Sasuke remembers meeting Sakura vividly. He wonders if remembering now is more important than it was before. He was ten and Naruto had come into school on a Monday insisting he'd be a big brother by Thursday, and Sasuke hadn't believed him. Everybody knew it took nine-months to make a baby, he had explained at the time. His best friend is a notable idiot. There was no way his mother, who wasn't pregnant, could make a baby in a few days!

By Friday, Naruto was begging Sasuke to come over and meet his little sister. Sasuke still didn't believe him. With his mother's permission, he rode the bus home with his best friend all the way to his house to meet this supposed baby sister.

And shockingly enough, there was a little girl in the living room with a beautiful head of pink hair and eyes miles wide and greener than grass. She was sitting on the floor, playing with a raggedy old doll. Sasuke had clicked his tongue. "Well, she isn't a baby."

"I said little," Naruto harrumphed in response.

"Boys," Tsunade had chastised.

Sasuke took a step towards Sakura to get a closer look. He'd never seen a baby with pink hair before. She had a bruise on her cheek and a bump the size of a golf ball on her forehead. She was painfully skinny, with sunken cheeks and tired eyes. She was the tiniest thing he had ever seen.

"Is she okay?" Sasuke had asked.

"Sakura will be okay," Tsunade had replied. "She was in a bad place, but she's here now, and we'll make her very happy."

"What about her eye?" Sasuke asked. He hadn't learned much about curiosity killing cats yet.

"It will heal, dear," Naruto's mom said.

"Does she talk?" Sasuke asked.

"She says a few words," she said.

Sasuke took another step toward Sakura. She looked up at him with shining eyes. She looked sick, and pale, but her smile was a knock-out, wide and toothy. She had buck teeth she'd grow out of and her tongue had turned red from the bottles of pedialyte he saw on the table. Sasuke introduced himself.

With a giggle, Sakura said, "hi!" and kept playing with her toy, a doll that still sits on her bed to this day.

"I guess you weren't lying," Sasuke had said to his best friend and then, to Naruto's mother because his own had raised him right, "congratulations."

"Thank you, Sasuke," she had said kindly. "Why don't you two go play?"

"Can we play with Sakura?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Tsunade smiles. "Of course you can."

It was boring, playing with Sakura. She was so little, and she didn't like when Naruto rough-housed. It ended with her sobbing, while Sasuke patted her back and Naruto looked deathly confused.

Sasuke remembers this day fondly, even twelve years later. He didn't know why it was important at the time to catalogue moments with Sakura like a scrapbook, but it rings clear now. Sakura had been the one even then.

"You're on another planet," Naruto snaps, pushing Sasuke out of his reverie. "What are you thinking about?"

Sasuke scoffs. "Your mother—"

"You're a bastard—"

"Maybe mind your business—"

A giggle interrupts them. "Always fighting," Sakura sings, and takes a seat on the couch next to them. "What game are you playing?"

"Don't you have hair to brush?" Naruto replied with a cheeky grin.

"Don't be a dick," Sasuke interrupted with a frown.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Mind your business."

"You could stand to be a little nicer."

"And you could be a little less obvious—"

"Enough," Sakura says, exasperated. "What's with all the hostility lately?"

"Ask your brother," Sasuke says with a sigh that only leaves Naruto nearly growling, but Naruto isn't being fair. Maybe Sasuke is acting a little different, but he can't help it. He finds himself wanting to spend time with Sakura more and more, with or without Naruto. Naruto doesn't understand. He doesn't have a soulmate yet and he won't for another three years, two months, one week, five hours, ten minutes and forty-nine, forty-eight, forty-seven seconds…

Until then, Naruto doesn't get what it's like to have your entire world surround one person with or without your intentions in mind. Sasuke can admit that his life would be a lot easier if he wasn't constantly thinking of Sakura—if she's okay, if she's tired, if she's upset, if she's, hell, eaten or bathed or anything. He feels like her caretaker, not her soulmate.

Sasuke nearly sighs. He knows that will change.

"Whatever, I have homework to do," Sakura says, clearly trying to make an exit.

"Need help?" Sasuke asks, despite himself. He knows better. He knows he should dedicate a little more time to Naruto, who is single and bored, who doesn't think about any one person constantly, whose best friend is Sasuke and will be for another three years, two weeks, one month—and so on.

"Sure," Sakura says with a pretty smile that nearly leaves Sasuke winded. It isn't Sakura's job to know better, to stop him from leaving his best friend. It's Sakura's job to enjoy time with her soulmate. How is it that Sakura manages her time better than him, and she's only sixteen? What's he doing wrong?

"Whatever," Naruto mumbles under his breath, starting another game. "Jerks."

