Title: it's time for you to shine
Summary: This week was just weird. First, Sasuke actually gave good advice. Second, she became a millionaire?! What the hell.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Prompt: Unexpected Wealth
Rating: T
Warning(s): Some, uh, pretty intense kissing and sexual tension.
Comments: Inspired by Grey's Anatomy.

She couldn't really remember how he got her to talk about it. She hadn't even told Ino—hell, the only person who knew was her shishou.

Well, up until now that is.

"It always come down to money," Sakura said, frowning irritably. "I mean, no matter how good my intentions are, no matter how freaking amazing it would be to anyone else out there who don't have health insurance, or simply don't have enough cash, no matter how this would completely change the village and its reputation in the most wonderful way—that's not good enough. Nope. There has to be money—good money." Her hand fisted tightly. "Which I don't have."

Why was she talking to him about this again?

She felt a tentative touch on her balled up hand, and almost jumped in surprise. But as he squeezed gently, her eyes softened and shifted to meet his. He seemed hesitant—no, more like unsure. He wasn't used to comforting people.

"So the bank said no. What about the hospital? They usually have a budget for these kinds of projects."

For a moment, she couldn't believe this was actually Sasuke. Since when had he become so good at the skill of advising?

But then, she realized how much he'd changed in the past few years, especially after the War ended. It was as if he had finally been able to start healing and letting others in. Like he was allowing himself to follow his heart for once, and to finally be happy.

She wondered if he was reverting back to his original personality—the one he had before the massacre happened.

"They usually do," she agreed, dropping his gaze to stare at the hand still over her own. The corner of her lips twitched up a bit as he removed his hand quietly, but still kept it near hers, as if he was suddenly nervous about his little public display of affection. Her eyes found his again. "But after the war… the hospital's been very busy."

She paused, recognizing that 'busy' was a terrible understatement. She was about to correct herself, but the look he wore on his face told her he understood. Clearing her throat, she went on:

"Not just that, but our resources and medication have been running dry faster than ever. They're spending all the money they can in orders and special deliveries to the rest of the Alliance when they've run out, so there's not much to spare in the end." She ran a hand through her hair, then, sighing. "I knew the answer before I even asked."

"Then why did you?"

Sakura blinked. "Huh?"

He shrugged lightly. "Ask."

"Oh." She pursed her lips in thought. "I don't know. I guess… just to make sure."

At his raised eyebrows, she smiled lightly.

"It's like… when you confess to someone that you know doesn't return your feelings," she explained, her smile quivering a bit at an all too bitter memory. She was too distracted to see him frown. "You know the answer, and you know how it'll turn out, but you still spill your heart out to that person with that tiny little sliver of hope that you were wrong. And in the end, you… well, you know."

She chewed at her bottom lip when she had finished speaking, all too aware of the slight tension hovering between them. They tried to avoid bringing up any painful moments of their past as much as possible, given that it nearly always brought up old feelings of bitterness and resentment to the both of them.

But then he made it vanish with his next words.

"Only you would compare monetary problems to unrequited love confessions."

A long, heartfelt laugh slipped from her mouth, like the sweetest music he had ever heard, and as her shoulders began to shake in delight, his belly flipped in contentment. When her laughter subsided to giggles, she finally looked at him and grinned.

"But it made sense, didn't it?" she said, glowing with happiness.

He gave her a soft smirk. "I suppose."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat at the sight and she blushed prettily, looking at him with all the love and contentment that she held inside of her at that very moment. Sasuke's own gaze softened with a more subtle affection, and she thought she saw him leaning towards her slightly, so she took this as a sign of acceptance for whatever action she chose to do next.

She was relieved to find out she was right when she reached for his hand and succeeded in grasping it without him flinching or moving away. Even moreso, she found herself shocked when he didn't even hesitate to interlock their fingers.

Her big green eyes locked themselves on their linked hands, and for a minute or two, she couldn't tear her gaze away or register anything happening around them. All that she knew, in that very moment, was that Sasuke, who normally was too shy and private for public display of affection, was holding her hand andhad even made the moveto intertwine their fingers himself.

In public.

Her jaw slackened a little.

"Sasuke-kun…" she murmured softly, flushing a shade deeper.

At this, Sasuke cleared his throat, but not before giving her hand a squeeze. He seemed to be blushing a little himself, when she finally looked up at him.

Tilting his head to the side and up so he could look at the moon beyond Ichiraku's stand, Sakura now knew for a fact that he was blushing, because he always looked away from her when it happened.

Then, he asked in a soft murmur, "Is the money the only problem?"

"Huh?"

Sasuke cleared his throat again.

"Is money the only thing holding you back from opening that free clinic?"

"Oh." She blinked, then her eyes narrowed. "Yeah. I had the board's approval and all, the council was even ecstatic at the idea…" She puffed bangs away from her face, mildly irritated once again. "The whole thing just collapsed after we found out it was more than a little out of my price range. I tried to figure it out, like I told you earlier but…" She trailed out and waved at nothing, annoyed.

