Naruto 1. Meeting

A/N: This is based off an RP I did once. The art accompanying it is my own. Do not use without permission.

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

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Sakura's mind went ninety miles a minute from the moment that she heard of Naruto and Sasuke's fight. From the moment she saw it. The raw emotions that had been going on inside of her had been enough to drive someone insane and if it hadn't been for Kakashi's hand on her shoulder, she probably would of done the same thing she had three years before and ran between the two. She understood it was their way of dealing with each other, but if one of them died, she wasn't sure she would be able to forgive the "winner." She certainly wouldn't of been able to forgive herself.

She had taken charge when the battle was over, healing both the boys from their brushes with death. The second they were back in the village though, her demeanor had changed. She took on Naruto's case, treating him as she always did with a tough love approach. He was healing fast, she could only guess from the fox's chakra, but besides the mental note of it, the medic-nin never mentioned it or bothered to ask questions about it. The blonde had come to terms with whatever was raging on inside, or so he acted like he had, and the last thing she wanted to do was to bother fixing something that wasn't broke.

Sasuke on the other hand...

Sasuke was an enigma. The second they were back she shoved the case into another doctor's hands and got herself off his floor. She didn't want the chance of bumping into him, she didn't want the chance of him seeing her, and most importantly, she didn't even want the chance of hearing about his course of treatment. She didn't want to get involved with anything about the Uchiha just yet. He had tried to kill her and she had yet to come up with a way to confront him about damn near anything without coming up blank in the ideas department. He would just stare at her with those big _black_ eyes, and if anything he would just flat out ignore her.

That was when she got the idea in her head that maybe if she saw him, just caught a glance, she could figure out how to just be in the same room with him while he was conscious. She wanted to wait though until he was asleep. At least that way, she could prepare herself. She wasn't ready for those illegal eyes of his to be reading her like an open book like he had in the years past. The only reason she was going to bother trying was for the most obvious reason. She still loved him. With every fiber of her being, she was still impossibly in love with Sasuke Uchiha.

Damn it.

That was when she took a deep breath, her thoughts still racing as she stood outside his door, her nimble fingers slowly wrapping around the chilling metal handle. It took everything she had to go into his room and even more so to close the door behind her. She could do this. Naruto could, so most definitely, Haruno Sakura could get through standing alone in a room with the unconscious heap of the guy...er... man that she still loved, Uchiha Sasuke. She could ignore the feeling of the walls closing in or the fact it felt like the air wasn't getting to her lungs. Couldn't she?

A human sized lump was visible under the covers on a bed in the middle of a room, in the middle of Konoha's only hospital. The lump in question was currently pretending to be asleep so he didn't have to deal with the doctors and nurses buzzing around him. That lump was none other than Sasuke Uchiha. He was older than when Sakura had last seem him and when she'd briefly glimpsed him on the battlefield she'd been surprised by how he'd changed.

When she entered the room, she couldn't ignore the fact she was doing something awkward. What kind of person just hovered, watching someone sleep. God, if Sasuke was awake he probably would of thought she had lost her mind. She was staring so intently at the fan displayed on his back, the curve of his shoulders, the way his jawline disappeared from her view. Just everything. The past two times she had come across him, once in Oto and the second.. Well, the second she ignored. Both times though, she had either been in shock or was too busy debating on killing him or not. If she could do it. Never once had she had the time to really look at him, see how he had grown, memorize this new face. The one that hated everything without a shred of what once was visable to at a first glance.

He had changed so much, having become harder over the past three years. All she knew was that she still cared for him. After she could overcome whatever obstacle was accepting him back, maybe she didn't believe it yet? Whatever it could possibly be though, she knew that she would try to make his transition back easier. _Her_Sasuke was still in there, she hoped, and damn it all, she would find him.

Her thoughts were shattered though as the boy... Damn it! _'MAN!'_ practically ripped his sheets away to face her, that look of sheer loathing on his face. It caused her to jump and take a step back, her hand grasping the chair to keep her from sprinting from the room.

**"Can't you see I'm trying to sleep? Just go awa-"** Sasuke stopped when he saw who it was in the room.

His onyx eyes met her jade ones and Sasuke stared at the pink haired girl for a moment. He didn't glare at her for once, just stared. **"Sakura… Why are you here?"** he asked in a much quieter and less aggressive voice.

It took her by surprise at the confusion that briefly crossed his features as he recognized her, curse it all, even went so far as to saying her name in that voice that was like velvet to her. Then, to make matters worse, he had to ask her why she was here. How to answer that... All that was coming to her mind was a blank stutter. Wasn't her plan to show him she had grown, that she wasn't some lovestruck thirteen year old looking to make him her arm candy?

**"I... I uh... It's just I..."**

Well this obviously wasn't working. All the rosette could do was take a breath before focusing her eyes just over his shoulder, a forced, but gentle smile coming to her face. **"I was just checking to see if you were being taken care of."**It was the truth, but God help her it came out like she was a hotel manager checking up on a guest. It was all she could think to say.

**"I-I'm sorry I woke you up. I'll leave so you can rest."** So now she was becoming Hinata... Fan-friggin'-tastic.

Sasuke swung his feet off of the bed so that he was now sitting up on the edge of the bed. **"Hold on. I need you."**

She turned to leave, but she had only made it so far as touching the door handle before he told her to wait. That he needed her. That comment alone was enough to make her entire world come to a stop. Maybe the world had stopped rotating. Never, not in a million years, was Uchiha Sasuke one to admit needing someone's help, at least not that she recalled. Then again though, she had never thought she would hear him say anything close to a 'thank you.' Oh well, she knew everything would be upside down if she ever heard him apologize.

**"My doctor is completely incompetent and I can't count on him for anything. My side is killing me. I want you to take a look at it," the Uchiha explained.**

She slowly turned to look at him, pulling at the hem of her red shirt just to give her hands something to do. Again, she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes, finding it easier to stare at his side. Slowly biting at her lip she glanced between _his side_, and the door behind her, as if it were some big decision on her part. In the end she just gave a small sigh of defeat before giving an affirmative nod and reaching for the doctor's stool in the room. All she had to do was check it and get out. Rolling the stool over, she sat down leaving still a gracious gap between the two of them.

**"Lift your arm, please," she said in her most professional tone.**

Sakura kept repeating the mantra of being a professional over and over again in her head as she raised his shirt. She had been careful to only touch the fabric this far, but now, now when it was coming time for her to actually make physical contact, she felt the world come crashing down on her yet again. Taking a deep breath she reached out, her fingertips barely grazing his skin as she trailed over the bruises that littered his side.

**"Were you happy in Sound?"** It had been a question that had been eating away at her ever since he left. She would always let her thoughts drift to him and just try to reason if he could possibly be happy or not. He was getting what he wanted, all she wanted to know was if it made him happy. Then again, she had never meant to actually ask him. The question had just slipped out.

**Sasuke hesitated for a moment. "I didn't go to the Sound to be happy. I went there to gain power."**

**"Heh, yeah. I knew that."** She was saying it like it was an everyday fact, one that she clearly just forgot and was reminded of.

She didn't forget how he had talked about leaving for power. Of course she wouldn't. That night, the night he left, she could remember their conversation word for word. She had replayed it from the moment where he asked her why she was out, through her embarrasing, and feeble attempt at making him stay with a confession, to him saying 'thank you.' She had nearly driven herself crazy by going over 'what-ifs' in her head, like what if she had said something different, or called for help, if she could have stopped him. Sasuke was Sasuke though. If he wanted to leave, he would of left no matter what was in front of him. He was determined, one of the qualities that had caused her to fall so hard for him.

**"Well, you have some broken ribs. I'm sure you know that."** Sakura was sure she sounded like she was rambling. Telling him facts he knew wasn't going to make this situation any better, in fact, it just made her look like an idiot. **"And technically, I'm not your doctor. So I can't do anything to treat you. What time is it?"** She pulled away, bringing his shirt down and glancing to the bedside table for the clock. It was just after ten p.m. The shift for his doctor had ended at eight. That was perfect.

**"Can you fix me up better than I am now? I can't sleep like this."** He kept his eyes trained on her face, giving her that look that just made her melt in the past but now she knew better.

It really wouldn't be that much more than a time suck for her. It wouldn't take long to fix him, and besides a small scolding from his doctor and an ass load of paperwork, it could all be brushed over by tomorrow. Only deal was she had to be back at six a.m., which meant she probably wouldn't get home until late. This was Sasuke though, and as much as she wanted out of this room, she wasn't going to leave him in pain.

**"Take off your shirt and lay down with your side facing up."** It wasn't like she would be getting any sleep anyways, not after this.

The bruise was falling more towards his back, something she could be thankful for as she rolled the stool towards the other side of the least he wouldn't be staring at her now, reading her every emotion. He was a bit more talkative than she would have expected, but she was sure that mind of his was still calculating. He was probably just trying to figure out what the hell was going on outside the four walls of his room. Anyone would be asking questions, which could only help her to think that the old Sasuke was still in there. Deep down, she was just waiting for him to turn around and try to stab her with something. Or at least, it was a fear of hers.

**"You should come back tomorrow too,"** he said nonchalantly, as if it meant nothing. He offered no explanation, just that simple fact.

**"I'll try. My work schedule is pretty busy tomorrow, especially trying to get Naruto better. He's so stir-crazy up in his room, I thought about having him put in restraints,"** she answered.

There, Naruto was a good subject. She could easily talk about the orange-clad Konoha Hero and avoid that first question about how she had pawned his case off to the highest bidder. She was proud of him, despite how he could annoy her to his very core if he tried. He was neutral. Neutral, she didn't have to worry about conjuring up unwanted subjects. Or so she thought...

**"He missed you. It was all he thought about to get you back here."** She began healing him, just enough so that he would be comfortable.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. **"I know. He came to my room twice today. How much he missed me was what he was rambling about half the time."** The other half was about ramen of course. But that was just Naruto. Apparently the blond wanted to eat ramen with Sasuke, like old times. **"I nearly hurt myself more kicking the idiot out the last time."**

The green chakra that spilled from her hands was doing as it was supposed to, mending the bones and seeping away the pain. It was working fast, also. It had only taken her a few minutes to get his side fixed to where there was only a faint yellow discoloration. It would be gone by tomorrow night, easily.

**"I missed you, too."**That was enough to pull her from staring at his side in whatever trance she had been locked into. She stood up quickly then, pulling the stool back to it's original place and picking up his discarded shirt, setting it down on the table next to the clock. She needed to get out of here before she said anything else.

**"I should get going. It's late and you need to rest."** She nodded at him as she started taking steps towards the door, her nerves getting the best of her as she nearly stumbled while searching for the door handle. When she finally stopped, making eye contact with him and giving him a sincere smile. It was the least she could do. **"I hope you found whatever help it was that you were looking for."**

He sat up, grabbing his shirt from where Sakura had moved it and put it back on. **"Hn,"** was his only answer to both her statements. She wasn't sure how she felt about that short answer that made up the majority of their past, mainly one-sided, conversations. She had let something slip that she still cared, saying how she missed him, she had even gone on to say that she hoped he got everything he had strived for and that was his reply? The only reason she couldn't bring herself to say anything else was the for the fact that it was so nostalgic.

He had been so fond of that damned... syllable when they were younger that she had learned to figure out his answers like another language. It was a habit of his, a habit of her Sasuke. That damned answer was a double-edged sword. She just wasn't sure to like it or hate it.

"Good night, Sasuke. I'll see you."

