Twelve

The week of classes following the event,as Sakura had taken to referring to it as, had been absolutely unbearable. Sasuke had showed up twenty minutes late on Monday, Sakura had actually skipped class on Wednesday, and on Friday, they hadn't made eye-contact once. Honestly, that made Friday the worst day of the three. Sakura had never gone through an entire class without catching Sasuke's eyes on her at least a few times. She'd definitely messed things up.

Work was a drag. Everything was a drag. All she could think about was Sasuke and sex with Sasuke and why the hell was she so stupid? She swore to herself that she wouldn't get distracted by boys at school, and she hadn't – she had gotten distracted by a man who was also her professor. A man who had completely taken over her faculties to think like an adult person and who had rendered her heart and brain into useless piles of goop.

"Earth to Sakura?" Tsunade punctuated her words with a sharp flick to Sakura's forehead. "Are you in there?"

"Ouch," Sakura whined, rubbing her forehead and scowling up at the blonde woman from her seat behind the front desk. "Yes, I'm here. No need to get violent."

Tsunade merely shrugged and sat down in the chair next to Sakura's. "Alright, pipsqueak. You've been spacey all week. What gives? Bad midterm grade? Cold weather got you down?" Tsunade paused thoughtfully, quirking an eyebrow heavenward. "Uchiha?"

Sakura's blush likely gave her away, if Tsunade's triumphant "Ha!" said anything.

"What'd the little bastard do?" the doctor leaned towards Sakura, clearly not going to give up without having heard the story.

Sakura's blush deepened and she looked away. She didn't think she'd actually be able to get the words out, not even to Tsunade, even though the woman had become like a second mother to Sakura. As a matter of fact, it was even easier to talk to Tsunade than it was to her own mom, sometimes. As stubborn and tough as the woman could be, Sakura knew that the doctor truly cared about her and was interested in her life. She just had a funny way of showing it sometimes.

"Hang on," Tsunade frowned. "What's going on here?"

"Well…" Sakura began, childishly hiding her face from Tsunade behind the curtain of her hair. "It was my fault, really…"

"Sakura," Tsunade drew her name out. "What was your fault?"

"Um, well, I guess I should start by saying that…he um, well you see, ah, we ended up at the same Halloween party," Sakura rushed out, stammering over her words. "And I guess, he just, um…he kissed me."

Tsunade's mouth hung open for a moment…before she whooped ridiculously and pumped her fist in the air. "I've still got it! Didn't I bet you that he'd kiss you before finals week?"

Sakura simply nodded, deciding whether or not she wanted to go on with the rest of the story. Would the kiss be enough to sate Tsuande's curiosity?

"Go on."

Apparently not.

Tsunade cleared her throat, schooling her expression into one of suspicion. "You said you should start by saying, meaning the kiss isn't the end of the story." Her eyes narrowed. "What else happened?"

Sakura felt the heat of her blush drain from her cheeks. She felt dizzy all of a sudden, and kind of nauseous. What the hell was wrong with her? She brought her palm up to her forehead in an attempt to steady herself.

"Woah," Tsunade laid a hand on her shoulder, fixing her with a steady glare. "Sakura. What the hell is going on here?"

"Tsunade…I…" Sakura was horrified to feel tears beginning to leak from the corners of her eyes. "I fucked everything up." A choked sob followed her words.

"Oh, hush," Tsunade crooned, totally out of character for her. She began wiping the tears off of Sakura's face haphazardly. "I'm sure you didn't fuck anything up. How could you possibly?"

"I…" Sakura whispered, pressing the heels of her palms forcefully into her eyes. "We…we had sex. And before you say anything, it was my idea and my fault."

The silence was thick and heavy.

Tsunade didn't say anything for probably a full minute. The only sound came from the ticking of the clock on the clinic wall. Sakura chanced a glance up at the doctor, and found the woman staring blankly at her, jaw hanging open slightly and shock in her eyes.

Sakura reached out to poke the woman in the arm. "You alive in there?" she asked miserably.

