Finding You

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto and other characters!!

Finding You

Sakura awoke in the morning by a cold, blinding sun in her eyes and groaned in annoyance as sleep still clung to her mind and rolled over to face away from the bright light. She curled up into a ball and pulled the covers over her head in a sad attempt to forget that today was Valentine’s Day.

She knew couples would be out today, kissing in the middle of streets, shopping around, going out to lunch, and other annoying activities that she didn’t feel like seeing. Normally, she would have been out on a mission by this time of year, but when Sakura asked earlier in the week, there were none to give.

Sighing lightly, the konoichi uncurled and stood up to collect her clothes from her clothes to get dressed and ready for the day. She wouldn’t normally be up this early in the morning on day she had off, but she knew the minute she woke up, she wasn’t going to go back to bed. Her mind wouldn’t allow it.

After locking her door, Sakura paused on her front steps and looked to the sky to see not a cloud in sight, but one breath from the crisp morning air told her rain would be falling that day.

Slowly, she stepped off her porch and made her way to the lower level of the Hokage’s Tower to the room where missions are assigned, desperately hoping for some means of escape from the love-filled village.

Upon arriving, Sakura opened the door to a room and spoke upon setting her eyes on the Hokage: “Do you have any missions for me, Tsunade?”

The blonde woman’s head turned up and she gave Sakura a sad smile: “Sakura, you’ve been working a lot lately. Why don’t you go out and party or something.”

“With myself? Yeah, great fun,” Sakura said, as she crossed her arms, sarcasm dripping off her words like blood from a wound. “Do you have any missions for me?”

Tsunade stared at her student with a troubled look before she began rustling through some files, searching for a mission the pink-haired konoichi could do. During the time, another presence announced itself next to Sakura. She turned her eyes slightly and caught sight of a raven-haired shinobi giving Iruka some papers.

“I’ve finished,” Sasuke’s voice claimed, quietly.

“Thank you, Uchiha-san,” Iruka said, looking through some papers.

“Do you have another mission for me?” the Uchiha asked, not taking any notice of Sakura.

“One moment,” the part-time academy teacher smiled as he began searching through more papers.

“Hm…” Tsunade said, still shuffling through the papers.

Sakura cast her eyes at her newest sensai before turning them back to the sixteen-year-old Uchiha next to her. He had grown-she could tell-both physically and mentally. He wasn’t as self-centered and cold to everyone around him. He was distant; she could easily say, but not cold. Also, he was stronger. He knew more jutsus and was an ANBU captain-though he was wearing normal ninja clothes at the moment.

The Uchiha was standing in a relaxed stance, his weight on his left foot, as he crossed his arms, right over left. She could see the muscles in his arms and, at the moment, Sakura wanted nothing more than to feel them, knowing they’d be rock hard, but she restrained herself.

He had grown; they all had: Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. After all, they weren’t twelve anymore; they were seventeen: almost adults, but Sakura still held a small place in her heart for her first crush.

Suddenly, the Uchiha caught her eye and the two watched one another for a moment before Sakura nodded her head at him in acknowledgement, which he copied.

“Hm…” Tsunade said, catching Sakura’s attention, though Sasuke continued to stare. “It appears the only mission I have is assigned to someone else already.”  

Sakura felt her mood of sadness, from spending the holiday alone, drop to complete depression. “Are you serious?”

“I’m sorry, Sakura. Why don’t you take the day off? It’ll be good for you,” Tsunade said, as the pink-haired konoichi sighed loudly and turned around to walk away.

“I’ll be at the hospital, if you need me!” she called, over her shoulder, feeling more than one set of eyes on her as she exited the room.

The walk to the hospital became a lonely one for Sakura as she kept her eyes focused on the ground, determined not to make eye contact with any of the couples walking down the street, making friendly conversation with everyone they met.

Relief flooded over Sakura as she stepped inside of the hospital, her feet immediately taking her to the front desk. The nurse, Mai, behind it raised her head, her black hair bouncing slightly, as she heard footsteps and gave the pink-haired konoichi a smile: “Happy Valentine’s Day, Sakura-san. I thought you had the day off?”

“I didn’t have anything better to do,” Sakura replied with a voice that gave nothing away.
“No boyfriend?” the nurse laughed lightly. Sakura just stared at her. Immediately the smile faded from the nurse’s face and she handed a folder to the pink-haired woman. “Here you are, Sakura-san. Have a good day.”

The konoichi didn’t reply as she slowly took off down the hall and entered the room the paper in her file said. Though, what met her sight didn’t exactly send a smile to her face: Genma.

“Hey there, hunny,” he said, upon seeing her.

