A/N: While I never liked the final pairings for Naruto and Sasuke, I can't say I dislike Sakura or Hinata. Sadly, both's potential went to waste in canon, so I hope what I did with both here can at least be considered an improvement, albeit a small one.

Chapter 3:

A Forgotten Objective

Sasuke and Naruto were different in many aspects. One of the most outstanding of them was that Naruto was a naturally thoughtful person while Sasuke was... well, he was no longer used to be considerate of others. And he was reminded of this after his encounter with Hinata Hyuuga. It was now clear to him that the first thing Naruto had done after leaving Sasuke that night had been talking to the Hyuuga girl. Sasuke, on the other hand, had not thought about informing Sakura what had happened until two days later.

Sasuke didn't have a relationship with Sakura, not like the one Naruto had had with Hinata Hyuuga. After the war, there had been some sort of implicit understanding between the two of them, but it was nowhere close to a real relationship. He had given her hope because he had come to trust her, and it had seemed the most logical choice at the time, but he had not done it harbouring romantic ambitions.

Still, Sasuke knew he had to make things clear with Sakura before facing Naruto because the idiot would not forgive him if he managed to, yet again, hurt their teammate's feelings.

As he made his way towards Konoha's Hospital, Sasuke noticed he was drawing more attention than usual, and that the stares contained more distrust than the usual fear, but he merely sighed and kept walking. The villagers, civilians or shinobi, rarely acted against him, and Shikamaru had warned him about their dissatisfaction.

When he got there, he realized the hospital was not how he remembered it at all. In the few years that had gone by since the Great War, the place had grown from a single building to a complex of three; one of them solely dedicated to research. Sasuke realized, a little ashamed, that he had no idea of where to find Sakura. He didn't even know whether she was on shift or had the day off. Truly, he should have been more involved in her life.

He had been glaring at the three buildings, trying to decide where to go first, when he recognized Sakura's chakra approaching. He walked towards the entrance of the furthest building to intercept her.

"Sasuke-kun!" She had located him immediately after she crossed the entrance. "What are you doing here?" She seemed genuinely surprised to see him there. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I have- there is something I must tell you."

Sasuke saw her surprise turn into some emotion he couldn't identify before she nodded and started to walk in the direction of her apartment. He fell into step with her but remained in silence, for he didn't know where to start. He was almost certain she had already heard what had happened, more likely from some gossiping nurse. Still, he forced himself to look for the words that would cause the least damage. Meanwhile, the silence between them prolonged, only interrupted by the succession of greetings Sakura received from the passing villagers. She appeared to be as popular as Naruto, but Sasuke had not spent enough time with her before to notice.

After another two minutes of silence, she spoke, "You know, it's not like I imagined it would be."

Sasuke turned to her, confused. "What isn't?"

"I used to wonder how it would be if you ever picked me up from one of my shift's and walked me home," she replied with a half-smile on her face.

"Hn."

"I never expected it to actually happen, but it is still a bit underwhelming."

If he hadn't been used to suppress his emotions, he would have grimaced. There it was, another proof of how inconsiderate he had been with her, even as a friend.

"Sakura-" he made a failed attempt before being interrupted.

"You don't have to say anything. I know already," she said, finally stopping in the middle of the road.

That was exactly what Sasuke had not wanted to hear. "I don't know how... accurate is the gossip running around the village."

"Gossip?" Her green eyes shone with mirth. "I heard directly from Naruto."

For the first time in his life, he doubted his hearing skills. "What did you say?"

"Naruto came to my apartment that night." Sakura smiled fondly. "He said he had come in your place because surely you would be too much of a bastard to offer me an explanation."

Now he knew he would definitely beat Naruto the next time he saw him. The idiot had had enough time before his mission to pay a visit to Sakura and Hinata Hyuuga but all Sasuke had gotten had been a note.

"Damn idiot," he muttered.

"I'm sure he would be happy to know you at least tried."

Sasuke had tried, yes, but he had not managed to utter a single word in the end. He felt strangely defeated; this talking thing was far too much for his set of skills. And the fact that Naruto had defeated him at something without him knowing, combined with the condescending look Sakura was offering him, frustrated him to no end.

"Now what?" He asked. "Should I allow you to punch me or beg for your mercy after misleading you?"

Sasuke had seldom apologised in his life, but little could make the situation more uncomfortable than it already was. And then, Sakura chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Sorry, it is just that Naruto offered the same," she said. "I think it's cute that you had the same idea."

