Chapter 1

Sasuke and I were extremely lucky in that we were able to drive the entire way back to Konoha, finding a new vehicle easily each time the one we were using would run out of fuel.

One of them ended up being a truck with a manual transmission and the Uchiha man surprised me by offering to teach me how to drive it. It was equally embarrassing as it was amusing because every time I'd make a mistake he'd break into laughter and tease me.

I was just grateful the mood had become light and remained that way, so I didn't let it get to me. It felt nice to be distracted from all the negative things we've gone through and were likely to encounter once we met back up with the others.

We only had to walk for a couple hours once we made it to the busy area of town, but neither of us minded and spent the time playing twenty questions.

"You know, you never answered me before. What's your type?"

I rolled my eyes at his flirty question, remembering the day he asked it the first time with a bittersweet smile. It was the day he first offered to help me get over my fear of men and the day we first kissed.

We were strolling almost casually toward his family's compound in the deserted streets of the upper side of New Konoha. It surprised me that the Uchiha twins hadn't come into contact with Hinata because they'd gone to the same school and lived within an hour's drive from one another. Granted, they're two years older than me and her so they wouldn't have had any classes together, but still.

"I don't know. I guess I've never really thought about it. If I had to choose, probably someone sweet and caring who doesn't look at other girls."

He scoffed, "So you want a slave."

I glared at him with a frown, "That's so not what I meant."

Sasuke smirked, "You want a guy who worships the ground you walk on and will do anything to make you happy: a slave." He let out a small laugh at my disgruntled expression.

"That's not what I said, you jerk! Is it really such a big deal to want a guy who cares about me and won't cheat?"

His smirk lifted into a small, amused grin, "In theory, no it's not. Are you sure you're not still picturing some fairytale boyfriend who'll sweep you off your feet and treat you like a princess?"

My face warmed and I turned my glare to the pavement, "You're such an asshole, you know that?"

He laughed, "I'm just messing with you, chill out."

A moment or two passed and I let my annoyance fade, knowing it was his goal to get me riled up and he'd find it funny if I let it affect me, "What's your type then, huh?"

"Easy question. I like confident women with long hair that never yell or argue with me."

That bittersweet feeling in my chest became more bitter and less sweet. Our types aren't one another. Sasuke's often caring, in his own way, but he's rarely what I'd consider sweet and his eyes wander to any other female around, even his own brother's girl. I don't have a lot of confidence or long hair (anymore). Not only that, but he and I argue and yell at each other all the time.

The future that I foresaw, the one where we split up and don't really keep in touch after all this is over, was quickly becoming less and less hypothetical. I'm still grateful to him, either way. He may be an ass a lot of the time, but he's still gone out of his way for me on many occasions.

There's no way I'll be able to hold it against him in the long run when he inevitably tells me goodbye. It's not his fault that I unconsciously caught feelings. I have to keep it ever-clear in my mind to not develop any expectations because I'll only end up more hurt in the end.

"How about…pets! Do you have any pets?"

I shook my head and answered blankly, my mind still focused on the future's dilemma, "No, but I've always wanted one. You?"

"We had a golden retriever when we were kids, but never got another dog after he died."

My eyes shot over to look at his profile as he faced ahead. Without even having to experience his emotions, I could tell thinking about his old pet made him a bit sad. "What was his name?"

A small smile met his lips, but it wasn't his usual teasing one, "Noodles."

I let out a small laugh, bringing a hand up to cover my mouth when he looked at me, "What a cute name! I'm surprised."

That barely-noticeable blush dusted his cheeks and his eyes narrowed, "Sai and I named him when we were three, don't judge."

Heat rose to my face as I tried to picture the two of them as toddlers, meeting their new puppy and excitedly brainstorming ideas for a good name, only to land on Noodles. It was too adorable to handle and I moved my hand to my cheek to try and cool the warmth as I averted my gaze forward again, "I'm not judging. I think it's a great name. Noodles was a very good boy, I'm sure of it."

He didn't respond and it got quiet for a while as I tried to come up with a question. "What was your favorite subject in school?"

"History."

I looked over at him again, this time a bit surprised.

