Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Candle in the Wind ❯ In Hell's Kitchen ( Chapter 1 )

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I decided to give it another go! I forgot how much I like writing for recreation rather than a thesis or research paper. This is a Sakura/Sasuke fiction because this pair intrigues me to no end although I am not a rabid shipper of any pairing as long as its well written.

BTW I don't own Naruto or its characters. That privilege belongs to the one and only Kishimoto

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Feeling her whole body droop in fatigue, Sakura resolutely closed the impossibly enormous book that she'd been reading for the past hour. Once the words began to alternate between blurring and dancing on the page, the pink haired medic nin reluctantly decided it was time to call it a night. Spacing out momentarily, she stared absently at the gold embossed, leather bound vellum. Practical Techniques of Medicine through the Manipulation of Sound Waves winked back at her. After releasing a yawn and stretching languorously in the high back wooden chair she'd been sitting in, Sakura pushed back from the small round table that had become her impromptu desk and surveyed her surroundings tiredly. From her vantage point, the cavernous room that was the servant's kitchen made her feel absolutely tiny, not that she was very big to begin with.

At age 22 she barely reached 5'4. However, despite her lack of her height her body had matured considerably since her chuunin days. Her face had long ago lost the softness of adolescence, slimming into that of a mature young woman with delicate cheekbones and impossibly large, emerald green eyes that were slightly tip-titled. Her body was still lithe and sleek, her legs long and subtly muscled, but now her hips were slightly wider exaggerating the indentation of her small waist. Over the course of time, Sakura had developed into rather attractive woman not that she'd noticed. The only facet of her physical growth that caught her attention was her bust line. In the privacy of her thoughts, Sakura cheered at the fact that she finally had cleavage. She wasn't as busty as the Hyuuga heiress or Ino Yamanaka; still she was thoroughly satisfied with her moderate “blessings”.

At the moment, her body seemed shapeless dwarfed in a grey flannel robe worn over her pajamas. She appeared almost childlike with her now shoulder length rose-colored locks pulled into a sloppy bun on top of her head. Wispy tendrils escaped its confinement framing her face and one stubborn lock fell over her slightly broad forehead. Her full, pink-tinted lips drooped into a slight frown as she looked around the empty room.

`It's late”, she thought with an inward sigh, “I think I've pressed my luck enough for tonight.”

Over the past two and a half weeks, Sakura fell into a routine of rising early and working into the wee hours. A trained night owl after numerous toiling overnight shifts at the medical facility in Konoha, the medic ninja still found snatches of time to enjoy a good cup of tea and a book. Even at nearly 3 am in the morning. Roaming around this sprawling manor in the late hours of the night also decreased the chances that she would run across anyone. The servants would not rise until 5 am and most if not all the other inhabitants of this place were fast asleep. Or so she hoped. Rising with unconscious grace, she tidied up the space before picking up her heavy tome and balancing a still steaming mug of tea she'd been drinking in her other hand. Her perturbed expression melted into a look of intense concentration as she sent out a pulse of chakra to search for any chakra signatures wandering the halls. After ensuring that the coast was clear, Sakura flipped off the lights in the kitchen and ventured into the dark hallways. Despite her previous check, she was still wary. Technically she could teleport to her room, but she was at the point of chakra exhaustion from healing ninja all day and her hands were a bit full, making the formation of signs to complete the teleportation jutsu cumbersome. Instead, she sent a pulse of chakra to her eyes to enhance her sight and trudged onward quietly.

`Quietly… Quickly…'

As she traversed the hallways, she felt the muted chakra of individuals slumbering behind the doors she passed on her way to her quarters. The servant kitchen was the in East Wing while her suites of rooms lay nestled in the West Wing of the house along with the suites of the house's master, an individual she doggedly avoided since she arrived nearly three weeks ago. It was relatively easy with her work hours being so lengthy except in her sparse free time, she resorted to sneaking about. It was annoying, to say the least, and more than ever she was intensely homesick.

`Now I know how Shikamaru feels. This is definitely troublesome…' Sakura ranted inside her head, `I miss my damn apartment, my bed, my life. This sucks…'

Her speed picked up a bit as she neared her room, her footfalls making no sound on the plush, expensive runner on the hardwood floor of the spacious hallway. Her heart leapt in triumph after once again beating the odds and making it to her room without incident. Letting her guard drop to free up a hand and twist the knob of her bedroom door, Sakura's kunoichi senses sent a sharp alert searing through her brain as she felt the air shift slightly behind her. For a second, her muscles bunched automatically as her body switched into `fight-or-flight' mode before her shoulders sagged dejectedly. Her slender fingers dropped from the door as she turned reluctantly. Sighing audibly this time, she glanced first at the large masculine hand pressed against the bedroom door. It was far too close to her head for her liking. Then she glared up the individual preventing her retreat into her room.

