Nothing Else Feels this Good

Eighteen and never been kissed, Sakura decides to take charge of her love life. All she needs to do is change her look, improve her sex appeal and hone her flirting skills, and the boys will be lining up around the corner right? Wait a minute… why is Neji in line? And Kakashi-sensei? Is that Sasuke-kun? Oh boy. [AU].

HARUNO SAKURA GROANED AS the sunlight poured in from her window, the thin white curtains doing nothing to protect her from the bright light. With her eyes closed, her hands searched for the cream comforter that was on her bed and once locating it, pulled it above her head to provide her some respite.

She had only climbed into her bed a mere half an hour ago, just as the sun had begun to peak over the horizon. Her shift at the hospital had gone into overtime as six injured shinobi had been rushed in on an emergency, suffering from moderate to severe injuries. Normally, the tasks would have been divided but many medic-nin were on vacation as the summer months had rolled in and Sakura was left to oversee nearly all the operations.

She didn't have time to round up the medic-nin's that were on-call either, a second couldn't be spared otherwise, one of them would have lost their life. With her chakra nearly at depletion, Sakura had walked out of the hospital in a near-dazed state, her white coat drenched in the blood of others, sweat matting her hair to her head and her eyes struggling to stay open.

But, just as Sakura was ready to flip over in her bed, she heard a pounding on the front door of her apartment.

"Rise and shine, forehead, you promised me breakfast today, remember!"

Grabbing the pillow from behind her head, Sakura covered her face and resisted the urge to scream. Instead, sighing a heavy sigh, she pushed the comforter off of her and sat up in her bed, groggily glancing around her room. Her coat along with her headband and uniform were sprawled all across the floor. The laundry she was supposed to fold and put away still sat in a basket near her dresser. Scrolls of herbal medicines and medical jutsus lay scattered across her nightstand.

She didn't even want to think of the pile of dishes that sat in her sink, and the boxes of takeout that lay limp on her kitchen table.

If Ino-pig was going to judge her then, she would happily tell her to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

Bringing her feet to touch the wood floors, Sakura lazily made her way to the front door. She heard the birds chirping from outside her living room window that was open, the morning breeze causing goosebumps to form on her bare legs.

Standing in nothing but an oversized t-shirt and her underwear, Sakura opened the door to her best friend, Yamanaka Ino, leaning against the doorframe.

"Wow, Sakura, you look terrible."

Rolling her eyes, Sakura moved to the side to let Ino in, "Wow, thanks Ino, you're always such a supportive friend."

Ino strolled into Sakura's apartment and as her sky-blue eyes gazed around, Sakura immediately raised her hand to stop her best friend in her tracks.

"Don't say a word, I don't want to hear it, these past few days have been exhausting."

Ino crossed her arms over her chest and responded deadpanned, "Clones Sakura, clones."

Sakura didn't even bother to process what Ino had said as she began to pile her long, cherry-blossom pink hair into a bun at the nape of her neck, "Give me twenty minutes, I still have to wash off the gunk from today's surgeries."

Ino frowned, "Okay well hurry up, I'm supposed to meet Sai after breakfast."

Sakura's eyebrows perched up as she made her way toward her bathroom, "Sai huh? What's going on there?"

Ino instantly blushed, "Nothing, nothing's going on forehead, we're just hanging out, as friends."

Sakura glanced over her shoulder with a condescending look, "Friends that kiss when they're drunk?"

"Oh, shut up and go take your shower already!"

THE TEA SHOP HAD been bustling before Sakura and Ino had stepped onto its premises. It hadn't been a surprise to either as it was Sunday and the majority of the shinobi and civilians often had downtime. Moreover, there were several tourists as well, visiting Konohagakure and reveling in its history and accomplishments by their peers.

Sakura's chopsticks poked at her tamagoyaki, forcing herself to finish the last few bites. Ino on the other hand, had already devoured everything and was now peacefully sipping on her tea and enjoying some strawberry cream cake rolls.

"Did you hear that Choji has a girlfriend now, Choji!" Ino exclaimed, placing her cup down.

Sakura let out a small sigh but produced a meek smile, "That's great for him, he deserves it."

"Yeah, everyone is moving forward– Shikamaru and Temari have also made it official. It's good he has her because, without her, he would be off in a field daydreaming his life away."

Sakura nodded her head, "Yeah, good, good for him."

But before Ino could respond, she found herself cut off by the voice of a man.

"Ah Sakura-san, what a surprise."

Both the blonde and pinkette turned their heads towards the intruding voice. A genuine smile formed on Sakura's lips as she recognized who was standing there. It was Hiroshi, a new recruit to her team at the hospital. He had previously served as a jonin who was considered to lead a genin squad but made his transition to a medic-nin and pursued a career as a researcher in the hospital just recently.

"Hiroshi-san, it's lovely seeing you. How have you been?"

Hiroshi flashed Sakura a smile while scratching the back of his neck, his amber eyes remaining on the kunoichi's face, "I've been good, the work in the lab has been keeping me busy. How are you?"

Sakura nodded her head in understanding, "I've been alright as well, oversaw six surgeries last night and this morning, just trying to recover."