"I see."

Silence.

"Well," Sakura announced after a long minute, clearing her throat for the second time that night. "Enough about that! This whole thing is depressing. We're on a date for Kami's sake!" She winked at him. "I thought dates were supposed to be fun."

Sasuke smirked and pushed a cup of sake in front of her. "Alright, then." He poured himself a drink and held it up to her, saying, "Kampai."

Sakura laughed, clinking their glasses together. "Kampai!"

But then, she thought about something and smirked.

She waited just as soon as the cup touched her lips, and he was drinking his, before she teased, "Sasuke, are you trying to get me drunk so you can take me home and to your bed?"

She had never seen Sasuke lose his cool so fast.

He spat out his drink and bleached as red as a tomato, before coughing and sputtering words of denial—trying to defend himself and to reassure he wasn't that type of guy—and Sakura would be lying if she said it wasn't the funniest thing she'd ever seen this year.

.

.

.

Three days later, Sakura was at the bank again.

Though unlike last time, she was simply here to withdraw money for her trip to her favorite herbalist shop in the near future. She couldn't use the hospitals herbal resources since the war, and so had to buy her own when she worked on her antidotes and researched the effects of certain mixed herbs. Technically, she could put off the work and wait for the hospital to be financially well again so she could spare herself money, but it served well to take her mind off the anger and the stress of everything.

Especially lately, with the whole free clinic debacle.

Shaking her head to rid herself of her darkening thoughts, Sakura let out a slow breath before she mentally calculated the approximation of how much she would need. Once she was done, she told the lady at the counter, before deciding to add an extra fifty to her final number, just in case. The civilian woman smiled in a particularly cheery way—which Sakura ignored, thinking she'd had a good day—and nodded, before giving her the extra bill and printing two receipts. She gave one for Sakura to sign, and the other to keep, but it wasn't until after she signed and bid her thanks and good day's that she actually looked at her receipt.

It was a simple glance, at first. Just checking if she had enough to cover her rent for this upcoming month. She nodded to herself in confirmation, almost absentmindedly, really, before her eyes widened barely two seconds later and she did a double-take.

She stared long and hard for a good minute at the numbers on her receipt, before her mind simply went blank and she collapsed forward in a dead faint.

.

.

Her apartment was quiet. Quieter than it had ever been before, really.

Whether that was because of her still-present disbelief of the situation, or because her home really was that unobtrusive, Sakura didn't really know. And she didn't really care, either.

"Sakura-san? Sakura-san, are you okay? Should I call for medical assistance?"

"S'kay…" she groaned, slowly lifting herself off the ground while she rubbed her sore head. "I'm okay..."

She didn't retain much damage from the fall, apart from a pretty nasty bruise on her head, which still throbbed at the moment, a light headache, which had mostly receded by the time she got home, and some minor scrapes on her hands.

But at that moment, she didn't seem to care about that, too. As soon as the reel of her tumble was over, she immediately demanded to know what happened to her bank account. The lady, Meyasami-san as Sakura knew her by, proceeded to explain to her how a few days ago, a young man came to the bank with her account information—she added she did not know where he got it, but assumed it was from the Hokage—and asked for all of his savings to be transferred to it.

Sakura could only gape as she listened to Meyasami talk.

"Who did this? Who was it?" she asked, when she had finally found her voice again.

"He doesn't want us to tell you."

"It's my bank account, I think I have a right to know who transferred—"

"You do," the bank teller said. "But he said to give you this, when you asked." She handed Sakura a slip of paper. "He said he wanted you to figure it out."

Stupid move, that was. Well, either that, or a childish one.

Because one look at the handwriting… and she knew. That's all it took.

But if that hadn't been enough, the way he worded his text, the way she knew exactly what he referred to, the way it was written in near-clipped sentences…

Wordlessly, she leaned against the wall of her kitchen and brought the paper out of her pocket, running her eyes over the lines again.

"I don't need this kind of money," she read, gaze following the neat, cursive handwriting of a man she knew all too well by now. "But clearly, you do. I trust you will spend it well."

Sasuke, she thought, losing all strength in her limbs. Sasuke. Shakily, she slipped down the wall. Sasuke, what is this? Why would you—

A tear slipped down her cheek, snapping her out of her stunned daze.

And then, a smile broke from her lips.

Sasuke-kun, she thought affectionately. She squeezed the paper in her hand, feeling sagacious. I think I understand why you're on a mission right now.

Silently, Sakura began counting down the days to his return.

.

.

.

These had perhaps been the longest two weeks of his life. The mission hadn't been particularly demanding for someone of his rank, especially with the skills he possessed.

There had been a few ambushes here and there, and some pretty good shinobi assassins to fight through once they got to the village, but they managed to get the prince of the emperor safely back to the palace without much of a sweat. The real trouble had been to deflect the senbons and traps thrown towards his high-end escort when he wasn't quick enough to finish them off right away (large groups tended to do that) but Sasuke wouldn't go as far as saying it was difficult.