Sasuke doesn't even bother with a response. He follows Sakura into the kitchen where she makes them lemon tea with honey, perfect for a cool winter day like today. She always makes his perfectly, not too sweet and boiling hot. He thanks her with a small smile.

"I'm stuck on this dumb math problem," she finally says, sitting down with her own mug.

"You've come to the right person," he says. "Let me see."

He goes over the problem with her and Sakura learns easily. One of his favorite things about Sakura is that she never asks questions twice. Her and her brother don't have that in common.

"Thanks," she says, when they finally finish her homework and sit comfortably, finishing what's left of their lukewarm tea. Sakura gets up and takes out a pack of biscuits from the pantry for them to share, sitting down next to him a little closer.

It's been two-years since Sasuke had his TiMER removed—nearly three. He sports a handsome scar where it used to be, a crescent moon that matches Sakura's almost perfectly. Sometimes he looks at his scar at night and thinks about how long he waited, waiting for Sakura who was right there in front of him. Now she's sitting next to him, plying him with cookies and smiling at him behind her long bangs, her hair a perfect crop at her shoulders.

He swallows.

Sakura becomes more beautiful every day. She's coming more into her features, her high cheekbones and her pointy chin, her wide eyes and plush lips. Soon she'll be sixteen, and then she'll be eighteen, and then they'll be adults, and then what?

When Sasuke finishes his tea, Sakura begins cleaning up after themselves. He hears her holler something at Naruto, likely about feeding him, before she sits down next to him with a sigh. "You should go hang with Naruto," she says.

He rolls his eyes. "Your brother isn't being very nice," he admits.

She shrugs. "He's just jealous."

"It's been years," Sasuke argues.

"It was less of a problem when I was thirteen," she says, like she's admitting something for the both of them.

"By that logic, it will always just be more of a problem."

"Maybe it will be," she says with a sigh. "I don't want to ruin your friendship."

"You're not ruining anything." He places a hand softly on her shoulder, and she leans into it maybe too easily. Physical touch—it's getting too easy, his hand on her shoulder, his arm around her, a friendly hug. They're all happening too quickly. He needs to watch himself. While there are many exceptions made for soulmate pairings with age differences, Sasuke still isn't interested in her in that way. It just—it feels good. It feels good to touch his soulmate, even in a friendly manner. And he knows Sakura likes it, too. She's perfectly soft and warm, and he wants to keep touching her kindly as long as she lets him.

When he looks at her, she's frowning, and he wants to wipe it right off her face. "Please fix things with Naruto."

"I want to."

"Don't let me get in between you guys, you've been friends since… before I was born."

That nearly makes Sasuke laugh. "I guess so."

"Go kiss and makeup," she says, sounding final. "For me?"

He rolls his eyes. "Well, anything for you, then—"

But he stops, mid sentence.

Because it's absolutely true.

Anything for Sakura, it is.

Her lips curl into a smile. "Thank you."

Sasuke leaves Sakura in the kitchen with her cookies and reading homework. Naruto is sitting on the couch deep into a game.

"Wanna go get a drink?" Sasuke asks, plopping down next to Naruto on the couch.

"What, your precious tea time wasn't enough?" Naruto snaps.

Sasuke frowns. "You know it's different."

Naruto pauses his game. "Do I?"

"She's my soulmate—"

"I'm your best friend," he counters with a frown. There's something always unsettling about a frown on Naruto's face. "I didn't realize getting a soulmate makes you forget about all your friends."

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "That's not—"

"Fair, I know." He huffs. "None of this is fair. Why did it have to be her?"

"What does that mean?"

"Not like—ugh!" he groans, throwing his arm over his eyes in frustration. "I just mean, out of all the people to lose you to, it had to be my sister? So I have to watch you spend time with other people?"

"It's not like that."

"It feels like it, okay?" he says. "And I still have years before I meet my soulmate. Is this what it'll be like? We just won't see each other anymore?"

"I see you every day. We take graduate classes together. I kicked your ass in Mortal Combat until Sakura came home."

"Yeah, but, you never left me for Sakura…"

"You're so dramatic," Sasuke responds. "You make it sound like I'm cheating on you."

Naruto gags. "That's gross on so many levels. You better not be doing anything with my sister that is anywhere near the word cheating—"

"Dude," Sasuke cuts him off. "She's sixteen."

"Just checking—"

"No fuckin' way."

"Some people are grosser than you," he says. "What about Tenten, from high school? Her soulmate was like, ten years older than her, and she had a freaking baby our senior year—"

"Sakura will not be having a baby in high school—or college, or graduate school, for that matter, if I have anything to do with it."

Naruto snorts. "You're the only one that ever will have anything to do with it."

Sasuke feels his heart tighten in his chest. Just the idea of another man—

He suppresses a shiver. This isn't something he'll ever have to worry about. It's taboo to sleep with a soulmated person anyway. Nobody gives you a second look if you've got a scar on your wrist where a TiMER should be.

