Never Tell Me The Odds

Chemistry

AN: I am still not completely sold on this chapter, but it's better than what I had written before, so I'll go with it. Unedited. Also, burgeoning hints of NaruSaku in this chapter and this chapter only, but it's not endgame, and it's there for a reason.

Warnings: Description of panic attacks and associated symptoms; somewhat racist/ignorant comments from OCs, also lead-up to a physical assault which may cause victims of robbery/harassment/assault to possibly feel triggered. You have been warned.

Beta Reader: No one but me just yet.

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Sakura's acceptance to Harvard is a shock, a sudden upset to Sasuke's carefully crafted future which he didn't see coming and didn't think to prepare for. She never even told him she had applied, and whenever they've discussed the future lately it's gravitated around the all-but-established understanding that they would be attending Keio together.

To know that she's thinking of going somewhere else, he is overcome by an instant, acute sense of panic.

Which is why when Sakura asks him for advice, he has to fight his first instinct, which is to tell her the one thing he knows would stop her from going: that she won't be able to handle it. Sakura has always had trouble with self-confidence, and if he were to tell her he doubted her abilities, she would instantly abandon the idea.

Within a half-second of thinking it, he immediately experiences a pit form in his belly and a shiver of wrongness up his spine.

Sakura is kind and good and smart, and she is more than capable of succeeding wherever she goes. One day she is going to be a world-renowned doctor, and she should go where she can get the best education possible. More than that, he thinks she would thrive in any of the college's programs. If anyone's happiness is important to him, it's Sakura's.

Though she isn't aware of his mental lapse, he tries to erase it by immediately telling her that she has to go.

But his brain is already racing, trying to figure out how he can let her achieve her own greatness without giving her up entirely. He barely notices her mutter something about dinner and leave, because he is on his computer, scouring Harvard's website and making notes about the admission process on a nearby notepad.

It's March now, and their graduation mere weeks away; the second round of applications is over. There is a third round in April, which means he would probably know for sure by May...which is not ideal, since third round applications mean fewer acceptances.

But it's an option.

Within a matter of hours, he has prepared his own application and portfolio and then picks up his phone to text Sakura—only to decide that it's better not to say anything until he knows.

She never said explicitly that she had decided on Harvard, and there's an infinitesimal chance I don't get in. Getting both our hopes up will help no one.

No, it's better to wait and see. At least until he finds out exactly what her plans are. Until then, it's better to act as if Keio is still their default. If anything, he can ask her about it tomorrow.

Except, he doesn't see Sakura the next day.

Or the next.

With this puzzling fact compounded by Sakura not returning his texts or inquiring emails, Sasuke decides to head over to her house to see her. Not because he's worried (even if he is), but because her birthday is next week and he wants to make arrangements with her. There's an escape room that's just opened near the downtown core, and it looks like something they'd both enjoy.