Five

The next couple of weeks went by surprisingly smoothly for Sakura. Sasuke seemed to barely be paying any attention to her, with the exception of a couple of intense glances every class. Karin was leaving her alone, too. Sakura suspected she had been threatened with dismissal from the class after the tripping incident – maybe she would be calm from the rest of the semester. It wasn't likely, but maybe.

Kabuto had offered her lunch and study assistance yet again, and despite Sasuke's warning, Sakura had accepted. She couldn't see the harm in it. Lunch in a public place with her nice teacher's assistant the week before a difficult test? That didn't sound too horrible to Sakura. Plus, what reason did she have to trust Sasuke or his judgement? Everything about that man was a little…off.

A little off, but that made him all the more interesting. Sakura found herself thinking about him more and more. His hair continued to baffle her – always standing off his head looking like he had just stepped out of a wind storm but still somehow managing to look attractive and almost whimsically elegant. He was tall and lean and no matter how much his brooding and nasty attitude made her angry, it was kind of alluring as well. Sakura was starting to dread going to class not because of Sasuke's behavior, but her own. She was starting to linger at his desk more, exchanging quick words or glances with him, wishing for more the moment she walked away. Developing a crush on her teacher was so not in the game plan.

Sakura chewed on the end of her pencil absently at work, dark eyes and dark hair on her mind, her studying left unfinished. Tsunade's voice nearly startled her out of her chair.

"Daydreaming I see."

Sakura choked briefly on her pencil, steadying herself before turning guiltily to face Tsunade. "Um, yeah, sorry, I was just zoning out."

Tsunade simply shrugged, crossing her arms over her large chest and frowning slightly. "I don't care what you do when there aren't any students to check in. It's just a surprise to see you not studying, that's all. Got a certain someone on your mind?"

"No!" Sakura blurted out, immediately cringing at the suspicious sound of it. "Nothing like that." How the hell could the woman read her so clearly?

"Mmmhhhmm." Tsunade examined her nails, looking bored. "Regardless, I came in here to tell you that I'm going to start having you assist with patient exams for some of you shifts. You can get a little bit of experience that way."

Sakura sat up straighter in her chair, had she heard that right? "Really?"

"Yes, really," the doctor rolled her eyes lightly. "You can take vitals and histories when necessary and do some basic assessments. We don't get too much in the way of traumatic injury or crippling illness here, but it'll give you some experience, at least."

Forgetting herself momentarily, Sakura launched herself into Tsunade, hugging the woman as she would her own mother. The woman stood there stiffly for a moment, before reaching around to pat Sakura carefully on the back, as though hugging was something she didn't do very often.

"Sorry!" Sakura slid back, a little embarrassed by her display but still extremely excited by the new tasks Tsunade had given her.

"Let's start, then," Tsunade cleared her throat a little awkwardly, ignoring Sakura's apology. "There's a young man in room two with flu-like symptoms. I'll go with you and walk you through everything. I'll have you check his blood pressure, temperature, and pulse."

Sakura nodded her head, doing her best to not hide behind her mentor as they entered the room together. This was a new experience for Sakura, she tried not to be angry with herself for being a little nervous. Still, when they walked in the room, Sakura still had a bit of trouble looking directly at the patient, and instead chose to glance down at the chart Tsunade had placed in her hands.

"Sakura-san?"

A vaguely familiar voice caused Sakura's head to snap up towards the table, and she saw the friendly face of Keiju smiling back at her. "Oh, hey, Keiju! Not feeling well, I see, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah," the young man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and chuckled. "I had been hoping to run into you again, I'm disappointed it had to be like this."

Keiju was cute. The slight flush in his cheeks due to his fever was endearing to say the least, and really just served to amplify that boy-next-door quality that he had. Sakura smiled at him politely and he smiled back…before he descended into a fit of coughing, that is.

"Alright," said Tsunade, finally speaking and taking the attention off of Sakura. "I'm going to listen to your breathing while Sakura takes your vital signs and we'll probably send you out of here with a prescription and a pass to skip class for the next couple of days. This strain of the flu has been very contagious this year so you'll want to stay away from your friends and classmates."

The check-up went well. Tsunade confirmed that he had the flu and Sakura was able to collect a set of normal vital signs with the exception of a high temperature. They sent him on his way as Tsunade had said: with a prescription and a pass for class. He turned and waved to Sakura, stating that he hoped to see her again and thanking her for his check-up. His smile was winning even though he was sick and Sakura couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Damn," Tsunade hummed with a low whistle. "You've got half the men at the school at your mercy already, don't you?"

