Archive of Our Own ^beta

Every so often Sakura looked up from her paperwork, stealing a glance at Sasuke.

The young Shinobi worried her lip slightly, brushing a lock of cherry blossom pink hair away from her face before twisting the lock of hair once she remembered that her bangs covered her rather large forehead. Her attention turned back to her paperwork while worrying her bottom lip before letting out a sigh. “It’s not as if he noticed me, right?”

In the past, before they graduated from the academy, she’d done the same thing. Except, at the academy, she’d steal glances after looking up from her schoolwork. Sakura was also a whole lot less than subtle, though neither were the other girls in their year including Ino. As such, there were quite a few arguments where one girl turned to another saying, “How dare you look at my Sasuke!”

“How immature. No wonder Sasuke didn’t pay us any mind, although...” Sakura glanced up, worrying her lip again. At the academy, the girls often tried sitting at the same desk as him or behind him, never in front of him as that would draw attention from one of the sensei when they stole a glance and thus result in them getting called out for not paying attention to the lesson. Today though, he sat in front of her at a table in one of the offices at the Hokage’s place filling out his paperwork from their latest mission.

“Something the matter.”

“Oh...” Sakura swallowed, sitting up straight and looking him in the face, although he still didn’t notice her. “He noticed. He noticed without looking up, but then he’s a shinobi so the fact he noticed without looking makes sense. He’s...”

Sakura glanced away, looking out the window before playing with her hair. “I’m not filling out Uzumaki’s paperwork if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Her eyes blinked, remembering their other teammate who was conveniently missing. “That.”

She looked back at him, continuing to worry her lip while twisting a lock of hair around her finger. Sasuke finally looked up. “You shouldn’t do it for him either.”

“But we get in trouble if...”

“He gets in trouble if he doesn’t fill out his paperwork, but even Hatake sensei doesn’t get in trouble for that anymore. Lady Tsunade caught on quick.”

“Doesn’t...”

“I’m going to get myself some lunch.” Sasuke stood up without hesitation and headed towards the door, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Can I join you?” Sakura blurted out, her cheeks flushing slightly. “I mean....” She froze as Sasuke turned his head to look at her, his facial features completely emotionless. “I’ve got to eat as well.”

Sasuke turned his head simply shrugging his shoulders before heading out the door. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief before stacking her papers carefully and following after him. She tucked her hands behind her back while looking around, wondering where they would go for lunch. The fact he picked Ramen Ichiraku didn’t surprise her given the fact the ramen stall was one of the most popular places to eat in Konoha, yet she couldn’t feel a bit irritated. She slowed, letting out a sigh.

Sasuke stopped before saying, “Something the matter.”

“Nothing. I was just thinking Naruto would likely find us and cause a scene,” Sakura muttered. She watched Sasuke suddenly tense up and start to turn towards her. “I mean...” She started waving her hands in the air, suddenly not wanting him to think she was excited about getting to pretend she was on a date with him and that she didn’t want Naruto interrupting.

“Our fight?” Sasuke’s voice strained slightly.

Sakura’s eyes widened, her hands lowering. He looked over his shoulder only briefly, before turning his head back, muttering as he did so. “You don’t have to say it. I was probably an even bigger idiot for letting him goad me into that fight.”

“That...” Sakura’s eyes lowered to the ground.

“Let’s eat so we can get back to our paperwork and hopefully get another mission despite Uzumaki not filling out his paperwork.” He headed towards the stand and Sakura started heading after him when she felt a definite prickling feeling on the back of her neck. She knew she should have ducked when she felt something hit the back of her head and then something wet.

She saw—red, though not on her fingers as she expected.

Instead, she saw raw egg yolk and eggshells, but her head turned while her mind went back to the bullying she dealt with back at the academy. Perhaps this wasn’t a surprising feeling given who threw the egg at the back of her head, or the familiar look of disdain on the other girl’s face—Ino, at least, never stooped to throwing eggs at her and never would despite their rivalry for Sasuke to reciprocate their feelings.

Ami was another matter.

Sakura stormed over, feeling her anger tingling in her ears, her overly big forehead, or at least what Ami would claim was an overly big forehead. She clenched her fists, holding back her anger. She said one word at a time, firmly. “What – was – that – for?”