Opening the door she slipped out, closing it quietly behind her and moving towards the nurse's station. It wasn't until she grabbed the paperwork and was outside of the hospital that she really remembered how to breathe though. Seeing him would have been more than enough, but talking to him was flat out overwhelming. She hated that every other moment she wasn't trying to mutter like an idiot, she was thinking about him trying to kill her, or when he left. She didn't want to think of him hurting her, he deserved a second chance just like anyone. She just wasn't sure how long it would take her to give it to him.

When she finally got back to her house, she was careful to be quiet. Her parents were surely asleep by now. She avoided that third to last step on the stairs, missing the lovely creaking noise it made at the sheer brush of physical contact before ushering her way into her room. She refused to break down and let her emotions take over. She had grown up, or at least, that's what everyone needed to think. And what did grown-ups do? Paperwork.

**"Naruto, I swear to everything that is holy on this world that if you don't sit still, I will break every bone in your body. Just stay in this room."**

Sakura's day had only started an hour after she fell asleep. She had stayed up half the night filling out the necessary forms as to why she had treated someone else's patient and then drug herself to bed only to get a short nap in before getting up for work. She wasn't in the mood for people today, that was for sure, she even went so far as to take the long route to work just to see less activity from everyone. She came in, turned in the paperwork and then started her rounds, saving Naruto for last. Not even a foot inside the door and he was already getting up to leave.

**"Honestly, Naruto. What could be so important that you have to tell Sasuke right this minute. I'm trying to get you better and then you can go bug him all you want!" Sakura yelled loud enough for half the hospital to hear.**

She was going to rip her hair out, she was sure it would match the dark circles under her eyes to make her look like an awesome crazy person. Sasuke hadn't been back more than a week and already she was losing it from the one conversation they had.

**"Well, I just wanted to go see him, you know, make sure he's still there and all. I mean, the bastard won't run off again, but being in here is making me crazy 'ttebayo."**Naruto could only smile at Sakura, a smile that made her want to punch him. She merely made a glare at him before pushing him to sit still and then going back to work.

**"Kakashi mentioned seeing you today. Wait around for him."**

**"That could take all day though!"**

**"Too bad."**

Naruto made a sour face but whatever thought was crossing his mind, for once he kept it to himself. The rest of the session, was filled with small talk, Naruto was asking questions about everyone, so on and so forth. Whenever Sasuke was brought up though, Sakura would just nod along, going silent. She never did mention he trip to see the Uchiha survivor, not wanting even another barrage of questions. Not if she was going to go see him again today.

When she was finally done, it was after eleven sometime and there was no question she was getting hungry. She had one more stop before she could even consider eating though. The walk to Sasuke's room seemed to take forever, but she refused to think about it. He was sure to be awake, at least this time she wouldn't be scared out of her mind by sudden consciousness. When she got to his room though, she was lucky enough to walk up just as the door opened, nearly bumping into Sasuke's doctor.

**"Haruno, a word, please."**She felt her head literally drop as she moved aside to let him out. She was hoping maybe he wouldn't notice, but the second he started yelling at her, questioning her why she was getting involved with his patients, she snapped.

**"You weren't even taking care of him! I looked at the chart, you were just giving him pain medication but not doing any actually healing! He couldn't even sleep!"**

**"That's still none of your business! It's up to me how he's treated. Hell, no one can even be in the room within for more than a minute without him kicking them out. If you want to deal with it, you can gladly take the case back."**The man didn't even wait for her to answer as he shoved the folder into her hands and stormed off. Sakura felt like an explosion had gone off somewhere in her mind at the name displayed on the corner of the patient folder in her hands. All that slipped out after a sigh was a curt curse before she opened the door and walked into Sasuke's room, tossing the folder aside.

**"Well, guess I am your doctor now."** She pinched the bridge of her nose before slipping into the visitor's chair, a wave of exhaustion hitting her. She loved her job, she did, but she really hated some of the people she worked with.

And all the Uchiha did was smirk in that superior way of his. **"Hn. It's about time."**

Sasuke had been purposely pissing of the doctor since he'd woken up, not that Sakura knew it. Just before the doctor left this time, the dark haired boy had actually told him where he intended to put his stethoscope if he didn't leave within ten seconds. But she couldn't help but let a small smile cross her face at the fact he seemed pleased with her being his doctor. Call it a girlish feature, but getting approval from him was something that never got old. She knew how Sasuke was, and getting any kind of attention that wasn't forced or negative was like getting a medal from the Hokage. Maybe even better than that.

**"How long until I'll be discharged?"**he asked flatly.

**"It could be awhile. Anywhere from a few days to a month or so. Just depending on how well you respond."** She stood back up then, retrieving the file she had thrown and grabbing his chart as well. Leafing through it she knew she couldn't let on the fact she was frustration and tired. The moment that he set foot in the village, she really hadn't been sleeping. She had been afraid that something would happen on the way back to Konoha, or that he would leave in the middle of the night again. She was just afraid that things would pan out for the worst and it was leaving her on edge.

**"My arm isn't healing right,"** the Uchiha said, getting right down to business. He held out his arm for her to see.

Taking his arm, she set the paperwork aside to look at it clearer. She could remember watching the fight, he pulled back after an attack holding his arm as blood dripped down it and hit the ground. He had messed it up pretty bad, anyone could tell just by looking at it. As she ran her hand up and down his arm, trying to find the exact spot of the break, she could feel the muscles spasms. It had to be uncomfortable.

Running him through a few exercises that involved him moving his arm around, making fists and the like, she was pleased to find no muscles torn, but instead just a simple break. Sure it hadn't been treated, yet, but at least she wasn't going to have to break it again just to reset it. Focusing on his arm, she got to work.

Sasuke frowned. **"I want to be out of here soon."**

**"Well, if the doctor had done his job, you'd be getting out of here probably this week."** She sighed as she picked up his chart and started writing on it, a frown set in her features as she did. It was her fault that he wasn't healed yet. If she had just sucked it up and taken on his case, he'd probably be better and out on his own right now. Now, he was just wasting time in a hospital bed twiddling his thumbs. He did kind of deserve it though, giving he tried to shove a chakra infused arm through her _head_.

Going back to healing on his arm, she slipped into her own little world as she thought about everything going on. He was trusting her to get so close to him. If she wanted, all she had to do was switch the kind of chakra she was sending into him and bam, he would lose his arm at least. It was that trust that made her realize she could never intentionally hurt him, not even if she wanted to. And if she did hurt him, she'd do everything in her power to fix it. That was what brought on the next thing that slipped out of her mouth.

She also decided that she'd rather not see nor even hear his thoughts on the subject of her helping him. She was going to find him one and that was that. **"So how did you sleep last night? Did your side bother you at all?"**

**"Tch,"** was his sole answer to her question about how he slept. As if she could decipher that.

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes watching her write on the chart. **"You should make sure I have a good doctor from the start next time then."**

**"Oh, and Naruto wanted me to tell you 'hey.' He also mentioned something about you being roommates. Good luck cleaning. If you can imagine, it's gotten worse with his age."**

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes. **"I am not living with Naruto. I like clean living environments and my own bed."** He really did. His place had always been clean, even a bit sparse in the way of things the few times she'd seen it. **"I'll find my own apartment."**

**"I'll find an apartment for you, though Naruto will be angry. I'm sure I can get you a nice one real cheap, too. Especially if I co-sign."** She glanced at him as if she were trying to gauge his reaction, but not even a second in she thought better of it and looked back at his arm to watch what she was doing.

The offer from Sakura took Sasuke off guard and he hesitated. **"Hn. I can do it myself,"** he said blankly. That was his way of saying he was too proud to accept her help. Boys were always like that.

**"I'm sure you could do it by yourself. I would love to see you go through the trouble of checking yourself in and out of the hospital in between healing sessions to go apartment hunting. Oh hey, and if you don't find one, there is plenty of places in Konoha you can set up camp for a night. There is bridges you can sleep under, trees you can sleep in, hell, even benches make good places to sleep."**She wish that last part hadn't come out. Oh she wished how she could just turn back time and stab herself with a sedative. It wasn't like she wanted to take a shot at him, she had just been trying to lighten the mood with sarcasm, but before she knew it, there she was, throwing a memory that should really not be talked about in the middle of the street with flouresant paint all over it.

**"I should go."** Sakura had stopped what she was doing, staring hard at Sasuke's arm before she dropped her hands to her lap, curling her fingers around the hem of her skirt. She didn't dare look up to meet his eyes as she took his file and stood up, kicking the stool to it's designated spot. **"I'll bring you some apartment listings tomorrow."**

The Uchiha frowned. **"Hn,"** he said, his dark eyes glaring at her now.

**"Do whatever you want."** Once again he gave a single answer to both her statements, and it fit them both so well.

The Uchiha merely huffed and lay back down in bed, turning away from the pink haired girl as if to prove his point. But there was one thing that he did add. **"Bring some good food too,"** he said, not quite as harshly.

Sakura couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at not only his behavior, but his request. It was so like Sasuke to brush off her offers of help, but for him to belittle anything else in his conquest to make her feel useless was classic. She knew it was nothing personal, it was the way he treated everyone, but it made her smile. He was showing he was more and more like her Sasuke every minute he was here, he wasn't that Sasuke, the one that tried to kill her. She knew she'd trust Sasuke no matter what, be it her Sasuke or that Sasuke, but she would always be afraid of that Sasuke, but never hers. She'd never be comfortable with that Sasuke.

**"What, you don't like the flash frozen, powered compost they call food here?"** She laughed lightly as she laced her fingers together at the small of her back, continuing to smile at him.

She could joke with this guy, but never that one. What she hated most was that she kept categorizing Sasuke's action between a 'her Sasuke' and 'that Sasuke.' He was one person, she couldn't keep it up forever. One day he'd have to either be 'her Sasuke' or 'that Sasuke,' for now though, she'd just have to keep categorizing.

**"I'll get you some good stuff. Tomatoes, right?" she asked.**

Of course she still remembered what he liked. She had been obsessed when she was twelve. She could cook him a few things tonight after getting some apartment listings. She could also make Naruto a few things too, something other than ramen.

**"Tch. Yes."** He finally looked up, staring over at Sakura to make sure she heard.

**"Nothing sweet," he added.**

**Sakura laughed lightly. "Alright. I think we can strike up a deal. I'll bring you food and find you an apartment and you'll just owe me a favor."**

She walked over to the window, glancing outside as sun bathed over the village. Rain was coming, but for now, it was like the first day of spring. Crisp, full of life... Calm.

She had a strange feeling the weather was picking on this particular situation between Team Seven. It was calm now, but the second Sasuke was out in the village, dealing with whatever punishment Tsunade decided to throw at him, everything would blow up. His doctor was a perfect example of this. The man wouldn't even treat Sasuke, just letting him suffer in pain. The villagers probably wouldn't accept him so easily either. It would take time and a hell of a lot of trust building on the Uchiha's part.

**"I just want you to promise me something as my favor. You don't even have to promise it now, just take your time with it. I just want you to promise that you'll understand that there are people here that care about you. Just don't forget that we're here, cause we certainly won't forget about you," Sakura asked in a quiet voice.**

The Uchiha slid out of bed and walked over to where Sakura was standing, only glancing out the window for a moment. Sakura's attention immediately fluttered to him a protest already building in her throat. With everything involving this guy though, she was careful of her words, not wanting to try and prove authority but show him what she meant. She didn't even have the chance to part her lips before he was standing next to her though, giving her a look that made her stop.

He was staring at her, and as much as she wanted to look away, she was caught in the eye contact between them. She just couldn't bring herself to break it as he searched for... Something. And then he said,** "It had better be really good food."** Dare she say, he _joked_ with her. His eyes locked with hers for a moment, as if he was trying to get a read on exactly what was going through her mind.

