"It's nice to see you again, guys." I mutter as I sit down next to Sasuke. Currently, we are at BBQ place with other rookies and their senseis. Naruto is soon leaving with Jiraya to train for two years, while Sasuke decided that he wants to train with his father and brother.
"How has it been, Sakura-chan?" Ino leans forward, giving me one of her brightest smiles. I chuckle and shrug my shoulders.
"Hard." I murmur and grin. "I, swear she is trying to kill me." I roll my eyes and grin once again. Seeing that I am talented and know stuff, Tsunade jumped straight to enhanced study program, which will get me the whole medical ninjutsu covered in six month. Six Month!
One moth has already passed. And I have never been more tired.
"How has been your missions?" I look around at all of them. The whole team Seven has been promoted. While only Shikamaru got Chunin rank from others.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighs. He has been doing diplomatic missions around other villages, which makes him use every bit of his energy. "But it is bearable." He adds with small smile tugging on his lips.
Others start chatting with one another, and I am left in silence. Not that I mind. I like watching them having fun. We never managed to do it before, due to Sasuke disappearing from our lives, and Naruto following in suit. Last time, during this time, we were not even close.
"Ne, Sasuke." Uchiha turns towards me. I can feel light blush tainting my cheeks as I watch him. "How has your training be going?" I whisper the words, losing all the confidence I had before. The boy in front of me is the reason of many things. He is the reason of my pain and he is reason of my happiness. And no matter, how much he would have hurt me, I could never move on.
"Hn. Good." His words are laconic as ever. He turns around, resuming eating his food. I watch him with sadness inside my jade eyes. I turn around, sighing. "You should come around." I perk up at the sound of his voice and look towards him a bit confused. He is looking at me. Unreadable expression plastered on his face. "Kaa-san has been asking about you." Sasuke shrugs and turns back to his tomatoes. "Ne, Sakura are you okay? You look like tomato." He smirks as I blush even deeper.
"Baka." I giggle and shake my head. "I will visit." I beam at him and he nods, small smirk still playing on his lips. "Oh, and do you want to train together?"
***
"Hello, Mikoto-san." I smile at the woman in front of me. Mikoto is not like other Uchihas, I have met. She is cheerful, funny, kind, friendly, just like Shisui I may add. She smiles as she sees me and ushers me inside.
"Come in, Sakura-chan!" Mikoto-san smiles at me softly, like mother would. Visiting Uchiha household always leaves bittersweet feelings inside of me. Every time I visit, I am engulfed into warm family, family that was stripped off of Sasuke in another time.
"Sakura." Sasuke greets me with his usual nod and I grin at him, waving my hand. "Come with me." He turns around and without checking on me, starts walking towards the yard, where they have enormous pond.
I loved to play at this pond, when we still were in the academy. I would swim around, occasionally throwing either Naruto, or Sasuke down in it. We stop at the entrance as he turns around, his usual smirk playing on his lips.
"What do you want to do first?" I tilt my head and look around. This place is ideal for trainings. I can understand it, taking in that Shisui and Itachi usually train here. And they only take high quality.
"Let's just spar." He shrugs his shoulders and I nod, standing in front of him. We have never really sparred with one another. Even in previous timeline, he would spar against Naruto, but never with me. Only later I realized that it was because he did not take me seriously. For him, I was just a weak teammate, he had to protect.
He starts running towards me with Kunai in his hand. I let him come near me, jumping away in the last minute. I chuckle as I appear behind him, kicking him in the back, throwing him on the ground. He turns around, smirking at me. Without saying anything, he throws his shurikens with me and I use substitute jutsu to avoid all of them.
He starts forming his hand-seals, letting a huge fireball fly towards me.
"Come on, Sasuke!" I shout agitated as I start doing my hand-seals as fast as possible. Tiger. Hare. Boar. Dog. "Mud Wall." I whisper as I slam my hand on the ground as enormous wall appears in front of me, shielding me from the fire.
"Hn." Sasuke smirks once again and start making another hand-seals. I am also kind of scared to use certain jutsus around him, knowing perfectly well that he can copy them. And they will drain him completely. Another fireball rushes towards me as I put up another wall.
"Come on, Sasuke!" I yell loudly, smiling at my teammate. "I know you can do better!" I shout with large smile plastered on my face. And I just know that it will be the end of me.
"Hn." Suddenly, something grabs my leg and dives me into the ground, leaving only my head out. I growl at smirking Sasuke. "I guess, you lost?" He smirks once again.
