postwar!sasusaku where she no longer begs to be seen and he refuses to hide.

TEN TEN AND SAI HATE SASUKE.

It's kind of funny. Sakura cannot imagine Sasuke thinks about his peers nearly as much as they think about him — there's a possibility he does not think about them even a little bit, not even at all.

Naruto always comes to his defense in these conversations, because Sasuke is his friend. He sees Sasuke, and he feels fairly certain that Sasuke sees him too.

Sakura has grown quiet in his defense throughout the years. Yes — once, he was good. Sometimes, though rare, he was even good to her. But unfortunately, the more she thinks about him, the more she frowns. It upsets her, and it must be obvious, because whenever Ten Ten brings up Sasuke, Ino nudges her.

Though, nobody can do anything about Sai. He is artistic in all ways, including his colorful language. Over the last minutes of their dinner, he asked, "Did you hear the Traitor got released today?"

"Sai—" groaned Ino. So close! They were so close to getting through one night without mentioning him. "Wait, what's your last name? Do you have a last name?"

"No I do not."

"Think about that before you think about Sasuke," Ino said. She put a hand over Sakura's pale hand and looked at her friend with a triumphant smile.

The pinkette's expression turned sour. How many times had she watched Ino do that? She frowned, then chose her next words carefully. "You can do whatever you want, you guys." Sakura said. "Don't worry, I'm not Naruto."

It felt dumb to say it. I'm not Naruto. That's glaringly obvious. If I was Naruto, I'd be with Sasuke right now. I'd be accepted. I'd be his friend.

It was always that way, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Haruno Sakura was the seat-filler. The only reason why she needed to be with them back then was because three-member teams were requirements. She was lucky in a way that wasn't divine or powerful. She simply sat beside the powerful — she was the third, the girl of the group, the healer. It was useless to be angry about it, she knew that. She brought herself up in ways Naruto and Sasuke couldn't. She could do things Naruto and Sasuke couldn't.

Yet alongside their names, Haruno Sakura seemed remarkably small.

For the first time, Sakura allowed her friends to hear her inner workings. She told them, "I don't really know if I'm Sasuke's friend anymore."

"Of course you're friends," Ino chimed in — now the only one in his defense. "Otherwise, what was this all for?"

The question has been ringing in her head for three days, seven hours, and eight minutes now. She doesn't even remember how she answered — probably some made-up bullshit about justice or Naruto's loyalty, whatever it was, she didn't mean it. She stays up at night and stirs her bedsheets because she has no idea why she would do anything for Uchiha Sasuke.

Well, to be fair — of the many people Uchiha Sasuke has wronged, she was one of the rare who got an apology. He even said thank you once, as well. Perhaps his small words could make up for her battle wounds. Perhaps "I'm sorry" was enough.

She stirs, then stirs again.

The name Uchiha Sasuke has always been a difficult one.

THEY SEE EACH OTHER IN THE STREETS.

Before him, she could feel the morning cold freezing her cheeks and the air smelled like coffee and chocolate. But then she sees him and suddenly he exists again — he's no longer a name she is warned against.

She no longer feels the morning air. She feels twelve again, and he feels like that guy she used to have a crush on. He feels like someone she can say good morning to, but she doesn't.

She really can't. He's wearing all-black, which makes him look even more intimidating than he already is. He is overwhelmingly tall. (Has he always been this tall? She was once taller than Naruto, but she always remembers being close to Sasuke's height. She used to pride herself on it.)

He seems like he's walking toward a destination — and she knows better than anyone knows how mean he gets about interruptions — so she makes a conscious choice not to annoy him today.

It's just today. It's not like Sasuke would want to talk to her, anyway.

Naruto and Lee are the only ones who call her, "Sakura-chan". (Sometimes, Kiba will to annoy her, but that's as far as that nickname goes.) When she hears the calling, she gathers all her energy and turns and tries to be bright. This time, Naruto with Sasuke.

It's been a long time since they've walked these dirt roads together. She wonders if they feel nostalgic.

"We're going to train right now," Naruto calls out to her. "Do you want to come?"

She doesn't have to think twice to say, "I can't!"

Naruto groans immediately. "Why not?!"

She huffs, "I don't have the privilege of making plans so last minute! I'm busy today!"

"That's a lie! Kakashi said you didn't work this week," Naruto says. Sasuke still hasn't said anything. She feels foolish for waiting for him to do so. She looks at him once. He's paler than ever. She wonders if he's been eating.

She rattles off the first lie that comes to mind. "Ten Ten needs me to help her with a scroll translation!" She used to lie and say Hinata, but now some relationship is kindling between the purple-haired girl and her rambunctious teammate so she can't use her name in these situations anymore. And her other two excuses — Sai and Ino — have just left the village on protocol. Lucky them, they get to go to Suna and see the three siblings again.

Unlucky her. She really isn't busy now that she thinks about it. She needs to get some medicinal herbs from the street market, and then spend the rest of her day avoiding Naruto.

They say their goodbyes, and when she turns her shoulder, Naruto says, "You know, I'm sure Lee would want to train with us."

Lee is exhilarated.

Lee talks too damn much. Maybe that's Sasuke's problem — he thinks everyone talks too much. After rounds and rounds of fighting with chakra, then rounds and rounds fighting without, Lee still has things to say. That should be impossible.

He talks about anything and everything that rattles off the top of his head. He talks about how he was once in jail, too, for public intoxication, but Neji broke him out and then they both were locked up for that. It only lasted two months because their golden reputations, but the way Lee talks about it is taking years off Sasuke's life.

"Sorry, I forgot to ask. What was it like for you in there?" Lee says. Sasuke glances at him. He's annoyed but... he promised he'd try, this time.

"Humid." He answers. It's good, he thought. The truth.

"Some bad air should be nothing for a strong man like you!" Lee says, nudging Sasuke's side. "I know there wasn't great protein in the ward, so we should all treat ourselves to barbecue!"

"That's a great idea!" squeaks the blonde-haired idiot. "You should invite Ten Ten and Sakura-chan! They said they were busy today doing some random reading, but if you ask, I'm sure they'll put it to the side!"

What difference would it make if Lee asked?

"Ten Ten and Sakura-chan have plans today?"