Three

Thursday's lab was smooth sailing. Kabuto, the GTA, was extremely nice and helpful, and Sakura had enjoyed every minute of learning. After her horrible experience in class on Wednesday, Sakura was grateful for a break where she could actually enjoy her favorite subject. Kabuto had even offered to meet her for lunch sometime to give her study tips and to help her prepare for the first quiz and exam. She had readily agreed and thanked him for his kindness.

Class on Friday, however, was nearly insufferable…at least at first, anyway. Sakura showed up twenty minutes early so that she could leave her homework on Sasuke's desk without having to interact with him. She retreated back to her seat after doing so, doing her best to ignore the snickering coming from a group of students with Karin at the center. Sakura was quickly becoming disliked by her fellow students, thanks to Sasuke's ridicule and Karin's mean-spirited comments about it.

"I literally can't stand teacher's pets," a not-so-silent whisper caught Sakura's attention, causing the student to cringe and her cheeks to redden slightly. Her hand clenched and unclenched around her pencil as she attempted to reign in her infamous temper.

What was this, high school? Sakura could barely believe how unlucky she already was so early on in the semester. Since when did turning in homework early make you a teacher's pet? Sakura knew how to be a teacher's pet, she had been the favorite of more than one of her high school teachers and many of her classmates had disliked her for it. She was self-aware enough to know that she hadn't been demonstrating "suck-up" behavior to Sasuke, clearly some of her classmates were just looking for a reason to be unpleasant.

Specifically, Karin. Sakura suspected that her red-haired classmate had a bit of a crush on their professor, as evidenced by her openly flirty behavior and her despise of Sakura herself. Although the attention Sakura had been receiving from Sasuke was mostly negative, it was still attention and so she suspected that Karin was likely a bit jealous. Sakura wasn't blind – she could admit that Sasuke was attractive. It was probable that several of the girls in the class had a little bit of a thing for him. He was young and tall and dark and brooding. He practically oozed bad boy vibes and Sakura hated him for the charisma of it all.

By the time Sasuke entered the room, punctual as always, Sakura was grinding her teeth audibly, fighting the growing urge to stand from her seat and leave the room. The hateful whispers from Karin's group only ceased upon the entrance of their professor, and Sakura had had quite enough of it. She prided herself on the thickening of her skin over the years – a couple of years ago comments like that would have reduced her to a quivering puddle of tears. But even now her self-esteem wavered, at times, and she knew listening to those assholes for much longer would have lead to crying or violence – she wasn't sure which.

"Alright, class, please turn to page seventy-four in your physiology text," Sasuke's cool, indifferent voice floated through the room unaided by a microphone. "Go ahead and complete the review question at the top of the page on your own and then we will discuss it as a class."

Sakura turned her book to the correct page, diligently keeping her eyes trained away from Sasuke, careful to avoid getting trapped in the midnight of his gaze. She'd made the mistake of making eye-contact with him more than once in previous classes, and the seemingly insignificant action had left her heart racing and her palms sweating. When he looked at her, she felt as though he was looking right through her, like he could see every detail of her body and soul, and it left her shaky and uncomfortable.

The question on the page was one Sakura could answer easily. It asked her about the six characteristics of life. She wrote her answer out quickly, placing her pencil back down and looking around the room when she was done. It seemed most of the class was either finishing up or still looking at their books with confused looks on their faces.

"Let's see," Sasuke's voice rang out again, he had the class roster in his hand. "Haruno Sakura. Can you tell us the answer to the question?"

Sakura felt her eyes widen and her pulse rate speed up immediately. What was this guy's issue? Was he trying to get the whole class to hate her? Did he enjoy seeing her squirm in her seat, on the verge of tears? She was beginning to feel that, in his eyes, she was the only student in the class.

"Well?" came that voice again, prompting Sakura to snap out of her daze. "Do you have an answer?"

"I know, Uchiha-sensei!" Karin's ugly squeal of delight caused Sakura to roll her eyes violently. "It's when – "

Karin was cut off abruptly by a silent raise of Sasuke's hand. "Congratulations. However, I did not ask you for the answer, I asked Haruno Sakura. Please, sit down, and do your best to keep your outbursts to a minimum in the future."

