***This was cross posted from my twitter ( rabbitholessk) so if the formatting is weird that is why. AU Where Sakura and Sasuke meet in a teen mental ward and they get released on the same day. They exchange numbers and keep in contact.
They help each other get through their junior year and then Sasuke ends up ignoring Sakura because his depression gets the best of him. Senior year comes along and they have not talked and they live on opposite sides of town.
Sakura wants to reach out but decides against it. She ends up seeing something on the news about a teen who lit part of Uchiha factory on fire. He was still 17 so he goes to juvie.
Sakura connects the dots and realized it was him and she worries about him. What would cause him to light a factory on fire?
A couple years go by and they end up working at the same restaurant. She was putting her way through school. He was trying to survive cut off from his family.
They only acknowledge each other on a name basis while working then go their separate ways. Until one day the curiosity eats her away. They are alone by the dishwasher. "Why did you light that factory on fire?"
He stumbles and almost drops a pile of dirty dishes on the floor but catches it last minute.
"Don't know what you are talking about." He tries to play it off. Sakura knows he isn't as cool as he thinks he is.
"Stop lying. I know it was you. Why your family's factory?"
"Shut up Sakura. Keep your fat nose out this." He says scathingly, successfully ending their conversation.
Sasuke had not talked to Sakura all these years to protect her. She was one of the only people who had ever truly cared for him. He did not want her in the crossfire. The Uchiha family were stockholders in many large corporations and a influential family in the yakuza.
His initiation into the family was to set the factory on fire to get in leagues with the police while he was in juvie. His grandfather Madara had staged and set up everything. This was never the life he wanted but the life he was born into.
His own brother had supported Sasuke's initiation. Itachi knew how much Sasuke struggled already with his bipolar disorder and still pushed him to join the *family* business at the age of 17.
Itachi rubbed salt in the wound after the plan was revealed to light the factory on fire.
"I was inducted at 14, this is child's play Sasuke. I'm done taking care of you and your /mood swings/. Just do the work."
He ended up at 19 fucking up something major in the money pipeline during one of his manic episodes. The *family* beat the hell out of him after that, leaving him for dead on the side of a highway one night. They had disowned him and he was left with the clothes on his back.
He only kept in contact with his mother. Which he knew was risky and he did it safely by leaving no trail. Disappearing messages and such. His mom had been kind to him growing up.
He ended up working at this stupid restaurant during the afternoons as well as a bar down the street at night. He internally flipped a shit when he first saw Sakura begin training a few weeks ago.
He had done his best to ignore her. But they had to talk for some things about tables and orders. After their dispute by the dishwasher she was making an extra effort to avoid him.
Until a week later a man came in when they were both getting off work the man specifically asked if a Sasuke Uchiha worked there. Sakura finishing up cleaning a table in the front of the restaurant told the man she would ask in the back.
Her gut told her to not tell this creepy man anything. She went to the back as Sasuke was making his way to exit out of the front. She pushed him towards the side away from view of the front. "What the hell Sakura?"
He had asked affronted. She told him to shut up and that there was a man asking for him. His eyes widened and he nodded. She told him to wait here until she shooed the man away.
Sakura plastered a fake smile on and went to reassure (lie to) the man that there was no Sasuke here. The man left out the front grumbling about something.
She went back to the kitchen area where Sasuke was waiting. He was biting his nail nervously.
"Come on. You can stay with me tonight." Sakura told him.
He gave her a mad look.
"No I'll be fine."
"I'm not asking." She replied now pissed at his annoying attitude.
He made an unreadable face at her and followed her out the back way from the kitchen.
They made it to her apartment. Both of them careful and looking over their shoulders for anything suspicious. Once they were settled and she had made something for them to eat. She pressed him again.
"Why did you stop talking to me? What the hell is going on with you?"
"I don't hear from you for almost three years and then I find you on the other side of the country working two shitty jobs?"
"Just shut up Sakura. It was to protect you."
