Summary: Sasuke never imagined he would be the type to follow a girl halfway across the world to go to college, but here he is...upsetting family tradition, sharing a dorm with a walking travesty that lives on ramen and trying to figure out what exactly baseball has to do with dating. [College AU]

Disclaimer: This story utilizes characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump and Viz Media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelizations, comics or short stories is intended by the author in any way, shape or form. This fan oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All fiction, plot and Original Characters with the exception of those introduced in the books, manga, video games, novelizations and anime, are the sole creation of KuriQuinn and using them without permission is considered rude, in bad-taste and will reflect seriously on your credibility as a writer.

Author's Note: I planned to write a long fic for SasuSakuMonth2017, with a chapter for each day. And then moving into a new apartment, family stuff and drama-drama-drama happened. So while I outlined the damn thing, I never posted it. So now, I'm rectifying that. I wonder if I can finish this fic before the next SasuSakuMonth lol.

Beta Reader: No one but me just yet.

Chapter One: First Love

"Socially anxious," his mother calls it over tea with his aunt one afternoon.

Sasuke is curled up in the corner with a book and his plush green dinosaur, pretending not to eavesdrop as the excited shouts of his cousins playing outdoors drifts through the window.

Like most children his age, his cousins are loud and grabby, always insisting he share everything with them and refusing to respect his personal space or give him time to himself. Being around them for long periods of time makes the world feel too jumbled and disorganised; his skin seems to shrink and his mouth goes dry and it's an all around awful sensation.

They tried to force him to come out with them, today, but he pretended to have a stomach ache and eventually they left him alone.

He's pretty sure Itachi knows he's faking it, but his older brother would never betray him. Besides, he's gone off with Shisui and Izumi for the day, so even if he wanted to betray him, he couldn't.

"That will sort itself out when he starts school next month," Sasuke's aunt is saying, not bothering to disguise a disapproving sniff. Sasuke rolls her eyes, unbothered over her obvious judgement. He's not fond of the woman anyhow, and he's only ever had room to care about one person's approval, and that's his father.

Uchiha Fugaku is the head of an important company and often away, but when he is home he takes great interest in the development of his sons. Most of his attention falls on Itachi, of course, since Sasuke's older brother is going to inherit the company and the title of clan leader, so it's become a bit of a personal challenge for Sasuke to get his father's attention. Mother insists Father is just as proud of him as he is of Itachi, but Sasuke doesn't see it.

"It's not something that needs to sort itself out," Mikoto dismisses softly. "He simply needs to find the right friends. His father was just the same when he was young. I'm certain Sasuke will be fine once he meets someone he's comfortable with."

His aunt sniffs again in disapproval, obviously not agreeing, but Sasuke glances up and catches his mother's eyes. She winks at him, and he smiles back, glad that no matter what, Mother will always be on his side.

サスケ

He really wishes she were literally at his side a month later when he starts first grade.

Not even an hour in, and he finds himself faced with an unexpected horror: the undivided attention of other people. And that, mostly from the female section.

At the first recess, he is set upon by a crowd of squealing, frilly, wide-eyed creatures that crowd round him, cooing over his features and proclaiming their love for him

Sakura Haruno is one of them—the most notable, really, with her strawberry-coloured hair and green eyes that take up most of her face—competing with a little blond, blue-eyed girl. Each of them glom on to one side of him, tugging at his arms and apparently trying to rip him in half.

Sasuke reacts the way any scared six-year-old might, lashing out with fists and feet until both girls are in tears and clutching bruised arms. Their teacher hauls him away for a scolding, the other girls in the class proclaim him "mean" and the boys call him a bully.

But he's left alone for the rest of the day.

If that's what it takes to be left alone, then I won't be nice, he vows solemnly while waiting outside the principal's office.

His parents aren't too happy about the whole thing, though. Mother looks like she wants to cry, which instantly makes him wish the ground would swallow him up, and Father shakes his head, a fate worse than any lecture he might give.

Older Brother offers him what might be an empathetic look, and pokes him in the forehead—which could be either encouragement or reprimand.

"The others will have forgotten all about it by tomorrow," Itachi tells him. "Try to have a better day."

