Chapter 8: Replacements and Rearrangements
"Hey".
Sakura jumped a little as Sasuke took a seat beside her, at their usual spot on the platform.
"Hello there," she replied after a moment and gave him a casual smile; as if his voice hadn't made her heart skip a beat, or seeing that face after so many days hadn't taken her breath away.
She closed the fat book spread across her lap with a deep thud before turning her face to take a good look at Sasuke. The puffiness of his eyes indicated that he had just been up from a deep slumber, but the dark circles under them suggested that it wasn't nearly long enough. He was probably overworking himself again, missing meals and sleep, spending more time in front of his computer than anywhere else.
And still, he managed to look like a greek God.
Damn it. Not again! Sakura inwardly berated her thoughts.
Well. . . lately, she often found her thoughts steering towards Sasuke more than she'd like to admit. Sakura found herself wondering about Sasuke's sideways smirk everytime she saw that cute guy on the commercial smiling at the tv screen, she thought about Sasuke's jet black hair everytime she came across any brunette. . not that anyone was anywhere close to Sasuke, his hair was undeniably the silkiest and shiniest Sakura had ever seen, a fact that was both fascinating and frustrating to admit, since Sasuke definitely didn't spend as much time picking out shampoos and conditioners as Sakura had to. . and yet she had such rough hair. .
"God. What the hell does he use on that hair?"
"What?"
It was only after Sasuke's query that Sakura realized that she'd spoken that last remark out loud.
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Sakura quickly hid her face behind pink bangs and reopened the fat book to look at the pages intently. "I was just thinking out loud about this thing about this disease and you know. . the symptoms and stuff. . . well! So how was your day?"
Even if Sasuke was amused by Sakura's over-enthusiasm, he said nothing about it. "Okay."
Sakura smiled, recovering from her earlier blunder, and closed the book again. "How's everything at work?
Sasuke only gave out a tired groan in reply. And once again Sakura thought,he's adorable.
"That bad?" she asked, ignoring the butterflies waltzing in her stomach again.
"Horrible". Sasuke said before rubbing his eyes vigorously. "Kakashi is desperate to hand stuff over to me so he can get back to Konoha as soon as possible. Today is my first break in the whole month", he finished with a sigh.
"And obviously, you spent it sleeping." Sakura chuckled, before adding quickly, "and rightly so. You look like a vampire, Sasuke, and NOT the pretty ones."
"There are 'pretty' vampires?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Sakura looked away blushing, before muttering under her breath, "Not my fault you don't read novels."
Sasuke managed a smirk.
"Anyways," huffed Sakura, "seriously. What's going on with you? I haven't heard anything from you ever since Naruto left."
Another sigh. "I'm fine."
Sakura didn't know whether she should push for more. He already seemed agitated. But then . . she somehow got the feeling that he wasn't going to snap at her. Not yet, atleast. So she tried again.
"Where are you staying now? Naruto said you were about to leave the dorm last month."
"I got an apartment on rent. It's closer to the office."
"Sasuke, that's great! Why didn't you tell me?" the question slipped Sakura's mouth before she could stop it. She blushed furiously. "I mean, not that you had to. .I'm just surprised. . I thought you'd be subletting with one of your colleagues or something. ."
"I would, but I didn't have time to come out here, or your number." Sasuke said before she could ramble on any further.
"Oh." Sakura smiled and inwardly, rolled her eyes. Ofcourse, it'd be too much for Sasuke to go through the trouble of asking Naruto for her number.
"Anyhoo, Congrats!" she almost yelled. "This is big! New job, new place! Oh c'mon. Don't make that face! You should celebrate, Sasuke!"
"And I though life would be quieter with Naruto gone."
"Haha. Very funny." Sakura made a face.
After that they slipped into a comfortable silence. Sakura wondered if she should open her book again, but decided she wasn't in the mood to read anymore.
"So where's your apartment then?" she asked, hoping she wasn't coming off as nosy or anything.
"Kenji street." Sasuke replied.
"Really?" Sakura was startled. "That's like… walking distance from our hospital!"
"Yeah." Sasuke just shrugged. "I guess."
The sun had almost set. Sakura looked at the beautiful crimson sky and sighed. She'd never get bored of this view.
This time it was Sasuke who broke the silence.
"What's new with you?" he asked casually.
Sakura was a bit taken aback. Sasuke rarely showed any interest in her life. It was always her bombarding him with all sorts of questions. But she replied just as casually.
"Well. Not much. Exams are coming up again. So I've been busy as well." She yawned. "This is actually my break in quite a long time too. Tsunade granted me the day off to collect notes and stuff. You know, to start preparing for the exam."
"Hn." Sasuke fell silent again.
Suddenly, Sakura looked at Sasuke, smiling. He looked back.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Give me your cellphone." She said, a hint of mischief in her voice.
