SasuSaku Month 2018 – Day 12: Dinner
Rating: T+ (Some language)
Context: Non-massacre AU
A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!
From the minute she woke up, rushed to the bathroom once she realized she had forgotten to set her alarm the previous night and tripped over a pair of shoes, Sakura knew it was going to be one of those days. She jumped into the shower and got a face full of freezing cold water, to which she proceeded to choke on for a couple of seconds. Snatching whatever she could find, she dressed quickly and flew out the window of her bedroom and headed straight to the hospital for her shift that actually started 15 minutes ago. She prided herself on her punctuality – for she had to have an unblemished record thanks to the irritating Council members that were looking for any excuse to discredit her status as Chief Doctor at the Children’s Clinic. One mistake, one slip up, could cost her everything she had worked so hard for.
Needless to say, she was given a stern lecture from one of the old fossils and handed a mountain of folders that had to be filled and dated by the end of her shift. She scoffed and made her way to her office with a large damper on her mood. Sakura had pulled a double shift the day before and had only achieved four precious hours of sleeps, so her patience was running dangerously low. One small mercy, however, was that she had no scheduled patients to see and if there were no village threatening crisis on the horizon, she’d be able to hide in her office.
An hour into staring at tiny letters on various pieces of paper, Sakura felt the beginnings of a migraine lurking at the back of her head. She set the papers down and was about to go in search of a fresh cup of coffee when a soft knock tapped against the door.
Please, don’t let it be anyone important, Sakura prayed. “Come in.”
Beautiful, silk black hair was the first thing she noticed poking through as the door opened slowly. The second was the warm smiling face of Mikoto Uchiha. Sakura stood up quickly, patting down her clothing slightly in hopes of looking more presentable, and walked around her desk.
“Saku-chan,” Mikoto greeted her. She hugged Sakura lovingly. “I’m so glad I was able to catch you. You’re always busy.”
“Hello Mikoto,” Sakura greeted her back, smiling in return.
“Honestly, they’re working you to the bone, my dear,” frowned Mikoto. “Sasuke’s been telling me about your endless amount of shifts and side missions. Those old coots don’t even leave you time to have dinner with your boyfriend’s parents. Quite rude, if I say so myself.”
Sakura stared at her puzzled. While it was true that she’d been pulling a couple of double shifts here and there, she hadn’t had a mission in months now at the request of the Hokage. Something about needing her skills more at home than in a simple mission abroad. Her puzzlement gave way to just a tiny bit of anger. Sakura never thought she’d see the day when Sasuke would willingly lie to his mother, but did he have to get her involved?
In a split second decision, she opted from calling out his lie and went along with whatever Mikoto was saying. She stored every piece of information and started plotting ways to make Sasuke cave and explain this whole mess to her before she really became angry. She couldn’t deny that she was curious, though.
“Please do say you’ll come for dinner tonight, Saku-chan?” Mikoto asked with a tiny pout. “Fugaku and Itachi actually have a day off today, so they would love to see you too!”
When it came right down to it, Sakura couldn’t refuse Mikoto any more than she could refuse petting a puppy. This woman treated her like a daughter, more so ever since she and Sasuke had made their relationship official a year ago.
“Of course, I’ll come,” smiled Sakura. “You know I can’t refuse your cooking.”
Mikoto laughed gleefully and patted her cheek. “You’re such a sweetheart, Sakura. My son better not let you go or I’ll never speak to him again.”
Sakura blushed and let out a rather embarrassed laugh. “The things you say, Mikoto.”
“I’m just telling the truth,” she grinned. “Dinner should be ready by six, so come by around 6:30, okay? Alright, I better get going and let you go back to work.”
“I’ll be there,” Sakura assured her.
“I can’t wait.” Mikoto pecked her cheek and gave her a hug before leaving the office.
Work completely forgotten, Sakura plopped back into her chair trying to figure out why Sasuke would say those things to his mother. She’s been having dinner with them once every month for years now, even before getting together with Sasuke, since they were part of the same genin squad. It’s been two months since she’s been at the Uchiha Compound due to her lately hectic schedule. She’d asked Sasuke to send her sincerest apologies to his family and he’d always tell her that it was okay. Thinking about it now, she wondered what else Sasuke had been lying about. That thought alone unsettled her. She’d never had doubts about him before and he was as honest as they came.
“What the hell’s going on, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked herself, temper flaring.
Her thoughts were put on hold, however, as a nurse came flying into her office and announced in a panicked voice that a small team of ANBU had been brought it with severe injuries. She was the only one on staff that had the clearance to work with ANBU and was therefore ushered away.
Sakura spent seven grueling hours in surgery fixing and mending each one of them. She wasn’t sure if it was luck or skill that kept any of them from dying on her surgery table, but she was grateful nonetheless as she finally stripped her bloody gloves off. Shizune had stepped in to help with the post-op and sent her with strict orders to go lay down. Sakura stumbled out of the ICU and miraculously made it back to her office without passing out. She crashed on her couch and clenched her eyes tight as an overwhelming wave of nausea rolled over her due to chakra depletion. She allowed herself a couple of minutes to try and even out her labored breathing. When she finally opened her eyes, she shot up from the couch with a curse.
6:24 pm.
Dinner
Published
SasuSaku Month 