Sasuke hopes that's not the case. He wants people to remember to stay away from him.

For the most part, they do, and his next recess is comparably peaceful. The girls still stare at him and giggle, but it's at an acceptable distance this time, which he decides he can endure. The other boys mutter amongst themselves whenever they seem him coming, but no one gets too close to him, as if expecting him to start throwing punches again.

And though he sort of wants to play hide-and-seek with the rest of the class at recess, because he is excellent at that game, he stubbornly sticks to his decision to remain inside and work on his math problems. If he approaches anyone, even just to play a game, they might take it as an invitation to bother him again.

Besides, he has trouble with math, much to his father's dismay, and he can use all the extra time he can get to practice. Itachi was the top student in his class at school, and Sasuke intends to follow in his footsteps.

He certainly doesn't expect to look up from his numbers to find Sakura standing in front of him, a resolute expression on her face.

"What do you want?" he sneers, uncertain of why she's here and a little panicked at the idea that she hasn't been scared off.

But then she bows her head and thrusts a small pastel-coloured plastic box out in front of her.

"I'm very sorry about yesterday," she tells him, her face obscured by the long locks of hair. "I didn't think about your feelings. Mama said to imagine what you felt like, and I imagined you were scared and stuff and maybe sad 'cos people weren't listening, and I promise not to do it again! Please accept this and forgive me?"

Sasuke considers her for a moment, suspicious of her motives and scowls. "I don't want your stupid bento. It's probably all junk food, anyway."

"It is not!" she cries, contrition giving way to injured pride. "Mama helped me make it and it's all fresh from our garden, look!"

She defiantly flips open the top and Sasuke notes that she's right—it's all onigiri and vegetables cut into animal shapes. And—six round, juicy looking cherry-tomatoes.

Sasuke begins to waver, because he really likes tomatoes.

Sakura appears to sense this because she inches closer to sit beside him, putting the box in front of him and staring down at his math problems. "You stayed inside to do work?"

"I like to keep my mind sharp," he says, not really knowing what that means, but he's heard his father say it, so it must mean something.

Sakura frowns at one of his answers. "That's wrong."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is," she insists, and grabs his pencil. "Here, let me show you."

"I don't need your help!"

"Do want to keep getting it wrong?" she shoots back. "If I show you, you won't need help on it again."

He takes a minute to parse her words, and then scowls. "Fine. Show me."

"'Show me please'," she corrects bossily.

He glares at her, considering the merits of telling her to buzz off. But the concept of not needing help again in the future is too promising. Maybe after this, she'll leave him alone.

"Please," he mutters, half-expecting her to look triumphant or stick out her tongue at him.

Instead, she simply beams at him in genuine pleasure and chirps, "Okay!"

As if the only thing she really wants to do is help him.

She's really weird, he decides as she pulls his exercise book closer to her.

"You don't have to be so grabby," he complains, sneaking one of the tomatoes and chewing at it sulkily.

She pauses at that, looking thoughtful, and then offers him a penitent look once more.

"I promise I won't be grabby with you anymore," she vows. "And I'll beat up anyone else who makes you feel bad again, okay?"

And that's…well that is so not what this is about. Even if it's sort of funny to picture this elfin, pink-haired girl beating someone up with her tiny, ineffectual fists.

But if it makes her leave him alone, let her go on thinking it.

"Tch. You're so annoying."

As it turns out, her fists aren't really ineffectual.

Later that day Inuzuka Kiba purposefully whips a ball the back of his head during physical education, and before anyone knows what's happened, Sakura has jumped the taller boy from behind. Clinging to his back, she beats him around the head, shouting angrily at him while the rest of the class stares in scandalised amusement.

It takes two teachers to pry them apart, and Sakura goes home with a split lip and a black eye, but she grins at Sasuke with a gap-toothed smile before leaving, and he can't help a minor note of awe. He's never really had anyone defend him like that before, and as strange as it is, it's kind…flattering.

Sakura is smart, and nice, and strong. He could probably do much worse than her.

So, he grudgingly admits that maybe they can be friends—or something.

And that's that.