Suddenly, Sakura couldn't wipe the grin off of her face, and when she finally looked up to meet Sasuke's eyes, she couldn't help but think she saw the barest hint of a smirk on his aristocratic face. Finding her voice, she said: "The six characteristics of life differentiate between the living and non-living, and they are metabolism, responsiveness, movement, growth, differentiation, and reproduction."

Sasuke's eyes lingered on her for an indiscernible moment before he turned away towards the blackboard. "Good. Now, someone else raise their hand and tell me – "

Sakura didn't hear the rest of his question. She was too distracted by the events of the last two minutes. Karin had been put in her place, and Sasuke had actually spoken to her without ridicule – he hadn't exactly given her glowing praise, but the question had been easy and Sakura wouldn't have expected that from any professor. She did her best to wipe the goofy smile from her face as Sasuke continued to lecture.

Sakura only checked-in three students during her first hour at work. One for the flu, one for a sprained ankle, and another for a suspected STD. Now, she was going over her anatomy notes and praising the universe that tomorrow was Saturday. The week of classes had been brutal, to say the least, and Sakura was looking forward to spending the weekend hanging out with friends and watching TV in her dorm room.

"How are classes going, Sakura?" Tsunade's voice came from behind the student, and Sakura had to wonder if the woman had somehow been reading her mind.

"They're alright," Sakura closed her book and smiled at the woman. "I'm enjoying them all…except…" Sakura trailed off, wondering if she should go on. Would it be inappropriate to complain to her new boss about one of her professors?

Tsunade glanced down at the Anatomy and Physiology book in Sakura's lap. "Hm? Except what?"

Sakura sighed, choosing to tell the doctor about Sasuke – for some reason, she felt she could trust this woman. "It's just my Anatomy and Physiology professor…he's a bit, hostile."

At that, the blonde woman cracked a smile. "Let me guess – Uchiha?"

"Yes!" Sakura set her book aside and turned to fully face Tsunade, who had taken the other chair behind the front desk. "How did you know?"

Tsunade chuckled. "You're not the first student to complain about him, trust me. I've had kids in here claiming PTSD after surviving his class."

"I just don't know what his problem is!" Sakura explained, letting her face fall into her hands. "I mean no disrespect, of course."

Sakura jumped a bit when she felt Tsunade's hand come to rest on her arm. "Lay it on me, Sakura," the older woman said, a hint of mischief in her eye. "I always love to hear about how our youngest professor is causing trouble."

"Well," Sakura began, excited to have a wiser party to share her troubles with, "It all started last Friday, when I met him after the party on the quad."

"Uchiha Sasuke was at the party?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow delicately, amusement clear in her eyes.

"No," Sakura shook her head, nearly laughing at the thought of Sasuke at a party. "He was smoking outside of the building that he lives in, and I passed him on the way to my dorm. He insisted on walking me back…which I wasn't expecting." After a moment's thought, Sakura decided to leave out the part about Sasuke being drunk and calling her pretty.

Tsunade made a face at that. "That seems very out of character for him. I've known Uchiha Sasuke since he was a child – our families go way back – and never have I known him to be particularly chivalrous."

Sakura nodded her head, unsurprised. "Right. Then, on Monday, I had the misfortune of discovering that he was my A and P professor. He made fun of me the first time I tried to answer a question in class, and then on Wednesday he scolded me for bringing in homework early – in front of the whole class! They all hate me now. And, not to mention, he accepted the same homework from another girl in class. She's kind of the ring-leader of all the students who don't like me."

"That sounds a little harsh even for him," Tsunade frowned. "Go on."

"But today in class, he was almost…nice to me. He scolded the girl I was telling you about, Karin, for trying to answer a question when he called on me. Then he didn't say anything derogatory towards me after I answered."

Tsunade snorted. "I would hardly call that nice."

"Oh, and one other thing," Sakura hesitated. "He told me to call him Sasuke."

The doctor's jaw nearly hit the floor. "He asked you to call him Sasuke? We're in uncharted waters now. I've never heard him be so informal with anyone, not even the other professors."

Shit, Sakura thought. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned that. Throughout her schooling, Sakura had been on a first name basis with more than one of her teachers. While she hadn't been expecting it from Sasuke, she hadn't thought that it was too bizarre.

"I think it has too do with his age," Tsunade went on, crossing one leg over the other and getting more comfortable in her chair. "He's afraid of losing respect among the faculty here."