Sasuke felt utterly humiliated at this point; he was pretty sure he was blushing, so he tried to redirect the conversation. "You are taking this rather well."

"It was also my fault." She looked away and shrugged. "I was too distracted by the fact that you had finally spared me a second glance to notice our situation was not what I would have wanted it to be."

Sasuke recognized that as his cue to make things a little less painful. "I wasn't lying. I had thought it was- what you wanted it to be, too. Like- what was supposed to happen. But now it doesn't- I had not understood." He finished, exhausted, hoping what he had said counted as the explanation he had been aiming for.

Sakura observed him with widened eyes. Sasuke might have just told her he was planning to join Orochimaru again or to attack the next Kage Summit. But he knew the truth. Despite all the stammering and barely comprehensible blabbering, he had shared more about his thoughts than he had done since the end of the war, which he had only done in Naruto's presence.

"What?" He snapped when he could no longer tolerate how vulnerable he had left himself.

Sakura reflected another second, then: "Would you like a cup of tea?"

Sasuke couldn't understand where an offer like that had come from. Shouldn't she be angry? Perhaps she was trying to poison him again.

"Naruto gifted me a lovely floral blend on my last birthday," she continued, ignoring Sasuke's shock. "You can tell me everything about how you came to understand... whatever it is you understood."

Her smile, combined with her inquisitive stare sent shivers down his spine, and he knew he was going to regret accepting her offer. But Sasuke felt like he owed her something, even if that something was the chance of interrogating and making fun of him. Besides, he guessed he had to practice giving voice to his thoughts if he was planning to face the idiot in the near future.

He had known the location of Sakura's apartment, but he had never set feet there until now. It was bigger than Naruto's and way tidier but didn't feel nearly as cosy. Sasuke couldn't perceive Sakura's heart in it the way he did when surrounded by Naruto's mess. It was quite depressing, and he should probably stop comparing both places.

"You don't spend much time here," he murmured.

"I don't," replied Sakura from her kitchen. "Most of the time I'm sleeping, sometimes not even that. Kakashi-sensei wants to improve the whole medic unit and Tsunade-sama trust very few to initiate the training of the recruits. Shizune-sempai and I have to handle most of the work. I've been seriously considering moving to one of the hospital's rooms until everything settles down."

"Hn."

"Here," Sakura handed him a steaming cup. "Anyway, take a seat. You were in the middle of offering me an explanation."

Sasuke stared at his cup and sighed, sitting across from her. "What do you want me to tell you?"

Sakura leaned forward, smiling. "How did you decide the love of your life was Naruto and not me?" Sasuke chocked on the first sip of his tea. "Although, now that I think about it, it shouldn't be surprising," Sakura kept speaking, stare fixed on the contents of her cup. "The bond you share is... otherworldly."

In the middle of his embarrassment, Sasuke had to stop to seriously consider those words. What had surprised him the most was not the realization itself, but the fact that he had ignored such an obvious truth during such a long time. Right, he had never been very competent in dealing with his feelings, or Naruto for that matter, but those feelings had been there from the moment he admitted his defeat, maybe longer.

The truth was that if the Moon-Falling-to-the-Earth incident had not triggered certain events, Sasuke would have never been forced to acknowledge those feelings. But Toneri Ôtsutsuki had kidnapped Hyuuga Hanabi, and Naruto and the others had gone to rescue her, and somehow that had culminated with the idiot discovering he had feelings for the older Hyuuga girl. How one thing had led to the other was beyond Sasuke's grasp, although that didn't change what he thought about the matter.

When Naruto had written him about Hinata Hyuuga the first time, he had shaken his head after reading about the blonde's shenanigans and stored the letter with the rest. He had been more focused on his friend's words regarding how Sasuke had protected Konoha when he had not been available. Then, he had become progressively more upset the more Naruto included stories about his girlfriend. It was not just the two of them any longer, and that didn't sit well with Sasuke. Unconsciously, after years of being persistently chased after by the tenacious idiot, he had assumed that he would always have Naruto's undivided attention. As pathetic as the thought had been, it had forced Sasuke to make a hasty return to Konoha.

After he revealed as much to Sakura, she whistled. "I can't believe Uchiha Sasuke just admitted he was jealous of Hinata Hyuuga."

Sasuke glowered. "That is ridiculous."

"It is not." There was no mockery in Sakura's expression as she said: "Jealousy is one of the ways in which people realise they like someone."

"I don't like Naruto," he protested.

Sakura blinked at him a couple of times. "Oh, of course," she offered him a sweet smile. "Be sure to tell him that."

