Chapter Six

Two weeks without a mission. Sasuke trains, sweeps his apartment, and hectors the Hokage to change his mind. Naruto remains firm, however, and tells him to go away before he makes it three weeks. So Sasuke practices his kenjutsu and polishes his already shining furniture. By the third day he's bored of throwing shuriken at wooden posts and there's nothing left of his home to clean.

So when Sakura shows up on his doorstep and asks for a favor, he's ready to agree as long as it gives him something new to do.

"Come in," he says. She follows him inside and treads carefully across his floor, clearly conscientious of the recently mopped surface. Sakura always holds herself so rigidly when she's in his house, like she's afraid of dirtying something.

They take seats in his living room—she on the sofa, Sasuke in the lone armchair—and he asks, "What's this favor you need?"

"It's my student," she says. "Izumi is a fire type, but I really don't know any katon jutsu. I was hoping you might teach her your fireball technique."

This isn't quite what he imagined Sakura meant when she said she needed his help. He leans forward, closer to her, elbows on his knees. "It's advanced for a genin, and it requires a lot of chakra."

"Don't worry there." Sakura crosses her legs, and for a moment he follows the movement of her slim, white thighs. Sasuke forces himself to look above her neck, but the sight of her pretty eyes and pink mouth is really no less distracting. "Izumi's greatest strength is her ninjutsu, and she's got incredible chakra reserves. If she had red hair I'd think she was an Uzumaki."

"I don't like working with children," he says flatly. This is true, but there's more to it. He wants to avoid taking responsibility for the welfare of young shinobi. And he has no interest in molding and teaching genin the way Kakashi tried—and failed—to do with him.

Sakura's shoulders slump and her expression, so animated a moment ago, falls. Every part of her seems to wilt, but her voice sounds strong and sure when she asks, "You won't do it then?"

"I won't teach her," Sasuke says. "But I will teach you, and you can pass it on to your student, if that's what you want."

Those pretty eyes widen, and he takes some small satisfaction from catching her off-guard. "Me?"

"Yeah, you. Is that a problem?"

"No," she says, quickly. "It's just, well, fire isn't my nature type-"

"A shinobi must adapt to unfavorable circumstances," he says. Some gem of ninja wisdom imparted by Iruka during their Academy days.

Sakura smiles and a dimple wakes in her left cheek. "Fine then, I'm yours to command, sensei."

It's a joke, of course, but something about her words, light and playful though they are, put him on edge. Perhaps because, under other circumstances, Sasuke knows exactly what sorts of things he would like to order her to do.

"When do you want to start?" Sakura asks.

He stands and says, "Now."

They find a training area with wide, open spaces and a pond for her to practice over. First, he teaches Sakura the hand signs (horse, tiger, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger), and she copies each one as quickly as he shows it to her. Then he explains the basic steps, as his father once told him: build up your chakra, focus it to a point in your chest, and bring it up through the throat and out the mouth.

"That part is simple enough, but mastering this jutsu is less about precision and more about fortitude and force, so it might give you trouble," Sasuke warns.

"Have you seen me smashing boulders?" Sakura asks. "I can do fortitude and force too."

He refrains from mentioning that her strength, for all its impressive appearance and destructive efficacy, is still based in masterful chakra control, and the skills it takes to accomplish are counter to the katon jutsu she's about to learn. She knows as much anyway.

Sakura stands on the edge of the bank, performs the seven hand signs swiftly and fluidly, takes a deep breath, and exhales a flaming sphere four or five feet in diameter. It hovers over the pond, hot enough to make the water steam, for a full thirty seconds before dissipating.

"I did it!" Sakura says. "It wasn't as big as the ones I've seen you make, though."

"It's a good start," Sasuke says. She did well, especially for someone with the wrong elemental affinity.

He corrects her stance— "Brace your feet further apart, like this" —and steps back and watches her. At first she struggles, but the size of the jutsu increases marginally with each attempt, and within a few hours she has summoned a fireball that even his father wouldn't have sneered at.

