Two Weeks

Disclaimer: This story utilises characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump and Viz media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelisations, comics or short stories is intended by KuriQuinn 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 plot and Original Characters except for those introduced in the canon books, manga, video games, novelizations and anime, are the sole creation of KuriQuinn. (© KuriQuinn 2016- )

Rating: K

Warning: Spoilers for pretty much everything the start of Shippuden.

Canon-Compliance: As close to canon as fanfiction can possibly be. With a few personal additions :P Takes place during the Blank Period.

Beta Reader: None at the moment.

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Two weeks from now, Sasuke Uchiha will fall in love for the first time in his eighteen years.

Granted, it will be less of a fall and more the culmination of a lifetime of subtle, gradual inching. But when his understanding of what's happened sets it, it will do so with a suddenness that will make his stomach lurch. He will feel as if he's been dropped from a great height (hence the association with falling) and wonder why the object of his realisation seems unaware that the entire planet has just shifted on its axis.

And then he will remember that Sakura Haruno has been in love with him since they were children, and perhaps her world has always been a little off its axis.

今

At the moment, he is much more concerned with his immediate prospects than entertaining inexplicable notions concerning affairs of the heart.

After months of confinement in a dank prison cell, bound and warded, Sasuke squints up at the moon and tastes freedom. It's no accident that his release was granted by night, providing the opportunity to avoid the curious and no-doubt scornful looks of the other villagers.

It is not a total freedom, of course.

He senses the eyes of ANBU scrutinising him from several vantage points, and after so long in cramped quarters, his entire body is stiff and aching. His cell was barely large enough for him to stand up in, and there are few exercises one can undertake when strapped into a straitjacket and blinded. Not that he bothered much—with his thoughts so consumed with his own deeds, it seemed like penance to simply sit and waste away. The only reasons his limbs didn't completely atrophy is due to Sakura and her weekly visits. He chooses to think of those simply as her fulfilling her duties as a healer and refuses to consider any other reason for them.

(He also pretends not to be curious as to why she isn't part of his escort tonight.)

His knees buckle beneath him, and if it weren't for Naruto stubbornly looping his arm around his waist, Sasuke suspects he might crumple to the ground.

His friend brings him to a small apartment that he distantly remembers belongs the Kakashi. The current Hokage is waiting for them there, and when he offers Sasuke the use of the place, Sasuke surprises them all (himself included) by accepting.

He shrugs it off as a lingering psychological effect of his incarceration. The only human interaction he's had in months, besides Sakura's requisite medical attention, have been Ibiki Morino's interrogations. Though Sasuke cooperated, his brain still aches like it's been through a meat grinder, and for once he is grateful for the kindness of others.