His headache was pretty darn near splitting his head open. Sasuke scrambled his hands around to adjust the lopsided glasses that were slightly squashed into his face, raising his head and inspecting all of the worksheets laid out on his desk, some littered with spots of drool. He really needed to stop working so late into the night. His eyes darted towards the computer screen that stood before him, its intense brightness making his eyes water. 

05:47 AM.

Monday morning.

What a time to be alive.

He sighed and sunk back into his desk-chair, clicking a few buttons to save the minimal work he'd done on his Computer Science essay before turning the monitor off and clearing up his desk. As much as he wanted to finish all of his school work pretty early on into the winter break, he was really not in the mood to recap his basic knowledge on Logic Gates and would much rather prefer to be writing about Copyright Laws instead. But it's a new day, now. Time to leave this alone and make it a problem for him to revisit later.

Sasuke headed into his bathroom before taking a brisk shower, making a conscious effort to make the temperature cold in an attempt to wake himself up. The initial trauma to the prolonged exposure to such temperatures has ensured that he won't stay up so late to complete school work for a long time, but has also altered his mood from a 'decent' to an 'unhappy' state, and the irritation from his rather dry and tired eyes were just making him feel grumpier by the second. The man was not too sure on whether choosing to do that was a good idea or not and spent his time contemplating it as he walked into his bedroom.

It didn't take him long to find his freshly ironed uniform, so he quickly threw on his shirt and pants before heading downstairs to make himself a light breakfast. A bagel would suffice for today, he thought as he began slicing a red onion and chive bagel in half and putting it in the toaster, then deciding to make a coffee whilst he waited for the bagel to toast, and then finally spread cream cheese on his breakfast before sitting down at the counter to enjoy it.

With his busy college schedule, he rarely gets the chance to sit down and enjoy a breakfast like this so he savored the moment, refreshing his mind as he read the news whilst he sipped his coffee, learning all about some new miracle medical breakthroughs and the discoveries of new plants that could potentially improve cancer treatments. It's nice to drop into the more positive side of reality sometimes.

And then the positivity stopped as he remembered that his brother was still in the hospital... And that he still had a job to get to. Sasuke quickly scrubbed his dish and mug in the sink, left the kitchen to go find his black Doc Martens and fasten them onto his feet, grabbed a coat and a scarf off the hanger in the hallway, then stepped outside, locking up the building and making his almost-daily journey to work.

The air today was cold, so cold in fact, that if you were to exhale through your mouth, you'd be able to see an icy cloud of your own breath. Clusters of thick frost lined the pavements, causing Sasuke to almost slip over a few times as he walked. Thankfully he didn't, as that would've made his imminent seven-hour shift more tragic if he turned up to work injured. But he still found himself taking extra care, even when he reached areas of the path with no frost at all.

The familiar buildings came into sight as he walked closer to them, soon able to make out the lettering on the Konoha Café sign. By the time he got there, he had 8 minutes until his 9 AM shift began and was greeted by his fellow school-friend and co-worker, Kiba, who hung up his coat and scarf for him, allowing Sasuke to locate his black apron and put it on. A couple of staff members joined them in quickly restocking counters with pastries and cakes and checking that all of the machines were turned on before opening.

9 AM starts are Sasuke's least favorite shifts to take on; the sudden rush of customers at the opening which slowly dies down into nothing before spiking back up again around lunchtime bored him. On a bad day, the workers could go literal hours without seeing a customer.

That is exactly how today was. It was useful in a way, as it allowed Sasuke to get on with some reading that he needed to do for a programming project, but he found it difficult to concentrate. The only thing he found himself continuously focusing on was her. Today marks exactly three weeks since he properly met Sakura, and although he has her number, he simply has not plucked up the courage to send her a message. And judging by the lack of messages on his phone, neither has she, or, much more logically, she's been too busy to meet. Either way, he basically hasn't seen her since they sat down here three weeks ago, his visits to Itachi became a little less frequent during finals and he wasn't able to somehow catch Sakura at the hospital either.

"So," Sasuke is interrupted from his thoughts by a co-worker, "Who's the pink-haired chick you brought in here a couple weeks back? You never explained who she was."

"She's just a friend," he replied.

"Just a friend?"

"Well, yeah," he smiles, "She was the girl who saved my life"

"Oh really? Guys! I think Sasuke's got a girlfriend!"

Sasuke felt his face flush red in embarrassment.

"No! Guys, I'm serious, it's not like that-"

The raven was interrupted by the sound of the café door opening.

A customer walked up to the counter as Sasuke took his place behind the cash register.

"Hello, can I take your order?" Sasuke smiled, trying his best to be friendly- he didn't think his friendliness was a problem but apparently too many people have made complaints about 'the tall antisocial barista'.

"Yeah, can I have a forever mocha and a- wait, Sasuke?"

Hang on, he thought, looking down at the customer in front of him, immediately recognizing her signature pink hair.

"Sakura?"

He looked at her in shock, noticing her difference in appearance today compared to how she looked 3 weeks ago. Tiny, little snowflakes adorned her pink hair, making some of it look like some sort of a soggy mess, and two big spots of red covered her cheeks.

"You work here?"

"Well yeah, I have for a while now, in between lectures and stuff. I guess the wages... help me get by."

"Oh.. Isn't the weather...weird?" She asks, desperate to change the subject after noticing the sorrowful tone in Sasuke's words, "It's so cold and... snowy?"

