Ready for more, folks?

Seeing Uchiha Sasuke standing there with the astonishing red sky was like a perfect moving art. His hair so dark, yet contrast to his alabaster skin, Sakura observed the squinted eyes and the way he moved his head to respond to her talking.

She had a quick reminiscene of how Sasuke used to be. Thus, it was not such a dramatic change for him to be this beautiful.

It was terribly hard not to stare.

"Where do we supposed to go?" Sasuke asked, walking side by side with her toward his luxurious car.

Sakura had to go back to the hospital for a VIP visit. It happenned when a VIP's patients needed her, she got to be there no matter what. "I need a quick visit to the hospital."

Sasuke nodded his head. "Hospital then."

"Wouldn't it be too far for you to go home?"

"Actually, I'm staying at my own place, and it's nearby."

"Aah, you said nothing that night."

Sasuke slowly nodded his head, admitting to which he did not remember why he had not tell her.

They reached Sasuke's car when he informed her, "It is around Roppongi Hills, South Ebisu,"

"It's still quite far though, Sasuke-kun."

Sakura watched as Sasuke swiftly got into the car, then turning on the car engine. "I don't mind, really," he told her while fastening his seatbelt with one hand.

She smiled, "Seems like I have to pay you back for it."

"Sounds fair."

They both sat in silent throughout their trip to the hospital. It was not an awkward chilling-to-the-spine silent Sakura had once felt. She noticed they had been more close than before; by literal meaning, looking back to the time when they were in Naruto's storeroom.

Admist the more comfortable atmosphere, Sakura had the audacity to fell asleep on Uchiha Sasuke's car.

She had been struggling to keep her eyes open; watching the traffic light as if it took forever to turned into green, and the sound of the song played on the radio as if it lulled her to sleep.

Dammit, five minutes okay. She finger crossed; hoped Sasuke did not mind her to fall asleep on his car.

/

A notification popped up on Sasuke's phone. It was a chat from his secretary.

Nishimiya Akemi.

Yes, Uchiha-san, it was for the definite plan. They've been asking when they could pitch it to you in person?

He supposed to hold a meeting this afternoon, but he already postponed it. And, now he had a second thought.

Sasuke sighed.

He was finally feeling burned-out after only two and a half months working nonstop at the hotel. Itachi being sick was the obvious manifestation, Sasuke was aware of that. His decision to go to Naruto's house today was indeed an escape trip.

Sasuke glanced to his side.

There was another person who was obviously tired as well; she finally shutting her eyes down. Sasuke noticed, she had been staring hazily since the car started moving.

The unpredictable calls from hospital could come anytime, highly possible even on the rough times. Sasuke's thought back to her scar on the left wrist.

But, it looked like she could managed her life balance just well.

That's why right here right now, she decided to seize the opportunity to rest even for couple of minutes; even when she was with someone who was basically stranger to her.

We're not that kinda stranger, though. Sasuke corrected himself.

He did not had the heart to open his mouth nor to nudge her when they finally arrived at the hospital. Fifteen minutes ago.

Her head slightly tilted to the left now.

/

A loud ringtone chimed from Sakura's satchel on her lap. It made her opened her eyes widely the second she heard it.

Sakura straighten her body immediately, then she gaped incredulously instead of answering the call.

Sasuke wanted to snorted, but no, he held it. Eventhough, she looked terribly funny when she did that.

Sakura brought her watch to her eye level. "No way," it was 7.35 pm, and it made her thirty minutes late. Her phone had gone silent.

"I'm really sorry, Sasuke-kun," it seemed like she had not properly awaken.

Sakura wanted to slap her face out guilty and embarrasment.

"I'm not your patient, though," Sasuke answered.

She deeply sighed. "Right," her head hanging low, then she mumbled something while rumaging through her bag, "Thirty minutes... you could've... "

"You should really get going," Sasuke gently reminded her.

"You're right," she nodded, eyes blinking back the remained fuzziness, "but, I'm terribly sorry, I really am, and if you don't mind I'd like to pay you back for it."

Sasuke smirked, "Really Sakura? Now?" She straightly looking serious and hasty at the same time.

Hesitantly she said, "A dinner or drinks perhaps," while she handed her phone, asking for Sasuke's number.

Obviously on her normal state of mind, or lack thereof, she was kind of wanting to really pay him back or just spend more time with him.

"It won't take long, just one patient," she told him.

Sasuke held back any sort of objection. "Just take your time," he said handing back Sakura's phone.

"Okay, then," she pulled a small apologetic smile, turned around so quickly to opened the car door.

Sasuke looked at Sakura's back who was now running to the hospital's lobby. He thought to himself, it wasn't a bad offer after all. And he kind of did not want to end the day reviewing his works over his dinner, just like usual.

Should I wait inside?

/

hERe aFtEr

10.

/

"I saw you on New Year's eve."

They arrived at the place where Sakura had suggested.

"Really? Where?"

"Where were you on New Year's eve?" Sasuke glanced at her side.

Sakura tried to remember, "I was… having dinner party with my coworkers at one of the fancy resto-bar in Shibuya, which I don't remember the name."