サスケ

She calls him "Sasuke-kun" when everyone else calls him Uchiha, and that should bother him because technically it's rude. But to him, it just feels like she views him as his own person, instead of an extension of his family. He's never had that before, given how large the Uchiha clan is—even his cousins only ever refer to him as "Fugaku's son" or "Itachi's brother".

In fact, when Sakura first meets Itachi, she doesn't lose her wits over him the same way everyone else always inevitably does. She is polite and friendly, but her kindness is simply the same she would afford anyone. It's Sasuke to whom she clings to nervously, and who receives her widest smiles.

Father is puzzled that Sasuke has made friends with a girl, but approves of the way they compete with each other academically. Sasuke's math has certainly improved, at any rate. And Mother loves having Sakura around—she says it's nice to not feel so outnumbered, though he doesn't know what she means by that.

They sit with each other in class for the rest of the year, eat lunch together during breaks and do their homework at each other's houses, elbows knocking into each other as they colour within the lines and trace their new kanji characters. She shares her bento with him every day (and he will never admit that her mother is a better cook than his own is) and on Valentine's Day brings him tomatoes instead of chocolates because he doesn't like sweets. If he brings her a box of white chocolate mice a month later on White Date, it's only because his mother forced him to. And if he sits there awkwardly patting her back while she cries about how she can't eat the mice because it would hurt their feelings, no one is ever to know that but him.

In the second grade, their new homeroom teacher makes the mistake of trying to seat them apart from one another. Something about it not being proper for boys and girls to sit together.

Sasuke kicks him, Sakura bites him, and Kiba complains, "Leave 'em alone! They're practically married anyway!"

It results in Ebisu-sensei calling both sets of parents, a conference with the principal and both of them being grounded from spending time together outside of school for a fortnight. This time father does have a lecture for Sasuke, cautioning him that if such behaviour continues he will not allow their friendship to continue.

But no teacher ever tries to separate them again.

Sasuke spends every minute of his two-week punishment trying to show everyone how much he doesn't care and how ineffective the chosen penalty is. He tags along with Itachi, rereads his favourite books and helps his mother in the kitchen. He even has his father show him how to play shogi, which is a rare treat, because Father is often busy with work. It's pretty much what he would be doing under normal circumstances.

But the whole time, he is aware of how unnaturally silent his world has suddenly become. Sakura's chipper, mile-a-minute commentary and excited exclamations and laughter are absent, and it bothers him.

Whatever his own personal realisations may or may not occur, the event seems to be the catalyst for everyone else to accept that he and Sakura are a package deal.

Their classmates unanimously decide that they are "boyfriend and girlfriend" (which makes him grind his teeth, but if it makes the other girls leave him alone, he'll endure it). Mother and Sakura's mother start spending more time together, giggling about "how sweet" he and Sakura are over tea (Sasuke thinks Haruno Mebuki might be a bad influence, because Mother is usually much more sensible). Father continues to frown thoughtfully over the whole thing, but reserves judgement as long as Sasuke's grades continue to be excellent. Itachi and Sakura's father tease about it good-naturedly, making Sasuke scowl and Sakura blush or protest loudly.

But as time passes and the more adept Sasuke gets at discerning the lack of malice behind the playful mocking, the more he thinks about it. And the more he thinks about it, the more things begin to make sense.

He has seen how Mother and Father act around one another when they don't know he or Itachi are about. There is a natural easiness in how his parents are around one another, like two planets caught in each other's orbit (Sasuke is learning about the solar system in school!). There is a closeness and understanding there that he can't quite put into words; indeed, it seems like they barely even need words to communicate.

He's seen something similar when he visits her house and watches her parents interact; more recently he gets the same kind of vibe from Itachi and his best friend Shisui. It's something he's not sure how to put into words, but if Sasuke had to describe it, it would fall somewhere on the same spectrum of his dynamic with Sakura.

He feels at ease around her, able to relax and be himself, and somehow the way she'll nudge his shoulder with her own or grip her hand when they watch a scary movie that they probably shouldn't be watching doesn't bother him. She always seems to somehow intuit what he is thinking or what his intentions are, without even having to open his mouth, and in the same way he can gage her feelings just from the angle of her smile.

