And that's all it took, god, he didn't realize how easy it would be to lose it like that. She was here.

The anniversary of the worst day of his life was over and he was seated next to Sakura Haruno.

"Are you, um, here with friends?" He asked lamely. He'd never been a great conversationalist, but suddenly it seemed more difficult than usual to form a sentence. A question? He didn't know.

"No," She glanced shyly down into her lap. "I live a few blocks away. Didn't feel like staying in so I went for a walk and then figured I could use a drink before I headed back home. It's cold."

"A beer blanket?"

"A veil of vodka." She held up her drink. Red, clear, and ice.

"Vodka cranberry?"

"Don't make fun of me like Naruto would." She took a sip. "It's delicious and cheap." She took another sip. He grinned.

"I won't make fun of you." Suddenly feeling very conscious of his grin, he looked away and swirled his cup. He took a sip as well. The pause in the conversation felt heavy.

"So… I think Naruto told me you're at GW Hospital?" He asked. He hated small talk, why was he making small talk?

You want to talk to her. Don't let her slip away. The thought drifted to his mind and made him shiver.

"Yep, trauma and critical care."

"Why GW?" He asked, pushing his thoughts aside. Sakura inhaled.

"They have a great trauma center."

"Hm."

"Aaand… I really didn't want to go back to John Hopkins. I got an offer, but… I don't know. It didn't feel right." She exhaled.

"Everyone tells me I'm an idiot to have turned it down, but… I didn't want it." She added.

Oh, they've moved past small talk and on to feelings. Sasuke shifted; why was he so insufferably terrible at human interaction?

"Plus GW has something that no where else has. Dr. Tsunade Senju." She continued, oh, thank god. "She's one of the best trauma surgeons in the country, albeit… a little unorthodox sometimes. But she's so badass. And kind of scary. She's definitely the Drunk-Aunt type, but I fucking love her. I can't tell if she likes me, but she hired me, so… And we have a lot in common! She was in the Army too and…" She rambled on and he was happy to let her. It was nice to have someone to listen to, to hear her thoughts so his own didn't seem so loud. He sipped on his drink.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," She stopped herself. "I just unloaded a lot on to you and we just met." She suddenly turned bashful.

"No, it's okay. Don't apologize." He said, suddenly wishing he'd eaten dinner; he could feel the whiskey. "It doesn't feel like we just met, I mean… There's a picture of you on the mantel in my living room, uh, a picture of you and Naruto. It's his picture." Oh, this was not going well. She blinked at him with those green eyes of hers. Pretty.

"Um, what I mean is…"

"It feels like we know each other?" She finishes for him. He nods, grateful.

"Have known each other. For years. Naruto talks about you a lot." He adds. "All good things."

"Better be." She laughs. "He tells me all about you too."

"All good things?"

"I'm not a good liar, Sasuke Uchiha, don't ask me to lie." She grins devilishly and he laughs. Her eyes seem to glow. Is this chemistry? Because he's suddenly thinking about the way her voice sounded out his name and what he could to to get her to say it again. He's wondering if he could ask her on a date. What would she say?

The dead body by the parkway, the memories of his family, and the cold night outside: these things didn't feel so consuming, so debilitating, if he could juxtapose them with Sakura's green eyes. He sipped his drink and she did the same until it was empty.

"Well, I only meant to stop in for one." She said motioning to her empty glass. His heart sank. "But I could have another."

"I could too." Was this happening? He didn't know what to do. He fidgeted. She smiled.

"Rough day?" She asked.

He had not planned to sit at the bar chatting with a woman until 2am (he was too old for that shit now), but that's what happened and when the woman was as brilliant (and beautiful, he admitted to himself) as Sakura, one did not complain. The conversation flowed easy, like they'd always been friends. She was bright and positive. She was real and genuine.

He knew she'd seen the worst of this world. She'd seen war. She saw illness and death in the emergency room everyday, and yet, she still worked to make the world better.

And she was witty. He liked talking to her.

He felt somewhat guilty for enjoying her presence as much as he did.

Mom would have liked her too.

God, he liked her. Naruto was right, he fucking liked her and he didn't know what to do about that.

He followed her out of the bar as it closed. She stopped on the sidewalk outside.

"I live this way." She pointed.

"I do too."

"Want to walk together?"

"Yes."

He wrapped his scarf around his neck. She pushed her hands into her coat pockets and shivered.

"Cold?" He asked.

"Aren't you? It's freezing."

"It's February. It's winter." He stated. She rolled her eyes.

"I'll have you know that I've spent the last four years in southern California. We don't have winter there. I'm still adjusting to the cold."

"Hm. Right."

They walked on. It was quiet. She shivered again as they approached the intersection to his street.

"I'm this way." He said, breaking the silence.

"Oh, I'm still up a few blocks." She was looking bashful again; such an odd look for such a confident woman. Maybe she wanted…?

"Would you, uh, like me to walk you home?" He proposed, unsure.

"Oh, uh, no. I'm fine. I'm tough." She replied back, jokingly flexing her arms. He didn't doubt her toughness.

"Okay. Well… It was very nice to meet you, Sakura."

"You too, Sasuke. Thanks for hanging out with me. It's been weird being back in the DMV. It was nice to talk to someone who doesn't know about all of my... baggage." Baggage? She shivered again. "Well, I should head home. It's so cold."

She turned to go.

"Wait." He said softly, almost a whisper. He wondered if she'd even heard, but she stopped and turned.

