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x.

If there was something he has come to notice over the past few weeks, it was the increasing number of his nephew's sneezes and its growing frequency. During that night of restless sleep, he also became aware of the dust building on his bedside table. The ironic wonders of insomnia, huh?

At the cost of sleep deprivation he sees something irrelevant; though maybe it wasn't so as Chichi was also suffering from the neglect of his own abode. Sasuke sighed. Sakura would kill him if the boy gets sick during his watch. Not to mention, it might also cost him the custody of his only living relative.

Yes, he was aware that he couldn't rely on Sakura to raise his brother's child forever but he'd have to be responsible to do so.

As his train of thoughts go down that topic, he wondered how the young boy would grow parentless. Sure he'd be there as the uncle, but not as the father—this thought brought a pang in his chest. Sasuke remembered being the cost of the lack of parental guidance his nephew was going to experience as he grew older.

Not for the first time, Sasuke regretted being so blinded by all the lies orchestrated by everyone about him.

A deeper frown etched the young uncle's lips. How was he supposed to explain, when the time comes, to his nephew why he didn't have a father? Would he be able to stomach telling the boy how his brother eradicated their whole clan? And how in return, he exacted revenge by killing his older brother?

Somehow, the answer found its way to Sasuke in no time. There would be only one simple answer to the absence of his nephew's father:

"He fulfilled his duty as a Shinobi."

It would be as simple as that; no more further explanations. However, he knew he'd be obliged to tell his young nephew about the father he was robbed of and somehow, that thought brought a ghost of smile in Uchiha Sasuke's lips.

The smile didn't linger too long, though; for he was faced with another dilemma.

The mother.

The boy was bound to ask about her too, of course. And he had no idea who she was.

That woman was a mystery.

Well, he knew that woman had green eyes nearly identical to Sakura's though not quite so. Sasuke also had an inkling that the kunoichi he'd been seeing from his brother's memories could be the one.

There seemed to be two women though; both whom possessed green eyes, yet different hair colours.

One had crimson red, while the other had ebony black.

And Sakura's got pink hair, the ever annoying voice supplied, looks like you and your brother had a thing for green eyed women, huh? Runs in the family?

Sasuke growled lowly, as to not awake the young Uchiha sucking on his milk bottle. Why was it that no matter how hard he tried not to stray to thoughts of her, he still ended up thinking about her—as if she was consuming his mind?

Uchiha Sasuke could not believe how pathetic he was being; getting worked up over a girl he used to be able to read like an open book but no more.

The fact that the carefree, clingy twelve-year-old Haruno Sakura was now an enigma to him was disconcerting. He didn't even know where he stood in her life anymore or if he was standing anywhere at all. While they conversed and maintained a cordial atmosphere between them during their sessions and babysitting Chichi together, the rift almost half a decade's separation and a mutual attempt to kill each other caused seemed to be too great to be crossed over through a bridge—if it was even possible to build one between the incredibly big distance.

As his thoughts took another turn, he couldn't help but wonder why and how could possibly anyone who had declared their undying love for someone and offer everything all that they were... lose faith and betray that someone.

Then he thought about his older brother. Itachi assimilated the whole clan because they were a threat to the peace the village was living on; they tried to disrupt the harmony because they seek greater power. And Sasuke was sure his older brother loved the clan, having been dedicated to it.

Itachi killed the clan, their family, for the greater good; did this mean Sakura was going to kill him for the greater good too? Did he really fall that deep?

The answer was clear and evident as he recalled in such a clarity the feel of the soft skin of her neck grasped tightly around his fingers, his other hand snatching her kunai to use it to kill her.

A knock on his front door reverberated throughout the silence of his residence.

It was late, past midnight, and he wondered who it could've been when whoever was on the other side of his door spiked their chakra.

Suddenly, he wondered if by some chance he had somehow gained the ability to conjure his pink-haired (former) teammate merely out of his thoughts. After all, this wouldn't be the first time she'd appear on his doorstep while he was thinking about her.