"I just want…" Naruto trails off. "I just wish things hadn't changed."

"Too late for that."

He laughs. "I know, I know… I miss you, man."

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Don't go all sentimental on me now."

"Shut up." He shoves him. "You have shit time management skills."

"Well you have shit video game skills."

Naruto grins. "Bet?"

Naruto loses, again. And they get that drink, and maybe Sasuke doesn't apologize, like he should, and maybe Naruto is more dramatic than the situation is worth, but he'll spend more time with Naruto, if that's what Sakura wants.

But it doesn't mean he won't think about her the whole time.


Sasuke doesn't know much about Sakura prior to her coming to Tsunade and Jiraiya's. He's not even sure Sakura knows much about Sakura prior to her coming to Tsunade and Jiraiya's—but he wonders. He wants to know why she came so bruised and battered. He wants to know why she was so frail and sickly.

He sits in her room, and looks at her stuffed doll on her bed. It's disgusting, to be honest, dirty and old with filthy, knotted hair and pink highlighter as blush on her cheeks. It doesn't exactly fit Sakura's aesthetic, this old and crusty doll that she must sleep with every night, he assumes. The rest of her room is floral and blue and her room is covered from wall to wall in posters and paintings. And then the doll.

Sakura sits at her desk, working through a math problem while Sasuke sits comfortably, sprawled out on the floor helping her. When she's quiet for a long moment, he decides to say, "I remember your doll."

"What?" she asks, looking up from her homework.

"The one on your bed. When I met you," he says. "You were playing with it."

"I don't remember, I was three," she jokes.

"You were sitting on the floor in the living room. I'd never seen anybody with pink hair."

She blushes. "I'm basically a ginger, Sasuke—"

"Why did you keep the doll?" he asks. He's still lying on the floor. They've never talked about anything so… maybe serious? He doesn't know how he should approach her, so he does the next best thing and doesn't.

"I've always had it," she says. "I think my birth parents gave it to me."

"Oh."

She taps her pencil on her notebook. "I guess I can't be too sure. My mom says that's where it's from. It's… I don't know."

"No, tell me," he insists, sitting up, making eye contact with her. Her eyes are a glossy green, misty with tears that have just as much a chance of falling as they don't.

She blinks them back. "It's the only thing I have from them."

"Do you know anything about them?"

"Not really…" she says. "They died when I was one in a car accident. I was moved from foster homes then until Mom and Dad adopted me."

"When I met you," he says, "you were covered in bruises."

"I've seen the photos," she whispers.

"I asked your mom if you were okay." He laughs, but it's a little wet. "She said you'd get better."

"I don't remember," she says. "If that's what you're asking."

He shakes his head. "I'm not asking anything. Just talking."

"Mom says I was removed from the home I was in before I came here," she explains. "Forcibly."

"I'm glad you came here," he admits with a small smile.

"Me too," she agrees, and returns the smile with a watery one of her own. She's holding back tears. "I'm… very lucky."

"You don't have to feel lucky," Sasuke explains. "Every kid deserves what you've had."

"But not every kid gets it," she says. "My parents, Naruto, they say the same thing, but I'm grateful."

"We're all grateful for you," he counters. His lips twitch into a small smile that's just for her, and that's when her bubble bursts. The tears start falling, wet and hot from her wide, green eyes. Sasuke leaps from his position on the floor and wraps his tiny soulmate in his arms. "Please, don't cry. I shouldn't have brought it up—I'm so sorry—"

"No, no, don't be," she says through tears, burrowing her face into his shoulder. "I'm grateful for you, Sasuke." Then she adds, "for all of you."

"I didn't believe Naruto when he told me he had a little sister," Sasuke admits. "I can't believe it sometimes, still."

Sakura pulls away abruptly. Her eyes are wet and her hair is messy. Her cheeks are streaked with tears and her lips are swollen from biting them. "Can I tell you something?" she asks.

"You can tell me anything—"

"I love you, Sasuke," and then she burrows herself back into his arms.

His hold weakens. He can hear his heartbeat in his ears. He feels like he is swimming, deep under water, the way the pressure of the world pushes down on him. He feels drunk, head fuzzy and knees weak.

Sakura has never said this before. He imagined she must feel… strongly for him. She's young and infatuated. She's made it abundantly clear that she's attracted to him, even in her young age. He's put enough space between them and made it very clear that nothing would happen, but it seems that wasn't enough to stop her from falling in love with him.

Maybe it was enough for him, either.

He squeezes her tighter. He doesn't say it back. They return to her homework quietly, and Sasuke finds himself back on the floor, sprawled out comfortably on the carpet. Sakura asks him another math question, and Sasuke answers confidently.

Sakura is in love with him—and Sasuke thinks he might just be, too.