A/N: Damn, this is one monster of a one shot. I just had a lot to say I guess! It's a little different from my other pieces -maybe just a little more weird and twisted?- buuuut whatever. Sometimes it has to be done!

Her name was Mai.

She was beautiful, far more beautiful than Sakura could ever have hoped to be with dark chocolate locks that tumbled down her back, shocking dark blue eyes, and skin the smoothest shade of alabaster. She was petite and delicate and soft, everything one would expect from a civilian woman from a well-respected family, with a smile as pure and soft as the breaking of dawn.

And Sasuke loved her.

It was strange, really, to say the words in her heard, but it was true. Sasuke loved this civilian woman far more than he loved any other living soul. When he returned to Konoha three years ago, he had been incredibly distant and aloof, and no efforts on Sakura's part could get him to offer her more than just a cold stare. But somehow, this woman had done the impossible, defeated the unconquerable and claimed his heart a year after his arrival. The last Uchiha wasn't a very social person, so he didn't bring his new love around the group, but he allowed Naruto to meet her a few times. Sakura only met her once before making the very conscious decision to avoid the couple.

It had been excruciating to be in their presence. In the short hour during her and Naruto's initial introduction to Mai, Sasuke had been almost unrecognizable. Under the soft lighting of Ichiraku's and the warmth of the night enveloping him, he had become the man Sakura had so desperately yearned for her entire life. His eyes hardly ever left the soft spoken woman, gentle with affection and bright with life, and his hand sat possessively on her knee. Even his posture seemed to be relaxed in her presence, shoulders at ease and face adorned with the very slightest smile. He did little to facilitate conversation, but Mai enthusiastically made up for his silence with sweet laughter and light chatter. Naruto cheerfully followed her lead, but Sakura couldn't bring herself to utter a single word. Her chest had felt like it was caving in, her throat had swollen with anguish, and her eyes had remained stuck on her uneaten ramen. Sasuke only caught her eye once, and his expression was hard, disappointed even.

With a smirk from Sasuke and a beaming smile from Mai, the pair had departed abruptly after the meal, hands loosely linked as they strolled off into the night.

Though Naruto had smiled politely and waved as they disappeared, he turned to Sakura with a pained, sympathetic face. She shook her head and allowed him to gather her in a strong hug, but she bit her lip until it bled and let the tears sear her eyes, but she didn't cry.

She couldn't cry anymore. Because she wasn't a little girl, and Sasuke wasn't hers to cry over.

"So what's the story behind this one? She looks far too delicate to be a kunoichi."

"A civilian. Attacked by a group of thieves as she was travelling back from Suna from visiting her family."

"What a shame. She's such a beautiful little thing."

"Yeah and you won't guess-"

"Shit! She's coding! Someone get me Dr. Haruno!"

Sakura pushed open the doors to OR 7 with a stern face and sharp eyes. "Okay. What have we got?"

"Three stab wounds. One to the chest and two to the abdomen," Akane, one of the nurses, quickly replied as she tried desperately to staunch the blood flowing freely from the young woman's body.

The pink haired medic immediately set to work, pushing chakra into the girl's body to assess the damage. Fuck. It wasn't good. Her gaze didn't stray to the patient's face, too focused on the damage before her. The knife to the chest had nicked a major artery. They were going to lose her, but Sakura would be damned if she didn't at least try for a miracle.

It didn't take very much longer, only a quick, frantic hour, but eventually the girl's heartbeat flickered out and didn't come back. Sakura removed her operating gloves with frustration, an exhausted and pained sigh blowing past her lips and scattering the stray hairs hanging about her face. She'd been working in the hospital since she was just sixteen, and, seven long years later, the death of a patient still wasn't something she had gotten used to.

"Who was she?" she asked Akane tiredly.

Akane bit her lip nervously and took a long moment to answer. "Mai Masaki. The Uchiha has been in the waiting room since she arrived."

Every hair on Sakura's body stood on end, and for a moment her vision blurred violently. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't feel anything but cold panic and shock. Almost painfully slowly, she turned her head back to the operating table. It was her, with her beautifully majestic face now stiff and pale with death, her petite figure decorated with blood and gore. Sakura blinked back tears. She had hated her, hated her, for the past two years. Hated that she was perfect and sweet and pure. Hated that she had had him, but this…this was something she would never wish on anyone. On her or on Sasuke.

Akane patted her arm sympathetically and wished her luck as it was Sakura's job as the main surgeon to deliver the news to Sasuke. The rosette took several long moments to stare down at the prone body. Mai was only a year younger than herself, but, right now, she looked so young, too young.

After she had scrubbed her hands clean to the point of rawness, she stiffly approached the waiting room. Her heart was pounding in her ears, blood rushing so loud she couldn't even hear the click of her heels against the tiles. The last time she had seen Sasuke was nearly four months ago, and the only sign of acknowledgement he had given her was a hard glance. How was she supposed to tell him? What was she supposed to say?

The waiting room was empty save for a single ebony haired man sitting stiffly in one of the cushioned chairs. His elbows rested heavily on his knees and his hands were buried in his hair, face hidden completely from view. Everything part of his body was tensed, and he was absolutely still, as if he hadn't moved in hours.

"Sasuke." It came out as a whisper, shaky and much more terrified than she wanted.

Before she could blink, he was standing right in front of her, towering over her with a face that made her throat run dry and her heart clench. Fear. Pain. Anxiety. It was the most emotion she had ever seen in his face. And it was for someone else.

"Sakura. What? Tell me." His voice was hard and coarse, and his eyes were so so dark.

She swallowed hard. Her hands were shaking violently. "Sas-Sasuke, I'm sorry, but we couldn't save her." Like a rubber band, Sasuke's body snapped up straight. His fists clenched at his sides until his knuckles turned white. "The knife wound to her chest nicked an artery and-"

"You did it on purpose."

Sakura's mouth snapped shut, and she felt Sasuke's dark aura suddenly wash over her like a toxic blanket. "What?"

Sasuke's head was bowed down, his eyes hidden by his bangs, but Sakura could see that his teeth were clenching and grinding so fiercely that she could practically hear them. A chill ran through her body.

"You did this on purpose," he repeated in a voice so venomous that her heart started pounding in fear. He finally lifted his head, and his eyes were filled with a fury so intense and so potent that she took an involuntary step back. His hand shot out and grasped her forearm tight, tight enough that she knew she would bruise in a matter of seconds. He dragged her so close that she had to bend backward slightly to peer into his stone cold face. "You let her die because you wanted her to."

"Are you…are you fucking kidding me?" Sakura whispered in disbelief, her previous apprehension melting into outrage. "Sasuke, you're so out of line-"

"Shut the fuck up," he seethed, bending over her so low that the heat of his breath passed over her cheeks and ruffled her pink locks. "You think I didn't notice the way you acted around her. The looks you gave her in the street, the way you pathetically hated her because she's everything you can't be."

Tears sprung to Sakura's eyes, the viciousness of his words making something ugly twist in her stomach. "Sasuke, we did everything we could. The damage couldn't be repaired." Her voice was quiet but solid, trying to gain some semblance of control over the situation.

Sasuke didn't appear to have heard her, and the grip on her arm started to pinch sharply as he continued to speak menacingly. "I don't love you, Sakura. I've never loved you. And you had no right to take her away from me because you're too much of a pathetic, jealous bitch to-"

Sakura's free hand reached around to punch the dark haired male smartly in the face. He stumbled back under the force of it, relinquishing his grip on her arm as his hand flew to his face. The medic's chest heaved as she struggled to keep her tears at bay, the sick feeling of hurt and anger blooming across her chest. Sasuke wiped at the small trail of blood that feel from his busted lip, burning eyes trained solely on her.

"You killed my fiancée, Sakura," he said darkly, straightening to his full height and looking down at her once again. She held her ground and her chin in the air defiantly. "This isn't over yet."

Then, he was gone in a blur of black and red. Sakura collapsed back into the wall, pressing a hand to her chest as she struggled to regain breath, a mixture of apprehension and outrage burning in her stomach. This Sasuke was unrecognizable, and that terrified her.

"Are you out of your fucking mind, Uchiha? You're accusing my apprentice of killing one of her own patients!"

"Yes, I am aware of what I'm saying, and as Hokage you're required to investigate this accusation without bias."

"You don't need to remind me of my duties, you swotty little brat. I have half the mind to beat your sorry ass into the ground for even coming into my office and wasting my time like this. Whatever vendetta you have against Sakura is childish and petty, and I will not allow you to drag her career into this bullshit."

"I won't withdraw my complaint. If I have to go around you, I will."

"Get the fuck out of my office, Uchiha. Shizune, get me Sakura, now!"

Sakura stormed through the streets of Konoha like a woman possessed, shoulder-length hair flying wildly behind her and doctor's coat billowing in the breeze. She had to clench her fists and bite her tongue to keep from screaming out loud as she marched toward the Uchiha manor.

Two months! He had waited two fucking months before filing an official complaint, slapping her in the face when she had suspected his fury to have already passed. The pinkette had heard from Naruto that Sasuke had hardly left home since Mai passed, venturing out only to train at night and buy food every now and then, obviously in the early stages of grieving. Any sympathy she had felt for her ex-teammate vanished the instant the announcement fell from Tsunade's lips. Though her mentor had been equally as furious and hadn't doubted her for a second, her hands were tied when it came to the complaint. It had to be filed and investigated.