It's a bit scary, to be honest, but at the same time, it's a relief.

Sakura already likes him more than any other boy in the class, and he likes her better than anyone else in general. Neither of them have to deal with the tedious games of "who likes who" the rest of their classmates are obsessed with, and when he thinks of the future, he can very easily see himself being with Sakura "in that way".

Though he's a little fuzzy on the details of what "in that way" means, he's sure it's just a minor formality.

And so, at the tender age of eight, Uchiha Sasuke comes to the decision that when he is older, he is going to marry Haruno Sakura.

It's not an arbitrary decision; he's made a point of avoiding rash action over the course of his short life, and if anyone feels the need to question him, he has no problem pointing out the logic of his choice.

On a summer day when his mother invites Sakura to join their family at the beach, he calmly informs his friend of his decision while they build a sandcastle together.

Sakura listens, gravely at first, and then with a blush and a smile that makes his heart beat a little faster.

"Alright," she says shyly, even though he knows she is anything but. A moment later, she asks, "Does this mean I can kiss you whenever I want?"

Which causes Sasuke to balk. "Of course not. Kissing is gross."

"Can I hold your hand then?"

"No. Your hands are sweaty right now."

"They are not!"

Which leads to an argument, and ends with her pushing him face-first into the sand; he spits out tiny granules for a week afterward.

But to his mind, the affair is settled.

The momentous occasion of his proposal is over, and from that point in his life, Sasuke automatically thinks of Sakura as his future wife. As he grows older, he stops being able to even picture a future without her in it, and so he doesn't bother trying.

サスケ

The Plan is not without its obstacles, however, and the first one comes in the form of their primary school graduation.

As the schoolyear winds down, it becomes more and more apparent that he and Sakura will be split up at the end of their final year. Sasuke will be attending the prestigious and private Oto Junior High, while Sakura's parents are trying to find somewhere else for her.

"I don't think they can afford a place like Oto," she confesses glumly one day as she and Sasuke hang upside down from the monkey bars at the playground. "They won't say it, but I think they spent a lot of money paying my grandmother's hospital bills."

"So you can borrow money from my family," Sasuke suggests, ever practical at the age of twelve. "We have a lot."

Sakura shoots him a look he can't quite describe, and he doesn't think it's just because the blood is rushing to his head. "Thanks, Sasuke, but I don't think that's how it works." She swings herself up to the bars and disentangles herself. "I should go home."

There's a dejected note in her voice that he doesn't like. He's used to a Sakura who is always sunny and optimistic, who always finds some way for things to turn out. This sadness is like her giving up.

And that's a little terrifying, actually.

Graduation drifts closer, and Sasuke broods.

Mother asks him several times what's wrong, but he shrugs her off. Father tells him it's better to confront the things that bother him than to sulk, and in an uncharacteristic act of concern, offers to talk about it. Sasuke is so shocked by the offer that he refuses out of habit, and before he can change his mind Father hurries off to work with a look that's crossed between relief and dismay.

It's just as well, admitting how upset he is at the turn of events isn't something he thinks his family will appreciate. Being split up from Sakura feels counter intuitive, though he knows his parents won't understand. They're already having vague, casual conversations about the "natural way of things" and "leaving behind old friends to make new ones".

And it's not like he can explain that this is his future wife they're talking about, because Father will scoff and Mother will sigh in wistful amusement.

It's a conundrum, and he thinks of nothing else for a week, before Itachi mentions something in passing—something about scholarships for students who graduate at the top of their class.

Sakura could easily get that, if she was better in physical education.

The next time Sakura is over at his house, building their Styrofoam model of the Pyramids of Giza, Sasuke pretends to knock a pile of papers over, including a brochure from Oto.

By some miracle, it's open on the page advertising the scholarships, and if he casually drops it on the table next to her, it's only a coincidence.

But Sakura's eyes seem a little brighter that day when she goes home, and he notices a determined improvement in her athletics classes after that. Wanting to help her practice outside of school as well, he suggests they take up martial arts together.

Of course, he phrases it as a challenge, as if he doubts her capabilities, which of course causes her to march home to her parents with a permission form at the local bujikan dojo, and then drag him to it, but he's okay with that.

