A/N: Thank you to everyone for their support this past week. It really does mean a lot to me. Things are slowly getting better here, and so I decided to drop a chapter before the next arc starts to ramp up. It's definitely an important one since it'll color the dynamic that these two will have for the next however long. Criticisms and commentary as always are welcome and encouraged.

I'll be deleting the A/N that takes up the last chapter tomorrow.

Thank you very much for your continued support!

The Rain Interlude

There was no time Sakura wished for Kakashi to inconveniently fall ill more than after the ordeal he made them go through—all the name of a photo.

Clutched in Sakura's hand was a copy of the picture the two had taken with their Sensei—a keepsake that Sixth Hokage had decided he had to have at the very last moment. Sakura couldn't even find enough time to dress properly! All she could do was replace the doctor's coat with her jounin jacket whilst Sasuke decided to simply switch the uniform for his old clothes. It was not flattering in the least, and yet now she had a print of the developed film in her hand.

"Burn it," Sasuke suggested plainly.

"Trust me, I'm thinking about it."

As the two reached the outside, they were met with massive rainfall, without an umbrella or a sort of covering. The two looked at each other; with Sakura's eyes indicated she already had an idea.

Sasuke knew where this was going, and he didn't like it at all.

"Would you like to spend the night at my place?"

The two members of squad seven stood beneath the roof at the edge of the Hokage's mansion. The torrential downpour that now covered the entirety of the leaf village had started out of nowhere not long after they were briefed on their new mission. Kakashi had insisted that they stay until the weather cleared up, but it was late in the evening and the two had to leave Konoha the next day.

His eyes drifted down slowly.

"Sasuke..."

"No, it's fine," he insisted, pulling the hood of the poncho over his head. "I can deal with this weather."

It went without saying that Sakura balked at the idea of Sasuke sleeping out in the rain. "And catch your death? No, you need to sleep under a roof."

There was a momentary silence between them before Sasuke tilted his head down, towards Sakura. He did not speak, and neither did she, the two seemingly staring each other down with a strange intensity. The air was not right between them—that much was obvious—but despite both knowing why that was the case, neither addressed the issue.

"Please."

Sasuke relented with a grunt, only to then flick his eyes in another direction. "You concern yourself with unimportant things too often. What will you do when we're stuck out in the rain and neither of us has a roof?"

Sakura sighed. "When that moment comes, we'll deal with it. For the time being, we shouldn't pretend that we don't have the luxury. You own all the property in the Uchiha district and you intended to sleep out in the rain? That's the sort of stupid thing Naruto would do!"

"Getting used to the comforts found in a proper society makes it difficult to cope when you don't have it."

"And you think you'll get used to it if you sleep inside a house for a day? Now you're just stretching."

The Uchiha man couldn't give a proper response to this and instead begun to remove his poncho. This made the woman beside him curious until the large garment was put over her. "You're the one that needs this more. I'm used to the outside elements. You'll likely have a harder time adjusting—."

"Are you acting strangely because of what happened on the roof?"

Sasuke paused momentarily at this before turning away from her entirely. He faced towards the doors of the Hokage's mansion, which were now locked, with the lights completely off.

Sakura glanced towards the floor, seemingly searching for the right words but coming up empty. What could she say to this? While it was clear now that Sasuke had some sort of feelings he wasn't completely being open about, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Could it have been the stress? Was he in the right mind? If he really did feel something, how deep did it go? She was afraid to touch upon it—afraid that if she were to delve at all, the delicate situation would shatter and devolve quickly.

Or perhaps that if something happened, he would regret it later.

Sakura ghosted over her own lips with the tips of her fingers, brushing over them as she remembered the kisses they shared on the rooftop. She shut her eyes and felt his hands on her body again. Transported back to that moment, she could only replay it, over and over, searching for a hint of something—anything that would give her any inkling of his thought process. However, the only thing she could think of was the only thing she thought of at that moment: it felt right.

Neither of them was really thinking, were they?