"You've got it," he says. Sasuke feels an odd sense of pride, even though this isn't his own accomplishment.

Sakura smiles and says, "Thank you, Sasuke-kun. Kakashi-sensei told me this technique was a coming of age rite for your clan, so I really appreciate that you shared it."

Strangely, it doesn't bother him to show the Uchiha's signature jutsu to someone outside of his family. At least, it doesn't bother him to show it to Sakura. He trusts her, as much as he can trust anybody, and she will use it respectfully.

"Oh, there's something you should probably know." She sighs and says, "Naruto is throwing you a surprise party for your birthday."

Sasuke puts his hands in his pockets. "It's not much of a surprise anymore," he says.

Sakura laughs. "Well, I thought if I gave you a heads-up, you might not kill our Hokage."

She thanks him again and says goodbye. Sasuke watches her leave, the Haruno circle on the back of her shirt as familiar as the girl herself. And he has the stray thought, as Sakura walks away, that the Uchiha crest would suit her.

It's seven-thirty, Sakura just finished her shift at the hospital, and she has half-an-hour to get ready. She showers, considers applying make-up, decides against it, and changes clothes twice. First she puts on the blue dress she wore in Suna, but it feels too formal. Then she tries a green blouse and grey skirt, which looks nothing short of homely when she glances in the mirror. She settles on her black dress, a knee-length number that shows off her back.

She convinced Naruto to change the venue of Sasuke's party from a dive bar to Tsukino's, a calmer, more traditional establishment where people can eat decent food and drink liquor that won't make them go blind. Sasuke's twenty-third birthday falls on a Saturday, so the place is busy when she arrives (five minutes late, toes already hurting in too-high heels).

Team 10 sits at the bar, the three as united in drinking as they are on the battlefield. Sakura taps Ino on the shoulder, and when her friend turns around she says, "Oh, I'm so glad you didn't wear the blue dress. It reminds of that awful smock you used to run around in when we were genin."

Ino's outfit is too predictably fantastic for Sakura to disparage her attire, so she says, "Thanks, Pig," with as much sarcasm as she can muster. "Have you seen Sasuke?"

Ino knocks back a shot of something. "Not yet. I don't think he's here. Frankly, I'll be kind of surprised if he shows."

Sakura has already considered this possibility, and if Sasuke doesn't arrive within fifteen minutes she plans to go to his apartment and drag him to Tsukino's whether he likes it or not. She won't let him skip his own birthday party. Especially when Naruto invited half the village.

She finds Hinata with her sister, sipping the primmest alcoholic beverage Sakura has ever seen.

"Come on, buy me a drink," says Hanabi. "I'm a ninja, who cares how old I am?"

"I do," Hinata says, with firm but gentle patience. She smiles when Sakura takes a seat at their table. "Hi. Are you looking for Naruto-kun?"

"No, just good company." And a view of the door so she can see if Sasuke comes in. "How's Kushina?"

Hinata's smile widens, polite greeting replaced with motherly pride. "Growing like a weed. She's a good baby, sleeps through the night and she's already laughing all the time. Everyone says she takes after me, but I think her disposition is all Naruto-kun."

"I agree," Sakura says. "And if that's the case, she's going to be a handful as soon as she learns to walk."

Hinata nods somewhat tiredly.

The door opens, and Sakura looks up, hoping to see Sasuke, but it isn't him. It's Taro.

Did Naruto invite every jounin in Konoha to this party? Does Sasuke even know Taro? Sakura still isn't sure if they met that day at her apartment. If they had, neither man has mentioned it.

Taro sees her, smirks, and walks over to her table. "Can I buy you a drink?" he asks.

"Sure." Sakura says goodbye to Hinata and Hanabi and follows Taro to the bar. She orders plain sake (no more peach flavor, not ever again). They sit, drink, and talk about trivial things. When he tries to put his hand on her thigh, Sakura brushes it aside and says, "Not here."

