Walmart.

It all started with bagels.

Or more specifically, the fact that I had none in my apartment. And as I moped around my kitchen, craving bagels but trying to find something else to satisfy my hunger, I found a substantial lack of food in my fridge and cupboards. I immediately cursed; had it really been so long since I'd gone grocery shopping?

I started to suspect that Naruto might've gone on a raid the last time he was here because my secret stash of gummy worms and chocolate hidden in the pantry above the fridge was gone as well. Naruto was the only one tall enough to get to it; Ino wouldn't touch chocolate, and as far as I knew I was the only one that truly knew of its existence.

Until Naruto made a sweep of the kitchen, it seems.

Unless I wanted to starve tonight and for tomorrow for breakfast, I needed to go to the grocery store. I had nothing better to do anyways besides some paperwork; I had the weekend off. Slipping on a pair of jeans and a dark gray jacket over my tank, I made my way over to the counter to swipe my keys and very feminine wallet. I went to check the time on my phone and cursed. It was past 10 o'clock. Almost everything was already closed at this hour.

So, my option was Walmart.

I almost opted to go hungry instead. But I made my way out of the apartment and to my awaiting white Avenger, hoping I could just get in and get out with what I needed.

Bagels were the first on my agenda. They were the whole reason I was here, after all, I'd be damned if I forgot them.

My first thoughts were that I didn't mind Walmart at night and that I might come more often at this time. There wasn't as nearly as many people here, and while some people's weirdness intensified at the lack of numbers, they left me alone, and I was perfectly fine with that.

My first mistake was breaking my own rule.

When I rounded the corner to the bread isle, I encountered two ladies. One examining the buns, and one just coming down the aisle from the other side. I was ready to turn around and do a lap for other stuff before I came back, but it felt utterly ridiculous. I was an adult, wasn't I? So, with new found courage and head held high, I marched my way down the aisle towards my desired object. The selection process would be easy; I just wanted some squishy, plain bagels. That was it. No conflicts over flavors or brands. A quick grab and go would work.

Life rarely worked out the way I wanted to.

I heard a couple raised voices as I made my way to where the bagels were, and upon inspection, I found that the woman that had just come down the aisle had made a beeline towards the woman checking out how soft type A buns compared to type B buns. I turned back to my task at hand, but as the voices escalated so did my anxiety. There bustling would only cause more attention, and I didn't want to be trapped in some random feud in the bread aisle as two women venomously bickered back and forth.

As soon as I pulled out my selected bag of bagels, I saw the first swing out of the corner of my eye.

My head snapped to the left as I watched a woman lunge out of her motorized cart (why is she in that if she can do that!?). She quickly grabbed a fistful of the other woman's hair (it was practically a handle since it was in a high floppy bun) and any piece of skin she could get her hands on. My instinctive fight or flight response was to get the fuck out of there because Walmart people were crazy. The honest, law abiding citizen in me told me that it was now my responsibility to stop this scrap before it got too intense. After all, I couldn't properly live with myself if I ran since I had been here when this started and did nothing. Classic bystander effect. I would be just as guilty of what was happening if I didn't at least try to help.

Curse my good nature.

So I dropped my bagels, out of my hands but not out of my heart, and proceeded towards the two tumbling women on the floor.

They were rolling on the ground, limbs flinging every which way as I slowly walked up to them. An old man passing by stopped to watch the spectacle in awe. "Go get help!" I yelled to him, and he glanced at me and nodded before briskly walking off. Hopefully getting an employee or someone in charge. Maybe he was pretending to care; I didn't know.

I wasn't sure to go about this. I had never been in charge of breaking up a fight before. Heck, I had never been in one, if you disclose my violent outbreaks toward Naruto. Am I supposed to yell at them? Tell them to stop? Use your words?

They rolled closer, and the skinny girls head almost landed on my foot. "Hey! Stop it!" I yelled with the most authoritative voice I could muster. But to no avail. I stumbled back as a kick flew at me, and they continued their fight completely ignoring my presence.

People were starting to gather, and my irritation was steadily rising to anger. All I wanted was some fucking bagels before I go through a complete migraine tomorrow with all the shit I had to do. I still had plenty of paperwork I had to go through before returning them back to Tsunade, and even if she had given me the weekend off I knew she expected them to be on her desk promptly on Monday morning. This was mountains of papers I was talking about-

-I wasn't quick enough as another leg shot out and kicked me in the shin-

My anger peaked. I hated people at this moment and cursed my stomach for its constant demand for food!

A whole crowd had formed already, but I was over whatever cat fight this was.

"That's it!" I vented. I grabbed onto the skinny chick and pulled. Hard.

She flew back with a gasp and smacked onto the shelves, sliced bread falling on top of her in the process. I had always been unnaturally strong for a girl, hence no one had ever picked a fight with me before.

Oops.

I immediately went to back up, but the girl was flying again as the chubbier woman got up to meet her halfway. This was ridiculous. And now, I realized, I was standing right in the middle about to be intercepted by two infuriated women.

I couldn't duck out in time.

I got caught in this gaggle fuck of Walmart women, desperately trying to fight my way out while protecting my face when I heard shouting in the distance. 'The cavalry's here!' I rejoiced. I freed my legs, attempting to pull myself out of this fight, to which I still had no clue why they were fighting when I heard a bystander (called it; bystander effect) said something about the police heading this way.

