Pissed. Sakura was freaking pissed. "Senseiii," she whined after the final class of the day emptied out, "how could she do this to me?" She stopped at the entrance of the storage closet and watched as Orochimaru rifled through its contents.

He chuckled to himself. "Kurenai-sensei would never do something unreasonable punishment-wise. If it was causing disruptions in class, you must resolve whatever conflict is going on between you and dear Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru pulled out a test tube rack and extra stirring rods, then exited the closet, setting them on his desk. "Your last few tests have indeed been very low." After a pause, he amended, "Low for you."

Sakura exploded. "And what does that have to do with Uchiha?!" She slammed her palms onto the desk before resting up upon it and rubbing her temples. "My GPA is depending on these two classes! Kurenai-sensei is a B-I-T—"

Orochimaru cut her off with a glare, albeit less harsh than she would've expected. "I can't have you speaking about my coworkers like that." He watched as Sakura wilted, slumping herself over a desk dramatically. She internally screamed for a few seconds.

At the entrance of the classroom, Sasuke stood silently, peering in. He noted the bike girl and her position before hurriedly looking away, meeting his sensei's gaze. Orochimaru brightened after snapping out of his surprise. "Ah, Sasuke-kun, you're here. Now the three of us can work together in the school gardens for your detention sessions. That's what we'll be doing every day, unless we finish it." He shut off all the lights in the classroom, then herded the two students outside, to which they all immediately started sweating profusely.

"It's really hot out, Sensei," Sakura commented, pulling at her collar exaggeratedly. "I might have a heatstroke if you make me garden and stuff." She attempted to fan herself with a hand, then gave up. The two trailed behind their teacher, mutually suffering under the same scorching sun.

Orochimaru smiled creepily, turning his head towards her. "In that case, why don't you go back inside? I'm sure the flowerbeds will magically tend to themselves, after all..." Their sensei's smile dropped, obviously unimpressed. "In the dirt and weeding, Haruno, or so kami help you if my chrysanthemums or asters even wilt."

"Yes, sir." Sakura saluted weakly, attempting to keep her lighthearted mood, but ultimately failing. She scrambled to roll up her sleeves as far as they could go and then began picking out any weeds she could see. An annoyed Orochimaru was a sight to behold. Not angry as in Tsunade, are you drinking on the job? but rather Naruto, did you or did you not remember to turn the lamp on for Aoda over the weekend? She shivered, feeling her sensei's golden eyes burn into the side of her head. Aoda Number One. Needless to say, Naruto had been dismissed from any pet-related duties after that whole debacle. Sakura bowed her head momentarily and then got down to work, mindlessly pulling out whatever excess plants there were; for the most part unaware of the quiet presence that accompanied her.

For the next week, Sasuke, Sakura, and occasionally Orochimaru worked in the school garden, always on opposite sides. It was almost always silent aside from the extracurricular activities taking place outside, faint yells from the baseball field and other countryside happenings.

Sasuke used a small trowel to dig a hole for the new chrysanthemums. There was really no need for the tiny school garden to have this many flowers, he thought sourly, still working on the same area. He hadn't heard any noises from Sakura (it had gone from bike-girl to just Sakura, since baking under the sun together brought about some sense of camaraderie) in a while, but figured he would rather not risk being yelled at by the banshee of a woman for even looking in her general direction. Sasuke kept his head down, still digging away. He shoveled another scoop of dirt and added it onto his pile.

Sakura was definitely a confusing one. To everyone else she was civil; kind, even. But as soon as it concerned him, she was fuming and ready to steamroll the unfortunate person who had happened to mention him. That person was almost always Naruto, and so he didn't find anything to complain about, really. But there was also that childish, whiny persona she put on, where she complained about everything. Didn't Sakura know it was annoying? He'd heard so many great things about her from all the townspeople, and yet all he saw was a spoiled girl. There were just so many discrepancies in what he was being told; there was dissonance in reality and his perception. He had so many questions. What made him different to receive this treatment? Why did she have to act that way? And why couldn't Naruto just answer all of his questions?

Ugh, Naruto. Don't even get him started on that idiot. Sasuke stuck the trowel in the dirt a foot away from the hole and then lifted the hardy plant from its flimsy plastic pot. He placed it gently in the hole, stopping to adjust some of the roots better. Then Sasuke scooped some of the extra dirt and began to fill any spaces, patting at the dirt mindlessly.

Naruto had given him shit for having to miss the last couple weeks of baseball. And Kiba and even Shikamaru. Asuma-sensei too, as if he hadn't known of his wife's retributive actions and how inescapable they were. Sasuke moved onto the next plant, repeating the same process over. He hoped that Sakura had at least gotten ahold of Naruto and clocked him for his shameless behavior in class, egging on their peers and making suggestive comments. If it hadn't been for that then Sakura wouldn't have been so upset in the first place, and if she hasn't been so upset in the first place, then he could be behind home plate where he was meant to be. But instead he was gardening with what seemed to be his self-proclaimed arch nemesis working on the opposite flowerbed.

