Chapter 2
Sasuke's not sure why but he's slightly nervous when he gets her first text. Going to smoke, you in?
See you soon, he replied almost too quickly. It had been days since they last met. Sasuke didn't expect it to be this awkward but Sakura looked lost in her own thoughts while she smoked. Sasuke didn't know what to say, he was never good at holding conversations. He could see her green eyes fill with worry. With her free hand she would play with her brown locks swirling it around her finger.
Sakura must have noticed his stare because she suddenly stops, "Do you like girls with long hair?"
"I guess?" Sasuke says with a questioning tone. "..Why?"
Sasuke watches her exhale smoke. She does it so gracefully, he's heard his coworkers talk about how disgusting they find it when girls smoke but he doesn't feel that way. Her lips still look so inviting. Almost like the girl from his dreams.
He's ashamed to admit but lately when he daydreams about her she's sometimes replaced by Sakura. It felt weird at first but now he doesn't mind it. He thinks it better that it's a real person and not some fragment of his imagination, especially one from those days.
"Because when I was little there was this super cute boy at school and there was a rumor he liked girls with long hair. My friends and I all grew our hair out for him." Sakura said looking at Sasuke who scoffed in secondhand embarrassment.
"Well did he?" He asks.
"No" Sakura says, trying to suppress her laugh, "Kiba liked dogs with long hair. Somehow it got misconstrued."
"There was a rumour about me liking girls with long hair too." Sasuke says thinking back as he steps on the remains of his cigarette with a smirk on his face. Normally by this point he'd be walking back to his office but he's enjoying his conversation with Sakura too much to leave just yet.
"Well did you?" She mimics, playing with the remains of her cigarette in between her fingers.
"My mom has always had long hair." Sasuke begins. He thinks about stopping then but Sakura gives him a questioning look.
"Oh-Sasuke, were you a momma's boy?" Sakura asks with a teasing tone to her voice. Sasuke feels the blood drain from his face and he turns around, waving goodbye. He's too embarrassed to admit that but Sakura can see right through him.
"See ya!" She yells as she starts to make her own way back to work.
There aren't many things that make Sasuke nervous. He likes to think he always sees everything at face value with the most logical sense. When he meets a new client he doesn't see them for all the power and money they have. Instead he sees them as a series of good choices and luck that have landed them in the same room.
Right now he should see the convention room as possibilities for new investment opportunities but instead he views them as body counts. Every bioweapon, every tool, every gun brings him back to the battle ground. Eye-to-eye with a man his age, trying his best to survive the only thing standing between them in a knife that delivers an electric blow strong enough to stop his heart.
He thinks about that a lot. Especially as he walks through these booths showing off every new weapon with an eagerness that can only be compared to that of a kid at a science fair.
"Mr. Uchiha, nice to see you again." A pale hand reaches out towards him, breaking him from his thoughts.
"Ah, Orochimaru. I didn't expect to see you here." Sasuke replies almost cautiously. He looks at the table where he sees small segmented robots. Not only did they vary in size but they were also nothing he had ever seen Orochimaru work with. From what Sasuke remembered his work tended to be a lot more organic. "I wasn't aware you focused on robotics."
"It's a new business venture, given my controversial past I thought it'd work on something a bit less alive." Orochimaru cautiously says.
Sasuke was glad he had decided to attend this alone, not that he was given a choice. Naruto was stuck at the hospital having some type of test. It was overkill if you asked him, as far as he was concerned it had been an isolated incident. 'This is what you get for trusting technology' he thinks. Nevertheless he knows the minute Naruto even looked at Orochimaru all hell would break loose. The equipment here was all too expensive to have to replace. It's brawl he would rather avoid. Naruto never got over all the war crimes he'd seen him get away with even if the government did. Sasuke couldn't fault Naruto for that.
"I must say, I heard about your accident out there. It's very unfortunate a bomb exploded on you guys like that. Maybe I could help you with that arm." Orochimaru said drawing Sasuke out of his thoughts. Orochimaru was looking at his safety pinned sleeve, a feature of him that he never felt the need to hide. Except with Sakura, she seemed too innocent to know of those types of things just yet. Sasuke liked the way she looked at him, like he was whole again.
Subconsciously turning his arm away from Orochimaru, Sasuke frowned. "Not a chance. If you'll excuse me I have to check up on my table."
