Hey! Here starts Sakura's quest to reunite wtih Shika, if you want to call it that. It mostly shows her relationship with her group of friends and mentions some other characters, just to show that they're in here. Also, some snippets with Sasuke and Sakura because I thought it'd be important to show how their relationship is after he turned her down before.

Gosh, I could talk about these snippets forever. They're in my top favorite along with ShikaSaku moments and Sai and Sakura interacting here.

Enjoy!

iv

Sakura never felt dumber before.

She sat on the floor of her new apartment across the one she used to share with both Naruto and Sasuke. Once those two started dating, she felt like she was being more of a burden than anything else, although they both disagreed with her, Naruto more often than Sasuke of course. Still, couples that lived together needed their privacy, and although she never heard anything that could make her never look them in the eye again out of embarrassment, she felt like she needed to leave.

Thankfully, she had some money saved and the new paycheck she was to receive was enough to allow her to pay for the rent of her apartment safely. She considered inviting Sai to come live with her so he would not feel left out living in another apartment building away from them, but still was unsure about that. Not that she thought he would try to do something creepy, but Sakura wanted to be alone because...

She glanced down at the search page of a social media app and placed her phone down on the fluffy carpet. Sakura was never fond of those kind of things and had them because everyone uses these, Sakura-chan, but lately she had been searching high and low for any traces of the five of them in hopes she would find them. She never would have thought that there were so many Inos and Asumas out there and she was not going to look through more than one thousand profiles trying to find them. She did not have enough time for that.

Truthfully, she had hope that he would somehow appear on her doorstep. And she did not want anyone here when that happened.

Damn Kakashi and his way of thinking he would be doing them a favor by banning their phones from the trip. And they never even considered that papers were a thing although she was always reading. God, was it possible to be this stupid?

Sakura picked her phone and disappeared into her room. Her shift today surely would make her forget this problem temporarily.

"What is it?"

"Huh?"

"You've been looking at that phone all night. What is it?"

Sakura sighed and placed the device face-down on the tabletop as she brought her glass to her face to take a sip of her drink. Of course, Karin would notice something like that, unlike the men with them; maybe Sasuke would notice, but he would only question her about it later so no one could see him being curious/concerned. Suigetsu and Naruto laughed boisterously whilst Juugo quietly drunk his beer with a smile on his face and Sai was acting mostly like him. Sasuke was the embodiment of stoicism sitting in a bar table.

She weaved her fingers through her hair before propping her face on her hand and turning her head to whisper to the redhead beside her, as if any of her companions would pay attention to their conversation – again, with the exception of Sasuke, because he had been giving her a look for a few days now. "I met this guy on our trip."

Karin's face lit up with interest and she pushed her black-rimmed glasses up her nose bridge. "Tell me about him." She purred and Sakura shook her head at her slightly suggestive tone. "Is he more handsome than Sasuke?"

"You know everyone looks like a ragdoll compared to mister pretty boy over there." His brow furrowed as if he knew they were laughing on his expense. "He's got black hair and beautiful brown eyes, although you only notice his looks once he's not looking bored out of his mind, which was about ninety percent of the time. Everything seems a drag to him according to Ino, but he didn't complain as much as she said."

"And what got you so interested?" Karin smiled politely at the waitress as she took away her empty glass.

Sakura shrugged. "I saw him on the car on our way there. With his hair pulled up, I could see his sharp jaw and that was a sight."

"Everything else was a sight as well?"

"Yes. How can I explain him?" She tapped her chin and considered her words. "He doesn't stand out like Sasuke in a dark and mysterious way or Naruto with his brightness."

"And that's why you're looking at your phone all night?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Waiting for something?"

Sakura laughed a little. "More like waiting for him to find me. We didn't exchange numbers and I can't find him on social media."

"That sucks." Karin said sympathetically and snatched the glass from her friend's hand to take a sip. "I was going to ask you to show me a picture."

"I have a group picture back home. I'll try to invite you all over one night and you'll see."

"Sounds good to me as long Naruto isn't cooking."

"Hey!" Said blonde called both women when they were laughing once again. "What are you two talking about?"

Sakura often talked to Tsunade, but tagged along with Shizune the most. She was assigned smaller cases and was sometimes present in surgery rooms to watch as the two best medics of the hospital performed a tricky surgery. Children usually composed most of her patients and she loved helping them. It really made her think if she should follow along a pediatric line of work, or focus on other things such as poison like Shizune.