“Stop looking at my Sasuke!” Ami said.

Sakura folded her arms, one of her eyes twitching. “Seriously.”

 “You heard me! Big forehead! It’s your fault...”

Ami reached out, fully intending to poke Sakura in the forehead, but before Sakura could grab the girl's finger to stop her, another hand reached out as Ami let out a yelp. “Don’t touch my teammate.”

Tears welled in Ami’s eyes, concerning Sakura slightly, though she wasn’t sure if she should pity the girl when Ami said, “If I were on your team, then...”

“What team are you on again?” Sasuke asked, his tone of voice not wavering from his usual tone of voice. Without hesitation, he thumped Ami on the top of her head with the side of his hand. “Oh, wait. I remember your team was sent back to the academy.”

“I...” Ami looked like she wanted to cry, but knowing how strong her teammates were...

“Sasuke! You idiot!” Sakura cracked her knuckles, though she’d thought doing so wouldn’t do anything as Sasuke wasn’t Naruto and didn’t fear her anger let alone her punches.

Except, Sasuke flinched, turning to look at her wide-eyed. “What did I do wrong?”

“You don’t hit girls on the head like that!” Sakura snapped. “Apologize.”

“I didn’t...” Sasuke turned to look at Ami, but the look on his face was the look he always gave Naruto when Naruto did something Sasuke didn’t like.

“Why? Why would you hit me like that?” Ami let a few tears out, holding her head.

“I didn’t hit you that hard,” Sasuke muttered. “Actually, I simply thumped you with the side of my hand, and...”

“Sasuke!”

“She threw an egg at you,” Sasuke muttered.

“I could have handled it.”

“You would have broken something,” Sasuke muttered. Sakura choked, unsure of what she should think of those words.

“I would have...” Sakura stammered, wanting to say she wouldn’t have broken Ami’s finger or head, yet knew her strength had increased, particularly after training with Lady Tsunade.

“She wouldn’t have!” Ami snapped. “She should have never graduated from the academy! I should have been on your team!”

Before she could react, Sasuke poked Ami in the forehead. “Says the girl who thinks I’d be interested in her big forehead.”

Sakura’s eyes blinked, her mouth opening and closing.

“You don’t...”

“It’s even bigger than her forehead.”

Now she wanted to kill Sasuke who was for some reason being an even bigger idiot than Naruto usually was.

“And is actually ugly.”

“Sasuke! That’s not how you treat a girl!”

Which made Sasuke flinch. He turned to look at her. “She bullied you while we were at the academy.”

“That’s not how you treat a girl,” Sakura repeated, stepping forward. “You should know better.”

“I do. I don’t go around doing sexy jutsu.”

“Just apologize already!” Sakura watched Sasuke turn to look at the girl. Letting out a groan, she reached out pushing on the back of his head so he bowed to Ami. “Apologize.”

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke muttered, tough Sakura wasn’t sure he meant what he said.

Sakura quickly bowed, smiling at Ami. “Sorry for my teammate’s behavior. But seriously...” Sakura stood up while Sasuke remained bowed towards the girl. “That said, I am not the same girl I was back when you bullied me.” In her head, Sakura thought, “Your words don’t hurt me, but I know I’m strong and I’m becoming stronger so I can support my team.”

“I...”

“She should apologize,” Sasuke muttered as Sakura let him up. “Why are we the ones apologizing again?”

“You do realize you’re about to make a girl cry, right?”

Sasuke glanced over at Ami, then muttered, “Sorry.” It was this time an honest response. “You still should apologize to my teammate. I don’t like what you did.”

A squeak escaped from Ami’s mouth and then, “I’m sorry!”

She turned and ran away while Sasuke looked rather dumbfounded. “She ran away.”

“If she didn’t have such a big crush on you, I’d think you scared her off,” Sakura muttered, not liking how their lunch break went, not to mention the fact she expected more paperwork to result from this. “Except maybe you did as, you, her crush was disappointed in her?”

“I scared her?” Sasuke seemed a bit dumbstruck regarding the idea.

“Never mind that. Let’s go eat lunch.” Sakura turned to head back to Ramen Ichiraku.

“Haruno-san?”

“What?” Sakura let out a sigh, wishing to already forget about what just happened.

“You have egg in your hair.”

Sakura felt her face turn red.