The same year that Sakura turned 23 she came to a decision, It was the second week of July and Konohagakure was well in the throes of its rainy season which was great for the forest and the plants crowded on her veranda but it didn't do a thing for her already foul mood.

"I have had enough." Sakura scowled at a rather lush magnolia tree. The rain and wind were assaulting her apartment building with a fury that matched her own and she was half sure there would be a power outage sometime in the night. She was of course not speaking to the plant who had always done right by her, sprouting fragrant blooms without fail since she'd gotten it as a housewarming gift years ago.

Haruno Mebuki could lament all her days that her only child couldn't cook much more than rice and eggs but Kizashi would be damned if his girl hadn't been born with a green thumb befitting their family name.

No, Sakura was not referring to the plant nor the rain but rather a person who was nowhere to be found. "Coward!" she accused, watering some poor gardenias a little more aggressively than needed as she recalled having said something similar to Sasuke many years ago in the Forest of Death. 'Well, it's as true now as it was then.' She told herself.

Her relationship with Sasuke reminded her of a yoyo. During the split their team had experienced after the whole Orochimaru debacle that ended with Sasuke under house arrest for a few years, Naruto went off traveling with Jiraiya while she trained beneath Tsunade and swore to put aside her childish crush and focus on her path as a Kunoichi. It was a vow she had faithfully kept for just shy of a decade.

She'd stopped asking for dates, stopped blushing at every glance he sent her way, she even learned to treat him a little less like an idol and more like a fallible human being in the years that followed. She had not only put the thought of dating him out of her head but anyone else too as she devoted herself to her career.

Sakura probably would have continued along like that until two years ago when Sasuke entered what was jokingly referred to by Naruto as late onset puberty in which he finally seemed to realize that Sakura was a woman and a pretty one at that.

The spring she turned 21 the original members of Team 7 and those who had joined them later had organized a Hanami event close enough that it doubled as a celebration of Sakura's birthday. Naruto and Sai had been put in charge of securing a good spot among the flowering trees while she and Sasuke had been sent to fetch the food and drinks. No one expected much from Kakashi other than being late, though Yamato had sworn he'd get him there on time for once.

Not that anyone had much faith in that at the time.

They had just stepped foot on one of the many red bridges that Konohagakure sported both of her hands were full, the bags she had almost bursting under the weight of the drinks inside while Sasuke totted the large layered bento Mikoto had prepared for the group.

Sakura had stopped to admire the view, the spring breeze scattering the petals of her namesake everywhere, even in her hair.

"Aaa, Stay still." Sasuke had said, something in his voice she'd never heard before startled her, pulling her eyes off the rippling water as his hands threaded her hair, the petals sifting out of candy-floss colored strands.

She hadn't seen it coming, the press of his lips to hers and so the bags had fallen to the ground busting open and sending bottles rolling over the edge and into the river, swept away by the current. He'd pulled away looking rather pleased with himself after. Sakura's face had stayed red the rest of the day growing even darker when Naruto complained that they forgot to bring drinks.

Sakura had thought that day had marked a change in their relationship and it had...sort of. At least unofficially.

Sasuke never called her his girlfriend, they never held hands in public and they certainly never kissed where anyone would see them not even on the cheek and It had begun to grate on her nerves after the first year and she dropped subtle hints because she knew that Sasuke hated it when she nagged.

There were of course people who knew that the two of them were more than friends but Sasuke seemed especially determined to keep it from his family-his father in particular, because everyone knew Fugaku was dead set on future daughter-in-laws with more...pedigree than Sakura had.

"So what if I don't come from a clan? Everything I have, everything I am is because I worked my ass off and lucked out on genetics." Sakura said to the fern Kakashi had gifted her for the new year, gripping the decorative pot hard enough to spread cracks through it. "And I'm not inbred like some people!" of course she would never say that to their faces-it would just be rude.

She'd tolerated being treated like a mistress for two years until she just couldn't stand to drop one more hint that Sasuke would proceed to conveniently ignore and promptly exploded. It was the worst fight they had ever had, or rather it was the angriest she had ever gotten at him but by the end of it Sasuke had promisedthis year, by his birthday they'd come clean.

Sakura had believed that. So yesterday when he came around during one of her shifts at the hospital all apologetic-or as sorry as Uchiha Sasuke could appear to be while he explained he'd be going away until September on some important mission he couldn't discuss the specifics of nor would he be able to write during his absence. she had simply sighed and said; "Well some things can't be helped…" and carried on with the rest of the day as graceful as someone stewing in disappointment could be.

