Um...hi...everyone...Please don't hurt me.

Do you even want me to go on my apology tour? I will. I totally will. But it's probably pointless. This is not the first or third time I've went AFK like this, so maybe I'll just spare it. We all know I'm probably do it again, too. *sad face*

Thank you to Green Eyed Girl (guest) for reminding me to keep this story going! Honestly, guys, reviews are so important. Sometimes I go days or weeks without even thinking about FanFiction, then one day I get an email notification that I got a review for a story. It makes me go "oh yeah, that was a thing." And I go write. Or sometimes just publish the chapter I have finished but never took the time to post. Moral of the story: review! Even on stories that are 8 months old and you think are dead. ( me)

This chapter isn't too exciting. Maybe a little. But I do have tons of crazy plot mapped out, and I'm going to write as many chapters as I can while I have this momentum going.

Enjoy!

Chapter 23

Sakura ran her fingers over the colorful book spines, down the entire one side of a row and up the other. She squealed a little, feeling more excited than she had ever been in her entire life

Sakura never had anything for herself. Sure, she had her apartment, but to her that was normal. Average. It wasn't anything spectacular, something she could show off. But this. This book store was all hers. She worked hard for two weeks, put everything she had into making it the dream destination for readers of every variety.

The bookshelves she had picked with Kakashi were blue and dark wood, so she stuck with those colors. All the furniture — the front desk, the couches, the coffee bar — were the same dark oak, and blue and green touches were all around the shop, down to the knobs on the doors.

She had brought her loves of coffee and books together, making it a place to buy and enjoy books. She hoped customers would find a second home here. After buying a book, customers could enjoy a free cup of coffee in the sitting area. It was exactly the sort of place Sakura herself always wanted to go to.

No one had seen the bookstore yet, not even Kakashi. She wanted to wait until it was perfect. And it finally was. Her heart swelled with pride every time she looked around the store.

There was always a sharp pang alongside the pride, though, a feeling she tried to ignore. Yes she worked hard as the first manager of the bookstore, but she didn't pay for it. Kakashi did. She didn't have the original idea to open a bookstore. Kakashi did. At the end of the day, she wasn't even the owner, just the general manager that could be replaced at any moment.

"Knock, knock!" came a cheery voice from the doorway.

Sakura wiped tears from her eyes and spun to see her friends standing in the doorway. Ino was holding a giant sheet cake with "Congratulations, Sakura!" written in pink frosting. Sai had his sketchbook out, already capturing the moment with his pencils. Kakashi was standing in the back, looking around with his calculating business gaze. She wiped her clammy hands on her pants.

"Aren't you going to welcome us in? Some manager you are," Ino said with a wink. She set the cake down on the counter and pulled Sakura in for a hug. "It looks so amazing. Great job."

"Excellent lighting, too," Sai said from the couches. Sakura made sure to put the couches by the bay windows for that very reason. She was hoping Sai would appreciate the natural lighting.

Ino ran off to give herself a tour of the place, and Kakashi finally approached Sakura. That cold look slipped out of his eyes when he looked at her. "What do you think?" she asked him.

"Not bad," he said, his eyes crinkling. "I don't think I could have done better myself."

Sakura scoffed and nudged his shoulder. "Yeah, right," she said into his chest as he put his arms around her.

"Grand opening tomorrow," he said. "Are you ready?"

She really was. Her nerves were rapidly slipping away, and she felt calm. Peaceful. Ready to take on the world.

X

By the end of the week, Sakura was exhausted. Kakashi had been there the first day, helping both Sakura and the new employees who needed to be trained, but Sakura sensed that Kakashi was making them more nervous. She sent him back to the office on the second day, and he helped her there the entire week. With Kakashi away from the employees, they quickly learned their jobs and were self-sufficient by the end of the week.

The office work was hard. She felt as if she would never learn how to crunch numbers and make schedules, but Kakashi assured her she would be a quick study. She hoped so, because she didn't want to sink Kakashi's new business.

Every day after work, Kakashi had brought food home to Sakura. On Friday, though, he didn't join her. Instead he gave her a task. One she would need Ino's help with.

Ino told her to meet her after work and they would drive to the next city over together, which is how Sakura found herself sitting at a park two blocks from the hospital. It was as close as she's been to a hospital in years. The thought had her sitting at the edge of her seat.

She nearly jumped out of it when she heard a voice behind her say, "What do we have here?"

Sakura whipping around, coming face-to-face with none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" she spat out. She was tired. Her feet hurt. She was anxious from being so close to a hospital. She didn't need to add Dr. Asshole to her list of annoyances.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're awful close to the hospital."

So he'd picked up on her fear. Great. "I'm waiting for Ino."

Sasuke looked at his watch. "You have another fifteen minutes. That means you have time to chat." He plopped down beside her.

The silence was heavy. She scratched at her jeans, nudged the ground with the toe of her sneakers. How do you go from getting drunk off vodka on the kitchen floor to this awkwardness? Well, you don't have to talk when drinking vodka, she thought.

"You're so secretive," Sasuke finally said, breaking the silence.

"Me?" Sakura's temper instantly flared.

"You have all these secrets and don't trust your friends with them."

She was about to say how wrong he was. Ino and Sai knew everything about her. Well, Ino did. Sai knew most. Kakashi...next to nothing. Her boyfriend. Okay, maybe he was right. But he didn't get to call her out on it like that.

"You're the shady one," she said. "You just pop up here one day and weasel your way into all our lives—"

"I do not weasel—"

"—and we know nothing about you and your freakish hair—"

"What does my hair—"

"—Yet you show up, scaring the hell out of me—"

This time, Sasuke didn't interject with a quip. This time, he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him. Her eyes were wide as his lips locked with hers, and she screamed and thrashed. At least in her head she did. In reality she pushed him back — nowhere near as hard she wished she did — and said, "What was that?"

A smirk crept over his face. "You're so fiesty."

From a block away, Ino shouted, "Sakura!"

Sakura stood up to meet her, still in a daze, but Sasuke caught her wrist. "Do I really scare you?" he asked.

"Irrevocably," she whispered.

Pain flashed across his face. He let go of her wrist. She opened her mouth as if to say something. She closed it, turned, and ran to Ino.

Thanks for reading this chapter! If you could leave a review, that would be great.

Your Homework: Leave me a review telling me everything in this story I awkwardly forgot about since I started a million years ago. (Did I introduce a character and forgot he existed? Did I hint at something juicy and never went back to it?) If I forgot something to the black hole of my mind, you will never see it again unless you bring it up! :)