Sasuke and Sakura strolled through the town together chatting away and catching up on what Sasuke had missed when Shikamaru found them, "hey! Sakura!" the pair stopped and turned around seeing an out of breath Shikamaru approaching them, "so it is Sasuke!"

"hn, of course, who else would it be?"

Shikamaru gave a small laugh before openly laughing at some unreasonable joy of having a cocky Sasuke talk to him again. "It's good to see you Sasuke!" he said clapping him on the back before turning to sakura again, "we're having a get together tomorrow. BBQ all the rookies of our time are going. Everyone's returned from missions or recovered. Kind of like, a reunion thing, you coming?"

"sure, I haven't seen everyone in ages!"

Sasuke looked to the side awkwardly feeling a little left out and out of the loop.

"you're coming too, right Sasuke?" Shikamaru watched him as he turned with a somewhat surprised look on his face that might or might not have turned into a genuine smile for a split second before turning to his uncaring mask, putting his hands in his pockets and looking away as if uninterested, he said, "sure, if I must."

Shikamaru gave a satisfied smile, "oh, and I told Jiraiya to tell Naruto about it, will you be okay with that?"

"hn, would it make a difference if I wasn't?"

Shikamaru took a moment to think, "…nope, not really"

"just as well then"

"okay then, well, I'll see you guys later then" with a casual salute of his first two fingers he turned around and strolled away lazily gazing up at his beloved clouds.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke slightly anxiously, "are you sure you're alright with this? I mean you two did just break up"

Sasuke looked down at the ground, "yea, I know. But I need to change and part of that means not being so clingy and… letting him be around other people without getting jealous. So, I might as well start as soon as possible. "

Sakura gave Sasuke an admirable look before grabbing a hold of his hand and dragging him down the road, "c'mon. lets go!"

"huh? Where?! Wha- Let go!" but his cries were useless as Sakura's super strength kept Sasuke's hand in her grip.

"how long has it been since you went out to eat?"

"…"

"exactly. Now let's go! I don't know about you but I'm hungry"

The two of them fell on Sasuke's couch with full stomachs and tired bodies. Sakura had insisted on dragging him around town as the nightlife started to kick in but by 8 o'clock, she had agreed to let him go home. They sat their silently, peacefully, as they allowed the events of the day to sink in. sakura thought that she had done a pretty good job f distracting Sasuke from thinking of Naruto, or at least, Sasuke did a good job of making it look that way. Sakura wanted to help Sasuke. She knew how happy he had been with Naruto (before he had become all over possessive and such) and she knew how in love they both were. A smile crossed her face as a plan formed in her head.

"yosh! Alright Sasuke, get ready for bed!"

"but it's only 8:30"

"it doesn't matter. Your going to need to be rested tomorrow."

"why?"

"tomorrow, we start operation: 'get Naruto and Sasuke back together!'"

"so quickly?"

"the sooner the better. It was good for you two to be together. you just need to return to your original self! Just… no too much like your original self…heh" she gave an awkward laugh and scratched the back of her head, "but anyway, the first step is so realise, that not everyone out there is after your boyfriend. Especially not your friends. Not all of your friends are gay Sasuke. some of them actually like boobs. Last time I checked, Naruto definitely didn't have boobs"

Sasuke pretended to shudder at the word 'boobs' and gave sakura a reassuring smile.

"you also need to remember. That Naruto most probably still loves you, at least, the earlier you… so he wouldn't even give anyone who was trying to steal him away from you a second glance! So, the way you need to show that you don't think everyone is out to steal your boyfriend, is to go the gathering tomorrow and leave him to talk to some people on his own and even have a conversation with him and other people as well. If the opportunity arises, tell him, 'I'm not giving up on you. I am an Uchiha after all, and Uchiha's don't give up, and they certainly don't lose… dobe' and then flash him your best Uchiha smirk. Got it?"

Sasuke nodded with a determined look on his face, even if he was slightly freaked out by the accurate performance and tone of voice the old Sasuke would speak in.

"alright! So, go to bed now and I'll be round tomorrow to make you breakfast and go through the plan more thoroughly. Right, well I'm off for the night then." She leant down and kissed Sasuke on the forehead before heading to the door, "remember. Bed. Now. Ja!" and with that the door closed behind her.

The house all of a sudden got very quite as Sasuke sat there not really knowing what to think. A part of him was waiting for Naruto to come up behind him and kiss his neck and tell him that they should go to bed. But he then remembered that Naruto wasn't his at the moment, and the most he would get tonight was when sakura had kissed him on the forehead. He suddenly felt great full for that little gesture and felt that he would have gone insane from deprivation if she hadn't done that.

Shaking his head slightly, he got up and got ready for bed. He slept on his side of the bed on his side and looked at Naruto's side of the bed. He stroked the pillow absentmindedly before grabbing a hold of it and holding it close to him. he could still smell Naruto's scent and a single tear fell down his check as he determinedly whispered, "I'll get you back Naruto. I'll make you love me again"

NB: I realise that my characterisation of sakura must have changed immensely from my previous chapters. I think that this story will be even worse than originally anticipated due to the probably constant characterisation change. But whatever floats your boat…