As the manor loomed before her, Sakura felt her anger reach a new peak, and she struggled to keep her chakra-enhanced strength in check as she banged on the door, not wanting to knock it right off its hinges and have something else to worry about.

"Sasuke! Open the fucking door! Now!"

Her fist thudded violently against the door, and the sun beat down on her back for several long moments before she finally heard footsteps approaching. The door swung open to reveal a somewhat smug Sasuke on the other side staring lazily at her. Boldly, she shoved him back a few steps and stepped inside.

"What is wrong with you?" she seethed through clenched teeth, viridian eyes flashing dangerously. "I've been suspended from the hospital for two weeks while they investigate your bogus complaint." Sasuke closed the door and casually crossed his arms over his sternum while leaning back against it. His nonchalance was really pissing her off. "This is serious, Sasuke. What you've done could damage my whole reputation and can keep me out of the hospital!"

The Uchiha blinked lazily at her, but there was a glint in his eye that told her he wasn't as indifferent to the situation as he made it seem. "Now you'll know what it's like to lose something you cared for."

Sakura spluttered, and she could feel her face burn with anger. "I did everything I could to save her, Sasuke. But I can't bring people back from the dead!"

"So you're telling me that one of the most well-renowned medic-nins in the world can't save someone from three fucking stab wounds," Sasuke hissed, some emotion finally breaking through his calm façade. "Bullshit."

For a brief second, Sakura wanted to be surprised that Sasuke holds her medical expertise in such high regard, but the longer she looked at him the more enraged she became. "I can't perform miracles! I know you're grieving Sasuke, but what you're doing is fucking ridiculous."

He stood up from the wall abruptly, and the movement instantly had Sakura charging her fist with chakra. "You know nothing." He stepped closer to her, but she leveled him with a challenging glare and didn't fall back. "I'm not grieving. I'm pissed off."

"But you don't have the right to be pissed off with me, you asshole!" she was yelling now, her temper beginning to simmer dangerously.

"I'll do as I please, Sakura," he said evenly and sharply, his white t-shirt stretching over his muscled chest as he crossed his arms in front of his body yet again. "And nothing would please me more than to watch you crash and burn."

"Don't fuck with me, Sasuke," the woman warned, her pretty face twisting into a sneer. "I'm not playing your games."

Sasuke scoffed and opened the door as a clear indication that she had overstayed her welcome. Sakura, quivering with fury but also overwhelmed with uneasiness, stepped wordlessly out of the darkness of Sasuke's home and into the sparkling shine of the sun. Sasuke smirked down at her before he closed the door, and the angle of the sun on his handsome face made him all the more striking, which made her hate him even more.

"As if you have a choice."

The Hokage's office was silent as Sakura waited patiently for Tsunade's arrival. She was nervous. Though she had no secrets to hide, the simple idea of her professional life being investigated at the word of a former missing nin, and teammate no less, put her on edge. What if they did find something to use against her? Would her work in the hospital really be over? Would her dream of opening a children's hospital be crushed before it was even a possibility? The uncertainty of the situation made her fidget restlessly.

These thoughts slowly turned to Sasuke, and she felt that now familiar rage beginning to simmer in her stomach again. The two weeks since their confrontation passed slowly, and her distaste for him only grew. With her sudden amount of free time, she imagined every possible way she could kill him, with her hands, with her feet, with a scalpel, maybe even with a spoon. He consumed her thoughts in the most negative way, and she wished so badly that this had never happened. Beneath her severe dislike of the man, however, lingered a raw layer of hurt. She wouldn't go as far as to say that they had been friends once upon a time because, really, they hadn't, but they were something and the idea that Sasuke could do this to her was heart-wrenching. She had loved him, completely, endlessly, and with every inch of her soul, and now her heart only burned with rage in his presence.

Naruto was furious when he'd learned of Sasuke's actions, had ranted and raved for several long minutes before he settled down in confusion. The conflict was easy to see in his bright blue eyes. He spoke frequently with Sasuke and only he knew the extent of the impact Mai's death had left, but even he could not understand why his rage had been focused on Sakura alone. The pinkette didn't have to say much for the normally boisterous blonde to understand the array of emotions she was feeling, and he only patted her hand and hugged her in support.

Perhaps the only reason she had yet to physically assault the Uchiha was her boyfriend, Kenji. Her eight month long lover was a very smart man, strong but practical, and he had assured her that grief made people lash out, and she had to patiently wait out its passing. Bless that man for having such reasonable advice and a great understanding of her temper or she might have a second complaint against her.

The door swung open and Tsunade strode in with Sasuke only steps behind her. The older woman looked irritated, as was typical at the end of a workday.

Sasuke stood next to Sakura with a good amount of space between them, and Sakura rolled her eyes as he glared at her.

"Alright," Tsunade broke the silence gruffly as she settled into her chair behind her desk. "Let's get straight down to business because I've got shit to get done today. Sakura Haruno." Sakura's heart fluttered nervously as her hands twisted behind her. "We have found the complaint filed against you by one dumbass Uchiha to be, essentially, fucking stupid, and have concluded that there is no accurate basis to these allegations nor any reason to keep you from the hospital any longer."

The emerald-eyed nin let her shoulders sag in relief but was surprised to see that Sasuke looked entirely expectant of the news and not the slightest bit disappointed. Her eyes narrowed.

Tsunade continued speaking, her face now serious. "Next time, keep your drama out of my office, Uchiha. Now, please get back to your lives so I can get back to real, pressing matters."

Sasuke immediately turned at the dismissal and strolled from the office, hands in his pockets. Sakura turned to her Shishou and nodded. Tsunade nodded back with a victorious smirk, and the pinkette slipped out of the room feeling significantly lighter than when she walked in. Sasuke was only a few feet ahead of her, and she jogged lightly to catch up with him, catching his elbow so that he would turn to face her. Her fingers on his bare skin must have surprised him because he started slightly before composing himself and facing her with that indifferent condescending stare. She hated the way he looked at her; it made her feel small and unsure.

"You knew this wasn't going to work out in your favor," she stated in confusion, some of the hurt managing to seep out involuntarily. "People have been whispering about me at work, on the streets. They were starting to call into question my skill as a doctor."

Her hand was still clenched around his elbow, and he made a show of gripping it and removing it from his person, his much larger fingers completely swallowing hers. He held on for a moment, tightly, obsidian eyes staring down hard into her wide, bright ones.

"As they should, Sakura," he said simply, but his words were biting.

Involuntary tears danced along her lash line. Those words coming from his blank face cut her more than she would have liked them to. "I hate you," she whispered venomously.

"Good. That will make this more entertaining then," he said before abruptly dropping her hand and continuing along the hallway, leaving her to watch his back with bitter, watery eyes.

"You're joking."

"I wish I was, Sakura, but he won't see anyone else."

"This is the fourth time in the past three months that he's done this! I'm not going in there just so he can continue insulting and belittling me. And he's been doing this weird thing with the touching."

"Sakura, he's bleeding all over our floors."

"…but is he dying?"

"Sakura."

"Please, Akane, please just kill me now. Put me out of my misery."

"I don't see what the problem is. You've dealt with bigger assholes. And you get to see him shirtless."

Sasuke waited somewhat patiently for Sakura to arrive in the small hospital room. The tissue paper covering the small bed crinkled slightly as he shifted in discomfort, his ribs grinding in protest. There was blood oozing from a wound in his stomach, at least two of his ribs must have been broken, and blood dribbled down his face from a gash on his forehead. And, like every other time he came to the hospital, Sakura was doing everything in her power to make him suffer longer.

He smirked to himself. Ever since their little confrontation nearly three months ago, Sakura had done everything in her power to avoid him or at least make her dislike for him obvious when he was near. Naruto insisted on dragging him across Konoha nearly every day, which meant a great deal more of Sakura. She made quite a good show of sneering, scowling, and glowering in his presence, but she met his every insult with a comment equally as snarky. Naruto, naturally, was confused by the sudden change of behavior in his friends, and only tried to butt in when the insults began to hit too low. There was no cowardice or fear on Sakura's part, as if their last confrontation had lit a fire in her, and Sasuke was inwardly surprised. The old Sakura would have broken with just a few simple words. Perhaps he had underestimated her.

"Sasuke," a voice announced breezily as the door opened suddenly. Sakura casually strolled in, pastel strands falling out of her messy bun as she peered only halfheartedly into the manila folder in her hands. "You're here again, I see. And it was only an A-rank." The folder snapped shut and she shot him a dry, sardonic smile. "I'm starting to think these missions are a little too difficult for you. Life with a pedophile must have made you soft."

Sasuke clenched his teeth in slight agitation, the muscle in his jaw twitching. Sakura looked pleased with herself, doing her best to hide a grin, and Sasuke fought to roll his eyes. "Is this above your expertise or should I find another doctor to help me?" His comment was flat and his eyes unimpressed, but Sakura didn't seem fazed at all.

Thin fingers began poking at his sides, and he winced when they poked a little too roughly at his broken ribs. She leaned in closer, her warm breath and loose hairs tickling his skin. As her hands began to glow and press to his sides, she looked up at him and smirked.

