Ch. 13

Naruto unlocked his front door then motioned for Sasuke to walk in. As he turned on the lights, he noticed Sasuke examining the place. "You haven't changed much around here."

Naruto was now taking off his ANBU gear. "Not much reason to."

After all his gear was off, he started heading towards his room but noticed Sasuke was watching him like a hawk. It felt as if Sasuke's eyes weren't looking only at his physical body but rather into his soul. He thought Sasuke would turn away after he got caught staring but he just kept staring anyway.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Sasuke turned to him and in a serious voice stated, "The longer you take to fix things, the more it's gonna hurt."

Naruto was taken aback but tried not to show it. He turned to Sasuke and said in the same monotone voice, "I never thought I'd be getting relationship advice from you of all people."

Sasuke made sure to avoid his attempt at staying away from the topic of Sakura. "I saw you guys at Ichiraku's."

Naruto paused for a few moments and then turned to Sasuke, "If you need a change of clothes, you can get some from the drawer in my room. I'm going to take a shower." Another Sakura dodge.

As Naruto started walking towards his bathroom, Sasuke started walking towards the apartment door. "Where do you think you're going?"

Sasuke replied in a monotone voice that matched the one Naruto had grown accustomed to. "To get some air, the air in here is pretty stale…" Naruto scrunched his eyes in anger, but before he could say anything, Sasuke cut him off. "Naruto, you and I both know I have no intention of leaving the village, and if I don't want to be seen, I won't be seen."

Naruto paused for two seconds, crossed him arms, and replied with a very sharp and curt, "Fine." then turned around and slammed the door as he went into the bathroom. Sasuke simply opened the door and walked out of Naruto's apartment.

Sasuke was in no rush to get to where he was going, but he moved swiftly and silently through the rooftops to make sure he wasn't seen.

Sakura had just finished taking a shower. She had on a flowery kimono and was drying her hair with a towel when she heard a knock at her door. She reached for the handle and pulled the door slightly open. She couldn't hide her shock as she saw Sasuke Uchiha standing in her doorway. Her mind started racing again, 'Why is he here? How is he here without Naruto? Does Naruto know he's here?' Before she could think of any more questions she heard Sasuke say in a firm voice, "We need to talk."

She looked at that serious face and those piercing eyes of his before motioning for him to come in. She looked at him and in a soft voice said, "If you want you can sit down." Motioning to a chair on the kitchen table.

"I'll stand."

She felt a little annoyed at his response. He had come to her house, not the other way around. The least he could do was show some manners. She remembered who was standing in her kitchen and felt some of the anger dissipate. She knew it wasn't personal. He always acted this way. She turned to him and said in a firm voice, "Where is Naruto?"

"By now, probably getting out of the shower." She felt her cheeks start turning pink at the thought and turned away to some leftover tea that was sitting on the stove. Sasuke kept his usual blank stare although he noticed what had happened.

After she regained her composure, she turned to him, "What does that mean?"

"It means that when I left, he was about to take a shower."

Sakura's shoulders dropped at how basic his answers were. She needed to figure out why he was here.

She sat down and said in a slightly exasperated voice, "Why are you here, Sasuke?"

"To ask some questions, mainly about Naruto."

Sakura was slightly shocked but then she thought to herself, 'I should've known.'

She lowered her head a little then softly stated, "So you're here about Naruto…"

"Yes."

She looked slightly dejected as she thought about the fact that she had hurt Naruto so bad that Sasuke was getting involved. Sasuke was studying her expression but decided he better move the conversation along quickly. He was supposed to be with Naruto after all. "How bad is it?"