"How old is he?" Sakura couldn't help but ask. She hadn't realized how curious she was until Tsunade had brought up his age.

"Twenty-five," Tsunade had a thoughtful look on her face now. "Or somewhere around there."

"I hope I'm not being too nosy, but do you know how he managed to become a professor at such a young age?" Sakura tried to keep the interest she was feeling out of her tone. She didn't need Tsunade thinking she was sweet on her teacher…

Tsunade simply shrugged at that. "He's a genius – comes from a family of prodigies. A stupid Uchiha is about as rare as a girl with pink hair. He had his PhD by the time he was twenty-three. His family is nearly completely comprised of doctors, lawyers, engineers, and physicists. Him deciding to stay here and teach after graduating was a bit of a slap in the face to his family. He made up for it by writing a best-selling book and several highly respected scientific papers."

"Wow," Sakura tried to wipe the awe off of her face – the guy was still an asshole. "I guess that explains the whole superiority complex thing."

"There's a lot of pressure from his family to be perfect, I will say that," Tsunade's face was grim. "He also lost his older brother a few years back to a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer."

"Oh," Sakura's voice softened. "That would be horrible."

"Mm," Tsunade murmured. "The whole family is impressive, and Sasuke's brother Itachi was no exception. They're extremely wealthy, I'm honestly surprised that you've never heard of them."

"My family lived in a rural community and we rarely made it in to the city," Sakura admitted. "That's probably why. Not to mention, I was never very up to date with current events – I was always too focused on school."

"Have you always wanted to be a doctor?" Tsunade asked.

Sakura laughed a little at that, reminded of her vapid younger self momentarily. "No, when I was little, all I cared about was boys and my hair. It wasn't until I was twelve or thirteen that I really realized that I wanted to heal people. I started working super hard, taking as many extra classes as I could. It should only take me a couple of years to finish my undergrad."

Tsunade smiled genuinely. "Impressive." Then, "I like you, Sakura. That's not something I can say about just everyone. So, that being said, I'm going to do my best to help you here. I'll help you learn as many skills as you can here in the clinic, and then when it's time for medical school, I have connections at the Konoha School of Medicine."

Sakura nearly cried. Tsunade was a tough lady, but she was kind, and Sakura could see that in her eyes. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I appreciate that. Becoming a doctor means so much to me…my family, my parents, they could really use the financial help someday, and part of my goal is to be able to help them as much as I can."

Tsunade stood and ruffled the student's hair as though she was her own grandchild. "Keep your head up, Sakura. You're going to do just fine."

"Thank you, Tsunade-san, this means so much to me," Sakura was smiling so wide she thought she would split her lip open.

Tsunade raised her hand in farewell as she headed back to her office. "You might as well just call me Tsunade. If Uchiha Sasuke is just Sasuke, who am I to be so formal?" She chuckled a bit at this, but then turned to face Sakura with a more serious look on her face. "If he ever starts to make you feel uncomfortable, don't hesitate to come to me. I'm not sure what his intentions are, but he is definitely behaving oddly."

Sakura felt her blood run cold at Tsunade's words. She swallowed thickly and forced a smile to her face, nodding at Tsunade before the woman turned and disappeared into her office.

What were his intentions…and why did Tsunade seem so concerned about them?

"Come on, Forehead! It's Friday night! Please go out with us," Ino whined like a child who had just had her candy stolen. "Just for a little while at least?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, slamming her book shut and climbing down from her lofted bed. "Fine, but I get a free pass next weekend. This is the second Friday in a row that I've agreed to go out with you."

Ino squealed so loud Sakura had to pin her ears closed. "Yes! I'll go tell Naruto, he'll be so happy!"

"Who all is going?" Sakura asked while dusting the cat hair from her little black dress.

"Me, Naruto, Hinata, and Sai." Sakura didn't miss the dreamy lilt in Ino's tone as she said Sai's name – her crush on the boy was obvious. Sai wasn't so upfront about his feelings, but Sakura had known him long enough to see the longing in his eyes.

"Great," Sakura drew out the word dramatically. "So, I'm going to be the fifth wheel, hm?"

