When she was close to him, he could feel the energy of her chakra quite clearly, and he actually came to enjoy sitting close to her, the gentle presence of it helping him keep his focus. But now when she was farther away he only got snatches of it, and he didn't like the space between them. He had spent so much time always by her side that it seemed so strange to have his side suddenly devoid of her. He didn't like it.
To vent his irritation, he did what he had done as a boy, and taken it out on training; while focusing chakra didn't exactly relieve frustration, the snatches he would catch of Sakura's chakra signature was condolence enough. And when they weren't training, he did his best to memorize that signature, committing it into his mind, to make it easier to detect when she was farther away.
As the exercises progressed, he came to learn things about chakra he had never noticed before; of course complete lack of chakra of course meant that the person was dead, but he had never realized that chakra dimmed down at night, becoming semi-dormant when the owner slept. Chakra was not unlike fire, he had decided, it seemed to have that flickering, wispy nature of a flame—mesmerizing to watch, never the same each time you examined it. He had also come to discover that it also somewhat reflected on the mood of the person—general mood rather than a temporary one. And it was through this learned knowledge that he began to get a better grasp on her signature, far or near, gaining a better understanding of the concept. It was also through this knowledge that he began to get an indication that something was out of place that Saturday.
Sakura had been acting a little strained that day, being a little more critical in training than she normally was, and fussed over him coming home later than usual after training with Naruto. But it wasn't her exterior behaviour that confirmed his suspicions over her mood, it was the slightest change in her chakra signature.
An hour before they were to leave, Sasuke caught the flustered kunoichi as she dashed by, muttering something indistinctive. Grasping one in shoulder each hand, turned her to face him, leaving no room for her to wiggle free, not that it was really necessary—the action effectively stopped her in her tracks. She seemed surprised at the sudden gesture, if not entirely stunned; he supposed the behaviour was a little bold coming from him, but it was Sakura, so he didn't care.
"Sakura," he spoke her name seriously, his head tilted towards where he thought her face was, "Calm down."
She was silent for a while, seeming uncertain of what to say. "C-Calm down?"
"Hn," he gave an emphasizing nod.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke," she said after a moment, letting out a sigh, "It's nothing…well, no, it's just that… Well, I'm just a little worried about dinner tonight, that's all."
He pointedly raised his eyebrow at her, wordlessly telling her to explain.
"To put it simply, my father can be…well, a little difficult," she continued, taking the hint, "He was not at all pleased when he found out that I was going to be moving in with you. Not to mention he doesn't particularly like you. Your name being in a bingo book, in addition to what he knows about you leaving the village hasn't put you in a good light. I'm just afraid how he'll react to you this evening—my guess is that he'll be far from polite."
He said nothing to her statement, mulling over her words. Of all the people in Sakura's family, he had heard her complain about her father the most. His stubbornness, his hypocrisy, his unfairness, his bossiness—all were things Sasuke had heard Sakura mention. From what he could gather, her father was someone he would not get along well with in the least. Additionally, Sasuke knew that a foundation of Sakura's father's grudge towards him was most likely due to the depression his daughter had fallen into. Being an ex-criminal also didn't exactly make him look any better. The funny thing was that he actually wanted to make a good impression on her family; normally he wouldn't have cared about such things, but it was in order to prevent any further controversy from Sakura's family. If people did not want her living with him, there would have to be time cut out of training to ward off any ill wishers.
"I was going to warn you before we left," she told him and he slackened the grasp on her shoulders slightly, "Sorry that I've been acting…well, oddly. I'm just a bit tense, that's all."
"Just calm down," he told her before releasing her shoulders completely, expecting her to dash off again, but she stayed where she was, seeming to examine him.
"Thanks for not being concerned at all," she said in a sincere tone, "I guess I shouldn't be worrying too much."
He just gave a simply grunt in reply and pushed past her to go put on his shoes in preparation for departure.
Less than twenty minutes later, Sasuke found himself standing on the Haruno doorstep next to Sakura who had just knocked lightly on the door. It wasn't long until he heard footsteps approaching on the other side, and soon the lock was loudly unlatched. The door was opened with the quietest of creaks, and warm air from indoors spilled outside, detected by his sensitive senses.
"Hello, you two," came the kind voice of Sakura's mother; despite the warm tone, it sounded rushed, "Come on in, I'm just putting the last few finishing touches on dinner."
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