He didn't know what made him do it. Maybe it was because he didn't know how to say what he was feeling; maybe he thought this would be a way to show her instead. He didn't know. He didn't understand, but he did it anyway.

He unwrapped his scarf from his neck and put around hers. She took a step towards him as he wrapped it around her neck. His thumb accidentally brushed her chin. It was his turn to shiver now. He could have kissed her. He thought about it, but what if she didn't want to be kissed? Maybe he should asked her... But what if she didn't, what if she just wanted a friend and he was being creepy—

"What—" She spoke, pulling him back to reality.

"Take that. Since you're still adjusting to the cold." He said, looking away and shoving his hands in his pockets like an awkward teenage boy.

"Thank you, Sasuke." She flashed him a big smile.

"Do you have my number? I have yours." He asked impulsively.

"You do?"

"Oh, god, um." He didn't think about how weird that sounded. "Naruto gave it to me, a few weeks back, when you moved here. He asked me to call you and offer to show you around town because he couldn't, since he's away working on the campaign…" She blinked at him. "I'm sorry." I cursed himself. "That was a weird thing to say. I'll let you—"

"You didn't call me."

"What?"

"You never called and offered to showed me around town." She pouted. He sputtered, feeling guilty.

"I—work, and you know how Naruto is—and it wasn't—" She placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"You still have time. You have my number."

Oh.

"Um, I will. Maybe this weekend?"

"I'll check my schedule." She shifted her weight and stepped back. "Well, I should get going. It's really late and I have to be up for work in… three hours. Ugh. TGIF." She began to back away towards her apartment.

"I'll text you when I get home!" She added as she waved goodbye.

"Okay." He paused. She had his number? "You have my number?"

"Yeah, Naruto gave it to me. In case I needed anything." She winked playfully. "Goodnight, Sasuke. Thank you for the scarf. I'll give it back this weekend."

"Goodnight, Sakura."

And Sasuke walked home. Sleep came to him easily for once.

He woke up to a headache and three (three!) texts from Sakura Haruno.

2:37AM: "Made it home."

2:38AM: "P.S. Your scarf is incredibly warm. Hope you didn't like it much, I may steal it."

8:37AM: "Sasuke, you're supposed to tell me you made it home too so I don't worry. Although, it'd be a lot easier to steal your scarf if you were missing."

He smiled and typed back:

9:46AM: "Sakura, you'd be the first suspect if I'd gone missing. The last person I was seen with. Motivation: to ensure you didn't have to return my 'incredibly warm' scarf."

He rolled over when his phone illuminated to display an incoming call.

Wait, what time was it? And god, his head hurt.

He answered.

"Jesus, Uchiha, I've called four times. Where the hell are you? It's almost 10am." It was Lieutenant Sarutobi.

"I'm on my way now."

"Well, hurry the fuck up. Someone needs to encourage Nara to do something other than drink coffee."

Captain Hatake was waiting at Sasuke's desk when he arrived. Lieutenant Sarutobi lurked nearby. Nara was staring intently at his computer.

"Detective Uchiha, it's not like you to be late."

"I overslept."

"Right, well, this arrived from crime scene. They've been unusually speedy with their report." Kakashi handed him a file.

"Still no ID." Shikamaru said without looking up from his computer. "No matching missing persons reports. I'm still looking. And I sent Barnes to go collect security camera footage from nearby building. We should have that soon."

Sasuke nodded.

"The body?" He asked.

"With Forensics. Aburame is on it." Kakashi answered. Sasuke looked through the file.

"Maybe we'll get a fingerprint match."

"Maybe." Kakashi lingered and Sasuke took a seat. Nara sighed.

"They want to know why you were late. They took bets with Inuzuka this morning." Nara nodded his head towards Asuma, who was still lurking nearby. Kakashi shrugged.

"Captain, I arrived earlier than you do on most days."

"Uchiha, you have never been late once."

"I told you, I overslept."

"Was she good-looking?" Sarutobi inched closer and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Was who good-looking?" Sasuke sighed, not in the mood for schoolyard teasing from his coworkers when there was a murder investigation going on. Nara sighed again.

"Troublesome…. Lieutenant Sarutobi thinks you're late because you got laid. Inuzuka thought that was funny, but impossible; he said… Well, he said a lot of things that didn't make sense, but settled on a road rage incident. And the Captain thought you overslept." Shikamaru explained. "Just tell them who won so they go away."

"Captain Hatake won."

Sarutobi deflated and mumbled about stepping out for a smoke. Kakashi winked and patted Sasuke's shoulder before wandering off himself.

"That was fucking weird." Sasuke began to look over the crime scene report. "Sorry, I was late."

"No problem." Shikamaru said. "I was a bit late myself."

"Oh but they didn't take bets on you?" Sasuke grumbled.

"No, they did."

"And?"

"I got laid."

"Oh?"

"And now they're betting on who it was."

"I'm glad I'm not the gambling type."

Sasuke turned all of his attention to the report in front of him. Who was the man they found by the parkway?

"Do you want to know what I bet?" Nara asked later, looking up from his computer. "For why you were late."

Sasuke ignored him, but Nara continued.

"You didn't get laid, but…" Nara's eyes narrowed, examining him. "There was definitely a woman."

He wasn't wrong.

...TBC...

A/N: I've given up on ever predicting when I update.

Also, I love a little ShikaTema, so... we gonna see some hints at that.