Chapter 107

He had never had any interest in girls for…well, the majority of his life. As a boy he had never minded talking to them, but he had never had any interest in them, being too young. After his clan was destroyed, he avoided human company in general, hating the stupid fangirls who fawned all over him. As a genin, he managed to get away from the most of them, as a majority of them had been held back at the Academy. Of the rookie genin who had passed, Sakura and Yamanaka Ino were the only fangirls who made it through. Sakura had been the most tolerable of the two, and he hadn't ever regarded her more than a friend anyways.

In the Sound Village, many of the other male sound nin would go to a nearby town and spend time with the local wenches; Sasuke had never taken interest in those trips—being an Uchiha, he was above such vile desires. The few females at Oto were too old for him and he hadn't particularly wanted company from them anyways, focusing on training instead. There was that one girl who was close to him in age, who worked in the labs—Karin—but he hadn't much association with her.

"Oi, Sasuke?"

"Aa?"

"Do you think that Hinata-chan would say yes if I asked her out?"

Hyuuga Hinata—she was the heir to the main branch of the Hyuuga household, if his memory served correct. A quiet girl, terribly shy—especially around Naruto. He couldn't recall speaking to her…ever. But from what he had heard when they were genin—not that he really paid any attention to begin with—she had been absolutely smitten with Naruto. However, time had passed, and for all he knew, the girl could have changed completely.

"I don't know," he stated finally, then added, "Why the Hyuuga girl? Why not ask Sakura? Or someone else?"

"Teme, you're suggesting that I take my life in my hands," Naruto sounded like he had just heard that the ramen was poisoned, "Sakura-chan would have killed me if I ever asked her."

"I wouldn't be surprised, actually," he smirked dryly, "But I'm surprised you let that deter you."

He had been away from the village for years, he wouldn't be surprised if other men would take up the chance to see if Sakura's love for Uchiha Sasuke had diminished.

"I would have," Naruto admitted after a while, "But I didn't mostly in consideration to her feelings. I told you she was a real mess; I think I would have caused her more grief by asking her out—you know…it looks like I'm hoping she'd give up on you or something."

Sasuke frowned slightly. "She went out with that student of Maito Gai…Rock Lee or something like that."

"With Fuzzy Brows?!" Naruto exclaimed with an incredulous laugh, now sounding like he had been told he was the illegitimate child of the Fourth Hokage, been given the chance to tackle an S-ranked mission, and had to give up ramen for life, "Sakura-chan has never gone out with anyone—told me that she couldn't bring herself to say yes to anyone when she was in love with someone else. That's part of the reason I never tried asking her, you know? I knew that she still loved you."

If Sasuke had felted perplexed before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. A frown darkened on his brow as he tried to put order to the numerous thoughts that had sprung up with this new tidbit of information on Sakura's life over the previous two years. Again his mind touched on the fact that other than her vague explanation on why she was assisting him, that she had given him back at the hospital, she had not shown any signs of still being in love with him. The other was the fact that she had never gone out with anyone because she was in love with him. The third thing that stuck out in his mind was the most prominent—and the most difficult one work out. It was a feeling that came with the reception of this news.

Something inside of him seemed to have been holding its breath, and upon learning that Sakura had never gone out with anyone, it had let that breath go, sending a number of senses tumbling inside of him. On top of the confusion he felt with deciphering the emotions, he felt like a tension was gone—almost like relief, he also felt surprise, and something else… He had no idea what.

'What the hell?' flitted across his mind as nonsensical sensations faded back to a quieted state, leaving a different feeling behind. The feeling that he thought that he had lost something, but realizing he had it all along.

"Anyways, teme," Naruto said, breaking the long silence that had followed the young man's words, "You be considerate towards Sakura-chan, ne? She cares about you, okay? So don't go doing anything to hurt her, or I'll have to give you a beating."

Sasuke glowered inwardly, how many threats was he going to receive from people who were worried about Sakura? He wasn't going to do anything to hurt her, not again.

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