Weeks past and Sakura still frequented the coffee shop even though she went there on her own. At first it seemed strange without Ino but she began to look forward to going there, it was a way to break up her week, a time to do something other than work and chores and she took advantage of this time to relax with a book – something she never seemed to have the time for anymore.

Sakura used to read a lot when she was at school but then she got caught up with work, essays and trying to have a social life and stay in contact with all her old friends that reading got pushed to the bottom of her list of priorities. Relaxing now meant to Sakura settling down in front of the television, preferably with a glass of wine and some chocolate, after a long and exhausting day's work at the hospital.

But now once a week Sakura sat with a coffee in the coffee shop by herself and read. She reread the books she enjoyed when she was younger and then branched out to read anything she could lay her hands on; fantasy, horror, trashy romances, award winning books and all the classics. Loosing herself in the different worlds and realities that each book offered, enjoying the problems each character faced and resolutions that arose at the end. To Sakura, it was a little piece of heaven each week, and she enjoyed her new routine it was so much better than spending her time vacuuming.

Other people watched in some amusement as she seemed to have become so similar to the dark haired young man who also regularly came in for a coffee with a book. They also only sat a few tables away from each other but never together.

Sakura sat at a table with a large steaming cup of coffee in one hand, staring at her book. She had been rereading the same paragraph for ages and nothing was going in. She had fallen into some sort of routine every week she headed to the coffee shop, got her usual coffee, sitting down usually, but not, she told herself, intentionally, near Sasuke, and read for an hour or two. But today her routine was broken.

Sakura scowled at the page she was staring at. Where was Sasuke? He was always there, every time she visited the shop when she was with Ino and even now when she came alone, Sasuke was always there without fail. And she had been frequenting that same cafe for about a year. It seemed odd, wrong even, for him to not be a few tables across from her reading and Sakura felt his lack of presence quite keenly.

A shadow fell across her book and Sakura looked up feeling slightly hopeful that it might be Sasuke.

"Can I sit here?" A tall blond man with scruffy looking hair was standing in front of her and Sakura for some reason felt disappointed. "Every where else is full."

A small smile flitted across her face as she recalled the time she did this to Sasuke, Sakura nodded.

"Sure." She said politely.

"Whew!" The man said, practically jumping into the seat opposite her, he gave her a large grin. "Thanks!" And she smiled hesitantly back. "And I'll try not to bother you now, I know my friend would murder me, figuratively speaking of course, well I hope actually, I don't know really. But he would kill me if I bothered him; or ignore me which would be the better option." He added as an afterthought.

"It's fine, I wasn't really concentrating on it anyway" Sakura assured him and was greeted once again with his large smile.

"Something troubling you?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"It's just - some small things really" Sakura replied, "Nothing important."

"That's a matter of opinion really." The man flashed her another smile. "Come on tell me your troubles!" Sakura stared at him wondering if he was attempting to be friendly or held some strange interest in her life. Either way it was slightly unnerving.

"To you?" She said in surprise. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound so..."

"Horrified?" He suggested.

"No it's just – tell my petty grievances to a random guy I just met and don't even know the name of, no thanks." Sakura said firmly expecting him to back off a little.

"In that case let me tell you my name!" The blond seize one of her hands.

"You don't have to, that's not exactly going to change anything we have just met and it's still really weird." Sakura started, panicking slightly, and he just grinned at her as she tried to pull his hand from hers. He seemed strangely amused.

"Well-" He started.

"I wasn't aware that you two knew each other." Someone interrupted to Sakura's intense relief. They both turned and Sakura gaped at the person standing next to them.

"Sasuke." Sakura squeaked. She took in his appearance and frowned, he wore a t-shirt and jeans which was highly unusual for late autumn and his checks were flushed pink from the cold wind. He turned his gaze on her and she realised that the stranger was still holding her hand.

"Um…" She said rather desperately, "You know this person?" With her free hand she pointed towards the man who was still smiling across the table from her.

"This lady was just going to tell me all her problems." The man said cheerfully, when Sasuke turned his stony gaze on him.

"No I wasn't." Sakura protested and Sasuke smiled slightly.

"Sakura, this is my friend Naruto" he said taking a seat "And I hope you've revised your opinion of his that he can't be that bad.'" Sakura looked at Naruto who was still grinning cheerfully at her from across the table, seemingly unperturbed by Sasuke's casual insult.

"Oh" She said as she made another unsuccessful attempt to yank her hand out of Naruto's grasp "nice to meet you I guess." Sasuke reached over and yanked Naruto's arm back so he was forced to let go of Sakura's hand.

"Thank you." Sakura said quietly to Sasuke. He spared her a brief glance before fixing his gaze on Naruto and Sakura tried to see if she could still move her fingers after the iron grip they had been subjected too.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked Naruto and Sakura suddenly felt uneasy as she wondered where this was going. Naruto sighed.

"I was looking for you."