Sasuke had no real interest in looking at the ocular implants that gained his company so much notoriety. He knew his assistant Aya and lead computer engineer Shikamaru had everything handled so there was no real need for him to sit in. He'd just be taking up space. After a few turns in the convention room he pulled his phone out and texted Sakura. Want to grab a smoke? He asked her again, he had noticed she was busy the past couple of days but asking didn't harm anyone. He didn't even have the chance to set his phone down before he received a reply, I can't today sorry.
Sasuke didn't even have a chance to feel disappointed when a familiar name popped up on his notifications. I'm free, wanna grab some ramen. They had nasty food at the hospital. I'm starving.
See you in 10 Sasuke replied before making his way out the nearest exit.
'Normal'
'No abnormalities detected'
'No sign of significant variables' Sakura sunk into her seat rubbing her temples. Before she pushed her shoulder length hair behind her ears. She had brought Naruto back in for testing, they were a stretch but she figured something would at least stand out.
"Dr. Haruno, is everything alright?" Sakura's new assistant, Hinata asks.
Sakura had been slightly apprehensive at the idea of hiring an assistant in the past. It seemed like a cop-out, as she wouldn't have as much control over her patients. Take this morning for example: normally Sakura would have manually conducted the testing on Naruto and then use her afternoon to review them. Instead she sat down in her lab refreshing her connection to make sure she was receiving the results the second they were submitted. It saved her a lot of time and she had a feeling she was going to need it.
Hinata was shy but quickly proved to be a hard, efficient worker. It was for this very reason that Sakura allowed her to stay. She worries very little about the validity of her test results, Hinata did everything by the book, not one of her procedures were done with any type of flaw. Sakura sat in several over the course of the past couple of days to make sure of this. 'But something isn't adding up.'
"Everythings fine, Hinata. Nothing abnormal showed up." Sakura said with a frown on her face. She grabbed her phone to momentarily distract herself. Sakura noticed Sasuke had sent her a message asking to meet up for a smoke. As much as she wanted to say yes she couldn't.
Sakura liked to look out the window of her lab to think, many idea's had been produced in that location and this time proved no different. Sakura could feel another one coming up. She quickly went to her desk to look through Naruto's file. 'Bingo' She thought, turning to Hinata with a smile.
"Hinata, grab your jacket. We are going to a convention." Sakura said before looking at the event calendar on her screen to double check the dates as well as the name of the computer scientist who had written Naruto's code.
Shikaku Nara.
On the all too familiar walk to the convention, Sakura thought of Sasuke. He was probably standing outside the very building in their usual smoking spot. Hopefully he didn't notice her, she did feel bad about not being truthful about who she was. Sakura was well aware that while brightly colored hair wasn't rare it also wasn't necessarily common either. She can feel the stares as she walks down the street. She had to come clean, not right now but preferably soon.
The convention was a lot larger than anticipated. Hundreds of mostly suited men, in the history of humanity war was and will always be primarily a man's game.
"Dr. Haruno, I'm sorry but what are we doing here." Hinata asked nervously watching Sakura download a map of the convention.
"Sorry Hinata, I just have to make sure my hunch is right. I promise I'll let you know. Common follow me." Sakura said after she located the booth she wanted to. Completely oblivious of the way Hinata turned her face down to avoid eye contact with anyone.
Sakura wasn't surprised when she saw the line to the Uchiha's families table. Even she knew of their breakthroughs, it was a pity that with that type of technology they made war not peace. Sakura could see a woman with black hair and a burgundy business suit talking, every so often looking at the man beside her, so he could fill in the details she was missing.
"There he is Hinata. His father wrote Naruto's code, I think he's our best shot at finding any answers." Sakura says carefully in a low voice so others around her don't hear her. Sakura feels a lump in her throat as she nervously waits. She thinks Hinata must feel the same but she's hard to read. Especially when she's looking at the floor, fiddling her thumbs around each other.
Several minutes pass by until, "Hello, I'm Aya, who are you with?"
Sakura shakes the hand in front of her with her best smile, "Actually. I was hoping to talk to your companion."
Before Aya has a chance to reply Shikamaru steps in with his hand out, his expression no longer looks bored, but rather amused. "Dr Sakura Haruno. It's been a long time. How can I help you?"
