#ssm1

With a couple of picture frames in her arms, she walked around the room slowly, thinking intently to herself. Pausing for a couple of minutes, she eventually walked over to the windowsill and set the frames down. Stepping back she smiled at the sight.

The first picture was one she'd had since she was a child. It was the first picture that had ever been taken of Team 7. It wasn't very good of a picture, considering the fact that both Naruto and Sasuke looked downright miserable, but she thought it was funny, so she always kept it in plain sight.

She had a lot of memories attached to that picture.

The next frame held a similar picture, taken of the same people, but almost ten years later. It was taken the same day that Naruto became Hokage. Smiling widely, he donned his new white and orange cloak, complete with his red Hokage hat.

Sakura, much like before, had been in the middle of the photo with an arm draped over Naruto and Sasuke's shoulders. She had been laughing at something Hinata, who had taken the picture for them, had said, but for the life of her she couldn't remember the comment.

Kakashi stood behind them, smiling like he was in the previous picture, only this time his face looked less stressed, more calm; Sakura could almost feel the genuine happiness radiating off of him.

And then there was Sasuke. Sakura was almost positive that this was the first picture that had been taken where he was actually smiling. It wasn't a wide, ear-to-ear grin, but it was a smile, and it was really something.

Coincidentally, just the week before that day, Sasuke had been taken off probation and had been deemed fully rehabilitated. He'd surprised them all that day by showing up to the ceremony, a brand new Konoha headband strapped to his head.

Sakura had busted into tears at the sight of it. A confused and concerned Sasuke had been completely bewildered with her sudden display of emotions. Since she couldn't form words properly she had to reach up and knock on the metal plating, to let him know exactly what she was so emotional about. And when her tears had turned to laughter, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely.

The picture had been taken almost six months ago. Now, the new Hokage was settled into his office, Kakashi had decided to take up teaching at the Academy, Sakura had been officially named the head doctor at the hospital, and Sasuke was starting to prepare for his upcoming Jounin exams.

And it was a week until Sakura and Sasuke's wedding.

He'd proposed to her the night after Naruto's inauguration, surprising her so much that for a couple minutes she thought he was playing some sort of unfunny, elaborate joke on her. They'd only been dating for a month, after years of playing cat and mouse and denying feelings, and marriage had honestly been one of the last things on her mind.

Hell, she was still stunned from the fact that they were even dating. It took her three days to get back to him with an answer, which had obviously been yes. And now here they were, only days away from being married.

They'd moved into their house two days ago, and Sakura was still busy unpacking all of her things. At first when she'd proposed that they move in together, Sakura assumed they'd start looking for apartments or maybe that one of them would just move into the other one's apartment. The very next day, he'd taken her out to look at houses instead.

She insisted that she was okay with starting small, and that buying a house would be an expensive commitment that could wait until later, but when he told her he'd like to have a yard—"space for our children to play" he'd said—she could only nod, stunned and in awe at his words.

At one point in time, she'd suggested that maybe they move into the old Uchiha district. When Pain had attacked years before, almost ninety percent of the village had been destroyed, reduced to nothing more than heaps of rubble and ash. The ten percent that had been spared by the destruction just so happened to include the Uchiha district on the far side of town.

Sasuke adamantly refused out-right, taking her off guard once more. That night he explained to her the reason why the Uchiha had been set aside in their own gated community. He told her of the segregation and the oppression they faced while under the second Hokage's reign.

She'd accompanied him into town the next day to speak with Naruto about opening up the homes in the Uchiha district to the public. The houses had all remained untouched after the massacre of the clan, and Sasuke, being the only survivor of the mess, had become the sole beneficiary of the entire Uchiha clan. Including the abandoned district and the land surrounding it.

The house they'd moved into wasn't too large, much like the house he'd grown up in had been. There were two levels, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a spacious back yard.

She'd taken it upon herself to decorate the main rooms, but was having trouble finding places to put things.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about other things instead of where to put dumb pictures?"

As he spoke, she felt his arms wrap around her from behind, placing his head on her shoulder.

She smiled at his words as she looked back at the two pictures. "Other things?"

"I don't know. Wedding things?"

"And why should I be worrying about that?" She retorted with a grin, turning to face him.

He shrugged, "I figured you would be. I've heard from a few people that it's what women tend to do before they're married."

She shook her head as she lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck. "Nah, I think I'm alright. I mean, the hard part is already over."

"What hard part?"

"The part where I chase after you for years and then sit by and wait patiently for you to fall in love with me," she explained to him with a sly grin. "That was the hard part. It basically took forever. This?" She rested her head on his chest before letting out a content sigh, "This isn't hard. It's just… nice."