Sakura made friends, too, which only made her like her new job even more. Her coworkers were mostly fine and she got along with most of them pretty well. She also was acquainted to some visitors, like a nice middle school teacher that came to visit some of her patients and other kids that were in the hospital. She was very kind and sweet, and Sakura found herself talking a lot to that woman. Surprised as she was that a Hyuuga would be a teacher and not a businessperson like most of her family, she later decided that the role fit Hinata pretty well.

Hinata had friends, one of which she saw more than the other. His personality faintly reminded her of Naruto and she scolded him many times for bringing a dog hidden inside his jacket to cheer the little kids up, though it made her happy to see them so excited to have the opportunity to play with a dog. His family was said to own and breed many of them. She considered asking Tsunade if they could have some therapy dogs around.

Her other friend was actually her boyfriend, something she found out once Sakura felt like they were close enough to ask. She did not dare question why he seemed to favor high collars and wore sunglasses inside buildings, though, but he was quiet and polite and knew a whole lot of facts about insects. He did not sneak animals inside the building, thankfully, but would sometimes sit down to read the children stories, even if his voice was usually a little stoic.

She saw them often at the hospital, and if she was out and about and saw any of them, they stopped for a quick chat.

She was acting odd. He knew Sakura for long enough to know that something was up and no amount of asking Naruto about it without making it too obvious would help. The blonde was too dense sometimes to notice subtle things. If he wanted to know what was happening, he would have to ask her directly.

At least, life had graced Sasuke with an opportunity to be alone with her for a while. Naruto was down in the street on the phone trying to help Sai find their apartment building, and Sakura was in the kitchen rearranging the snacks on the plate for the third time. He glanced at her phone set on the counter close to her reach. Lately, she had been saying that she checked her phone often because of her job. He did not doubt it, but knew that there was more to it than she let on.

He leaned against the kitchen wall and watched her try to create a new pattern with the rice balls. "There's a new notification on your phone." He drawled in a bored tone. Sasuke had never seen Sakura jump away from a task towards her cell phone that quickly and narrowed his eyes suspiciously when her frame deflated and she found nothing on the screen. She shot him a glare but her eyes quickly widened once she realized she fallen for his trap.

Sasuke stepped further into the kitchen to intimidate her with his height, as if that move still had some sort of effect on her. "If you don't say what's going on, I will tell Naruto that you're hiding something, and then you'll be sorry."

Her glare returned and she huffed, turning back to the sink to wash her hands and then turning around again to shake her wet hands in his direction and sprinkle droplets all over him. He tried not to scowl at her as she rested her palms on the countertop and exhaled through her nose, staring silently at the ground. "I met someone there."

He blinked and tried not to shift. The relief he felt was almost palpable. Sasuke tried not to dwell on it too much, but truth be told, there was an underlying fear that she would never truly disconnect from her feelings for him and would forever secretly despise the two of them. He did not care much about what people thought of him, but with Naruto and Sakura, it was hard not to care a little.

But then, if she was always expecting a notification, then it meant that she did not have contact with him. If she did, they would have known by now.

"You could always ask Kakashi for help." Sasuke had a pretty good idea of who she was talking about, although he had not cared to remember the name. All he knew was that the one that caught her attention was close to Kakashi's friend, and so their old teacher could lend her a hand.

Sakura ran her digit on top of the smooth marble and mumbled. "I guess..." He lifted a brow, understanding that she was not willing to do as he said, but decided not to push further.

The door opened with a boom and Naruto emerged from the hallway with an arm slung around Sai's neck as he dragged the man inside her apartment. Sakura quickly turned back to her snacks to pretend no words had been exchanged between them and Sasuke was, for once, glad at Naruto's intervention, because he found out he did not like discussing these things with her.

Sakura was placing some dirty dishes in the sink when Sai joined her in the kitchen that same evening. Previously, she had shared some words with Karin and secretly showed her the group picture she had framed on the wall. They played a board game and Juugo had won, which made him very happy. Now him, Naruto and Suigetsu were playing a fighting game in a console they hooked to her tv and the rest was making small talk about something, that meant Karin was doing most of the talking while Sasuke looked around with disinterest and commented on one thing or another.