"Sakura," Tsunade began slowly, a dangerous edge to her voice. "Why do you think you messed things up? What happened afterwards to make you think that?"

"W-well," Sakura sniffled lamely. "I pretty much ran away afterwards. He didn't try to stop me or anything. And then he was late to class and then I skipped class and then today we both pretended that the other one didn't exist. I'm pretty sure that constitutes as fucking things up."
Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "You are telling me, that Uchiha Sasuke had sex with you, and is now avoiding you? Like a child?"

Sakura frowned. "Well, in his defense, I'm kind of avoiding him too…"

"You are a child!" Tsunade fumed, standing from her seat and slamming her fists down on the desk.

"I'm not a child!" Sakura stood too, and crossed her arms over her chest. "If I was, this situation would be a very different one."

Tsunade simply scoffed. "You know what I mean! That little brat should know better. He does know better."

"Maybe you're right," Sakura twisted her hands anxiously in her lap. "What should I do?"

"You two need to talk about this, obviously," Tsunade sighed into the empty clinic waiting room. "If he isn't going to be the grown-up and reach out to you, then I guess you should reach out to him."

"Alright," Sakura frowned, "You're probably right. I guess I'll think about it."

"Kickthatlittlebastardass," Tsunade mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Sakura quirked an eyebrow at her mentor.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, dearest little Sakura.

"Sakura-chan?!" Naruto's voice came muffled through her dorm room door, accompanied by loud knocking. "Open up!"

Naruto.

Sakura could only hope that Naruto would be classically dense enough to overlook the dirty tear tracks staining her cheeks, her slumped shoulders, and her unkempt and lackluster appearance.

Pulling the door open to receive her blonde-haired ray of sunshine, Sakura did her best to paste a smile on her face. She had already explained things to Tsunade today, she didn't think she could bear to explain the situation to Naruto. He'd be likely to punch Sasuke in the face.

"What's up, Naruto?" Sakura chirped, trying not to react to the fact that Naruto was at her door in a pair of scuba diving flippers and some dripping swimming trunks. "Um, nice outfit?"

"Oh, haha, yeah!" Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "I took and extracurricular scuba diving class this semester and forgot to change before heading back from the pool."

Sakura shook her head blankly at the boy. "You're dripping everywhere, dumbie! Go change your clothes! And how did you not freeze to death?"

"Damn, prison warden, I will!" Naruto pouted dramatically at her, ignoring her question about the cold. "I just wanted to stop by and ask you to come with me to the football game tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night? What about Hinata? What's she doing?" Sakura frowned at him.

"Ah, she's visiting her family back at the estate, so I'll be alone all weekend. She suggested I invite you to go with me!" Naruto beamed. "Please, Sakura-chan! Don't let me go all alone."

"Fine, you big baby," Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'll go with you. Now, will you go change your clothes before you put mold into the carpet?"

"Anything for you, Sakura-chan," Naruto winked at her cheekily.

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura nodded pushing her door shut. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto."

"Wait!" Naruto's hand shot out to stop the door from closing, then he shoved his head through the small space in the doorway. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You know what."

"I have no idea what you're saying, Naruto," Sakura ruffled his hair while simultaneously pushing his head back out the door. "Now go change before you get pneumonia and die."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get it out of you later, you liar!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder as he bounded to his room. "See you tomorrow!"

Sakura's smile followed her down to the floor as she slid down the door. She tilted her head back and let it thunk hollowly against the wood. She was lucky to have Naruto, if nothing else. No matter how many times she fell down, she knew that he'd always somehow manage to be there to pick her up.

Coffee? the text read.

Sakura never thought that one six letter word would be enough to stop her heart, but it was, and it did, and she nearly choked on the water she had been drinking when she read it.

"Um, Sakura?" Ino asked from the other side of the cafeteria table. "Having some trouble over there?"

"No," Sakura spluttered, coughing and setting her phone aside to try and be less glaringly obvious. "Just went down the wrong pipe."