Sasuke looked her in the eye, "You bumped into my friend, Juggo."

"Eeeh!?" Sakura's eyes widen. That huge scary-looking guy?

Sasuke pulled apart the Yatai's* curtain in front of him, then he let Sakura in first. "Yeah, he is," responding to Sakura's curious stare.

/

The size of the Yatai was more spacious than the average ones. They had a mini caravan which usually used as a food stand at the end of their tent. Taking a closer look, Sasuke was amazed because they had transformed their mini caravan not only as a food stand but also a mini bar. There was a bottle rack along the inner side of the minivan.

A male bartender contrastly occupying the space. As if the red hair was not bold enough to catch his customer's attention, he got a big Kanji tattooed on his forehead.

Sasuke kept his eyebrows raised. He never thought they could sell drinks in a place like this. He had never once to underestimate a bartender's skill by his look nor by his place, instead it aroused his sense of devotion for mixology.

Sakura kept walking deeper into the tent, she chose the table right beside the minivan.

"Hello, Haruno," a woman with eccentric hairstyle came to their table. She plainly lowered her gaze toward Sasuke.

Sakura pulled her body closer to the woman, tried to avert the woman's gaze, "Temari-san."

"What do you guys like to have?" Temari asked.

Sakura now turned to Sasuke beside her, "They have various kind of unique specialty drinks, and they change it every now and then. Mostly people who come here for the first time would go to the bartender themselves, then he would briefly explain what they have or about their specialty."

"What do you have for tonight's meal, Temari-san?" asked Sakura.

"Roast beef or pork, lighter one we have poke bowl as usual."

"They often times change their meal menu as well," Sakura smiled, "I love their roasted pork. Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke nodded, stood up from his chair, "I'll try that too. For the drink, I'd like to see it myself," then he walked to the bar.

"Okay."

Temari who still stood by the table, cleared her throat.

"You know what my favorite is. And he just a friend," Sakura told her.

"What a shame, with a face like his you could give me his number then."

Sakura's green occulars went wide.

"I'll get your drink. Happy to see you, Haruno," Temari walked away with a smirk to greet another customers.

"Thank you. Happy to see you too, Temari-san," Sakura looking at Temari's back and her bouncing tied hair.

Sasuke spent almost thirty minutes talking with Gaara the bartender. He looked serious while talking, but somehow more vibrant than before.

Sakura smirked thinking about what Temari just said to her.

"So, you guys know each other," Sasuke pointed his observation. He came back with a drink on his right hand.

Sakura nodded her head. "What do you get, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke mentioned some of the mixtures in his drink. "He's good," Sasuke added, a hint of amusement surged to his face.

"I'm so glad you like it. This always been my favorite place to drink. I was a bit afraid to bring you here, though."

"I could tell that he's been in this bussiness for so long. He should've open his own real bar, what a shame."

"There's some fascinating story behind it," Sakura looked Sasuke in the eye, "Gaara and his two older siblings, Temari and Kankuro, were came here like ten to twelve years ago all the way from Cuba with their father who was a native Cuban."

"But, they look like a Japannese."

"They are, because their mother was Japannese. And that was the reason why they came here. They wanted to scattered their late mother's ashes here in Japan, although they had no idea where her hometown is.

Their father used to own a bar in Cuba, and as they decided to moved in Tokyo, he worked part-time as a bartender. Unfortunately, their father got sick, so the three of them thought the best way to survive and take care of their father was owning their own bussiness. As a foreigner, it was kind of complex to open a real bar, so they started with the minivan which made them moved easily from time to time."

Sasuke was nodding his head, "You guys really close to each other," he responded after took a sip of his drink.

"I got to know them because my friend introduced me to them." There was something slightly shifted from her voice.

She took a few beats to continued telling the story.

"Because of the uncertainty of their place, at first they change their menu because they had to adjust to what kind of ingredients they could get in that area. But, now they make it as their bar's unique theme," Sakura staring at the menu board, "Isn't it interesting?"

"Hn," Sasuke responded, "it's uncommon, in a postive way."

He noticed it awhile ago, by telling the story it semeed like Sakura was in reminiscene of something she used to do. Her fondness of the story was very palpable. Her tired eyes were now flickered with contentment.

Temari came to served Sakura's drink and their glistening roast pork belly. It brought a big smile to Sakura's face.

"Thank you, Temari-san," she said.

"Kankuro said hi."

Still with the big smile, "Where is he? I haven't seen him."

"He's left to take something at home."

"Okay, say hi from me too. Thanks again."

After Temari left them, Sasuke looked Sakura in the eye while she continued to talk about the bar over their dinner. She got something in her eyes that made Sasuke kept his staring.

Her tired look from before was nowhere to be seen.

/

"Itachi told me he'll go to States with your mother," A week ago Itachi told her that on his last appointment.

"He already did. They went to help taking care of my bussiness."

"Eeh? I thought he's going to have some sort of vacation."

"Vacation," Sasuke snorted at that word. "Even at his own honeymoon, he never stop working."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, I guess it just my own thought. So, you let him work again? Does your mother knows about it?"

"Mother always knows, she also help him to help me. It's just an easy work, he'll probably have more free time than he ever had here in Tokyo."