She felt him kiss the top of her head before resting his own over where his lips had met.

"It is," he agreed quietly as he held her. "Thank you."

She laughed lightly as she leaned up to kiss him. Now that the hard part was over, she was ready for her new life to begin. Her new life with the man she'd loved since she was a little girl.

Sitting at the other end of the bar, Sasuke fidgeted with the half-empty glass of sake in his hands, wondering to himself how hard he'd have to throw it for it to hit Naruto and knock him to the ground. It wouldn't solve his situation, but sure, it would make him feel a little bit better.

There was a reason Sasuke never took Naruto up on his offer and went out with everyone, and this night was a perfect example as to why he'd rather be at home. Or really, why he'd rather be anywhere else…

Sasuke wasn't a social person. His introversion was one of the things that defined him, and he'd much rather be somewhere a lot quieter and with a lot less drunk people.

He supposed the reason he agreed to come was because it was the idiot's birthday, and he figured that if he attended the stupid outing, he wouldn't have to buy him a gift.

Although he was currently tempted to walk to the nearest store, buy Naruto something stupid, and leave it on his doorstep for him to find later that night. He just did not want to be here anymore.

"I swear I've seen cats get their tails stepped on that look happier than you do right now."

Sasuke shot Sakura a wry look as she sat herself on the stool beside him. "I don't like being around people."

Sakura laughed in reply, asking the bartender politely for a glass of water. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, studying her as she took small sips from her drink.

"Are you not drinking tonight?" He found himself asking, staring at his own empty glass. When he realized he didn't remember finishing the sake, he pushed the glass away from him, deciding that maybe he'd had enough.

Sakura shook her head as she pulled her eyes away from the dance floor. "Nope. Someone needs to make sure he gets himself home later." She gestured over toward where Naruto was currently spinning a giggling Hinata. Sakura laughed, "Although I'm not entirely convinced he'll want me to take him home."

Sasuke watched his drunken friend try and do some strange looking dance, grimacing when he tripped on his own two feet and landed on his ass.

"He's gonna hurt himself," Sasuke muttered under his breath as he tore his eyes away from the ridiculous scene.

"Eh, he'll be fine," Sakura grinned, laughing lightly at Naruto's antics. "It's not as if he doesn't act like this when he's sober too. I think Hinata can handle it."

Sasuke made a scoffing noise as he leaned back in his chair. "It's better that she'd does it anyways."

"Why's that?"

He shrugged, "I'd rather watch him dance with her than with you."

For a moment, he seemed to forget about his decision to stop drinking and ended up ordering another glass of sake. After taking a few sips he looked toward Sakura, who'd been strangely quiet since he'd spoken last. "What?"

She shook her head, laughing awkwardly as she picked up her water. "Nothing, it's just that it almost seems like you'd be jealous if I were to dance with Naruto."

He frowned, "I wouldn't want you dancing with anyone."

He watched as her mouth dropped open and she blinked at him with widened eyes. "What the—why not!?"

Sasuke found himself thinking to himself quietly for the answer. After his thoughts started running into each other, he shook his head, trying to calm his drunken mind. "Don't know," he mumbled, taking another sip. "I just don't."

Sakura let out a laugh, elbowing him light-heartedly. "You should come out with us more often. I don't think I've ever seen you like this before."

"Like what?" He narrowed his eyes at her questioningly.

"Drunk," she explained simply. "It's kind of funny."

"I'm not drunk," he said, rolling his eyes and taking a sip from his drink.

"I didn't think you were either until you opened your mouth."

He glared, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh please, if you were sober you wouldn't tell me that you wanted to dance with me."

"I never said that."

"Yeah but you basically implied it."

"That's a lie. I would never dance with you."

She turned toward him, a sideways grin on her face. "Alright, so you wouldn't dare dance with me, but you also don't want to see me dancing with anyone else then either?"

"Basically," he shrugged, taking another sip.

"So, hypothetically speaking, what would you do if I got up and danced with…" she let her eyes scan across the room, "Neji?"

Sasuke frowned, "Why Neji?"

"Why not?" She retorted, grinning, seemingly enjoying Sasuke's annoyance.

Sasuke scoffed at her childishness, "He probably wouldn't treat you right."

She hit his shoulder, glaring. "Don't be an asshole. Neji's a nice guy. I'm sure he'd be a great boyfriend." She was sarcastic with her words, but Sasuke couldn't help but feel as if they had a hint of truth to them.

"He wouldn't treat you the way you deserve to be treated."