A look of concern etched itself across Hiroshi's face, "I hope you're taking care of yourself, Sakura-san," He paused, and a small smile formed on his lips, "I do have to go now, but it was nice seeing you… You look good outside of your white coat."

Sakura let out a small chuckle and raised her hand in a wave, "Thanks Hiroshi-san, see you at the hospital."

As Hiroshi walked away, Sakura felt Ino's heavy gaze on her. Knowing what she was going to deal with, Sakura lazily turned her eyes towards Ino, whose mouth was agape.

"Who the hell was that? And why have you never told me about him?"

Sakura just shrugged her shoulders, "That's Hiroshi, he works with me at the hospital. He's around our age, a little older I think, but just started his career as a researcher and medic-nin."

"You've been hiding this beautiful man, in a dark, dingy lab?!" Ino nearly screeched, pointing an accusatory finger at Sakura.

Sakura narrowed her eyebrows, "Ino, stop, sit down, you're causing a scene."

"And he was flirting with you? And you didn't even flirt back!" Ino threw her arms in the air, in an irritated manner.

Sakura halted, her mouth opened and closed before she could think of her reply, "Flirting? He, he wasn't flirting with me, he's just nice, he always says nice stuff to me, to everyone."

Ino raised her eyebrow, "Oh yeah, what other stuff has he said to you?"

Sakura scratched her temple, "Well, he's told me he thinks I'm intelligent, and one time, said I was very kind-hearted. Another time, mentioned grabbing tea together. Just nice, co-worker stuff."

Ino groaned, and brought her hands to her head, "You know Sakura, as someone who's considered one of the smartest shinobi in the entire village, you really are dense."

Offended, Sakura crossed her arms and huffed, "Hey, no I'm not, he's just—"

"Sakura, when was the last time you had sex?"

As the words left Ino's mouth, both kunoichi's noticed as heads turned toward them. A mother with her child covered her son's ears and gave Sakura and Ino a disapproving look, while an elderly couple stared at the pair, with judgemental eyes.

Sakura leaned in closer and whispered harshly, "Can you keep your voice down, did you forget, people know who we are?"

Ino mimicked Sakura's actions, "Oh they should be grateful to have some excitement in their lives, now answer my question."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows and leaned back into her chair. She chewed on her bottom lip and tried to think of how she was going to answer Ino's question.

The truth was, Sakura had never had sex. Never mind that, she hadn't even had her first kiss. She had spent her years pining after Sasuke and after the Fourth Shinobi War, what ever hope that she had of her and Sasuke had diminished when he had stated that he was going to leave Konohagakure to atone for his sins. It had crushed her but she had accepted it.

Her love for Sasuke was there, but she wasn't sure if she would ever act on it again.

Realizing the situation for what it was, she devoted her time to becoming better as a shinobi and creating a cemented spot for herself at the hospital. In the past year, she had spent more days in the hospital than with her friends and family.

It was a sacrifice she had chosen to make, but, as she sat there, she wondered if she had made the correct one. As everyone was coupling up, finding their person, and settling their lives down, Sakura was still alone.

Hell, even Naruto was able to finally understand Hinata's feelings and start their romance.

"I've never had sex…" Sakura mumbled out, avoiding Ino's gaze.

Ino scrunched up her eyebrows and moved in even closer, "You've what?"

"I've never had sex… not even my first kiss."

"YOU'VE NEVER WHAT?"

At this point, Ino was standing up, her chair pushed back and her eyes wide in astonishment. Her hands were on her hips, in her signature pose. The rest of the visitors had begun to shake their heads at their antics.

"As your best friend, why am I unaware of this?! Kami, Sakura, no wonder you're always so uptight."

This time it was Sakura's turn to stand up, "I am not uptight, I've just never had the time."

"You're gonna need help, I can't believe, there's nothing even wrong with you, you're smart, beautiful, kind, strong, and you, oh my god," Ino began shaking her head, exasperated.

Sakura felt her face flush, nearly matching the colour of her hair as she slowly sat down in her chair, her voice lowering itself to a mutter, "It's not that big of a deal, it's just, I don't know when someone does like me… or is flirting, maybe men don't think I'm attractive?"

Ino followed pursuit, "Nonsense, you just need to change up your style, become more sensual you know? Be more seductive, no more of this nice girl act and your flirting skills, Kami, a brick wall has better charisma."

Sakura's right eye twitched, "Is this supposed to be helpful?"

Ino planted her fist down onto the table, "It's time you took charge of your love life, meet me at the flower shop tomorrow at 10:00 AM sharp, enough is enough. We're getting your groove back."

Sakura groaned and wanted to lay her face, flat on the table.

Why did she even open her mouth?

Author's Notes: This story is somewhat canon-compliant, but mostly not. It does follow some of the storyline after the Fourth Shinobi War, such as Sasuke (who has both arms by the way and is able to keep his eyes black) leaving, and certain romantic couples emerging (Hinata/Naruto, Ino/Sai etc.) but I've taken liberties with some things, such as Neji being alive for one (how dare did they kill off my boo). This story is mostly centred around Sakura taking back her power and stepping into her womanhood, with a few bumps along the way. Who does she end up with? We shall see...