Author's note: I have not forgotten about my other projects. I'm just in a bad headspace now and I tried to work on the other updates, but this was all I could focus on for now. Not sure what to think of this, to be honest. Doing something here. What? I don't know.

Warnings: Sakura's pov; Alternate universe; dystopian setting (guess you could call like that); mentions of violence; A/B/O dynamics; Alpha Sasuke; NOT FOR SAKURA FANS!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like it!

Part 1

When society collapsed, Sakura knew it was imperative she aligned herself with strong and resourceful people, especially after she lost sight of her parents, becoming separated when a large group attacked the mall they had been ransacking at the time. Very few people could survive on their own now that laws and rules were no longer adhered to and she was self-aware enough to acknowledge that she wasn't part of the minority who could make it on their own. That was why she considered it to be some kind of god's divine intervention that she had ended up in Sasuke's group.

Sasuke was an Alpha who had got separated from his own family and in his search for them had created a group out of people he had come across on the road. They all deferred to him as the group's leader in spite of his relatively young age and Sakura could understand why. He was very smart, very strong and cunning and the main reason why their group hadn't lost anybody during the rare times they were taken by surprise by other groups. It also helped that he was easily one of the most handsome men Sakura had ever seen; if society hadn't turned into absolute dogshit, Sasuke could have easily made a living as a model!

Smart, cunning, strong, handsome – Sasuke would be the typical insufferable Alpha, but instead he was always very polite, willing to listen to everybody's input before making a major decision. Yes, he was rather standoffish, but given the world they were living in now, the people he had lost, she couldn't blame him for being rather reticent. Of course that didn't stop her from trying to get close to him, but she felt like she couldn't be blamed for that. It was only natural for people to want to become close to one another if they felt good around the other person, no? And Sasuke definitely made her feel good, in spite of all the horrible things that had happened!

"I was thinking that perhaps during our next scouting, you and I could - " Sakura started hopefully, but Sasuke became distracted when one of the guys called out to him and he walked away, paying her no mind.

She deflated slightly in disappointment and rubbed the back of her neck. She supposed it was on her for liking someone who had taken on the leader's position in the group, she acknowledged with a wry smile. Sometimes she wished Sasuke wasn't so responsible, though; it made getting to know him better a lot harder when his attention was constantly pulled by other people.

"Persistence is admirable but I do think you've reached the point that you should give up and move on."

Sakura's smile melted away instantly at hearing the amused voice. She turned around, narrowing her eyes slightly when she spotted the other woman smirking at her. The red haired woman was named Karin and had been in Sasuke's group since the start. She was often jokingly referred to as Sasuke's right hand, calling up the same amount of respect that he got because of her no-nonsense attitude. At the beginning Sakura had thought the two were an item because of how close Karin appeared to be to the Alpha but to her relief – and satisfaction, she wasn't going to lie – that wasn't actually the case. Sasuke simply trusted her to take over leadership during the times he wasn't present and keep everything under control.

Of course being trusted by Sasuke that much was hardly anything to sniff at, but personally Sakura thought it was still miles better to be considered his partner and not just a trusted right hand.

"Just because you were quick to give up doesn't mean we're all like that," Sakura snipped back and hauled her backpack off the ground.

Karin didn't react to the bait and simply raised an eyebrow, still smirking. "Feel free to keep making a spectacle of yourself; at the very least you're offering us some entertainment."

"How fucking d-"

The sudden hush descending over the group had Sakura shutting up immediately, growing tense. Across from her Karin's amusement disappeared in a flash as well; her lips pursed tersely while her hand dipped down to her hip where she kept a knife hidden underneath her jacket. In unison Sakura and Karin quietly but quickly joined the rest of the group, needing to find out what had suddenly quietened the light-hearted chatter.

As Sakura approached the edge of the group, she saw Sasuke worming his way through the crowd; his own posture tense. Karin instantly went after him and Sakura hastily followed right behind her, growing concerned. Had the ones on the lookout noticed some suspicious movement? Had they heard something or saw something?

Ignoring the annoyed hissing of the others as she pushed straight past them, she perked up when she caught sight of Sasuke's back. While the group was still unnervingly silent, there at least wasn't any sound of fighting or arguing which she considered to be a win already. They already had had to deal with an aggressive group three days ago; she really wasn't feeling up to yet another fight.

"Look, we aren't looking for a fight," an unknown male voice suddenly spoke up wearily. "We didn't know you had put up camp here. We were just - "

"Is it really you?"

Sasuke's unexpected question had the people closest to Sakura tensing up in surprise and she made use of that to finally close the distance, pushing herself out of the crowd and into the open. Sasuke was standing nearby and her gaze was automatically drawn to him. She was taken aback by the raw emotion plastered across his face and it took her a couple of dumbfounded seconds to recognise the emotion: sheer raw vulnerability. She had never seen such a look on his face before, not even when he had been seriously injured two months ago, leaving him bedridden for nearly two weeks. A shock ran through her body when she realised why he would carry such a look and she hastily turned around, needing to find out who the new arrivals were.

They were two men, but … They didn't look remotely similar to Sasuke, making it very doubtful that they were his missing family. She furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms, studying the men bemused. One man was blond and had incredibly blue eyes; a hint of scars on his cheeks peeking out from between the grime on his face. He was smaller than Sasuke and Sakura and rather slender, as if he hadn't eaten in a long time. His jeans were ripped around the knees, but she couldn't tell whether they had just been worn out with age or whether they had been ripped to start with. His orange shirt was stained in several places, some of which appeared to be old dried blood, and his jeans jacket was torn around the edges. A handle of some kind of long blade stuck out of his backpack, resting against the back of his right shoulder. He was staring wide-eyed at Sasuke, appearing slack-jawed.

