CHAPTER 14

When Sakura opened her eyes, her first thought was that she really should stop waking up in unfamiliar beds.

But she knew whose bed this was – this scent, which she had no way of describing, could only belong to one surly Uchiha by the name of Sasuke.

He gave me the bed?

Somehow, Sakura couldn't picture Sasuke sleeping on the couch in his own home. She wondered why he didn't just let her sleep on the couch instead – or on the floor of the foyer where she had fallen asleep, for that matter, since the boy clearly wasn't exactly her biggest fan at the moment.

Kakashi, Genma, Sasuke. All these men had some weird, internal code of chivalry when it comes to where a girl should sleep, it would seem.

How unexpected.

It was still quite early. A glance at the clock told her that it was a little after 6:30 a.m. It was nowhere as early as she would have liked it to be, considering that she was definitely late for work, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

Sakura didn't want to leave the bed yet. It was warm and cozy, and she was still tired.

Then she heard the sounds of water coming from the direction of the bathroom. Sasuke must be in the shower, she thought idly. She would have loved to go back to sleep, but she knew that if she did, she'd be even later for work.

After a few minutes, she finally mustered up enough energy to get out of bed, and as she did so, she looked around the room while stretching her arms. She had not seen Sasuke's bedroom since he had moved in.

It was, in a word, neat. It looked like a hotel room – arranged, simple, and impersonal.

But then again, who was she to judge? Sakura's own room didn't look vastly different from Sasuke's in that it, too, didn't look lived-in, since she almost never went to it if she could help it.

Lost in her thoughts, Sakura opened the sliding door that led to the living room.

And ran smack into Sasuke's bare chest.

"Ow." She muttered. "Sorry, Sasuke." She hadn't even realized that the sound of him showering had ceased.

She looked up at Sasuke. Sakura was a petite girl, and Sasuke had grown to be almost as tall as their sensei. He now towered over her 5'2 frame easily – he was probably a little over an entire foot taller than her.

Having just come out of the shower, his hair was dripping water, and he had a small towel thrown over it. He also had a towel tied loosely around his waist.

The rest of him was unclothed and wet.

The twelve-year-old Sakura would have been blushing an interesting shade of red at this situation, but the nineteen-year-old medic simply regarded Sasuke's frame with the clinical interest of a doctor. She was rather pleased, yet surprised, to see that Sasuke wasn't quite as lanky as Kakashi. Kakashi sometimes tended to give Sakura the vibe of an overstretched teenager who had shot up a foot vertically overnight. Sasuke's physique, on the other hand, appeared well-balanced enough to satisfy the doctor in Sakura.

She moved away from the door frame, and leaned against it as Sasuke wordlessly went over to his closet.

"And sorry for putting you out last night, too." Sakura called out to his back. Are you still mad at me for no reason?

"Hn."

Typical.

"You didn't have to give me the bed." She paused. "Especially since you're mad at me for… Kage knows what."

Sasuke turned around to her direction and raised his eyebrow at her.

"Hey, you were peeved with me even before I broke your hand, so don't even give me that look." Sakura said defensively. Heaving a sigh, she crossed her arms. "Why are you so mad at me? I apologized for everything. You've never given a shit what I do, so what could I possibly have done to piss you off?"

To her satisfaction, she saw surprise in Sasuke's face. He probably didn't think that she would ever be so blunt with him.

"I'm not mad at you." He finally said gruffly.

"You were," Sakura insisted, "don't lie to me."

"Why would I be lying?"

"I don't know, Sasuke, that's the whole point of this very conversation." She rolled her eyes. "But whatever the reason, if you're not going to tell me, can you just find a way to get over it yourself? I obviously can't help with it if I don't know what the fuck I did, and I'm not really interested in continuing this for the rest of my life."

They stood in silence while holding each other's gaze. When Sakura saw that Sasuke was definitely not going to speak, she spat out a foul word and sighed again. "Whatever, Sasuke. Thanks for letting me use your bed. See you tonight. Open the door this time."

"No Genma tonight?"

What?

Sakura stared at Sasuke, pausing mid-step. "Why would I be with Genma?"