After hastily making sure that the child was beleaguered with pillows so he wouldn't fall should he decide to roll around the queen-sized bed while his uncle was gone, Sasuke answered the door immediately.

Whatever thoughts he was having though flew out the door opened. The sight of her left him speechless. She was obviously just on her way home from her date—not that he thinks that his apartment was her home—as she was still wearing the glittering skimpy red dress she was wearing during her date.

When a pink eyebrow raised at his (obviously) dumbstuck expression, he snapped out of his daze.

After clearing his throat rather awkwardly, he moved to the side and motioned her inside.

"What brings you here?" it's late, he wanted to add but four syllables was too much even for him.

They arrived in his living room, where she had flopped down his couch. She had a faraway look on her eyes.

Neither spoke in a while, creating an awkward silence between them.

Sasuke only watched her as she finally pulled her lips into a thin line before speaking.

Green eyes looked up to him, and there was something that he couldn't fathom about the look in her eyes.

"Sasuke," she started, hesitating then she stood up, "never mind."

Even after the door closed, his eyes didn't find the will to.

.

.

.

The following morning, deprived of sleep and confronted with thoughts of a pink-haired woman who stumbled in his house only several hours before, Sasuke heard knocking on his door again.

Only he knew, it couldn't have been Sakura. Because even though she possessed unrivalled strength, she'd never pound on his door like that.

There was only one person who had the guts to pound on his door that loud.

The dobe.

At this knowledge, the Uchiha grudgingly approached his door to open it. Apparently though his supposed best friend had little to no patience and decided to the slam the door open.

"Sasuke!"

A pair of onyx eyes glared.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!"

A vein became visible on his forehead.

"Do you know what day is today?"

Silence.

"Oi, are you listening to me, teme?"

Sasuke, who had little tolerance to noise, couldn't stand the loudness of the Uzumaki, finally responded.

"What now, dobe?"

"Oh, you were listening? Great! Today is the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Shinobi Alliance. So I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with the guys tomor—"

"I'm still in probation," apparently that was the wrong answer because the grin on Naruto's face brightened even more. And his blue eyes shone in what seemed like mischief.

"So... does that mean you're going to go, if you're allowed to?"

With nothing else to say, because honestly, he was just being polite by not directly declining the invitation, he gave a typical Uchiha Sasuke response that was vague.

"Hn."

.

Seven hours later found Sasuke relieved of his babysitting duty as Sakura arrived during the afternoon to get Chichi to prepare for the celebratory festival but still on probation. As it happens, even Naruto wasn't able to convince the Hokage to allow him to go out—"punishment is punishment was what the old had told me! Can you believe it?"

Somehow, he was thankful for it. He honestly didn't want to go out and mingle with the villagers he almost killed the way his older brother massacred their clan. He also didn't want to take part in a celebration to which wouldn't be happening had he not seen the light.

Sasuke just contented himself inside his apartment, and seated by the window to watch the festivities from afar.

It was late; the sun had long since set and it was well into the night when he saw from his window. The festivities were long over after it ended with fireworks. So imagine his surprise when he caught sight of a pink-head—her hair was lit up by the street lamp she passed as she walked—through the dark streets of the village, pushing the navy blue trolley.

When he clandestinely followed her, he did not know what he was expecting but he wasn't expecting to be lead to a secluded corner of Konoha memorial during the middle of the night.

Sakura headed towards a a pair of erected rectangle stones standing next to each other.

He wondered why she'd be visiting a grave in the middle of the night

tbc.

note(s): so uhm, i'm not really happy with this chapter. it's very troublesome to the point of having to rewrite this for three times and i'm still not satisfied with it but i thought, hey the last time you updated was during Christmas and you promised your viewers a new year's chapter and it's almost sakura's bday—so i'm incredibly sorry for the long delay! and i'm quite desperate to finish this because i want to start a new one that is alternate universe (because the canon world makes me go crazy .)