Viridian eyes met bottomless jet black in the darkness. Sakura felt caged and a bit panicked as silence stretched for what seemed like hours. The petite medic bit the plump flesh of her lower lip as she glared up at the deceptively blank face of the man that she'd gone out her way to steer clear of. Towering almost a full head above her, the man fearlessly met her glare before his gaze lowered unhurriedly taking her in from head to toe, briefly pausing at her bare feet and working his way back up before raising his brow pointedly. She implicitly understood the silent command for an explanation but she obstinately remained quiet. Years ago she would have eagerly rambled on without prompt, desperately trying to please. Time had changed her significantly, gone was the naïve, self-conscious fan-girl left bruised in the wake of betrayal. In her place was a guarded young woman who knew the pains of harsh reality and was not inclined to cower. Even if her heart was beating so loudly in her ears that it would be no small wonder if he could hear it. Instead, she gripped her mug and book tighter to her chest and bit down a little harder on her bottom lip in frustration.

The man's brows furrowed minutely as he realized that Sakura refused to break the silence. Rather than beat around the bush, he got straight to the point. “It seems that you've been avoiding me, Sakura… Why is that?”

Sakura had a love-hate relationship with this man's voice. It was so achingly familiar, yet not. Time had transformed it into something velvety, deep and dark. Her name rolled off his tongue in such a way that it made her inwardly shudder, as his voice pooled at the base of her brain and sent little shocks all over her body. She hated her reaction to her name on his lips. She hated that he felt like he had any right to use it in such an intimate matter, or what felt like an intimate way to her.

“I have no idea what you're talking about, Otokage-sama. Your medical facilities have kept me quite occupied as I'm sure you've noticed”, Sakura replied blithely even as her stomach did a flip. “Have you not received the reports I've been sending bi-weekly as per you request? I'm sure…”

“Sakura…” he interrupted her smoothly, an undertone of warning in his voice.

Sakura knew what he would say next. “Yes Otokage-sama?”

“Did I not permit to you to call me Sasuke?”

`Oh course you did, O Great One...' At this point Sakura grit her teeth. Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, she replied, “Given the circumstances, it is in my favor to keep a certain level of professionalism. There are quite a few people under my charge who've yet to see me as a respectable medic nin fit to lead… ”

“Sakura, we're in the privacy of my home. Besides, that does not explain why you sneak through this house like it's rigged with a million explosive tags.”

“Would you prefer I stomp through the house at 3 am like a herd of elephants?” the pink-haired kunoichi hissed in annoyance, resisting the urge to yell at him.

Tiring of her insubordination, the Sharingan activated in the depths of Sasuke's onyx eyes as he leaned into Sakura until there was scant inches between their faces, “Are you trying to irritate me on purpose?”

Her discomfort increased tenfold as she felt his warm breath fan across her face. The black tomoes whirled lazily in his now blood red orbs as he glared at her. Breaking eye contact with her former teammate abruptly, the petite woman pressed herself as close to her door as possible before answering, “No, I'm just trying to do my job. Nothing more, nothing less…” Sakura's voice dropped to pained whisper, “I remember my unfortunate promise I made to you years ago. Regardless of the circumstances, I didn't come here to fail.”

Sasuke menacing glare dissipated as he heard the grim resolve in her voice. He was unaccustomed to the woman standing before him. She was nothing like the Sakura of their genin days and this unsettled him more than he liked to admit. Initially, he'd been willing to ignore the fact that she was avoiding him. He figured after a few days she would seek him out but the days stretched into weeks. After not seeing hide nor hair of the pink haired kunoichi for two weeks, he began monitoring her and discovered that she was carefully outmaneuvering him. Masking her chakra, working late hours, and holing herself up in her rooms during her free time, all for the sake of lessening the chances that she would run into him. Perhaps cornering her at 3 am was not the brightest idea but his pride would not allow her to continue with her antics. The very idea of her avoiding him was absolutely ludicrous.

“Sakura, look at me.” Taking liberties with her person, Sasuke lightly gripped her delicate chin as he turned her eyes back towards his. “Interacting with me comes with the job. I will have no more of you sending proxies and notes.”

Resisting the warmth spreading over her cheeks, she protested, “I have a full schedule and there are million things to be done before…”

“Tomorrow…”

“What?!”

“It's late. We will discuss this tomorrow.” he commanded still holding her captive.

Sakura sputtered, wracking her brain for an excuse, “But, I…”

Sasuke straightened and stepping back from her, “It's final. Tomorrow at 2pm.”

“But I have…”

“Whatever it is, it's cancelled…”

“Fine…” Sakura sighed dejectedly. “Can I go to bed now?”

“Aa…”

Without further ado, Sakura retreated into her room and pressed her back against the door while she attempted to calm her emotions. Another frustrated sigh escaped her as she dropped the book on her nightstand and stared down at her now cold tea. `Damn demanding bastard…'

Outside her door, Sasuke Uchiha stared at the closed door for a moment before departing to his own suite. In his mind he noted that he could still feel her warm silken skin on his fingertips. The image of her swathed in that overlarge robe with her bare toes peeking out, glaring up at him with those flashing green eyes like a defiant child made him smirk. Although he would never say so, he thought her adorable when she was mad and Sasuke Uchiha never thought anything or anyone was adorable.