"Well I was hoping we could talk somewhere more private for starters." Sakura replied, slightly embarrassed. The convention was crowded to say the least and she knew the importance of discretion in moments like this. Thankfully it was all that he needed to hear.
"I have to go." Shikamaru said, looking at Aya with a shrug. "This shouldn't take long. I'll call Sasuke to take over if you'd like."
'Sasuke' Sakura thinks, her eyes widening with shock as she imagines the possibilities.. Feeling a pang in her chest. Any further thoughts are interrupted with Shikamaru's voice. "Follow me, ladies." He says leading the way out before Aya has a chance to reply.
It's only once they're outside of the convention that Sakura feels safe talking, "This is my assistant Hinata. Everything I know, she knows." Sakura says ensuring that lack of transparency between them won't be an issue. Hinata waves shly at Shikamaru as she walks next to Sakura.
"Hinata, I met Shikamaru when he was being trained by his father during my residency." Sakura says hoping it'll put Hinata at ease it doesn't she just continues to look down watching every step she takes. Like her black sneakers are the most interesting thing in the world.
"That's one way to word it I guess, I didn't have much of a choice considering we were in the middle of a war." Shikamaru said with a certain sass to his voice.
"Dr. Haruno I didn't know you were a vet." Hinata's small voice said with shock.
"I'm not, I just helped out for a year with my mentor. That's where I discovered my passion for prosthetics." Sakura said thinking of all the lives she had seen impacted by the loss of a limb. The satisfaction of watching them slowly regain their mobility once their nerve links healed and there prosthetics were implanted.
"Don't listen to her Hinata, she fought too. She may be small but she has a mean punch." Shikamaru said as he walked into a small private conference room. "So what's going on?"
"Rude." Sakura starts before her playful voice turns into a serious tone. She pulls out a small harddrive out of her beige jacket and hands it to Shikamaru. "Your father wrote the code for Naruto Uzumaki's arm. I recognize it anywhere. Something is going on, it's been borderline electrocuting him."
"Is that what went on in that debate? Hmm...Any abnormal readings in any test you've done?"
"None, everything is normal. I feel it in my bones, Shikamaru, our answer is in the code. Its kind of out of my area of expertise so I was hoping you'd help."
Shikamaru sighed, pulling out his phone to review this schedule he knew this was going to eat up a lot of his time. 'Troublesome women. Sakura always has this habit of getting into trouble.' He thinks. "Have you ran an allergen test?"
This time it's Hinata who speaks up, "Yes, we ran one today...it came back normal."
"How about a compounding allergen test?" Shikamaru asks. Sakura looks at Hinata who shakes her head.
"I'm sorry. I didn't Dr H-"
"Hinata it's fine." Sakura interrupts trying to console her, " I'll call him when we're out and see if we can get it to you by tonight."
The rest of their conversation is stopped by Shikamaru's phone. "Its my boss" he tells them with a sigh. The conversation is short so it's hard for Sakura to even guess what they said but the tone on the other end sounds anything but happy.
"You're in luck, he's with my boss eating nearby. You should headout to catch him before he leaves" Shikamaru said as he carefully guided them out of the building.
They took a private elevator, Shikamaru had to scan fingerprint to access it. It opens up to an alley, Sakura doesn't say anything as she sees Hinata almost run away. This worries Sakura; she's about to chase her when Shikamaru catches her arm, "You're either real stupid or really naive to bring one of her kind here."
"I didn't think about that until just now." Sakura admits. "Did your boss say anything about her?"
"No, you're lucky. I don't think anyone noticed."
Sakura sighed and let her shoulders slump as she made her way back. She was too distracted by the case to realize what she had done. Hinata clearly had The Byakugan, The Sharingan's biggest competitor, which meant one of two things. She came from the main family or was a warrior who had proven their worth enough to be allowed the ocular implant.
She knew it wasn't the latter.
"Is that one our order?" Naruto asked after hearing the kitchen door open.
Sasuke looked at the hostess on the other side of the building. His left eye was red with a spinning trio of dots on his iris. "No" Sasuke said
"What about that one!" Naruto said loudly pointing at another waitress stepping out of the kitchen.
"Naruto, look at it yourself." Sasuke replied with slight annoyance in his voice. He was never good at tolerating Naruto's loud voice.
"You know I don't have special eyes. What does your right eye do anyways?" Naruto said with a pout.