Sakura blanched. "What? No!"

"First the Uchiha and then that guy? If you don't already have half of them under your spell you will soon," Tsunade beckoned Sakura toward her office as she said this. She immediately went to her desk and pulled out a bottle of sake, as well as two tumblers. "Sit down."

"You have alcohol in here?" was all Sakura could think to say as she sat and Tsunade passed her a cup full of sake.

"Yep," Tsunade answered simply. "Hey, come to think of it, didn't you say that you're having lunch with yet another gentleman friend today?"

"Geez, it's not like that!" Sakura coughed on her sip of sake. "He's my TA…in Sasuke's class. He offered to help me study, that's all."

"Mmmhhmm," Tsunade rolled her eyes. "What's his name?"

"Kabuto," Sakura supplied, taking another sip of her alcohol. She took a moment to acknowledge the fact that she was drinking before noon on a weekday…she might have to keep an eye on Tsunade from now on.

Sakura hadn't noticed the woman's expression change, but when the doctor cleared her throat uncomfortably Sakura was startled by the look on her face. "What is it, shishou?"

"Kabuto. I don't like that guy at all," the older woman finished her beverage and poured another. "He actually used to work here, too. The guy is a little too…curious. He sets my teeth on edge."

"Isn't curiosity a good thing?" Sakura questioned, feeling a little more uneasy about her lunch with Kabuto now that Tsunade also seemed to be against it.

"Not when it's the kind of curiosity that would lead you to cut a person's chest open just to watch their heart beat," Tsunade muttered with a grimace, more to her beverage than to Sakura.

"Um," Sakura felt her eyes widen a bit. "Please tell me he's never done that."

"Not that I know of," Tsunade shrugged. "But he's also extremely deceptive and a great smooth talker. I wound up firing him for some of his strange and sometimes perverted behaviors. Be careful, Sakura. Don't go anywhere alone with him and try to keep this restricted to just lunch."

"Sasuke nearly lost his mind when I mentioned Kabuto to him…he totally freaked out on me and told me to stay away from him. If he knew I was going to lunch with him he'd be pissed to high hell, he even threatened to fail me over it, although I know he won't," Sakura rambled out, confiding in Tsunade. She couldn't help but tell this woman every detail of her life, it would seem.

Tsunade simply smirked at this. "That Uchiha kid better be careful with you, he's going to wind up getting in way over his head. I'd like to place a bet now – he'll try to kiss you before finals week."

Sakura choked. "W-what?" she managed to cough out. "No way!"

"I don't always make the best bets, but I'm pretty confident in that one," Tsunade nodded once. "Just remember Sakura – you don't have to let him."

"I know – "

Tsunade held up a hand to signal she wasn't finished. "But, I'm not going to say anything to anyone if you do."

Sakura felt like there was a rock in her stomach as she walked toward the cafeteria to have lunch with Kabuto. Ever since Tsunade had affirmed Sasuke's opinion of the man, Sakura had seriously considered texting Kabuto and calling it off. She also kept having the very alarming thought that maybe she should talk to Sasuke about it…

That's how she found herself standing outside of his office door, her fist held up to knock and she shifted back and forth on her feet. What was she thinking? How in the hell would this be a good idea? Sasuke had nearly ruptured an aneurysm when he heard that she was even in his lab section. She dropped her hand back to her side, breathing out a sigh and planning to turn and go when the door was whipped open in front of her face.

Sasuke stood there looking as he always did, wildly elegant with his hair looking the very definition of graceful bedhead. He was wearing a navy blue dress shirt with charcoal dress pants today, a deviation from the usual black and grey he most often wore. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone and the sleeves were rolled up. Overall, he looked a little dishelved – but Sakura couldn't help but think that it was a good look for him. She swallowed thickly. Maybe this was a bad idea for another reason altogether…

"Um," Sakura started, cursing her inability to not be awkward. "Could I come in for a second?"

Sasuke took a step to the side to allow her room to walk through the door, but didn't move completely out of the way. His expression seemed skeptical. "Tch. Why?"

"Well, I, um, you see, I sort of have lunch today with Kabuto and I – "

Sakura was cut-off abruptly as Sasuke grabbed her arm and pulled her into his office, slamming the door behind her. He let her go quickly, dropping his hand immediately and clenching it into a tight fist at his side. Still not meeting her eyes, he all but growled: "Sakura. Why are you going to lunch with Kabuto?"