"If you wanted someone else, you wouldn't threaten physical harm on my nurses every time they tried to come in my place. Honestly, when did you become such a princess?"

She went out of her way to be less than gentle with him, poking his newly healed ribs with quick, sharp fingers. His hand immediately snatched hers up, and he yanked her closer so that she fell against him with a small 'eep', her free hand immediately flying to his bare shoulder to catch herself. Surprise was etched on her face, green eyes wide and questioning, and her fingers twitched against his shoulder before trailing down to his chest and trying to push away.

"Really, Sakura," he murmured smoothly with a smug expression as a result of her discomfort, "I've heard you want to open a children's hospital. How do you expect to handle children with such man hands?"

Surprise rapidly melted into a snarl, and she thumped him on the shoulder with enough strength to cause him to release her.

While he tried to inconspicuously rub the soreness away, she glanced down at her coat in dismay. "You got blood on my coat." Her pout came so quickly after the nasty snarl on her face that he almost wanted to be amused.

After a couple more jabs between the two of them, she got back to work, healing the deep wound on his abdomen before moving to the gash on his forehead. When he first started coming to the hospital, it had been with the intent to torture her with his presence. He knew that just being around him for too long would send her into a fit of frustrated tears, but, unfortunately, she seemed to be aware that this was his purpose and did her best to push back while keeping herself composed.

As the pleasant warmth of her chakra began to seep into his forehead, he felt his body relax unwillingly and a soft hum push past his lips.

"What?" the medic questioned without looking away from her work.

"Your chakra," Sasuke answered gruffly, side eying her discreetly, the concentration in her face, the focused set of her mouth. "It's warm."

She gave him a confused face as she thumbed the area, making sure the skin was absolutely smooth. "What else is it supposed to feel like?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Karin's was always cold. Kabuto's was…intrusive."

Sakura made a face of distaste at the mention of Kabuto and took her hands away from his face, pleased with her work. Her eyes had softened considerably in their moment of civility, but she didn't completely forget that she still hated him.

"Okay, Uchiha, you're good to go. Now get the fuck out of my hospital."

With another dry smile, she dismissed him and began scribbling away in the folder she had brought with her. Sasuke slowly pulled his shirt over his lean torso and didn't miss the way Sakura's eyes darted away from her writing to follow the movement. He smirked.

Maybe he needed to up the ante a bit.

"You're sure you can't stay?" Sakura said to Kenji, leaning into him and wrapping her arms around his strong torso.

The coolness of the September night brushed against her skin pleasantly, and Kenji's lean figure kept her from getting too cold. The wind brushed through her emerald dress and caused the wavy tips of her hair to tickle her bare, tanned shoulders. One of Kenji's calloused hands caressed her arm from shoulder to elbow while the other gently cupped the softness of her cheek, his thumb dragging sensually along her bottom lip. His dark chocolate eyes were warm and affectionate as they gazed down at her blithely smiling face.

"I wish I could, Sak," he said softly. "But I have to meet my team at dawn, and," he leaned down so his lips were against her ear, "I wouldn't get much sleep tonight knowing you sat through our entire date without underwear."

Sakura flushed in arousal at the heat behind his words, and gasped when his mouth took hers roughly, his tongue immediately slipping into her mouth and dancing with hers sensually. He kissed her long and hard, hard enough that she had to cling to him when her knees went week, before pulling back and pecking her sweetly on the cheek.

"I'll find you when I get back."

She watched his dirty blonde hair disappear down the street, a blissful smile decorating her pretty face and giddiness bursting in her chest. He was perfect, so perfect it almost hurt sometimes.

Still grinning, she unlocked the door to her quaint little two-story house, tossing the keys onto a small side-table. It wasn't until she closed the door and was completely shrouded in darkness that she felt it; a violent chill along her spine and something uneasy churning in her gut. There was someone else here, and they were heading straight for her.

Immediately, she jumped into action, flipping on the light switch behind her and preparing to throw chakra-infused punch. Before the light could even flicker on, a large hand clamped around her moving arm, wrenching it behind her back and whipping her around so that her front was being pushed somewhat roughly against the wall. Breathing wildly, she moved to break out of her assailant's hold when a voice froze her instantly.

"Sakura."

Sasuke's voice held an amused lilt, and she could practically feel his smirk at her back. The realization of his identity only put her slightly at ease, and she was even too shocked at the moment to feel angry.

"Sasuke," she gasped incredulously. "Holy fuck! What's wrong with you! You scared the shit out of me!"

Her forehead dropped forward onto the wall as she struggled to still her frantically beating heart. The very unwelcome intruder didn't release her forearm, and she began to grow agitated.

"Seriously?" Sasuke began from behind her in a tone meant to aggravate her. "Are his lips really so divine that you would drop your guard completely? What kind of kunoichi are you?"

Sakura practically growled, the rush of adrenaline she had experienced only exacerbating her temper. "Get the fuck off me, Sasuke, and I swear to God I'll beat your ass into the ground."

She struggled against him violently but kept her movements in check because she didn't want to break her arm or any of her furniture. Sasuke, being Sasuke, completely ignored her order and continued to talking.

He bent over and leaned in close, lips carefully caressing the shell of her ear and breath dancing down the back of her neck. A shudder so violent passed through her that she was positive he felt it in his own body.

"I heard him say something about no underwear." Sakura's eyes widened. "Is that true?"

Then, his large hand descended on her pert bottom, savagely fondling one of her cheeks through her thin dress, some of his fingers slipping into the cleft of her ass cheeks. They were dangerously close to a very untouched part of her body, and her body went taut with tension.

"Guess so."

Those last two words finally propelled her to launch her free elbow back into his face, and she felt wonderful satisfaction when she felt it connect with his face. They both stumbled backwards, and Sakura whirled around to face him. He was clutching his jaw, but there was a smirk on his face and smugness in his eyes. She swore she saw red, and if she wasn't so shaken she would have kicked him in the fucking face.

"What. The. Fuck." Her words came out in incensed huffs, her fists clenching so tightly her nails almost drew blood. The pink waves that sat delicately on her shoulders were now mussed and messy from the all the movement.

"What is he, a chunin?" Sasuke continued to goad, ignoring her furious question and settling down into one of the sofas like he owned the place.

"ANBU captain, actually. Why? Jealous?"

Sasuke scoffed. "What does he have that I could possibly want?"

His lazy, almost uninterested response made her eye twitch, but she forced herself to unclench her fists and ease her shoulders back.

"I don't know. A spotless reputation, a successful shinobi career, friends, the adoration of his peers," she snarked back, stopping just short of adding 'a girlfriend and a family.' She may hate him, but she wasn't a cruel, insensitive bitch that could use his demons against him in such a way.

"You haven't told him about our little encounters," Sasuke stated in a way that said he wanted an explanation. At the questioning arch of her eyebrow, he elucidated. "He nodded at me on the street yesterday. Didn't seem to dislike me too much."

Sakura rolled her eyes, rubbed her temples, and then made her way into her kitchen, intent on making tea. Quiet footsteps followed her.

It had been a while since she had last seen Sasuke in the hospital, and everything had been quiet. She knew better, of course, than to believe it was over. For an entire month, she lived her life somewhat warily, knowing that he was waiting just around the corner with something unexpected. And while she kept a watchful eye, she had tried desperately to forget the incident in the hospital. When he had pulled into his shirtless body, the shock of touching his naked skin had almost been overwhelming. He was smooth and hard in all the right places, and one of his hands had slid slowly, sensually even, along the length of her spine, settling low on her back. Everything about the way he had touched had been inappropriate and a dangerous sign for what was to come, so, in a way, she almost wasn't surprised that he was here in her house.

But Kenji…she hadn't told him because she wasn't sure how to tell her boyfriend that there was another man trying to play a very dangerous game with her. She hadn't told him because she wanted to handle it herself. She wasn't weak and she wasn't too delicate to handle a conniving, slightly deranged Uchiha.

She hadn't told him because a part of her found this stupid game thrilling and intoxicating, and she hated herself for it.

"I can handle myself," she began, busying herself with the tea as Sasuke settled for leaning casually up against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and dark eyes following her every movement. "Kenji doesn't need to worry about stupid things like this."

As she waited for the water to boil, she turned and leaned back against the counter to watch him. He was smirking, like this was exactly what he wanted to hear. Her eyes narrowed threateningly.

"Don't break into my house again. Next time, it'll be a fist through your face."

Sasuke rolled his eyes dismissively. "You don't even have protective traps around your house."

The kettle whistled, and Sakura snorted as she removed it. "Who the hell would want to break into my house anyway." Sasuke gave her a pointed look, and she actually laughed, tossed her head back and let out a lighthearted, tinkling laugh. The Uchiha tried not to look surprised by the sound pouring from her throat. "Point taken."

She handed him a steaming mug, and he raised an eyebrow questioningly before accepting it. He certainly looked out of place in her home, but maybe it was because she never imagined he would be in it. There was a slight tan to his usually pale skin, most likely a result of Naruto's insistence that he leave his home for more than training, and the deep purple bags that had lived underneath his eyes for the entire two months after Mai's passing had vanished. He had finally gone and gotten his hair cut to a decent length, but he still wasn't the Sasuke she had been familiar with during her younger years. And maybe that's why his presence here was so peculiar to her. Oh, and the fact that she still hated him probably had something to do with it.