During the examinations at the end of the year, Sasuke struggles with his own natural competitive nature. It would be best for Sakura if he put less effort into his studies, if only to ensure she gets the position of highest achiever in the class. But she would probably yell at him if she found out he let her win.

In the end, he puts as much effort into his exams as he normally would—and she beats him anyway.

Father lectures him about trying harder next year, but it doesn't matter, because the day after the results are announces Sakura phones him excitedly about the scholarship she was just offered.

The following school year, Sakura and Sasuke walk through the doors of Oto Junior High together, and Sasuke is sure that the status quo has been returned.

サスケ

Except it isn't.

Junior high involves meeting a whole new cadre of people (Ino, Shikamaru and Choji are the only ones who are accepted to Oto as well, the rest of their classmates dispersing to other schools around the city), many of them from affluent families and who view a newcomer like Sakura with disdain.

Though Sasuke repeatedly reminds her to ignore what other people think, expecting his friendship should be enough to keep her protected, she is anxious and more worried than she ever was about fitting in and being liked.

Sasuke notices in their first weeks that Sakura appears more conscious of her working-class background than she used to be, and much keener on proving herself. She signs up for every club imaginable—even some he doubts she has any actual interest in—and suddenly she's always asking him questions about her appearance.

"Do you think my forehead is too big?" she'll ask, prodding at it while she examines her face in his bedroom mirror. "It looks too big. Ugh, I can never find a hair style that makes it look less huge!"

"What does your forehead matter?" he asks, exasperated. "As long as it's protecting your brain, who cares?"

She looks at him like he's missing something obvious. "You just don't get it."

"Obviously."

It seems like a useless thing to fret about one's forehead, considering it's not something one can change about themselves. Better to worry about acne. He's started to get zits more and more lately, and it's the most tedious, irritating bodily function he's had to contend with yet.

"Just wait," Itachi tells him mysteriously when he points out this very complaint.

Luckily for him, Ino is there to help navigate the complex social hierarchy that is girls—more specifically rich girls—and Sasuke doesn't have to turn his brain into an Escher painting to figure out how to help Sakura.

Not that he wouldn't if Ino wasn't there, of course, because he'd pretty much do anything for Sakura.

But it's a bit of a relief to know that he doesn't have to. Whatever blackmail or witchcraft Ino used to achieve it, Sakura is suddenly one of the most popular girls in their class and once again the teachers' favourite student.

"It's not witchcraft," Ino rolls her eyes at him when he, in an uncharacteristic expression of sociability, thanks her for everything she's done for Sakura. "She's just nice. People are always eventually warmed over by that. You should try it every now and then."

"I'm doing it now," he retorts.

"Great, that only took you ten years," she deadpans. "Should I expect your next burst of human warmth when you hit the quarter-century mark?"

He glowers at her and saunters away, making a mental note not to break his policy of avoiding Ino when Sakura isn't around. It's easier to ignore her sharp tongue and too-knowing eyes when they're in a group, and to his surprise, Sasuke finds himself part of group outings more than he ever expected.

Sakura always invites him along, and he always grumbles about it, but inevitably, he is waiting for her at the appointed time and place.

Just to keep anything from happening, he tells himself each time, before spending the entire time avoiding actual conversation.

Later, she will yell at him for not even trying to be a little friendlier, but they both know that she doesn't mean it. It might irritate her sometimes, but Sakura would never actually force him to speak to someone he doesn't want to. She actually gets angry when other people try it.

Eventually, everyone in their class realises that inviting Sakura means inviting Sasuke, and the majority of invitations stop. Only their core group of friends, mostly from primary school but a few new faces as well, continue to hang round them with them—the ones who recognise that Sakura-and-Sasuke are a package deal.

Again, he falls into an established arrangement that he finds acceptable. It means less time trying to fit in socially, and more time playing video games in Sakura's living room.

(He's not allowed to play them at home, and she has some great games.)

He doesn't monopolise all of her time, of course. There are days when she needs space from him or he from her, and they both seem to sense when such a time approaches. Sakura still has Ino and her other girlfriends that she spends much of her time with, and he doesn't have to worry about them the way he does the boys in their class.

