Querencia

Chapter Fifteen

Just read, enjoy, have a good laugh or two. Have a tear slip here and there. Get mad at cliffhangers or late updates, and review. Even if it's just a one word review~

Sasuke had knew that their China business partner would attempt to play the role of a matchmaker between him and his daughter. And during the whole time, Sasuke had made sure not to over step his boundaries and anger the old man. But at this point, he was beyond annoyed because anyone with two eyes can definitely see that he's no longer on the market.

Lips pressed into a firm line, Sasuke placed a tender hand on the lower part of Sakura's back, giving her a slight nudge to step forward. His eyes stayed on the daughter for a moment longer before flicking over to the old man. "Actually, I have plans on showing my girlfriend around her new workplace." Tilting his head towards her direction, Sasuke continued, "Mr. Soto, Haruno Sakura. Sakura, Mr. Soto."

Taken aback by the sudden introduction, Teuchi had some trouble coming up with a reply. Thankfully, saving them all from an awkward moment of silence, his daughter sent him a glare, whispering harshly, "See Dad! I told you they were together, but you didn't believe me! I know business is important but I'm not going to be a homewrecker in the process."

At her choice of words, Sakura couldn't help but swallow her laugh beside him. He was close to doing the same, but he had a business facade to uphold. Clearing his throat, he bid the two goodbye before leading Sakura out of the elevator. They barely made it more than five steps out, when they heard the clicking sounds of a heels.

"Hey, sorry about that. My father can be a little… you know." Ayame said as she reached them. "Please don't take his actions to heart."

Smiling, Sakura waved her off. "It's not a problem. We get it a lot."

"Still," Ayame argued, "it doesn't mean that it should happen. Anyways, I should probably let you guys go and enjoy your time together. If you need anything, feel free to give me call. I can give you guys a tour of the city sometime too!"

After suggesting a few more things to do around in the city and what to eat, she finally left the couple to themselves as she walked back to where her stunned father stood.

As they moved closer to the cafe, Sakura couldn't help but say, "Well she's a lot nicer than I thought. That's certainly a first."

"Hn," Sasuke hummed in agreement as he stepped in line to order.

"She's not too bad. Maybe I can go shopping with her in my free time." Sakura smiled, linking her arms through his. "She's definitely not Ino, but I think that she'll do."

"So in other words, 'don't have a heart attack when you see the credit card bill Sasuke.'" He joked, eyes narrowing on her smiling lips in a knowing manner.

"Maybe," Sakura replied as she sent him a playful wink before stepping forward in the line and ordering something for the both of them.

.

As days into weeks, and then before the two of them knew it, they were already a month into their stay in the foreign country. And as they did so, their days consisted of nothing more but meetings and paperwork. Sasuke had the company to worry about while Sakura had her internship at one of their branch hospitals. Sightseeing and becoming tourists in the city were long forgotten ideas. They barely had time to breathe, much less to think about dates.

Locking the door behind him, Sasuke ran a tired hand through his hair before tossing his suit jacket over the couch. With a set of documents to review in his hand, he slowly made his way to their shared bedroom. Considering how late it was, he figured that Sakura would have gone to sleep by now.

Usually, their roles were quite opposite, with him coming home much earlier than her. Her hospital shifts, often times, would run late into the night. And each night, around the early hours of the morning, he would feel her slip under the sheets and wrap her arms around him, awakening him from his sleep with her warmth. But since lately, he's been staying much later at the office than normal.

Sasuke pushed the door open and found her curling into his side of the bed, sleeping soundly with her pink locks sprayed out all around her. Potato was resting at the foot of the bed, who open his eyes as he entered. After seeing it was just his owner, the pup went straight back to sleep. As he passed by, Sasuke bent down to give him an ear rub. He may be little but Potato was the perfect mini guard dog for them. Such a feisty thing in a cuddly body, very similar to the sleeping girl just a feet away.

Judging from the medical textbook that she had clutched in her hand, he guessed that she had to tried to stay up and wait for him to come home. Regardless of how many times he had fought with her on that issue, her stubborn self wouldn't accept it. With a light smile slipping onto his lips, he took the book out of her hands and set it aside on the nightstand before getting into the bed, pulling her close to his body. Resting his chin on the top of her head, he breathed her in, feeling his body relax immediately. The stress from the day dissipated completely. Mindlessly running his fingers through her soft locks, he began reading over the contracts that he brought home.

It wasn't until around an hour later that Sakura began to stir in his arms and stretching her arms in a rather ungraceful manner, accidently smacking him in the face in the progress. At the sudden contact, Sakura immediately rose from her sleep, gasping as she whipped her head around.

Abandoning the documents he was reading, Sasuke began to sulkily nurse his throbbing cheek. Eyes narrowing and with his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Well hello to you too."

