Sakura hummed while she flowed chakra directly to Sasuke's optic nerve, the process nearly a habit at this point. She was still floating the high on her late night spent in bed with Shikamaru, who had shed his lazy demeanor strictly for her benefit.

"Sakura."

"Hmm?"

"Please stop looking so happy. It's disgusting."

She glared down at her patient, their faces inches apart. He wasn't smiling, but she could see a faint smirk lingering on his lips. She huffed, annoyed to be the cause of his amusement, but still happy he was acting more like a real person with emotions.

"This is just my face, Sasuke-kun. Surely you've grown used to it by now."

"I haven't had much of a choice otherwise."

Sakura pouted at him, her chakra not wavering as she said, "I'm hurt, Sasuke-kun. I thought we were friends."

He just stared at her, the smirk replaced by a studiously blank look. "We are friends." He was silent as she finished with his left eye for the day and withdrew her chakra for a moment. "Sakura, as a friend, would you do me a favor?"

She heaved a huge sigh, already wary of the direction this conversation was going. "I would love to just say yes, but you have a bad track record of proposing marriage. What's the favor?"

A muscle in his jaw ticked as he clenched his teeth and then let out a deep breath, clearly steeling himself. "Tell me … how do you know if you're interested in someone?"

Sakura sat down abruptly on her stool, too surprised to speak. He stared at her impassively from the exam table, awaiting her answer. Who is he and what has he done with Sasuke-kun? She nearly asked this aloud, catching herself at the last moment. "W-what? Do you have someone you like, Sasuke-kun?"

He looked up at the ceiling, avoiding her eyes. "I don't know. That's why I'm asking you."

How do you not know?! Sakura despaired inside her own head. Naruto would be better at this.

Her eyes widened at her own thought. Unless the person is Naruto. Sasuke-kun would never ask him these questions.

"Hmm, well. I mean, I imagine the little things are different for everyone. For me, it starts out with wanting to be with them all the time, no matter what we could be doing. Everything is better with the person you like by your side." She smiled, thinking of all the simple meals she shared with Shikamaru. "It could be as simple as grocery shopping or sparring-" she shot a look at Sasuke, who hadn't moved, but she could tell he was listening, "-or even performing really terrible D-Rank missions together." He looked over at her and she smiled softly at him.

"Is that it?"

"That's really the beginning and the end. The further you fall for someone, the more you want to be around them. But you also can feel anxious or tingly or even nauseated when you're around them too."

"Nauseated? This sounds more like a disease."

Sakura smiled behind her hand. "I guess I'm talking more about before you share your feelings. It's scary to keep all that bottled up not knowing if they will like you back." She grinned at him sheepishly. "Or if they'll just keep rejecting you constantly."

She could see the faint smirk back on his face. "Yes, that must sting." Sakura slapped his arm playfully and he grunted. She continued her lecture on romantic interest.

"Regardless, when you like someone, everything about them attracts you. I imagine that once you've been together for a long time, you find things about them that annoy you, but in the beginning even annoying things can be endearing."

"Like what?" He was listening intensely now and she thought maybe, maybe it is Naruto. Why else would he be interested in irritating habits that suddenly become charming?

Sakura drummed her fingers thoughtfully against the exam bed. "Like when Shikamaru falls asleep everywhere. That would just be really irritating if I kept trying to hang out with Kakashi-sensei or Naruto and found them asleep at the table." She shrugged. "But it's cute when he does it."

Sasuke scowled. "He falls asleep on your dates?" He seemed almost offended on her behalf, which Sakura found oddly sweet.

She waggled a finger at him. "He falls asleep before our dates, since I always seem to be late because of a certain troublesome patient of mine."

The scowl stayed in place. "Now you sound like him too."

"Side effect of spending a lot of time with the person you like. You adopt some of their traits." She looked at the time and internally checked her own chakra levels. She should have enough for another thirty minutes on Sasuke's eyes with plenty to spare for Kakashi, if she could track him down.

Sakura pushed back his long bangs as she laid her hand on his right temple. She connected to his chakra pathways easily, an intimacy that twelve year old Sakura would have been ecstatic to share with him. Now, she was just happy that she didn't have to concentrate so deeply to achieve the same result.

He was silent for a few long moments as she let her mind wander to how she would tackle the trouble of Kakashi's implant. "What about sex?"

She made a horrible noise as she struggled out of her own head and kept her hand steady only because she was an experienced medic. "What about it?"

"How do you know if you like know if you want to have sex with them or if you just like them?"

Sakura considered it. "Usually, one goes with the other, especially at our age. But you don't ever have to have sex with someone you're with unless you want to." She felt awkward giving Sasuke a talk about consent, but considering she had already handled his balls in a professional capacity, it was not actually the weirdest thing they had done together.

He snorted. "I know that. But how do you separate sex from other … feelings?" He closed his eyes as he asked and from her vantage point so close to his face, she could see the faintest tint of pink on his cheeks.