At least, he doesn't think so.

Sakura has never indicated an interest in girls, and he thinks that he'd know by now if she did. It's something that would have come up, and besides. He has a pretty good sense about these things. He's suspected about Itachi for years and personally, he doesn't care one way or another himself. Man or woman doesn't matter to him; if Sakura had been a boy, he suspects he would feel the same way toward her as he does now.

In any case, time away from Sakura means spending time with his brother. It used to be Itachi would take him to the archery range or practice kendo with him, but he's been away a lot more since starting in university.

Almost as socially hesitant as Sasuke, he's recently made a bunch of new friends that he is always out studying with. For some reason the mere mention of them makes Father bristle with disapproval and Mother sigh, even as she makes futile suggestions that Itachi invite them to dinner one day.

Without Itachi or Sakura to turn to, Sasuke finds himself seeking connections beyond his brother and best friend. To his surprise, the prospect isn't as daunting as it was when he was younger.

Somehow, it's easier to connect to the others now that there's no expectation beyond that. He and Nara Shikamaru strike up an acquaintanceship of sorts, mostly due to both of them being on the chess team at the behest of their fathers, and there's a quiet boy with dark glasses who likes bugs that Sasuke partners with in science class.

サスケ

When Itachi comes out as gay to their parents, Sasuke's carefully constructed world is thrown off its axis. He's not sure what bit of news is more explosive—that Itachi prefers the company of men, or that he's decided to give up his future in the family company in favour of opening a restaurant.

Father is apoplectic and Mother fearful, and the whole thing ends with Itachi packing a bag and moving out.

"Come see me at Shisui's whenever you want," his brother tells him before leaving him with a poke to the forehead and a sad smile. Immediately Fugaku insists Sasuke is never to see his brother again and Mikoto clutches at the baby picture of Itachi on the table in the hallway and that's the last anyone speaks of the matter under their roof again.

But the next day Sasuke heads straight to Sakura's house and when she opens the door, can't help himself from reaching over and wrapping his arms around her. Sakura goes completely still in shock, but a moment later relaxes and holds him back, just as tightly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks, breath tickling his ear, and holding him tighter when he shakes his head.

He's vaguely aware of Mebuki and Kizashi moving around in the background, but for a while he can pretend there is no one there but himself and Sakura.

Eventually he does pull away, re-establishing some boundaries, and she gently coaxes the story out of him.

"Your parents will come around," she says later while they lie head to foot on the floor of her room.

"Have you met my father?" he challenges, scowling at her ceiling. "He hasn't gotten over the invention of the computer."

"I have met him, thanks," she retorts, mirroring his sarcasm back at him, "and I know that he's very proud of both his sons and this probably took him off guard and scared him. So, he's reacting the only way he knows how."

"It really wasn't a surprise."

"I wasn't talking about your brother running off with Shisui. I saw that coming, and I don't even know the guy beyond what you and Itachi said about him," she replies. "I think your dad had already given up living in Denial-Land by the time all this happened. But giving up the position he's been groomed for all his life to go work in a restaurant? I think that's pretty damn scary for your parents."

Sasuke is silent, processing her words, and for the first time in twenty-four hours feeling his spine relax.

He has a bizarre urge to laugh.

Because of course Sakura has no reservations about the whole drama beyond the impact of Itachi's sudden career change on his family. She doesn't have to think about what this will do to the family reputation, how the rest of the clan will react, if it will effect business relationships or stocks or any of it…

She's trying to play mediator for the collectively rumpled feelings of the Uchiha family and talk him into cutting his parents some slack. He doesn't really agree with her, but finds he loves her all the more for her efforts.

It's the first time he's used that word to describe how he feels about Sakura, but immediately knows it to be true.

Not sure how to articulate that just yet, he stretches out his hand in search of hers and entwines their fingers. That will have to be enough for now. He's too emotionally ruffled right now to face another dramatic conversation.

The story doesn't spread immediately, but within a week, there are nothing but whispers and gossip. There hasn't been anything in the local news yet, so Sasuke supposes the other students learned of the story from their parents, who are either business partners or shareholders within the Uchiha Company.