With his joke, all Sakura could do was try and contain the bright smile that was trying to erupt all over her features. She failed miserably. She just couldn't help but smile at him, though she was careful not to crack a joke at him. It was rare, barely any of her memories of the boy ever consisting of him showing his humerous side what-so-ever.

Sure he could make great sarcastic cracks at the dispense of someone else's humiliation, but she could barely remember an intentional joke. It was a miracle, one that was definitely for the books. She was even considering telling the world that one Uchiha Sasuke, the oh-so-great-avenger, attempted to make a funny. It was fantastic.

Sakura pulled the window open, a light breeze sweeping in and billowing the curtains throughout the room. It brought the smell of the village in, and to her it was welcoming, but to Sasuke, she doubted he'd enjoy it too much. **"I'll go get you some lunch, okay?"**

He nodded. **"Yes, lunch would be good." **He hadn't eaten yet and he was starving.

**"Well, today will just be take-out. I'll cook for you tomorrow though, for sure."** She was hesitant before reaching out, placing her hand on Sasuke's right forearm, trailing her fingers over it softly.

At the mention of take-out, Sasuke nodded. **"No ramen,"** he said, frowning.

**"Get some rest. I'll wake you when I get back." **Dropping her hand she still couldn't get rid of her smile as she walked to the door and slipped out, her next destination being the market.


	2. Healing

Sakura returned back to Sasuke's room after getting rice balls for both of them and she knocked gently before entering, closing the door behind her. Judging by the rise and fall of his body, she could only assume he was asleep as she quietly made her way to his bedside table to set down the food. As creepy as it sounded, one of Sakura's favorite things to watch Sasuke do was to see him sleep.

She didn't sit there and stare relentlessly, she wasn't obsessed with him anymore, but she couldn't help but steal glances at his expression. He was so serene, relaxed and lacking that underlying anger that usually seemed to accompany his features. He was just peaceful and it was something that fit his face so well but she doubted he hardly experienced.

She couldn't resist her urdge as she slowly crouched at his eye level and reached out to brush a bang from his face. She was sure it would wake him, but Sakura just wanted one clear look at him before he woke up and that set of jaw and furrow of his brow came into play. She smiled at him softly as she touched the soft strand of hair and pushed it to mingle with the rest, away from his face.

She barely allowed herself to run her hand through his hair before she came to her senses and realized just who she was touching so intimately and remembered how light of a sleeper he was. Her hand stopped as her smile faded, a blush quickly rising to her cheeks before she pulled away and stood up.

**But it was too late. She'd already still stirred him a bit. "Mom,"** the dark haired boy mumbled softly in his sleepy state.

Grabbing her food she sat down in the visitor's chair with Sasuke's chart in her lap, putting a wall of hair between him and herself as she contemplated over his treatment. At least she could tell him that if she focused on him the most, he could be out of here in a week. Maybe that would keep him occupied and not letting him kick her out for her actions.

She kept up her act of eating, pretending to of not heard that quiet word that passed through his lips that held no physical meaning for him. She had never met his mother, though she could vaguely remember seeing her once or twice. Sakura definitely remembered seeing his father on the incredibly rare occasion. That man had been huge she could recall, with a frown written in the aging lines of his face. She didn't think he was angry, just.. Stressfully important. That was about all she knew of the man and probably all she ever would know. Sasuke's family wasn't exactly a casual conversation.

He looked over her as he seemed to wake up fully. **"You could have woken me when you walked in,"** Sasuke said grumpily.

**"Sorry, Sasuke. You're usually such a light sleeper, I figured you would of woken up."**

Whatever trace of a smile she'd had was long gone, replaced with something more kin to sorrow. In fact, she looked like she could probably cry if she thought about whatever was on her mind long enough.

When she seemed to realize this, she looked back at him, forcing a more neutral expression. **"You need a lot more rest before I'm letting you out of here."** A light chuckle escaped her as she glanced out the window, standing up.

Then his eyes fell to the food that she'd brought, clearly interested in the food. He looked hungry, but she ignored it for the moment.

**"The village is pretty close to being fully rebuilt. They have all the housing done, all it's really lacking is just a few shops."** She didn't bother looking back at him until she was pointing at a building, making sure it was in his line of vision.

**"That is probably where you're apartment will be. It looks like something you'd like, they've got plenty of room, everything is new so it's not gonna break on you, and a few other things. I stayed there when my parents house was being rebuilt, so I get along with the landlord pretty well, so I could probably get you a corner apartment if he has any."**

Sasuke looked out the window, seeing what little of the village he could see from his room. **"I don't care if it's in a corner. I just want something neither on the top nor ground floor." **

He took a rice ball and took a bite. **"You're still living with your parents?"** he asked, actually attempting to take an interest in someone else's life for once and causing her to raise an eyebrow at him.

Uchiha Sasuke was not usually one to make small talk, and never in a million years had she ever thought he would take an interest in her personal life. She'd play along, but for whatever reason he was asking, she didn't have a clue. Sure he missed a few things here and there, maybe he was just trying to figure out what?

**"Well, sort of. I'm hardly ever home, cause if it's not a mission, I stay a lot of nights at the hospital. I should just go ahead and get my own place though."** She shrugged as she took another bite before setting the food aside, obviously finished as she leaned back in the chair and pulled her legs up underneath her.

Sakura smiled. **"You see, I want a corner apartment. You get more privacy that way and then you won't take the chance of having noisy neighbors on both sides of you. I might look at the apartments for myself, too."**

**"I could handle a noisy neighbor," **he said confidently.

She turned to look at the clock at Sasuke's bedside table. She'd had her thirty minutes of peace, and now it was back to work again. Standing up she let out a yawn, picking up the remnants of her food and tossing it in the trash before resting her hands on the end of his bed.

**"Hn. Tomorrow I'm going for a walk outside."** That wasn't a question about whether he would be allowed to or not. He was doing it. She could hear it in his voice.  
**  
Saukra nodded. "You know, a walk tomorrow would probably do you good. Just so long as you stay on hospital grounds, it'll be alright. Also, I meant to tell you. Visably, you're perfectly fine save a few bumps and bruises. After a few more healing sessions, you're bones should be strong again and it doesn't look like you're getting infections but I can't know for sure. Also, I'm fairly positive there is no internal bleeding, but I'm going to order an ultra sound just to double check. So basically you'll be out of here by the end of the week. I'm just keeping you for observance to make sure nothing goes wrong."**

**"Hn. I've got it."** Now that he was told that he'd been out by the end of the week, he seemed to cheer up.

**"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then."** Sakura smiled gently at him before turning and leaving.

It wasn't until she shut the door behind her that she had that same rush of feelings as the day before, as if she were remembering how to breathe. He had that effect on her, the kind that made her normal functioning skills stop working to the bare minimum of her survival. She wasn't sure if he still hated her as much as when they were younger, but she highly doubted he enjoyed her company.

Shaking her head, she turned to make her way towards the lounge on this floor, every intention of preparing for a procedure on one of her other patients she'd be doing in the next few days. She had a feeling though she wasn't going to be able to focus though. At least not until she could accept the fact that Sasuke was back, here in Konoha with his so-proclaimed intention of staying, that was if he was allowed to.

* * *

When Sasuke first came to the village, it ws easy to ignore him. She had shoved his case off and then done everything within her power to avoid being in the same room with him, let alone the same floor. Then, after becoming his doctor, not seeing him was thrown out the window. She had accepted it, and for some reason, it wasn't as hard to sit herself down and focus on what was injured and keep up with the small talk, avoiding instead any touchy subject. She felt that if she was in that hospital room, she held the authority, she could be professional, not that girl that was so undeniably in love with Uchiha Sasuke that she could be herself.

That all went down in flames a few days ago after the elders made their decision. They would let him stay in the village, with a few conditions of course, but still, he was not a permanent resident of Konoha. He came back and was not going anywhere, that fact alone not hitting her until the end of that trial. Maybe in the back of her mind, she knew there was a chance he might not be allowed to live here, so she didn't have to worry about bumping into him everywhere, or have to wonder if he'd be around when Naruto dragged her out to lunch. She wouldn't have to worry about her feelings for him boiling over and then just wind up hurt again.

After she heard the verdict, she had made her visits short, usually using the out he needed rest or she had to go see another patient her scape goat. She'd send nurses in to do the tests she could of done herself, or give him his pills while bringing him a meal that she made. There was a good chance that if she fell for him all over again, she'd be hurt in the end. Actually, it was almost a one hundred percent chance that would happen. She couldn't risk it again.

So on the day when he was meant to be released, she spent a good five or so minutes staring at his door from the nurse's station, papers in hand. Whenever she discharged him, the cycle would begin. She'd start bumping into him everywhere, and then the second she started expecting it, she'd stop seeing him and then she'd be thinking about him constantly. It was her luck, and before she knew it, she'd be that twelve your old completely obsessed with him.

Sighing she pushed off the counter and walked over to his door, knocking before coming in and seeing him sitting on his bed, ready to go. She smiled at him as she walked over to the bed, holding out the papers to him with a pen and a key.

**"Okay, you're ready to go. Here's the papers for you to get out of here and the key to your apartment. I marked all the spaces for you to sign and when you're ready, Naruto'll take you to your place. I moved some things in there already, just some stuff you can use until you get furniture. I put some clothes there, a futon you'll probably want to replace, I filled the refridgerator and a few other things. The essentials."** She was actually getting off work after she filed these papers. She had thought about going with him, but in the end deemed a bad idea.

**"Why aren't you coming?"** he asked, looking at her with a frown.

**"Oh, well, I still have one or two things to do here. I know you don't want to wait on me."**

She let out a faint chuckle as she rubbed the back of her neck, a habit she had when she was lying so she wouldn't hurt someone's feelings. She highly doubted that Sasuke would care if she told him what was really bugging her, in fact, he'd probably be relieved, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

**"Hn," Sasuke grumbled, making her think he didn't believe her.**

She was supposed to be someone who would care for him unconditionally, his friend, but she was finding it so hard to be around him. She wanted to trust him, but she knew in the back of her mind she was waiting for this facade of his to drop and he'd revert back to _that_ Sasuke, and not only would her Sasuke die with that moment, but she knew that she was probably the worst person in the world for even expecting this of him.

**"Plus, ever since he found out you were moving into his apartment building, a floor above him I think, he's been talking about nothing else but being your neighbor," she said with a laugh, remembering her conversation with Naruto.**

Sakura was flipping through his discharge papers to make sure she got everything. She was fairly positive that Sasuke wasn't going to be pissed at the prospect of Naruto living within one hundred yards of him. In fact, he was going to be livid when he learned that Naruto lived directly below him, and that the orange-clad ninja had already picked out what stick he was going to use to hit his ceiling with.

The Uchiha immediately sent a cosmic size death glare in the girl's direction. **"I'm one floor above him?"** he asked through clenched teeth.

**"I was going to get you an apartment on the other side of the building, but Kakashi thought it would be a good learning exersice for you and insisted that be your apartment. I think you'll have fun."** She shrugged before looking up at him and smiling. She was running her mouth to keep him from saying what few words he had. She had to get out of here, the fear knotting in her stomach becoming nearly unbearable.

Sasuke stood up and slung the bag with all his stuff in it over his shoulder. **"Anything else I need to know before I leave?"** he asked, his eyes daring her to give him more bad news. He stared her down. After all this time, he still knew how to intimidate her with one glance.