"Well, in my admittedly limited experience, it's better if they aren't separated."

"How so?"

She squinted at him doubtfully. "Are you just trying to get information on my sex life, Sasuke-kun?"

He tried for a falsely innocent tone, one that she suspected he had stolen from her. "Isn't that what friends do?"

"If I weren't trying to heal your eyes right now, I would hit you."

Sasuke breathed through his nose quietly. "I meant it. I don't understand how it could be better. You know what my experience was like."

"Yes, poor Karin. What is she doing now that you've come back?"

He shrugged one shoulder, seemingly unconcerned. "Last I heard, she and Suigetsu were together in Earth Country. That was before I arrived in Suna."

Sakura smiled. "You never were much of a letter writer."

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened and she thought that her poor heart couldn't handle all the shocks he was giving it this afternoon. "For what, Sasuke-kun?"

"For not being much of a letter writer. Naruto …" he trailed off at the name, considering his next words. "Naruto said you were upset by it."

Sakura laughed weakly. "It would have been nice to hear directly from you, but at least your messages to Naruto let me know you were alive."

"Hn." Apparently he had exhausted his word allotment for the time being, so she went back to thinking of ways she could find her former sensei and keep him in one place long enough to examine him. Maybe if I threaten to tell Gai-sensei how to get into his apartment? It was an extreme measure, but one she was willing to take if it meant that she could help Kakashi's constant chakra exhaustion. He was such a baby about hospitals. Men, honestly.

"Sakura, you never answered my question."

Now that sounds familiar. I am forever avoiding questions from you, Sasuke-kun.

"I know you're no gossip, Sasuke-kun, but I've never really talked about this with anyone. Not even Ino-Pig, though she surely would love to hear details." Sakura furrowed her brow. "Well, maybe not about Shikamaru. That's probably too close to home for even her. Maybe. She's a weird one, that girl."

"Sakura …"

"Fine, fine. Once upon a time, I had sex with a guy that I didn't really care all that much for and it was okay and that was it. I mostly did it to get it over with." She made a face at her own reasoning. "When I'm with Shikamaru, things are just … enhanced. Brighter. Everything feels like it's happening so much, to use a nonsensical phrase."

"Every time?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Are you asking frequency now? Maybe I was wrong about your gossiping habits, Sasuke-kun." He managed to stare at her balefully with his eyes closed, an impressive feat. "Yes, every time. I mean, we're not like an old couple by any means, so that's not surprising."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in her answer, something that seemed to surprise Sasuke a little, if she read his slight brow twitch correctly. She had spent the last two years slowly falling for Shikamaru, though it had taken forever for him to get the hint once she decided on her own that it was going to happen. She wasn't ashamed to admit it. Though now that I think of it, I'm not sure I've ever actually told him …

"How did you know?"

Sakura shrugged. "It's same as liking someone romantically, just a lot more intense. It's scary and exciting and you just want to give yourself, all of yourself, to that feeling." She removed her hand from his temple, fondly brushing his long hair back again. "It's pretty much the best thing in my life."

"Hn." He sat up and rubbed his eyes carefully and she ran him through his levels of Sharingan again, to see how the pathways held up against the last few weeks of treatment. Despite his more obvious sagging when the Mangekyo sapped him of chakra, all his optical circuitry remained intact.

"Well," she said, scribbling down notes in her extensive Sasuke file, "You are definitely no longer in danger of going blind. Several more treatment sessions and you'll be better than new."

"And then what?" Sasuke sounded … worried?

"Hmm? Well, we'll have to continue with monthly visits for check-ups, but other than that, your time is your own, Sasuke-kun." She tapped her pen against the clipboard. "I know the chakra seals must be driving you crazy."

"A year of sealed chakra was better than I expected."

"Me too," she admitted, softly. "I know of at least two Council members who were dead set on your execution. Still are, actually."

Sasuke sat rigidly on the exam table for a moment before sliding off to gracefully land on his feet. Sakura sighed in envy. No matter his power level, Sasuke had always moved like a dancer. It wasn't fair that he got to be so pretty and elegant.

"But Naruto and I are here for you. And Kakashi-sensei too. Take advantage of this second chance to do something you want to do, Sasuke-kun. Rather than something you feel like you have to do."

"And what is that?"

She gave into the urge to hug him, which he accepted stiffly, before pushing him toward the door. "That's something you have to figure out for yourself. Let me know if I can help." She slid the door open and walked him out, turning to lock it. "But no more proposals!"

Sakura watched her prey take the bait and crept up slowly, slowly, inch by inch, silent as the grave. Her quarry looked up suddenly, feeling a presence but not knowing where it was. She froze and then sprang her trap, who was actually her long-suffering boyfriend.

"Kagemane no jutsu!"

Kakashi looked defeated as he stood within Shikamaru's shadow, the newest signed Icha Icha dangling from his fingertips. "I should have known this was too good to be true."