"No!" Ino's cheeks betrayed a little color before she turned away towards the bathroom. "Not at all! That doesn't even make sense…"

Sakura just rolled her eyes, choosing not to push the issue farther. Ino was very sensitive when it came to talking about Sai, which is how Sakura knew that it was real. Ino loved boy-talk, so the way she clammed up when it came to Sai just told Sakura how serious the blonde was about him. She was clearly afraid to speak up and ruin something. So Sakura let Ino have the little secret stars in her eyes and decided from here on out she would quietly try to push Sai into Ino's arms.

Yep, she was the fifth wheel. Naruto and Hinata had retreated to a dark corner sometime ago, and Sakura was very pointedly looking awayfrom them. That was something she definitely didn't need to see. Ino and Sai were at the dart board, and he was standing behind her, helping her throw. Sakura smiled over the lip of her drink – Ino had excellent aim.

She was happy for her friends, she really was, but seeing them together like that just reminded her of her own loneliness. Sakura had never had much time for boyfriends, school had always come first. Other than a date or two in high school, Sakura was totally inexperienced in the realm of significant others. She frowned to herself when she thought about how much longer she would be in school, and how much longer she was going to force herself to be alone.

"Drinking alone and looking depressed? What are you, forty?" A deep voice startled Sakura out of her thoughts.

She didn't even have to look over to know who it was. "What are you doing here, Sasuke?" she breathed out, not caring about the impression she was giving her professor.

"This bar isn't exclusively restricted to you, even though you might think it is miss know-it-all," his words were harsh, but his tone was clipped and teasing. He had since taken the barstool next to her.

Sakura turned to glare at him then, only a little caught off guard by the smirk that was playing on his lips. Deciding to be bold with him, Sakura replied: "I'm surprised that someone as pretentious as you considers me worthy to waste your precious words on."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes a bit at this, but the crooked half-smile still hadn't left his lips. "Most students wouldn't dare be so hostile with their professor."

"I'm sorry," Sakura smiled winningly at him, a bit disturbed by her own behavior at this point. "Want me to tone it back a bit, sensei?"

Her words didn't seem to have the desired effect on him. Instead of encouraging more banter, like Sakura had hoped that they would, they instead prompted him to close his eyes and grit his teeth slightly. "You shouldn't say things like that," he finally bit out, any trace of teasing gone from his voice.

Sakura frowned. "Like what?"

Sasuke opened his eyes then, and deep black met spring green in an ugly collision of colors and whispers. "It truly befuddles me how you can be so smart and so annoyingly stupid at the same time."

Anger and alcohol heated her blood, and Sakura stood up between their barstools in order to be closer to his face – closer to him. She was taken off-guard for a moment by the smell of him, just a touch of cologne, a hint of alcohol, a breath of cigarettes. It was incredibly…appealing, and Sakura hated that about him. Just another reason to make him insufferable and all things detestable.

He seemed a little taken aback by her sudden proximity as well, and his gaze had become somewhat transfixed on her exposed collarbone, his expression was somewhat strangled. The look on his face brought a smile to Sakura's own, and she realized that maybe she had a bit of power in this situation.

Reaching her hand up slowly, Sakura looped her thumb through the strap of her dress, pretending to rest her hand there absently. A strangled sound escaped Sasuke's lips to match the look on his face and his eyes finally shot up to meet her own. There was nothing but blackness there, and Sakura was quickly beginning to feel lost in the dark.

"Why are you so mean to me in class, Sasuke?" Sakura asked quietly, figuring now was her best chance.

At first, he said nothing, instead choosing to turn away from her as he dragged his eyes back to his drink on the counter. After one sip, a second, and a third, his answer came, quietly. "I can't help it."

Returning to her seat and not at all happy with his answer, Sakura pouted openly. She was known worldwide for her winning pout, and she felt no shame in bringing it out now. "What does that mean?"

"I'm mean to everybody," Sasuke frowned. "I'm just mean."

"Not as mean as you are to me!" Sakura began to feel heated again, annoyed that he wasn't looking at her anymore. "Everyone in your class hates me now."

Sasuke scoffed at that. "Nobody likes a try-hard teacher's pet. That's not my fault."

Blood officially boiling, Sakura finished the rest of her drink in one gulp. "Kabuto says he thinks I have a lot of promise and that everyone else in the class is just jealous."