I should've been happy that the police were coming to break this thing up until I realized that I would most likely be arrested with these women because now I was involved. Fuck no; that was not on my agenda, and I was not gonna waste my night at the station. I began violently pushing and shoving, anything to break me from the rumble. Finally, I yanked myself out successfully, but the momentum from the force of everything threw me back, and I toppled over into a makeshift tower. Luckily (Ha! Sarcasm) for me, it was a tower of tubs of apple juice.

I got soaked.

And that's how the police found me at the scene; ass out stuck in a fallen mess of apple juice as the two women behind me continued to battle it out on a wet floor.

"So, let me get this straight. You are a bystander-"

'There's that word again.' I innocently nodded my head.

"here to get…"

"Bagels, sir." I clarified.

He stopped writing in his pad, looking up to regard me for only a moment. I couldn't tell if he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth, or if he was internally laughing at my shitty luck. It was only a split second before he was looking down and jogging more notes down.

"Bagels, when you noticed the commotion, and instead of calling the police you decided you'd jump in and handle it yourself?" He questioned. I gulped. He regarded me again with his dark obsidian eyes, taking in my dripping hair and clothes. I must've looked ridiculous, but at least I smelled like fructose corn syrup and apple extract.

His tone wasn't quite accusatory, more like an interested inquiry. But his eyes remained hard and blank; there was no give to what emotions were going through him at the moment. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu from the look he gave me, a familiar feeling washing through my body, but quickly dismissed it. I'd never had a run in with the cops before this, so I was pretty sure I'd never gotten this hard scolding gaze.

"I told someone else to get help. I couldn't just leave them tousling there in good conscious." I mumbled, looking away just in time to miss an amused smirk grace his lips.

I was only trying to do something good; I should've just swiped my bagels and said deuces. I knew Walmart people were nuts.

I look back up as I hear him snap his little book shut; he's no longer looking at me, and instead peering over to look at how the other interviews are going. He's standing directly in front of me as I sit there, leaning on a table. I take the chance to look at him.

And I find that he's utterly gorgeous. He has a strong jawline and a long regal nose, with a Jensen mouth and dark ebony hair falling into his eyes. He stands tall, probably over 6 foot, and looks like he keeps in great shape, from the defined biceps I can see underneath the sleeves. I sneak a glance at his name tag. 'Uchiha?'

Another flash of déjà vu hits me, and bells start to ring in my head. That name means something.

Again I pass it off. Everybody knows the Uchiha's run the police station in Konoha. I think the commissioner is even an Uchiha; the job basically runs in the family.

Maybe that's why he feels so familiar because all the Uchiha's have a hard look about them.

I resist a squeak when his eyes flicker back to me, checking to make sure I'm still staying put. Our interview should be over now, but he hasn't moved away. Maybe he is going to cuff me and take me downtown after all. I feel a groan erupt in my head. Great, just great. This is what I get for meddling-

"What's your name again?" He asks suddenly. His voice is deep and smooth, and I take my sweet time replying as a savor the sound.

"Sakura Haruno," I reply as sweet as possible, giving him a small smile.

So what if I might be trying to flirt with a policeman? Maybe I could convince him to let me go, and if not, well, he wasn't half bad to look at. I just couldn't resist. This time I saw the ends of his mouth quirk into a small grin. Well, it wasn't a number, but it was certainly something. Maybe I was beginning to like Walmart after all.

"You can go Ms. Haruno, but I'm gonna need your information in case we have more questions to ask you." He says curtly and hands me a small piece of paper and a pen. I jot down my name, number, and address and hand it back to him gingerly.

"Yo! Sasuke! We need you over here!" I hear another officer yell, and the name sends a jolt within me.

He regards the other man before politely saying, "Have a nice night." And walking under the yellow tape and away from me.

She gasped loudly, hands flying to her mouth to stifle the noise. I whip my head around to see if anyone else heard the sharp sound. No one, I have my chance to escape with the last shred of dignity I have.

I quickly scatter, my mind playing a mantra over and over again, 'shit shit shit shit shit!'

I make it out of the store and into my car. And then I sit there, eyes wide and mouth agape.

SMACK

I groan as my forehead hits the steering wheel, throbbing dully. I should've realized. I definitely should have realized who he was as soon as I saw him. But he was older, and his hair was different, and I was still so preoccupied with what had gone on.

My hand flew to my phone and dialed a number I knew by heart. It slightly shook as it rang once, twice, then thrice.

I didn't even give her time to speak as I heard her pick up.

"Ino, Ino, Ino, Ino!" Everything was on repeat in my brain, now that I'd managed to escape with a piece of it.

"Woah, calm down. What's up with you?" She asked. I could hear a slight edge of panic, which was understandable because I had never freaked this bad before.

"It was him, oh my god, and he saw me soaked in apple juice!" I smacked my head on my steering wheel again, a long BEEP! erupting from my car.

"Wait- what? What they fuck did you do? And who is he?"

"I just saw Sasuke fucking Uchiha!" I shrieked, and the line fell silent.

"….holy shit. My place. No buts. Now." Ino drawled, leaving no room for arguments as she hung up on me. I let my phone slip from my fingers and fall who the fuck knows where as I reveled in my embarrassment.

Why was Sasuke fucking Uchiha so important? He was just a man, right? Right?

Wrong. Because he was the one and only man I had ever, ever, allowed myself to have a one night stand with.

I take my previous statement back; I am never returning to Walmart.

Dun dun dun!

Oh, Sakura, your luck is so terrible. And why would you ever pass up another chance at a man like Sasuke? What exactly happened?

R&R plz!