the boy who had no home
theeflowerchild

chapter one

I was only fifteen when I met him for the first time. I had just started waitressing at Ichiraku, a doe-eyed baby in search of something great, something special. I had heard his name before, but never actually seen him in the flesh.

Now, I want you to think hard. Picture the best looking person you've ever seen in your entire life, the most striking man you've ever laid eyes on, a person who makes your heart beat a mile a minute—and then multiply that by one hundred. That might give the true beauty of Sasuke Uchiha some justice.

He was all chiseled angles, sharp enough to stab my young heart, and pretty smirks when he walked into the diner. His leather jacket screamed of a danger I didn't know; I'm still not even sure if I truly understand it now. His eyes were as dark as his hair, a terrible mess on his pretty head, as dark as the mystery that was, is him. He turned heads like none I'd ever seen before. He was a handsome young man, some years older than me, and something of a local legend. He was the boy who survived.

I never knew he would become so much more.

By the grace of God, or whoever was looking after me that day, he sat down at one of my booths. Sometimes I like to think about what could have happened had he sat down in Ino's section, or Hinata's. Would they have said something like I had? Would they have talked like we did? Would he have swept them off their feet without so much as a glance, too?

"Uh, Sakura." My manager nudged me a little too harshly. "Dun' keep your customer waitin'."

I nodded my head and pushed my bangs neatly behind my ears. "Yes ma'am." I made my skirt the neatest I could, and smoothed out the wrinkles in my apron before slowly approaching his table. I could tell that the townies immediately recognized him, as they all stared, wide eyed and slack jawed at the famous man who had just moseyed into the local diner.

I had heard the rumors, of course, just like I'm sure everybody else had: Sasuke Uchiha comes and goes whenever he so pleases; Sasuke Uchiha does whatever and whoever he wants; Sasuke Uchiha comes home whenever Sasuke Uchiha feels right. They spoke about him like he was a ghost: long gone, but tempted to haunt; I never thought the day would come where I'd actually see the man.

He didn't spare the menu a glance, or me, for that matter, when I finally approached his table. He looked bored, cupping his chin in the palm of his hand without a care in the world. He was even prettier up close, eyes like molten hot ambers, long lashes dusting his high cheekbones. He was a needle in a haystack in our town.

I coughed to gain his attention, and he spared me a withering glance that made my blood boil hot. "G-Good afternoon," I stammered, to my crippling embarrassment. He smirked. With a deep breath, I continued, "Can I get you anythin' to drink?"

"Just coffee, black," he said. If he had a Konoha accent at any point in his life, it was gone and unapparent then. I watched his eyes trail down my body and back up to my face, and felt myself become horribly self-conscious. "That will be all, thanks."

I was about to turn around, but something stopped me. My heart was beating fast. There were so many hints, but nothing concrete. I had to know. "You're Sasuke, right? Sasuke Uchiha?"

With a raised eyebrow and an ever-growing smirk, he finally looked at me. His eyes were even darker than I had imagined, and felt something like a sword to the gut. "Who wants to know?"

I nearly choked on my words. I was just an outspoken, curious waitress, interested in a handsome man with a story, but I couldn't say that. I decided on, "Everybody keeps talkin' 'bout you."

"Is that so," he said.

I nodded my head. "Pardon me, that was very rude, but—"

"It's fine," he cut me off. "The young ones are always the most curious."

I felt a hot blush creep on my face. "I am not that young—"

"Young enough," he concluded. "I'll take that coffee, now."

With a vicious tremor in my arms, I stalked off to make him a cup of coffee. It took everything in me to look away from him and pay attention to what I was doing. What should have taken a couple of seconds, took more like a few minutes.

By the time I got back to the booth, a woman perhaps a little older than he occupied the other seat. She had hair as red as blood and as wild as his, with eyes to match. She was beautiful, and I had assumed, ignorantly at the time, the reason for his return.

I placed the coffee in front of him, and smiled. "Will that be all for the table? Anythin' for you, ma'am?"