Sasuke whirled on her then, and Sakura almost tumbled backwards off of her stool – and she would have, if Sasuke's hand had not clamped down on her arm like a vice. "What do you mean, Kabuto?"

Sakura winced a bit at his grip but said nothing about it. His hand on the bare skin of her arm was a little…distracting, and she had to focus to find her words. "He's the graduate teaching assistant in my lab. What's your problem?"

The look in Sasuke's eyes was stormy and terrifying, the grip he had on her arm not loosening a bit. "You shouldn't be talking to Kabuto," Sasuke's words sounded like the were barely controlled, hardly containing the rage.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura ripped her arm from his hand then, feeling defensive about the teaching assistant. "Kabuto is the only one in your class who is nice to me! No thanks to you."

"Kabuto," Sasuke spat his name out like poison, "Is a snake."

"He works for you!" Sakura said with equal venom. "Are you sure you're not just jealous that I like him and I don't like you?"

Sasuke's eyes flashed to her lips for a moment – quick but unmistakable. The anger remained written all over his face as he growled out: "Maybe. But that doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't trust Kabuto. He's an excellent liar and an even better sweet-talker. I hired him because he is a genius, and I've never had an issue with him and a student before. So stay the fuck away from him."

Maybe. Sakura had barely heard the rest of his words. Was this guy – her professor – actually admitting to what it seemed like he was admitting to? Sure, he was young, but still, he was her teacher. The thought both scared Sakura and excited her, and she tried to keep both emotions out of her eyes as she formed her shaky response. "You can't tell me who I can and can't talk to. Why should I push away the only person who's being nice to me?"

"I'll fail you," there was nothing but seriousness in Sasuke's words as he spoke Sakura's greatest fear out-loud. "I swear to god."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, doing her best to keep the fear from her voice as she spoke. "You wouldn't. I'll drop your class." She cringed as she said it, knowing that unless she dropped the class soon, she would still have to pay the fee for it. She definitely couldn't afford that. "And then I'll never have to see you again."

Furious, she stood to leave, and only paused when for the second time that night, Sasuke reached out to touch her. His hand landed firmly on her wrist, and this time the contact sent waves of goosebumps up her uncovered arm. She shivered unintentionally, and the darkening of his eyes told her that he had definitely noticed her reaction.

"Don't do that," his voice was constricted and quiet. "I won't fail you. Just…do me a favor and stay away from Kabuto."

"Why should I do you any favors?" Sakura frowned, not moving away from the contact that was quickly becoming intoxicating.

"Just…be wary of him, at the very least," Sasuke frowned, the fight seemingly going out of him. "Don't ever go anywhere alone with him."

"I don't think he's ever going to ask me to go anywhere alone with him…"

Sasuke scoffed at that, removing his hand and placing it back in his own lap. "You underestimate yourself, Haruno."

"What does that mean?" Sakura asked, taken aback completely by the compliment.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her, no hint of humor or goodwill on his face. "You know exactly what it means."

"Sakura!" Ino's voice cut through the din of the bar and Sakura turned towards it. "There you are!"

Sakura stood then, torn completely between staying with Sasuke and getting out of his presence as soon as possible. "Hey, Ino-pig," her attempt at nonchalance was painful at best.

Ino spared Sasuke a curious glance before turning to Sakura. "We're about to head out, ready to go?"

"Yeah just let me close my tab," Sakura turned back to the bar then, immediately seeing that Sasuke had disappeared. "Excuse me!" Sakura called to the older female bartender. "I need to close my tab, please."

The woman smiled conspiratorially and winked at Sakura. "That handsome, dark-haired boy covered your tab before he came over here and sat down. You're all settled up."

Sakura's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she thanked the woman and turned to go. The look in Ino's eyes told her she had a lot of explaining to do. Unfortunately for Sakura, she had no idea what had just happened.

AN: Thank you so much to all you reviewers who stepped in to defend me against the spammer in the reviews! I was really upset about the whole thing and you guys made me feel so much better. Special thanks to the author sins with tragedies for stepping in and setting the guest straight.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I can have chapter 4 up sometime this coming week, probably within the next few days. Let me know what you guys think :) You're all the best and thank you so much for taking the time to read! I'm really enjoying writing this story and I have a lot of ideas for upcoming chapters. Prepare yourselves for some yummy SasuSaku moments coming up soon!

~ loony