Sakura bounded up to him with a wide smile. "You should really hide your weaknesses better, Kakashi-sensei. Think about if I were a real enemy." He muttered something beneath his breath and she was sure it was just compliments about her ambush skills.

"Are we going to stand here all day?" Shikamaru complained from his hiding spot behind a large oak tree.

"That's entirely up to you, Shika-kun. You're the one who trapped Kakashi-sensei."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Your implication won't work. I'm sure he knows who the real mastermind was." Sakura just blew him a kiss before turning to face Kakashi once more, who was trying to read the pages of his book where it had nearly slipped from his grasp.

"Sensei, I'll let you keep the book if you let me take a look at your eye. It's a good deal."

"Sakura-chan, I'm very busy today. And for the next, oh, forever."

She put her hands on her hips menacingly. "I will take that book away from you and so help me, if you don't agree to my deal I will have Shikamaru keep you here while I burn your collection."

Kakashi looked aghast at the very idea and Shikamaru was wearing a familiar pained expression that clearly stated he was very much against being used in this manner. Years of experience told her that Kakashi was clearly pouting under his mask and she grinned triumphantly.

"Fine. But not at the hospital!"

"I already told you that was okay, back when you agreed to do this the first time." She nodded at Shikamaru, who let his shadows recede. "We'll go to my place and I'll make dinner after."

"Eggplant?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, sensei. We can have eggplant." Sakura looped her arm through his, mostly so that he wouldn't try to escape. He would protested if he hadn't already opened his new book to read after she agreed.

Shikamaru stood by, feeling slightly awkward. When Sakura had asked for his help after leaving the hospital, he had not expected this. Though, knowing her as well as he did, he really should have. He was about to leave, when she used her free hand to tug him along with them. "Come on, Shikamaru. We'll all have dinner together. It will be like I have two handsome boyfriends."

He raised his eyebrows at that, feeling a weird spot of jealousy rise up in place of his awkwardness. "I didn't sign up for polygamy."

"No fun at all," she said, but squeezed his hand and smiled at him as she said it, loosening the knot in his chest. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Kakashi-sensei is saving himself for marriage." Shikamaru nearly choked on his laughter as the man muttered to himself again, this time about "disrespectful students and their accomplice boyfriends".

They made their way back to Sakura's apartment without further incident, though Shikamaru couldn't be positive Sakura's accidental grope on his ass was truly an accident. She smirked at him as she ushered Kakashi inside and he was then immensely sure it wasn't, not one bit.

He was so lucky.

Shikamaru waited comfortably in her familiar living room as she tended to Kakashi in the privacy of her bedroom. He wasn't actually jealous of her relationship with her sensei, he reasoned to himself. Just of their history. The bonds that form on a team and during life-or-death missions were not to be taken lightly and he knew that Sakura was closer to her former genin team than most people were. He had known that when becoming friends with her and he had known that entering in the relationship. So why did he still feel that irrational pull whenever they were around?

"Shikamaru?"

He was startled out of his thoughts by her quiet voice. "Done already?"

She shushed him and motioned them toward the kitchen. "I knocked him out. He doesn't sleep as much as he should."

Shikamaru stared at her incredulously while she grabbed a cutting board and knife for the eggplants she had purchased. "You knocked out Hatake Kakashi? How did you manage that?"

"Such little faith you have in me, darling." She waved the knife at him mock-threateningly. "I was connected to his chakra pathways directly, I could do anything to him I wanted. So I chose to put him to sleep."

"That's good information to have. I'll be sure to avoid it in the future."

She grinned wickedly at him. "You do most anything I want without it anyway." Shikamaru felt his cheeks grow warm, knowing she was right. He prepared the rice without being asked and then leaned against the counter and watched her drop the thick slices of eggplant into the hot pan, humming. Now was a good time.

"I love you."

"W-what?" Sakura nearly dropped her tongs and then whirled around, eyes wide.

Shikamaru couldn't back out now and really, he didn't want to. "I love you." She nearly tackled him before he could finish speaking, eyes sparkling and kissed him senseless. When he drew back after several long moments, breathless, she put a hand on his cheek fondly.

"Obviously, I love you too." She caressed his cheek and he kissed at her fingertips. "I swear, after the day I've had, my heart is going to give out with all these surprises."

"This was a surprise to you?"

She looked thoughtful and then shook her head. "Not your feelings. I was pretty determined to get you there eventually." She grinned at him, unrepentant at her manipulations. "But I wasn't expecting it here, in the kitchen while I make dinner."

"Is that bad?" Maybe he should have waited to make it special? Ino had always harped on about romance and flowers and candle-lit dinners, but he had tried to tune her out over the years. But Sakura deserved those things, if she wanted them.

She gave him another lingering kiss, warming him to his toes. "Nope, it was perfectly you, all the way down to telling me when my back was turned."

"Thanks, I think." She let go of him to tend to the food, adding a plethora of other ingredients before sliding it all into the oven. "So what other surprises did you have today?"

Sakura paused in the act of washing her hands and laughed. "You'll never believe it when I tell you ..."