“Hey,” she answered monotonous before she began checking over his body to make sure everything was working fine from the mission he had come from a week earlier.

After a while, Sakura decided it was safe for him to go home and she left the room, letting the man to get dressed in private, even though he disagreed. Nothing much happened after that and her day progressed slowly.

By the time early evening came around, Sakura found herself without anything to do and decided to head home and open a container of ice cream while watching one of her cheesy ‘happily ever after’ movies.

Sakura approached the front desk and was about to speak when she saw Mai was dressed to leave and was getting ready to exit the hospital with another man. She kissed the man on the cheek and smiled at him before she caught sight of the pink-haired medic nin.

“Oh, Sakura. I forgot you were here,” Mai said, turning to walk back to the front desk. “I’ll take care of these before I go.”

She held out her hand for the file, but Sakura didn’t give it to her. Instead, she placed a fake smile on her face and said: “Go home. I can do it.”

“Oh, it’s no problem,” the shorter woman said, sincerely.

“Honestly,” the konoichi argued, “I can do it. Go home; celebrate today. That’s what you’re supposed to do with your boyfriend.”

Mai smiled back at the man and looked back to Sakura, her smile fading lightly. “What about you? Who are you going to celebrate it with, Sakura-san?”

“I bowl of ice cream and a cheesy movie,” the pink-haired medic nin said, trying to make the nurse forget that she was alone for this day and every other day of the year.

Though the smile never returned to Mai’s face. “Food and a movie isn’t a replacement, Sakura-san.”

“Yeah, but they help me get by.” Her eyes flickered over to the man whom was waiting before she looked back at the black-haired woman, “Go. He’s waiting for you.”

“Fine,” Mai said, turning to leave, “but don’t stay too late.”

Sakura watched the woman exit the hospital and looked around to see that she was the only one in the hallways near the front doors. Loneliness crept into her body and tears felt like flowing over, but she held them back as she made her way behind the desk and began typing the information she had written down in the files into the computer.

Once Sakura was done with her task, she sat back and watched the line where the text would be put blink on and off. Soon her eyes began to wonder to the top of the screen where it gave her options of what to search for.

She pressed the keys in for the newest information and her eyes began scanning the list of people until one name caused her to stop: Uchiha Sasuke.

Curious, the konoichi pressed enter and watched as a few windows popped up, one of them being a picture of Sasuke. It was from when he was about fifteen; when he came back to Konoha. Slowly, she began searching through the information it held on him and her eyes widened at the first few lines.

It told her everything: his birthday, what room he was born in, who his relatives were/are, where he lives, injuries, and his past.

Immediately Sakura became interested and started reading, only stopping when footsteps sounded in the halls. She glanced up and saw a doctor exit the hospital before she returned to the file.

The konoichi knew she was doing wrong, but that wasn’t going to stop her from reading all, knowing Sasuke never talked about his past, even to Naruto, his best friend.

After reading for a while, Sakura sat back and sighed. No wonder he wanted to kill Itachi so badly. He had really messed up his life. If Sakura were in his position, she wouldn’t be in Konoha doing S-Class missions; she’d be out there, kicking his ass.

Suddenly, another file opened on the screen. She leaned forward and read it, realizing someone was putting more information into the hospital’s database about the Uchiha. Her eyes scanned it intently as the person on another computer in the hospital typed it in:

February 13
Injuries: Two cracked ribs, katana through right side below shoulder blade, blurred vision.
Reason: S-Class mission. Ambushed by Stone Nin.
Comments: None.

Once the last word was typed in, the screen shrunk itself down and was placed at the bottom of his list of injuries, though Sakura stayed watching it a while longer as she reread it in her mind.

‘February 13? That was yesterday, though,’ she thought, her brows knitted in confusion.

Flashback:

“I’ve finished,” Sasuke’s voice claimed, quietly.

“Thank you, Uchiha-san,” Iruka said, looking through some papers.

“Do you have another mission for me?” the Uchiha asked, not taking any notice of Sakura.

“One moment,” the part-time academy teacher smiled as he began searching through more papers.

End Flashback.

‘He went out on another mission? He’s going to end up dead,’ Sakura thought.

“You’re still here,” a voice asked, from above her.

Slowly, Sakura raised her head and came face-to-face with Shino-sunglasses, and all. Surprise came over her and she began to wonder why he was here, when she realized he was waiting for a reply. “Sorry?” she asked.

“I said: ‘you’re still here.’ I’m beginning to wonder why,” the bug master said.

“Yeah, just getting some work done,” the konoichi smiled up at him.

“Then why are you looking at Uchiha Sasuke’s file?” he asked, blankly.