Sasuke started to walk first and stepped out into the rain. His hair immediately dropped down as he became drenched by the unceasing rain. Sakura followed not far behind, holding onto the hood over her head, so as to make sure her own hair didn't suffer the same fate as the others. As the two hurriedly made their way around the perimeter of the village, the kunoichi's eyes were entirely fixated on him.

In her mind, she continued to search for what to say and how to say it. The magical words that would somehow make everything better. Naruto always made it look like a cinch, so why couldn't she do it? It all seemed too complicated for her to simplify and solve in a few sentences, or even a well placed speech. And in the end, that always seemed to be the case with Sasuke. Nothing Naruto said ever got to him. Words had to be accompanied by a well-placed fist in the jaw and an arm-disintegrating Rasengan so that he would let the message sink in. But Sakura couldn't do something like that! She couldn't hurt the man even when he bore down on the world and threatened to destroy the shinobi system. What would really make her go against him now that he was merely being the stubborn guy he normally was?

Not to mention, Sakura thought, he only has one arm left anyways.

No, being like Naruto and pretending as though Sasuke is anything similar to Naruto were both terrible ideas.

But what was she to do? It truly tested her abilities in communication...this sort of situation had never happened to her before—and she really didn't expect it from the Uchiha of all people. Who would've guessed he even had a sexual or romantic drive of any sort? Was this even a romantic situation?

All she knew was that it was a mess, and she was the only one that could unravel it.

The moment the two arrived at her house, Sakura made sure that Sasuke was the first one inside, and she'd follow in, closing the door behind her. As soon as she flicked on the lights, the poncho was off, and she'd throw it right back to its rightful owner. "Dry yourself off with it...I'll go heat up some tea." She then paused, offering a somewhat self-conscious smile. "After all that rain, I think we could both use something warm."

Sasuke silently dried his hair as Sakura spoke, only stopping to look at her when she herself stopped talking.

Fighting the urge to shrink back, she frowned slightly. All her courage was collecting into her chest as she drew in a breath in almost the same way that she collected chakra in her forehead. It was something that caught his attention further. She then exhaled and spoke. "You don't have to...be afraid...to talk about it," she finally told him. "It happened...and I'm going to be traveling with you, so it isn't as though it isn't going to come up at some other point. Better to just get everything out in the open right? I mean...your intentions and—"

"My intentions have always been the same," he interjected. "What happened on the roof is entirely different from—"

"Then what is it?!" Sakura changed from her reserved approach and was suddenly as direct as she possibly could be. Her eyes betrayed frustration and confusion. However, when Sasuke reached his hand out towards her, she jolted back, shutting her eyes tightly.

No, she couldn't be civil about this—not the way Sasuke would want her to. "You leave for years, telling me your journey has nothing to do with you, then you come back, insisting I come with you, that it's all for some higher purpose and now this?! The worst part is that you refuse to tell me anything. You just assume I'll go with every little thing you tell me and not ask questions! Like what I feel for you is enough to make me walk to the ends of the earth without a word in the other direction!" She breathed heavily after the stream of consciousness that spilled from her mouth, trying her best to catch her breath before suddenly continuing. "It's not going to fly, Sasuke! I need to know now...right now what the heck it is you want me to go with you out there for...what the deal is with you and what the deal is with us. I need to know...I can't just...keep following your words blindly."

Stillness overcame the room, and for the longest time, Sasuke refused to look at Sakura, his eyes fixated towards the window, where he saw the torrential downpour continue. Slowly, he sat down, and as he did this, he turned his face towards the floor, still gazing with a stare that pierced a thousand miles in any direction. Normally, the voices in his head hummed with such fervor that a response to something like this would have been impossible. However, when she spoke, they all silenced at once, only one brave enough to bring forth a succinct summation of Sasuke's position on the matter.

This is a complete mess.

Raising his head, he was immediately met with the gaze of the woman, her eyes as expectant as ever, glimmering in the way only her eyes could. However, they also struck him with a sharpness that made his chest tighten the slightest bit. No, he wasn't in danger, he didn't feel it...and yet, he could only move back slightly when the two stared each other down.

