Prompt: An AU where everyone has numbers on their wrists that count down to meeting their soul mate.

The first time she realized Sasuke didn't have a countdown on his wrist, she cried.

She could remember hers clearly, so very young and walking around the village as she watched the numbers tick down, counting the seconds until they finally hit zero. When the timer is up, you'll meet the one you're going to spend your life with, her mother had explained. Sakura could still remember the eagerness she had when she looked up to see the most beautiful, black-haired boy she'd ever seen.

Three large steps and she was in front of him, introducing herself. Looking back on it, she couldn't help but cringe at the words she said, the loud declaration of his future wife.

It wasn't until the next week that she realized she had been wrong; Sasuke's wrist had been blank.

...

The first time she spoke about it, she was drunk.

Naruto was sitting next to her in the back corner of a seedy bar just on the outskirts of the Land of Fire. No one knew who they were and the owner simply cared that they had money.

Naruto, in his uniquely dense way, grabbed her wrist to compare the timeline. She could still remember his state of shock when he found hers was already finished, while he had another few months left on his. Who is it, he had demanded, over and over and over until she snapped.

Who do you think it is?! Her snarl was vicious, burning with acid as she fought back useless tears. It was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever done, but they sparred that night. The two, completely drunk a mile from the bar, demolished an acre in their fight.

It doesn't matter, she admitted as she heaved the alcohol she had consumed earlier onto the broken grass. He doesn't have one.

Naruto seemed to have sobered up faster than her because there were no more questions to be asked.

...

The first time Sasuke's countdown appeared, she broke Sai's nose.

All day, she had been overwhelmed with it. She couldn't go three steps without someone in the village stopping her to share their thoughts about the returned nin. The hospital was even worse, each cluster of medics and nurses going quiet the moment she stepped into the room, only to then burst into a liveliness that only existed when Shishou was in the middle of one of her rages.

She finally sought refuge in the training grounds. The only people who would look for her there would know better than to talk about it. At least, that's what she thought.

But then her teammate had dropped to the ground, quick and silent and filled with a grace she could only dream about. He was speaking quickly, something about Naruto finally being released from the hospital room fitted with his new arm. The blond couldn't stop talking, apparently, and filled in the artist with all the new about Sasuke's uncharacteristically loud shock at finding a timer on his remaining wrist.

Foolish, she was so foolish, as she reacted by looking down at the six zeros that she had come to know so well, still the same as they had always been. Ugly, why would you look at your wrist? Isn't yours broken?

The sickening crunch of his nose was the most satisfying thing she'd felt all week.

...

He stayed. And then he left. And then came back and left again. The cycle repeated.

In that time, she set up the clinic, helped Kakashi-sensei adjust as Hokage, helped Naruto adjust as Hokage, ran the hospital, assisted at the academy, proctored three chuunin exams, and trained two genin teams. And when Naruto stepped down from Hokage, she stayed just long enough to watch the village appoint Shikamaru before she left.

There were too many politics for her to care about the exact purpose of her long-term mission around the world. She wanted to travel, she wanted to see the other villages, she wanted to escape Konoha and the ghosts that visited her every day. She wanted to be free, so the politics didn't matter. With one long hug to Naruto and a promise to see him soon, she was gone.

It was three months and two weeks before she felt a familiar shadow. Another week before the shadow made himself known. Three days before they spoke to each other for the first time in years.

Dark, beautiful, careful eyes widened at the sight of his wrist when she spoke his name.

The first time she knew she was right, she smiled.

I tried to explain everything and then realized I couldn't put it into words. Essentially, I don't believe they would be ready for each other at the same time. I don't think Sasuke would even be ready for the idea of a soul mate until after the war, and even then, he has a lot of healing to do.

I usually don't like soul mate tropes because I believe they tend to take a character's choices away from them. So with this one, I played with it by playing with the countdown. There are a couple scenes that are floating around in my head that I won't write, but essentially, Sasuke's countdown fluctuates. Between his choices, his reactions, Sakura's choices, and Sakura's reactions, I think he'll get used to seeing the numbers drop really low only to climb back up. It's not until they both have made the right decision that it syncs.

Hope you like it! I'm sorry it's so short.