And it worked. At the first sight of his expression she froze. It wasn't that she was nervous, not in the least bit. No, it was that she suddenly found herself absolutely terrified. Fear was taking over every bit of her motor functions and all she could do was stare at him, her expression not even remotely hiding how she felt. She hated that he had this effect on her, but he did and there was nothing either of them could do about it. It wasn't until she dropped her pen and she heard it collide with the ground that she was pulled out of her stare.

**"Uh, no."** She was quick to look down and find her pen, wasting no time to bend down and get it.

**"You shouldn't keep Naruto waiting and I should really go. I hope you like your apartment," Sakura muttered.**

Whatever she had been building with Sasuke over this past week, a rekindled bond maybe, it was shattered now. She couldn't see herself building up the courage to talk to him again.

The Uchiha boy took the few stepped towards her and closed the distance between them, continuing the glare. She was about to turn away and get the hell out of the room, but when Sasuke started to move towards her, she felt everything in her body refuse to listen to what her mind was screaming at her about getting away. Maybe it was the fists had loosened, or the way his shoulders lost their rigedness. He leaned down so that he was at her level and his mouth was mere inches from her ear.

She slowly looked up to meet his eyes, and even though he was still glaring at her, this one lacked the prior malice. It was his usual look, the one she could remember from years ago. She highly doubted that Sasuke would hurt her, now at least, but he was still unpredictable, especially when he started to lean towards her after getting so close. He wouldn't... Would he?

Then his expression softened a bit and he whispered, **"I'm going to be at the training grounds late tonight. Someone should be there after my training to make sure I don't reopen any of my wounds. Around midnight.**"

No, he wouldn't. She had never even seen Sasuke talk to a girl if he didn't have to, he wouldn't be so keen as to start kissing them. She could feel that tug of disappointment, but still, the tingle of his breath against her skin gave her goosebumps. She had never thought she would love the sound of his voice more than she already had, but the whisper in her ear had proved her wrong. What made it all even better was the actual words he was saying to her.

When they were kids, Sakura could remember pestering the Uchiha about going on a 'date' with her, always asking him to train together. He had always replied with an imediate 'no.' Never had she thought the day would come that he would ask her to go with him.

Then just as soon as he got his point across, Sasuke turned around and walked away without even waiting for an answer from her. Without looking back he walked out of the room and into the hallway, finding Naruto and leaving. Sakura hardly noticed when he slipped out of the room she was so perplexed with his request. He had to of been talking about her, but it almost didn't seem real.

The medic wasn't sure of how long she stood in the hospital room, staring at the same spot on the wall. The thought of not going never even crossed her mind as she moved out into the hallway, filing his chart and then punching out to go home.

* * *

As the day drug on, Sakura couldn't help but realize her mixed feelings about midnight. She wanted to go, so badly, to reassure him that she wasn't scared or angry with him over anything, but it all boiled down to she still didn't trust him. Whatever had happened in the hospital room was fresh in her mind and dragging up memories from months ago. Every time she thought about Sasuke's chidori coming towards her head, or his hand around her throat, she'd rethink the entire 'going' plan. She had thought for sure that if she went, she might not come back... As dramatic as that was. Just, being alone with Sasuke in a secluded area didn't ring the safety bells.

By the time eleven thirty rolled around, she had decided to take a walk. She didn't have work tomorrow, in fact, she intended to use that free time apartment hunting, so she could walk around for hours, or, go see Sasuke for however long. She doubted it would take long, Sasuke hardly being one to spend time with her willingly.

It dawned on her that this could be his way of apologizing for his little glaring stunt, and that gave her the indication that was her Sasuke's action, a slot on the pro list. But then again, he could just be doing it because he knew he'd be straining himself and he wasn't one to let himself get hurt purposely. He was always on the move when it came to training, if he wasn't going on missions for a month, he certainly wasn't going to sit around and twiddle his thumbs. That just let her with the professional outlook.

No matter how many times she twisted the situation around, it always came down to her obligation to go as his doctor. If anything, she could lie to herself and say she was only going for that reason. Sakura knew that she wanted to see him, despite the fact he scared the life out of her, but it was hard to even sort those emotions out, a task she just wasn't up to yet.

By the time midnight came, her feet had taken her to the old training grounds. Sakura came up to the clearing, the three posts being the first sight that met her eyes followed by the Uchiha's training supplies such as extra weapons and drinking water. She frowned at the fact the water had been untouched, knowing that Sasuke was straining himself. She could only roll her eyes before looking up to see the man himself, watching as he fought with an invisible opponent. He looked so graceful and intense, she couldn't bring herself to interrupt him.

After two or three minutes Sasuke decided that he was done and ceased his training. Then he turned around to look at Sakura, wiping sweat off his brow. Before acknowledging her, he walked over to his supplied and grabbed a bottle of water. As he walked over to his supplies, obviously done with his training, she just offered him a smile.

Sasuke seemed worn out, but he also seemed like the old him. It was so odd, she was wary of him, yes, but she wasn't scared, not like she had been before. He could snap her in two with ease, but with him acting like this towards her, so casual, she couldn't picture him doing it. Even with all that though, the thought still did enter her mind.

Sasuke took a big long drink, dehydrated from spending so long training without a break. The Uchiha took a seat on the ground, deciding to rest for a minute.

The exhausted boy's eyes trailed up from the ground and to Sakura's face, looking her in the eyes. **"My wounds didn't reopen,"** he said, moving his arm around to feel if it was injured once more.

"Oh, okay." She wasn't sure if she should stay or go. If Sasuke was a twelve year old boy, he would want her long gone by now, but he wasn't. He had grown up, and even though the same traits were there, he was acting different towards her. Despite the occasional killing intent, he was being nicer, initiating conversation and willingly meeting her without a motive that she could see. It was odd, he was acting like he actually didn't mind her company. That was what shocked her the most.

She looked down at the ground next to him as he gave attention to it, and that was when her eyes narrowed at him. Sakura was quiet as she sat down next to him, making sure to give him his personal space. That didn't stop her from staring at him though. He probably was going to think she was crazy with the way she was looking at him like she was trying to find something. Maybe she was. Maybe Sasuke was, he was the one acting weird.

**"So what's with you? Why are you acting so... different?"** She wasn't even sure how to word it. All she knew was that he was being nicer to her. She didn't have a problem with it, and it was certainly better than the menacing look he could give her. She kind of liked it, to be honest, the fact that she was still in love with him being a complete side note.

Sasuke took another drink of his water, waiting a moment before he answered Sakura's question. He set his water bottle aside and glanced over at her.

**"You're afraid of me," Sasuke said quietly and if she didn't know better, Sakura would think he almost sounded vulnerable.**

There it was. Sasuke had been back in Konoha for almost two months now, and as much as she knew this conversation was coming, she still hadn't expected it to be so soon. This conversation wasn't going to be light, and not only were they going to have be careful with how they worded things, but they couldn't leave anything out. She wanted to be close to Sasuke, she did love him after all, but more than anything, she wanted to trust him completely again. She cared about him so much, but she knew that she could never really be there for him unless she could get over what had happened.

He looked away from her, glancing up at the sky, his eyes settling on the half moon that was out tonight.

**"It's not that I'm afraid of you."** Sakura let out a sigh as she looked down at the ground, looking for the right answer.

** "It's just, you can scare me. I understand that you're under pressure with all the commotion going on right now, but I'm just not used to you being back. Sasuke, please don't get mad at me, but last time I saw you, you were fighting so hard just to get away from us. I'm worried that you might change your mind, and things might go back to the way it was before."**

She looked over at him, lifting her hand as if she was going to reach over for him, but decided against it, resting it back down in her lap instead.

She got her point across, she felt like. She wasn't outright saying she was trying to figure out if he was going to go on a killing spree or anything, but she had given enough notion that she was afraid he might revert back into 'that' Sasuke, the one that hated this village.

**"I don't think I could go through losing you again and I know Naruto couldn't," Sakura added quietly.**

Once again Sasuke hesitated. **"I'm not going to leave again." **

He kept his eyes focused on the sky, not looking at her the whole time. **"I don't want to, or intend to, hurt you,"** he said, his voice a little quieter than usual.

A soft smile spread across her face as she looked at him, her shoulders finally relaxing. It was comforting to hear him say that, she knew it had to of been hard for him. Sasuke wasn't the type to share what he was feelings or have a legit conversation that wasn't about anything related to fighting or one of his goals. Sasuke didn't put stock in people's feelings, she couldn't imagine why he was now. She couldn't help it when she finally reached over and placed a hand on his forearm.

**"Thank you, Sasuke. You don't know how much it means to hear you say that."** She was quiet for a moment, slowly dropping her hand to the ground between them and looking at his side as something dawned on her. She doubted Sasuke would have anything to say in response to that, so the least she could do was change the subject and give him an out.

**"Hn." **That was sort of his way of saying you're welcome or the closest he ever came to it, using Sasuke speak. Of course most people wouldn't know that from hearing that one syllable, but she'd always been good at understanding his short sentences.

She was relieved when all he said was a short simple answer. Sasuke wasn't pushing her away, insulting her or ignoring her completely. Then again, he was the one to ask her here. She didn't know what had him acting so different towards her, but she wouldn't mind if it kept up. The only problem with it was, when he was in that mode that she was absolutely terrified of, it was a hell of a lot easier to push aside her feelings for him. When he was like this though, she couldn't help but want to do everything in her power to try and make him happy.

**"Do you want me to change your bandages? They probably need it if you've been training all day."**

His bandages were probably filthy by now, especially the ones on his arm. He reached over and into his bag, pulling out the clean bandages and handing them to her. Then he rolled up his sleeve so that she could get to the full arm.

**"It's finally healing right. I can feel the movement in it when I train and it feels better," he said, finally looking her in the eyes once more.**

**"Good. I would hate to be responsible for the one who couldn't fix your arm."**

She smiled at him as she turned, taking his arm and slowly taking off the bandages. When they were all off she looked back to his arm, running her hand down it to get a feel of the muscles and do a general check-up on it.

**"You probably have the majority of your strength back, right?"** When she seemed satisfied with it, she started to wrap his arm back up.

Sasuke watched as Sakura redid his bandages, his dark eyes fixed on her hands. **"My strength is coming back well, but I need to stretch my muscles and move around more though."**

That was one trait she had always admired and got slightly peeved at. Sasuke was the type of guy that could always get better. He always strived to improve, but he still focused on what he could be doing to get better and was hardly ever satisfied with his current level. Sasuke never seemed to be good enough for himself and that was one thing that put emphasis on the fact she could probably never be anything more than a friend to him. If he wasn't good enough for himself, than in what world would she ever be good enough for him?

Over the years, she had thought up of a million and one questions to ask him. She wanted to know things about his past, what was going on with him now, what he was feeling or thinking. She wanted to know everything about him. Now was her time to ask, but just as her luck served, Sakura's mind went blank save the medical questions and she couldn't think of one single thing to ask. This was her chance and she knew she was going to blow it. All she could bring herself to do was keep wrapping his arm.

**"The food in my fridge is edible,"** he said, trying to change the subject even if a bit randomly in an effort to fill the silence she'd caused by getting lost in thought. It was his way of thanking her for picking up some food for him.

A chuckle escaped her. Anyone else could of said 'thanks for the food,' or 'good choice.' He could only say it was edible though? She hadn't expected a thank you or anything, but what caught her off guard was the fact he even brought it up.