Sakura looked down at the screen. “Huh?” How did he know?

“Don’t work too late,” Shino said, as he turned around and began walking away.

‘That was odd,’ Sakura thought as she logged off the computer and stood up to go home…alone.
- - -
Sasuke walked out of the Hokage’s Tower, feeling slightly annoyed at not being allowed to go out on a mission because of his injuries. How had Tsunade known? He thought he had hid them so well; guess not.

Once she had spotted them, she had ordered the Uchiha to take off his shirt, which he had disobeyed to at first. Though, one look from the blonde woman had made him change his mind and he took it off, revealing the white bandages around his right side. Sasuke had been sat down and healed by the woman, and was told he couldn’t go any missions for a week; he had to rest.

So now, the Uchiha was left to walk home, alone, in the rain. Somehow, rain and Valentine’s Day just didn’t seem to mix. It made all the single people-like him, for example-stand out just that little bit more. Of course, Sasuke was happy being single, but it was slightly embarrassing.

The Uchiha never really thought about having a girlfriend before now, seeing as he had been busy with ANBU, missions, and his silent search of Itachi. The word ‘girlfriend’ just sounded funny, but when he said it in his mind one person came to mind: Sakura. Sasuke couldn’t figure it out. It wasn’t like he liked the pink-haired konoichi that way, but when he saw her earlier that day, it disturbed him slightly that she showed no indication of her childhood crush toward him.

A light frown graced his lips as he continued toward his house, his mind swimming with thoughts of his most recent mission and the konoichi. He began to wonder if he would see the konoichi while he was 'resting', but all thoughts of everything vanished when he bumped into something and was sent falling backwards.

Immediately, Sasuke’s shinobi reflexes kicked in and his eyes saw that he hadn’t run into something, but rather someone, and that someone was falling to the ground, just as he was. Quickly, the Uchiha reached forward, as did the other person, so they would catch each other and not fall onto the flooded ground beneath them.

After the chaos finally ceased, Sasuke looked down at the person and saw emerald eyes staring back at him.

Sakura!

Silence stretched out between them and when his adrenaline finally started to fade, he realized he had activated his sharingun without realizing it. The red in his eyes dulled and returned back to his ebony color and in the same moment, he realized that he had his arms around Sakura’s waist, and her hands were on his shoulders.

Sakura’s eyes were staring at him slightly wide and a faint blush covered her cheeks in embarrassment. “Sorry,” she said quickly, as she released her hold on him.

The Uchiha copied her and immediately missed her warmth, but showed no sign of it. “It’s fine,” Sasuke said, his face expressionless.

It was at that moment that Sasuke realized the konoichi was dripping wet, water making her hair stick to her face and neck. He also noticed how there was water on her face, not all of it seeming to belong to the sky, but he couldn’t be sure if she was crying, due to the fact when she spoke, her voice was strong and even.

“So…” Sakura spoke suddenly, trying to break the silence between them. “I thought you were going out on a mission?”

“I was declined,” he answered shortly.

“Because of your injuries?” the konoichi asked.

Surprise grasped him, but it was a second for Sasuke to understand Sakura’s expression. She had just said something she hadn’t meant to say. Her face changed a few more times and it took the Uchiha to realize she was thinking he was mad at her.

“So you knew?” he asked, trying to show her that he wasn’t angry at her for knowing or snooping or whatever else she had done to find out.

“I saw it on the computer earlier,” she said, as if it was no big deal.

“Snooping?” Sasuke asked, his tone light and teasing.

“Possibly,” she answered, in the same tone.

A smile danced on her lips and it spread warmth throughout Sasuke’s body at it. For some reason, he found himself enjoying her company, the exact opposite to when they were children.

The comfortable silence continued, but when neither said anything, it began to fade, making both Sasuke and Sakura feel uneasy. He found himself searching his mind for anything to say and from the look in the konoichi’s eyes, so was she.

“So,” Sakura finally spoke, “are you doing anything special tonight?”

He looked at her in hidden surprise. Was she asking him out or was she just asking a simple question? “No.”

The silence began again.

“What about you?” he asked, trying to get that uneasy feeling to fade.

Sakura gave a small frown and shook her head. “No. I was just going to go home and watch some movies or something.”

That answer surprised Sasuke. He knew his old teammate was known for her looks and her skill, so why was it she was going to be home alone on the night where couples are to be together? Did she break up with her boyfriend? Was her boyfriend on a mission? Did she even have a boyfriend?

Question after question came to mind, but being the Uchiha that he was, he kept his mouth shut about asking any of these questions and instead spoke: “I’ll walk you home.”