"You were two nights ago." Sasuke countered quietly.

"Yeah, but it's not like I see him daily or anything." Something clicked in Sakura's brain then. "Wait. Did his bunshin say something to you that night?"

Sasuke said nothing, but Sakura could tell that something was up. "He did, didn't he? What did he say?"

"Nothing."

"Sasuke." Dear Kami, why did everything with Sasuke have to feel like pulling teeth? "Please tell me so I know whether to kill him or not. It would be quite tragic to be murdered unjustly."

"He didn't say anything, Sakura."

Sakura watched Sasuke very carefully.

"Sasuke," she cocked her head to one side, "does it bother you that I was with him?"

"No."

Silence ensued for a moment.

"Nothing happened with him, Sasuke. I haven't seen him in a while, so we went to dinner. That's all."

"Then why did your hair smell like him?"

Sasuke realized, too late, that the words had flown out of his mouth.

Idiot, he chastised to himself.

Sakura looked incredulous. "What?"

"Forget it," Sasuke turned around to face his closet. He had just realized, with vague irritation, that he was still just wearing a towel.

Sakura moved closer to him and took him by the wrist. "No." She looked up into Sasuke's dark eyes. "Sasuke, do you think that I'm sleeping with Genma?"

Sasuke tried to shake her hand off of his wrist, but to no avail. Sakura's grip was firm.

"No, listen. Listen to me, Sasuke. I am not sleeping with Genma. Kami."

Sakura couldn't believe that Sasuke would think that she was sleeping with Genma. Moreover, why would that change his behavior toward her?

"Why do you care whether or not I sleep with Genma, anyway?" She laughed bitterly. "I can't believe you were mad at me for such a stupid, inconceivable reason."

"Why did your hair smell like him." Sasuke said quietly.

Sakura avoided his eyes as she spoke. "Because I got drunk at dinner and he took me to his place when I passed out… and I took a shower there in the morning." She could practically feel his eyebrows going up at this statement. "But that doesn't mean I slept with him, especially since I'm telling you that I didn't." She added emphatically.

She dropped his wrist and turned toward the door again. "Well, now that that's done, I'm going to work. I'll see you later."

Sakura left the bedroom, and a few seconds later, Sasuke heard his front door close softly.

Mere seconds after Sakura exited, Sasuke walked over to his bed and sat on the edge of it, putting his elbows on top of his knees and burying his face in his hands.

Why do you care whether or not I sleep with Genma, Sakura had asked.

Sasuke didn't know why.

He just knew that he cared, despite his best attempts not to do so.

And he didn't like that he was caring about it.

God, she was as annoying as ever.

Kakashi visited the cenotaph every morning. Sakura knew this, and, therefore, she knew that the former sensei wouldn't be in his apartment – which was why she decided to take a shower there before going to work.

As she reached for the shampoo, she paused, remembering Sasuke's words from earlier.

In romance novels that she used to read as a daydreaming pre-teen, she knew that this was the part where she should jump around with joy that she finally got a boy to pay attention to the little things like the change in the scent of her hair.

But she wasn't that girl anymore, and her life was not a romantic novel. Their conversation from earlier probably didn't mean much, at the end of the day.

She was now old enough to know that she had never actually been in love with Sasuke. She was a little obsessed with him, maybe, when she was younger, but all those years of wanting to get Sasuke back to Konoha was largely out of the fact that he had been her teammate and friend.

She cared for him, yes. He was important to her because her team, Team 7, was important to her.

But she was not in love. She only loved him in the same manner that she loved Naruto, Kakashi, or any of her other friends.

Moreover, she had no desire to be in love with him.

Being in love – actually being in love, not like what she had felt when she was twelve – with Sasuke Uchiha would surely drive anyone to an early grave.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thank you SO much to everyone who left reviews! I wasn't sure that I should go on with the story or not, but you guys are so so great and given me motivation. Please continue to leave comments if you enjoy the story :) Also, check out my other story, Paradox, if you have time, and I'm also working on starting another story as well - the only reason it hasn't been uploaded is because I can't really think of a fitting title for it yet, LOL.