Ino's eyes narrowed momentarily before she let out an irritated huff and went back to scrolling her phone. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Sakura did her best to be nonchalant and picked her phone back up to re-read the message.

Coffee.

It was still there. She hadn't imagined it, or so it would seem. Sasuke was actually asking her to coffee? Every excuse for why it might not be real had flown through her mind, including the idea that maybe he had sent the message to the wrong person.

Before she had summoned the courage to type a reply, he sent another message. Nightlights, 9 pm, I'll be sitting in the darker outdoor area.

Sakura's thumb agonized over her phone's keyboard before finally deciding to just reply: Okay, see you at 9.

It was only five o'clock…the fact was nearly enough to make Sakura cry. What the hell was she going to do for four hours?

"Hey, Ino," Sakura began slowly, realizing she was probably going to regret this decision. "So, I have a kind of coffee date with this guy tonight. Wanna go shopping and give me a makeover?"

The chopsticks fell from Ino's fingers and her phone fell from her other hand. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. I thought you just said you have a date tonight."

"Mmmm," Sakura just nodded, continuing to eat her noodles as thought she had not just blown Ino's mind.

"With who?!" Ino spluttered, a vein on her temple sticking out like an angry purple snake. "Damnit, Forehead, what the hell? Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"It literally just happened," Sakura nodded towards her phone. "Do you want to help me out or not?"

"Duh!" Ino cried with pure exasperation. "Wait a minute…is this date with him? The professor?"

Sakura merely shrugged, hoping the drama of it all wouldn't cause Ino to spontaneously combust. "It might be."

"Oh my god," there were tears sparkling in Ino's eyes. "How much time do I have?"

"Less than four hours," Sakura cringed, awaiting the storm her words would undoubtedly unleash.

"Oh my god! Drop those noodles, Haruno, we are going shopping right now! We don't have time for carbs!"

Using Ino as a distraction was both good and bad. On one hand, the distraction was successful. On the other hand, Sakura was forced to spend nearly four hours at the merciless, albeit fashionable hands of Ino.

She had to admit, though, that at the end of Ino's pampering, she looked halfway decent. Her makeup was light, but pretty, with subtle blush and some pink, shiny lip gloss. Ino had done her hair so that loose curls fell around her shoulder and down her back. Sakura had convinced Ino to dress her casually, satisfied when the blonde had chosen a cute, gray v-neck sweater. They paired it with a pair of comfy jeans with holes in the knees and a pair of black Converse. It was the least colorful outfit she could possibly wear…and it reminded her of Sasuke.

The walk to Nighlights was freezing. The November air bit through both her coat and her sweater, and Sakura nearly melted when she stepped into the warm atmosphere of the coffee shop. It was a cute little hole in the wall kind of place just off campus.

Sakura frowned when she remembered that Sasuke had said that he would be outside. She really didn't want to sit out in the cold, in the already chilly presence of Sasuke, but she supposed that was the beauty of it. No one would want to sit out in the cold, and so they had less chance of being seen.

Sakura ordered her drink – a chai tea latte – then braced herself for the cold as she went out the backdoor of the shop to the courtyard to find Sasuke. The black metal patio furniture looked creepy in the half-light of the moon. Dead leaves rattled with dry scraping sounds across the concrete patio, catching on the table legs and old Halloween jack-o-lanterns left from October. Sakura smiled at the desolate autumn scene.

And there was Sasuke.

He was sitting towards the back-left corner of the outdoor space, looking just as breathtakingly beautiful as he always did. It wasn't until she was a few feet in front of him that she noticed the darker-than-usual bags beneath his onyx eyes.

And she froze when he finally looked at her. Her mug of tea almost slipped from her fingers as her mouth dried up and her legs went numb. Sitting down alone at a table with Sasuke suddenly didn't seem like a good idea anymore. It didn't even seem possible.

"Sakura," his steady voice shook her. "Sit down. You look traumatized."

The cold wracked through her then, and she shuddered as she sat down and wrapped her arms around herself. When she lifted her eyes back up to Sasuke, he was scowling and looking away from her. She didn't like it.

