A/N: This is one of two submissions for a fanzine I participated in (Trends: A Sasusaku Fashion Zine). This piece was for the Punk trend and it featured in the SFW zine. I included punk attributes in the story, but also made it kind of cyberpunk because why not.

Enjoy!


Titanium


Sakura doesn't know how it happens, but she is talking to her friend one second, and the next she is number seven. There is unrest in the classroom as students try to find their respective group partners, based on numbers from one to twenty, for a total of five students per group.

Sakura gets up and asks Ino her designated number but she, to her chagrin, is part of Team Ten.

For the first time in Anatomy and Physiology, she's on her own.

She's not particularly nervous about the prospect of working with strangers for the rest of the semester, though she had wished to share one of her favorite classes with her best friend. But she's been on her own for other classes as well; this shouldn't be any different.

She finds her team higher up in the lecture hall classroom. A grey-haired man with glasses tells her this is Team Seven, and they all take a seat close to each other, the tables turned to better face everyone.

Their rather bored, uninterested professor silences everyone with a hand in front of him. He evenly announces that they should meet each other and get acquainted, and then he steps out of the large room as if all his teaching has been completed to a satisfactory degree for the day.

"My name's Yakushi Kabuto, it's my third time taking this class, and hopefully the last," the man with the grey hair begins, chuckling to himself.

The others follow suit: a tall, loud blond man named Uzumaki Naruto, with faint scars on his cheeks and a smile that could blind anyone, and a really pale guy named Sai dressed in a rather short crop top—a bit of an oddball, that one.

The fourth teammate wears a dark leather jacket, open to reveal an equally dark, plain t-shirt under. He has black jeans on, matching his overall gloomy, dark look.

"Sasuke," is all he says. His tenor is strong, and his jet black hair frames his pale, high cheekbones in a careless disarray. He doesn't look at anyone when he speaks, and though his speech is short, it easily takes her breath away.

Sakura doesn't really register when she introduces herself to the group, her own voice becoming more of a background, distant noise, but she immediately feels when his blazing eyes are on her.

No, she's not particularly nervous about the assignment per se but, with her heart lodged in her throat, something tells her she should be nervous about teammate number four.


Kakashi—their professor—is always late to class. He usually makes it under the fifteen-minute mark, but that's not always the case. On week number five, half of the students leave when it's been thirty minutes and he's still yet to show up.

This is a two-hour long, twice-a-week class, and Sakura takes her future career seriously, so she always waits for him. Thankfully, none of her team members leave either—maybe they feel pressured by her determinism, but she doesn't let that bother her.

Thirty minutes with Naruto talking their ears off, however, is no easy feat. Especially when he also makes a clown of himself in front of the whole class by throwing his football to and from—the infamously known womanizer—Inuzuka Kiba across several points of the room.

She has no idea what two typical jocks are doing in this class, really, and makes a point to ask at least Naruto when he decides to sit down with his team again. He is forced to do so when Kakashi comes in at the forty-minute mark.

He's blushing in embarrassment when he sits next to her, but he has no qualms about his behavior and she can tell. Such a happy, mindless soul that he possesses.

"Hey, Naruto," she starts, talking low as Kakashi makes up an excuse for his absence—rescuing an old lady's cat it is now. "Do you really need this class for your major?"

Naruto turns his head to look at her, and shrugs. "Not really, but I need the credits. It was either this or Art Appreciation. At least here I get to see the human body," he inches closer to her and bumps her shoulder with his arm, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"I am taking Art Appreciation, actually. It is rather interesting," Sai states, smiling at them with his customary, synthetic smile. She has yet to grow accustomed to that.

Naruto throws his pen at him, muttering an, "Exactly" under his breath, and Sakura laughs at their idiocy.

She's at the edge of their semi-circle, and Sasuke is at the other end. When she's done laughing and she looks ahead of her, Sasuke is staring right back.

There are traces of joy left on her face, in her smile, in her green, sea-foam eyes. The shine makes it look like specks of glitter, and the rosy hue to her cheeks is deeper than the one to her hair. That, and her mid-thigh, colorful dress makes her look ever the small, pretty fairy.

Sasuke doesn't expect her to notice his shameless ogling, but she does. The professor's presenting and the students are talking among themselves, but the room falls entirely silent for a second. That's how long she holds his steadfast gaze.

When she looks down at her laptop and clears her throat, he blinks, and shifts his eyes to the projector screen in front of the classroom.


It's March, and they are given an end-of-the-year project with their groups. They have had collective homework assignments and in-class activities throughout the semester, but this is their first big project. It will count toward thirty percent of their overall grade, so she's a little worried about third-timer Kabuto and distracted Naruto—because Sai is an art major, he will have no problem with anything art-related, and because Sasuke has taken everything seriously enough, he will probably follow through.

Kakashi gives them two options: either make a detailed model of the brain with any materials necessary, as well as have someone's brain activity taken at one of the labs, or create a model of the heart, with an EKG included in the presentation.