"Tea," she said, and shot me a smile that was more sultry than earnest. She was intimidating, and I'm sure she knew. "Milk and sugar on the side, honey." With an accent like that, she was surely from town.

I nodded my head and made quick work of her tea, placing it in front of her with a nod. "If you need anythin' else, holler," I said, and scurried off to my post by the door.

I watched them carefully for the remainder of his visit. He didn't seem particularly interested, but he also wasn't ignoring her. She reached for him a few times, but never touched him, and he smirked once. She smiled like she knew something, like she was keeping a secret. When she left, she placed a bony hand on his shoulder and shook her head. She walked away in heels like a woman who loved herself.

I knew I was staring, but I couldn't look away. His eyes watched his dark coffee like it was the most interesting thing in the world, but his lips twitched, like he knew I was watching him. With a scorching flush, I looked away and tended to the other tables as idly as possible.

When the time came to tend to his table again, his mug was still full. "Will there be anythin' else, sir?"

He shook his head. "Just the check."

I nodded my head and fished through my apron, placing his small tab on the table. For all the commotion he seemed fairly normal enough. He pulled out a nice wallet and left way too much money on the table. "Keep the change," he said, and then watched me for a moment before another knee-jellying smirk crept on his near-perfect face. "Sakura."

Later on that day, Ino cornered me in the bathroom to ask me about the man behind the story. "What's he like?" she asked. "Dun' hold back any information, forehead-girl."

I shook my head at the insult. "He was jus' like anybody else, pig."

"I dun' believe you," she said, and huffed. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Was he nasty? Or nice? What'd he sound like? Why was he here—"

"He was nice," I said. "I dun' know why he's here."

Her blue eyes watched me carefully before she sighed loudly. "God, forehead, you're jus'… borin'!" She threw her arms up in annoyance. "You have the most interestin' man in all o' Konoha sittin' at your table, and what do you do? Absolutely nothin'!"

It took everything in my not to roll my eyes, so I laughed. "I'm not gonna harass the man, Ino! I'm not crazy, like you."

"Crazy gets shit done," she said, and waved me off with a tiny hand. "Whatever, I'm getting' back to work. Skippin' on my tips for no information at all…" She groaned. "Next time, I'll get a piece of him, you bet your ass."

I rolled my eyes and thought maybe, next time, I'd try a little harder, too.

Konoha was a little town just south of Oto, and, back then, what I called home.

It seemed like nothing more than met the eye. They called it a backwards, hick town, surrounded by acres of farmland, swelling with townies and locals that could never truly leave, and a diner with some really good food and terrible service. Perhaps they weren't totally wrong, but there was so much more to Konoha.

Konoha was a town where everybody knew everybody, and there was no such thing as "mind your own business." Konoha was a town where we found family in more than just our mama's and daddies, found support in more than just our closest friends. Konoha was a town where we all grew together.

Like I said, though, in some ways, they weren't totally wrong. Konoha was a town where the kids grew bored, and did things they weren't supposed to do. Konoha was a town where the boys took advantage of the girls, and the girls often got into a trouble they couldn't fix with an apology. Konoha was a town where the wives cheated on their husbands with the city men, and the husbands sabotaged their best friends' businesses. Konoha was too often a home for scandals.

But Konoha was also a home for legends.

Konoha was a place where an escape meant you had made it. Konoha was a town to overcome. Konoha was a town of stories, and tales, and people who moved on.

Our most famous scandal that would become legend came in the form of Sasuke Uchiha: the survivor. We were all told about his story from a young age; a tale of a boy who lost everything. It was before my time, but if our parents didn't tell us, the older boys who were around for the incident never shut up about it. It was a tragedy, a famous happening that spread like wildfire across the entire world. The story turned him into a ghost, a character more than a person, and a household name.

It was a terrible way to become a legend, and not an escape Konoha was familiar with. It was heresy, mostly—the only person who knew the truth of the massacre was Sasuke, who would eventually tell me years later. It happened when he was just a boy. Supposedly, his older brother had murdered his entire family with nothing but a shotgun and a smile, and escaped into the night for nobody to ever see again. Sasuke was never the same.