"Of all the diabolical things you could do, why the hell did you choose to break into my house?" she asked almost casually, holding her mug with both hands and taking small sips. The hot liquid tumbled down her throat deliciously, warming her to the tips of her toes.

Sasuke smirked into the mug. "Because I enjoy making you keep secrets from your boyfriend."

"Oh, look, it's you again. Surprise, surprise. You know you don't have to restrain me every time I open the door. By this point, I know it's you."

"Hn. Still no traps? One day, it may not be me."

"Yes, well they would have to get through you first since you would undoubtedly be waiting here before I even got home. Hey! Get your hands out of my shirt!"

"Hmm, you're letting yourself go, Sakura."

"Fuck you, asshole. Sasuke, seriously! Don't move your hands any higher – oh!"

"Hn. No bra again? Why do you always insist on going without undergarments?"

"Get your hands off of me or I will – oh! – break your fucking nose!"

"Fuck!"

"I warned you, pervert. And I'm not healing it. And no tea for you!"

As the coolness of the fall was chased away by the more biting cold of December, Sasuke found himself at Sakura's home more often than not. He tried to tell himself that it was because Mai's presence was suddenly hanging heavy on his heart – he met her during the winter, and he could still remember the way snowflakes had clung to her lashes – and not because Sakura's home was warm. He was still furious with Sakura, of course, still hated her with something deep and ugly that churned in his stomach, but he found that they shared more civil moments these days. He still harassed her to her wit's end, a couple of times straight into tears, and she still punched him without remorse every time he did his best to make her uncomfortable by invading her personal space. But, he could see her weakening, could see that she no longer packed as much power in her punches, no longer acted as outraged when his actions were entirely too intimate against the woman.

Except for that one time he had been audacious enough to touch her bare breasts. She had nearly shattered his nose and promptly threw his ass out the door. He'd been forced to find Naruto and ask him for Hinata's help. They'd both stared at him in confusion, but Sasuke wouldn't admit that it was Sakura's doing despite Naruto's incessant questioning.

The handsome Uchiha shifted impatiently on the branch he was perched on, trying to wrap his thick coat tighter around himself and nearly slipping. It hadn't snowed in two days, but there was a thin layer of the white substance coating the streets and the trees, making it harder and more uncomfortable to keep his balance. He heard laughter, one soft and sweet and the other deep and rich, and he began to fidget anxiously. When Naruto had told him the news an hour ago, he had waited restlessly for twenty minutes before bolting to Sakura's house, quickly scaling the tree that stood outside her bedroom window and waiting. He had to see if it was true. It wouldn't change anything, of course, but he just had to know.

The laughter grew nearer, and finally Sasuke could see the pink of Sakura's hair and the darker blonde of Kenji's. She was wearing a white dress, something a little classier than her usual relaxed attire, and stumbling in her black heels as she stopped every few feet to kiss her boyfriend deeply. They seemed to be physically unaware of the frigid air, clinging to one another almost desperately.

'How romantic,' Sasuke thought dryly, his fingers nearly snapping the thin branch he clung to.

They disappeared from his sight as they approached the front door, and Sasuke's temper flared in agitation. Finally, her bedroom light blinked on, and the pair came stumbling in, lips attacking each other hungrily and their clothes already a wrinkled mess. Kenji had already lost his shirt and Sakura her heels and hair clip. The ANBU captain wasted no time, fingers deftly finding the back of her dress and yanking the zipper down. Sasuke's eyes widened and his mouth grew dry as the white, shiny fabric slipped from her body and pooled at her feet. Yes, he had touched Sakura, but he had never seen her, and a part of him actually felt strange for seeing her completely bare body without her permission. Her back was to the window – so he really wasn't seeing too much – but the outline of her petite body made his heart putter rapidly. Her legs were long and lean, her waist small, back smooth, and her lacy white underwear hugged her ass like a second skin. Kenji had yet to stop touching her, his lips attached religiously to the underside of her jaw as he cupped her pert bottom to lift her so that she could wrap her legs around his waist.

And Sasuke couldn't help but wonder what she tasted like, what shade of green her eyes were at this very moment, what noises were spilling from her lips…

There! He saw it, the glitter of a diamond on her left hand as it weaved through her lover's locks.

He thought he would feel indifferent when he saw it, but instead he just felt…different. It made his stomach hurt a little.

When Kenji playfully tossed Sakura onto the bed, she laughed and pulled him on top of her. His hips were nested between her welcome thighs, and one of his fingers skimmed the hem of her underwear before slipping inside. This was when Sasuke looked away, jumping down from his perch because he truly didn't want to watch anymore.

As he walked home, head bowed low in the cold and hands shoved deep in his pocket, he forced his mind away from the smoothness of Sakura's skin and to the now somewhat vague blue of Mai's eyes.

No, this didn't change anything. It only made it better.

"Now you're doing your spring cleaning? It's December."

"I thought you were here to insult me or generally make my life suck."

"Hn. I got here and realized I didn't have anything to say today."

….

"Why are you smiling?"

"I don't understand you at all, Sasuke Uchiha."

"What is there to understand?"

"A lot, apparently."

"Hn."

…..

"Sakura, stop smiling at me…I'm leaving."

Naruto shoved another shot glass into Sasuke's hands with a drunken grin. The blonde clinked their glasses together and then quickly knocked his back, drunk enough that the bitter liquid couldn't even be tasted on his tongue. Sasuke tossed his back seconds later, unfortunately not drunk enough yet to have his taste buds rendered useless.

"To teme, for finally letting me drag his sorry ass into a bar," Naruto slurred, smiling goofily as he leaned against the bar.

"I thought the cheers was supposed to come before the consumption of the shot," Sai asked in confusion.

Kiba, who stood to the left of Sasuke, snorted into his glass. "It is, but this fucker is too drunk to care."

Sasuke was only slightly buzzed, just enough that he actually wasn't even annoyed with being in the bar in the first place. Naruto had physically dragged him out of his home because they were having a "boy's night." He snorted to himself. That was completely shot to hell now as Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Hinata had come to the same bar to have their girl's night. It was a fairly large bar, so they could have gone on with their respective plans easily, but, of course, it was nearly impossible for the group of friends to not mingle. And it was only natural for Naruto to see his girlfriend and immediately have his arms wrapped around the Hyuuga's waist.

Loud, feminine laughter caught his attention, and he glanced down the bar where Sakura and Ino were telling a very animated story to Tenten. Sakura's eyes were bright and happy, her smile full and, and the dark blue dress she wore was tight and short. It was very hard not to look at her legs.

Her eyes flickered over to his for a second, and she glared halfheartedly, the mirth never fully leaving her face, before turning her attention back to her girls. Sasuke continued watching her. She'd been engaged for about a month, and it seemed like she hadn't stopped smiling since. Every time he broke into her house, she held less than half of her usual irritation toward him, and she even joked with him far more than she insulted him. It was strange.

"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed when she accidently knocked over a stray beer, the amber liquid splashing onto her hands. She tried to shake off the wetness, which only caused a cry from Ino as small droplets struck her face. "Damn. I need to wash this off."

As she began to weave through the crowd to the back of the building, Sasuke followed, not sure for what reason, but he checked to make sure no one was watching anyway. Her pink head bobbed easily through the mass of people before disappearing into the back hallway that held the bathrooms. It was dark and empty, everyone's attention suddenly drawn to whoever was screeching at the karaoke stage. Ignoring the somewhat unpleasant stench of cigarettes and liquor, he strode straight down the hall and into the girl's bathroom.

The small, two stalled bathroom was empty save for Sakura, who was scrubbing her hands underneath the flowing faucet. The lighting was dim, one of the bulbs on the ceiling little to no light, and the pinkette looked so inviting. The dark heels she wore made her creamy legs look impossibly long, and the low cut of the dress pushed her humble breasts up just enough to look enticing.

"How drunk are you?" Sasuke asked, breaking the silence of the small room but surprisingly not startling her at all.

Her green eyes darted sideways nonchalantly as she finished washing her hands, pulling a paper towel from the dispenser. "Well, I'm only a little buzzed but still sober enough to know that this is the girl's bathroom, you jackass."

He smirked and moved towards her. "You knew I was following you, didn't you?"

She smiled lazily at him, leaning back against the sink smugly. "Yup," she said, pink lips making a smacking noise on the 'p'. He stood directly in front of her, and up close he could see that the alcohol had made her eyes hooded and cheeks flushed a soft pink. "I think I'm pretty attuned to all of your moves now, Sasuke."

As quick as lightning, he had her sitting on the edge of the sink, both her hands behind her back and restrained in one of his larger hands, his hips pressed between her thighs. Her back was arched up toward him slightly, her neck craned back so that she could look him in the eye. Though Sasuke could tell that she was reluctant to give him any sort of reaction, the surprise in her eyes gave her away.

"Really?" she whined, wiggling slightly in his grasp, making her dress crawl even further up her thighs. "Of all the places to accost me you choose a public bathroom in a bar?"