Sai smiled at her and presented her with another white envelope. Her fingers twitched before she grasped it and flipped the lid open to look at the contents inside. More copies of some of the pictures he had taken, if not all of them, because he knew she liked setting them inside an album to flip through when she could not sleep. There were many pictures of her and Naruto, and of her and Ino, and she smiled widely when she saw the first picture he took of the two of them on the hammock in the balcony.

As the pictures began to reveal Shikamaru's face, her large smile began to dwindle to a softer tilt. It was good that now she had many pictures of many angles to imagine his face more clearly, but she was filled with uncertainty about it. Sai noticed the shift in her behavior and touched her shoulder briefly, prompting her to snap back into reality and slip the pictures back inside the envelope with a sniff.

"If I ever see any of them," he started quietly, "I'll let you know." She nodded in thanks, feeling her heart squeeze. Could she handle a reunion?

Kakashi sometimes asked for their help to grade the many tests and exams he applied on his different classes. He did not want to burden Sai with it and Naruto really was not fit for the job. Sasuke was a great student, but his favorite option was Sakura. The air around her was much lighter and he felt more comfortable sitting in silence with her because he knew her from a long way back. And she was better than the three of them in this subject anyway.

He set a tray with tea on the small table of his kitchen, his disposable mask hanging around his neck as he smiled at her. She smiled back and returned her attention to the sheet of paper set before her, unbothered by the sight of his bare face. She had forced him through enough checkups to get used to his features, but did not tell any of her friends about that, especially the overly curious blonde, or else they – he – might nag their former teacher too much and he would never trust her with anything ever again. Besides, he usually wore those outside his apartment because his immunity was low, and he never invited them all over for food and drinks.

One of his dogs sat on her lap, a pug, and another one with fuzzy black and white fur sat at her bare feet. Sometimes a grey dog would come to him and he would reach out to scratch behind its ear before it sauntered back to the living room to join the others. Sometimes Sakura wondered how he managed to live with so many dogs in this place. His apartment was modest, slightly smaller than hers, and furnished with old furniture she guessed he inherited from his father. Pots of succulents and other plants lingered mostly by the windows while others were scattered about the rooms. The windows were surprisingly large enough given the age of the building so more than enough light streamed in, reflecting on the glasses of the many photographs he had displayed.

Sakura sipped the peppermint tea and placed the graded test on a pile before reaching for another one. Her toe dragged along the exposed belly of the dog by her feet and Pakkun snorted in his sleep on her lap. She giggled quietly and scratched his back with the cap of the pen, chewing on her bottom lip as she read the answers.

"Sakura." The lack of a suffix was enough to let her know that he was not about to joke around, and the sight of the seriousness on his bare face was not something that she was fully accustomed to just yet.

She set the pen down and waited for him to speak, his grey eyes hardly blinking as he mulled over the words in his head. Kakashi knocked on the tabletop with his knuckles a couple of times before resting his flat palm upon the spot. "Sasuke said you might need some help from me."

Her face paled and then flushed red in embarrassment almost too quickly for him to see. Sasuke hardly stuck his nose in things that did not concern him, so she was almost touched by his actions. Almost. She would have if she was not wanting to disappear right now. Kakashi must have noticed the helpless look on her face and went on.

"Listen... I know what he's talking about."

"Am I that obvious?"

He chuckled and smiled softly at her. "You aren't. I wouldn't have noticed it at the beach if Ino didn't make it obvious." Kakashi reached out and patted the back of her hand resting on the table. "I can ask Asuma for his number right now if you want."

Sakura shook her head slowly and slumped against her seat. "I... I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid that he doesn't feel the same." She winced as she said so. "Not anymore, at least."

Kakashi regarded her with a serious look. "And you plan to hold onto this regardless?"

"This will pass. I got over Sasuke. I just need some more time."

Her former teacher sighed and shook his head, weaving his fingers through his hair. "I'm not telling you what to do," he started in his lecturing tone and she felt like she was back in school. "But I can safely say for all of us, and yes, that includes Sasuke, Sai and even Yamato; we don't want to see you getting hurt. Holding on to it without taking measures out of fear is dangerous, Sakura. As much as falling headfirst into a relationship with someone you don't really like all that much."

She lowered her head almost dejectedly. "I know..."

Rising, Kakashi walked around the table and ruffled her hair affectionately. "I'll see if I have some biscuits for us. Hopefully, they're not expired."

Sakura smiled a little and stared at the paper sheet trying to recompose herself.