He left town a few years after I was born, but I never met him. I had only heard what I was told. I knew Sasuke sometimes wandered in and out for reasons nobody really knew, but that was about it—that is, until he started coming back for me.

Next time didn't come for a while. I didn't see him for almost six months after that instance. It was true, the rumor: Sasuke Uchiha comes and goes whenever he so pleases.

I was taking an early weekend shift that day, and the diner was empty. Mama had said I looked pining one too many times, and that morning was no exception. I had a thirsting crush that was desperate for the older man to quench with nothing more than himself sitting in my grid. The rain was hot, and my hair was so wet it almost looked red; my skirt so soaked it stuck to my skinny thighs.

There was nobody to turn around and stare him down when he entered. He took a seat at the nearest table, one of my tables, and stared out the window like the storm was the most interesting thing to ever become.

I approached his table with a confidence I didn't even know I could muster, especially looking like frizzy-haired, wet dog. "Welcome back," I said.

He looked up at me with an unreadable expression. "Hello."

"How are you doin' this mornin'?" I asked, watching him carefully. His hair stuck to his pretty face, and his leather jacket was dripping onto the floor I'd have to clean.

"Fine," he said. "Yourself?"

"Fine," I said. I sifted through my apron pocket and pulled out my notepad. "Can I get you somethin' to drink, or do you know what you want to order?"

"Just coffee," he answered. He passed me the menu he hadn't opened. "Black. Thanks." His voice was a deep rumble that set my heart thumping farther than it had ever gone, would ever go. He didn't seem particularly bothered by his soaked state, and I couldn't even pay attention to mine.

I stepped off to make him his cup, and nearly burned myself doing so. I carried it carefully back to his table, nearly tripping over my own two feet, and placed it in front of him. I saw the dripping ring begin to form around the base of the mug. "Will that be all?"

He watched me carefully for a moment. For many people, there were many reasons to find Sasuke Uchiha so attractive, so alluring: his sensuous smirk, his chiseled jaw, his high cheekbones, or messy hair, but for me, it was always his eyes. They were dark like the night sky, and as mysterious as the man himself. They always sparked something fierce within me I couldn't understand, wouldn't understand until a much later. "Why don't you sit down for a moment?" he asked me.

My eyes widened, and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I couldn't help the blush that surfaced on my chubby cheeks, still fresh with baby fat. "Pardon?"

"Sit for a moment," he repeated, but there was an edge to his tone. Sasuke Uchiha was not a man who enjoyed repeating himself. "You look wet, and tired."

I eyed him skeptically. "I don't know…"

He really did look annoyed at this point, a tiny scowl on his face, but his monotonous voice was never a tell. "What's the worst that could happen?"

My jaw slackened, and I felt my mouth go dry. "I could get in trouble? I could lose my job?"

"The diner is empty," he said, and his tone seemed final. He posed it as a question, but I knew, in that moment, that he didn't really ask anybody anything. He instructed.

I sat down in the chair across from him at the small table, but not before surveying the area for my manager. Ino was neck deep in a crossword puzzle, leaning against the bar, and Hinata was sitting quietly at a table, doing homework. It was as empty as he had said, so I took my chances.

We sat in silence for a long moment. I wished I had a cup of something to occupy myself like he did. He stirred it as if it wasn't black, and took a long sip that made his face scrunch up. When the silence became too long, I said, "Is there a reason you asked me to sit?"

He placed his coffee down in front of him with a loud click, and watched me with a smirk that turned me into a puddle. "How old are you?" he asked me. He had a strange way of being interested without looking even the slightest bit curious.

I nearly bit my tongue. Perhaps it would have been a safe choice to lie at that moment, but it slipped past my tongue before I could hold it back, "Jus' turned sixteen."

"Younger than I thought," he mused, and leaned back in his chair. "I couldn't imagine why your manager would put a little thing like you on so early in the morning."

"I'm not that young," I snapped, only to blush furiously at his amused expression. "I can take care of myself. No one's gonna take advantage of me any time soon, you hear?"