"What now?" he asked in an irritated voice.

I shook my head, matching his annoyed expression, "I just figured you'd say gym class or something."

He scoffed, "And I bet yours was Anatomy, right?" I pouted as I turned my head at him again.

Sasuke snickered, "You were a huge nerd in school, I just know it."

My anger flared and I felt my eyebrow twitch, "So what if I was? There's nothing wrong with being smart."

"Did you wear glasses and everything?"

I met his gaze again with a reddening face and spoke in a slightly quieter voice, ashamed to have to tell the truth, "Yeah…I got lasik right before graduating."

He sucked some air through his teeth in a dramatic way, voice mocking in tone, "I bet you looked hot, like a sexy librarian or something."

A growl shook my chest and my hands balled into fists, "Y-You're such a pervert!" He laughed, a hand on his stomach.

Not long after that did we finally reach the gate of the Uchiha compound, a small group of houses protected by a tall stone barrier, complete with barbed wire at the top and security cameras set up every couple yards to survey the area.

I began to feel a bit nervous. Our conversation helped keep me distracted until now, but as he typed in the security code on the door to disarm the alarm system, my heartbeat was steadily quickening. It was exactly how he said it'd be. The power was still on and the gate opened to let us walk through, closing behind us to lock tightly.

Everything was dark blue and gray: the houses, the cars, the stone wall surrounding the entire compound. There were five buildings in total and he led me to the biggest one, furthest away from the gate. The entire place screamed "money" and it made me feel like some kind of country bumpkin. My family isn't destitute or anything, but it was obvious his was at least ten times more wealthy.

High end furniture, electronics, and appliances met my eye as he led me through the large house. My anxiety quickly took an unforeseen sad turn. This place was stylish, modern, and undoubtedly beautiful, but it didn't look like a home. There weren't any family photos hanging on the walls or shoes piled messily by the front door. Not a single item was out of place or worn.

I stared at the back of Sasuke's head as he led me upstairs.

It felt lonely. Maybe that's why he wants someone who won't argue with him or yell, because he's not used to living around others and the swift change in atmosphere might prove to be too jarring. A wave of guilt came over me. If I would've known I was making him uncomfortable all along, I would've held back at least a little. Unconconsciously, my arm lifted and I grabbed onto my wrist with my other hand to stop myself from reaching out to grab the back of his shirt so I could turn him around and hug him.

Sasuke'd never come clean and tell me how he felt about growing up in such a cold and quiet house and me bringing it up would likely make things uncomfortable. I'm not his girlfriend and doing so would almost definitely be crossing the line. Frown on my lips, I steeled my resolve and decided to simply do what I could to shut the hell up in the future when he got on my nerves.

Finally, we arrived in his bedroom and a small bit of relief washed over me. This was more akin to what I'd pictured in my head when he asked if I wanted to visit his home before meeting up with the others.

It was quite a large room. Dark blue, blood red, and white checkered sheets lay atop the king-sized bed, sort of tidied but not completely, as though he'd fixed it up in a rush before leaving. The nanny that raised Sasuke and Sai passed away when they were both sixteen, so the twins were completely self-sufficient.

A television was mounted on the opposite wall and a large shelf was hung underneath it with a couple video game consoles and controllers laying messily on its surface. In the far corner of the room was some gym equipment and a couple dumbbells were tossed messily about the floor nearby. The closet was open and I could see that most of his clothes were hanging tidily on the rack, but some were on the floor underneath and I glimpsed the corner of a half-full hamper.

"Wanna shower?"

I nodded absently, letting him pull me along after grabbing my hand, eyes still taking in the finer details of his bedroom.

A small smile dusted my lips when he closed the door to his ensuite bathroom and I was forced to focus on what was in front of me. For some reason, my chest felt warm. It wasn't embarrassment or bashfulness, though. It was soft and made me want to giggle or snuggle him or something along those lines.

"It's just a room, Sakura. Quit being weird." He must've felt my emotions just then. I rolled my eyes, not letting his sarcasm ruin the slightly happier feeling that'd come over me.

He turned the shower on and I snapped out of my daze, unzipping my thick winter coat and removing it before pulling my shirt off over my head.