**"You're welcome."**

She couldn't hold back a smile as she finished wrapping his arm. Dropping her hands to her lap, she was left with the decision to either get up and leave or sit down for awhile and leave the ball in his court. When they were kids, he would of already been up and getting his things, but he didn't seemed to be as bothered by her presence now. She wasn't ready to go home, and as much as she was harping on the fact he invited her here, she didn't want to force him into being around her if he didn't want to be. If anything, she could walk around the village for awhile until she felt the urdge to go to the hospital.

**"Well, you don't need me anymore."** She pushed herself to stand, stretching her arms up over her head before taking a few steps into the training grounds.** "I think I'm gonna walk around for a little bit then head on to work. Are you going home?"**

**"Yeah, I'm going home. It's late and I should sleep."** Sasuke nodded.

He too stood and he began to gather up his supplies that he'd brought with him. He put his spare kunai and shuriken in his weapon pouch and his water bottle in his pocket.

Then, the dark haired boy looked back at Sakura. **"I plan on training here every day to get back into a routine."**

One of her favorite things that had been taught to her when she was first training to be a ninja was how observant it made you. She was able to read people down to the tone of their voice and everything down to the slight movement of an object became potentially aware to her.

But even with all of that training, there was no possible way anyone could just understand this Uchiha. It took years to finally be able to decipher the seven word vocabulary he favoured. But even with her experience with him on top of everything else, she still had to strain to see his subtle meanings.

**"Okay."** She wasn't sure what else she should say to him. She knew that if Sasuke didn't want her to know about his training schedule, he wouldn't of brought it up. It was his way of saying he wouldn't care if she showed up or not, or maybe something along the lines of he wouldn't mind having his own personal medic, especially if he was still so uncomfortable. She had felt the way his muscles had tensed in reflex to the pain. She knew he still wasn't in tip top shape.

Placing her hands at the small of her back she turned back to the path that led into the village, taking a few small steps to show that she was waiting for him. Sakura glanced back to Sasuke, her smile softening as she did so.

Sasuke saw that Sakura was waiting for him, but he didn't quicken his step. He reached her after a moment and was immediately assaulted by the loaded question and stopped dead in his tracks, unable to hide his surprise.

**"Sasuke, that night you left... Why didn't you just leave me on the ground?"** He had to of moved her to the bench, they had been standing in the middle of the street. It was something that always left her confused. He hadn't really cared for her at all back then, not about her feelings, worries, etc. Plus, he had been leaving, why would he of cared if she slept on the ground or in a ditch for all that matter.

After what couldn't have been more than a couple seconds, Sasuke began walking down the path to the village again, not looking at Sakura and not answering yet.

**"The ground is where you leave trash," he finally answered.**

**He glanced at her. "Why does it matter now?"**

**"It was something that has always been on my mind. I thought you hated me back then, but you had your moments where I knew you weren't as distant as you pretended to be. It was moments like those that made me realize how much you meant to me."**

**"There was a time that I didn't hate you at all,"** he said in response, his pace speeding up.

She shrugged as she matched his pace, looking ahead and praying he didn't see the blush that was started to creep on her features.

**"I kept replaying those times over in my head and that was what gave me the drive to help Naruto find you. I never knew why you did that, but I always kind of liked to pretend that was a time you didn't seem to hate me as much, I was just wondering if I was right or not."**

A sigh escaped her as she looked down at her feet, trying to stop herself from talking. As much as she wanted him to know how much she still cared about him, she didn't want to give him the wrong idea she was still some love-struck girl. She knew there was a good chance he'd never see her as anything else but his ex-teammate and maybe he'd find someone he could stand to be around, and as much as that hurt she still wanted to be apart of his life. Even if it was only as a friend or a teammate.

**"I don't think I'll ever understand why you said 'thank you' though."**

Sasuke smirked, looking like he finally knew the answers to one of her questions. **"I was thanking you for caring about me."**

She looked at him, this time a bit of a surprise on her own face. If it had been three years ago, she would of been elated to hear anything he had just said even if it was just some rumor that some stranger was saying he said about her. Two years ago, she would of started crying.

Now though, she wasn't sure what she should do with that. It made her happy though, and in the end all she could do was just give him a gentle smile and look forward again. He could admit he didn't hate her, and could even answer one of her biggest questions about that night. That was a step up for him, and never had she appreciated him more.

**"Sasuke, caring about you is something you never have to thank me for."**

No matter how nice it was to hear it. When they came to the end of the path, she knew Sasuke was going left, and even though that was the way to the hospital, she wasn't quite ready to go in that direction just yet. She took slowed to a stop and looked up at him before she made a decision that he might just kill her over. Not giving him a chance to react she pulled every last attempt at being brave and hugged him.

She was sure the action was annoying the hell out of him and he was bound to push her away within the next few seconds. Before he had the chance to she pulled back, stepping in the opposite direction.

**"I'm glad you're back. I really did miss you."** Turning she was quick to cross her arms and start putting distance between them. She didn't dare look back though, not even wanting to know what expression was on his face. If he didn't hate her before, he might now.


	3. Walking

The hug left Sasuke standing there, looking surprised and confused. "Don't hug me without warning," he said, his expression turning a bit annoyed.

She laughed when she turned to look at him, nodding slightly. She had been thinking all night about how this guy confused her so much in the past, but now, even if he still left her in the dark half the time, she couldn't help but notice how he was also different. He was accepting her, maybe, or so she'd like to think.

He had asked her to come tonight and then left the invitation open for however many other nights he could take until he became annoyed. He was answering questions for her, and hell, now he was going so far as to answer in the last way she expected. She had been waiting for the 'don't touch me' speech or the 'trying to melt you in your place' glare, but here he was, telling her to give him a warning. He wasn't telling her to get the hell away from him, but instead, giving her the impression he didn't mind it so much. Go figure.

"I'll be sure to do that, Sasuke. Good night and I'll see you tomorrow," she said with a smile.

She nodded before turning, not sure if he was catching the grin that was spreading across her face. That was the third time she had ever hugged him, at least when he was aware she was hugging him though it was the first time she had ever done it without some kind of motive besides the whim of the moment.

"Goodnight Sakura. See you tomorrow."

Then he turned away and began walking home once more, and away from her. He didn't bother looking back, just headed home where he would finally be able to get some sleep. He really needed it, that was for sure. Provided that Naruto wasn't doing something loud and insane to keep him awake. Sakura laughed at the thought.

* * *

Over the next week and a half, she never missed a night in coming to the training grounds. She had even made a point to come early a few times, bringing medical books with her and she would just sit and read while he trained. It was peaceful, just being around each other, though it took her a few times to really accept the fact he wasn't going to go and flip the psycho switch and try and kill her.

After she got over that, or at least pushed it to the back of her mind, everything became easier. She could talk to him without stuttering, she could joke around the way she would with Naruto. She could just be. There wasn't any pressure. That was until tonight. She couldn't even focus on the textbook in her lap.

It wasn't until he finished training though that she dared to speak with him. He had finally completed his training and walked over to his supplies to get a drink of water. Standing up quickly, she fidgeted slightly. She was tapping at the spine of the book after she closed it, meeting him at his supplies like she did every other night.

"So I kind of have an awkward question for you. You see... There's this festival tomorrow night, you remember, the firework one. Well anyways, Naruto and a lot of people want you to go and Naruto said you'd be more likely to come if I asked you. I told him you probably wouldn't want to, but you know how Naruto is. Once he has a goal he doesn't let up. Anyways, I know it'd mean a lot to everyone, myself included, if you went. You wouldn't even have to stay that long, cause I won't be. I have a mission I have to leave for the next morning so I won't be out too late. But if you want to go..."

The blush on her cheeks was probably rivaling her shirt. "It's not like I'm asking you on a date or anything, you can come and go as you please, just, I'm letting you know that you'd be welcomed."

And without warning there came the nervous laugh followed by her rubbing her neck, a nervous habit. "What do ya say?"

Sasuke looked her up and down, making her even more nervous. "I'll show up for a while," he said after a moment.

She parted her lips, all prepared to give him a list of reasons why he should come. It would allow him to build trust among the villagers, get a chance to catch up on everything he missed, so on and so forth. She was just about ready to start spewing off everything down to the fact that there was an entire booth dedicated to tomatoes even, but just as she was about to speak, her entire system shut down as she really soaked in his answer. Had the world started rotating the other way?

"You'll go?"

She hadn't meant to sound so surprised by his answer. Never in a million years had she thought Sasuke Uchiha would agree to go to anything that was nothing more than social gathering without some kind of underlying motive, like recon or something.

Also, never had she thought he would agree to go if it was her that was asking, not without some kind of order. Who in the hell was pulling the strings? Also, what kind of motive could he have? She narrowed her eyes at him as she crossed her arms, giving him a suspicious look for a good few seconds before shaking her head and dropping her hands, her book hitting her thigh.

"But I don't guarantee I'll stay," Sasuke added.

She'd accidentally let surprise seep onto her face. "Great."

"I like fireworks," he said stubbornly, glaring at her for a moment and looking annoyed, though she wasn't sure why.

A smile came across Sakura's lips as she tucked the book under her arm and took a step towards him. "Let me take a look at your eyes real quick. They look kind of irratated."

His eyes were red, like he had been rubbing at them all night. She didn't give him a choice as she tossed the book next to his extra weapons and placed her hands on either side of his face, using the moonlight to get a better look. As she went through the routine of telling him to look up, down and side to side, she couldn't help but start to think.

It had been nearly two months since Sasuke came back, and it never crossed her mind she would be standing here with him. Just the two of them, with her hands on the side of his face, just a handful of inches from him.

If she were twelve, she probably would have fainted at all of this. It was nice though, but she couldn't imagine what was going on in his head. He definitely wasn't thinking the same thoughts she was, at how easy it would be to just lean in.

The second those thoughts started to pour into Sakura's mind she pulled herself back to reality. Sasuke would probably burn her to ashes if she tried anything like that and then walk off as if it were nothing. She nearly laughed at the thought but the only indication was the small tug at her lips. She had been smiling a lot more recently, too.

Sakura quickly refocused on what she was doing and said, "If you start to experience any discomfort or your vision starts to get blurry, let me know. You better tell me, too. If you don't, you'll go blind. Then you won't be able to go on missions. Then you'll be in the village all. The. Time. Naruto will always know when and where he can find you. You will die in this place with Naruto chatting your ear off and the scent of ramen filling your nose."

She laughed then, slowly dropping her arms and bent down to gather her book and his extra things. "I think that would be the ultimate torture for you. Or anyone, really."

A frown formed on Sasuke's face. "If I die from Naruto's incessant chatter, I will come back from the grave and haunt you."

She was about to laugh at that last comment before she turned just enough so that her elbow brushed up against him, realizing that he was right against her, his mouth to her ear. When had he moved that close to her? She was frozen in place, and when he whispered to her, she about nearly fell over...

"My ghost will haunt your nights," he said softly, his voice sounding less threatening than she was pretty sure he'd meant it to be, and more… inappropriate.

One, he needed to stop doing that because it turned her into a brainless lump, and two, had he really just said what she thought he said? Sasuke couldn't of meant it the way other people would of meant that, like Naruto.. Or Kiba... Nope. He was like Sai, not any sort of humor/flirty bone in his body. Plus, he certainly wouldn't act that way towards her.

When oxygen finally got back to her brain with the command to do something, she took a step forward, nearly dropping a few kunai in the process.

"Hah, I could totally battle your ghost. I'd have Naruto around 24/7. Unlike you, I know the secret on how to shut him up without ramen. So I can tolerate him." She chuckled again before rearranging the items in her hands.

More than likely though, if Naruto was around her all the time, as much as she loved the idiot she'd probably wind up killing herself and landing in the same afterlife boat.