Sakura, as expected, takes the lead on this assignment and, unsurprisingly, so does Sasuke. He doesn't talk much during class, but she can tell he's committed to excelling in everything he does. After all, they—and a student from Ino's team named Shikamaru—are the only ones with perfect grades in the class.

The project is due in four weeks, so they have plenty of time, but Sakura is nothing if not a perfectionist, and she needs to finish this project quickly so that she has time to study for this class' final and all her other approaching final exams.

It leaves her with a hollow-like sense of dreaded preoccupation when her team agrees to start planning everything next class—especially Naruto, who wants to leave sooner rather than later to his football practice. Kakashi couldn't care less if his students leave forty-five minutes earlier and forfeit a chance to work on their projects during class time.

Naruto, Sai, and Kabuto leave quickly, and then it's her and Sasuke facing each other.

She clears her throat and decides to break the ice, mostly because she doesn't think he would if left unprompted.

"You're not going to leave, too?" She asks, and he doesn't give an outright answer. What he does is worse. With a sigh, he grabs his notebook and his anatomy book—which are the only things he ever carries to class—and accommodates himself in the seat next to hers instead.

He is close enough to brush his right arm against her, the material of his jacket rough against her sensitive skin.

"So, brain or heart?" He asks, and his velvet voice brings butterflies to her stomach. She watches as he opens his notebook and, as he flips his pages full of blue ink, appreciates the clean penmanship.

"How come you write down all your notes?" She murmurs as she looks at his well-defined profile from under her choppy bangs. "You must be the only one in Med-school without a laptop."

"I'm not a Med student," he gives her a lopsided smile, then goes back to looking through his notebook.

"Oh," is all she says, because she doesn't want to intrude. Thankfully, he decides to engage more in the conversation.

"I go to KIT," he says, and it only makes the prospect of writing down his notes even more amusing. What kind of student from Konoha Institute of Technology doesn't come to class with technology?

"Doing your undergrad? Is this a requisite of some sort?"

He shakes his head.

"I'm doing my PhD now; my last year." He skims over a few other pages, and looks over what she assumes are notes on the brain. "And you?"

Sakura blinks, slightly startled at his interest in her academics. Perhaps this is him being polite, she reasons.

"This is my first year," she says, a beaming smile in place as she looks at him. It falters and dims a little when he turns his head and looks back. "I would like to go into a cardio-thoracic field, most likely as a surgeon."

It takes a moment of impassiveness, but then he clicks his tongue, and turns the pages of his notes back to a point in the beginning.

"The heart it is, then."

And it's a drawing done in blue ink, but somehow so clean, so beautiful, with sharp lines so precise that she blinks down at it and offers him a genuine smile.

"You're even better than Sai," she says, watching with glee how the tips of his ears turn a scarlet red at the same time he avoids her gaze. "It's beautiful."

Sasuke pauses, then whispers, "Thank you."

She doesn't remember much of their research for the rest of the class when he gives her another lopsided smile after that, this one more genuine, more humble. It's barely noticeable, really, but present all the same.


Sakura walks with him now to (and sometimes from) class.

She never actively planned to follow him to class. She had to show him her pass for the labs so they could go later one day, and they had walked together the rest of the way. After that, it sort of became an unspoken habit. Surprisingly, this is his only class at Konoha School of Medicine. He has to walk twice a week from his campus to this one—a trek that takes him thirty minutes on foot.

Once, he mentions that he could cut the time in half if he used his old skateboard, but he doesn't have it anymore.

On his way back to KIT, they always pass by her on-campus residency, and they part ways then.

But not today.

Today, when they stop by her apartment, Sakura invites him in to look over the project on her computer. In all honesty, she is finding way too many excuses via the project to spend more time with him, but it seems like the only thing they have in common so far, so she doesn't feel particularly guilty that she's asking so transparently—and she should, because they are missing three other people in the group. Instead, she only feels hopeful.

Sasuke releases a breath and looks pensive as he glances at the tall building and then back at her.

He nods once, muttering a "Sure," under his breath.


Sasuke leaves after talking, eating a few snacks, and discussing ideas for the presentation.

He is a very quiet person, but he makes up for it with his attentiveness and detail-oriented mindset. He is observant and practical, as well as a very good artist in his own right.

Sakura learns three things about him in the three hours he is with her: when he takes off his already familiar jacket to get more comfortable, her eyes immediately drift to his left arm. It's a prosthetic, one he tells her is made of titanium for its known durability. They don't talk about it any more than that.

Her eyes then shift to his right arm, which is completely covered with tattoos all the way up to his shoulder, and probably beyond that—if not for the way some unfinished drawings seem to drift to his back. They are mostly oriental—without feeling like she's overstepping, she can only make out a multitude of snakes and some drawings of fire and dragons.

And when he stretches for a second, she notices a large scar that runs from his waist to his belly button. She doesn't ask more than necessary, though. This looks personal, and he seems an extremely private person.