"Think again, baka." I chuckle as I break the ground around me. I jump out of the ruins, that was a perfect ground a second ago. Dog. Horse. Monkey. Ram." Water Beast!" I shout the name as monster emerges from the water besides us, running towards Sasuke.
Sasuke sighs, creating Chidori in his hand. I smile proudly at him, as he charges the water beast, destroying it entirely. The water washes over him, clearly making him dissatisfied.
Before he is able to charge, rain start pouring down on us. I look at Sasuke and laugh, he too, chuckles at our situation as we start running towards his house.
When we enter the door, Mikoto looks at us a bit annoyed. She looks me up and down, clicking her tongue.
"Sakura, Sasuke..." She shakes her head in distaste. "You are both wet." She states the obvious. "Come on, Sakura... I am going to give you some of Sasuke's clothes..." I shake my head and take a step back.
"I-it's okay, Mikoto-san." I smile at the kind woman in front of me. Why can't Sasuke be more like her? "I-I am o-okay." I blush, which earns a smirk from Sasuke. I glare at him and look back at Mikoto with emberassed look.
"Nonsense!" Mikoto shakes her head and gently grabs my hand. "You will catch a cold like that, Sakura-chan!" She states and starts dragging me upstairs. "You know, I heard that Ibiki has left for a mission." She starts with dangerous glint in her eyes.
Every time Ibiki left for a mission, longer than a week, Mikoto-san insisted that me and Naruto would stay over, even for a little bit. And now, I am all alone in home, and I can sense where this talk is going.
"Yeah, he will be back tomorrow though, I think." I mumble and rub my head. My hair is wet, droplets falling from it.
"It's late already Sakura-chan..." Mikoto-san trails off, mischievous glint in her eyes. "And it is raining hard. I think you should stay here tonight!" I open my mouth to object, but she continues talking, ignoring me entirely. "You will sleep in Sasuke's room. I hope it won't be a problem, right? You always used to sleep in there when you were little." She giggles at me and I nod, defeated. Back then, we were little and Naruto used to lie between us. It was less awkward.
"Here, Sakura-chan." Mikoto gives me pair of Sasuke's clothes, with shorts and his dark blue turtle-neck shirt.
"Thank you, Mikoto-san." I bow slightly at her and offer her one of my brightest smiles, which she gladly returns.
"Okay, I am going to be in the kitchen, preparing dinner." Mikoto giggles once again. "Come down, when you are done, okay Sakura-chan?" I nod with a smile as Mikoto shuts the door behind her.
***
I sigh as I stop by the stairs. I am wearing Sasuke's clothes and just for the fun of it, I styled my hair like him, putting my head-band on my forehead, just like he has. And I hope, I don't look entirely too terrible. I walk down the stairs with awkward smile adoring my face.
"S-Sakura?" The first one to notice me is Itachi. He looks at me with wide eyes. At his calling, everyone turns to my direction. Mikoto-san squeals like a fangirl, Fugaku-san smirks, nodding his head. Shisui is looking furious, anger flickering in his orbs. Itachi seems confused, lost even, while Sasuke has faint blush on his face.
"Y-yes?" I mumble awkwardly. I have never felt so out of place before. I am standing in the middle of Uchiha household, dressed up like Sasuke. And I am blushing. As if I could shout any louder about my affection towards him.
"You look cute, dear!" Mikoto runs towards my, hugging my tightly. I hesitantly return the hug, letting the warmth embrace me entirely.
"T-thanks." I stutter once again, cursing myself for it. Mikoto-san giggles and smirks, with Uchiha smirk.
"Come on, Sakura-chan, dinner is ready." She gently takes my hand and leads me towards the dining room. Fugaku sits at the head of the table, with Mikoto next to him. Itachi and Shisui are sitting at one side, while I and Sasuke sit on another.
"Ne, Sakura-chan..." Shisui's voice is cold. Even his eyes are cold. I don't think that I have ever seen such gaze on him. Anger-filled. "Why are you wearing Sasu-cake's clothes?"
"Um..." I gulp. And grin. "We were training when it started raining and I got wet." I shrug my shoulders. "Mikoto-san told me that I was staying over and gave me Sasuke's spare clothes." My answer seems to calm Shisui down, as he nods, but he glares at Sasuke.
Next to him Itachi is sitting dangerously quiet. He does not say anything, as his eyes shift from Sasuke to me. Small, kind of sad smile tugs his lips, as he continues to eat quietly.