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that," she joked.

Sakura turned towards the path, waiting for the Uchiha. She had learned after a few nights that he wasn't going to speed up for her. He might slow down if he was in a good mood, but more often than not he went his own pace. There was no sense in her walking ahead. He followed her down the path, catching up to once she stopped to wait for him.

Sakura smiled. "So, since the festival is tomorrow night, I'm guessing if you train it will be after. I won't be able to show up, cause I'll have a mission I have to leave for that next morning. So I won't be here the next night either. So if you can, try not to use your Sharingan. I'd rather I be around just in case something goes wrong. Your eyes haven't healed completely yet."

She wasn't nervous about the mission, if all went as planned, it would be a simple information gathering. All they were doing was a follow-up on a nuke-nin who was possibly seen in the area. There was a slim chance they'd even come across him if anything. Yet something seemed off, like there was a bit of information missing in the equation. That was the only reason she was being sent along with them. Combat wasn't supposed to be a factor, but still, there was always that chance.

Sasuke frowned. "Hn. I need to train with my sharingan," he said stubbornly.

"Sasuke, I'll only be gone for two days. It's not like I can stop you or anything, but at least go get them checked the next day. Consider it a favor to me and I'll owe you." She sighed as she started walking next to him. Arguing with him wouldn't do anything besides egg him on to use the sharingan all the more just to spite her. You couldn't just tell him not to do something. He was the type of person to do just the opposite as to prove a point that no one was the boss of him. Stubborn mule.

Sasuke frowned. "I plan on training in taijutsu for the next few days."

In other words, he'd decided to avoid using his sharingan while she was gone, though he was not going to admit that. She was still the only medic he would let near him, so getting his eyes checked by someone was not something he would consider. She looked up at him, her expression softening. She wanted to hug him again, but she knew that or even something so simple as thanking him for his decision could cause him to change his mind.

Sasuke didn't like the idea of people having an influence on him, no matter how big or small. She guessed he saw it as a weakness. She didn't see it clearly like that, instead, she saw it as his attempt to stop her worrying over him, a decision all his own. He probably thought all of it was 'annoying.'

"So tomorrow, do you want to meet us at the festival or do you want me to meet you and Naruto at your building? We'll probably go an hour before it gets dark just to see all the booths and everything." She was probably going to lose him at that.

"I'll meet you at the festival," he grumbled.

He said he didn't like surprises, so she might as well get the agenda for tomorrow out of the way. "After it gets dark we all get some food and drinks and come here to the training grounds. It's the perfect view of the fireworks and no one else is there so it's quiet and you don't have to fight with anyone to get a decent spot."

"Will you be staying for the full fireworks show?" he asked.

"Probably not. I mean, yeah I have tomorrow off from the hospital and I'm packing everything beforehand, but we're meeting at dawn and are going to have to run for a few hours. There are a few elite ninja in the group and I will not be the weak link in the chain."

She laughed slightly to push away the feeling of nostalgia. Always with team seven she had played _that_ role. She was always the one whose stamina ran out first, who needed protecting and was only good for whatever textbook knowledge she knew. She wouldn't let herself be put in that position again, no matter who she was with.

Sasuke shrugged. "Don't get yourself killed." That sounded a bit harsh, but it was his way of telling her to be careful. He did care whether or not she was alive, which made her smile.

"If you're meeting us there though, it won't be hard to find us. Naruto couldn't hide in a crowd if he tried," she said with a laugh.

"Hn."

Sakura looked back over to him, holding out the few kunai she had picked up for him. A smile coming over her as she walked next to him. He was actually going to go, and still that fact alone shocked her.

When they reached the end of the path, she debated on walking with him a little longer. This was usually where they parted ways, but like she had said, she didn't work tomorrow so she wasn't in any rush to be home. Then again, she wasn't going to force him to spend time with her.

"Well, I guess I'll let you get home. I'm gonna walk around for a little bit longer, I think."

Sasuke looked over at Sakura for a moment, pausing. "I'm not going home yet. He continued walking, going in the opposite way he usually went to get him, taking the direction she usually went instead.

First he was putting an end to her worry, because she knew he would lie about that, he had no reason to, but now he was voluntarily spending time with her. It was obvious Sasuke had changed. This was how she had always wished Sasuke would act when they were kids, and she never thought the day would come he would actually seem to tolerate her. She enjoyed it and she certainly wasn't going to complain anytime soon. When she fell into step beside him though, her attention reverted back to that comment about not getting killed.

"Sasuke, it's an easy mission. Chances are, we won't see one single enemy. We're just asking around about a few people who were spotted in the area."

She looked up at him and smiled but noticed that Sasuke still frowned. "Consider it a continuous demand then." In other words, he didn't want her to ever get herself killed and be gone forever.

Sakura shrugged as she shifted the textbook in her hands. " I can promise you that I won't get myself killed. I know you'd hate that, seeing as how you'd be left alone with Naruto and Kakashi. Plus, I don't want you to be mad at me cause you would have to go look for another med-nin. It would be such a hassel on your part."

Sure, she knew Sasuke would miss her if something happened, but honestly, she wasn't sure how much. She wasn't sure what she was to him besides his preferred medic and ex-teammate. Could he replace her... Wait.. she didn't want that question answered. There were plenty of girls who would kill to be in her shoes right now, walking next to Sasuke. Probability in question, one of them had to be someone he could get along with. She had a feeling that if she asked that question, she wouldn't like the answer to it.

"Hn." He looked over at her, and then looked away again with a sigh. He didn't normally sigh, which made her raise an eyebrow at him.

"I'll do everything I can to meet your demands. I'm sure you would get along perfectly fine without me though." She had said it so calmly, as if she had accepted the fact she could die easily.

She knew she could, and as much as she really didn't want to die, if it were to happen tomorrow, she could make peace with that. It had to happen sometime, and even though she wanted to put it off as long as possible, whatever was to happen was going to happen regardless of if she was prepared for it or not.

He looked over and glared at her. "No," was his only stubborn comment in reply to her mentioning him being fine without her. It was his usual one word answer and he didn't look like he planned on elaborating.

She couldn't help but look over at him and raise an eyebrow. What was he saying 'no' to? Him being fine without her? She doubted that. Him being stuck with her for a long time? Maybe. Probably. She wasn't going to jump to conclusions though and she certainly wasn't going to ask him about it.

"Hopefully you'll be stuck with me for a long time." She looked up at him as a small smirk crossed her face.

In that brief moment she was looking at him, she took that time to study him. He still had the same profile. A straight nose, a fine set jaw and lips locked in a consistantly emotionless state. He had grown though from boyish good looks to handsome sometime over the past two years. Even if most of the villagers were wary of him, she was sure he had to have a fan club running around here somewhere. There was always a band of Uchiha lovers on his heels.

Sasuke looked back quizzically. "What?"

All she did was shake her head, responding with a quiet "Nothing."

Sakura frowned, looking at him closely after a moment. "Hey Sasuke. So now that you're back in Konoha, what exactly do you want to do? Make ANBU, just do missions, teach? You could probably do whatever after your probation is up and you don't have much longer on that."

That had also been bugging her. He had said he had two goals when he was a kid. 1. Kill Itachi and 2. Restore his clan. He did one, but how in the world did he plan on doing the other?

He took a moment to think about her question. "I want to become ANBU." He frowned, still looking to be thinking. "I want to rebuild to Uchiha compound," he said after a moment.

Sakura had a very clear memory about when she had walked past the debris where the compound had stood after Pein's little episode. There was nothing left, but by the looks of it, no one was cleaning it what-so-ever. She went over there in her spare time occasionally to see if there was anything worth saving.

She had a small box of things like lanterns with the clan symbol on it that weren't beyond repair, a few scrolls she had yet to look through and small trinkets here and there. She had told herself it was to preserve a history, but now that Sasuke was back, she knew she couldn't lie to herself anymore. She had been saving it for him.

"Well, I dunno if this is something you feel you have to do by yourself or what-not, but if you want help rebuilding it..." She trailed off, figuring the rest was self-explanatory.

She was more than willing to help, she wanted to, and she was sure Naruto was the same. If her and Naruto were involved, it wouldn't be that hard to pull the rest of team seven, if not everyone else, into the construction crew.

Sakura wanted to be a part of rebuilding the compound. She could put her mark in the world, in Sasuke's world. There would always be that section of Konoha that might just remind him of her. It wasn't like she was trying to force herself into his thoughts in a romantic way, but just as a friend if not something.

Sasuek shook his head. "I want to do this myself."

Sakura had assumed as much, that he would want to rebuild it on his own. It was a pride thing that even she understood. It just made the place more meaningful when it was one's own hard work put in. Sasuke was probably one of the most prideful people she knew, and with his history, it was no wonder.

"But once I'm done building you can help. It will need decorating," he added.

She was surprised he even admitted that he would need it to be decorated. He wasn't asking for help, but simply asking her to take care of something he probably wanted absolutely nothing to do with. That alone brought a smile to her face, that he was trusting her with even the smallest of responsibilities.

She smiled at him. "Just let me know when you're finished building and I'll be there."

She kept smiling as she looked forward, wrapping her arms around the medical book that was pressed to her chest. "I have something for you though. I'll try and remember to bring it to you sometime tomorrow. I hope you don't get mad, but after the village was destroyed I went to the Uchiha district."

She paused as she stole a glance at him, trying to gauge just how thin the ice was with this subject. "I sorted through the debris and pulled out a few things that were still intact. I meant to go clean some of it up, but well, I wasn't in the village enough really."

She was quiet as she looked down, waiting for his mood to change from this stotic peace to anger. She knew she had been trespassing, but it seemed so wrong to just leave it all there in a pile of rubble.

Her words stopped the Uchiha in his tracks, a look of shock forming on his face.

Sakura felt everything within that moment shift sideways. She wasn't sure if he was about to lash out, or if he was going to turn around and just walk off without another word. Sakura had stopped with him, facing him slowly and just stood there, expecting a lot of things.

Yet he seemed to be full of surprises lately, because she didn't think he would just pipe out a question of curiosity. He seemed almost relieved that there was still something from the district. His home. She felt guilty for this not being the first thing that she brought up when she saw him in the hospital room nearly two months ago.

What did you find?" he asked quietly.

She couldn't imagine how sensitive the topic of family was to him. Hell, she could remember when he ripped her a new one when they were kids. That was probably one of the reasons he had hated her so much then. Family was one of the few things she couldn't see herself talking to Sasuke about.

"W-well..."

She paused as she cleared her throat once, trying to gain a stable foundation before she even began talking about his things.

"I found a few scrolls, a lantern with your clan's symbol on it.. Um. I know there is some clothes that I think would fit you, and a few other things. There is also a couple of photo albums. I don't know who they belong to though. I didn't look at them. If you want, it's all out my house. I think there is three boxes full. We can take it to your apartment so you can go through it." She smiled at him gently before reaching over and sliding her hand in his.

"There are pictures?" he asked, his attention completely focused on her.

He started walking again, though more slowly than before. He was deep in thought, partially in his own world. But then he glanced over at her.

"Thank you," he said, much in the very same way he'd said it when he left Konoha years before. Only this time he wasn't going anywhere, nor was he going to knock her out and leave her on a bench.

A tsunami of nostalgia crashed down on her when he told her thank you. She had only heard him say that once before, and that memory was raw enough in her mind that she chose not to think about it too often. Sakura could only look at him, curious if he realized what he had done to her, turning those two common words of gratitude into something that could freeze her. The only reason she had just merely faltered in her steps was that she kept reminding herself, this was a completely different situation.