She rolled her eyes before standing up. "Yeah? And how do I deserve to be treated?" Placing her glass back down she put her hands on her hips before she let her temper get the best of her. "Do I deserve to be ignored? To always be left wondering whether or not the person I care about even gives a shit about me? Do I deserve to be ridiculed and made fun of all the time?"

His frown deepened, "Of course not."

"Then why the hell do you treat me like that?" She didn't raise her voice, although she did shoot him a look of exhaustion, shaking her head and rubbing her temples after breaking eye contact with him.

Sasuke sat there, staring back at her with an obvious look of shock on her face. He'd hadn't realized the effects that his actions were having on her.

"I do, don't I?" his question was rhetorical, but Sakura still nodded her head in confirmation. "You don't deserve that, I'm sorry." He let his eyes fall to the almost-empty glass of sake in his lap. "I've treated you like shit these past few years. I'm sorry, Sakura."

He glanced up to her only to find her shocked face gazing back down at him. She was caught off-guard, Sasuke could tell that just by the look in her eye.

"I'm sorry I've hurt you. I don't mean to ignore you, sometimes I just get caught up in my own head," he ran a hand through his hair, trying to straighten out his thoughts and form them into words. "I don't mean to make you feel bad. I suppose I do give you a hard time too often," he mused as he watched the alcohol in his glass swirl around in circles. "I do care about you, Sakura. Very much so. I'm sorry if you didn't know that. And I—I…" pausing, he halted his words and closed his eyes. Placing his glass on the bar, he rubbed his temples, as if warding off a headache. After realizing the extent of everything he'd just said, he shook his head before opening his eyes. "I'm drunk," he said flatly, staring at the glass in front of him.

Sakura surprised him by letting out a laugh, sitting herself back down on the stool beside him. He struggled to get his inebriated mind to focus on her face, but for some reason he couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful she looked while she smiled.

"You are drunk." She said, smiling over her shoulder at him. "Too bad you probably don't mean any of it."

"That's not true," he said, slightly disappointed with her dismissal of his words.

"Prove it."

He said the first thing that popped into his head, "You're beautiful."

She gaped at him, before closing her mouth and giving him a concerned look. "Just how drunk are you?"

Sasuke crossed his arms across his chest and glared back at her. "I might be drunk, but that doesn't mean I'm lying to you."

Sakura didn't speak for a full minute, but when she did, she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. "I know they say that when you're drunk, you're more likely to tell the truth. But this is a little bit too much for me to take completely seriously."

"How can I get you to take it seriously then," he asked, determined for her to realize that he wasn't lying to her.

"Maybe you can say this to me when you're not drunk."

"Go on a date with me."

Sakura choked on her water as he spoke, coughing as she tried desperately to rid the air from her windpipe. Sasuke sat by, waiting for her to regain her composure as he watched her accept a towel and another glass of water from the bartender with shaky hands. He watched as she then reached for his glass of sake and placed it out of his reach.

"Ask me when you're sober, then I'll believe you."

"But will you say yes?"

"What?" She shot him a confused look, as if she were completely lost with what was happening to her.

"When I ask you tomorrow, will you say yes?"

"I—" she stopped, shocked at how genuine he sounded with his question. "If you even remember to ask me tomorrow, then yes."

"Okay then," he sat back, satisfied with the answer.

Neither of them said anything for a long moment, but when Sakura started laughing again, Sasuke looked toward her with an inquisitive look.

"I know you're not entirely comfortable out here with everyone," she said, referring to the bar and to the dance floor filled with their comrades, "but I'm glad Naruto got you to come out tonight."

Sasuke knew he didn't belong there—he was definitely out of his element tonight—but he couldn't help but agree with her.

Maybe going out wasn't such a bad thing…

She'd always been on his side, whether or not it was in the literal, more physical sense. She supported him and would give him her love no matter what he did—no matter how low he'd fallen.

Sakura loved him. It was just that simple.

She never would've guessed that she would find herself giving up on him, only after he'd returned to the village.

Of course she loved him. She realized one day while watching him spar with Naruto that she'd always love him, no matter what happened. And not long after that day she realized that maybe, just maybe they really would never end up together.

She really could find no one else to blame except for herself. She had built up so many unrealistic expectations in her head after Sasuke had informed them all that he was considering returning to the leaf.

For some reason she'd started finding herself daydreaming once more, something that she hadn't even thought about doing since she was a child. She imagined her and Sasuke, repairing their relationship little by little until they eventually started dating. And of course that would be followed by a long period of dating, marriage afterward, and eventually children.

She had no one but herself to blame for building up this stupid dream in her head. Of all people, she should've known that having dreams would only lead to disappointment.