"Mhm," Sasuke agrees, "Now, what was it that you wanted to order?"

The pinkette sways slightly, "Oh, a forever mocha and a black coffee to-go please."

Sasuke, upon noticing her unsteady footing, suggests that Sakura takes a seat and that he'd come and bring the drinks to her.

"No, honestly, I'm fine." She laughs.

"Please, I insist."

By the time Sasuke had finished making the two beverages, Sakura had found herself a table and was busy tapping away on her phone keyboard as she waited.

"Here you go," he says, placing the drinks down on the table and pulling up a seat beside her.

"Thank you," she smiles, pulling her purse out of her bag-

"There's no need, I've paid for them."

"What? Are you... sure?"

"Yeah, it's nowhere near as close as you saving my life, but I guess it's the least I can do."

"Oh, thank you."

"So, how has your winter break been so far?"

No answer.

Instead, Sakura started replying to a message on her phone.

Wait, there are two coffees to go on the table...

"Meeting someone?" He asks, gesturing towards the pair of cups.

"Yeah, actually, a... Close friend..."

"Oh my god, you would not believe what happened earlier", she announced, waiting in anticipation for her companion's reply.

"What happened?"

"So, there was this guy," she began, before being interrupted by an "Oooo!" to which she responded with a glare, "and I guess he was heading in this direction, stumbling everywhere and incoherently mumbling."

"And?"

"And then he stepped into the road. In front of a truck. There was screaming, so much screaming, and then, I don't know, it felt like instinct? I just kinda pulled him out of the way. I feel kinda bad because he fell over and I was rather angry, but how incompetent do you have to be to do that! Honestly, some people these days, thinking they can handle alcohol but no! They're tripping all over the place and throwing themselves in front of lorries-"

"Wait, Sakura, you saved his life?"

"Well, yeah? I guess so... wait, why?"

"Oh...it's just that... I'm pretty sure I heard this exact same story before...but from someone else."

"Sakura? Sakura!"

"Mm?"

"Your drinks," Sasuke gestured towards them, "They're going to get cold."

"Oh! Thank you! Damn, is that really the time? I'm gonna be late! Is it okay if I come back another time and we can properly talk then?"

Sasuke smiled. He adored her cute clumsiness.

"Yeah, of course."

"Thank you! Bye!" She smiled, walking out of the door and heading back into the snow, cold air slapping against her face as she walked down the road.

Her fingers, although protected by gloves and the heat from the coffees she was holding, were slightly numb when she reached her destination, but she decided to begin her treacherous walk up the steps, panting in exhaustion. When she finally reached the top, she entered the large building, instantly met with the smell of disinfectant and chloroform.

Hospitals.

She walked up to the front desk, took her visiting badge, then hopped into the lift, migrating herself up to Floor 2 within the space of seconds.

She knew the route so clearly by now, but she still found herself counting the numbers on each door she passed.

Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight...

Twenty-nine.

Using her foot to lightly tap the door to serve as a 'knock', she awaited a reply before finally opening up the door and walked into the pristine white room.

"Sakura! You bloody took your time didn't you!" The man on the bed laughs, causing her to giggle.

"Sorry! I was held up a little bit at the café, but here is your drink, Your Highness."

"How long are you seriously going to keep that 'your highness' thing up for?"

"Until I win the $50 bet, of course."

"Never!" He smiled, picking up the drink and inspecting the writing on the side of the cup; 'black coffee'  written in a rather familiar scrawl.

"Sakura?"

"Yeah...?"

"Do you happen to know the name of the person who served you these drinks?"

"Well, yeah, it was Sasuke-"

"I knew it! He hasn't mindlessly wandered into any more roads, has he? I do get a little worried about him sometimes..."

"How do you know that it was Sasuke I saved?" Sakura gasped, in utter shock.

"He's my little brother. He told me the story a few minutes before you came in and told me yourself."

Now she suddenly felt bad about all of those mean things she said about Sasuke when she saved him.

"Now that... Makes so much sense. He looks just like you!"

"Yeah, we get told that a lot."

"And for your information, no, he hasn't walked into any more roads, as far as I'm aware."

"Good. You know what? I think you'd get on well together, you really would. His personality would fit with yours, you know, and although you probably think he's a bit weird," he paused when he saw Sakura try not to laugh, "It's okay, we all thought he was quite weird, but I promise, he's such a cool guy once you get to know him properly. You know, with my diagnosis... it's really affected him. He doesn't like to admit it, but I can tell he's really struggling, and I miss the old Sasuke I used to know. He's a bit weird with me now. Not weird in a bad way, but he's so... protective? Which is sweet and all, but I feel like if he made a new friend, preferably you because unfortunately, Sakura, I think you need more friends than just Hinata, to be honest, you'd both benefit from it. Trust me, you two really would. And maybe, just maybe, I'd get to see him relaxed, even if it's for the last time. He's always trying to use his college funds to help me out, and he'll never take 'no' for an answer, and it just makes me so sad Sakura, I just... want to see him happy."

They both let out a heaved sigh before Sakura reached over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging his thin and frail body.

It makes sense why Sasuke was never mentioned before, judging by how upset Itachi is now...

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Thank you, but on a real note," his tone of voice alters slightly, "You really do need more friends. It'd... Really help you, too." 

"I know," she nods sadly before noticing the time on the clock, bidding her farewell, and walking out of the room.

~~~

Written by Roaringtides