Had she been upset that their plans had been waylaid? Of course but Sakura was a reasonable person and she accepted it. They were Shinobi and things happened. "And sometimes you make things happen." Sakura was starting to feel bad for abusing her plants but the more she thought the angrier she got.

She would have just gone on believing in Sasuke's good intentions if she hadn't accidentally stumbled onto the truth by just a few hours ago on her way home from a hospital shift and caught the chatter of two familiar voices-or rather mostly Naruto's through the flimsy curtains of Ichiraku.

"You're telling me that you accepted some lame escort mission just so you could be out of the village a few months? Teme, have you lost it? Why don't you just be honest with Sakura, or even better your family. It's not like half of them don't know already.." There was a loud slurping after that, indicating he'd moved on to his noodles.

"Because you know how Sakura is. She can be so overbearing it's better to be out of the village and away from her. This whole business with her wanting to be out in the open and official as she calls it is exactly why I asked for that mission." It was more than Sakura had heard Sasuke say when he told her he'd be leaving. "Even if I tell my father his feelings on the subject aren't going to change...it's better if Sakura just puts it out of her head and cools her heels while I'm gone."

Naruto went about as silent as her stopped heart at that moment before saying: "I fucking doubt that, dattebayo... I mean if not now, when? Never?"

"If Sakura loves me like she says she does then she should just be happy with what we have."

Tsunade would have called her a saint for not punching Ichiraku right off the map with them still inside it.

'Just what the hell was that even supposed to mean?' Sakura had asked herself that question several times so far. Was she supposed to be happy if he got married to some other girl Fugaku approved of so long as Sasuke saw her on the side? Was she supposed to enjoy not being able to go on dates or cuddle in public like every other couple on the planet?

"Because I'm fucking not." She wasn't happy at all but what pissed her off the most was the fact that Sasuke had lied to her, he had no intention of keeping his promise and he was slithering off like a snake hoping she would forget the whole thing. 'Well that sure as hell isn't happening.'

The whole thing left her feeling like a complete fool and the silent plants around her only seemed to say what're you going to do about it? with every shift of their fronds and glossy green leaves. The lights overhead flickered with the force of the storm and with a frustrated sniffle Sakura decided to call it a night, hoping that her problems would clear with the rain.

They didn't.

"Dump him." Tsunade supplied oh so helpfully the next morning. "Brutally, in public-preferably in front of his mommy and say 'it's not me, its you.' Because that would be the truth." What else was she supposed to say after Sakura had shown up in her office all puffy eyed and looking like she'd had herself a long cry.

It didn't take an interrogation to get her former student to spill her woes but then Sakura never was particularly good at hiding her feelings. 'Why can't I retire already?' She complained to herself as she stamped her signature on another paper. Kakashi had outright laughed at her the last time she suggested he take the mantle...of course he wasn't laughing much after she punched him in the arm. It looked more and more as if Naruto would be the Rokudaime-if he could sit still and be quiet long enough.

Sakura huffed at the advice shuffling the papers about as she checked them twice to make sure they were in order. "I don't want to dump him."

Shizune grumbled under her breath. "It's a bit hard to dump someone who you're technically not dating." Shealmost flinched at the betrayed look Sakura gave her.

"Oh, so you want to keep being his doormat?" The last Senju rolled her eyes at the proclamation. "I thought I taught you better than that."

"I don't want that either!" Sakura snapped back as she tapped her left foot one or twice and then began to pace. "What I want is him wriggling like a worm on a hook, begging for forgiveness...or as close as he can get. I just want to know that he cares, even just a little bit." Her bottom lip only trembled just a tad as she staved off more tears. That had always been the case, it always felt like she cared more for Sasuke then he did her-and this recent event only drove home the point.

Tsunade decided what they really needed was liquor and for once Shizune did not complain when she rose from her desk to retrieve the bottles full of what she referred to as the good stuff while the darker haired woman provided the ochoko, pressing one of the small cups into Sakura's hand to be filled.

It was after Sakura had taken her second cupful that Shizune decided to probe what she was sure to be a sore spot. "You're basically saying that you're willing to accept the bare minimum of him. It just doesn't sound like the basis of a good relationship…" Wounds were often better for the lancing.