People are staring at him a lot more, too, and he knows why: with Itachi stepping down, Sasuke is now the one that will one day run the place.

He's more than a little bit terrified.

サスケ

Sakura's final scores on the high school entrance exams are the best in the country, so good that once again she is offered a place at the high school of her choice. Naturally, she chooses to attend Ootsutsuki International, the same school Sasuke will be attending.

For him, there is no choice—everyone in his family has attended the prestigious academy, and with Itachi disowned, there's more pressure on Sasuke to take his place. Ootsutsuki is a place for making connections and forging relationships that will be beneficial in the future.

High school is again new world, though, and here the laws of class are somehow much more pronounced.

People once again flock to him, but it's not because of his looks this time so much as the fact his family owns a company that makes the Fortune 500 list every so often. Some kids start to care about that stuff early, though he makes it clear rather quickly that he still isn't a fan of fair-weather friends or just people in general.

Unable to tempt him to join the clubs and cliques of the wealthy and affluent, most of the other students leave him alone. Except for the girls, who become even more relentless in their pursuit of him and treat Sakura like she's invisible.

It's irritating, but not half so irritating as the other boys.

Boys who start to notice Sakura.

Boys who did not attend their primary school or junior high.

Boys who don't know that Haruno Sakura is spoken for and who shrug off Sasuke's glares like they're nothing.

(To be fair, he glares at most people, and it's possible that people have become accustomed to it by now. But it's the principle of the thing—common human behaviour dictates that when another person is glaring at you, you stop engaging in the behaviour that makes them glare.)

Sakura laughs it all off, and politely eschews their attentions, or verbally dissuades the more stubborn would-be-suitors. Outwardly, Sasuke stays out of the whole thing—he trusts her to make her own decisions and deal with it in her own way, not rely on him to tell her who she can and cannot talk to—but inwardly he is anxious.

She never agrees to dates, at least not that he knows of, but he has been around when a hopeful boy will nervously sidle past him and suggest an outing, phrasing it in a certain elaborately casual way that prompts her to accepts. Sasuke can't fault her for it—where he hates being around large groups of people, Sakura thrives surrounded by people, and one day she might grow tired of his taciturn nature and seek out someone more like her.

Inevitably, though, Sakura assuages those doubts, because without fail, even when she spends an afternoon out with her friends (and the hapless would-be-suitor), she always shows up at his door with a wide smile and that soft look in her eyes that he imagines is just for him.

So this, too, becomes an element of their relationship that he just accepts.

Not everyone seems to understand the latest developments, however. His parents appear to take Sakura's increased absences and hanging out with other people as some sort of sign.

Around the time he begins his final year of high school, Sasuke's parents begin the puzzling practice of inviting his father's business partners and their families over for dinner. Usually families with girls that are his age, and who smile coquettishly at him over dinner while he tunes out and wonders if Sakura will be awake later to go over their homework with him.

Eventually, he realises that it's all a ploy, and his parents are trying to arrange a future match for him.

"I know what you're trying to do," he tells them one evening after their guests (and their dark eyed, too-sweet daughter) leave. "And it will stop now. I have no intention of marrying any of these girls, now or ten years from now."

Father's jaw clenches at being caught out.

"You'll do what you have to for the good of this family, and this company," his father retorts.

"No," Sasuke replies, "I won't."

"Sasuke," Mother begins, entreating.

"I don't have time for this nonsense," he says. "Besides, when the time is right, I'm going to marry Sakura."

"You'll do no such thing," Father replies. "You have responsibilities now, and that doesn't include entertaining a childish fantasy of true love."

"There's nothing childish about it, it's the most practical choice I can think of. And if you continue to disapprove, I'll follow Itachi's example," Sasuke decides. "Unless you want to leave the company in the hands of Cousin Obito, you won't fight me on this."

"You don't think I won't disown you, too?" Father demands.

"Fugaku!" Mother snaps.

"I think you will do what you think is best, Father."

"You'll be penniless."

"I'm not afraid to work to support myself. And Sakura will be a doctor one day. We won't starve."

