I STILL don't own Naruto! Welcome back to those that encourage the continuation of this story. :)

Chapter 3: Familiar Faces

She was holding her clipboard as though it were a lifeline, her stomach twisting in knots as she stared in disbelief, almost horror, into those familiar onyx eyes. His eyes traveled down her form, almost slowly, and she felt that knot tighten, the sick feeling she usually had beginning to bubble within her.

Did she look as disgusting as she felt? Oh god she was going to be sick. Was the room shrinking? Was the air being sucked out of her?

She couldn't breathe, the room was getting smaller. He watched her with no particular interest as her breathing quickened, it was only very subtle, but he could see it in the way her chest rose and fell. She seemed so small, a trapped rabbit about to be devoured. It almost brought him excitement to see that look, he would usually see a woman's face marred with lust. Then again, she was one of the few women who had never shown him pure lust, it had been something else that he seemed drawn to yet detested about her.

She couldn't speak, her throat was dry and she felt as though if she tried to speak, no words would come, so she thought it best not to say anything. He was dressed business casual, his black long sleeve shirt had been rolled up just below his elbows, accentuating his forearms, his hair had grown slightly longer, but it remained spiked slightly in the back. He tilted his head slightly at her, his black locks falling over an eye slightly, the dominance radiating off of him. He had his hands in the pockets of his black pants as he stared on with a bored expression, waiting for… something.

"Excuse me sir, you can't just barge into a room, you need to get permission" a plump older nurse had appeared, quite cross and red in the face as she held a clipboard up with a pen. Sakura glanced at the older woman and back at Sasuke but realized that he had no intention of facing away from her his eyes glued to her with that same cold expression.

"Hey, you alright? You look like you're gonna be sick," Naruto's voice suddenly filled her senses and she whipped her head to him, having completely forgotten that he was in the room waiting to be treated. She turned away from the man that she saw in every dream, every nightmare, to focus on her patient. But she could feel them.

Those eyes continued to stare at her, not unlike a predator watching his prey.

"Right," it was a small whisper, she knew her voice had left her, she felt it before she had even uttered a word. She quickly cleared her throat, now with a bit more courage than she initially had, however miniscule the amount had been. She heard the door click shut, once she turned, both the nurse and Sasuke were gone. The room suddenly looked bigger, the very faint flicker of the fluorescent light above them hummed as the silence was almost deafening.

"Right," she said again, only a bit louder. "W-we just need to get a cast on for those few weeks and then you'll be good as new. D-did you need any pain killers?" She asked, her knuckles remained white on her board, her doe eyes were still wide in shock.

Naruto nodded as he watched her, a new fascination, along with worry, in those blue pools of his.

"Okay," Sakura said as she scribbled something into a notepad, her shaking hands not doing much better in making her writing legible. She tore the note off and handed it to him, no longer feeling comfortable in meeting his gaze.

"I'll go ahead and get started on your cast, it won't take long at all."

True to her words, it was only about another fifteen minutes before Naruto was dressed and ready to leave. He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at her, it was then that Sakura realized he was standing quite close to her.

"Thanks Sakura-chan," he said as he gave her a grin showing his teeth.

Sakura eyed him warily, the knot in her stomach hadn't quite dissipated yet as she watched him.

"Sorry about the asshole earlier, he gets pretty antsy when he's waiting for anything."

I know…

Sakura pressed her lips together, the statement about to leave her lips unwillingly.

"Anyway, we should hang out sometime! I know we weren't in the same grade but it would be fun to play catch up, ya know? I'm sure I can give my thanks for helping me out with a meal or something." He said as his eyes did a quick scan of her form.

"I… You're my patient, w-we're not allowed to-,"

"Oh come on, who's gonna know?" Naruto asked as he bent down to bring his face even closer to hers. Sakura watched him closely, noting the three thin lines he had tattooed on either side of his cheeks.

"No thank you, I-I don't think I'd have the time to, I'm always here so..."

"Hm," was all Naruto had said before plucking the clipboard from her hands and scribbling something down.

"In case you change your mind, here's my personal cell," he winked as he handed the clipboard back to her. He didn't wait for her response, he simply exited the room, the door clicking shut behind him leaving Sakura with her thoughts and the humming of the fluorescent light above her.

Naruto sighed in relief as he entered the passenger side of the sleek black car, relieved to have finally left the hospital with a new cast on.

"Thanks for the ride bastard," Naruto said as he pulled the lever on his side of the seat to pull it back and lie down.

"Hn," Sasuke responded as he began to pull the car out of the lot from the hospital and drive off.

"What'd you do to her by the way?" Naruto asked with his eyes closed as he put his arm that wasn't casted under his head.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sasuke growled as he sped off into the street.

"She looked like a deer trapped in fucking headlights dude. I thought she was gonna barf just by looking at you."

Sasuke scoffed as he continued driving, the humming of his car and the clicking of shifting gears the only sound in what would have been a deafening silence.

Nothing she didn't want me to…

"I asked her out," Naruto finally said with the same aloofness that followed him throughout highschool.