"Why don't I just lay on the floor and you can stomp on me." Sakura offered, eyes rolling towards the ceiling as she downed another mouthful. The fact that they did not approve of Sasuke was not new to her. They thought that Sasuke had a sense of unearned entitlement which she supposed could be true but at the same time they did not see the side of him that she saw.

Like when he conveniently ran into her when she was returning home from some place or another and walked her, even though it was completely out of his way, or when he vetoed Naruto's choice of ramen for her sake every now and then, letting her choose their next meal instead. Sasuke didn't talk much but he was a good listener and she appreciated that because Sakura talked enough for both of them. 'Although what good is listening when you willfully ignore what I'm saying?'

"As long as you're just sitting around waiting for him it's going to be the same old song and dance." Tsunade complained and dropped her voice into something low and monotone. "Aaa Sakura, I'm home. " and then she batted her eyes in a saccharine sweet way, her voice pitching higher. "Welcome Home Sasuke-kun!" the perfect image of a lovesick fool.

Sakura's mouth dropped open. "I don't sound like that!" She looked towards Shizune as if expecting an ally but the dark haired woman only sipped at her cup pointedly. "I wouldn't do that, not after this," her hand motioned in the air vaguely as she insisted, almost spilling her newly filled ochoko in process. "Whole thing!"

Neither of them seemed to believe her.

For good reason as it turned out. " What about earlier this year when he promised to go Hanami viewing with you for your birthday and anniversary but ditched you for his family? You waited two hours." Tsunade tapped her nails on the desk. "Face it kid, you're a push over when it comes to him and he knows it. He basically said it himself, Sasuke knows exactly how the whole thing is going to play out."

Her foot itched to kick something, mostly herself because they were right the only consolation Sakura could find in her current situation was that at least she had not run into Ino because painful truths would be the least of her worries. Ino would have gone all scorched earth and dragged her right along in her fury. "I should just drop off the face of the earth." She covered her face in shame upon realizing that at some point Ino was going to find out one way or another. 'She can smell secrets like a pig does truffles...'

Worst of all Sakura was having the sudden realization that she at some point had fallen into the nasty habits of her 12 year old self. Doing everything she could to morph herself into some creature more amenable to Sasuke's tastes at the expense of herself. it made her stomach drop.

Tsunade blinked as a thought occurred to her, lips turning slyly. "Now, Now, It doesn't have to be something so extreme, why not just out of the village?" There were few things better than solving a series of problems with one action. It made life so much simpler. "You know that Suna has been looking to improve and overhaul their medical infrastructure-we've been discussing it for years but we could never quite come to...amenable terms for what they wanted."

They may have been allied shortly after Sasori took office but that didn't mean she had been counting on it to last long enough to send them someone as valuable as Sakura when they had first posed it years ago and just because Suna's economics improved after their former Daimyo died didn't mean they could just buy her apprentice. 'But, the alliance held for seven years and given the current Kazekage is basically Naruto's fanboy…' She couldn't think of a reason to withhold their assistance on such a front.

Well...there might have been one. 'But that might not be bad given the current situation.' Tsunade snickered into her cup. 'If that works out it might even be a net positive all around.'

"Yes, but they asked that almost five years ago." Sakura said as she slumped into one of the office chairs next to Shizune.

"Better late than never. I want you to think about this carefully Sakura, This is not just about getting back at Sasuke-You've been floating that idea of a children's hospital but the funding and approval are not forthcoming because you lack experience." Those were not her own views but those of the elders. "Getting Suna in order could go a long way in shutting those voices down."

That was what really got her attention, eyes brightening as she shot up from her seat."You really think so?" It was the happiest Sakura had looked since she walked in.

"I do." Tsunade smiled. "But you have to be aware that this could be rather long term. The original proposal they sent was tentative when they asked for a year. You're not going to be able to come home until it's through or you're given leave by Suna."

Her first thought was of Sasuke, leaving for a year with things as they were couldn't possibly be good for them. 'But he's the one who said if I loved him I should be happy with what I have...doesn't the same go for him?' She supported his dream, even if she didn't particularly understand his almost obsessive desire to be viewed as better than his brother. 'This could be a big step forward in making my dream a reality.' and it wasn't as if they couldn't visit or write, Suna was only a three day trek.

"I want to know before I bother making any plans what your answer will be."