"I like the thrill of getting caught," he said with a smirk, and her eyes widened as a non-alcohol induced blush crawled up her face.

Maybe it was the way the alcohol was winding through his system, making him feel pleasantly fuzzy and relaxed, but Sakura looked delectable. Her eyes were bright and glazed, straight pink locks danced along her bare collarbone and framed her heart shaped face perfectly, and the dark hem of her dress had ridden all the way up to the apex of her thighs.

"Where's your fiancé?" Sasuke asked in a low voice, leaning forward so that their faces were only inches apart. He brazenly placed his other hand high on her thigh, making her eyes widen in shock.

"He's on a mission," she said, whispered almost.

"He still doesn't know about me?"

Sasuke's eyes were dark, almost abysmally so, and Sakura felt drawn into them while simultaneously wary. His calloused fingers danced slowly along her thigh until they were touching the edges of her panties. Her skin was hot to the touch, and her body was trembling.

"Sasuke what the – oh."

He dragged the pad of his finger along the length of her pussy over the thin fabric. If possible, her eyes got even wider, her mouth dropping into a small 'o' of surprise. She began to fidget even more, but Sasuke pressed into her harder, mimicking penetration through her panties.

"Sasuke I can't…"

She trailed off completely when his fingers pushed the edge of her panties aside and his thumb fondled her hard nub, her trembling becoming more violent as she began to pant softly. Her face betrayed her conflict. While her eyes were trying not to flutter shut in pleasure, her brow was furrowed and her bottom lip was caught between her teeth, obviously in attempt to muffle her moans.

Sasuke leaned forward to speak into her ear. "Don't be shy, Sakura," he said hoarsely before sucking the bottom of her ear lobe into his mouth and nibbling on it gently.

She gasped, at his words or his actions he wasn't sure, and he took this moment to plunge two fingers into her. He groaned into her ear, while she choked on a gasp. Fuck. She was so warm and tight, even tighter than he imagined, and he didn't waste any time rocking his hand forward rhythmically. There was nothing gentle or soft about his movements. Each movement of his fingers hit her deep and hard, and she was mewling softy within a matter of seconds. He didn't relinquish the captive grip he had on her wrists, but she seemed to have forgotten about protesting, instead unconsciously spreading her thighs further so that he could come in closer.

Her inner walls felt like velvet, and every gasp and moan falling from her lips made his dick press harder against the confines of his jeans. Fuck. She was supposed to want him, but he wasn't supposed to actually want her back. Still, this revelation didn't slow him down.

Finally, he chose to release her wrists so that he could lean back and watch the expression on her face. Her hands immediately moved to the edges of the sink behind her, leaning back against the mirror as the pleasure surged all the way down to her toes. The dull throb of the music was the only sound mixing with Sakura's gasping and Sasuke's increasingly heavy breathing. He was sure that it would be incredibly difficult to forget the look on her face. Mouth parted sensually, a crimson blush staining her cheeks, half lidded eyes the darkest shade of green he'd ever seen, stray tendrils of pink falling forward over her cheeks. She was the picture of eroticism. And he wanted to kiss her so badly.

Just as he leaned forward and their lips grazed just barely, she let out shattered moan, something he couldn't even conjure in his dirtiest fantasies. Her walls fluttered around his fingers before clenching tightly, and she used one hand to muffle a scream while the other fisted in the front of his shirt. He continued to dip his fingers into her slowly, helping her ride out her orgasm, and she shuddered for a long moment before collapsing back completely.

It happened so suddenly that he almost missed it. One moment he was watching her fall from her orgasm, face scrunching then relaxing as the coil finally snapped, and the next her entire expression had morphed into one of horror and guilt.

"Oh my god," she whispered to herself, shame and disgust filling her green eyes with tears. "What did I do?" Everything about her looked panicked.

She pushed him away almost violently before shakily standing from the sink. Once hazy emerald eyes were now clear as day, every emotion laid bare to him as she backed away slowly, shakily, before whipping around and dashing through the door, leaving him alone with a raging hard-on and a twisted feeling in his stomach.

This was just part of the game, right?

Sasuke didn't speak to the pinkette again for five weeks despite his best efforts, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was avoiding him. He still broke into her house at least twice every week, but she never returned to it while he was there. He assumed that she was purposefully spending nearly all her time at Kenji's apartment when she wasn't at the hospital, knowing that her home was no longer an Uchiha-free safe zone.

Something in his chest tensed at the thought. She loved her home, something he had immediately noticed in the attention she put into the décor and care of it, and he was forcing her to stay away.

Somewhat solemnly, he took his small bag of tomatoes from the vendor and continued winding his way through the small food market. The February sun was bright despite the cold, but at least the snow had disappeared, making it less miserable to leave his home. He was eyeing some green apples when pink suddenly blurred in the corner of his eye. Instantly, his dark eyes were combing the area, knowing that Sakura was somewhere nearby.

When he finally found her, his heart did this weird stuttering thing, almost as if he was relieved for some weird reason, and he ignored it. She was kneeling into the dirt, looking fresh faced with no makeup and a loose pony and relaxed in a casual sweater and pants, as she carefully healed the scraped knee of a young boy. His young face was scrunched in pain, eyes watery with tears, but Sakura soothed him with a gentle smile and soft words. She had the boy giggling in just a few seconds and healed in only a couple more.

Before he could approach her, Kenji appeared beside her, sliding an arm around her waist and pressing his lips to her forehead. He had a large bag of multi-colored fruits, and Sakura oohed delightedly as she opened it to peer inside. Everything about her was soft and carefree, from her lazy, blithe smile to her soft, sparkling eyes.

Sasuke felt slightly spurned at the fact that she had yet to sense his presence, that people smiled in amusement at the obvious affection between the couple, that her green eyes wouldn't leave her fiancé's beaming face for even a second.

Sasuke wondered if even had the right to feel slighted in the first place.

He wondered what it would take to get her to smile at him that way.

"Sakura…we're friends."

"What? Sai, of course we are. We're family."

"So if there was something wrong, you would tell me?"

"Of course. But there's nothing wrong with me."

"I believe you're lying, and I believe it has something to do with the Traitor."

"Well…Sasuke is just being Sasuke, but it's not anything I can't handle. Don't worry."

"I think if it hurts you this much, then maybe you're not handling it as well as you think."

"Sai, I'm okay, but if I find myself in too deep at some point, I'll let you know."

"It appears to me that that point has already been reached."

Sakura sighed in relief the closer she got to her house. Her evening gown, though beautiful, was starting to feel heavy and a little too tight, and the arches of her feet were screaming in her heels. These annual hospital galas were starting to become more of a nuisance every year. While it was wonderful to converse with the many donors and renowned doctors from other villages that were invited, the glamour of it all started to lose its appeal once she realized how uncomfortable the formal attire was. She'd also had to attend alone because Kenji had been called on an emergency mission only two hours before it started.

Reaching her front door, the medic took a very long, deep sigh, trying to still the anxiety bubbling within her. She could sense Sasuke's chakra on the other side of the door, and she was entirely unprepared to face him again after the "incident." It seemed that the two months spent hiding out in Kenji's apartment hadn't helped her at all, but she knew it was time for her to go home and deal with the inevitable confrontation.

Slowly, she pushed the door open and slipped inside, immediately flicking on the lights. Everything looked exactly as she'd left it. There was no surprise attack waiting for her, no snarky comment flying out of the dark, no unwanted hands touching her. But he was still here somewhere.

Instead of worrying about where he was, she slipped off her shoes and sighed in relief at the feeling of flat, solid ground beneath her. She flexed both her feet repeatedly to get the cramps out of them, leaning against the door for support.

"Oh, you're home for once." And there he was.

Just the sound of his voice made her fists clench and her teeth grind. Very, very slowly, she turned to face him where he stood in the entry way to her kitchen and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. He was completely disheveled, his hair a tangled mess, his clothes wrinkled and crooked, and his eyes were heavy and bloodshot.

"Are you drunk?" Sakura asked incredulously. She'd never seen a heavily intoxicated Sasuke before.

Sasuke only smirked and leaned against the wall heavily. "I'm surprised you're not hiding away at your boyfriend's house." There was only a slight slur in his voice but, his tone was still biting. "Fuck. Do you always look like this for your work events?"

Emerald eyes glowing and sultry from dark, smoky makeup, pink hair done up with a few loose tendrils, tight black dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves that hugged every curve on her body, the pale pink shimmer on her lips. She was a fucking vision.

Sakura rolled her eyes and moved to her coffee table, where a messy pile of medical textbooks was starting to bother her. "Fiancé," she corrected dryly.

"You don't act like he's your fiancé."

Sakura stopped her tidying to whirl around and face him, suddenly overcome with agitation. "Get out of my house, Sasuke. I don't feel like dealing with your bullshit tonight."

She was exhausted from the day and irritated from all her extravagant attire, and she really just wanted a long bath and to pass the hell out. For once, she didn't want to argue with him, and she didn't want to be angry. She just wanted to sleep.

"You didn't seem to mind it last time I saw you," he sneered.

Sakura, who was making her way toward the stairs to retire to her room, froze. Anger bubbled in her stomach dangerously, and she could feel a retort pushing past her lips but she held it in. His dark eyes were glinting almost maliciously. He was looking for a fight, and she wasn't going to give it to him.