Sasuke arched his brow, his hands gripping the steering wheel a bit harder at this admission.

"You sure your girlfriend is going to like a third person in bed?"

"Hah, very funny. Hinata's backpacking across Europe with Kiba right behind her. I highly fucking doubt he hasn't made any moves on her. She can call it what she wants but "as friends" is still a fucking date." Naruto continued to keep his eyes closed as the silence filled the car again, the tinted windows shielding him from the light of the street lamps that Sasuke passed.

"Why the sudden interest?" Sasuke's low voice cutting the silence.

There it is, got you fucker.

A grin spread on Naruto's face as the question remained in the air. Sasuke could have reworded the question a million different ways but Naruto would have figured it out, so Sasuke thought 'fuck it' and bit the bullet.

"I just wanna see what she's been up to. Just a friendly conversation and some good company."

"Tch"

"Unless she asks for something else of course."

Sasuke kept his eyes on the road, his mind wandering off to that mouth of…

Fucking hell…

Sakura sat by the toilet of her bathroom, she was sure she had thrown up all of her lunch by then, the pains lingering in her stomach telling her so. Her panic attack had lasted the rest of her shift and she had sprinted to her car the minute she had clocked out, ignoring anyone that tried to flag her down. Her sobs wracked through her as she sped home, her nausea becoming very apparent.

The way he looked at her, the brief surprise before the uncaring demeanor took over as he stared at her.

She felt worthless standing before him.

Used up and worthless.

The gaze that he wore, the same uncaring gaze he wore when he took her to the room.

Their room

Those same eyes that would look over her as though she were an object, just as they had done in the hospital room.

Sakura clasped a hand to her mouth as she stifled her sobs and curled onto the cool tile of her bathroom.

He was supposed to have never returned... he was supposed to have left for good.

So why?

Sakura stared at her ceiling, she was drenched in cold sweat, her hair clinging to her form. She began to work on her breathing, her panic still very present, after a few minutes of lying in her self-pity, she went to turn on the faucet of the shower, as cold as it would go, quickly undressing to walk into the freezing stream, she gasped at the cold but held it together as she stood there. Bumps raised along her skin and her chest began tightening at the freezing sensation. She could still feel the warmth from her tears seep out occasionally but it didn't matter, Sakura paid no mind to it as she lathered herself and scrubbed.

And scrubbed.

And scrubbed.

By the time Ino had entered and thrown her badge and keys into the trinket bowl that was on the counter nearest to the door, Sakura had emerged in only a bath towel.

"Hey Sak-"

Ino paused as her light blue eyes trailed over her roommate and friend, her skin was red, her eyes puffy.

"Are you ok? Do you need me to call anyone?" Ino asked as she made her way over to Sakura who stood huddled in the towel, shaking slightly.

"No thank you, I'm okay." Sakura said simply.

Ino nodded as she looked her up and down, knowing very well that she would not open up about this episode. Sakura never did when it came to times like these and Ino had simply learned to accept it and change the subject.

"Did you see Sasuke Uchiha in our hospital today?" Ino said with a grin forming, Sakura knew this was a telltale sign of when Ino wanted to gossip. As she gripped her bath towel, she just wished it wasn't about him. Simply hearing his name made her feel exposed.

Well, more than she already was.

"Who would have thought he would show his face so soon after that shit went down in the US." Ino said as she undid her thigh length blonde hair and began removing her scrubs of that day.

"What?" Sakura was genuinely confused at this comment. She had stayed away from magazines like the plague, knowing very well the Uchiha family would be in them somewhere.

"His wife from his betrothal had been cheating the entire time! Idiot girl really thought getting pregnant by someone else would seal the deal with him. Sasuke had a DNA test done on her fetus to confirm that it wasn't his. His dad brought him home soon after and tried to save face."

Sakura stared at the ground while she listened to her friend talk as she undressed.

"Guy's a real piece of work I'll tell you that, a nurse said he tried to barge into a room before being told he had to leave. Leave it to Mizuru to not give a flying fuck about who she's talking to, hah!" Ino giggled as she combed through her hair in front of their tall mirror that stood in the living room while being clad in nothing but her bra and panties.

After a moment of silence Ino began to hum over her body, cupping her breasts and standing to view her side profile in the mirror.

"You think I have a shot with him?" Ino asked aloud as she turned her body this way and that toward the mirror. When Ino didn't receive a response, she had turned to Sakura only to catch a glimpse of her pink hair before she disappeared into her bathroom again.

A/N: Oh my gosh it's been YEARS. I had completely lost this account's info and I didn't want to redo anything so I just fell off of FanFiction for the LONGEST until I found an old device with the email to this account. I am so so so sorry to the people that waited years for this update. I was amazed to come back to see so many reviews on this as I remember only having like 30 when I had just started it. I know they're older but to the people that have been waiting and are still here, here you go. Thank you all so much for years of encouragement, even though I just saw them last week. I have somewhat of an idea on what to write so cross your fingers that this is the plot you guys want to keep reading LOL Best wishes and thank you, thank you, and thank you, your reviews mean so much to me and that's WHY I decided to come back for this story. :)