A glimpse of my reflection in the mirror made me do a double take at the massive black bruise on my stomach. The positive feeling disappeared in an instant. It came all the way from just under my breasts to my navel. In the center, where the bullet had entered, was a circular scar. I should be grateful that at least it was healed and didn't require any bandages, but I couldn't help but feel hideous. I've always had self-image problems as far back as I could remember, but it's gotten worse lately.

The rest of my appearance wasn't much better than my bruised, scratched, and scarred skin. Pink hair wasn't necessarily messy, but it wasn't clean and soft like I was used to it being. Dark bags were under my eyes and the green color in them seemed much darker than I remember. No wonder he wasn't seriously interested in me. Forget that my personality's the opposite of what he prefers in a woman, I'm a goddamn mess.

My chest tightened and I forced myself to turn my back to the mirror or else I'd end up crying. Sasuke was already in the shower. Shaking my head to myself, I removed the rest of my clothing and stepped in beside him.

He, of course, had one of those fancy showers with those large waterfall showerheads with the water coming from above rather than one side, where it felt like rain falling instead of being sprayed.

I let my forehead rest against the wall as my hair steadily got weighed down with water, closing my eyes so I could focus on getting a grip on my emotions. After taking a few slow, deep breaths, I straightened my spine and forced myself to at least appear perked up and turned to grab the bottle of shampoo he'd just sat down.

Sasuke could've been looking at me, or maybe he wasn't, it didn't really matter. Not much gets past him, especially with his enhanced eyes. His peripheral vision's undoubtedly better than my eyesight when I'm staring straight at something.

Annoyance came over me when I sat the bottle back down and started to lather the shampoo into my hair. Of course it smells incredible. He just has to be unbearably attractive in every sense, doesn't he? He looks great even at his worst, his lips taste good when he kisses me, it feels amazing when he touches me, and his voice is sexy as hell. Now, I know that he usually smells like a dream, too.

I glared at him, somehow feeling offended that he had the audacity to attack me at all angles like this. Even now, after not having showered in nearly a week, he took my breath away with his beauty. He met my glare with a confused yet still amused expression, "What?"

Deciding to just be honest with him because he probably had an idea what I was thinking about anyway, I grumbled at him under my breath, "Give me a fucking break, will you?"

He choked on a laugh, eyebrows rising in surprise, "I'm flattered," he drawled in a mockingly touched voice. I scoffed, massaging my scalp to make sure my hair would be as clean as possible by the time I was done in here, but didn't say anything else. He's probably been showered with compliments his entire life so he doesn't need me to inflate his ego even further.

The feeling of his eyes on me became more obvious and I met his eye with a questioning look. He smirked, an unfamiliar emotion touching his eyes, "I wonder what you look like when things are normal."

My face warmed slightly, "You saw me when we first arrived at The Program, didn't you?"

He tilted his head with a far away look as though trying to picture it, "Well, yeah, but I bet you just rolled out of bed or whatever that day, right?"

I shrugged, slicking my wet and soapy hair back and out of my face, "Yeah, probably. Why're you asking though? It's not like you're gonna stick around to find out."

He frowned, eyes narrowing, and I realized I'd come off a bit more spiteful than intended, "What makes you say that?"

Teeth grit, I held back a groan. My hopes were to grin and bear my inner turmoil so things don't get awkward between us, but my attitude just had to go and blow things for me. I gave Sasuke an apologetic look and hesitated to respond, but he stared at me expectantly so I had no choice but to reply, "A-Ah…I don't want to talk about this right now."

The look on his face morphed into one that told me he knew what I was trying to say, but he shook his head with a glare, "Spit it out." I took a deep breath before closing my eyes, "I don't expect you to keep in touch after all this is over. I'm not blind and I'm not an idiot."

Sasuke remained quiet for a moment and I opened my eyes to see that his expression had gone completely blank. Feeling like I had, indeed, made things awkward, I tried to remedy it by attempting to better explain myself, "I-I'm not angry or anything! It's just that-Well, like I said: I'm not blind. A guy like you and a girl like me…I'm trying to be realistic here."