"Go home," she repeated, her face hard and voice harder.

She continued walking, determined to finish the conversation before it got ugly, but his arm suddenly blocked her path, his hand pressed up against the wall. So close to him, she could smell the liquor on his breath and scrunched her nose in distaste. He really did look like hell. He had bags underneath his eyes, he probably hadn't shaved in almost a week, and he looked ashen and tired. She didn't even have to ask to know what put him so on edge.

"Were you too scared to face me, Sakura?" he goaded drunkenly, enunciating every syllable of her name. "Is that why you hid?"

"I wasn't scared. I just didn't want to see you, asshole," she snapped, trying to duck under his arm. He only moved his body to the right to block her.

"Have you always been a liar, Sakura?"

"Have you always been a sadistic, obsessive stalker?"

"Tell me, what would Kenji say if he knew what we did in that bathroom?"

"What would Mai say if she knew you were handling the anniversary of her passing like a miserable fucking drunk?"

Before she could even blink, he had he pressed back against the wall, gripping her low chignon tightly in his fist as he pulled her head back sharply. She wasn't surprised, and she didn't cry out despite the uncomfortable position of her neck. The snarl on his face was ferocious, her words inciting a dark, throbbing rage within him. Sakura knew it was foolish and cruel of her to say it, but her foul mood had been instantly escalated by the negative atmosphere surrounding them, and she found herself unable to stop her scathing response.

"Don't say her name," he hissed into her face. "Don't talk about her like you fucking know her when you're the one that killed her."

He pulled a little tighter on her hair, and she winced as her neck craned back even further. She wished she had kept her heels on so she could look straight at him instead of up at him. It made her feel small and inferior. The fury on his face was intimidating and she'd wished she'd never opened her mouth in the first place.

"Sasuke," she said solidly, face stern. "You need to stop this ridiculous delusion. I didn't kill her. You need to let it go. She's gone."

"Let it go?" he scoffed mockingly. "I can't just let it go. You don't know what it's like to lose someone you love. You don't know what it's like to hurt."

To hear him say love so freely made her heart clench. "I lost you once, all those years ago," she whispered.

The grip on her hair loosened just slightly for a second before tightening again. "It's not the same thing. You never had me to begin with." The corners of her eyes pricked. "Oh, does that upset you? What would Kenji say if he knew you were crying over another man?"

"Stop," she whispered, the truth of his words hitting her like a punch in the gut.

"What would he say if he knew all the places I've touched you?" Sasuke brought his face closer to hers, alcoholic breath washing over her heatedly.

"What if he knew that you liked it?"

"Stop!" Tears rolled freely down her cheeks, shame making her feel dirty in her own skin.

He paused then, eyes widening as if he was just seeing her for the first time. His hand fisted in her hair, her face wet with tears. It reminded him of a similar incident years ago, only it involved someone at her back and shorn strands of pink floating to the ground. His hand loosened and then fell, but he didn't step back, just continued to stare at her with his dark, bloodshot eyes.

Sakura sniffled. "When you wake up in the morning, you can make yourself tea, but go home after. Please," she said softly and calmly.

His brow furrowed in confusion, but before he could comment, she reached around to hit that one nerve in the back of his neck. He promptly collapsed at her feet, looking much more at peace now that he was unconscious. Using her superior strength, she dragged him over to her sofa and pulled him onto it in a laying position. Part of her wanted to throw him out of her house and leave him in the street, but the incredibly raw pain in his eyes when she said Mai's name stopped her. It was the most emotion she'd ever seen him show, and it amazed and pained her all at once. She went to sleep wondering how deep was too deep.

In the morning, he was gone just like she'd asked.

"Sasuke, when you're gravely injured you're supposed to go to the hospital."

"Hn. What's the point? I'd just ask for you anyway."

"I shouldn't heal you, you know. I'm still pretty pissed."

"Hn."

"Well, you're bleeding all over my front door, and I don't want to the neighbors to get suspicious, so I guess I can make an exception this time."

"Why do you?"

"Why do I what?"

"Heal me when you're angry."

"…I don't know. Even if I do think you're a total jackass, I think I'd rather fix you than watch you suffer. I can only hate you so much every day before I get tired."

"Aa. I get tired too."

Breathing heavily, Sakura pressed herself into a dark alcove in one of the brothel's hallways, the forbidden scroll she had been tasked to retrieve tucked safely inside her very, very short kimono. Ugh, brothels, such disgusting, degrading places. And of course their plan of attack was to have her pose as one of the brothel girls to get close to the owner, Jiro, who ran a sketchy black market scheme of selling forbidden scrolls to equally sketchy people as a side business. Sakura had been given the mission because, as a highly advanced medic, her body was capable of fighting the many drugs Jiro administered to his girls during the "breaking in" process. Unfortunately, the assignment was to get the scroll and leave the brothel as undetected as possible and Jiro alive.

Sakura rolled her eyes, now grey as a result of her henge. Jiro was unconscious in his bedroom from a quick pinch to the back of the neck, though she'd been sure to leave at least a few bruises. Now, all she had to do was find Sasuke, who was assigned her partner for the mission.

She snorted. Partner. All he had to do was pose as a brothel patron while she did all the dirty work. There was suddenly shouting from down the hall, and Sakura started. Fuck. They'd found him faster than they should have. Quickly, she sprinted down the hall, long black hair billowing behind her. The hem of her lavender kimono sat just below her ass, making it extremely uncomfortable for sprinting down hallways.

"Oof," she wheezed out when she turned a corner and smack into someone's hard chest. Sasuke's hands steadied her. "Oh, goodie, I was just on my way to find you."

"They're searching the rooms," he stated quickly, moving them back into the shadows. "There are about twenty of them. Jounin level."

"Fuuuuck," Sakura cursed in annoyance. "Tsunade's going to be so pissed. She wanted this to be a quick in and out."

"Are you going to fight in that?" Sasuke asked in amusement, glancing down at her revealing kimono and bare feet.

Sakura clicked her tongue as the voices got suddenly closer. They were just around the corner. A door across the dingy, dim hall was open slightly, and she could see that it was unoccupied. When the idea hit her, she sighed painfully to herself. Sasuke only raised one dark eyebrow in question.

"I'm going to hate myself for this," she whispered in annoyance before grabbing her partner by the collar and dragging him into the empty room.

Without a word, Sasuke allowed himself to be pushed down onto the bed in a laying position while Sakura climbed onto him, straddling his hips. He watched as she did a few quick signs with her hands, and her hair changed from sleek and black to wavy and blonde. Her eyes reverted to their natural green and her cheeks and nose to their natural angles. It was Sakura but with a different hair color and lacking the small rhombus on her forehead.

Out of instinct, his hands moved to hold her just below her hips, some of his fingers brushing her bare skin as her kimono rode up around her hips. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, preparing herself for what was to come. He lay beneath her silently, face stoic and breathing calm, but his eyes were so, so dark. She could see his jaw tensing just slightly, and his fingers dug into her satiny fabric of her kimono just slightly.

'It's for the mission. It's for the mission,' she repeated in her head, trying to calm her nerves as the yelling and pounding footsteps grew even nearer. It had been a month since their argument in her house, and everything between them had been surprisingly civil. There had been no arguments, no antagonizing, and no unnecessary touching. And she was about to ruin it all. Hopefully, the fallout wouldn't be so disastrous this time.

"Watch your hands," she warned with a glare, and he smirked. Then, slowly, she lowered her body to lie flush against his.

The moment her lips touched his, she felt breathless. He'd touched almost every part of her body by this point, but this was the first their lips had ever truly touched. Her lips were trembling with nervousness, but when his tongue pressed against her lips, she granted him entrance. He kissed her slow and deep, deep enough that it made her head spin and her hands fist in the bed sheets by his head. Her body felt electrified, her hips pressing harder into his every time his tongue passed over hers sensually. One hand slid up to press into the dip of her back while the other moved to tangle in her bleached hair, pressing her head in closer and her hips in harder.

She tried to remain detached, tried to think of it as strictly part of the mission, but she felt herself melt into him every time his mouth molded over hers. Kissing Sasuke was like being consumed by fire. Every inch of her skin was blazing, her lungs felt like they were caving in, and she felt herself grower wetter by the second, the fire slinking down her body to settle low in her stomach.

Sasuke didn't attempt to dominate or control the kiss, instead following the tempo she had set. His hands, though they remained in innocent places like her back and low on her legs, were making her tremble, and she swore that she could feel his belly trembling against hers too. Without really thinking of what she was doing, she allowed one of her hands to dip under his shirt, feeling the heat of his skin on his lower stomach. His abdominals tensed, and then, bravely, she allowed her pinky to dip beneath his pants, just barely grazing coarse hair.

"Sakura," her name was breathily whispered against her lips, and she immediately drew back just slightly at the husky quality of his voice.

He was completely still beneath her, fingers flexing around her hips. His eyelids were screwed tightly shut, mouth gaping open just slightly. He didn't have to put up with an elaborate henge, the only noticeable changes being shorter hair and lighter colored eyes. He was so incredibly beautiful.