Voice still heavy with sleep, Sakura exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! Sasuke! Are you okay? I'm so sorry." Quickly removing his hand and taking his face in her own, she began to inspect the damage. Seeing how it was just turning red from the hit and not appearing to bruise anytime soon, she withdrew her hands back into her lap and let out a sigh of relief. Adjusting herself in his arms, Sakura took notice of the stack of papers he had. "Rough day?"

"Hn, you could say."

"When did you come home?" Sakura asked as she looked up at his face. She assumed that it wasn't too long ago, based on the fact that he was still in his work attire.

"Maybe an hour ago."

Thumbing his black tie, she nodded. "I figured so." With one glance at the watch on his wrist, it read three o'clock. Sighing, she took the papers out of his hand and whispered, "You should get some sleep Sasuke."

"I will," Sasuke promised as he retrieved his papers, "once I finish this contract. I need it for the meeting in the morning."

"No, you need to go shower and sleep." Sakura argued, taking the papers back. "Not to mention you wake up early too. You can finish it then." Not letting him put in another word, Sakura began to push him out of the bed, ordering Potato to lead him to the bathroom.

Grumbling some incoherent words, Sasuke began to take off his tie and walked away with Potato tailing at his heels. Satisfied, Sakura made herself comfortable in their bed and closed her eyes.

.

"Sasuke! Why didn't you wake me up?"

He watched in amusement as the tiny flying blob of pink that he called his girlfriend run around in their apartment with one hand brushing her teeth and the other searching for an outfit to wear. Blowing on his steaming cup of black coffee, he took a sip out of it, saying, "Actually I did. Multiple times."

And he did. He even gave her an extra thirty minutes of sleep before attempting to get her out of bed. He had tried everything in the books; from soft coaxing whispers, good morning kisses, gentle tickles, to even promises of double chocolate chip pancakes. After she had threatened to kill him later that night in his sleep if he wouldn't let her rest, he gave up.

"Well, you should have tried a couple times more." She shouted back from the bathroom.

"I value my life too much to do that."

Trying to wake up a sleeping Sakura was equivalent to waking up a sleeping bear. The girl valued her sleep way too much. And with the long day that the both of them had ahead of them, he was not looking to set the girl off in a bad mood. Sasuke knew she would be mad at him for not waking her up, but it was better for her to be late than be grumpy and might he say, a little bitchy.

Sasuke scrolled through a couple of his emails as he heard her run by him in a rush before backtracking and shoving a hairbrush into his hands. "Put your phone down and help me out a little here, Sasuke."

Pressing his lips into a thin line order to prevent the snort that was about to escape, he accepted the job and got to working on taming her wild locks. As he did this, Sakura hastily straightened her outfit and clasped on her watch. After checking her reflection on his phone a couple more times, she turned around while he was in mid-brush, and asked, "So how do I look?"

"Beautiful."

Taking the brush out of her hands, her face flushed a pretty pink, coughing, "Okay, let's be modest here."

"I am." Sasuke smirked.

"Nuh-uh."

Sasuke took the brush out of her hand and set it on the counter before pulling her into his embrace. "You are. Now come here." With her waking up late, he hadn't gotten much of any time with her. Breathing in her freshly washed hair, he sighed in content as he felt her hands slip underneath his suit jacket, winding tightly around his torso. Just as the both of them began to get comfortable in each other arms, Sasuke's phone began vibrating, rather loudly, on the kitchen counter.

Taking a peek at it, he saw that it was his assistant calling. What a cock blocker.

Sakura couldn't help but let out a little giggle at his sour expression. Standing on her tippy toes, she gave him a soft peck on the lips, "Give the guy a break. He's just doing his job, Sasuke."

"And I would like a second with my girl without any interruptions." Sasuke countered with a frown. "But we can't have everything in life can we."

"No, we can't." Sakura laughed. Handling him all of his stuff, she started pushing him towards the door. "Come on, we have a meeting to get to. So, let's go. You can get your cuddles later."

{A/N}: My boyfriend started to nag me about updating my stories and publishing the ones that have been in draft mode since forever... so here's the long awaited chapter. Lots of fluff to make up for my absence. After finals, I just wanted to relax so I didn't update as much as I had wanted too. Not to mention, work got pretty hectic as well. But I am back! So do look forward to updates and new stories.

As always, remember to leave me a review of what you think!

Thank you to: Someone, Emily da great, Larshapeach, Shannon Rei D. Sumner, PeePeeroni, ILoveSxS, SilG, BookWormFT, misssbehavin, chizuruyamamoto, moonluver92, LuminaJu, Jeshimashe, kissandwink, and multiple guest anons.