The man next to him was around the same height as the blond one, but his hair was a deep red and his deep green eyes had dark bags underneath them. Oddly the kanji for love had been tattooed right above his eyebrow and Sakura spent a moment wondering why on earth anybody would want a tattoo on their face and why they would choose for a word like love. The guy's cargo trousers were covered in mud and some splotches of old blood. A smudge of blood was also visible on the back of his hand – the same hand he was gripping a blade with. As wide-eyed as the blond man was, as narrow-eyed was he, studying them all with suspicion lurking in the depths of his eyes. A rip in his dark blue shirt showed a hint of a recently healed scar. He had a couple of knives attached to his belt; no doubt his own backpack contained other weapons as well.

There didn't appear to be anyone else with them, but Sakura knew better than to lower her guard already. Just because her group outnumbered them right now didn't mean they could afford to become careless. People, strangers, could be dangerous, even if they were on their own. If these two had been on their own for a while, they were at least not people they could easily mess around with.

Even if, Sakura realised with a start when a breeze carried the men's scents over to them, the blond man was a simple Omega. With the red haired guy being an Alpha, she could guess how the blond had survived for so long even though they didn't appear to be travelling with a group.

"Sasuke-kun, you know one of them?" Karin asked befuddled; her gaze shooting back and forth between Sasuke and the new arrivals.

He ignored her, which Sakura spent a couple of seconds feeling vindictive about. Hah! So she wasn't the only one he tended to ignore at times!

"It's really you, right?" Sasuke repeated, taking a step forwards.

Suigetsu, having joined the group at the same time Karin had, narrowed his eyes slightly; his hand coming to rest casually on the gun he had pilfered from a police station some months ago. He might be a boisterous idiot at times, pushing boundaries more than could be considered appropriate, but he was a very good fighter and very loyal to Sasuke, so it put Sakura at ease to see him ready to defend Sasuke if need be.

Not that Sasuke needed anybody to defend him of course! But considering how stunned he appeared to be with the new arrivals, it obviously fell on their group to ensure that the strangers wouldn't try anything funny.

"Sasuke?" the blond man muttered incredulously, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. "It's actually you?"

"That's my line, you idiot!" Sasuke snapped out of the blue, but his eyes were oddly soft when they looked at the blond man.

It made Sakura's stomach twist in odd ways.

"Where the hell have you been?" Sasuke demanded, taking another step forwards.

"Doesn't look like family," Sakura heard Suigetsu muttering.

If Sasuke's family were all dark haired and dark eyed, then no, no, these two men were definitely not part of his family.

"That should be my line, you bastard!" the blond retorted heatedly and actually shoved Sasuke away.

As Sakura stood there speechlessly at the absolute audacity of this Omega, the blond man continued, "I've been looking for you ever since this goddamn shit show started, man. Where the hell have you been?"

"You Sasuke then?" the red haired man spoke up for the first time, relaxing only a fraction. He still kept his fingers curled around his blade; his green eyes flitting across their group.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked in return, gaining back some of the usual wariness he showed around strangers.

"He's Gaara. Remember, my other best friend that I mentioned to you before?" the blond man introduced them; his eyes glittering. "I didn't have to track him down for long."

"My fault, I should have just remained stuck in my room," Sasuke answered sarcastically.

"It would have saved me a lot of trouble; that's for sure," the Omega agreed solemnly but the corners of his mouth were twitching as if he was suppressing a smile. He jerked his head at the group, who was still staring silently at him. "Can't say I'm surprised that you became the leader of a group. You always had that bossy attitude."

"I don't have a bossy attitude. Someone had to be the leader," Sasuke replied annoyed. "You look like shit."

"I feel like shit too," the blond agreed cheerfully and adjusted the strap of his backpack. "Tends to happen when you travel for weeks on end. Can't exactly go for a spa weekend anymore, you know."

Sasuke shook his head. Sakura was pretty sure she heard a collective gasp when Sasuke stepped forwards and grasped the blond's shoulder, paying no mind to the way Gaara's eyes narrowed even further.

"Come on; we won't be staying here for too long anymore, but we've got food and a bed you can use – and soap," Sasuke added, smirking.

"Okay, I have you know you don't exactly smell like dai-" the blond man started to protest before he audibly sniffed; his face souring a bit while he pouted. "Okay fine, you apparently do smell like daisies; go fuck yourself. We can't all be hogging soap like you do."

To Sakura's immense shock, she was witness to something she hadn't had the fortune of experiencing before: Sasuke laughed.

His laugh was light, almost entirely carefree, causing several people including Sakura to gape at him stunned. He ignored them all while he grabbed the Omega by his arm, tugging him along with him as their group automatically parted for him. Gaara followed right behind them, looking remarkably unperturbed for being surrounded by absolute strangers.

"Let's turn you into something approximately humanlike before you start to eat," Sasuke suggested teasingly, leading the blond all the way to –

His own tent, the fuck?

"Okay, fuck you, bastard, I don't look that bad!"

"You do smell, though."

"Oh, excuse me for prioritising food over goddamn soap!"

"Did the boss actually laugh?" Suigetsu wondered aloud, blinking several times.

"Yes, I do believe he did," Karin answered bemused.

Sakura could only stand there in shock, staring at the retreating back of the blond. Just who was he that he could make Sasuke laugh so easily?

AN2: Is it worth continuing? Let me know. "I Choose You" should be updated very soon; I'm aiming for next week with that one. Hopefully I can finally provide more updates in the upcoming week because I know my schedule has been a right mess; worse than before *sighs*

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.