Before she could move another inch or hear another of his strained, tortured gasps, the door of the room suddenly banged open, startling them both up into sitting positions. Sasuke narrowly avoided banging his forehead into hers and kept her anchored on his lap with a hand on her knee. She craned her neck around to face two of Jiro's intruding bodyguards, trying to look as shocked and terrified as she imagined the other girls were.

One of the men, a coarse, burly looking guy, immediately wrapped his fingers around her bicep and viciously yanked her from Sasuke's lap, so hard that she couldn't find her footing and fell directly on her ass with a short yelp. Her elbows scraped against the rough carpet, and one of her kimono sleeves slipped dangerously low off her shoulder, revealing the curve of the top half of her breast. Annoyance flashed through her system, and she had to try very hard not to glare at the two men from her seated position, instead giving them a wide eyed, fearful stare.

Sasuke remained completely still, attempting to give the men a confused face, but Sakura could see his fists clenching in the bedsheets in anger.

"Your name," a bearded, grizzly looking guard demanded from Sasuke, a kunai flashing threateningly in his hand.

"Oh, please sir," Sakura interrupted meekly before Sasuke could speak. "We were-"

A large hand came down sharply on her cheek, sending her entire body lurching to the right, blonde hair flying across her face. Pain exploded across her cheekbone, and she once again had the violent urge to knock his teeth through his face, but instead focused on blinking the spots out of her eyes.

"I wasn't addressing you, whore," the bearded man barked as Sasuke suddenly sprung up from the bed, eyes glinting dangerously.

"Touch her again and I'll kill you."

The guards didn't seem to take his threat seriously, scoffing and then laughing shortly in amusement. Sakura's heart jolted at his flash of protectiveness.

"Oh, we've got a true gentleman here," one of the guard's joked with a snicker, stepping closer to Sasuke threateningly while the other glanced at Sakura with furrowed brows.

"I don't recognize this one," he remarked to his partner.

Again, before she could even react, they grabbed at her, this time twisting a fist in her hair and lurching her up to her knees. Pained tears lightly pricked the corners of her eyes at the way her scalp twisted under the viciousness of her grip, and her hands immediately moved to his wrist, attempting to take off some of the strain.

He opened his mouth to speak, but, before he even got the chance, Sasuke was flashing toward him, red eyes blazing and tomoes whirling in rage. The guard dropped to the floor like stone, Sakura's temporarily platinum strands slipping through his fingers. She blinked in surprise when she saw that the other guard was already lying unconscious upon the floor.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but hopefully they don't remember your Sharingan when they wake up," she commented as Sasuke moved toward her silently.

He bent slightly and grasped her arms just below her elbows, pulling her up to her feet. He was silent, and the hard set of his mouth told her that he was still angry but not towards her because he gently moved her sleeve back up to its rightful spot on her shoulder, concealing the skin that had so roughly been exposed. Then, sharp eyes moved to her face, searching for any damage that she might've received from the blow to her face.

She placed a soothing hand on his forearm and offered him a gentle smile. "I'm fine. It honestly doesn't even hurt now." His eyes remained narrowed, but his shoulders relaxed slightly. "Let's go before we run into more of these idiots."

He nodded in agreement and moved to the door, his fingers grazing the inside of her wrist as he went, as if ensuring that she was following.

Sakura moved with him, trying to ignore the fact that her heart hadn't stopped pounding since her lips had touched his.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?"

The Uchiha could tell from the poorly concealed irritation in Sakura's voice that she definitely didn't want to see him. When he had rapped his knuckles against her front door, it had taken her several minutes to finally answer, undoubtedly because she had been sleeping, and his theory was proven correct when she angrily swung the door open wearing nothing but a long, dark blue t-shirt that hung too loosely around her neck and a head of disheveled pink hair.

His eyes were still following the length of her tanned, slim thighs when she asked the question, and he didn't look away until she gave him an angry harrumph. Very, very slowly, he lifted his eyes to her face, making sure to linger on the exposed skin of her collarbone for just a moment. Pale pink eyebrows dipped together in irritation, her mouth was pressed into a thin line, and her emerald eyes were hard and unamused.

"It's three in the morning, Sasuke," she said, dropping her displeased tone for something more exasperated. "You can't just come knocking on my door – wait, did you actually knock?"

"Hn. I didn't think breaking in so late while you were sleeping would be a good idea for you or for me." Without waiting for a response, he brushed past her and stepped inside.

"Hey!" she cried indignantly, slamming the door shut as she whipped around to follow his movements. He was settling into her couch, leaning his elbows onto his knees and staring up at her through his dark fringe. She worried her lip, and Sasuke could see panic begin to bloom in her eyes. "Sasuke, seriously, go home. You can't be here."

"Sakura, I need to talk to you," he said calmly.

"There's nothing for us to talk about," she responded quickly, nearly cutting him off as her panic began to manifest in her fidgeting feet.

Nervousness radiated off of her, her eyes wide and her hands twisting in the fabric of her shirt. Sasuke knew exactly what was bothering her, knew that their mission from two weeks ago had shifted something in their relationship. Maybe it was the kiss and how natural it had been to feel her heart beat against his, how fucking perfectly her body fit against his. Maybe it was the realization that, despite their rocky history, they had still trusted each other upon instinct and without question. Maybe it was the surprising amount of genuine conversation that they'd shared during the four day mission and how refreshing it had been to act like life-long friends instead of enemies.

Sasuke wasn't foolish enough to believe that it had been only one incident that changed their dynamic. He understood that the change had been something so gradual and slow moving that they'd both been completely blind to it for months, that every conversation and encounter had deconstructed that ugly, twisted thing between them and built something entirely different.

And he also knew that every time he touched her, it was suddenly very hard to remember why he'd initiated this game in the first place.

"I think you know that there is," Sasuke said firmly, eyes fixed intently on hers.

Exasperatedly, she ran her fingers through her hair, only making it look more wild and unkempt. "We don't, Sasuke, so please go home. We just can't. You can't keep making me…"

Sasuke stood as she trailed off, turning her face away from his and biting her lip again. "I can't keep making you what?"

When he stepped closer, she raised her hands up, as if imploring him to stay away, eyes watering just slightly in frustration. He disregarded her weak protest and moved even closer so that he was only a couple feet from her.

"You…you can't…you just can't," she stuttered almost helplessly, stepping back until her back grazed the wall, watching him with wide, wide eyes as he stepped even closer.

He stopped when there was less than a foot of space between them and simply stared at the woman before him. The light sheen of tears in her eyes made them nearly glow a soft, pale green. Her cheeks were flushed slightly, soft pink dustings on the apples of her cheeks that almost matched the halo of pink cascading down to her shoulders and framing her heart shaped face. Swamped in the dark t-shirt that showed off her toned legs, she was a unique blend of sweet and alluring he wasn't accustomed to.

Beautiful. So fucking beautiful.

He didn't say anything, just moved closer to cup her cheek in his hand. Her body trembled against his, but she didn't move away, only stared up at him with those big, expressive eyes.

"You can't keep making me want you, Sasuke," she whispered, and he could hardly hear her over the blood pounding in his ears. "You have to leave me alone."

Everything he was doing – and had done up to this point – was so out of character for him, but it almost felt like he couldn't stop himself, like Sakura brought out a completely different Sasuke he hadn't even known had existed. He could do what she asked, and every one of his erotic touches and bizarre actions would be just a secret between them but…

"I can't," he responded softly, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke. Her chest was heaving against his, and her hands were resting flat against his chest, not quite pushing him away but not pulling him forward either.

When her eyes held his dark ones without faltering, he swooped in and captured her mouth with his. There was only a brief hesitation on her part where she went completely still before releasing the tension in her body and opening her mouth to his probing tongue. Tangling one of his hands in her loose locks and placing the other on the curve of her waist, he kissed her slow and deep, trapping her body flush between him and the wall. He intended to keep the kiss slow yet involved, to be able to take his time for once and enjoy her softness, but when her fingers moved to graze the hairs at the back of his neck and her soft breasts unconsciously pressed into his chest, his mouth began to slant over hers harder and faster.

Unable to ignore his screaming lungs for any longer, he allowed his lips to break away from hers and latch onto skin just underneath her jaw. He must have found her sweet spot because she rewarded him with a soft, gasping 'oh.' Biting and suckling gently, he traveled all along the smooth expanse of her neck before sucking hard on a supple spot on her exposed collar bone until the skin grew red and irritated, her moans growing bolder and less restrained.

Wrapping his long fingers around the back of her knee, he hoisted one slender leg up around his waist, grinding his rock hard cock into the softness between her thighs. Every one of his nerve endings was vibrating with desire, pulsating with electricity, and he couldn't keep his mouth off of her. He could feel the resistance slowly beginning to seep out of her body, her fingers grazing more freely across his skin and her legs tightening more desperately around his waist.

It was like a haze had settled over his entire body because he blinked and suddenly he had her pressed into the couch, completely bared before his eyes as he flung her night shirt onto the coffee table. He only took a moment to admire her raw beauty – the vibrancy of her hooded eyes, the endless smoothness of her skin, the faint pink blush that dipped low between her breasts. Hypnotized, he leaned forward to capture a dusty pink nipple between his lips, lightly tugging with his teeth and groaning softly when her entire body quivered violently against his. He moved one hand to press between her thighs, finding her wet and absolutely ready for him. It made his mouth dry.