Mostly though, the mission consisted of endless walking with an annoying teenager who thought he knew it all and refused to sleep in anything else than an inn. Sasuke didn't have a hard time tuning him out, but that was the problem—tuning him out left ample time for him to think about what he had just recently done in Konoha and what his and Sakura's relationship would turn out like upon his return.

It was a reckless thing, he did! Giving all that money to her, when they were only just barely dating? Sure they had kissed a few times and spent much of their time unnecessarily touching each other in whatever way they could, but that was hardly anything serious. Their relationship wasn't even defined—giving that much money to her was going to send so much turbulence their way. Sakura was going to freak out, wasn't she? This was too much, too soon. This was something like a marital deed. This was going to be huge for her.

He didn't regret it, though. She needed it, and she needed it now—and Sasuke wasn't about to do anything better with the money, and he sure as hell didn't have anybody else to give it to. She was doing something incredibly good and selfless—or well, she wanted to do it, and money was the only thing getting in the way. In retrospect, she should thank him.

But he doubted she would see it this way. He doubted she would get this far—or at least, that's what two weeks of overthinking got him to conclude.

Too much free time and a shaky situation at hand… what could possibly go wrong? he thought to himself, snorting.

Ugh, the longest two weeks of his life.

.

.

.

Finally stepping inside Konoha, Sasuke let out a shaky breath.

He wasn't sure what would happen, and he wasn't sure how he'd deal with it, but whatever she'd throw at him, however scared she'd get, he was hellbent on making her stay and making her understand—he was going to try his damned hardest to keep her at his side, because he wasn't going to lose her now. They had a long road ahead of them and he intended to have her there as long as he could keep her—forever, if she'd let him.

(Not like he'd let her know that anytime soon, though.)

And then suddenly, someone tackled him.

He let out a grunt at the brute force, stumbling back a step, and went to glare at whoever it was, but stopped himself short when he spotted pink.

Sakura, he thought, eyes widening in shock. His arms went to her side as he tried to steady her, but she immediately lunged her arms around his neck to pull him in a tight hug. Growing concerned, his arms went around her to give comfort, thinking perhaps she had heard rumors about him of some deadly injuries (or worse) and had run to him in staggering relief, but he barely even had the time to tighten his arms around her before she abruptly pulled away and brought his face in for one hell of a kiss.

He didn't really understand what was happening, but the moment her mouth touched his, he lost all sense of logic. His eyes slipped shut tightly, and he responded to the kiss with equal fervor, cupping the back of her neck with one hand, while the other wrapped itself tightly around her midsection. He was lost in the emotional turmoil of it all, feeling all her happiness, appreciation and love in the way she worked her mouth on his, in the way their tongues tangled and touched, in the way she ran her hands through his hair—it might have even been confusing, had he been thinking at all during this moment.

He didn't let her be the only one to give, though, he was just as intense and passionate in the way he responded, letting her know exactly how he felt about her kiss, her touches, her feelings, her surprise greeting—about her.

It was of no surprise, when they both pulled away, how out of breath they were. How flushed they were. How electrified they felt.

What was surprising, though, was the intensity of their kiss and how they had just done so in front of a crowd of other people.

They had never kissed like that before. They had shared a few pecks and sweet, long kisses, but nothing this fevered. Nothing so incredibly passionate and strong—nothing that left them feeling weak in the knees and dizzied in their minds.

"What," Sasuke rasped, leaning his forehead against hers and still panting for breath, "was that for?"

Sakura simply grinned and laughed, her big emerald eyes tearing up as she gave him a light peck.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," she whispered breathlessly, laughing again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

At his confusion, she simply said, "I can live my dream, now." She kissed his nose. "Because of you."

Realization swept through his eyes, and her smile became all too contagious to him, and Sakura giggled again, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him into another kiss, despite knowing they hadn't fully caught their breaths yet.

There was nothing to worry about.

A/N: The shifting between Sakura saying Sasuke and Sasuke-kun is totally intentional. This was my odd way of trying to express her struggle between wanting to stay professional with Sasuke, because of their undefined relationship status, yet sometimes becoming too overwhelmed with affection for him that the affectionate suffix slipped. (And yes, I am aware that a wife and husband or boyfriend and girlfriend drop all suffixes because they become so comfortable with each other but I felt that dropping it, for Sakura, would be her trying to show him she didn't just look at him as simply a future romantic partner, but also as a friend and comrade. Like her trying to keep her feelings out of their bond, I guess. Confusing a bit, I know.)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Took a real long while to get this one out, and I'm sorry. But things got really messy in my life and I got back to dealing with some pretty tough crap, which completely took away my muse and will to write for a couple weeks, but I recently got back into it, despite having not fixed much of anything going on. Weird.

Love you all, and do leave a review telling me what you think!

P.s. the tear was not of sadness. It was her tear of realization, of affection, when she understood behind his reasoning.

DeepPoeticGirl