"Why not?" he asks.

She sips her sake and crosses her legs. "Everyone is here, and I don't want to advertise that I'm fucking you." This is mostly the truth.

Taro, sleepy-eyed and shrewd, says, "Is it everyone you're worried about, or Sasuke?"

Sakura laughs, maybe a bit too lightly to sound genuine. "Why would I care about that? Besides, Sasuke isn't even here yet."

"Isn't he?" He nods toward the entrance, and Sakura turns so fast that Taro laughs. Sasuke, of course, is nowhere to be seen.

Ino's right, he really is a bastard.

"Funny," she says. "Really funny, Taro."

He gives a lopsided grin, half arrogance and half amusement. "I'm a funny guy."

Shouts of "Happy birthday!" go up all across Tsukino's, and this time Sasuke is actually there. So handsome it almost hurts to look at him. For some reason, he frowns when he sees her, and Sakura wonders if it's because she's sitting next to Taro. Does that make him jealous?

She waits until the crowd around Sasuke thins to approach him. Well-wishers go back to their food and drink, all but Naruto, who claps him on the shoulder and says, "It's a good party, right Sasuke! I even invited—"

"All of the Leaf." But he smiles a little as he says this. "I'm surprised you could find this many people who don't hate me."

"Nobody hates you!" Naruto says, but Sakura can tell his lying voice from his honest voice and she's sure Sasuke can too.

All he says is, "Hn."

"Hey, Sasuke-kun," Sakura says. "Happy birthday."

He nods. When Naruto wanders off to play a drinking game with Tenten and Lee, Sasuke says, "This is too much fuss. Why did he invite so many shinobi?"

"Because Naruto's idea of happiness is proportional to the number of people who approve of you?"

Sasuke takes in the packed room and says, "I need a drink."

"Let me get it for you," Sakura says. "You shouldn't be buying your own liquor on your birthday. It's some kind of universal rule, I think."

"And take you away from your boyfriend?" Sasuke asks. "He might be offended."

"Taro isn't my boyfriend."

"Your lover then." The look he gives her is hard, unflinching, and it pisses her off.

"I know you're not going to judge me for sleeping with someone I'm not dating. That would be hypocritical, and you're not a hypocrite, are you, Sasuke?" He's had sex with women before, none of them serious, none of them girlfriends.

Sasuke shrugs and says, nonchalant, "I don't really care who you screw."

"Right." Sakura steps closer, so close that they're nearly touching, and she almost expects him to push her away, but he doesn't. All she can hear is music and the chatter of too many people in too small a space, and all she can see is Sasuke. Tall, blank-faced, forbidding, but still beautiful. He glances away, and it's this small hint of nervousness that bolsters her courage. She says, "I know you're lying. You do care who I fuck. Maybe because you wish it was you."

He doesn't deny this, just keeps staring pointedly at a place over her right shoulder, and Sakura's heart beats faster, harder, because now she's sure she isn't making a fool of herself. She's right. Sasuke might not love her, but he does want her.

"I'll go home with you if you ask," Sakura says. "All you have to do is say something."

She turns around and, without looking back, returns to her seat at the bar.

He drinks with Naruto. A bad idea, because Sasuke is the lightweight of Team 7 and the jinchuriki's tolerance is legendary. He's careful to stop after three cups of shochu, and he orders a bowl of steamed rice to follow his liquor. While Sasuke eats, Naruto keeps going, and after two bottles of sake he starts reminiscing.

"Hey! Hey, Sasuke! D'you remember that time I used the reverse harem jutsu on Kaguya? I thought her nose was gonna start bleeding, she was so surprised." Naruto sniggers and bangs his fist on the table.

Sasuke takes a bite of rice, swallows, and says, "It was a stupid idea. I can't believe I agreed to it."