His sharp eyes caught sight of Sakura’s eyebrow rising for a split second and he wondered if he had done something wrong. Then he realized what he did; he was a bit forward and…blunt.

“If you want,” he quickly added.

A warm, genuine smile formed on Sakura’s lips and Sasuke found himself wondering what he had done to awaken this type of reaction. “Okay,” she said, the smile still in place.

They walked in silence, a comfortable silent, but one nonetheless. Sasuke replenished in the quiet, but apparently Sakura didn’t because she decided they needed a conversation. “So why aren’t you out with you girlfriend?”

He wasn’t surprised at this question-he was more of expecting it than anything. A soft sigh escaped his lips before he replied, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Sakura stopped in her tracks. “Really?”

Sasuke stopped, but not as abruptly, and shrugged, “Yeah.” He paused for a moment. “What about you? Boyfriend out on a mission?”

He saw the small frown on her face before she covered it up with a smile and started walking again: “Don’t make fun of me; I was being serious.”

As they continued their walk toward the konoichi’s house, Sasuke looked down at his old teammate. What was she hiding? He hated when she was like this: there would be something wrong and she would cover it up with a smile. He didn’t like it and his curiosity was growing.

“What?” Sakura asked suddenly.

Sasuke blinked himself back to reality and realized he had unconsciously been staring at the pink-haired konoichi. “Nothing.”

Suddenly Sakura stopped, Sasuke following her lead, and it took him a moment to realize that they had arrived at Sakura’s house. They both stayed standing for a moment, neither one speaking or making a move toward the home; it was like they didn’t want to part from one another, even though the rain was still washing down on them.

Finally Sasuke broke the silence, “Well I should be getting home.”

“Yeah,” Sakura replied, almost soberly as the Uchiha turned away. Though once he had taken only a few steps, the konoichi’s voice made him stop. “Do you want to come inside for a while?”

Slowly, the Uchiha turned at her request to see her expression was blank, giving no hint to what she was feeling, but her eyes shone dimly with hope and something that reminded him of their younger years: loneliness.

He couldn’t turn her down with that look so he shrugged, “Hn,” and started toward her again.

Once more, Sakura’s bright smile adorned her face and she turned around to lead him to the front door. She unlocked it and stepped inside, leaving the door open for him to come in.

Upon entering, Sasuke realized he recognized this place, though he couldn’t place it. Everything was extremely familiar and something from the past kept trying to bounce to the forefront of his mind.

“It was my parents’ house before they died,” Sakura told him, as she took off her ninja boots.

“Hn,” he responded softly, hoping she wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

Silence fell between them and only once the konoichi had thrown her boots into the closet and taken off her jacket did she move again. The Uchiha followed her into the kitchen and felt surprise consume him for a moment at the sight: bags of candy were everywhere. There were chocolate hearts, boxes of candy, and more…much more.

“I didn’t expect to be spending Valentine’s Day with anyone,” she told him quietly as she walked out of the kitchen from a different way for a moment and came back, a few towels in hand.

He didn’t respond to that as she handed him a towel, but he didn’t manage to hold his curiosity for long: “Did you plan to eat all of this?”

Sakura let out a small laugh-a beautiful laugh-and shook her head before she started drying her hair: “Whatever I didn’t eat, I was going to bring to work tomorrow.”

“Aa,” he replied as he too began scrunching the water out of his hair.

“Do you want any?” she asked, gesturing to the bags.

He shook his head in response before he turned his attention to Sakura to see she had gotten out two mugs and a kettle was on the stove, warming up.

“Did you want any tea?” she asked, as she headed toward her pantry, throwing the towel over the back of a chair on the way.

“Yes please,” he answered her, before his attention turned to a rack full of pictures; most were from her genin years.

There was to picture of Team Seven being partially serious and the one where both Sasuke and Sakura were hitting Naruto upside the head. A small smirk came to his face at that one, but as his eyes continued to scan the other pictures, it vanished. There weren’t that many of Sakura; most of them were her friends or family.

A picture that really caught his attention was a picture of Sakura on her birthday. She appeared to be about thirteen and all the Rookie Nine, plus Gai’s team surrounded her. Everyone was smiling, besides Sasuke who was smirking, and Sakura; she was staring blankly at the camera. Her eyes shone with sadness and almost pain, an emotion that she shouldn’t be showing on her birthday.

“I remember that day,” Sakura suddenly said, from over his shoulder. “My father had been called out on a mission a week ago. I was told a few minutes before that picture that he had been killed.”

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke said a little monotonously, as his eyes turned to the konoichi.

She gave a soft sigh before she shrugged and headed back toward the stove where the water inside the kettle was starting to boil. “Don’t be. He was a shinobi. I always expected him to die, just not that day.”