Feeling scolded all of a sudden, Sakura folded her arms and glared, doing her best to not be distracted by the silky way he had said her name. "He offered to help me study, it would have been stupid for me to refuse. He wants me to do well on the test."

"He wants to fuck you, idiot," Sasuke was pacing around his office now, and Sakura raised an eyebrow at his erratic behavior, a little taken aback by his sudden vulgar language.

"Nothing in his behavior has indicated that!" Sakura scowled, now feeling even more uncomfortable about her impending meal with the TA. She didn't think Sasuke was right…but still. Now that awkward thought would be in her mind.

"I don't need to see his behavior to know that!" Sasuke raised his voice and Sakura took a step back, she didn't know what she had expected but she didn't like to see him this angry. "You're beautiful and smart and young and Kabuto loves shiny new playthings. He's curious about you and he'll just keep pushing until he's seen it all."

"Seen it all?" Sakura swallowed. Sasuke had stopped his pacing right in front of her.

Sasuke's eyes traced down her form then, as though demonstrating for her what he meant by his words. Sakura felt her cheeks heat up, but she stood her ground, unwilling to be intimidated by her professor's bizarre and erratic behavior. His eyes snapped up to meet her own, and she thought she detected just the barest hint of color in his cheeks. Maybe he hadn't meant to do that? She knew she was blushing too.

"Listen, Sasuke," Sakura sighed, averting her eyes from his too-intense gaze. "I can't back out of this now, I'm supposed to meet him in thirty minutes. I don't even know why I came here…I wasn't planning on it. I just…I wanted you to know, for some reason. My boss shares your opinion of him, by the way, and so I guess I got nervous."

Sakura glanced up and saw his expression soften briefly just before he turned to face away from her and out the window, running a hand through his mop of hair. "Just don't go anywhere alone with him, he'd never try anything in public. You'll be fine."

Sakura nodded to herself. "Okay. I won't."

When Sasuke didn't say anything else or turn back around, she turned to go, feeling silly about having gone to Sasuke in the first place. He probably thought she was stupid, and for some reason that thought made her feel nauseous and pathetic.

"Sakura."

She stopped upon hearing his voice, glancing back over her shoulder to see he had silently walked to his desk and was writing something down on a scrap of paper. "Here," he held it out towards her.

She stepped forward and took it, looking at it immediately to see a series of numbers. A phone number, to be exact. "Is this your phone number?" Sakura felt stupid for asking the question, but felt the need to do so.

"Cellphone," Sasuke nodded, not quite making eye-contact. "Put it in your phone and text me yours. That way, if anything goes wrong, you can let me know. I'll be around all day."

Sakura's heart sped up a little, and she didn't bother questioning why she felt excited all of a sudden. She honestly didn't even really want to know why. She simply nodded at him, unable to trust herself to form words as she again turned to leave him alone in his office.

Pulling open the door barely an inch, Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when Sasuke's hand came crashing down on the door from behind her, just to her left, slamming it shut again. How in the hell did he move so quickly and so silently?

"Sakura."

There was that devilish tone again. She didn't turn around, but she could feel him standing right behind her, almost close enough to be touching…but not quite. The heat radiating from his body warmed her back.

His breath ruffled the hair on top of her head. "Just," he hesitated. "Be careful. I don't like this."

Sakura closed her eyes, relishing in the feeling of him being so close. She tried to tell herself she wasn't crazy. He was a super attractive man and he just happened to smell almost as good as he looked. It wasn't bad for her to enjoy his attentions, right? Right? "I…don't think I like it either," she finally managed, barely above a whisper.

"Good," Sasuke replied as he reached around her to open his office door and let her out. His hand brushed her arm after he had done so and Sakura couldn't kid herself into believing that it had been an accident.

She all but bolted down the hallway, feeling eyes on her until she had turned the corner and fled.

She got to the cafeteria early. She selected a table and sat down, pulling out Sasuke's phone number as she did so. She carefully entered it into her phone, deciding to put it under his real name. There wasn't really an issue with students occasionally texting their professors, after all…plenty of professors even gave out their cellphone numbers on their syllabi, so this was really not unusual.

She typed out a quick text to him that simply read Sakura,and then placed her phone in her bag, proceeding to wipe her sweaty palms on her leggings. She didn't know why she was so nervous, Sasuke himself had said that Kabuto wouldn't try anything weird in public, and she had already fabricated plans for after lunch so that she had an escape route.