It would be a lie to say that the alcohol and her own spite played no part in the "Yes!" that tumbled from her mouth without further forethought. "Oh my plants…" it wasn't like she could pack them up and take them which was a real shame. Instead she'd have to get Ino or her parents to care for them if they had any hope of surviving her departure.

There may have been several more drinks consumed in the time that it took Tsunade to compose her letter. Sakura couldn't be too sure, things began to get a little fuzzy for her around the fifth pour. She woke up the next day with a pounding headache and a departure date that left her with a small time frame to get her affairs in order.

Given that it was a Shinobi village her apartment would be paid for until she returned, and she managed to wrangle her parents and Ino into stopping by and watering her plants periodically. In the end after much debate Sakura, despite how pissed she might have been she did pen a note to Sasuke explaining the details of her absence, minus the relationship drama and took it to the Uchiha compound.

Leaving it with Mikoto meant having to answer awkward questions, leaving it with Fugaku meant getting stared down….which left her with Itachi or Shisui. In the end she decided that whichever one she ran into first could be the unlucky bearer.

A turn down one of the streets and she caught sight of both the men she was looking for sitting at some tiny tea shop they liked to frequent in the Uchiha district. "Well, that didn't take nearly as long as I thought." That or they were just predictable to her at this point.

"Sakura-chan!" Shisui waved excitedly so much so that he would have whacked Itachi in the face if the long haired man hadn't ducked just so.

"Shisui, she isn't deaf." Itachi intoned. "But Iwill be if you don't lower the decibels." He held up the plate of dango that had been sitting on the table untouched in silent offering.

"Oh thank you." Sakura hoped the sugar would help ease the pounding behind her eyes as she took a stick, taking the seat at the end of the bench next to him. "I can't stay long." she fished the envelope out of her side pouch and set it on the table. "Next time you see Sasuke I'd appreciate it if you gave him this." The chewy texture of the dango meant she didn't have to answer the inquisitive looks with words.

"Is there a reason you can't deliver it yourself?" Itachi questioned pouring a cup of tea for her after Shisui returned from fetching it.

"I won't be here…I'm going to be in Suna for at least a year." Itachi and Shisui might have been intimidating to a lot of people given their reputations and rightfully so but she'd known them for about a decade...'And also I've seen them half naked before.' so she did not buckle under the pair of dark eyes trying to suss out her every secret. "I'll be leaving in the morning."

"How sudden." Itachi hummed, head already full of thoughts. 'Oh dear…' he certainly prophesied trouble on the horizon one way or the other.

"A year? But I'm coming up due for my annual shots and you know I hate being stabbed in the ass by strangers." Shisui complained and she should see by the shifting of Itachi's shoulders the faint sigh he was exhaling.

Sakura only patted his shoulder comfortingly. 'Great and mighty Shinobi horrified by little needles are endlessly amusing.' she thought with a wry smile. "Thank you for the tea and dango."

"My pleasure." Itachi smiled serenely. Out of team 7 he had always been of the opinion that Sakura had always been the most level headed of out of the 3 if Kakashi was to be excluded. His brother was unfortunately in the possession of an immense ego that often carried him away. So while he had well founded suspicions that Sasuke had very recently messed up in some way or another he wasn't going to pry. 'All things come to light in time.' he mused. "What will you be doing in Suna?"

"Essentially running the hospital and medical corp, giving them a well needed leg up in the medical field." Suna was very, very good at killing people...not so great at treating them. 'Then again that is a Konohagakure specialty.' They had the highest survival rate of all the villages, a fact that Tsunade never failed to rub into every other Kage's face. She finished her tea and answered a few more questions before taking her leave.

When he was sure that Sakura was well out of earshot Shisui turned to Itachi. "I know he's your precious baby brother and all but Sasuke's played himself bad with this whole have his cake and eat it too ploy. I mean it's not like your dad doesn't already know-Fugaku-san is also a ninja." Sasuke was severely underestimating the intelligence of everyone around him if he thought he was being secretive about his pseudo relationship with Sakura. 'It's only like the worst kept secret of the village right now.'

"Sasuke is just trying to avoid any blatant disapproval, he thinks as long as he keeps things out of direct line of sight what he does is beneath notice." Itachi leaned his cheek into the palm of his hand. "There is a reason I frequently refer to him as foolish." he pointed out, watching a few leaves drop from a persimmon tree. Itachi loved him, truly he did but well...Sasuke was not particularly good at looking ahead and he had the great misfortune of being overly concerned with clan affairs and the approval of their father. 'A hard thing to gain from a man as stern as Father is.'