"It didn't seem right to let it all just sit there. Sorry I couldn't get anymore, or clean it up some." She squeezed his hand lightly, hoping that tiny pit of pressure could be comforting to him before she let go, dropping her hand to her side.

"Hn. You did plenty."

She honestly didn't believe it, but he sounded satisfied with her efforts. Almost happy with them. It wasn't until after she had dropped her hand and they had began heading towards her house that the tension in her shoulders laxed and she could breathe normally again. Telling Sasuke that had made her so nervous, to the point where she couldn't even put one foot in front of the other correctly. Yet he seemed so calm about it all, despite the fact he was walking a bit quicker. She guessed he was probably just excited, if Sasuke could get excited, waiting to see whatever it was she had pulled out.

That was an entirely different boat though that left her reeling into another pool of anxiety. What if, when he saw it, he was left disappointed. She could of pulled everything else out worth saving that didn't belong to his immediate family. It had been hard to decipher which house had stood where, seeing as how she had only been to that district a few times when she was a child. The only reason she knew which house had belonged to Sasuke then was the fact she had been over her heels infatuated with him. She was pretty sure she got it right, but there was still that small chance.

"C'mon. My parents are asleep though so we'll have to be quiet."

Sasuke nodded. "Alright, let's go."

When they got back to her house, she pulled out her keys, unlocking the door before looking to Sasuke.

"Be sure to miss the third step from the top. Even though this house was just built it already creaks." Sakura gave a slightly annoyed look to the door before pushing it open and pushing the keys down in her pocket before heading to the stairs.

As she had told him, she walked up them with light steps, avoiding the third step from the top altogether and then went to the first door on the left, facing the street.

Her room was clean, almost an exact replica as it had been before the old home was destroyed. There was something different about it that she quite couldn't put her finger on, but she did everything she could to ignore it. Pushing the closet open, the medic reached in and pulled out three boxes decent sized boxes that were neatly taped up with Sasuke's name written in chicken scratch on the side, a side effect from being a medical ninja.

When Sakura took out the boxes, and then took them from her. He set then stacked up on the ground. She watched him as he cut open a box, obviously not being able to wait anymore. He opened it up, looking inside. As he looked inside, he seemed pleased with what he found, pulling out an old photo album.

It was in horrible condition, a corner missing off one side of the cover while the spine of it was holding on by a few shreds of glue. There was dents all over it and scratches, but when he opened it, Sakura could tell he didn't care. The look on his face changed completely to something much softer and she wondered if he even noticed. He never let anyone see this side of him. He looked so... vunerable. She must of found the right house. It was pictures of his family, him chasing after Itachi, his mother cooking while his father sat stoically at the table. It was what he had hoped for.

Sasuke looked up for a moment, his eyes connecting with Sakura's. "You can look too," he said.

It was almost as if time stood still for a moment when his eyes met hers. As corny as that was, it was just how she felt. She could count the times he had given her direct eye contact over the years on one hand, and each time it left her knees feeling a little weak and her alert system would just shut down. Sakura was sure he could read her mind, her suspicions confirmed when he gave her permission to look, going so far as even outstretching the book for her.

A smile came over her face, a grateful one as she walked around the boxes, standing next to him. Their shoulders were touching, but she highly doubted he cared as she looked down at the album. He was seeing his family again, and she couldn't think of anything that probably meant more to him than that. Hell, she was just glad she grabbed the right book.

Looking over the pictures, she couldn't help but smile brightly to herself. Sasuke looked so happy and he was so little and innocent. Their family looked like they were protected, like nothing bad could ever happen to them and it made her feel guilty. She knew it wouldn't last, the photos had to eventually stop somewhere. As she kept looking at the pictures though, she pushed the thought aside, letting out a soft laugh at Sasuke's younger self. Then she would see a family portrait and al those thoughts would come rushing back and it nearly made her want to cry. So much so, she had to take a step back, tears burning behind her eyes.

"C'mon, let's get these boxes to your place."

She took a deep breath, collecting herself before picking one of the boxes up and leaving the room, not even waiting for him. Sasuke put the album back where he'd gotten it and picked up the two remaining boxes. This time he hurried to keep up with her for once.

It wasn't until she was outside her front door that she finally stopped, the air filling her lungs once more. She wasn't going to cry in front of him, at least, not anymore.

He walked a few steps passed her before turning to look at her. "Are you coming?" he asked, peering at her curiously.

She had expected the Sasuke move of just going and if she came, she came. He wasn't usually the type to base his actions of anyone else. So when he stopped and asked her if she was coming, she just gave a small nod and hurried her steps to catch up with him before continuing walking in the direction of his apartment.

"I've had those boxes with me for a few months now. Besides putting them in there, I haven't really looked at anything," she said after a moment of walking.

It wasn't her place to for one thing. Those were Sasuke's things, and she knew his pet peeve about privacy. She wasn't going to overstep her boundaries with him, at least, not this time. He was letting her into his life, slowly but surely, and if she screwed it up and he pushed her away again, she wouldn't forgive herself. Hell, she had just gotten to the point where he didn't cringe at physical contact with her.

"Thank you though, for letting me look." She smiled up at him as she used her knee to push the box up and regain her grip.

He glanced over at her. "You can look at the rest some other time," he said nonchalantly.

She had saved anything and everything she thought might have meaning to Sasuke, even with the prospect of never being able to give it to him. So the boxes were fairly heavy. When she looked to Sasuke though, he didn't seem to be having a bit of problems hauling two of them around. He had gotten stronger, she knew he had gotten faster, and from a logical standpoint, she was sure everything else about him had improved on a shinobi base. He was always bettering himself.

It didn't take long to reach his apartment and Sakura was relieved to see that Naruto's lights were out and he was probably asleep. Sasuke leaned the boxes against the wall so he could have a hand free to get his keys from his pocket, then he unlocked the door, opening it and allowing Sakura to enter first.

"Go on in and set the box down wherever."

She went inside his apartment, setting the boxes down on the table. It looked just the same as when she had left it last. He hadn't moved a thing and that alone made her comfortable here. The part she was completely thrown for a loop about though was the fact that she _was_ comfortable here, in Sasuke Uchiha's apartment, alone with said man.

It was rare her and Sasuke were alone when missions weren't involved and she had never once been inside his old place when they were kids. She had just seen it from the doorway, tidy and neat.

Sasuke followed Sakura inside, flipping the light on and made sure that the boxed wouldn't fall over or something were they'd been set before turning his attention back to Sakura.

After setting it down she turned to Sasuke, taking the top box and setting it down next to the other before placing her hands on her hips as if she had just completed something magnificant. It was the first time she was letting herself feel proud that she had done something right with the Uchiha.

I'm sure you don't want me hovering around here while you go through this so I'll get out of your way."

"Hn."

She let out a light laugh, rubbing the back of her neck before feeling for her keys in her pocket. "You aren't going to bail on us tomorrow, right? I'd hate to have to come over here and drag your ass to the festival."

"I'll be there," he said, looking a little annoyed that she thought he'd bail after he'd already said he'd be there, causing Sakura to chuck at his apparent aggravation that she was quizzing him.

In all honestly, she wasn't sure she could believe he would be there until she saw it for herself. She knew Sasuke was the type of person to stick to his word, the completion of his first goal was proof enough of that, but she couldn't picture the brooding mess at a festival. Around people. Around people who were knowingly not so fond of him.

The Uchiha went back to the door to say goodbye. "Goodnight Sakura. See you tomorrow."

When he followed her to the door she stopped, turning back to face him and smiling gently. "Here's your warning."

She didn't say much else as she took a step towards him, hugging him tightly as if she had missed him or something of the sort. She stood there for a moment longer than she had for the last time she hugged him, having a small chance to listen to the rhythm of his heart and the sharp intakes of his breath. She was kind enough though to pull back after that, her expression softening.

"I'm glad you could have something back Sasuke. You deserve at least that much."

Turning away she only glanced back for a moment to give him another smile. "Goodnight Sasuke. I'll see you then."

She had just realized he said her name. That was rare in and all of itself. In fact, she couldn't recall him saying it once since he came back. It was always nice to hear the way it rolled off his tongue, almost as if it was a velvet tone.


	4. Watching

"Hey, Sasuke!" Sakura called out when she finally saw Sasuke, surprisingly late to the festival.

Sakura was standing next to Naruto and Hinata at a booth, a smile bright on her face, obviously in a good mood about something as she waved at him.

Naruto was quick to chime in with an "Oi, Bastard, over here!" before Sakura broke off from the other two and began weaving her way towards him through the crowds. She was laughing when she finally reached him, smoothing out the white kimono she was wearing, the crimson petals on it standing out brightly against the fabric.

"You're late. We're just about to go to the training grounds," she chided.

She let out a deep breath, slightly worn out from being drug around booth to booth all evening. After she had left Sasuke's last night, she had by no means, any intentions of going home. She couldn't count the hours she had spent just walking around before she finally went back to her house and climbed into her bed. She had paid the price though when Naruto came knocking at her door around ten in the morning granting her only a few precious hours of sleep. The dark circles under her eyes now were evidence enough of that.

"I was lost on the road of life," Sasuke said with an amused smirk. He was, or course, poking fun at Kakashi's ridiculous excuses for being late all the time, along with also avoiding admitting that he had overslept.

At Kakashi's famous excuse for why he was late, Sakura couldn't help but smile as she glanced back to Sasuke. "Sasuke Uchiha making a joke. The world is ending."

"I was beginning to worry about you. C'mon." Sakura was ignoring the other villager's stares as she reached out and took his hand, towing him in her wake as she began to make her way back towards Naruto and Hinata.

"I told you I was going to come," he said, looking annoyed that she didn't think he would be there.

She chuckled gently before looking back towards the booth, getting just two waters. "And I figured you would. I was just worried. It's not like you to be late to anything." She shrugged as she took the waters, paying for them before handing one out to Sasuke.

"I just got sidetracked," he said, being as vague as possible as he took the water that she offered.

When they reached them, she released his hand, instead pointing Naruto in the direction of the training grounds. "Go ahead and head over there. I'm just going to get a few things and then Sasuke and I will head that way."

Naruto seemed to be ready to argue, yet when Sakura's expression fell to nothing more than a raised eyebrow he fell into surrender, a pout crossing his face as he began mumbling things before leaving with Hinata.

She laughed. "That is how you shut him up. Woman's scorn."

Sakura glanced back to Sasuke, smiling softly as if she were relaxing now that the crowds were clearing out as people went to find their spots to watch the firework show.

The Uchiha raised a curious eyebrow. "Hn. I see."

He obviously would never be able to do that. Naruto would never listen to him in such a way.

He looked over at her. "What is it that you need to get?" he asked, referring to what she'd told Naruto.

"This is all I needed to get. You being late caused Naruto to talk a little bit more than usual. My mouth is as dry as can be from telling him to shut up so many times."

A quiet chuckle slipped past her lips as she took a drink before turning and slowly walking towards the training grounds, waiting for him to catch up.

"Why did my not being here cause Naruto to talk more?" Sasuke asked.

When he did she matched her steps to meet his, running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face before looking towards him. Obviously more relaxed now that things were winding down.

Naruto talked no matter the situation. If he was excited, he was going to talk just to see how fast he could get his mouth going.

"Naruto was just freaking out though asking where you were every five minutes, talking about how if you didn't show up he'd kick your ass. The usual stuff he can jabber on about relentlessly."

A sigh passed her lips. It had obviously taken it's toll on her. He'd been going since ten o'clock this morning.

Sakura smiled at him. "You look nice in a yukata. I don't think I've ever seen you wear one."