He'd been back for almost a year and they'd only had a handful of conversations. It wasn't that she hadn't been trying, it's just that when she did open her mouth to say something to him, her mind would go blank. She started to find herself uncomfortable with his presence for the first time in her entire life.

At one point, she had decided to spar with Sasuke for the first time since he'd returned. Naruto of course encouraged it, knowing how badly she wanted to try and get closer to Sasuke again. But only a few minutes into their fight, she'd frozen completely in fear at first sight of his chidori, flying toward her.

She hadn't meant to collapse to the ground, holding her head, and crying out in fear, but it had happened.

She hadn't meant to flinch backward when he leaned down to see what was wrong. Instead she clung to Naruto, not even fully understanding the source of her own fear.

Sakura was almost positive that it was because of that day, and the way she'd acted towards him, that caused him to stay away from her completely. She'd only seen him about a dozen times since that day all those months ago, and he would hardly take the time out of his day to look at her.

The one time he did stop to speak to her had been on her birthday. She'd been shocked that he'd remembered, but then after he abruptly left, she realized that maybe he didn't care after all. A couple hours later the blonde had found her and hadn't been very good at hiding his curiosity on whether or not Sasuke had said anything to her yet. Upon realizing that Naruto had probably forced Sasuke to say something to her, her heart sank, bringing her hopes down with her.

She'd left Ichiraku's that night in tears.

But no matter how much she wanted to keep pursuing him, and to keep hoping that one day things may simply magically change, she knew she couldn't live her life with pointless delusions.

It was just before his birthday when she decided to give it one final try.

She'd been walking home from the hospital in the morning, after pulling a late shift and getting caught up with a bunch of emergencies. That's where she found him, walking in the opposite direction—towards the training grounds most likely—with his back to her.

She contemplated simply turning and walking home, but for some reason she found her feet walking toward him, desperate to catch up with him.

"Sasuke!" At the sound of her voice calling out to him, she watched as he halted abruptly, yet didn't acknowledge her. Just the fact that he wouldn't even turn to face her almost caused her to spin around and run home, but she knew she couldn't give up just yet.

With tentative steps, she walked around him, placing herself before him and looking up curiously at his face.

Her composure almost gave way at that moment; he was going out of his way to avoid meeting her eyes.

When she realized he didn't want to talk to her, let alone see her, it just about made her decision for her. But before she turned back around, to leave him alone for as long as he wanted, she forced herself to speak.

"I know you probably don't want to see me, or talk to me, or anything really," she allowed herself a sad smile as she stared at the dirt ground beneath her feet, "but I just wanted to say hi." When he didn't say anything, she chose to continue. "I know it's your birthday in a few days, so I wanted to wish you a happy birthday. And to let you know that you don't need to worry about… seeing me anymore." She inhaled deeply as she tried to word her thoughts correctly, "I mean, you don't have to pretend to like me anymore. You don't have to force yourself to be my friend if you don't want to."

Closing her eyes to hold back her tears, she forced another smile on her face, turning her head up towards him in an attempt to show him that things were okay.

She forced out a laugh, "I don't want to hold you up for too long, but I just wanted to let you know."

As she turned to walk away, she almost jumped in fear as she felt him grab her wrist. He must've noticed her widened eyes though, because as soon as she faced him again he dropped her arm and took a few steps back.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled under his breath, running a hand through his hair. Sakura could help but notice how stressed he looked. His eyes were tired, as if he hadn't slept in weeks.

She forced another smile on her face, "You don't have to apologize. It's alright. No hard feelings—"

"No, I mean," he inhaled deeply before letting his hands fall to his sides, "I'm sorry that you think that I… that you've been… I thought that you were afraid…" he let out a frustrated grunt before running another hand through his hair, pulling at the strands by their roots. "I'm sorry."

The expression he gave her was unlike any she'd ever seen him wear before. He looked scared, tired, ashamed, and like he didn't know what to do. All the words she could never before use to describe anything having to do with Uchiha Sasuke.

"Please just… please don't go. Don't give up on me just yet."

The words he mumbled just about broke her heart. She didn't even try to hold back her tears as she stepped up to him and tentatively wrapped her arms around his midsection.

She didn't expect to return the hug—it's not like he ever had before—but when she felt him lift his arms and pull her close to him, her throat tightened.

"I'm trying," he admitted under his breath, "Please don't leave."

It was at that point when she realized she hadn't been the only one trying to repair their relationship. And it was then when she realized it was pointless to try and fix their relationship by herself. It took two people to do that, and that's when she finally understood.

She'd chased him this far; she couldn't give up yet.