Forever Mine

Chapter 25

[Anbu Building]

Sasuke sat in his office trying his best to finish all the paperwork he stupidly let pile up. His excuse was that he was too tired to do them on the spot, yet instead of going home to rest he usually ended up going out to drink. Now he was forced to finish them all, seeing as his former sensei—the Hokage—'needed' them.

He was upset about being so behind on work. He would've never allowed himself to fall tract like this before. He was an organized and responsible person, except when it came to getting checkups at the hospital, but that was different.

He'd always missed out on those ever since he was a genin to tease and annoy Sakura. Plus, he knew she partly liked hunting him down and scolding him about it.

Thinking back, it was crazy how his younger self claimed he didn't care for his two insufferable teammates.

Finally deciding to call it quits even though it was still early morning, Sasuke started organizing his work before tossing them all inside a vanilla folder. He then stood up to visit his captain's office in order to inform him about his mission before leaving.

Kai's office was only a floor higher than his, allowing him to take the stairs without complaint. He didn't want to wait for the elevator that'd just barely closed with people inside.

He climbed the steps with ease, and when he opened the door that connected the stairwell with the hallway, someone suddenly crashed into his chest.

He felt their body stiffen before they took an immediate step back. It was then that he realized who it was even though her eyes remained facing the floor, her shoulders still stiff.

"Sakura?"

At the sound of his voice, the pinkette's eyes flew up to his and her shoulders visibly relaxed.

"Oh, Sasuke, it's just you," Sakura said in relief, and when she saw her teammate's unpleased look in her word, she blushed in embarrassment. "I didn't mean it like that," she quickly assured. "I just...I thought you were someone else."

Sasuke nodded before glancing down the corridor. She was on Kai's floor which meant she probably assumed it was him she bumped into. She didn't personally know anyone else in the anbu district besides him and Kai, so what was she so nervous about?

Turning back to look at her, he noticed he couldn't sense her chakra; she was concealing it. That was why he'd bumped into her instead of sidestepping the person. He didn't subconsciously sense anyone coming like he normally would when they were that close.

"Why are you here?"

"Nothing. I wanted to stop by to see Kai," she forced a smile on her face. "But he looked busy, so I decided I'd just see him later."

"I'm about to go inform him about my mission," Sasuke said. "Want to tag along? You can—"

"No," she interrupted, sounding a bit nervous. "That's fine, really."

Sasuke observed her face and body language for a moment and could easily tell something was off.

"What is it?"

"What is what?"

"Is something wrong?" he frowned. "Why are you acting weird?"

Sakura frowned back. "I am not acting weird, you jerk! Nothing's wrong."

"You've always been a bad liar."

"Anyway," she huffed. "What do you mean mission? We have a team seven dinner tonight. Naruto said you agreed to come."