Just as he slipped a finger into her silken heat, Sakura spoke up in a breathless voice. "Sasuke, please. No more waiting."

She was right. The entirety of this twisted game he'd started had just been some long, drawn out type of foreplay, a slow burn that had built into a raging inferno he felt deep in his bones.

While she used her feet to push Sasuke's pants down his thighs, she used her hands to drag his shirt over his head, body quivering in delight as the coarse hairs above his cock scraped gently against the smooth skin of her pelvis.

And with one smooth motion he was buried inside her up to the hilt. There was a sudden pause as they both let out strangled gasps of pleasure, and the blood in Sasuke's ears was pounding so loudly he almost couldn't hear her soft whimpers. He allowed his entire body to rest on hers, wanting to feel every inch of her skin against his, every muscle clenching, every hard shudder. She moved her lean legs to wrap around his waist and dug her heels into his ass to spur him into movement. He moved slow and hit deep, wanting to savor every beautiful gasp that was spilling from her lips. Her nails scraped down his back in a mix of excruciating pleasure that made him grit his teeth and thrust into her more sharply. She let out a tortured cry as he hit a spot so deep in her aching pussy that she felt it in her teeth, her back arching so high she came up off the couch.

Damp skin pressed hard against damp skin and pleasure running from his hair to his toes, Sasuke almost felt like he was suffocating. He felt Sakura in every pore of his body, tasted every one of her shaky breaths on his own tongue, saw nothing but pink, pink, pink.

She was oxygen, and he was gasping for breath.

Burying his hand deep in her hair, he crashed his mouth to hers, snapping his hips against hers harder and faster and allowing her cries to echo down his own throat. With his free hand, he pressed his thumb hard into her clit, and she shattered. Her body went taut, her mouth wrenched away from his so she could cry out into the silent air. Her walls clamped and fluttered around his cock, and the tightness burst in his stomach, and he came with several strangled gasps into the base of her throat.

He waited for his breath to calm and the last spasms of electricity to leave his body with his head cradled between her breasts. Sakura was still gasping for breath when a voice cut through the air like a knife.

"Sakura?"

The pinkette went from limp to absolutely taut immediately, her body like stone beneath his. The sharp breath she inhaled had nothing to do with her recent orgasm, and Sasuke could practically feel the dread radiating off of her.

The pair moved like lightning, Sasuke lifting himself off her to the other side of the couch and Sakura springing up to her feet to face her devastated fiancé. Kenji didn't even glance the Uchiha's way, eyes focused solely on his lover, his face twisted into an expression of anguish. It was absolutely silent for a long moment where Sakura trembled shamefully in the nude before her fiancé, too afraid to speak or even move. Then suddenly, Kenji's face hardened into stone, and he disappeared back through the front door.

"Ken, wait!" Sakura practically screamed, desperately scrambling to pull her large t-shirt over her head. After only a few seconds, she was scrambling into the night after her fiancé.

Sasuke heard her calling after him, tears evident in her voice, and his heart thundered against his ribcage. Numbly, he pulled on his clothes, listening to Sakura's loud shouts disintegrate into sobs. The infinite weight of guilt had just pressed down on his chest when Sakura appeared back in the doorway.

Her hair was wild, from the sex or her chase he wasn't sure, her shirt inside-out, and her face twisted and wet with tears.

"You knew he was coming back tonight didn't you?" she questioned him weakly, watery viridian eyes immobilizing him. He wasn't stupid enough to mistake her soft voice for anything but cold fury.

His mouth was painfully dry, and he found it hard to speak. "Sakura, I-"

"You fucking knew," she screamed, launching herself at him and pushing him back into the wall. The impact actually stung his shoulder quite a bit.

Yes, he knew. He had known the day before exactly what time Kenji and his team would be returning, and he had known that if he planned it well, they would get caught. But he forgot about his stupid game – his petty fucking revenge scheme – the moment the sun had risen in the morning.

This entire "game" had just been an excuse to keep seeing her. Somewhere along the way, he had forgotten to be angry because he knew it was unfounded, knew that Sakura would never have let Mai die intentionally, but he just didn't know how to stop. And he had destroyed Sakura and, as a result, himself in the process.

"I'm so stupid," Sakura whispered, face scrunched in agony, fists clenched tightly in his shirt. Sasuke wanted to close his eyes because the sight of her tears was like a kunai to the gut, but he deserved to see the devastation he wreaked. He deserved to hurt. "I knew what you were playing at. I knew exactly why you were doing everything you were doing, but I forgot to be careful. I forgot to have my guard up because I…"

She trailed off, looking away from him and swallowing hard. Sasuke had so many things he wanted to say, but the words couldn't come up his throat. He wanted her to scream at him, punch him, pound him into the ground like until he physically felt all of her hurt. Instead, she let go of his shirt and stepped back, turning away from him and wrapping her arms around herself as her shoulders trembled.

"Leave me alone," she whispered brokenly. "Please just leave me alone."

He reached for her, but she jerked herself out of his reach and weakly dragged herself up the stairs. The slam of her bedroom door reverberated through Sasuke's ribcage like a bullet, and he was left alone in the thundering silence.

It was the end of the game, and there was no winner.

Sasuke had never watched someone be heartbroken. He had never watched someone as they slept for hours upon hours and only woke up to cry, never watched someone be forced by friends to eat after three days of nothing, never watched someone cringe at the sunrise and again at the sunset, never watched someone cry so much that they suddenly couldn't cry anymore.

It had been a month since Sakura's door had been closed with such finality that he hadn't even found the energy to fight back. He stayed away for a week, too disgusted to allow himself even remotely near her, when guilt forced him into the only place he could find reprieve: the tree outside her house. Day and night he watched as she collapsed within herself. She hardly ate and never smiled. Most of the time, she didn't even leave her room, just laid in her bed and stared at the walls. Sometimes, Naruto came over and forced her downstairs to eat and talk, and he always carried her back up to her room at night when she fell asleep on the couch. Ino, Tenten, and Hinata were also there quite frequently, and they always made sure to open all the blinds and the windows and let the sun cascade in. By week three, she had to return to work, and she did so lethargically and without her usual warmth, leaving in the mornings with strained shoulders and a somber look and returning looking beat down and lifeless. Just a few days ago, Naruto had finally confronted him, punching him so hard that it knocked him right out of the tree. He let his old friend curse and yell and berate until his blue eyes lost their fury and instead shone with pity. In the past, the thought of Naruto pitying him would have made him sneer, but now it didn't make him feel like anything. He just didn't feel like anything anymore.

It was like life around him had faded away, his days spent in a blur of pink and guilt. The tree became a new home, the aches of staying crouched for so long a new friend, the windows of her home a new perspective.

'You can't do this to yourself or to her anymore, Sasuke,' Naruto had tried to say, attempting to persuade his friend to abandon his post. He said it was unhealthy, and it probably was, but Sasuke didn't care.

Because he finally decided to admit to himself that he didn't just want Sakura's forgiveness, he needed it.

"She blames herself for this whole mess, you know."

"She shouldn't. I baited her. I knew what I was doing."

"It's going to take a lot for her to forgive you. What you did was really fucked up, man."

"…Do I even deserve to be forgiven?"

"I don't know, Teme. That's Sakura's choice. But, you know, Sakura has a big heart. She can always find the good in everyone. She's special like that."

"Yeah. She is."

It was impossible to compare Mai and Sakura. That was the only thing Sasuke could think as he watched Sakura bustle about her room. Three months since the "incident," and she was finally showing signs of life again. She went out with her friends more and slept normal hours again. She spent more time in her kitchen and kept her curtains open more often than not. Sometimes she smiled, and sometimes she didn't, but always she was nothing like Mai. And it had never been so startlingly clear to him than now.

Where Mai had always been happy with who he was, understanding of his demons and his darkness, Sakura had always believed he could be better, her faith in his goodness unyielding. Where Mai had loved snow angels and drinking tea by the fire, Sakura had loved sickly sweet popsicles and running barefoot through wildflowers. Where Mai had been the ethereal serenity of the moon, Sakura was the warm brilliance of the sun.

And maybe Sasuke was tired of living in shadows.

The sun was high and bright today, pouring into Sakura's bedroom in gold streams. She was looking for a shoe, hair held back neatly with a clip and pretty red sundress floating around her thighs daintily. With a bright smile, she caught sight of the shoe behind a pile of books and slipped it on. She made to move toward her vanity where her jewelry lay waiting but stilled suddenly.

Sasuke waited with bated breath, noting the instant rigidness that went into her spine. Her back was to him, but she turned her head slightly, as if considering looking over her shoulder at him. It was a very long moment where Sasuke wondered what she would do. She could run out and confront him. She could close her curtains and keep them closed.

Instead, her shoulders relaxed, and her face looked soft, not smiling but also not unhappy. Then, she took a deep and continued with her business casually.

Sasuke sighed. If he was a different person, he may have smiled, but he was still Sasuke. Instead, he jumped down from his tree and went home, something light and unfamiliar filling his chest.

Hope.

A/N: Soooo I'm -maybe, hopefully- thinking sequel? :)