"Okay," Sakura sighed. "About your company, Sasuke-kun, what kind of bussiness you're running?"

Tapping at the glass, "I made drinks," Sasuke answered.

"You mean drinks? Liquor?"

"Yes, we make various kind of liquor. To this time, we've been developing up to five brands."

"Aah, I remember your mother told me that you made the wine at the banquet?"

Sasuke nodded his head. That wine was his first success long before he started his own company.

"Wow, I never expected that," Sakura sat straight with eyes amazed in disbelief, "That wine was really something I never tasted before. I mean it in a very positive way," she smiled genuinely.

"Are you taking a professional degree for that? Or how did you learn mixology?"

"I kinda did. But, I first learned it from someone, actually he lives in Tokyo right now. He run a bar in downtown New York, I used to spend half my day there, as part timer."

"You? Part time?"

Sasuke pulled a smile at her. "Knowing my own expense. I had to."

Sakura merely blinked. Her heart skip a beat to see the sudden smile. She did not see that coming.

"I'm just kidding."

Another blinked. What was that again?

"Being Itachi's shadow was not too appealing, eventually," Sasuke accentuated on his last words, "I was eager to try something new out of his path, that's why."

Sakura glanced at how Sasuke's finger-tip slowly circling around the glass. The liquid was already in half now.

"What a very inspirational life story you have there."

Sasuke could sensed her implied sarcasm, he pulled the right corner of his mouth. He did not see that coming.

A sudden dejavu feeling was very palpable.

/

"Actually, I heard from Itachi that you came to my house."

Sakura looking through her nearly empty glass. "Ng?" She uttered her confusion.

"That time, when you came to see my mom, and somehow I came too, but didn't know you were there."

Onyx and emerald were staring into each other.

Sakura gulped down her last drink very slowly.

Sasuke was waiting for Sakura's respond.

"Aah, about that," she stalled the last word, raking her brain for the sake of this rare occasion, she did not want to mess this up.

Can't you pretend that it never happened?

"It must've been ruin the mood," Sasuke remarked. He lowered his gaze to something between his hand holding the glass.

Both of the two were downcasting their eyes. For a split second Sakura felt the great burden Sasuke's had been holding from his stare.

"It must've been hard for you too," she blurted it out.

Three second passed, she cursed herself. Yet, she tried to fix it by looking truly sincere to what she had just said.

She earned herself a smirked.

Sasuke was acknowledging the old Sakura-within that simple line-the ever full of compassion and tender version he thought he had forgotten.

Both of them drunk away their last remained akwardness out of their unsettled bond. As the night went colder it brought pleasant warm stirring up their body.

Then they decided to call it a night.

ePiLoGue

"How old do you think I am, Sasuke?" half smile lifted Itachi's lips.

Sasuke didn't want to calculate or even think about the answer. His anger barely subsided, he merely stared at his old brother, who recently had avoived death.

"This sickness, gave me a lot of privilege to think about my life. Which I had neglected over this decade," a soft chuckled was heard, Sasuke's brow twitched at that, "honestly, I struggled a lot for my own ambition just like you."

"Really?" the question was barely there, it was more of sarcasm because everything Itachi did were top notch and people would hardly catch that up.

"First of all, the simplest reason, and the most ridiculous was because I am the eldest son of our big families. They keep wanting me to step up the game, they said. Until one day mom and dad decided to leave hokkaido and handed off our hotel so they could follow you, to follow me," Itachi's voice accentuated at the last sentences, "It was my turning point, that was the beginning of me literally running our family bussiness. I had to left every project so I got to focus on our hotel. I had to left every pieces of me, including my heart."

Itachi sighed.

Sasuke got the point. It hit him hard. It was ambigous but Sasuke knew it better than anyone else.

"Having it all, yet I loose every pieces of me. You know what, have a decent job with wife and children waiting you at home would be the best thing in this unfair world we're living could offer."

Another sighed from Itachi. And a dead silent between the two.

"I'm sorry I had to put you into this while you only one step closer to the life I had just described would be the dream I'd die for."

Sasuke kept his stare to the wide windows on his apartement. The bustling Tokyo city suddenly filled Sasuke's room. Sasuke's thought poured before he even realized.

Yet he kept his silent.

And, being the good older brother as he is, Itachi smiled. In that silent, Sasuke was meant to accepting his appology.

"Promise me," Sasuke finally opened up, "you would take care of my team." It was about Sasuke's start-up company in the US.

"As I should."

Sasuke sent Itachi a cold stare. "Yeah, as you should."

Itachi chuckled, "I'll have to remind you, as soon as I get the doctor's pass, I'll take care of your little teammates."

"Is that why you keep making contact with Sakura?"

Itachi raised his eyebrow. What a response from someone like Sasuke.

"I hope not, although she was pleasant to be around with," Itachi noticed the shifting facial expression on his brother's face.

"I have to make up for what you have done," Itachi added.

Sasuke's scowled. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you this. You kinda mess mom's little reunion. Remember when you came home and I told you we have a guest?"

Sasuke furrowed. Deeply.

"That guest was Sakura."

Food stand; food stall