"Protect me from what? Scary men in trench coats? I can protect myself-get bent Sasuke." He grinds his teeth. She had no idea what terrors there were out there.
"Explain. I've been worried sick about you for too god damn long." She says about to explode all her anger at him.
"Fuck you." He replies and is silent for a moment after.
"If you get in the middle of anything I will never forgive you, do you understand?"
He says to her. He then proceeds to explain the situation.
She looks at him with a pitiful face. "You were dealing with this all alone?"
"I don't need your pity I'm doing fine. Now if you don't mind I going home." He says as he places his dish in her sink.
She tells him to stay the night just to be safe. He contemplates but agrees in the end. He had avoided death for this long, and he was exhausted.
Sasuke sleeps on her couch. Sakura had never wanted to inform him of this but her family also had yakuza ties. She never had to deal with the dirty side of it, but she was no fool to what happened.
She sleeps in her bed and wakes up early, her own demons waking her. Her depression got the better of her, especially recently. The early Autumn takes her back to the helpless kid she was at 10, when her mother was shot in front of her- paralyzing her.
She ended up having to help her father who was in a yakuza gang in the northern territories. She ended up doing a lot of the financial recordings due to her increased intelligence. Depression found her years ago and had never let her go.
The demons that followed her parents, mixed with the sadness of having to grow up too quick effected her deeply.
Sasuke wakes up when he smells cigarette smoke. He looks around and sees the lit end light up from her balcony as she takes a drag. He chances a glance at the clock-
3:24AM.
He goes out to the balcony, slowly opening the sliding door to alert her of his presence. She eyes him and offers him the cigarette. He takes a drag and hands it back to her.
They exchange a look that contains so much heat that the crisp fall air feels stifling.
She throws the cig to the balcony ground and stomps it out with her slipper. She abruptly embraces him in a hug. Whispering into his chest how much she has missed him. He finally responds to her embrace wrapping his arms around her.
She separates slightly and brings her face close to his to gauge his reaction. He closes the gap and brings his lips to hers softer than she thought he was capable.
They break the kiss and she asks if he will sleep in her bed with her. He agrees. They go back inside and lie down he lies behind her in an embrace, he holds onto her too tight but she is ok with it. She felt safe in his arms.
She wakes up before him and slips out from his hold to go about her morning routine. She checks in on him after her shower, and notices he is still asleep, his breathing rhythmic. His dark locks fanning into his eyes.
She nudges him to wake him up, she knew he sometimes had the early shift at the restaurant.
"Sasuke...sasuke? What time is your shift?"
He opens one of his eyes a crack and looks her face up and down.
"2PM. What time is it?"
"Only 10 AM. I have to go in at noon. Did you want to stay here until your shift?" He nods and rolls over onto his other side. He is facing away from her. "Hey" "Hm?" She responds. "Can I come back here tonight?"
She lets him sleep and agrees to let him come back that night after his shift at the restaurant and then his second job at the bar. He wouldn't be back until near 2 AM.
She sees him briefly during her shift and then she heads home to do some assignments.
She tries to sleep for the night and had set an alarm for 2 so she would be able to unlock the door for him. She waits for a half hour assuming he had some cleaning to help with. She waits a full hour before she starts panicking. She throws on a hoodie and her sneakers.
She ventures out her door and walks down the street. She only lives 5 blocks from the bar he works at and 6 from the restaurant. She keeps her eyes sharp. Always looking over her shoulder and clutching the pepper spray in her pocket.
She looks down the side streets.
She finds him slumped over in the alley next to the bar. She rushes over to him. He is still conscious, but has a black eye and cuts all over.
"Sasuke? Hello? What happened?" She asks pulling her phone flashlight out looking over his person.
She doesn't find any other gashes or cuts. Other than a nasty bruise on his abdomen.
"I think I have a concussion. Someone jumped me after work."
"Christ Sasuke, we need to get you to the hospital!" She loops an arm over her neck so she can help him walk.
"No, I can't go to the hospital."