"I – I'm sorry," Sakura rushed out. She hadn't been planning to apologize, but she had to say something, and the situation was like seventy-percent her fault, right? "I mean, I shouldn't have –"

"Sakura, stop talking," Sasuke breathed out, reaching out a hand and placing it over her trembling one on the table. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I've never been so affected by feelings like that, and I –"

He didn't continue until Sakura turned her hand around in his grip and tentatively laced her fingers through his own.

"And I," he went on, clearly looking anywhere but at her. "I just don't want you to think that this is something I normally do. That this is something I've ever done."

Warmth bubbled in Sakura's chest, fighting the cold as she held a giggle behind her tentative smile. "Sasuke… are you trying to tell me that you're not a slut?"

The light blush that colored his cheeks then was almost enough to make Sakura dance, but she held in her whimsical impulses to save his pride. "I mean, I'm not either, even though I guess it probably seems like I am…"

Sasuke snorted at that. "Please. Regardless, we shouldn't have done that."

Sakura blanched, and immediately pulled her hand from his grasp. That was definitely something on the top ten list of things a girl never wanted to hear.

"That's not what I…" Sasuke ran a hand through his wild black hair. "What I meant is we should have done this first."

"This?" Sakura quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Sasuke glanced at her warily, gesturing between the two of them. "This."

"You mean like, we should have gone on a date first?" Sakura could barely believe what she was hearing. Was Sasuke actually insinuating that he wanted to date her?

Sasuke cleared his throat, lacing his fingers together on the cold metal tabletop. "This is my fault because I should have addressed this with you a month ago, instead of letting it fester and boil until…until something happened."

"But you don't regret it, do you?" the words tumbled out before she could stop them. Sakura couldn't help but ask the question, though she dreaded the answer. Hearing him say that he regretted that night may have been enough to crush her completely.

"Tch. Obviously not." Sasuke scoffed, still pointedly looking away from her. "You should know that you are…extremely tempting, Haruno Sakura."

It was Sakura's turn to blush. "Um, I mean, thanks? I'm not, like, trying to be, or anything…"

"Exactly," Sasuke frowned, finally turning his gaze back to settle on her face in the moonlight.

They locked eyes for a moment, and then two, before everything caught up to Sakura and the embarrassment won out. "You're sure you don't think I'm too young?"

"Hn," Sasuke hummed. "You're not the issue."

Sakura furrowed her brow and frowned back. "You're not the issue either."

"Then what's the issue?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Maybe…there isn't one?" Sakura shrugged at him, a hopeful tilt to the corners of her eyes.

"Your hopeful attitude is charming, Sakura, but unfortunately it's just not that simple," Sasuke sighed, pressing a closed fist to his mouth.

"Why not?" Sakura asked, though she was sure she knew the answer.

"You're still my student."

"Only for a couple more months!"

"Yes."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Two months."

"Two months?"

"Patience isn't my strong suit."

"Oh," Sakura finally caught his meaning. He didn't want to wait two months to be together. A little irked, she folded her arms over her chest and sniffed. "Well, if you're saying you can't wait then I can't stop you from pursuing someone – "

"God damnit, you're infuriating, do you know that?" Sasuke snapped at her. "Do I have to spell this out for you?"

Tilting her chin up and averting her gaze, Sakura sniffed and said, "I guess you do."

Sasuke was grinding his teeth so hard that Sakura could hear it. "I want you. In…every way. No one else. Things would be easier if you could just get that through your stupid, thick, beautiful head." He sounded strangled.

"Me?" Sakura scoffed, sure that at that point she must have been drugged because there was no way in hell that Sasuke was actually saying what she thought he was saying. "Sure. Well, right back at you. Just so you know."

"God, Sakura, why is this so hard for you to understand?" Sasuke pushed back from the table, and Sakura was sure that he was getting up to leave.

