A/N: Thank you sooo much for your support so far! It really does motivate me to keep writing! I hope you enjoy torturing Sasuke as much as I do.

3. You'll feel shy whenever you're with them

It had been a little over two months since Sasuke received his new arm. His daily walks had been reduced to weekly, and he was starting to feel comfortable taking them on his own. When he was alone, it reminded him of his journey to redemption. When he was with her, it gave him hope for the future.

His relationship had also taken an unexpected, but pleasant, turn with Sakura since they had been spending so much time together on those walks. And since she is still as busy as ever, Sasuke would make random excuses just to go see her.

("I fractured my ankle."

"You're walking just fine, Sasuke, go home."

"The Hokage needs Sakura; it's urgent."

"He would have come here himself."

"I need to see Sakura."

"Why, what for?"

"I just do."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "You're impossible.")

From fake injuries, to being a messenger: if it meant seeing her, he was on it. Though he would never admit it, her presence was one of the most relaxing things to him since he returned.

In her absence, Sasuke also decided that he should spend more time with Naruto, especially since he was getting married soon. Sooner or later, and he concluded this from Naruto's submissive behavior towards women, he would be whipped, and would see less and less of his best friend.

Of course, when Sakura heard about his views on their relationship one day, he almost got the Uchiha punched out of him.

The two sat at Ichiraku's one Wednesday morning. Sasuke noticed that Naruto had only downed two bowls, at most. This was an odd sight, even if he hadn't even been to this stand with him in ages.

"Don't you usually eat more?"

"Yeah, but I'm watching what I eat." He patted his belly.

"Why?"

"I was…I was told to." Naruto's tone held slight embarrassment.

"Hah," Sasuke scoffed and turned back to his food.

"What?!" Naruto turned completely toward him. "What's so funny, huh?"

"You're whipped," he concluded boldly, since Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey!" Naruto threatened him, pointing his pair of chopsticks directly between Sasuke's eyes. "First of all, it was Sakura-chan who forced me on some diet. She said something about watching my carb and sodium intake to be able to maintain better chakra." His scowl increased tenfold when Sasuke just scoffed again. "Second, I am not whipped just because I respect my girlfriend, who does not control what I eat by the way."

"Alright, alright, relax." Sasuke waved a hand to dismiss his best friend's sudden outburst. "No need to get that defensive."

"Like you would know," Naruto muttered under his breath. "I oughta teach you some respect like old times. Nobody badmouths my girl."

"I didn't even say anything about Hinata."

"I'll kick your ass anyway."

Sasuke sighed with ease and set his chopsticks down. "Do you want to fight me?"

There was a spark in Naruto's eyes for a moment, but then he hesitated and rested a hand on his stomach, "No, I just ate." To which Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Speaking of Sakura-chan, how is she?"

"Hm?" Sasuke looked over to his best friend, mouth full of noodles. "Don't you talk to her?"

Naruto snickered smugly. "Not nearly as much as you do these days, heheh."

"Hn," Sasuke's cheeks felt hot. He blamed it on the heat coming from his food, and buried his face into more noodles. At this, he heard Naruto's teasing become louder and more confident.

"Hey come on, I'm your best friend, you can tell me what's going on between you and Sakura-chaaaan." Naruto grinned, adding emphasis on the suffix and elbowing Sasuke's ribs. The silence only fed his confidence.

"I'm eating, stop that."

"You stop that!" Naruto's laugh echoed down the street. "Now tell me, teme."

"Tell you what?"

"You like her." He accused with ease.

Sasuke frowned. "Of course I like her. We're friends."

"Fine," he relented and picked up his chopsticks once more. But just when Sasuke thought he had won this argument, he grinned, "You love our Sakura-chan."

Sasuke's frown deepend. How did he figure it out? Was he that obvious when they were together? Were there rumors going around that someone started? Maybe he learned a new mind-reading jutsu? "Who told you?"