Sakura's acumen alone should have been enough to gain Fugaku's blessing but it seemed as though he was clinging to old enmities between the Senju and Uchiha, not quite ready to let go of past slights even though Sakura had no blood in the fued. "He only has himself to blame for whatever comes." Itachi said at last, tucking the letter that was left behind into his shirt.

The following days were a blur of activity for Sakura as she haphazardly packed her things, bid her farewells and proceeded without escort towards the desert-she was a bit unused to solo-traveling but it also meant she carried on at her own pace pretty much unworried about an ambush.

Anyone who tried would be signing their death warrant. There were not a lot of ways to kill her thanks to the seal and it was going to take more than an average ninja to manage the damage output that was needed to take her down. 'I mean at this point It's decapitation, exhaustion, maybe a particularly virulent disease of some sort and inevitable old age that I really need to look out for.' She'd never tested that last theory out and didn't have any intention of doing so. 'Here lies Haruno Sakura, successor to Tsunade the great sannin, felled by an aggressive, self injected fungal infection.' She thought humorlessly. 'No thanks on that front.' She did not inherit her mentor's love of gambling.

By the time Suna was in sight she was sweaty, covered in sand and her skin stung faintly.

If someone were to tell her Akasuna no Sasori, former Kazekage and the shadowy right hand of Gaara would be waiting for her at the gates of Sunagakure she might have laughed. Temari, sure. They saw one another often enough in Konoha that they were friends, Kankuro too given the fact she'd saved his life...even Chiyo who she still exchanged letters with would have been expected but not her grandson.

Sasori didn't exactly come to mind when Sakura thought of a welcoming face. She would have just assumed he was simply lounging around for some other reason if he hadn't pushed off the wall he'd been leaning on when he caught sight of her. He retained that same sedate expression that made him look as if he'd like to crawl back into bed and he still looked as as if he hadn't aged all that much since he hit his mid 20's 'Good grief, whatever he's doing with his face he could make a killing if he sold it on the market.'

She struggled to find the words to say in greeting unsure of what to say. Sasori wasn't exactly what Sakura would call a stranger. They'd met more than a few times but if she were to consider the encounters that stuck out the most there was a decent sized list.

The first being when he'd been present as the Subaku's Sensei during her first Chūnin exam. Seven years older, he could have been seen as Suna's version of Itachi...if the latter had an attitude problem.

The only real interaction she'd had with him then was when she'd been waking people up from the genjutsu they'd fallen under as Sasuke pursued Gaara. Sasori had a way of looking at people that left them feeling like they were the size of an amoeba and she'd felt no different seeing him sneering down at her as he said "I guess you're not completely talentless after all." and cutting down a Oto-nin intent on ending her short little life.

Apparently he'd realized Orochimaru's double cross and decided to go off script to mitigate the damage-a ploy according to Tsunade to put him on the better side of what he already knew would be a losing situation otherwise. There was no doubt Sasori foresaw that he would end up as Kazekage with Rasa dead and simply wanted something to hold over Konoha's head.

He'd looked utterly incredulous when Kakashi had sent her, Naruto and Shikamaru off to collect Sasuke, going as far as to call the Copy-nin a complete dunce-offering the soundest advice of "Little Girl, you'd best stay out of Gaara's way if you want all your internal organs unruptured."

Not that Sakura had listened. 'But I came out of it alright.' maybe better than alright because it only served to hammer home the fact that she was woefully behind the rest of her peer group and if she wanted to be a Shinobi who lived past 20, much less a good one she'd better step it up.

Especially after some familial spat no one was ever told the specifics of and the psychological effects of Orochimaru's seal sent Sasuke from the village and there was nothing she could do to help. That in the end was what drove her to Tsunade and her inevitable second meeting. It had been almost a year since the last Chūnin exam and Sasori had taken over as Kazekage until Gaara reached the age of 18.

There had been some pretty intense negotiations going on at the time given the fact that Suna had just tried to wipe Konoha off the map. Not that she had been listening at the door or anything.

Still, she could recall sitting on a stack of books outside Tsunade's office reading until it felt like her eyes were going to bleed right out of her skull because she had an upcoming test-and by test she meant Tsunade would try-and succeed in beating the living daylights out of her all while asking her what she remembered before ever allowing her to try the techniques out on a living person.