"What are you talking about, of course you can!"
"No I can't. They'll find me…and I don't have insurance."
"Whatever. I'm taking you back to my place."
"Well, how is my estranged son?"
"He's fine Auntie. He put up a good fight."
"We got word from our eyes on the street that some girl picked him up. We have her building located. Do you want us to proceed?"
"No, no I think it's best we wait."
Mikoto shoos her nephew out of her office and begins a new plan to get to her son.
Sakura finally drags him into her apartment from the stairs leading to it. She lays him in her bed and props his head on a pillow. Share fetches her first aid kit and gets to work on the noticeable scratches.
With the better lighting she can see just how beaten and bruised he is.
He reaches to wipe a tear that had fallen from her eye. She pushes his hand away and continues working on him.
"Why did you look for me?"
She glances to his large pupils and contemplates her answer.
"Because you helped me all those years ago by just being my friend."
"But I stopped talking to you. Why do you keep showing me kindness?"
She remains quiet for a moment cleaning out a scratch that was slightly deeper than the rest.
"You and I are not so different."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks.
"It'll come to you if you think about it. You need to stay awake for a while. Did you want to watch TV on the couch or stay in here?"
"Go to the couch. I can do it myself."
Sakura calls out of school and work the next day to keep an eye on Sasuke. She let him try to sleep early in the morning once she knew he would be ok. She still decided to keep an eye on him and wake him every couple of hours.
Afternoon comes and he decides to wake for the day. She decides to question what happened.
"Did you see anything remarkable about whoever mugged you last night?"
"No. But I know it was a family /friend/. Someone must have found me." He says while getting himself water.
"How do you know that? What will you do now?"
"I don't know." His hand clenches the counter top as he leans against the sink. He lowers his head clenches his teeth.
"I'm tired of running." He says in a voice so small.
"You can stay with me for a while?" She offers.
"Tch. I can't do that, I will not put you in danger. If you aren't already. You should also lay low for a bit. I need to move again tomorrow."
She looks at him, pissed. She makes a decision to free him, ensuring she may die in the process.
"Well at least stay here tonight."
They both sleep in the same bed again. She untangles herself from him. And slowly moves to leave in the early morning hours. If she remembers right she know where the Uchiha yakuza camps out. She leaves a not for him, just in case.
She hails a cab and has it take her an hour north of the city she lives in. She heads to the factory where she knows the Uchiha 'work' out of.
She stands in front of a big metal door and knocks loudly.
She hears footsteps and then the door swings open with a man pointing a gun at her face.
He nods her in, and closes the door behind her with a resounding slam.
"Ma'am that girl is here."
"Well, don't keep her waiting. Send her in."The Uchiha matriarch straightens up her desk, and waits for her guest.
A dark haired man, she guesses, in his thirties nudges her into an office, where a woman who has Sasuke's face and features sits behind a desk.
"Who are you?" Sakura asks, fearing she already knows the answer.
"Mikoto Uchiha, CFO of Uchiha Corp. I am also Sasuke's mother."
The woman stands and walks around her desk to lean against the other side to be closer to the pink haired. "And you are Sakura Haruno. You have connections to the Senju clan up North...do you not?"
Sakura kept her mouth shut, and waited for her to continue.
"It's funny watching you two play house, thinking you are safe, when you are both wanted by each of your families."
"What do you want from him?" Sakura asks, with more courage in her voice than she felt in her whole body.
"No, no. It is what I want from /both/ of you." The dark haired matriarch says with a voice smoother then silk.
"I believe I have a solution so the Senju will leave you alone, and in turn the Uchiha will leave Sasuke alone. Would you care to hear?" Sakura feels the gun at her back return as she is pushed to take a seat in one of the armchairs in the office.
Sakura listens to what the Uchiha matriarch suggests. Once she has said her piece she is not given a chance to speak in turn. She is nudged back out the door she came from.