Sasuke nodded.

Sakura refilled both cups with a small smile on her face, but there were no more questions or words after that. She seemed to be considering what they had discussed, perhaps trying to determine how she felt about it, so he remained in silence looking around the room. There was a bookcase right behind Sakura, mostly filled with medical texts and scrolls. However, what captured his attention was the shelf with picture frames. In the first photo, she appeared as a child with both of her parents in front of the Academy; there were a few others of her and Ino, a couple more in the company of Naruto, and one with her medical team which looked pretty recent. Lastly, Sasuke found their team picture, where Sakura and Kakashi had been smiling at the camera, while he and Naruto sneered at each other.

For the first time in years, Sasuke wondered what had happened to his copy of the photo. He knew Kakashi's was on the man's desk at the Hokage Tower and had seen Naruto's whenever he visited the blond. The thought caused him to wince slightly, wishing he had taken better care of his teammates, all of them. He definitely owed Sakura a proper apology for his past actions.

"Sasuke-kun?"

He returned his attention to her and noticed her expression had morphed into one of concern. He just nodded to encourage her to speak her mind, but she seemed more hesitant than before. "What else do you want to know?" At this point, there was little she could say that could make him feel insulted.

Sakura deviated her stare towards the window and said: "I don't know whether I should be asking this?"

"Just do it."

"What will happen with... to your Clan?"

The question didn't anger him like she might have been expecting. Although, Sasuke did have to pause a moment to think because, despite what he had said and still had to say to Naruto, that had been the last thing that had crossed his mind. If he continued with his current course of action, there would be no rebuilding for his Clan. However, it turned out the answer was perfectly clear for him.

"Nothing," he replied with no trace of hesitation.

"I thought you-"

"Not anymore-"

Sakura's eyes hardened. "Why?"

Sasuke merely shrugged. There were various reasons, most of which he didn't want to think of, much less talk about.

"Are you absolutely sure about it?"

This time, Sasuke started to get bothered by her insistence. He might have agreed to the conversation, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to establish some limits. If someone had the right to question him regarding the topic, that would be Naruto and only him.

"Look," Sakura started when he refused to utter another word, "I just want to make sure you won't do something that might hurt Naruto."

He felt his grip on the teacup hardening marginally. Perhaps the reminders of how much damage he had caused would never stop. "You'll have to be more specific."

Sakura placed her cup on the coffee table and moved it aside. "If you ultimately decide you want to continue your bloodline, what will happen? Will you ask Naruto to look away while you pursue your… objective?" Sasuke gritted his teeth and took a moment to calm down, which Sakura used to her advantage. "You know if you were to ask him to bear with it, he would do it, regardless of how that would hurt him. That would-"

"That won't happen," he stopped her harshly. Even if he were to set aside his other motives, Naruto's feelings were more than enough for him to forget about bloodlines and Clans. "That won't happen," he repeated slowly, holding Sakura's stare.

She was the first to look away, sighing. "As his friend, I should probably advise him against getting involved with you like this, but that idiot surely wouldn't listen," she said, shaking her head.

Sasuke decided it was wise not to ask why she considered he was not good enough for Naruto but acceptable for herself. He instead tried to finish their conversation on a lighter note.

"I trust you will set me straight if needed." Sasuke meant it, counted on it.

Sakura blinked at him, surprised. "I guess someone has to care for that idiot," she snorted, then added after a brief pause: "Now, as amusing as it is to have you here, I just finished a thirty-six-hour shift and require some sleep."

As she accompanied him towards the entrance, Sasuke tried very hard not to stare at the wetness in her eyes. He didn't understand it and there was not much he could do anyway. If she had wanted his comfort, she would have let him know.

He had barely crossed the threshold when she called his name, and he had not quite fully turned around when her fist connected with the side of his face. Sasuke's back collided with the hall's wall; even without the use of her superhuman strength, Sakura possessed a powerful punch and the fact that he had not seen it coming had not helped. Once he managed to get on steady feet again, he noticed her satisfied expression.

"For the record, this was not about you and Naruto," she explained, "you owed me this for choosing to follow that creep over our team." Sakura smiled at him, almost playfully. "Hope to see more of you from now on," she finished and closed the door.

Sasuke stood petrified for a moment, unsure of what had just happened. His cheekbone was starting to swell, his head hurt a little, but, all in all, his encounter with Sakura had gone better than he had expected. He found himself smirking at her door. After all those years, they might finally be able to relate as friends.