Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

A Cursed Bloodline

"Why don't you listen?" Sasuke says gruffly. "I told you so many times to leave me alone."

"I'm tenacious, that's why," Sakura answers lightly. It sounds a bit like she's joking but she's not. Her heart beats fast because he keeps looking at her, almost as if he cannot help it.

"You will regret it." He doesn't sound like he's joking, more like he's annoyed. He often sounds like this. But she has begun to hear nuances.

"I will never regret it!" She can't even begin to imagine a life without vying for Sasuke's attention.

They sit on a bench near the Academy, their knees are almost touching. It's getting quite dark, and the street lights are not yet on. It was right here she tried to stop him from leaving Konoha in search of power. That time, she failed. All the other times that followed, she failed as well.

He doesn't visit often, but it has become a habit of his to seek her out when he does, turning up on her doorstep in his dark travel cloak with no advance warning. He also leaves with no warning, usually after much too short a time. Sakura knows, Sasuke does not feel comfortable in Konoha - well, what an understatement. He hates it here. She thinks it's because it reminds him so painfully of everything he lost but she can't be sure, it's too sensitive an issue to talk about.

Talking to him is difficult anyway. They often sit in silence, like now. It's gradually become comfortable silences when it used to be agonizing.

"How long are you staying?" she blurts out. She hopes she can organize dinner with Naruto before he has to leave again. Naruto makes Sasuke smile and to see that... it gives her hope.

"A few days," Sasuke says evasively. "I will need to meet Kakashi and then..."

"Kakashi Sensei?" Sakura almost jumps to her feet at the mention of that name, "where is he?! I've been trying to find him for ages, but he's never around!"

"Then he probably doesn't want you to find him," Sasuke says.

Sakura understands then that it has something to do with secret missions and the security of the village. She has chosen to work at the hospital as a regular doctor after the War - has turned her back on that world of shadows shinobis live in, a luxury of peace she is afforded - but whenever Sasuke leaves she regrets that she cannot accompany him and doesn't even know where he's going in the service of Konoha.

He kisses her for the first time, right before the streetlights flare up.

Even though she has been thinking about nothing else since sitting down, she is very surprised about the sudden movement of his head towards hers and almost pulls back by reflex. To prepare optimally for this moment, she has read everything she could about kissing techniques and what intimacies might follow, but now that it happens... it's different from what she expected. She scolds herself for getting carried away by make-out scenes in Icha Icha books and the like when Sasuke's tongue in her mouth feels a little awkward and that's probably the reality of such things... or maybe they just lack practice.

"Do you want to come to my place?" he asks after breaking the kiss. She notices that he sounds a little breathless and that makes her heart race even more.

Sakura suppresses a squeal. So that would happen tonight too! Finally. Finally, finally, finally!

"I'd love to," Sakura responds, managing to make it sound like it's no big deal to her, like she has plenty of experience and it's not what she has thought about day after day after day...

She wants to make him smile. She wants him to come back for good. Doesn't him accepting her signify a step in the right direction? She'd do everything to make him feel at home. She'll turn her body into an anchor. If he wants her and she is here - will he not have to return more often?