"Why?" Sasuke asked, even more confused.
"Just give it." She told him impatiently.
"What the…" Sasuke rummaged in his jacket pocket before dropping the phone on Sakura's outstretched hand, "..here."
A few moments later Sakura returned the phone. "There. I saved my number on your phone. So form now on, whenever you have any exciting news, like getting a new apartment, you can tell me." She said before adding quickly, "If you want to, ofcourse."
Sasuke smirked, putting the phone back in his pocket. "I doubt I'll have any other exciting news anytime soon."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "It doesn't have to be exciting really. With Naruto gone, I'm guessing you're out of friends here. And frankly…so am I." she finished with a sigh. "This is just so you can call someone in case anything comes up."
Sasuke looked at her. He could hear a sudden gloom in her voice. Somehow, he felt it didn't suit her.
Sakura remained silent as he walked her to her hostel before heading back to his apartment.
Sasuke sighed as he entered his empty apartment. He liked this place. It was perfectly suited for him, with one big bedroom, a small living room, even a moderate guest room. The rent, although a little over his budget, was quite reasonable. Being on the 5th floor allowed plenty of light and air to enter, which, combined with the spaciousness of the apartment, was welcome to Sasuke after years of living in the small congested dorm room.
As Sasuke entered the bedroom and fished out some pajamas from his suitcase that carried all his clothes-he hadn't had a chance to buy any furniture yet-he couldn't help but think about the dorm, or more particularly, his last few days at the dorm.
As expected, Naruto didn't take the news of Sasuke's staying in Sound lightly. He was visibly happy for his friend, when Sasuke first broke the news to him, but gradually his expression changed into one of concern.
"Teme, are you sure about this?" Naruto asked, with a serious look on his face that was so rare for him.
Sasuke took a moment's pause before replying, "Yeah. This is the best option."
"But…" Naruto hesitated for a moment. Then, choosing his words carefully, asked, "Are you really doing this because it's best for you, or because you want to avoid going home?"
Sasuke took a deep breath. He knew Naruto would ask this question, just like his own mother had. The dobe knew him all to well.
So he gave him the same reply he'd given his mom. "I'm doing this because this is the best for my career."
"What about your mother? Have you told her? Does she agree?" Naruto asked desperately.
Sasuke replied calmly again. "Yeah. She understood."
Sasuke could tell from Naruto's face that he was looking for some other way to stop Sasuke from taking the job, even though he too understood that this was too big an opportunity to let go. They weren't best and oldest friends for no reason.
But then, as if he couldn't bear to remain serious any longer, Naruto exhaled loudly and mumbled, "Fine what the hell."
Then he broke into the familiar foxy grin and punched Sasuke's shoulder. "Teme! You gonna miss your favourite buddy, aren't ya? Aww I'll miss you too!"
Sasuke replied by smacking the said favorite buddy's head, before he could hug him.
In all honesty, Sasuke was quite impressed by Naruto's response. He hadn't expected the loudmouth to give up trying to stop him so easily.
They were really growing up then, he guessed.
Naruto left for Konoha two days later, to start on his job as Jiraiya's assistant. Sasuke was finally on his own.
Sasuke was never one to long for company. He preferred being on his own rather than surrounded by people. Getting out of that noisy dorm, and into a calm, quite space on his own was actually very convenient for him. Now though, as Sasuke sat on his makeshift bed and ate ramen from the takeout container, he almost missed his loudmouth friend. The dobe's banter during dinner was endless the noise of the dorm cafeteria, but here in the silence of the big apartment that didn't seem too hard to endure.
Sasuke remembered the question again. Are you sure about this?
Was he really? Truth was, he still didn't know. Kakashi had faith in him, and Sasuke himself was confident about his own work. But in a couple more months he'd be on his own with a whole team to guide and no Kakashi to look over his shoulder. Was he ready for that?
Then there was the other question. Are you doing this because you want to avoid going home?
Wasn't he? Thw wounds he had were never to heal, but going home would just open up all the scars, and he wasn't sure he was yet strong enough to face them. On some level, wasn't this job even more tempting to him beacuse of the excuse it provided to delay going back home?
Sasuke forced the thought away from his mind before he could think any further on that. This was his new life, so he better see it through. Asking questions that he didn't want answered would get him nowhere. He better learn to cope.
That night, right before going to bed, Sakura received a text from an unknown number : This is my number, just in case anything comes up. Sasuke."
A/N: There's nothing I can say that will make me less accountable for being almost 2 yeas late in updating this story. I don't know if anyone still cares about this story or not, but if they do, I'm more sorry than I can express. I will finish this story. I'm not a skilled writer so I'm struggling with the plot. Pressure of studies doesn't make it easy either. Thank you for still being here.
R&R.