The room was dim, lit only by the fluorescent glare of the laptop Sasuke furiously typed away at. His only indicator of the time was the sound of birds chirping outside, as it was too early for the sun to have risen.

Now that he had finished the book he was contractually bound to, he finally had the opportunity to write what he wanted, without the influence of his publisher.

He hated his publishing company, anyways. There was nothing more vile than a room of men in stuffy suits regulating, editing, and censoring his art.

Before he had been signed to a publisher, he only wrote when he wanted to. Which worked out well, since he always wanted to write. But recently, his favorite pastime had become more of a chore-a means to an end.

How did the phrase go again? "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life"? Complete bullshit.

The past few months had been rough, especially as his agent kept pushing more and more for him to do book-signing tours, interviews, and whatnot.

If he wanted to be a celebrity, he would've been an actor like Naruto. It was insane how people were so obsessed with the authors behind great books, without just appreciating the books themselves. Although he was by no means anonymous, Sasuke made sure to not include headshots on his books, and to make no public appearances. The last thing he needed was to be hunted down by news reporters and paparazzi. Although Naruto loved that life, Sasuke has always been much more introverted.

His phone screen lit up beside him, notifying him of a text from his father. Rare, considering his artsy career path had led him to be the black sheep of the family. Itachi was the only son that joined the family law firm, so for awhile, he was the only one father was close to. However, Itachi had recently declared that he never intended to marry or have kids, so their father had jumped to Sasuke to carry on the family name.

Family dinner next month on the 5th. Bring a suitable female or we will bring one for you.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, resenting Itachi for putting him in this situation. He wasn't close to any women in particular, since the only people he frequently interacted with were his family, Naruto, and those at his publishing company. And even if he got the contact information of his mystery girl, inviting her to a family dinner so early on in their relationship would probably set off red flags in her mind.

He had two options: either ask Naruto to find him a girl that wouldn't repulse him, or ignore the text.

Choosing the latter, he went back to typing.

His father was definitely bluffing. There was no way the head of the Uchiha family would stoop so low to lure an unsuspecting girl into a blind date with his son. Plus the standards were far too high for letting people into the clan. His father wouldn't just choose any girl off the street. You needed a background check just to visit the Uchiha compound.

With a sigh, he tried to distance himself from those thoughts, and focus more on the story unfolding on his screen. So far he was very proud of how it had turned out; it had a lot more of a feel of his earlier work. And if he continued at this pace, it would be finished by the end of this week.

He debated whether or not to publish this one. On one hand, it would let the public see a different side of him...on the other, it most definitely could freak out the girl he had written it about.

Naruto would probably know what to do. I'll call him when he wakes up.


If Sakura was anything, it was motivated. When she set her sights on something, she liked to make a definite plan in order to make sure it was accomplished.

In this case, her goal was to meet the man from the grocery store again. And this time, she wanted to actually get to know him, instead of rushing away because she got too flustered.

First plan of action: start getting her morning coffee from the grocery store every morning.

Sure, the employees were surprised by her suddenly becoming a regular, but it wasn't them she was concerned about. She had more important things to worry about, like what to say when he shows up.

Oh hello~ haven't seen you in awhile...want to make out? ...Maybe not that strong.

Glad to see you again! I was about to hire a private detective to find you! ...Might sound a little desperate.

How is your hand doing...it's important to make sure those fingers work properl-Okay so maybe she was still deciding on the actual talking part.

Unfortunately, a week had passed and she still had not seen him again. At this point, she wondered if it was even worth it. Obviously they were just not meant to be. Maybe he had been traveling through Konoha? Or worse, maybe he was avoiding the grocery because of their meeting.

She decided this had developed into a situation worthy of Ino's attention.

xxx

For the past week, Sasuke had done the unthinkable.

Instead of finishing his story in his quiet apartment, he had switched his work area to a rather...loud...alternative.

The coffee shop were he had first seen her.

Every day at 5:30am he went in, ordering the same thing and sitting down in the same spot in hopes of seeing her again. She had the assertiveness of a regular, so he assumed she came in at the same time every day.

Though his assumption may have been incorrect, because so far his efforts had been fruitless. However, not entirely, because he had now finished his novel, and was just left to editing until it was perfect. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from making it a truly great work, something small, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He really needed her to show up in his life soon, because he was getting a little too obsessed. Sasuke Uchiha always got what he wanted, and until he reached his goal, it would be all he could think about.

Today, the shop was relatively empty, so he couldn't help but overhear the baristas talking amongst themselves.

"Hey-have you seen that one girl in awhile?" one of them asked the other, his lips set in a disappointed frown.

"No, which is a bummer. I always requested this shift because she was my favorite regular," the younger, college-aged boy replied with a sigh.

"I wonder if she started going someplace else. Which is a shame, because I was about to ask for her number."

The other laughed. "Good luck! She's a doctor at Konoha Hospital. Doubt she'd be interested in us. What was her name again? Sakura?"

Sasuke stiffened. Sakura. How fitting.

"Yeah. Maybe she's just on vacation though. The winter holiday season is approaching."

Blocking out the rest of the blabber of the two, Sasuke smirked to himself.

In that moment, he realized what was missing from his novel.

Sakura. Not a very uncommon name, but it had a simplistic beauty about it.

The perfect name for his heroine. The perfect way to reach out to her. If only he had a way to have her read-oh.

With a frown, he reluctantly called his publisher.

"Hey, I have another book for you to print."


What will Sasuke's story be about? Any guesses? (If you guess right, you might get a surprise gift from me because I'm feeling very creative recently~)