The sun had begun to rise by that point. She had to hurry back before Sasuke woke up. Knowing the bus schedules though she would be lucky to make it back before 7 AM.
She finally gets on the bus and heads back to her dingy apartment. Feeling anxious, watched by two different gangs, and praying to every deity that Sasuke is not awake, she walks up the steps.
She opens the door to Sasuke in her kitchen making food for himself. He eyes her suspiciously and then goes back to making his food. He plates eggs and toast on two plates and places them at her small kitchen counter for them to eat.
They both start to eat and he asks her when her mouth is full of toast. "Your note was bullshit. Where the hell were you last night?" He says calmly, taking a bite of eggs. She gulps down her bite and tries to answer without being suspicious.
"I went out for a bit. Just needed some time to think."
"Think about what?" His fork clangs onto his plate. He was angry now.
"Calm down. It doesn't concern you."
"Oh fuck off Sakura! If you're in any shady business I need to know. I can't…never mind." He shakes his head and goes to discard his half eaten plate, having lost his appetite.
"You can't what?" She pries.
His back is facing her as he stands over the trash bin. "I can't lose you again."
She pauses for a moment to take in his miniscule confession. She smiles to herself.
"Then stop acting like an ass! Are you working today?"
She works today as well, she needs time to think over what his mother has suggested and give her an answer within the next three days.
Three days come and go, Sasuke is still residing with her. In all the years she's known him, she has never seen him this level, calm. She heads off to her shift, he has the day off.
Her phone starts buzzing with an unknown caller ID. She knows exactly who it is. She answers the call. No greetings, only business.
"Have you decided?" She hears the Uchiha matriarch speak into the phone.
"Yes. I'll do it. I work everyday this week, send someone and have them sit in my section. Have them drop off the…items then."
"Very well…and Sakura?" For the fear this woman has invoked in Sakura, for the first time she sounds human.
"Take care." Of him. Goes unspoken.
"Of course." The line goes dead.
A few days have passed and Sakura has a strange looking patron in her serving section at the restaurant. Sasuke coincidentally had the day off. She drops a water and a coffee off to the patron. Once he has finished his coffee he leaves a folder for her on the table. She pockets it into her bag stored in the employee storage area.
Once her shift is over she heads home to see Sasuke browsing his phone on her couch.
"Pack the essentials. We are taking a trip." Sakura says to him as soon as she shuts the door.
"What?" He scoffs at her. She remains steadfast.
"I'm serious." She says and glides to her bedroom and starts packing a backpack with clothing.
She hears his footfalls following her. He grasps her wrists to stop her from moving before she has time to react.
"Explain, you're being shady."
The string snaps and she bites back at him, tears pricking at her eyes.
"For once, just once, trust me on this. I will explain everything once we are out of here." He pauses and lets go of her wrists.
"How long are we going for?" Sakura looks at him with an unreadable expression, he can deduce what she means.
"Ok." He surrenders and begins shuffling around collecting the items he had been bringing over to her apartment over the past few weeks.
They board the airplane the next day. He notes the passport he had not seen in years within her possession. He waits patiently for them to fly out of Japan and land in California. Thirteen agonizing hours later they touch down in California.
When they have gotten off the plane and are wandering the airport while she figures out how to get to their destination. He stops in the middle of a crowded restaurant area of the airport. She notices he's stopped and walks back to where he is after having trudged forward.
"We flew halfway across the world. Explain, now. I've waited long enough." His expression was scary.
"Sasuke, we are in the middle of a busy airport, I don't think it's a good ti-"
"Now." He restates.
"We're free now."
He looks over her face and it clicks.
"Who contacted you?"
"Does it matter?" She reasons, she can tell he is on the thin line between anger and something unknown.
"They can't find us?" He asks quietly.
Sakura shakes her head.
She hands him an ID with his picture on it and a new name.
Sakura walks on to get out of the airport, she reaches her hand out to him.
He looks between her hand and back at the airplane they had disembarked.
He reaches for her hand and clasps tight, as they walk on.