Sasuke leaned back into his chair, "It works the same as the other one, you could have." he reminded him.
"No way, that surgery is way too complicated."
"It's not, I came out of it fine. Twice." Sasuke retorted.
"What?! If they make the smallest mistake it could literally affect your ability to feel happiness. AND unless you're from the main family you only get one eye done. Plus you're literally the only one who has the purple one." Naruto said remembering the pamphlets he was given. "Is that why your family is all moody? They can't feel happiness- just a bunch of blood hungry war zombies?" Naruto asks in a demeaning manner. He knows Sasuke won't tolerate any negative comment on his family.
"Fuck you, at least my mom doesn't beat my dad up!" Sasuke retorted with a slightly raised voice.
Naruto stood up ready with his comeback until a waitress came up with two bowls of ramen in her hands. Sending one last dirty look at Sasuke, Naruto sat back down chopsticks ready to dig in. Sasuke did the same. After a while, with the help of ramen, they had both calmed down enough to resume a regular conversation.
"Did you find anything new at the hospital? Get to see your 'hot doctor'" Sasuke asked changing topics.
"No, maybe you're right and I just saw her when I was high on those pain pills. It was a complete waste of time; they just ran a bunch of tests. I told them I think it was a weird-one-time thing but my doctor doesn't seem to think so."
"What did they say?"
"Thats the thing, they didn't say anything. I didn't even get to see my doctor. They said she's 'busy working on my case'. I got a nurse instead. Super shy." Naruto said as he stuffed his mouth with food. "Get this though, she's a Hyuga."
Sasuke perked up, "A Hyuga? Are you sure?"
"Without a doubt double implant and everything. She was super shy so it was really hard to ask her much of anything. Couldn't even look at me in the eye."
This left Sasuke in deep thought. Hyugas and anyone who wore their implant liked to stay together. They had a large complex all the way on the other side of the country. While it wasn't unheard of for them to live in different places it was certainly rare. Sasuke was thinking of asking Naruto if he could come to his next appointment so he could see for himself.
If there was anything the war taught him it was that you never knew who to trust, his dad may want to know about this too. Not to mention, it was also a good excuse to see Sakura. He didn't get the chance to ask because his phone rang, it was Aya so it was probably important.
"Hello"
"Dumbass Shikamaru just walked out on me with two girls, can you come back to help me?" A pissed voice said on the other line.
"What? I'll be there soon." Sasuke replied feeling rather confused.
"Hm?" Naruto asked as he held the bowl filled with broth up to his mouth.
"Apparently Shikamaru left with two girls and now Aya is alone. I gotta go."
Naruto started choking, "Well, damn. Lucky bastard; he's the only one of us who's married and he still pulls all the girls."
Sasuke smirks at Naruto's statement. He's slightly surprised when Naruto says he's not coming and will stop by tomorrow instead. It's probably for the best, especially since Orochimaru is there.
'He probably has some campaign stuff he needs to do.' Sasuke rationalizes, not noticing the way Naruto holds his left arm as he walks away.
It's been days since Sakura last spoke with Shikamaru. By some stroke of luck she finds that she did run a compounding allergen test the first night Naruto presented with issues. Much to her dismay it came back completely normal.
"Knowing what they don't have is just as important as knowing what's wrong." Sakura remembers Tsunade telling her in a strong authoritative voice.
So now she's sitting at the lab again manually reviewing all of the results. She rewrote several parts of Naruto's code and has been running it through simulations. Unfortunately for her none of them have any electrical issues, not even the faintest glitch. She's lucky Katasuke is trying to build up rapport in the community or else he wouldn't be taking on her consultations as eagerly as he is now.
For once in a long time it's just her and a challenge, no insurance to manage, constant need of reactive care. Although she does miss the ER, spending hours on a limb to ensure every nerve will work just as it did when it was whole.
Sakura decides that she's made enough progress on her manual reviews to deserve a break. She's been good at avoiding smoking the past few days (mostly because she was too busy to find time) but figures it'll be the perfect treat. Even if she has to keep her lie up with Sasuke, she enjoys the break from work he gives her. 'I'll tell him soon, plus he also has some skeletons in his closet.' Sakura remembers how Shikamaru casually mentioned he was his boss. It has to be him, Sasuke isn't a common name.