His eyes scoured me like a book before nodding his head. "I'll take your word for it."

I felt my blush darken, hot and bothersome. It only made his smirk widen. "How old are you?" I asked.

He clucked his tongue, and shrugged. "Old enough."

My eyes narrowed. "I answered you."

"And I answered you," he said. "I'm old enough."

I sighed loudly, and leaned back into my chair. "Well, aren't you jus' a man o' mystery?" Ino would have been proud of me, taking no nonsense in that moment, even from Sasuke Uchiha. I always wondered if he knew how badly he made me shake; I kept my hands knit tightly in my lap, and my legs crossed.

He smirked. "Something like that." He took another long sip of his coffee; he didn't seem particularly pleased with it, and I had half a mind to add just a little sugar to see if that made it any better. "Do you go to school?"

I frowned. "What kind o' question is that? O' course I do."

He shrugged. "Around your age is when they start dropping like flies," he explained. "Though, I'm sure you knew that."

"I plan on graduatin'," I told him, eyes narrowing.

He leaned in. "And after that?"

I leaned back, and felt a hot blush begin to creep on my face, a feeling that he still ignites in me today. "Pardon me?"

"After you graduate," he repeated. "What do you want to be when you grow up, Sakura?"

I could have listened to him say my name all day long, that tempting smirk on his face, his eyes a shade darker than normal. His almond shaped eyes caused his lashes to dust his skin in a way that made me ashamed of my own womanly features. It took me a moment to find my voice over the tight feeling in my throat. "I'm gon' go to school," I said. "I'm gon' be a doctor, like Mama."

He raised an eyebrow. "Your Mama is a doctor?"

I nodded my head. "Yes, sir."

"Then that would make you Tsunade's daughter, wouldn't it?" he asked me.

"You know my Mama?" I asked, eyes widening.

"She's the only doctor around here for years worth shit," he said.

I blushed at his cursing. "She's amazin'."

"Very smart," he agreed. "You're not that much of a surprise, then, given your parents. Why do you work here?"

I shrugged. "Daddy said it builds character."

"Maybe he's right." He picked up his spoon and began twirling it between his fingers. My heart beat so fast when I looked at him—still does. He barely spared me a glance at that time; it hadn't even occurred to me then that Sasuke Uchiha taking an interest in me was something to watch out for. He was just a legend to me then, somebody's attention to get.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" I asked him.

He looked up from the spoon between his fingers to cast me an amused glance before looking back down. "I'm already grown up."

"What do you do, then?" I asked. "When you're not here."

He opened his mouth to say something, only to shut it quickly, eyebrows furrowing in thought. He then said, "Odd jobs, I guess."

"What kind o' odd jobs?" I questioned.

He smirked, almost tauntingly. "You're a curious young thing, aren't you?"

"I'm not young," I insisted, but the flush on my cheeks said otherwise. I always looked younger when I was mad, or embarrassed, and my tiny size never helped me in anyway.

He shook his head. "So you've said."

I began to stand with a tiny sigh. "I better get back to work," I told him, and tried to muster the prettiest smile I could, a smile that would make him ask me to sit back down. "It was nice talkin' to you, Sasuke."

It didn't work. "You too, Sakura," he said. I knew then that no matter how many times I heard him say my name in my lifetime, it would always make my heart beat fast.

I was about to walk away, but decided on one last question with a timid smile. I wonder what he thought about me back then, when I was so young, and shy, obviously desperate for even a little of his attention. "When will you be back again?" I asked, but my voice wavered, and it came out more like a whisper.

I was afraid he hadn't heard me, so I was surprised when he answered after a long pause. "Soon," he said, all too cryptically.

At that moment, I took it as a sign that he wouldn't actually be coming back—at least, for me. My smile turned sad, and I said, "See you later, then."

But I'd come to learn that Sasuke Uchiha was often full of surprises.

Southern Sasuke kills me but yay this is a summer project that should be done before the end of August. Please review!

Peace.