Sakura kept her head slightly bowed then after a long pause, she responded. "After you guys fought, we came back to Konoha and he stopped talking to me. I tried to apologize, but…I didn't really know what to say. The best I could come up with was…I'm sorry." She was trying to avoid looking at Sasuke. "I thought maybe he'd just forgive me and forget about it. I tried to joke around with him…like I usually did." After a short pause she continued, "He wouldn't respond though… I stopped trying when one day I was going to give him a playful punch…like old times...He caught it. I never forgot that look in his eyes. It was a look that said we weren't friends anymore…" Her eyes slowly started watering. "He hasn't said a word to me these past three years..." For the first time in her life, Sakura saw Sasuke's face fill with pure shock as he realized the situation was far worse than he thought. As tears started running down her face, she started talking through the crying, "The last time he talked to me was yesterday…I grabbed his hand while we were outside the Hokage's office…" She started full on crying as she yelled out her next sentence. "Do you know what he called me?! Haruno-san!" As she continued to sob, she said it again, but in a hushed voice, "Haruno-san…"

Sasuke just stood there as she was crying. He never really knew what to do in these situations, but he noticed a box of tissues on her kitchen table. He grabbed it then knelt down next to her holding out the tissues. She looked slightly surprised but graciously accepted them. Sasuke finally pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. His voice was soft and full of understanding, "Sakura, have you ever thought about why Naruto was, and is still, so cold with you? I mean really thought about it?"

She responded in a silent and noticeably detached voice, "Maybe because I betrayed him after all he did for me….."

Sasuke sighed then replied, "Or maybe it's because of how much he still loves you."

Sakura kept her head bowed, "He doesn't love me….."

"Yes, he does."

Sasuke watched as Sakura kept coldly staring at the kitchen table. He could tell she wasn't buying it. He paused for a little then spoke up, "You remember when Naruto and I were talking out in the open while you and the rest of the team were hiding in the trees?"

Sakura gave a simple, slow nod.

"We discussed more than the mission." Sakura didn't move, but he could tell she was paying attention.

"I used my Sharingan." Sakura's head quickly spun around as she began to intently look at Sasuke.

"We had a whole other conversation…about you." Now Sakura was looking at him hard enough to burn a hole through him.

After a short pause, Sasuke smiled as he started talking, "He doesn't hate you Sakura. When I used my Sharingan, I was searching for answers about this business between the Sound and the Rain. I stumbled onto the brightest point in his mind…and it was you. He still loves you." Sakura's looked down as her eyes started watering again. "The reason he's treated you the way he's treated you is because of that exact reason. It's because he loved you so much that, when you betrayed him, it hurt him way more than it would if anyone else did. Including me… It's proof that you matter to him, Sakura… To be honest, you matter to him a lot….."

Sakura could feel the hot tears running down her face again as she started sniffling. How could Naruto still love her? When he needed her the most, she had betrayed him. But somehow, he still loved her.

Sasuke decided he had better get going. He had said all that he needed to say, the main question he wanted an answer to had been answered and Sakura looked like she needed to be alone. He let out a small sigh as he stood up. "Goodbye Sakura." He started walking towards the door when he heard Sakura ask him a question through some sniffles, "How did you do it?"

He turned around, "Do what?"

"Fix things with Naruto..."

She looked down and said, "You were only here for around an hour and you already had his complete trust by that point."

Sasuke looked at the ground and actually gave a slight smile. "Today, when we got to the Hokage's office, we didn't get to say much before the council called a meeting to discuss my return. As a result, Shikamaru had to take us to a room to wait as the council convened. While we were waiting, I tried to talk to him, but he shut me down. So I tried to take a trip down memory lane by talking about the time he pranked Kakashi with that eraser; he shut me down…again." Sakura gave a slight smile as she remembered the joyful Genin Naruto used to be. "After that I decided to try talking to him about you…and it worked." At this point, Sakura felt like a water balloon because tears were running down her face again.

Sasuke looked at her with a bit of pity as he considered what she was going through. He talked to her in a soft voice, "Sakura, I don't want you to think I fixed everything when I got here today. He has to know you're sorry. He knew that I was sorry at the Valley of the End. Half of the work was done there, so you're going to have to come up with a better apology than the one you told me you gave him. Not only that, he loves you more and in a different way than he loves me, so you'll probably have to do more than I did." He gave her one last glance before he turned around and pulled the door handle to leave.

Sasuke was halted by Sakura's now hoarse voice, "Sasuke…Thank you."

He gave a curt nod and closed the door.

Sakura felt like an emotional wreck but at least she knew Naruto still loved her. Sasuke had given her something she had very little of…hope.

As Sasuke was leaving, he jumped onto a rooftop. It was now nighttime, so there was more cover. He browsed the rooftops ahead looking for shadows then headed back to Naruto's apartment.

Author's Note

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