"You did, just now!" Sasuke's following silence was only confirmation. Naruto's laughter finally died down after a while, and he suddenly adapted a somber tone. "Take care of her, please. She's suffered enough, you know."

Just like that, Sasuke's heart dropped to his stomach. He shifted uneasily and looked up at his friend's sincere expression. Sakura had so many people who loved her dearly. She had so many men who would undoubtedly treat her right- so many who could pamper her as if she was royalty, and make sure she would never shed another tear. It was true: she had suffered so much, for him. Kakashi's words echoed in his head.

When he imagined her face wet with tears, Sasuke's appetite vanished. He felt sick to his stomach knowing he had ignored all the times that she felt pain for him, and it felt even worse to know she would keep doing that, for him. Naruto seemed to sense the way he tensed beside him.

"Sakura deserves better," Sasuke finally voiced his thoughts, setting his utensils down.

Naruto frowned, "You've always been really dense when it comes to relationships with people, huh?" Sasuke glared. Now was not the time to make fun of him. "Could anyone else make her as happy as you can?"

"I don't make her happy," Sasuke countered with ease. "All I do is hurt her and make her cry."

"That's because you've never actually tried to make her happy," Naruto answered, just as easily. "I promise you, if she was able to find a reason to smile even when you were gone, imagine how she would feel when you show her you'll always be there."

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto's serious gaze, who seems to have believed he won this argument. He seemed so satisfied with himself, so he repeated, "Just take care of her, Sasuke."

He nodded. "Of course."

As if on cue, Sasuke spotted a blur of pink in his peripherals. Before he could turn to see if it was Sakura, she was on the other side, between them two. "How are my two favorite dorks doing?"

Naruto grinned cheekily. "Great! We were just talking about you!"

"Ehh? What about me?"

Naruto shrugged and put on a seemingly innocent smile, "What about her again, Sasuke?" He looked over to Sasuke, who was very concentrated on his bowl of ramen. His cheeks were slightly tinted with pink and Naruto had to bite his lip to keep from laughing when his best friend looked a little like Hinata.

Sakura rolled her eyes at his teasing. "Boys.." she ruffled Naruto's hair and set a hand softly on Sasuke's shoulder. "Well I gotta get going, I just passed by and thought I'd say hi."

Naruto smiled and returned to his food when Sasuke seemed to relax. Smugly, he pushed his luck: "So, you're paying right?"

Upon arriving at the hospital one day to see Sakura busier than usual, Sauske's mind drifted to how talented she must be to carry on all of these responsibilities. The entire village- no, the entire ninja world looked up to and trusted Haruno Sakura. If she wasn't bound to Konoha, no doubt she would travel the world and spread her knowledge of medicine. So along with this newfound admiration came a nagging curiosity.

He stopped by the hospital again the next day to acquire some medical scrolls. Sakura wasn't the only medical nin, he thought, so could it really be that hard?

After a few nights of extreme confusion and complete frustration at his inability to focus enough chakra to even heal a small wound, Sasuke decided maybe he should return them. Frustration wasn't new to him. He faced it many times before, attempting a new ninjutsu, but that was nothing compared to reading these scrolls that seemed to be in another language.

He remembered she had a day off the next day. He could have easily just dropped them off at the hospital, he knew. But he hadn't seen her this whole week. So after he finished everything he needed to do for the day, he headed over to her apartment.

It almost seemed natural to walk towards Sakura's place nowadays. In fact, sometimes he felt like he practically lived there with how much he visited. But, of course, with utmost respect for her virtues and reputation, Sasuke never stayed at her place past midnight.

Halfway into the trip to Sakura's apartment, a couple raindrops fell, causing him to groan and pick up his pace. When she opened the door, the first thing Sasuke noticed was what she was wearing. Or rather, what she wasn't wearing. Sakura had on a red tank top and some small shorts. He assumed these were her pajamas.

"Hey," she greeted cheerfully. She began to blush when she realized he was looking at her differently. His eyes travelled up and down before he snapped himself out of it and made eye contact.