"Damn it, can you just shut the hell up?"

My mouth clamped closed at the angry tone of his voice and I took a step back when I realized his expression matched it. His words were dripping with disbelief, "Since when do you get to tell me what I'm going to do in the future?"

I thought back to our talk back in Oto and how he couldn't make a single decision for himself and was content to just follow his brother around wherever he decided to go and felt a bit proud that he was standing up for himself now, even if it was at my expense.

Realizing he was waiting for a response, I said, "I'm not trying to tell you what to do, Sasuke. I just don't want to have any unrealistic expectations. I don't want to be delusional." What I wanted to say was that I didn't want to get my hopes up because then my heart's going to break into even more pieces than it already was.

Sasuke shook his head, leaning his back against the shower wall with his glare still hard on my face and fingers running through his hair to keep it out of the way, "You're unbelievable."

His tone left me bewildered and I shot him an offended look, "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

His hands were suddenly gripping my arms tightly as he glared at me and a thick wave of fear came over me, "It means you're a dumbass and I wish you'd stop seeing me as this heartless bastard," and then his lips were on mine and the ice in my veins slowly melted away. Even after he pulled away and went back to rinsing the soap out of his hair with an angry expression, I was left stunned. His glare could've burnt a hole into the shower door, it was so intense.

When I finally snapped out of it, I felt guilty, "I-I don't think you're a bastard, Sasuke." He shook his head, but didn't say anything. I rinsed the soap from my hair as I tried to figure out how to remedy the situation.

My anger was gone and all that remained was desperation, but it wasn't to gain his affection or reassurance. In fact, all I desperately wanted was for him to know that it wasn't him that I saw the worst in. While he does get on my nerves, my opinion of him is overwhelmingly positive.

"I think you're an amazing person, okay? Maybe a little rough around the edges, but you're a really great guy, so please don't think I was trying to insult you."

He sighed, closing his eyes, "You're the most annoying girl I've ever met, you know that?" I frowned and wanted to argue, but kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to offend him even further.

"But you're also the most selfless person I know, so I'm willing to put up with your obnoxious ass if you'll have me." Black and red eyes were suddenly looking at me and a soft pink color rose to his face. Where did his anger go? Why were the feelings shooting through my head so warm and…tender?

My face immediately matched his in color and I stuttered out in disbelief, "I-I can't let you settle for someone like me. I'll never be able to forgive myself. You're capable of getting thousands, maybe even millions of women who are better."

"I don't want any other women. I want this one and I want you to shut the hell up about it before I lose my temper."

The blush on my face became even warmer than the water burning my skin. He's saying he wants…me? "But why? You said your type was-"

He groaned loudly, cutting me off as he brought a hand up to cover his eyes, "I was fucking with you, Sakura!" I felt his emotions come through me and he was feeling incredibly embarrassed and irritated. "Please don't make me talk about my feelings. I hate having to say this kind of stuff out loud."

My brow furrowed and I stared at him in silent disbelief. Who the hell is this man in front of me? Up until now, Sasuke was never this sincere or honest and he definitely wasn't the type to be so open about his bashfulness.

He dropped his hand and looked at me before sighing in defeat, "You'd better listen well because I'm not gonna repeat myself. I think you're gorgeous and I think you're sexy and strong. I can't even remember if I had a type before meeting you because all of a sudden my type has pink hair and an attitude problem. I can't get you out of my mind, Sakura."

Tears rose in my eyes and he turned his body to face me so he could pull me closer and glare down into my eyes, "So I need you to stop with the worrying and the over-analyzing and the jumping to conclusions. You're stuck with me. I'm not going anywhere without you."

I was stunned, to put it lightly. His entire speech, or rather his entire confession, was so out of character that my mind had simply gone blank. This entire time…I've been misunderstanding everything?

Somehow, I managed to speak in an unsteady voice as I tried not to cry, "Since when?"

The pink on his face had turned deep red, "You can't help but make it hard for me, can you?" He studied my face for a moment before admitting, "I realized I liked you after our first M.A.T session, but I thought you were beautiful the moment I saw you step out of that car."

