Prompt: Sasuke makes excuses to cross paths with a certain pink haired nin.

A/N: These sorts have always been fun for me. Coy Sauce is best Sauce. Enjoy!

I do not own Naruto.

REVIEWS, GUYS. THEY MAKE ME WANT TO WRITE.

This girl truly was gullible. She simply had to be in order go so utterly unaware of all the trouble he had gone to in the past several months. All of the excuses, all of the errands, and not to mention the injuries. How could she be so blind?

Life back in the village had been peaceful for the Uchiha boy since the end of the war. Reconstruction proved to be troublesome from time to time, especially on those days when Sasuke imagined simply being able to go home and enjoy the sound of branches in the breeze outside of his window. But there was always money to be made, and yes, people to be helped. Quickly, he grew quite fond of coming to the aid of a certain Haruno girl.

Most of the time, Sasuke found himself pretending to stumble across the girl and her family. Whatever it was, paneling the rooftop, painting the house, or restoring the window shutters, Sasuke was there to help.

"How sweet of you, Sasuke-kun," her mother would remark as she brought them all a fresh pitcher of lemonade, which Sasuke found to be nearly the perfect balance of bitter and a splash of sweetness.

Of course he would simply nod his acknowledgement and return to the task at hand. All the while, the peripherals of his vision remained steady on the girl working at his side. Most of the time she would hum or even whistle. It was both quirky and practically whimsical to him. He wanted to hate her for it- for being so damn lovely- but occasionally she would glance at him and flash a smile that seemed to erase all of this thoughts. She would say things like, "Not considering pushing me off the roof are you?" and he would allow the corner of his lip to curve ever so slightly. From then on, it was most certainly an addiction.

As one of Tsunade's newest errand dogs, Sasuke spent large portions of his days watching her sort through orders and messages. He would run back and forth across the village, delivering orders from the Hokage. Quickly, he found that people began to associate seeing the last Uchiha boy less with his dark past and more with the enforcing authority of the often raging Hokage. He wasn't sure which one was worse.

But every now and again, Tsunade would throw him a bone.

"Uchiha," she would say, not lifting her gaze from the papers splayed out over the desktop, "I have a message for Sakura, would you take-"

Before she could finish her statement, he had the message secured in his hand and was out the door.

Sakura, Sasuke quickly found out, was quite a busy woman these days. At seventeen, it wasn't uncommon for her to be instructing new medics, going through her rounds, sparring with other jounin, or escaping to Hokage mountain for some alone time. The latter being his favorite way to find her.

She always seemed to be off in some far away world when she was reading. It often took too long for her to realize that he was standing but a mere few paces away from her, prompting the Uchiha to think with sarcasm, "And before me lies one of the most skilled kunoichi in the village." Before he could speak, however, she always seemed to look up and beat him to the punch.

"Uchiha Sasuke, are you spying on me again?" She would smile as she said it, her book resting flat on her chest and her leg crossed nimbly over the other in the most flattering way.

"As if," he would respond, taking a spot next to her on the head of the Shodaime. Snatching the book from her chest, they would then begin a short lived squabble for the book before Sakura gave up and let him ridicule her over her literary taste. Little did she know his heart would still flutter ever so slightly from the brush of her hair against his face, her skin on his skin, and the smell of jasmine lingering in his nostrils. It was quite a lucky thing that the Uchiha did not blush simply out of a long inherited pride. Moments like this seemed to breathe life into his otherwise routine life.

With messages to the Hokage slow and reconstruction being a thing of the past, Sasuke let himself sink lower than most would. Taking a direct hit to his pride- he let Naruto win a sparring match. Still, through the pain in his dislocated shoulder and the gash in his lip and the possible concussion, all Sasuke could think of was the scent of jasmine and the feel of pink petally hair against his face. Much to his dismay, he was tended to in the ER by someone he avoided at all costs.

"Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun," she shook her head at him with a smug smile on her face, "you really should be more careful, otherwise you could really mess up your beautiful face-"

"Ino."

Her voice was stern yet oddly arousing to Sasuke in ways that made him want to run for the hills in the fear that the Inoichi before him might take it the wrong way. Luckily, the blonde was much too annoyed with her pinkette superior to even pay any mind to the raven haired boy.

"According to my schedule, you're supposed to be in the recovery unit today. So, off you go," Sakura added a shooing motion. For a moment, Sasuke thought he saw the steam begin to rise from Ino's forehead.

A sort of smirk came to his face as she drew closer and very assertively took her place on the stool before him. Finally face to face, she placed a healing hand over the cut on his lip. A warm smile curved her lovely pink lips, "Can't have that scarring, now can we?" He simply hummed in agreement, silently resisting the urge to place a hand over hers.

Sasuke knew he had it bad when leisurely walks around the village became his favorite way to pass time. Familiar faces became something he almost enjoyed. The breezy nights were something he felt could blow his troubles away. The setting sun was something beautiful to look at when he couldn't see her. Aimlessly, he walked. Aimlessly, and yet looking.

"Sasuke."

He would hear it and it was as if the day wasn't a complete waste. In that moment, he wondered if maybe, just maybe, she had been looking for him too. They took slow steps toward each other, slow but sure. Eyes were averted, cautiously avoiding the gaze that would inevitably meet their own. Sasuke would wonder why this was so much different from every other time they saw each other. Only now he realized that there was no obligation, no message, no cuts to be healed, no roof to be reconstructed. Now there was just a lonely night and, perhaps a searching heart.

Coming toe to toe on the empty street, she would speak first. "Hey."

Feeling a little awkward, and maybe a little reluctant, he would respond, "Hey."

Now, onyx met emerald and Sasuke would feel himself sink just a little deeper.