Sasuke wiped at his forehead using his forearm, then patted down some more dirt, thinking hard. Well, no. Naruto didn't really deserve a mean right hook to the jaw, because it was really Sakura's fault. Her disposition to let her anger take hold of the situation was what led him to detention. She had lost her temper during the bike incident, too. If she wasn't so uptight about everything, from the paint scraping off her bike to their classmates' judgement, Sakura probably wouldn't go around looking for steam to blow off. Yeah, that was it. Sasuke idly wondered what could be making her so mad when his pondering was soon interrupted by a surprised yelp, however.

Immediately Sasuke turned to the source, trowel in hand defensively. Sakura was standing in front of one of the flowerbeds, watching something warily. She seemed to have leapt back far enough from whatever it was that had caused it and then frozen in place, paralyzed. Sasuke stood up slowly. "What is it?" he called, peering over the tall flowers and trying to catch a glimpse of what could be troubling Sakura.

No response, just eyes stuck on something below her.

Sasuke trudged forward towards Sakura, who made no indication of acknowledging his approaching presence. He put a hand on her stiff shoulder and looked past her. It was a snake, one that was rather small, and seemed to have its head hidden from view. Sasuke squinted, moving in front of Sakura. He crouched, inspected the snake, and then looked up. "It's a snake skin, not an actual snake." Sasuke poked the shedding with his handy trowel. Just to make sure, he poked it again and then dumbly repeated, "Yeah. It's not a snake." He stood and then began walking back to his spot when he heard a soft 'thank you'; it was quiet enough that he could have mistaken it for the slight breeze or one of the baseball kids yelling from far away, and so Sasuke said nothing and returned to his flowerbed.

So what if she had said thank you? That didn't mean anything to Sasuke. He'd already seen how petty she could be, and to a stranger no less. So yeah, Sakura could've said thank you to him for handling the snake thing, but whatever. Sasuke began to dig another hole, brooding over nothing and yet everything at the same time.

The next day, Orochimaru had left them to their own devices again, and Sasuke was lost in his thoughts... again. His classes had been quite uneventful, perhaps his classmates a little more antsy as they always were when nearing the weekend, but nevertheless not something he would bat an eye at.

In the last week or so, since he'd been put in detention, Sasuke had noticed that people had, for the most part, stopped coming up to him. Maybe because word got around fast, he mused while shoveling away the dirt. Or maybe they'd finally gotten the hint that he wasn't really the type to accept their invitations to hang out at so-and-so's house, or meet up with a group at the Akimichi barbecue shop. And he was just fine with that, he thought, pulling on a weed that had popped up in the corner without his notice. Sasuke grabbed at the base of it and pulled, only for it to snap and fly clumps of dirt on him. He cursed, attempting to spit the soil from his mouth and failing. Yeah, everything was great. He had all he needed, anyway: food, a place to stay, and Itachi.

"Um.. are you almost done there?"

Sasuke glanced up, hands patting away at a mound of dirt. He stopped, then stared down at the sad plant, which had already begun wilting in the afternoon heat. He would need to soak them before leaving. Sasuke looked back up. "Ah. Almost."

Sakura nodded stiffly. "Okay. I'm leaving now, since I'm done for today." After a moment of silence she nodded to herself once again before muttering a faint 'cool' and then left.

Sasuke watched her fastwalk away from him. Weird. This was the first time she'd told him she was leaving, too. She usually just walked away. He looked back down and wiped at his forehead again. It was still really hot, but he was almost done. A grim look of determination swept over Sasuke's face. He could do it.

After he finally planted the last flower, Sasuke watched from the top of the hill as the dugout emptied. He caught sight of Naruto's bright blonde hair, a golden beacon, and how he was approached by none other than Sakura. He studied their exchange, albeit from far away. It seemed easygoing, judging from the way the whole team laughed at something she had said. Probably a lighthearted tease directed towards their pitcher. After a few more words, the team seemed to disperse, heading in different directions, all in pairs or small groups. Naruto and Sakura walked in the direction of her house, their laughter and conversation just barely gracing Sasuke's ears before dying down entirely as he was left to stare at their backs.

Maybe if he were someone else then he would've stumbled down the hill and caught up to them. Shout their names and tag along on their slow, languid walk home; laugh and tease and bicker amongst the three of them. Or maybe even have a sleepover since it was now the weekend, and crash at someone's house and eat junk food and stay up until four in the morning. But Sasuke wasn't that type of guy, and he doubted that he ever would be.

So instead he watched Sakura trail her mint green bike to the side as Naruto waved his arms in dramatic motions, telling some far-fetched story, no doubt. And for the first time since he'd gotten to the inaka, Sasuke felt lonely.

A/N:

Birkastan2018- I already PMed you but thank you so much!! You've brought up some pretty interesting questions I hadn't thought of myself! Perhaps I'll get around to answering them...

dan dan dan- thank you!! I'm really trying to write in my own experience living in a small town and when I've been able to visit Japan. I also happen to love slice of life haha, so it was only a matter of time before I wrote one myself.

ScaredUselessPillow: Aw, thank you!! I'm working slowly but I'm not super worried since this is a hobby, after all! School is gonna start back up for me, and I just got a job, so we'll see how much free time I have... I won't give up on Inaka no matter how little free time I have, though! I'll find my ways...