Naruto smacks him on the back, and Sasuke resolves to punch him the next time he does this. "We were desperate. And it wasn't a stupid idea. It worked, didn't it?"

Sometimes Sasuke has difficulty believing that in another life, he and Naruto were brothers. This is one of those times. He shakes his head.

Sakura sits at the bar. The dress she's wearing dips low in the back, and he can see the twin curves of her shoulder blades, the line of her spine. Tousled pink hair falls below her chin, and he remembers its softness from that night in Kyobetsu. She laughs at something Taro says and leans nearer to him. The other man reaches out and catches her chin playfully. Sasuke ignores this, eats his rice, pretends to listen to Naruto's prattling.

She invited him into her bed. He just has to tell Sakura he wants her.

Still, Sasuke isn't sure if he should do this. She loves him—at least, she says she does, and with one notable exception, she has never lied to him. Sakura loves him, and he does not love her back. It could ruin their friendship if they sleep together and she regrets it.

But Sakura is a grown woman and a strong kunoichi, and she doesn't need anyone to look out for her. He should trust that she knows her own mind and wouldn't agree to anything she can't handle.

Hinata comes up behind Naruto and steals his sake. She drinks it, sets the empty cup on the table, and smiles at them so demurely that if Sasuke hadn't seen her thievery with his own two eyes he wouldn't have believed it.

Naruto laughs and says, "Get your own, Hinata-chan."

Sasuke likes his best friend's wife. He and Hinata don't talk much, but they understand one another. They both come from old, proud clans, and they were both the second-best siblings whose stern fathers never let them forget their inadequacy. Forever in the shadow of a stronger sister, Hinata worked to better herself, and Sasuke knows only too well what this is like. So when she wishes him a happy birthday, he says, "Thank you," and means it.

"Can I borrow my husband?" Hinata asks in that quiet way she has.

"Please," Sasuke says. "Take him away."

Naruto calls him an asshole, but he smiles as he says it, and goes off somewhere out of sight with his wife.

Sakura continues to flirt with her lover and Sasuke considers ordering another cup of shochu. She glances his way—watching him the same way he's watching her—and suddenly he's had enough. He stands, walks to the bar, to Sakura.

"It's the birthday boy," Taro says, and he raises a cup of some liquor in Sasuke's direction. He doesn't particularly appreciate being called "boy" by a man who is no more than three or four years his senior, but Sasuke lets it go.

He says to Sakura, "I need to speak with you. Alone."

She nods, wide-eyed, says her goodbyes to Taro, and leaves Tsukino's with him. It's raining outside, a light shower that cools off the summer night, and they keep under the eaves, close to the building. Sakura stands a deliberate distance from him and asks, "What is it you wanted to say?"

Sasuke closes the space between them, tilts her chin up, and presses a kiss to her cheek. So near to her mouth that he can almost taste her, but not quite, and he understands that, whatever happens afterward, sometimes you have to grasp what you want for the simple sake of quelling desire. Because if he is honest with himself, Sasuke knows he has wanted Sakura for years, and if he doesn't have her he may go on wanting her for a long time.

He pulls away, and she looks dazed. Eyes heavy-lidded, lips slightly parted, as if opening for a kiss that didn't come. Sakura touches her cheek, fingers tender, reverent, and he imagines that she is tracing the impression of his mouth. Capturing a tactile memory before the warmth of it fades.

"Go home with me," Sasuke says.

Rain falls harder, slides off the roof like a waterfall a foot from them, and splashes onto the street. Lightning flashes, blue-white and brilliant, and thunder follows. Sasuke listens to the brewing storm and waits for her answer.

Sakura takes a shaky breath, and then she says, "Yes."

Author's Note: Thanks again to tall-girl-in-small-world, my beta, for proofreading and reviewing this chapter. I also want to tell all the people who are reviewing how much I appreciate their feedback. It really bolsters my confidence in this story and makes me want to write more every time someone leaves a comment. So thank you so much!