Author's Note: Please share your thoughts with me by leaving a review. Thanks!
.
.
It has been a year since the war ended and Sakura can count in her fingers the number of times Sasuke had returned—six, in fact, to Konoha during the span of that entire year. In the few occasions that he had returned, Sasuke would stay for only a day or two—three, at most. The restless Uchiha would then decide to leave once more; the length of time until his next return, indefinite.
Given this, it was a shock to her and to the rest of Team 7, that although a week had already passed, the Uchiha was still in Konoha. Sakura wondered if this meant that he had decided to finally stay for good.
Lost in her musings, she fails to notice his presence as he occupies the seat beside hers.
And it is when he utters a, "Miso ramen, please," to the attendant that she finally realizes his presence.
"Sasuke-kun."
He nods his head in acknowledgement. They do not exchange any other words after.
And when his order arrives and Sakura decides to just give up on trying to start a conversation, his knee suddenly brushes hers. Dismissing it as an accident, Sakura moves her knee away.
To her astonishment, he gently clutches her knee in his hand. And when he starts to stroke her joint with his thumb, she feels her heart thundering.
Breath caught in her throat, she is suddenly reminded of the last time she felt this way—Naruto, oblivious with his arms around her shoulders and Sasuke, his gaze dark and heavy, their knees brushing under the table.
And despite the gut-wrenching guilt she feels—because it is Naruto whom she is in a relationship with and not him (not Sasuke), she cannot find the strength to push his hand away.
And so, she sits still and she denies.
She denies the reality of his gentle caress.
Denies the shiver that runs up her spine.
And denies the hope that blooms in her thundering heart.
Sakura denies that she feels for Uchiha Sasuke.
.
.
To be continued.