Silence fell between them as Sakura made the tea and headed into a different room, leaving Sasuke to follow. Though before he exited to kitchen, he placed his towel over hers and couldn’t help but notice that there were no pictures of Sakura and a boy whatsoever.

“Hm…let’s see if there’s anything good on,” Sakura mumbled to herself as she turned the television on and began flipping through channels.

Sasuke sat down on the couch next to her and placed his tea down on the table that was resting in front of the sofa before his attention turned to the konoichi. Her eyes were fixed on the television screen, but he knew she knew he was watching her and the question was out of his mouth before he could stop it, “Have you ever had a serious relationship?”

Sakura, who was taking a sip of tea at that moment, choked a little. “Sorry?”

“You heard me.”

Slowly, the konoichi placed her cup on the table, but kept her eyes on the screen. “Well, yes, I have-.”

“Honestly?” Sasuke cut in, desperately wanting to know the truth for a reason even foreign to him.

“No,” she answered slowly.

Silence fell over them as Sasuke realized that was what was truly bothering her. She had been lonely; she’s always been lonely. Maybe it had even started back when they were genin and she had tried to get close to him because she didn’t want to be alone and he had pushed her away.

“But it’s okay,” Sakura said. “I’m happy.”

He gave her an unconvinced look, but her smile didn’t crack-it turned fake. “Why do you try so hard to hide your pain?” Sasuke asked.

“Because I’m a shinobi,” she replied, the smile on her face slowly faded.

Sasuke sat up a little and looked her dead on. “That doesn’t mean you always have to hide what you’re feeling.”

Sakura was quiet for a moment before she responded, “I could say the same thing to you.”

Inside, Sasuke was shocked. He didn’t think she would ever say anything like that to him, but he figured he deserved it. “Touché,” he huffed in amusement.

Sakura gave a small laugh and a half smile danced on her lips for a moment.

“Well I suppose I deserved that,” Sasuke muttered.

“Yes, you did,” Sakura said, giving him a small push with her shoulder. Sasuke smirked at her before he pushed her back. “Hey,” the konoichi glared playfully.

‘I love you, Kenji,’ a voice suddenly said.

The two turned their attention to the television in time to see a couple kiss passionately. The shot lasted longer than it should have and Sasuke couldn’t help but ask: “And you actually watch this?”

“Only every once and a while,” Sakura answered in a defiant tone.

“Right,” Sasuke said, disbelievingly.

“Anyways, it’s romantic how they always kiss passionately at the end,” Sakura mumbled in a dreamy voice.

The Uchiha side glanced at her to see she was being serious and couldn’t help but gag mentally. “That’s not romantic, that’s crap.”

Immediately Sakura snapped out of her daze and glared at him. “And what would you know about romance?”

“Plenty.”

The konoichi narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment before she spoke: “Prove it.”

Sasuke stared blankly at her for a moment, his mind blank. Prove it? How was he to prove it? He had never done anything romantic for anyone before and she wanted him to prove it? That was going to be hard.

After a minute of not doing anything, Sakura gave a huff of victory. “I knew it. You couldn’t do one romantic thing to save your life.”

She stood, heading towards the kitchen when Sasuke finally decided to move. Quickly he stood and grabbed Sakura’s wrist. She turned around ready to say something, but he pushed her against the wall and pressed his lips to hers.

When he finally pulled back, Sakura slowly opened her eyes and stared at him in surprise. “That was unexpected and…nice.”

A smirk formed on Sasuke’s lips before he pressed them to Sakura’s again, this time adding a little tongue in a lustful kiss. They kept up at their make-out session until they had to part for air.

“Wow,” Sakura mumbled, her eyes dropping to the ground in an unpleasant emotion.

“Hm?” Sasuke asked, his own eyes narrowing in confusion. Had he done something to upset her?

Slowly, the konoichi brought her eyes back up to his face, tears forming in them, and she gave him a small smile. “I never thought anyone would ever kiss me like that.”

“C’mon,” he said, as he pulled her off the wall and brought her back to the couch. Slowly, he pushed her down onto her back, turning the television off with the remote before tossing it on the ground.

“What are you doing?” she asked quietly.

“I may not be able to say ‘I love you’, but I can still prove to you that I can be romantic.”

She raised an eyebrow at him before their lips connected once more. This time there was no lust. It wasn’t filled with love or longing. It was just a simple kiss. But maybe someday he’d be able to kiss her with all the love and passion she needed and deserved.

After all, it was about time he had found a girlfriend and Sakura was the girl perfect for that job, if it could even be called that.