UCHIHA SASUKE scrunched up his nose in annoyance. Another day, another fight. Yes, Itachi had an Anbu mission but when does he not.

He angrily bit off another bite of his ongiri before skipping a rock in the pond before him. The rock skipped twice before sinking in. He sighed while examining the scratches on his arms. He got Tora, the cat, duty again. 

He nursed his wounds gently. They weren't severe enough to cause concern but they did sting. Nothing Sasuke hasn't experienced before. He was getting sick of all these D-rank missions ever since he got suspended for beating up another fellow Jōnin. 

The Jōnin was a lewd, thristing, abdominal shit goblin. 

Sasuke was on his way to check his mission roster when he overheard someone talking about a young, prodigious medic in the emergency department. His mind immediately went to a certain pinkette. And his thoughts were confirmed when the person mentioned 'Hokage's apprentice.'

Sasuke saw nothing but red as he beat up that guy. The matter was taken to Tsunade-Sama who took Sasuke off the mission roster till he managed to get his anger issues sorted and put the other guy on probation with a hell lot of tongue-bashing.

Sasuke shot another rock which drowned without skipping. He scrunched up his nose once again. "I suck at this."

He absent mindedly continued his musing. Perfecting his plan to ambush Tora while occasionally fantasizing of releasing a fire ball on the pervert.

He was broken out of his train of thoughts when heard a quiet chuckle behind him. He tilted his head — still skipping the stones — to take a glance.

Then he heard a plop — that did not sound like a rock. He whipped his head back in horror to see his ongiri drowning.

A part of his soul drowned with it.

He flinched slightly when a hand made contact with his shoulder.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke's heart dropped. Did Sakura just witness that? He attempted to turn around only to find himself unable to. He heard her wind-chime like chuckle again as a warm comfortable feeling made itself known on his neck. And it left as soon as it came.

Sasuke found himself missing it as he turned around.

Sakura looked terrible. Her short hair was tied up in a bun of sorts but since her hair was so short, most of it fallen out. Her face was pale with heavy bags under her eyes. She looked like she got run over by a Rasenshuriken, a couple of times actually.

But then she smiled. The most beautiful smile in the world, even with chapped lips.

"Hn?"

"Oh Sasuke-kun! I- uh," she attempted to fix her hair and medic coat, "I just had the craziest 20 hour shift I-" she staggered slightly and Sasuke immediately came to her aid.

He led her to the edge of the lake before helping her sit down at the bank. His gaze strayed towards where his ongiri had taken its last breath and he found sadness washing over him.

His eyes snapped back to Sakura's when he felt her gaze on him.

"Hold up," she slipped out a scroll from her holster. Then she formed a few simple, familiar hand signs before slamming her hand down on scroll.

A bento box popped out. "There," she offered it to him.

Sasuke's eyes followed her movements curiously, suspicion tugging at the edge. She passed the box to him and he helped himself with it.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn?"

Sasuke kept his gaze forward as he felt Sakura turn towards him, "I heard about ..what happened. Why did you.. why did you fight him?"

"He was talking shit about a girl. Any sane man would've done it." His voice rolled out smoothly. It was the truth, even if not the whole of it.

He felt her egging on him in hopes of getting more out. He sighed to himself, "He was talking obscenely and-"

"I know what happened." She cut him off impatiently, "Sasuke-kun, you beat him senseless. The nurses told me of his injuries. You broke his nose, busted his lips and- look I know you wouldn't have gone this far. But you did. But why? It's not like you—"

"Care?" He finally met her eyes. Obsidian to Jade, "I do care, Sakura. You know that. We are comrades, teammates even. I would've defended Dobe too if it came to it."

"Is that all it is?" She quirked an eyebrow at him. Pushing him as much as she could.

"I know you're bitter that I left," his voice barely restraining his frustration, "It was for the best. And Naruto left too. We all did. Naruto left to train with Jiraya-sama, I went off with Orochimaru-sensei and you trained here with Tsunade-sama. We all worked for our goals. But now we are here. You, me, Dobe and even Kakashi."

"—Kakashi is at Ame to woo some girl." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"—And he is in the great hands of the Akatsuki. We are all here, together. That's it." Sasuke eyed the bottle next to the medic. He held out his hand & the Haruno placed the bottle in it. 

Sakura waited for him to drink before puffing her cheeks out, "So that's all we are? Comrades?"

"Teammates." He corrected her.

"Teammates." She nodded along.

Silence befell them as they watched a frog hop on a stray leaf. 

"But then when-"

"What do you-"

They both spoke at the same time before stopping again. Sasuke felt dread crawl up on him as Sakura motioned for him to go first.

"I really do care about you." He stopped to steel himself for his next words. "You have been by my side since the very first day. And I ..appreciate that. I'm really grateful for you, Sakura. I-" he felt his breath hitch as his throat closed up.

Why does he have trouble saying it. Sakura has been saying these words to him since Academy days. Why can't Sasuke do the same?

He felt her shift next to him. His hand was soon covered in warmth as he felt her calloused ones over his. His nerves didn't lessen but he did know that no matter what happens, she'll still be his annoying friend, Sakura Haruno.

"I-" he poked her forehead, the same one she was ashamed of, "love" he bent forward to lightly place a kiss over one of her eyes, forcing her to shut both of them, "you" he finally kissed the last one. Her eyelashes tickled the soft skin of his lips as they both connected.

He meant Thank You. And she understood.

Sasuke pulled away, unbelievably terrified to see her expression. He peeked up to see her face redder than her shirt.

"Sasuke-kun, I ...have waited all my life for you to say that." She smiled brightly and Sasuke felt genuine, pure happiness, "I love you too."

He was forced on his elbows when he felt her weight over him. Her lips locked to his and all of it came naturally to him, even though his only experience was with a certain Uzumaki.

BONUS:

Sakura's stomach fluttered in anticipation uh or maybe in hunger. She was actually really hungry and Sasuke ate all of her food. To keep tummy her from groaning out loud, she tightened her grip on the Uchiha.

And he groaned. Sakura continued to kiss him to her heart's content. He groaned again, but painfully this time around.

She gasped into his mouth before pulling away hurriedly.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn—"

"Oh kami. You're bleeding." She hadn't noticed before but Sasuek's cuts from Tora were deeper than what she first perceived. She found some ointments in her Medic's coat and started applying them.

He whined, showing a side of him that he had reserved for his mom, brother and cousin only. And sometimes Naruto, Orochimaru and Kakashi. "Can't you just use your Mystical Palm technique?"

"No. That's for more severe injuries." 

"These are more severe situations." She raised her eyebrow at him. How is this life threatening?

"Hn. We're losing time that we can utilize doing ..stuff." Sakura understood the mischievous upturn of his lips and immediately whipped out the Shōsen. She took mere seconds to heal him like the many times she has done before.

"Mhm, where were we?" She smirked at him suggestively, surprised by her newfound boldness regarding these matters.

Sakura's shriek was the last thing heard before Sasuke pulled her over him.

"YOU'RE TELLING NARUTO."

"TCH, I'D LIKE TO LIVE."

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This is really old. It was just sitting in my drafts, completed, but not posted because I don't really like it all that much. The characters are all ooc and there's been no Akatsuki/Danzo trouble.

- Ris