He meant when we all arrived at The Program. I recalled him and his brother getting out of a car right behind where Ino's dad was dropping us off because Ino had leaned over to whisper "check out the hotties, three o'clock".

I reached up to wipe at a few stray tears that'd managed to slip past my composure, "Why didn't you…?"

"I tried, remember?" My eyes widened.

That first day, right after everyone was left downstairs to acquaint ourselves for the first time. Ino went up to introduce herself to Sai because she'd caught him staring. Karin and I followed her and Sasuke was standing at his brother's side. When I chanced a look at his face, he was looking right at me and I remember being absolutely terrified because he didn't look away like most men do when my sister or Ino were around.

He'd asked my name and I gave it to him. I asked his name and he gave it to me. Then he asked me where I was from and how old I was. I remember the bewildered look on his face when I froze up and likely turned a million different shades of red as I forgot how to breathe before eventually fleeing to hide in one of the bathroom stalls. Karin had to follow me and I even heard her apologize to him for my behavior.

"Oh, God, Sasuke. I'm so sorry! I never knew."

He kissed me softly for a few moments before continuing, clearly still uncomfortable being so open about his feelings. It felt like he'd decided to just get it all out on the table since he's already said this much, "At first I thought you were just shy or didn't like me, but then we were partnered up for M.A.T. and I realized it was something else entirely. I, um…I asked your sister what I should do and she said to just keep my distance and let you get comfortable enough to talk to me first." My mouth fell open, "Y-You asked Karin?" His blush refused to falter and he squeezed his eyes shut, obviously embarrassed, "Asking Ino would've been a mistake, even back then, so I didn't know what else to do."

I pressed my forehead against his chest and strong arms wrapped around me. It was silent for a moment and I felt obligated to also come clean, if only to join him in being embarrassed so he didn't feel like his efforts were one-sided.

"Even if you scared the hell out of me, I thought you were cute, too. Honestly, though, it felt like you hated my guts and then after you saw…after that session where you saw what happened to me, you got even more distant so I thought you were judging me for being so weak."

"Looking back, I probably shouldn't have backed off quite as much…"

I nodded, smiling against his skin, "Or just not glared so much, but it's alright. Now that I know why you did it, I can appreciate your efforts."

"So when did you..?"

I kissed his chest softly, wrapping my arms around his torso with a warm feeling in my chest, now that the initial shock of what was happening had begun to pass, "I don't know…it didn't happen all at once. It definitely got more serious when I saw you in the hallway at the asylum, but so many things happened after that that made things complicated."

Large hands brushed against the bare skin of my lower back and I tightened my hold around him, "I think the day I started to get honest with myself about what I was feeling was when you got shot and I was so terrified of you dying that I could barely breathe."

"You know, I remember parts of that day, when you were trying to heal me. I can't believe I gave you a bloody nose and you still kept going." I laughed and his chest rumbled slightly as he chuckled.

It went quiet for a moment before I pulled back, so did he, and we kissed for a few minutes before parting and finished up showering because the water was likely to start getting cold. We'd been in there for so long just talking.

"I know I've said it a million times, but thank you for not leaving me to die in Oto."

He tossed a towel at me from the shelf above the toilet before grabbing one for himself, "You even fucking told me to. Dumbass…"

A bitter laugh came from my lips and I turned my back to him as I wrapped the fluffy towel around my body and recalled the awful experience of waking up and having to heal myself, "God, that was excruciating."

I was too scared to turn and face him when he responded much more quietly, "I really thought you were gonna die."

Just thinking about how awful I must've looked, blood running from my mouth, covered in sweat, bleeding, and half-dead made me want to be sick. Remembering how terrified the man behind me had looked and sounded, how desperately he begged me to heal myself no matter how much it hurt, was uncomfortable. It was all a little too real, too emotionally deep to acknowledge at present.

"Sasuke." We both turned to meet gazes. "Thank you for telling me all this. I feel a lot better."

He rolled his eyes, "You'd never shut up if I didn't make everything crystal clear. Don't expect me to do it again."

If he never goes on another rant about how he feels ever again, I'd be okay. All my doubts had been completely disposed of and my appreciation was all that remained.