It proved to be a brutal and effective training regimen, because being forced to think and move, desperate to avoid bruised bones and shrapnel from accelerated dibre turned out to be good conditioning for coping with the stress of intense situations like say, having to stick her hands wrist deep into someone's chest cavity.

So there she was, face buried in a chemistry book reading about reagents and solvents as she tried to figure out the right components to an antidote she'd been tasked with hypothetically creating. The book of plants was open and splayed over her knee.

The funny thing, or rather the difficult thing that made being a medic worthy of Tsunade's acknowledgement was that learning mystic palm was the least of it. She was expected to master multiple trades. Fighting and evading, healing and destroying. Knowing the body down to every different cell that made it up-of which there were about 200 hundred and on top of all that Sakura had to know what substances, or combination thereof could benefit or harm the body they made up.

Not to mention all of it had to be done while constantly pooling her chakra to a specific spot without ceasing-otherwise she'd never unlock the Byakugō. So hell yea, she was busy and monumentally distracted.

Which is why she could have been excused for snapping at the shadow that had crossed into her light and lingered a little longer than necessary. Thinking it was likely Ino coming to nag her about taking a break and eating a proper lunch Sakura complained and shooed a hand without looking up. "Shove off Pig."

"My, haven't you gotten mouthy Little Girl."

Thinking about it made her blush because Sakura was well aware that she had probably looked a lot like that poor gasping-for-air fish she'd practiced on the first few months of her tenure, She'd just called a foreign Kage a pig and that Kage happened to be someone who had earned the name Akasuna because they literally dyed the sands red with blood. 'Well, shit.' she'd thought, dragging her eyes up from the massive tome as she offered a sheepish smile. If he didn't kill her she was sure Tsunade would after hearing about it.

"I uh...didn't mean you." Sakura wished she were a fluid so she could seep into the wall behind her and disappear from his intense eyes, Rather than chew her out he seemed more interested in the title of the book.

"Does someone like you even comprehend what they're reading?" It was almost a scoff.

"Like me?" There was no doubt that she'd scowled at the implication. "And Yes, I do understand it." She might have only had a week with the material but Sakura was confident she had a good grasp of it.

Maybe he was feeling particularly indulgent that day because he didn't simply leave it at that. "A A person is suffering from the effects of a chemical nerve agent, what in your opinion could be the main ingredient in the cure?"

"Atropine, which can be found in mandrake and other species of Nightshade along with pralidoxime chloride. Injected into the muscles-repeated treatments might be necessary for best results."

"Adequate." He'd said just as Shizine opened the door to Tsunade's office to let him in.
Sakura wouldn't say he was impressed but it at least felt like she went from being a single celled organism in his eyes to having multiple ones. He was in and out of Tsunade's office over the course of a few days and each time he saw her there he'd ask another question about some ingredient-if she was correct he never failed to acknowledge it and if she were wrong, which only happened once he'd simply tsked and let her correct herself.

For whatever reason Tsunade did not end up beating her any harder than usual and Sakura just thanked her lucky stars for that.

The third she'd met him Suna had officiated the next round of Chūnin exams and Sakura had been given the go head to attend as the 3rd member of Ino's team in place of Shikamaru, making Ino-Saku-Cho a thing. It was rough at first, she wasn't used to fighting with a chakra handicap, the fact that she'd effectively cut down her disposable supply by continuously storing a portion meant she had to learn to do more with even less than she had before.

Her Chakra pool had never been particularly deep to begin with and she was struggling the first half of the survival round until things just clicked for her. She decimated a giant sand scorpion with a single punch and served it for lunch, blew through her one on one matches-and almost destroyed the arena in the process but that wasn't really important.

What was important was that during her promotion Sasori had been in the room when she got the news. "You may very well be the most improved of your academy." Those words in retrospect might not have sounded like much, but to her they meant something. It felt like recognition for all the hard work she'd put in, the bruises and the sleepless nights of studying, the tears of frustration and every failure that threatened to claw out her heart.

It was one thing to hear something like that from Tsunade, or Ino, or anyone else she knew because there was always the chance that they only said it to make her feel better. Hearing it from someone who had no stake in her feelings meant it could only be the truth.

She met him again after she'd turned 15. Some terrorist group had lured Gaara out of the village intent on stealing the Ichibi, meanwhile Kankuro had been poisoned by something pilfered right out of the then Kazekage's own workshop-it had been a real mess considering he'd been away on some diplomatic trip at the time, visiting the new wind Daimyo after the previous one and his immediate family had taken violently ill and died within quick succession of one another.