Her phone buzzed in her bag and Sakura pulled it out, noting that she had a text from Sasuke. Frowning, she unlocked her phone and read it. Is he there yet?

No, not yet. She typed back her response and sent it. She hadn't been expecting him to text her, but she suddenly felt more at ease with him looking out for her. Not that she couldn't handle herself but…between both Sasuke's and Tsunade's accounts of the man, Sakura was now a little wary of Kabuto.

Her phone buzzed again and Sakura looked down to see that Sasuke had said: Make it quick.

Normally, Sakura would have been irritated by him telling her what to do, and she would've made a point to stay extra long at lunch just to spite him. But today, his commanding attitude didn't bother her so much, as she fully planned on keeping lunch short. I have every intention to, she replied.

Kabuto arrived shortly after that. He had brought notes and books with him, and soon Sakura had sort of forgotten about being afraid of him. He was extremely charming, and had a nice way of talking that just somehow put her at ease. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she had been warned about precisely that kind of behavior, but she honestly just couldn't find it within herself to be threatened by him. Over the course of their study session, Sakura learned about his orphan past – she suspected it was just a ploy to get her to like him, but she couldn't say that it wasn't working. Maybe Sasuke and Tsunade had just been exaggerating…

"Are you okay, Sakura?" Kabuto asked suddenly. "You seem kind of spaced out."

"Oh! Yes, I'm sorry," Sakura apologized with a smile.

"Don't apologize," Kabuto smiled back, adjusting his glasses as he did so. "I'd say we covered enough for one study session, anyway. I actually have to go and get the lab set-up for a section I'm leading today, so I better get going."

"Thank you for all your help today!" Sakura stood up and began to gather her things. "I feel more prepared for the test already. I've been studying since the start of class but I was still nervous about it."

Kabuto nodded amiably. "As you should be, Uchiha-senpai's first test is notoriously difficult. But I can tell that you will do excellent on it. You're incredibly bright, Sakura."

Kabuto had placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her, but Sakura found it difficult to smile back. The moment Kabuto had made physical contact with her, she almost immediately got nauseous. For some reason, she was immediately put-off by him – she felt a little guilty as there was no real reason for it, but nonetheless, alarm bells had started ringing in her head. Something about the way he touched her just sent shivers running up her spine – and not the good kind.

Before she could really process the moment, it was over, and Kabuto was waving and walking away. Sakura lifted her hand in a half-hearted little wave before turning and walking the other way. She actually needed to go in the same direction that he had gone, but she suddenly felt an intense need to put some distance between them.

Her phone buzzed in her bag and she pulled it out to see a text from Ino. She also had a text from Sasuke that she had received over half an hour ago. Ino's text just informed her she would be out of the room for the night, and Sakura couldn't help but smirk. She had a feeling she knew where Ino would be spending the night.

Sasuke's text was much less pleasant. Is it over yet? It's been an hour and a half, idiot.

Sakura rolled her eyes. She didn't mean to stay with Kabuto for two hours, but really, a two-hour study session was a short one for her. Yes, she replied, he just left. He didn't do anything weird and was very nice. She briefly considered telling him about the weird feeling she had gotten, but quickly decided that it was pointless. She couldn't really come up with a reason for her unease and so there was no point to anger him.

Fine, was Sasuke's reply, and Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at it. She could imagine the scowl on his face as he had typed it.

Replacing her phone back in her bag, Sakura began the trek to the library. The test was in three days and she had a lot more studying to do, after all.

Sakura found she couldn't sleep that night. She had grown used to sharing the room with Ino and being alone kind of set her nerves on edge. She briefly considered knocking on Naruto's door, but thought better of it quickly. He had an almost-girlfriend now, and so Sakura's relationship with him might have to change a little bit. Before Hinata, Sakura would've never hesitated to knock on Naruto's door and crash in his room. She would have slept in his bed without thinking anything of it and woken up in his arms without things being weird.

Her first sexual experience had been with Naruto – but it had only happened once and they had pledged to never do it again. Back in her high school days, it had been easy to mix up her feelings of platonic love for Naruto with romantic love. They both quickly realized that they weren't meant to be together in a romantic way, and the whole experience had gone on to strengthen their friendship. The bond they shared now was unbreakable, even if sometimes she got the terrifyingly strong urge to bash his head in.