The time has come for the dreaded presentation, and Sakura delivers a flawless speech with her teammates—except for Naruto, who fumbles over the words and scratches at the back of his head in thought more often than not. Hopefully, Kakashi finds it more amusing than anything else and gives them a perfect score.

She wonders if they will still keep in contact after all these months working together, but the presentation ends, and with it go all her chances of speaking to Sasuke again. He has no need now to come to KSM with the culmination of this class, and they go through the rest of the semester without any further contact.

Thankfully, she is busy enough with her finals that she doesn't quite have the time to think of him or his absence. But Spring turns into Summer, and Summer turns into Fall. And Sasuke, this boy whom she may or may not have grown fond of over the course of a few months, fades into someone she used to know.


With graduation around the corner, he barely has the time to focus on the last three classes he has left to complete his PhD in Biomedical Engineering. With offers of employment coming in every week, he has much to think about and plan in the span of three months.

He has put absolutely no thought into the initially shy, but endearingly strong and witty girl with eccentric pink hair since Spring. Such a soft shade, almost destined to match her equally soft features; her pert nose, her small, captivating lips, and her bright, enchanting green eyes.

One evening, as he makes his way to KSM and enters his Systematic Pathology class, he almost doesn't believe it when, in the one class he has to take on her campus, he spots pastel pink hair in the lecture hall. It has been five months since they last spoke, yet he knows with certainty it is her.

The class is big enough that the professor doesn't realize he has come in late, and it makes it easier to slip into a seat at the back. Against his better judgment, his eyes slip to the back of her head more times than should be considered normal during class.

He stays in the same seat during the duration of the lecture but, also against his better judgment, he does sit next to her the following day.

As she looks at him with surprise in a sea of green, he swallows with startling realization.

God, how he has missed those eyes.


They sit next to each other every class in a familiar pattern and, as if that wasn't enough, they also meet up for coffee every morning. It's a routine, one that he has fallen into just like during Spring. However, now, he finds more comfort in the shape of her smile, the sound of her laugh, and the small touches they share over a few cups of coffee.

He knows her favorite color—colors, actually, because she says all colors are beautiful in their own way and could not possibly decide on a single one, but he knows, because she always makes sure she's wearing something red everyday—and the aspirations she has for the future.

And she knows his KIT apartment, has traced all his visible tattoos, and knows his favorite foods. She knows about the accident where his family perished, and how that's the reason behind his missing arm. She knows he wants to graduate in Material Engineering; wants to fabricate for missing body parts, both regular prosthetics and bionics.

She knows too much—much more than anyone else—and it makes it harder for him to imagine leaving.

September turns into December in a flash of green and red, and Sasuke's heart only grows heavier with time.

The week before his graduation, as they exit the library where she had been studying for her finals, Sasuke walks her to her dorm as is customary—he bought a motorcycle during Summer, but he quite enjoys their walks much more, and he refuses to tell her that the walking has been pretty much redundant for a while now.

In front of the building, Sasuke, with his hands in the pockets of his dark jacket, watches as she gives him one final, bittersweet smile.

"Have you decided where you'll go?" She asks him, her voice shaking slightly.

He nods.

"Iwa," he answers. Unfortunately, he still has to choose what's best for him, and Iwa has the best opportunities for his internship. Unfortunately, she still has two years to graduate, and long-distance has never really worked for either of them before.

"Will you visit, maybe in the Summer?" She asks, then, this time hopeful.

"Of course, Sakura." And it may not be true right now, but he hasn't even said goodbye to her and he already misses the glow of her vibrant eyes.

The cold breeze in the middle of Winter, with the moon shining above their heads, is what pushes her to take a few steps toward him. She hugs him, burrows her small head in the plane of his chest, and it's not the first time they share a hug, but it is their first kiss.

She stands on the tip of her toes with her arms around his neck, and plants a hesitant, small kiss on the side of his neck.

Sasuke's breath hitches, and he grabs her head with both of his hands—the cold material of his prosthetic on her cheek making her flinch.

He kisses her, softly, as gently as he can, trying to convey all that he feels and has felt without using his words.

If there was any chance of forgetting this girl and moving on, it's definitely thrown out when she deepens the kiss and runs her fingers through his long hair. The rush alone is enough to make him dizzy.

"Good," she steps away only enough to look at him, moving a few tendrils of hair out of his eyes, and it takes a moment to realize she's responding to what he had last said. "I will wait for you, always."

She is wearing a yellow dress and a pink, fluffy coat on top. Her eyes shine bright when she looks at him, and her smile is brighter. In turn, he has just finished all his classes for the day, and looks like a wild, untamed beast; with his uncombed hair reaching his shoulders, his dark boots and dark jeans, and the leather jacket his brother had given him three years past. The light stubble over the lower half of his face doesn't help his look, either.

They could not be any more different.

Sasuke silently vows to come back, if only for the most annoying, sweet girl he has ever come to know.