Chapter Text
At five o’clock, Sasuke enter Yakiniku Q, and found Sakura already waiting at a table. She looked up from the menu and waved. Sasuke waved back and went ahead and sat at the table.
“Were you waiting long?” Sasuke asked her.
“Not really, I only got here a couple of minutes ago.” Sakura replied politely. “I was waiting for you to get here before I ordered.” Sasuke nodded. The waitress came up.
“Can I get your drink orders?” She asked.
“Water.” Sakura said.
“Water.” Sasuke replied. The waitress left and Sakura looked shyly over at Sasuke.
“I’m really not expecting anything.” Sakura said to him. “This is just us, getting to know each other not as a girl who is obsessed with you and an emotionally unstable teenager. This is two adults getting reacquainted after not seeing each other for several years.” Sasuke nodded.
“Okay.” Sasuke said with a nod. They both sat awkwardly. “How was work?” He asked her. “What exactly are you doing now?”
“Well, Ino and I have founded a pediatric and mental health clinic for the children of the village.” Sakura explained. “We saw a need for it after the war. Mostly because of the trauma we all went through.”
“I see.” Sasuke said. Sakura smiled when the waitress brought them their waters and took a drink of water.
“What about you? What have you been doing— professionally.” Sakura said, since she already knew what had gone on with him personally the past several years.
“Mostly just wandering. I’ve done some odd jobs in various villages, and I got by.” Sasuke explained. “I didn’t do anything related to shinobi work.” Sakura nodded. She could understand why he wanted to keep away from the shin obi world. She bit her lip, hesitating to ask her next question.
“What about your daughter’s mother?” Sakura asked him.
“Her? Her name was Kiko.” Sasuke explained. “Her village was on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. She knew nothing about shinobi, other then they were the worst kept secret in the world. She was perfect. We would have spent our lives together if she hadn’t passed away.” Sakura nodded. “She respected the fact I didn’t want to talk about my past and left it alone. She said she always felt like I’d tell her when I was ready. I probably would have, if she hadn’t passed away.”
“Do you think you would have ever come back to the village if she had still been alive?” Sakura asked him.
“Maybe— eventually— she would occasionally ask me about coming to Konoha.” Sasuke said with a shrug. As they finished their conversation, their food came and they quietly began to eat. In the end, Sakura felt that maybe she had pried too much into Sasuke’s life since he had left the village. “What about you? Did you ever see anyone?”
“Oh, yeah. Just Lee, but we talked about that already. He’s really sweet, but going out with him made me realize how badly I treated you.” Sakura explained with a shrug. “He’s going out with Tenten now I think…”
“I see… is there anyone else you would have been interested in?” Sakura was getting the sense that he was just trying to be polite.
“Not really. It’s just all about work.” Sakura explained. “I love the kids and helping people, but other then that there’s nothing else I’ve been too interested in.” She explained.
“Same here, of course, the stuff with Kiko happened about a week ago.” Sasuke explained. Sakura’s eyes widened.
“Just a week ago?” Sakura asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’m surprised you’re doing so well.” Sakura responded.
“It comes easier after awhile, once you’ve experienced enough loss.” Sasuke explained. Sakura stiffened. In truth, that was one of the hardest things for her to deal with when it came to relating to Sasuke. She always never knew what to say. He never seemed like he wanted to or cared to be comforted for what had gone on in his life.
“But I’m glad you’re back. You know Naruto and I will always be here for you.” She said gently. Her teenage heart that still existed deep down melted some when she saw the slight smile on Sasuke’s face.
“I was worried about that,” Sasuke said to her. “but I’m glad it was unfounded.”
“Why’s that?”
“So much happened between the three of us, I wasn’t sure if you guys forgave me.” Sasuke told her. She reached out her hand gently and grasped his hand.
“Sasuke, you’re our teammate. We’re family. That’s been the rule since before we were born. Not only do we love you, but we have a duty to care about you like a brother. Even if sometimes you made that duty difficult.” Sakura explained to him. Truly, Sasuke wasn’t sure how he felt about that response, but he didn’t pull away his hand. Sakura pulled away. After awhile, they finished their dinner in companionable silence.
—-
After they finished dinner, and the two left the restaurant.
“We can walk home?” Sakura asked Sasuke.
“Sure.”
The two continued to walk in silence. Sasuke spoke up as they headed towards Sakura’s apartment.
“I hope that one of these days, I can make you and Naruto care about me more than just because it’s a duty.” Sasuke said to her. Sakura stopped and looked at Sasuke. Sakura sighed. Of course he would take it like that.
“Sasuke. That’s not what I meant. The important thing is that you’re back with us and we can start fresh.” Sakura explained. “You still have some healing to do, and Naruto and I will be with you every step of the way. So will Kakashi-sensei.” Sasuke was silent as they continued walking. “That’s why you came back right?”
Sasuke sighed, she was right, but there was something deep down that he knew he was finding excuses to reject his friends. He shouldn’t be doing that.
“You’re right.” Sasuke mumbled as they walked up to Sakura’s apartment. He supposed in the end, that they were both still so emotionally ill equipped to be people because they were shinobi. Clearly neither of them were able to meet on the same wave length. “Well, here you are.” Sasuke said to her.
“Yeah…” Sakura mumbled. Sasuke looked at her.
“I get what you’re trying to say, but I think in the end, because we’re shinobi, we don’t know how to have emotions like normal people.” Sasuke said to her. Sakura laughed humorlessly.
“Wow, what stellar insight.” She joked.
“We’ll be alright though. Good night Sakura.”
“Good night Sasuke.”