Now, there was Hinata, and Sakura couldn't have been happier for him. She was only a little bitter when his new love interest indirectly affected her own relationship with the blonde. She wouldn't overstep her bounds, however, so instead of going to bother Naruto, she got out of bed and made to head outside for a little fresh air.

Groaning as she walked out the door and saw the clock on the hallway wall, Sakura accepted the fact that she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. It was already one in the morning and she had class at eight. She had always had a struggle with insomnia – she blamed her active mind and overly-busy imagination.

She was at the door to the outside world before she realized she was in a t-shirt and shorts and wasn't wearing any shoes. Rolling her eyes at her own obliviousness, Sakura accepted that maybe she was more tired than she thought she was. Regardless of all that, she wasn't going back up to her room to change and so she stepped out into the air of the brisk fall night.

It was cold, but it felt nice. The wave of goosebumps that broke out along her skin were stimulating and invigorated her sluggish movements a bit. Sakura took some steps into the grass just off the sidewalk, and she relished the feeling of the cool blades between her toes. She took a few more steps and then surveyed her surroundings, eyes immediately drawn to a shadowed figure in the distance standing outside of the faculty building…smoking a cigarette. As though she were being pulled by some sort of magnetic force, Sakura began to walk towards him leisurely. She wasn't even sure that it was Sasuke, but somewhere deep inside of her, she knew that it was.

She felt his eyes on her as she grew closer, and she blushed a little when she remembered what she was wearing. Her pajama shorts and baggy t-shirt covered the important stuff, but not much else. She didn't meet his eyes, but she drew up beside him quietly, tilting her head back to look at the stars instead of at him. She had no idea what she was doing there, had no explanation for why she had walked all the way over to him to just stand there like an idiot with no shoes on.

"You have class at 8 o'clock tomorrow, Sakura," his voice finally broke the silence. It had a sleepy edge to it, and Sakura silently cursed him for sounding sexy. He too seemed to be wearing pajamas, in the form of plaid pants and a black t-shirt with a grey hoodie. He was wearing shoes, however.

"So do you," she breathed out, not taking her eyes off of the night sky. She didn't think she could bear to look at him, for some reason.

There was silence for some time. He finished his cigarette and lit another, and for once, Sakura didn't feel like saying anything. She would address it sometime, she just didn't have it in her at the moment. Suddenly, the air felt very heavy around her. She closed her eyes and listened to the night sounds from the forest all around the campus. All of her senses felt magnified. She loved the brilliance of the nature of Konoha.

A gust of autumn wind whipped her hair across face, causing a fresh rush of goosebumps to crop up along her arms and legs. She was only now beginning to truly regret her choice of sleeping clothes as the chill began to become uncomfortable.

"Sakura," there was that wonderful, sleepy sound again.

She finally met his eyes, as she opened her own and he was already looking at her. "Hm?"

He coughed lightly and looked away, shrugging out of his hoodie. "What the hell are you wearing?"

Sakura couldn't help but giggle a little bit. "Pajamas, what does it look like?"

"It looks like shorts and a t-shirt and no shoes," Sasuke scoffed, but only lightly. "That might be okay for bed but it's not ideal for traipsing around campus at one in the morning in the cold. Here."

He'd thrust his hoodie out at her.

She stared at it like it was infected.

"Um, that's okay," she scrambled for words. "I'm fine."

"Just take it, don't be annoying," Sasuke shoved it all the way into her hands and dropped it, forcing her to catch it.

Without saying anything, she put it on, and was immediately surrounded by the smell of him. What had gotten into her? This wasn't some high school boy she could just aimlessly flirt with, this was her several-years-older-incredibly-dreamy-college-professor. And yet here she stood at his side, barefoot and wearing his jacket at one in the morning with no intention of going anywhere.

Time moved strangely then, and Sakura had no idea how long she stood there next to him. He eventually walked her back to her building, and when she tried to give him back his hoodie, he told her to just give it back later. He took one step backward, and then two, his eyes never leaving her own as she stood transfixed on the bottom step of the Senju dorm. It might have been an eternity and it might have been three seconds before he turned to go.

Alone on the steps, Sakura once again closed her eyes and allowed the wind to blow her hair haphazardly across her face. She would never have any idea how irresistibly appealing she looked to a certain set of midnight eyes as she stood there in the moonlight.

AN: Wow guys! We're so close to 100 reviews! Thank you so much! I really appreciate you guys taking the time to read and review, and I'm really hoping you all enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think :)

~ loony