A few days ago she even overheard some co-workers talking about the cutest little cafe with its only fault being it was smoker friendly. 'It's perfect' Without a second thought she grabs her phone. Hey, want to smoke? New place?
She smiles when her screen instantly lights up Yes
Awesome. I'll wait for you at the lobby of the Uchiha building?
A thumbs up emoji lights up her screen. Sakura feels good, she forgot to ask Shikamaru for his contact info and with any luck she'll find him in the lobby while she waits for Sasuke.
That's exactly what happens. As she's waiting for Sasuke she spots the telltale spiky ponytai. The two immediately lock eyes, he knows it's her even with her ridiculous wig and clothes.
"Sakura what are you doing here and what are you wearing?" Shikamaru asked with a raised eyebrow. After carefully approaching her.
"Shikamaru! I was hoping to see you. I totally forgot to ask you for your contact info." Sakura says as she brushes her hands through her brown wig. "I'm waiting for a friend"
"But your wig. Clothes. Why?" Shikamaru replies as he digs through his pockets for his phone before holding it out in front of Sakura.
Sakura gives him a smile he's quite familiar with as she taps her phone against his to link up.
"I can't believe someone like you still smoke." Shikamaru says shaking his head with a smile on his face.
"You're the one who got me into this to begin with, and if I remember right the wig was also your idea." Sakura retorts borderline giggling as she once again stores her phone in her black purse.
"Yeah yeah," Shikamaru says as he looks at his phone before politely telling her he has to go. Sakura waves as she watches him walk out the door and resumes to wait for Sasuke.
Sasuke shows up a few minutes later. His hair looks messy like always and he's still wearing his jacket as a cape. Dr. Sakura would ask him why he does that, because Dr. Sakura already has an idea of what's going on. Ever since the night at the restaurant she's noticed he favors one arm and only ever shows the same arm. However, to Sasuke she was just Sakura so she's not going to bring anything up until he discloses that information with her, at least not until she airs out her dirty laundry.
The walk to the cafe is quiet but comfortable, Sakura isn't going to tell him that. She enjoys his presence is comforting; he makes her feel comfortable, safe, and warm. Like a soft bed at the end of a long day or fuzzy socks on a wooden floor.
She lights her cigarette, and reads through the menu before Sasuke's voice breaks their silence. "Why do you wear that?" he asks as he stares at her sweater with a cigarette between his lips.
"I thought I told you, It's so my coworkers or patients won't recognize me if they happen to see me out smoking." Sakura says with an embarrassed blush. It's the perfect time to come clean about everything, 'Do it,' She encourages herself to say 'I'm lying I'm actually a doctor my hair is pink. I know its hard to have a friendship that started with lies but I still want to be friends.' She opens her mouth but nothing comes out, she can't do it, she feels paralyzed. It's an all too familiar feeling she hasn't felt since her residency. Thankfully a waitress comes in to save her from the conversation. She takes their orders, a plain black coffee and beagle for Sasuke and a Caramel cappuccino with caesar salad for Sakura.
"But I know plenty of other healthcare workers who smoke." Sasuke says thinking of Shikamaru. Before he hired him he was working at a hospital, smoking a pack a day.
"Yeah but I spend a good part of my day asking people not to smoke for their health. I'm a hypocrite" Sakura admits.
"Who isn't? My employer makes war weapons and still hosts charity balls for the wounded." Sasuke says making his point.
Sakura thinks about his words for a minute before a mischievous smile appears on her face. "Sasuke if you want me to dress up to see you, just say it." She says in a playful tone reaching over to rest her hand on top of his. She knows it'll make him uncomfortable but that's just the reaction she wants.
She even starts to laugh when he tells her "Shut it" before turning around in attempts to hide his blush
Their walk back is comfortable, the lunch rush is mostly gone having cleared the sidewalks. It's cold but there is no wind to make it unbearable. Sasuke's building comes up before Sakura's and she slightly bumps into him brushing up against his arm to say goodbye.
Sakura can't help but to look at the doors as Sasuke walks into them with a lump in her throat. She thinks about Naruto and how Sasuke will in some way be tied to this case.
'Stop overthinking' She reminds herself as she feels the weight of her stress on her neck. Worrying isn't going to fix anything. She needs to get back to work and deal with what she can inbetween.
Hi- Hope you like it. I'll try to stay consistent with my updates.