He was cornered in this, wasn't he?

Sasuke drew a breath and allowed his body to relax before beginning to speak. "I am taking you out of here for two principle reasons. The first of which is because I have realized that I am not sufficiently prepared to deal with the sort of issues that now face the world. In my attempts to gain redemption, I often find myself helping the people that I pass by, performing good deeds whilst learning about the world and the people in it. While I have had successes in my travels, I often find that I am ill-equipped to deal with the day to day trials of the new world. It's not the same one of our youth...and while some things remain similar or even the same, I can't use my usual methods to solve much. Sometimes I can even feel that in my attempts to help, I slip back into the person I used to be. My decisions aren't the best...and I have come to realize that. You're a medical ninja...and not only that but one more in touch with what the world is now. There are many qualities that would make you desirable for my purposes. I want to learn so that I can do more and not continue to create more issues in my wake."

"And the second reason?"

At this, Sasuke shut his eyes and took an even deeper breath than before. "It's difficult to explain. What happened on the roof...I want to say that was a lapse of judgment on my part. However, that would be discounting a lot of things. It would be unfair to you."

Sakura found herself sitting beside Sasuke, leaning forward as though to match his eye level exactly. "What does that mean?"

"I feel that you know the answer to that question. I don't feel we need to make declarations when the actions speak for themselves. However...I don't feel that now...with everything that's going to happen regarding the mission and then..."

A moment of silence gave Sasuke a momentary reprieve.

Sakura bit her lip, looking Sasuke over before looking past him and towards the window. It was still raining very hard. Turning back towards the man, she softened her glance. "Just because both of us feel a certain way...that doesn't have to change anything." She allowed the corners of her lips to rise into a reassuring smile. "I understand that this is all new for you. Normally I'd say that's part of the fun...but we can meet half way about this, right? I know you probably don't want to do this now...for whatever reasons you have. Maybe we can just...test the waters as they come? No pressure, but also not pretending that something isn't there? I won't push anything you're not comfortable with."

In a way, this felt even more embarrassing than being caught by Kakashi. At least then Kakashi wasn't treating him as though he wasn't capable of handling a difficult situation. However, he had to swallow his pride. Could he really handle anything more than that at the moment? By virtue of thinking with the wrong head, he already complicated a complex situation. The equivalent of revealing leaking top secret information to the enemy. Ignoring what happened and the changes to their dynamic were absolutely off the table. Back out or lying would only make things worse.

"I suppose...that's a decent proposition," Sasuke began slowly. "I'll agree to those terms. However, I am perfectly capable of handling anything. As a shinobi, there is no situation which I am not comfortable dealing with."

"That's all well and good, but this isn't exactly like assassinating an enemy ninja. There might be something—"

"There may very well be something which I am not yet prepared to deal with...but that's why I asked you to come with me. Like I said, I want to learn and improve. If it means that we become entangled in certain situations, that's just the way it'll have to be."

Sakura couldn't help the small twitch that began as she continued to smile. "You know...the way you talk about it...I'm telling you this isn't like a mission."

Sasuke scoffed and turned away entirely, his face obscured to the other. "I know. This is another sort of matter altogether. However, even if that is the case, I won't back away from it. Like I said, it wouldn't be fair to you...now that it's all out in the open like this. I'll do my best. I'm only sorry I've complicated an already tedious situation. You didn't need this from me. I apologize."

A sudden laugh made Sasuke turn around in confusion, only to see Sakura with a hand to her mouth, seemingly holding more back. When she couldn't, she did her best to keep it stifled, only to fail on that front too. It was only when she finished laughing that she looked back to Sasuke. "Absolutely ridiculous. You really do need help, don't you?" Pausing, she looked up towards the roof, unable to contain a grin. The brightness in her eyes was unparalleled at that moment. "Even if it isn't the way I've always imagined it...I've waited for this moment for a long time. It doesn't matter how it came or how bad you are at explaining yourself." She allowed the satisfaction to seep in; her entire demeanor switched entirely—now seeming as though she was smugly relishing the moment. "Well, it can't be helped. Since you want to be of help, I will! With my help, you'll definitely shape up, and that's a guarantee!"