Instead, he simply stood with his back to her, shoulders bunched up nearly to his ears as he jammed his hands into the pockets of his black coat. He stood there silently for so long that Sakura herself was beginning to consider getting up and leaving. It was cold, after all. Her chai tea was all but forgotten.

Just as her frustration with the man was peaking and she was deciding whether to explode or just leave quietly, Sasuke spoke.

"Sakura," he said quietly, still with his back to her.

"What?" she snapped back, a little harsher than she meant to.

"I am not good at talking about feelings, so I need you to hear me when I say this, because I can't keep saying it," his words were rushed and half-whispered. "To put things simply, I…like you. You drive me crazy. I can't stop thinking about you and you're ruining my fucking life."

"Geez," Sakura snorted. "Sorry for wrecking your life."

Sasuke whirled on her then, a wild, angry look in his eyes as he fixed his glare on her. "Is that seriously all you got from that?"

I like you. Of course, the words were still ricocheting around in Sakura's head like a rubber bullet in a rubber room…but they were so foreign to her she wasn't sure she really understood them. What did like even mean, anyway?

Sometime during her mental breakdown, Sasuke had sat back down. His black eyes were fixed on her face and his forehead was pinched in a classic scowl. He looked absolutely miserable. "Can you seriously not understand what I'm saying?"

"I'm just…it's kind of hard to believe I guess," Sakura shrugged, feeling significantly more self-conscious than she ever had before. "I mean, you're…you're amazing. You have a career and you're twenty-five and you could probably just about date any woman you wanted to. You're all beautiful and stuff. I just don't understand, Sasuke. Why me?"

Sasuke just stared at her, though his harsh expression had softened up a bit. "Why you?" he repeated. "Do you think so lowly of yourself?"

"N-no," Sakura spluttered. "I don't! I'm just not blind, Sasuke! You know you're out of my league."

"Tch," Sasuke scoffed openly at her. "Please."

"What?"

"I'd suggest it's the other way around."

"Oh, it's so not."

"You're impossible."

"You're infuriating."

A smile finally tugged at the corners of Sakura's lips, and she reached out tentatively towards Sasuke's hand resting on the table. Sakura watched their fingers intertwine easily, glancing up at Sasuke through her lashes to gauge his reaction. He looked irritated. He groaned in the back of his throat, pinching his lips together even more tightly than usual. He looked like someone had just inserted a thumbtack into the skin beneath his fingernail.

Sakura lifted an eyebrow at him, letting her smile falter just a little. "What?"

"Like I said," Sasuke clenched his jaw. "Patience. Not my strong suit."

A rush of heat flew to Sakura's cheeks. "Ah," she hummed under her breath. "Well, what if you don't have to be?" she asked, leaning across the table halfway and watching as his eyes lowered to her lips and held there. She leaned forward more until her lips were almost touching his, and she could feel the heat of his breath on her chilled mouth.

"Just kidding!" Sakura pulled back, fighting all her natural impulses to just kiss him. "You totally have to be."

Sasuke stared at her blankly, a dazed look on his usually stoic features. "Sakura," he grit his teeth together. "Don't do that to me."

Sakura giggled into her tea and smiled winningly at him. "Why not, Sasuke?"

The look on his face quickly wiped the smile from her rose petal lips. "Sasuke?"

"You're torturing me," Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's not fair."

"You're right," Sakura conceded with a nod. "I'll make it up to you."

"How?" Sasuke's eyes darkened in a way that reminded Sakura of another night. She shuddered lightly.

"Um," Sakura bit her lip, looking over his shoulder. "Like this?"

She kissed him sweetly. Nothing like the way she had kissed him the last time. It only lasted a moment, but things felt right when she pulled back and smiled up at him.

Sasuke wasn't smiling, but the look in his eyes was enough.

AN: Oof, sorry I've been gone forever. I'm in my final semester of college and it's been brutal. Hope you guys like this new chapter, thank you all for being patient and leaving me encouraging reviews! You're my precious little moonbeams. Let me know what you think! Hopefully I'll get chapter 13 out sooner. Yeet.

~ loony