"Do you always answer the door dressed like that?" he blurted out.

"No, dad." She looked at him funny. "I knew it was you."

Sasuke wasn't sure if he should have felt flattered or insulted at that. She seemed very comfortable with him, even if he felt like he didn't deserve this kind of trust from her. His heart started racing as he realized how short she really was. He had grown significantly since they were sixteen; so he had to look down to make eye contact, which also gave him a wonderful view of what her top was barely covering. She really had grown.

For the first time in his life, Sasuke realized exactly what he had been missing out on for years. His face only turned three shades darker, and he couldn't bring himself to say anything after that.

She invited him in, but he barely moved from his spot outside. "Are you okay? You can come in. It's raining pretty hard."

To be honest, Sasuke only expected to hand these scrolls to her, maybe talk for a few minutes, and then head home. But to be even more honest, he was secretly hoping she would invite him to stay. He wasn't sure what it was (because being the mighty Uchiha Sasuke meant always being confident and holding your head high), but something about the situation made his stomach turn upside down. Sure, they had spent a good amount of time alone before, and he had spent time with her in her own domain before too, but this was different. He felt like he was treading unknown territory.

He almost felt…shy.

Then again, whenever he visited, he never stayed very long, and it was during the day. And every time he did visit, she was fully clothed.

Sasuke hesitated, but he took slow and small steps inside anyway, keeping his eyes on her to watch for any negative reactions. His unease was rooted in the fact that it was almost midnight and she had just invited him in, but also because he just couldn't take his eyes off of her short shorts. She must have done plenty of training to get legs like that…

"If you keep staring, your eyes will fall out, Sasuke-kun," she joked, turning away from him to hide her blush. "That's what my mom used to tell my dad anyway."

"You're so annoying." In reality, he was annoyed. He did not appreciate getting caught, or the fact that his pants were feeling a little tight. And sometimes he hated how easily she read him like that. She laughed and offered him some tea. "You know you could have just left the scrolls at my doorstep."

"It's about to storm. They would have gotten wet." Sasuke praised himself for how quick he was able to conjure a response. He then set said scrolls on her coffee table as she sat down next to him. He swallowed hard; she was sitting so damn close. His breath became quick and he felt his ears warm up. How annoying.

"Right, and that's why I'm asking why you made the trip all the way down here, clearly knowing it was about to start pouring. Besides, there's always tomorrow, I never gave you a due date." She smiled and handed him a small cup of tea. Deep down, he knew she was expecting a specific answer.

When he dropped the subject, she understood and took the pressure off of him. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun. It was very sweet of you to hand-deliver them to me."

Just then, a hideously bright flash of lightening illuminated her apartment, followed by the loud crashing of thunder. When Sasuke looked outside, he noticed the rain had begun to fall much harder. Everyone had deserted the streets to find shelter.

"Ahh, looks like you're stuck here," Sakura exaggerated a sigh. She moved one of the scrolls so she could set her feet up on her table. When her bare arm brushed up against his side, it sent chills down his spine. "So tell me, did you learn anything from my medical text?"

"No," Sasuke admitted. "It was hard."

"Eh?! A task too difficult for the mighty Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke muttered something along the lines of "Don't be annoying."

"Huh? What was that?"

"Nothing." He sat, flustered for three reasons now: the shorts, the proximity, and now his ego had suffered a blow. "I managed to stop some pain, but not all of it, and I can't even get small wounds to close."

Sakura skimmed through her text, trying to fight a smile since she found this whole ordeal adorable. "This is a beginner's text." Sasuke sunk into his seat and avoided eye contact. "Let me teach you then." He then looked at her in surprise. "It's okay, don't be shy. Concentrate and build some chakra in your hand." When he did so, she grabbed a kunai and made a small cut on her forearm.

"That's way too big," he complained. "I could barely heal a paper cut."

