Happy Accidents

Chapter 27: Jealousy?

Once they were inside Sakura found herself feeling a bit overwhelmed. Their coworkers were all over in a corner of the pub, taking up quite a few tables in the process. There were a few other patrons in the bar, but not many; they mostly had it to themselves. Sakura was quickly rushed off by Ino to a group of girls, quickly pulled into their little group. They were all incredibly friendly; she finally had the opportunity to talk to their forensics and ballistics expert, Tenten Mitsashi; a weapon fanatic if Sakura had ever met one. The resident queen of Mikrosil. Sakura could tell she'd identified some of the most obscure weapons on cases they'd worked.

Then there was Shikamaru, whom she'd yet to see; they were old high school acquaintances, and he'd dated Ino for a short time while they were in high school. He was married now to a blonde woman by the name of Temari; they'd met in college from what Sakura knew. She hadn't realized he was the head of their cybercrime division at the department. That had to be awkward for Ino.

Feeling mildly overwhelmed by the giggling women around her, Sakura ducked away from the group and made her way toward the bar, where she ordered a drink. It was quieter over there, away from the rest of the group; she could take a minute to gather her thoughts away from everyone before going back to socialize. One drink at the bar would be enough to do that.

As she'd ordered her drink she saw a dark-haired man sitting next to her. He was.. relatively good-looking if she was being honest; his hair was short and spiky at the top, and he had bright blue eyes that contrasted with the dark shade of hair. Admittedly, she was fond of dark hair, and the blue of his eyes was a beautiful contrast to his features.

"Hey there," he said, flashing her a suave smile. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes, miss..?"

"Oh, um, Sakura," she said politely, giving him an awkward smile. "That's, um, very kind of you," she added with a soft blush, tucking her hair behind her ear. A nervous tic of hers; when she felt uncomfortable, she had a tendency to do that. The man leaned in like he was very interested and wanted a closer look at her.

"Sakura, huh? Menma. Menma Namikaze." A suave smile followed the introduction as he scooted his stool closer to her. "Saw you here with the cops. You one of them?"

"Medical examiner, actually. Technically forensic anthropologist and forensic pathologist, but... yeah." Menma nodded, stroking his chin lightly.

"Private Investigator, here. A pretty girl like you is wasted in a place like a morgue, though. Somethin' tells me you could do better than that." He was leaning in a bit more, making Sakura feel sort of... awkward. He was polite, but a little too forward for her tastes. It made her wary. The more she leaned back, the closer he inched, and with how crowded it was he was practically blocking her escape. Too close for comfort.

"Oh, well, that's, um, thank you," she stammered, eyes glancing around as she was looking for an out. She could smell the alcohol on his breath; he'd clearly been drinking for quite a while. She did her best to slowly inch away little by little, but he just kept leaning closer. God, what was with her luck? One moment, she was dealing with serial killers making her a target, the next she was dealing with drunk, sketchy private investigators. If the guy was even a private investigator.

"You're a pretty little thing, huh? How long have you been in town? I certainly haven't seen you around much." He was looking at her curiously; were it anyone else and not a stranger, she might have been okay with it. Were it a certain dark-haired detective, she might have been more than okay with it. This on the other hand? Not so much. She was thinking quickly, trying to figure out the best way to get out of this situation when he spoke again.

"Say, why don't you and I get out of here? All these cops are a little too stuffy for me. Could make an exception for you, though." His eyes trailed from her hips all the way up to her face, clearly taking in the sights; it made her shudder internally from the thought. Disgusting. She wasn't a piece of meat! Damn it, this was one of those moments she cursed herself for not carrying pepper spray or something with her. And where the hell was the bartender to stop something like this? Wasn't that part of their job?

"No, really, that's fine," she said politely. "I'm just going to take my drink and--"

Just then, a hand smacked her drink out of her grasp. She recognized the touch; leather, smooth and well taken care of. She also recognized the very faint scent of cologne, just barely enough to pick up when she was close to him. Just what was he doing?! Pulling her out of the situation was one thing, but smacking her drink out of her hand? Was that really necessary?!

What Sakura didn't know was that Sasuke had been watching the entire exchange from across the room. In fact, he'd had his eyes on her the entire evening; he never took his gaze off her for very long, a second or two at most, always making sure he could see where she was. He was keeping an eye on her for her own safety, and the moment he saw what was happening with Menma, he sprung into action. Within seconds he was out of his chair and heading in their direction, deeply intent on stopping the situation before it went someone it shouldn't go.

"Take a hike," he said sharply at Menma, coming around to put himself between the two of them; Sakura practically felt dwarfed from behind the detective. There was a moment of silence as the two very alpha males sized each other up; the downside for Menma would be the fact that Sasuke was stone-cold sober; Sakura had seen him drinking plain seltzer and ginger ale so far throughout the night. Menma on the other hand was clearly in no shape to drive, let alone get in a fight.

He raised his hands and made a mocking expression, slowly backing away with a chuckle. "Sorry there. Didn't know this little flower was yours."

"She's not," he replied bluntly, taking a step toward Menma. "Not that it's any of your business." He pulled a couple of bills out of his pocket and tossed them at the guy. "Go. Get yourself a cab and get the hell out of here." Admittedly, were it not for the situation at hand, Sakura would have found Sasuke's sudden alpha tendencies very attractive.

Nevertheless, that was it. That was the end of the night for her. Between hearing the firm concession that she wasn't anything to him, the overwhelming presence of people on a scale she wasn't used to interacting with, and the incident she'd just dealt with, she was done with the gathering for the night.

Except... he was her ride home. Damn it.

Sasuke watched her, seeing the change in her demeanour as he stepped closer to her. "You want to go home?" He asked gently. "I don't mind. I think I'm done with things for tonight anyway. Come on. Let's go." He could tell by her posture that she was nervous and uncomfortable; it was obvious in the way she seemed to shrink in on herself, the way she awkwardly rubbed her arm, and the way she was barely making eye contact. All signs of someone who was withdrawn and quiet about the situation. Gently reaching out to her, he placed a hand on the small of her back, using gentle fingers to guide her toward the door. His gaze met with Ino's and he nodded; she'd clearly seen the situation and knew what was going on. Bonus for him; he could count on the blonde to know the situation. He was confident she'd find her way home somehow, given she'd mentioned finding another ride.

Sakura let him lead her out of the bar, feeling dejected and glum. She got in the passenger side and sat down, doing her best to hold back her tears. She'd at least have a moment by herself when they got back to the house to let her feelings out where she wouldn't be caught.

The drive back was silent and awkward; Sasuke couldn't help the occasional glance in her direction. The look on her face tugged at his heartstrings; he could tell just how upset she was. Turning his eyes back to the road, he felt anger welling—anger at himself, mostly. He knew he was part of the root cause of all of this. It made his blood boil and made him know he had to do something. He had to say something. He just didn't know what. He couldn't bring himself to tell her the real reason for his reluctance. That was too much to put on her shoulders, and it would only hurt her more in the end.

They reached the home, and he let her in first, taking his time to do the checks around the house while she disappeared upstairs. The moment they'd got there, Sakura had run up the stairs, forcing herself to stay composed. Her breaths had become heavy, and she rushed for the bathroom, resting her hands on the counter as she looked at herself. Some deep part of her hated what she saw. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt... underwhelming.

She backed away from the mirror, sinking to the floor with her knees up to her chest. She hadn't even realized she was crying. She was that done with everything.