Team 7, minus Sasuke who was still under house arrest at the time and Team Gai were dispatched to supply support. About ten minutes after Sakura had finished administering the antidote that would save Kankuro's life Sasori had walked through the doors as they were discussing their plans, Chiyo-baasama had just offered her services to the cause.

"I see you're not dead." He'd still been wearing his official robes, though the hat was missing as he spoke to Kankuro. "You don't look like you're suffering too much though...Did they mistake a paralytic for one of the deadly ones?"

"Heavy metal." Sakura corrected, holding up the sample she'd filtered out from the younger Puppet Master. "This thing was a real piece of work by the way. The cellular destruction was astoundingly quick. You really ought to keep antidotes on hand for something this awful."

"Why would I do that? If I were to accidentally poison myself I would deserve to die and if someone were to be poisoned by me I obviously wanted them dead. Making antidotes for things meant to kill defeats their purpose and is a waste of time. As for Kankuro? he should have dodged better." The expression-or rather lack thereof and the emptiness of his tone reminded her of how he'd looked at her the first time.

The startling realization that it wasn't just her that he looked down upon but basically everyone upt to and including his own blood struck her. "What kind of statement is that? They're your family and you act like it doesn't even matter if they die!" Kankuro was Sasori's cousin, his student and a member of the village he was meant to protect with his life.

"Girl, Is that really something a Shinobi should say? You should know that all Shinobi are nothing but disposable tools."

Her teeth had grit so hard they ached-and Naruto, who was poised to interject with his own complaints was drowned out by her shrill voice. "Why's that the only way that you can think? Ninja's are still human beings no matter how you look at it, saying that death is inevitable therefore its pointless to care...what sort of stupid logic is that?" Anger had a way of making Sakura braver than she would have been otherwise and her tongue had gotten away making her forget just who she was talking to. "If we go by what you're saying than me creating that antidote was a pointless endeavor because someday Kankuro's going to die from something one way or another.If that's the case antibiotics are a waste too."

Something in his head seemed to click-like the gears of a machine grinding into motion. It was probably the most emotion she'd seen out of him-the fractional widening of his eyes as they moved from her and off to the side. It reminded her of the face she sometimes made when she was doing complex math. "How unexpected." He said at last. "I'll admit it, you really are impressive...at least with antidotes. I'd like to see how you fight but given the situation it is best I remain here. Hag, you'll have to tell me if she fights as well as she runs her mouth...if you come back alive." it was said with the flippant wave of his hand over his shoulder.

Chiyo, after their battle had ended and Sakura was tending to their wounds would go on to explain some of the animosity Sasori had exhibited. "He's a creature of the time he was born in and I'm afraid I only made it worse. You shouldn't judge him too harshly Dear, hard times breed hard men." the old woman had said, patting her hand. "Though I've never seen him so unsettled as I did today." She cackled raucously, the sound booming through the cavern they were in. "That boy isn't used to being yelled at you see. You gave him quite a shock."

There was definitely a strange family dynamic at play but Chiyo-baasama and Gaara did make it back in the end, both a little worn around the edges but alive. Team 7 rested for a day before they were off and running to return home.

Sakura met him after that when he had proceeded to do something unprecedented in Sunagakure's entire history and stepped down from his ruling position. Unlike Konoha, Suna was more of a monarchy and no one had really expected Sasori to relinquish his power. Sakura didn't know much about him personally but she did hear the whispers. That he liked power and control, that the sudden death of the former daimyo may not have just been due to the spread of bad germs...but apparently he disliked being Kazekage enough to all but throw the hat at Gaara by the end.

In anycase, Tsunade had attended the inauguration of the 6th Kazekage and took her and Naruto along as extra bodyguards-Naruto had mostly gone because he and Gaara were friends. By that time Sakura was 20 and had unlocked the Byakugō years ago although she'd only ever had to use it once by then.

They were slated to be in Suna for an entire week but she'd run into him on the first day, Sasori hadn't seemed particularly surprised to see her when she came strolling around a street corner and almost straight into him. In the years that she'd known him Sakura had become a bit accustomed to him wearing the robes of a Kage and seeing him in the black, sleeveless turtleneck and standard Jōnin pants had thrown her for a bit of a loop.