Mother looks between the two of them, turning pale at the resolve on both faces, and steps in between them.

"Enough of this," she says, the sharpness in her tone making even Father flinch and look a little shame-faced. "Sasuke, darling, you know that we care for Sakura, but a relationship like you're talking about…it's different from what you have now. It's much more…" She struggles for the word, and ends with, "Complex."

"I'm aware that there would be changes as the relationship evolves," Sasuke says.

"Say we allow you to continue your relationship with her," Father interrupts. "And I'm not saying we will. I have half a mind to forbid you to see her again after tonight." Mikoto clears her throat in warning. "I said half a mind, I didn't say I would." He scowls at Sasuke. "What guarantee do we have that you're not just…" He flounders as well, but more awkwardly than his wife did. "Fooling around?"

"We're not."

"You're a seventeen-year-old boy, of course you would say that if your parents ask," Mother points out.

"It's the truth," Sasuke replies. "Do you imagine I have time for that between studying for school and learning to run the business?"

He barely has time to masturbate these days, not that he'll be telling them that.

"What about…" Mother begins, then turns red, glancing at her husband in something like apology or resignation. "What if you and Sakura were to have an accident? I've never asked before, if you're using protection, but—"

"We're not having sex," Sasuke replies, proud that he's able to keep his tone level even as his ears and neck burn at the topic of conversation. "Why would we jeopardise our futures? We're in high school. We both need to be accepted to good universities to ensure we can one day support ourselves, and we can't do that if we're expecting a child."

His parents exchange looks then, and he watches them both visibly relax at this.

"Perhaps we should talk this over a little more," Mother suggests. "If you explain our intentions…we will listen."

Father continues to look disapproving, but he too nods and allows Mother to lead them into the kitchen.

That night, Sasuke does his best to explain his feelings on the subject, as well as the future he envisions for himself and Sakura. He can tell neither of them are quite sold on the subject yet, but in the end, Father says he will reserve judgement indefinitely.

"And we won't say anything about it to Sakura until you're sure this is what you want to do," Mother says, and the look she shoots father clearly says "or else".

Sasuke smiles at her in gratitude.

サスケ

After that day, his parents seem to accept that they can't make him budge on this. For all their initial opposition, he thinks they might be relieved. Father no longer has to worry that his second son might share the proclivities of his first (in either personal preferences or career path), and Mother always did want a daughter. She's liked Sakura for ages.

"Good for you," Itachi says when Sasuke visits him and Shisui at their restaurant; it's a hole in the wall dive they got a loan to afford, but neither seem bothered by the work that will be involved in getting it running. "You stood up for yourself."

"Sounds like your girlfriend's rubbed off on you," Shisui smirks, shoving a paintbrush in his hand.

Sasuke scowls. "She's not my girlfriend."

He absolutely hates that word, along with the concept of dating or going steady. It all seems so childish to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry…what's the preferred term nowadays? Lover? Partner? Paramour? Fuc—"

Sasuke chucks the paintbrush at Shisui's head.

"Billions of men in the world, and you chose him?" he asks his brother.

"That's not quite how it works," Itachi replies placidly.

"In any case, it sounds like you're getting way ahead of yourself, kid," Shisui goes on. "How do you even know she'll want to marry a twerp like you?"

Sasuke scowls at the implication, and Itachi flat-out laughs. "You've never met Sakura-chan. Although, in all fairness, little brother, you might want to make sure she does feel the same before you start making plans or asking her parents for permission to marry her."

"I don't have to worry about that for years," Sasuke dismisses. "We haven't even started university yet."

Itachi looks knowing, but doesn't say anything.

A week later, Sasuke understands why.

It seems that in all of his careful planning and attempts to ensure his future coincides with Sakura's, he never considered the idea that she might want to follow a different path than what he dreamed of.

The day she comes to him with her acceptance letter from Harvard, he is so stunned he can barely think. He doesn't even notice her leave afterward, as all of a sudden, his carefully constructed plan of the future begins to crumble.

Nothing goes the way it was supposed to after this.

つづく

Thank you all for reading! Reviews and concrit are much appreciated. News about updates or how to support my writing can be found on my tumblr page.

クリ