Regret never came so fast. Sasuke tried to angle a response in his mind but could find nothing he could say. There was something unsettling about being in a new, unknown situation. So often in the battlefield, Sasuke knew exactly what to say and what to do. Quips were as fast as his movements and hit just as hard, piercing through his enemy. Strangely, here he stumbled and struggled to even stay at equal level with her. Sakura seemed well versed in this sort of thing, an expert where he was a novice. The Sharingan was of no help in a battle such as this.

She put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in, something which instinctively made him reel back somewhat. When she didn't immediately draw away, he realized that it was better to simply relax, and did so.

"Sasuke, I'm not going to be any different because of this, and neither will you. I promise you that what happens between us isn't going to interrupt your work. The last thing I want is to get in the way of something like this. It's important to you, so it's important for me too." Her hand rubbed on his arm in a comforting way, and she did her best to maintain eye contact as much as possible. She knew the air was tense for him, and so she did her best to quell the most immediate fears.

Sasuke put his hand up and pressed it against the one on his arm, slowly closing his fingers around it. There was a sense of expectation from her—for him to say something in return that would reassure her of his intentions or perhaps to reassure her once more that he would give it his best shot. Of course, that'd be expecting too much of a man like Sasuke. He instead moved her hand away from him but kept it clasped in his grip. "It's getting late," he said to her with a twinge of nervousness in the base of his voice. "We need to wake up early to meet with Sana—"

Sakura took the chance to lean in and cut Sasuke off. Her other hand gently cupped his cheek as she pressed her lips against his, something which strangely enough, relaxed him as much as it surprised him.

It was almost instinctive, but Sasuke would return the kiss, leaning forward into it as he gently let their hands fall to her lap. Only when he tried to draw closer than that did she move away from him.

When she pulled away, she moved her hand away from his, propping it on his chest as she smiled right up at him. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then. There's a closet to your right. Inside, you'll find a few comforters and pillows. Make yourself comfortable. I'll be upstairs." With no further comment, she took her time in getting up and made her way to the staircase that led up to her room. Seemingly all too satisfied, she disappeared upstairs, leaving Sasuke alone to his devices.

He was left utterly confused at her sudden and abrupt leave, but he wouldn't pursue it any further. At the very least, it gave him a moment to let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, before leaning back on the sofa, letting his arm hang off the side as he propped up one foot.

This was all beyond confusing, and yet in a way, it brought him the sort of excitement that made him want to get up and move around. It was a restlessness that pumped his blood to places that really didn't need something like that. There had to be something to it, he thought to himself. Why did something like this make him feel this way? His concerns weren't entirely answered, and he still held doubts as to how he would go about this. It was one thing to promise that this wouldn't get in the way of his work or his redemption, but another to see it for himself. A part of him wanted to believe it; it wanted to believe that it would all work out without any issue. It was always a danger to expect the best, but it was still on his mind, regardless. Something inside him wouldn't let him dismiss it, or even properly discern the good from the bad. Instead, he could only think of the kiss, and how his hand held her perfectly. It felt right to him. Nothing else could feel so right.

He realized then that this wasn't going to be easy.

Forcing his mind to return to the present, Sasuke kicked the poncho off the sofa and sat up properly once again. He tried his best to focus on the present, and not continue to replay a moment a million times in succession. "She didn't make the tea," he noted. Standing up, the man slowly began to make his way towards the kitchen. It was easy to tell where everything was when her house reminded him so much of the one he used to call his own. Still, he knew now that had a new home now—the one of his past no longer existed.

He glanced once more at the window. The rain was still there, once again reminding him that he was stuck. Suddenly then, thunder struck.

No, it wouldn't be easy...but it would be something.