"Ah," He said, by then she'd grown up enough that they were almost equal in height when she wore modest heeled boots. "It seems like every time we meet you're different but exactlythe same." Sasori seemed both tacitly delighted and vaguely befuddled by it.

"And you haven't changed since the day I met you." Sakura noted dryly because he hadn't. Whatever skin care regime Sasori had going was working for him, There was not a wrinkle in sight nor a single grey hair that she could spy-he was only seven years older, the same age as Itachi so she supposed it wasn't that unexpected. But even Itachi had wrinkles around his eyes by that time.

"Oh, Darling Girl you certainly do know how to compliment a man." Sakura had found herself more than a little startled when he'd gently cupped her face to get a better look at her. Most likely it was the exact moment that she realized Sasori was a man and a handsome one at that. "I used to think that true beauty only existed in things that were everlasting and unchanged by time, but I'm finding more and more that some things are...transcendent."

Whatever he meant, it made no sense to her then nor now when she thought about it, she had been a little distracted at the time by his long fingers trailing a path up the curve of her cheek to thumb at the mark on her forehead. "You really are something to behold. It's a shame you're wasted where you are." If she had wanted to figure out what he'd meant she should have asked sooner rather than doing her very best impression of some poor woodland creature about to be devoured.

Naruto, who she had been on her way to meet for lunch bellowed out her name from the midst of a gathering crowd-something that in most cases would have spelled trouble if she weren't already used to the following Naruto tended to attract.

"You should consider a longer visit to Suna sometime." He'd said, stepping away from her. "It could be...mutually beneficial."

Her face had been warm from the sun-or maybe the constant sand in the gales that buffeted the streets. Those were about the last of her meaningful interactions with him-the rest of that week was hectic and heavy on decorum. She'd been about at her wits end trying to keep Naruto in line-for someone who wanted to be the next Hokage he had an abysmal time keeping his damn mouth shut long enough to not insult anyone,accidently or otherwise. Sakura came home feeling like she spent more time bodyguarding Naruto from himself than she did Tsunade from any possible threats.

Sakura saw Sasori occasionally after that, usually whenever there was a mission that took her into Suna. Their conversations sometimes culminated in discussions about theoretical surgeries-he seemed particularly interested in her thoughts about the implantation of a chakra disperser. Though there was also the pointed commentary about this or that, Sasori was nothing if not witty in a venomous sort of way.

Elusive was probably the best word she could use to describe him. 'As a Shinobi should be.' In fact one might call him the very model of what their lifestyle embodied, for better or worse. Sure he could assassinate someone in ways that they'd never be able to prove were him if he wanted too and lose no sleep over it at night-but then again Sasori had a severe disregard for human life that made even other ANBU uncomfortable. 'Although Temari said he's a lot better on that front these days.' Sakura wondered where the change had come from.

"It's about time." Sasori said. She'd only made him wait years. Even windswept and faintly pink from too much time in the sun she'd only gotten more lovely since the last time he laid eyes on her. Sakura only seemed to get better with age.

"Sorry, were you waiting long?" Sakura ruffled the sweaty strands at the back of her neck. Living in the desert was going to take some acclimating.

"Longer than I would for anyone else."

There is a writer on Ao3 that's written a few stories in which Sasori is sort of on the side lines trying to creep in on Sakura's other relationships and it amuses me enough that I sorta wanted to take my own spin on it. I believe they recently uploaded a few of their fics onto as well.

This story is also known as "The one in which Sasori would steal Yo' girl."

"Stupid With Love" is basically referring to everyone in this fic lmao. Also a reference to Mean Girls on Broadway

Look, I'm slowly narrowing the age gap in my stories! At this rate there will be an actual same age au by the end of the year…I do not usually start stories without massive build up but I got like 5 other things going on( and counting) so I ain't got time for that. This thing is mostly just some light hearted fun.

Sorry to the Sauce fans but I still just cannot see Sasusaku in a positive light given how it's written in canon.….But to be fair Kishi was the one who said in an interview Sasuke couldn't handle Sakura so he deals with her by being absent as portrayed here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And also, Sakura is sort of at fault since when it comes to Sasuke she is very clearly weak.

If you're curious about timeline events I'm happy to answer though things more or less follow what was outlined in Bound Hearts, with the addition of there being no Uchiha massacre.

Some music for you to enjoy if you're interested in recommendations: Give Me Up-Babe

I like City Pop...its very retro feel good music. I'm also apparently incapable of uploading anything before 12am.