Sakura tried not to laugh; she could no longer control the smile fighting its way on her face. So that's what he meant by 'small wounds'. "Just relax, focus, and try to use that energy to close the wound. Push the cells together to close the gap. But not too hard or it will hurt and the skin will end up deformed."

Nervously, Sasuke laid a gentle hand on where the small gash was. For some reason Sakura felt soothed by it. His calloused fingers felt softer than she ever imagined. And even if his focus was entirely on the shallow two-centimeter cut on her arm, she felt his chakra through her whole body.

"Is that it?" he asked, snapping her out of a trance.

"Yeah," she said softly, but she wasn't as focused on the cut. "Your chakra feels nice."

Sasuke averted her gaze and instead watched as her arm looked almost good as new. Suddenly, he felt a little lightheaded. He pulled away and grunted in annoyance. "I didn't realize how much chakra control that takes."

"Hm," Sakura smiled. In a moment, her hand was glowing green and she made it look as good as new in a matter of seconds. "You're right. Too much and you'll make it worse, too little and you won't fix anything."

Sasuke watched in awe, even if it was just a small heal she performed. He couldn't help but think back to when all she could do was cry over his beaten body on the Great Naruto Bridge, and then to her crucial contribution in the war. In Sasuke's eyes, Sakura had definitely grown the most out of the three of them. When he made eye contact again, her eyes were shining bright with happiness. She was so happy that he cared enough to to venture into her field.

He began to see his teammate in a new light: physically and mentally. Naruto's words echoed in his head, and he fought the persistent timidity to make sure she knew he was impressed.

"You're amazing." He told her sincerely. She immediately blushed.

"Well, it was you who pushed me." She returned the compliment. "Your chakra was very soothing, though." She explained, still calmed from it. "Maybe with practice you could also become a medic nin."

"Hn, I doubt it." He sat back in his spot. "I would rather compete with Naruto. At least then there's a chance I would win."

"Not everything is a competition," she scolded him, reminded of his younger self.

"Aa. You're right." Content, she sat back into the couch. "But if it was, I would win."

Sakura took a deep breath to keep her eyes from rolling to the back of her head at his comment, and then suggested that he just stay until the storm passes. Although he was still a little reluctant about staying so late, he secretly enjoyed her presence in the midst of the storm.

Sasuke internally scoffed at the irony. Sakura used to be the shy and flustered one. Now it was Sasuke who scared to utter a word, and who still couldn't stop staring at her. At first, Sakura interpreted his silence as him not wanting to be around her today. But then she remembered how he totally went out of his way to see her today. She was well aware that he knew she had a day off tomorrow and didn't have a problem staying up late.

She almost felt bad for him, the tension was so strong. She was used to him being this quiet sometimes, but something about him just felt more awkward than usual.

"So, how about a movie?" she stood up from her spot on the couch.

"Where did you get that?" Sasuke asked, unfamiliar with the large contraption under her television.

"Shikamaru gave me this cool VHS player thing a little while back. It's big and clunky and I heard they're making some newer technology to watch films, but this is all I have for now."

She shoved a tape inside the machine before resuming her spot beside him. For the rest of the evening, Sakura hoped just talking about herself would eventually ease the tension. She told him all sorts of random, trivial things they never got to talk about: like her favorite activities, foods, and places to visit. Sasuke remained quiet and just listened to her; he was very much at peace. He remembered every detail, down to her favorite place to hide when she was seven years old.

They had gone through a narrative of her whole life, two and a half movies, and an entire bag of her favorite chips before they both lay comfortably on her couch, tired. Through the course of the evening she had slowly moved closer to him, and he unconsciously reciprocated. Now, her head was resting on his chest and he looked down to see her struggle to keep her eyes open for the movie.

It was around two in the morning and the rain had not calmed down much since it started. Before Sakura surrendered to sleep, she asked him quietly, "Stay with me tonight, Sasuke-kun."

Before he could think about it, he reached over and pushed some hair out of her face. "Yeah." She smiled and her breathing became slow and even. Sasuke took a deep breath and felt sleep take over him too.