Sasuke looked down at his yukata. "I just picked something out. I had to buy it at the last minute."

She reached over, tugging at the fabric of his sleeve as if she were inspecting him. "It's probably a good thing you were late. You would of had girls all over you all night."

He rolled his eyes. "I'd had left if they were bugging me," he said, his voice clearly showing how annoying his thought it was.

A yawn passed her lips as she looked forward and took another drink, her grin shrinking down to a small smile. She knew Sasuke was by no means going to ever be more to her than a friend. She had accepted that, but she knew it would hurt to see him with anyone else, even if he didn't want the attention.

He noticed the yawned pass through her lips as he glanced over at her. "Tired?"

"Is it really that obvious I'm exhausted?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, it's obvious."

She let out a sigh, praying the topic change would stick as she reached up to rub her eyes, holding back another yawn. Sakura loved Naruto, she did, but sometimes she just wanted to beat the everliving out of him. "

Naruto thought it would be a good idea to wake me up early this morning to get breakfast. You'll never guess what he wanted." The sarcasm was practically dripping from every word with that underlying disdain.

Sasuke scowled. "Naruto is an idiot," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I'll probably leave a lot sooner than I had planned on." Sakura sighed.

Sasuke glanced at her. "Too bad." That was Sasuke speak for he would like her to stay longer than she planned.

Sakura glanced up at him and smiled gently. She stayed quiet all save the surprised 'hm' sound that escaped her throat when she turned to look forward again.

She couldn't understand Sasuke anymore, well, she could understand him, but not the mixed signals he was sending her. Was he saying too bad because his best friend was a ramen-obsessed idiot, or too bad because she was leaving earlier.

When they were kids, he would relish the idea of her not being around, but now, with everything that had happened, Sasuke seemed remotely at ease when she was around. She just didn't know anymore, and she was sure that if she asked, she wouldn't get a straight answer from him.

"So how did it go last night?" she asked.

She was obviously referring to the boxes. That was half the reason she had stayed up so late walking around. She was worried she had missed something, curious to his reaction to it all. He had seemed so content with just the photo albums, but she couldn't imagine his feelings towards everything else.

The dark haired boy paused for a moment night. "I looked through it all thoroughly. I can preserve and use most of it. The clothes used to be Itachi's."

She shrugged and looked up at him, but before she could comment on it, he mentioned the clothes. She immediately felt a pang of worry, and though Sasuke didn't seem upset with hit, she still couldn't help herself as she began apologizing.

"I'm sorry. I just grabbed them, not even thinking about who they could of belonged to," she said quietly

The last thing she wanted was for the subject to delve any deeper though. No matter what he said she was still going to feel the need to say sorry which would probably wind up just pissing him off at the least.

"You did the right thing," he said, not looking angry or even annoyed.

When they reached the training grounds, they didn't have to walk too far before they reached everyone. It was just their generation of ninja's there along with a few other people who seemed to of discovered the spot. There was still plenty of open ground though that they could all spread out if they really wanted to.

Sasuke was assaulted with greetings from everyone, precipitated by Naruto spotting him and shouting at him. He merely gave him a nod in acknowledgement before proceeded to ignore him.

Sakura had already told everyone she was sitting at the back, as to make a quick exit when she needed, so she didn't bother making her presence known when she took a seat a good ways away from everyone. Plus, she was sure Sasuke would sit with her, and it was kind of nice being some-what alone with him.

Sasuke gave a quick greeting to the others before going to take his seat in the back next to Sakura. He didn't look like he was in much of a social mood, as usual. She obviously had her reasons, though she couldn't say the same for him. He was probably just relieved not to be sitting in the middle of Kiba and Naruto trying to beat the living hell out of each other.

The firework festival was always her favorite every year. It was a time when everyone would quiet down and just enjoy something beautiful. There was no pressure to find gifts, or find something to wear or even get a date. All you had to do was wait for it to get dark and then look up. Anyone could enjoy it and it was the same show for everyone. She knew it was silly, but something about that equal ground just gave her comfort.

It was only a few seconds after he was seated that the fireworks started, the loud booms echoing in the night air. The Uchiha leaned back, looking up at the bright lights that scattered across the sky. Sakura smiled, set her bottle of water next to her and followed suit but instead, lying down completely.

They were on a hill so it wasn't like it was a strain to see the light explosions. Sasuke seemed at ease, for once just relaxing. She doubted there was anything strenuous on his mind, well, she assumed there wasn't judging by the expression on his face. The only other time she had seen him look so peaceful was in the hospital room when he was asleep.

She forced herself to look away from him and back up at the sky. She could only imagine what Ino was going to say to her the second she set foot back in the village after the mission. No one knew about Sasuke's midnight training sessions or the fact that she went to them. No one knew how much time they had been spending together or anything of the sorts.

She was sure Ino could tell that Sakura had forgiven him for the whole, trying to kill her incident judging by the fact at how casual they were around each other. Also, Sasuke wasn't acting like she was the bane of his existence anymore, so Ino was going to more than likely jump to some conclusion. She just didn't have any earthly idea what she would tell the blond. Hell, Sakura didn't know what was going on between them besides the fact that maybe she was becoming something of a friend to Sasuke. Hell if she knew.

Every year the fireworks show lasted for an hour and a half. It was the perfect length, too. About as long as a movie, people wouldn't start getting antsy. They wouldn't get bored because of all of the different firework options and it wasn't so unbelievably loud that you couldn't talk. The booths provided refreshments and the like so in part, it was a reliable entertainment option. Plus, as much as this didn't relate to Sakura's current situation, it did have a romantic touch to all of it.

She wouldn't object to it, she still was in love with Sasuke yes, but she knew it wouldn't ever happen. It was just really accepting that fact that was putting the brakes on her dating life. It would take a lot to get over him, if she ever could. Hell, he had tried to kill her and everyone she cared about, he had even gone temporarily insane and she still loved him with all of her heart. Maybe he the emotionally screwed up one. She had been the one to fall in love with a guy whose plan once was to completely massacre an entire village.

Sakura knew that he was different now. She believed he wasn't going to eventually snap, though his glares still gave her goose bumps just at the mere memory of what had happened.

She knew Sasuke wasn't a threat to Konoha anymore and honestly, here he was at a social gathering. Of course he had changed. But his opinion on romance of any kind was still there. She just had to get over the fact that he would never see her as anything more than a friend if that.

It was only fourty-five minutes into the show that she felt herself fighting to stay awake. She pushed herself to sit up, covering a yawn with the back of her hand before taking a drink of water and looking to Sasuke.

"I think I'm going to head home. I can barely stay awake as is," she said to him.

She smiled at him before pushing herself to stand up, wiping the grass off the kimono and stretching. She was going to pass out the second she got home.

"I'll go too," he said, standing up as well and brushing the grass off of his kimono in the process.

When Sasuke agreed to go with her too, she just smiled and made her way towards the others. He walked with her, not going at a particularly fast pace.

Luckily, Ino was towards the back of the group, so she didn't have to fight to get to the girl. She bent down and told her that both her and Sasuke were heading out, only to get a look back in return. Before the blond could say anything though, Sakura was standing up and waving at her as she made her way back to the Uchiha. On their way back, she kept looking up, catching a few sprays of the firework through the breaks in the trees.

Once they were a little farther away where it would be easier to hear he turned to her. "How long is your mission supposed to last?"

"Well, we're leaving in the morning. It takes about four hours to get there and then we're just looking for leads. The maximum time we're staying though is two nights. So if anything I'll be gone from two to three days."

Sasuke merely nodded, not speaking.

She shrugged and looked back ahead and away from the fireworks. She yawned again, and she was suddenly mentally cursing herself for waiting so long before she left. Her house was at least ten minutes away and from her point of view, it was going to be the longest walk of her life.

"So, did you like it?" She motioned up towards the fireworks to point out what she was talking about.

Sasuke too looked up. "Yes, they were nice," he said calmly.

She knew he used to like them, but it had been years since he last saw one and she knew people's likes changed over time.

She smiled softly. "I hate that I can't stay for the entire thing."

"Hn. It's better to leave before the crowd anyways," he said with a shrug.

Sasuke glanced at her calmly. "I'm getting up early in the morning to start rebuilding the Uchiha district."

She looked over at him and smiled. She knew it was something he had to do on his own, she understood why even, but she wanted to help him. The least she could do though was walk by every few hours to make sure he was taking breaks and not wearing himself out. It was going to do him good though, if he did this on his own. The feeling he was going to get after he finished would probably be great and it would help establish himself in the village.

When she saw the point in their path where they were going to start going seperate ways, Sakura felt a sigh overcome her. Sure, she was exhausted, but she had been finding that she was enjoying these walks more and more with Sasuke and in fact, they were becoming one of her favorite things to do.

Sure they might not always talk, but when they did she'd learn things about him and when it was just silence, it wasn't uncomfortable. That alone was one of the main reasons she always went back to his training sessions. She wasn't afraid to spend time with him alone, at least, not anymore. He had changed, and she couldn't get enough of trying to figure out what exactly was different about him.

"I know that you can take care of yourself, but I'm obligated to say this. Please make sure you get enough rest, okay?" she asked.

"Hn," was his only answer.

She looked up at him and smiled before slowing to a stop as they got to that point in the walk. "So I guess I'll see you in a few days. Don't kill Naruto while I'm gone."

"I won't kill him. Goodnight Sakura. See you when you get back," he said, beginning to head in the direction towards his apartment once more.

"Goodnight."

She waved at him before turning and heading in the direction of her house. Even if it was only a few days, she knew she was going to miss him. Besides him going A.W.O.L. when he left Konoha, she had never been that far from him really. They were always in the same village together, same missions, so on and so forth.

Sure she had missed him when he was gone, but this was different. She knew where he was, that he was safe, and that she'd see him soon. This time, it didn't hurt to think about him. She was going to miss him the same way she missed Naruto, Ino and everyone else. Well, maybe not the same way.

When she got home, she went straight up to her room, pulling off pieces of the kimono she wore along the way. By the time she was up to her room, she just grabbed the hanger she had and began hanging it up before pushing it in the closet. Sakura took a quick glance to her bag that she had packed for the mission and then set her alarm before collapsing in her bed. She was out within the minute.

* * *

The mission had been one of those that everything that could have gone wrong, decided to go wrong. First off, she spent half the morning tracking down teammates who were late. One of them was sick while the other was trying to find a replacement for the said teammate. So to start things off, they left the village late.

When they were about halfway there it started raining so everyone got soaked to the bone and when they finally did reach the village, apparently there had been a miscommunication because not one single guard at the front gates knew of their arrival. The village had gone in an uproar thinking that Konoha was attacking them and the team nearly got arrested.

That was just the first four hours.

The rest of they day had been uneventful save the idiot who tried to steal her money and also the ninja assigned to giving them a tour around the village had an obvious crush on her. Even though he was nice, and fairly good looking for that matter, about the third time he asked her on a date she was about ready to rip her hair out.

Nothing else happened until the third day, when they were taking one last scouting trip around the village before leaving. They were ambushed by the ninja they were tracking himself. He had apparently found some followers to, the odds being five against four. It looked like they were going to lose, too, that was until Ronan, their 'tour guide' came in for back-up.

Sakura had nearly exhausted all her chakra by the time she got everyone, including herself, in means fit to travel. Everyone was left with plenty cuts and bruises but she had the most out of everyone. The only thing she had bothered with was the gash that had been across her abdomen, it had been the only true threat to her health, but by the time she was finished with everyone else, she could hardly stand.

The medic barely remembered getting back to the village as she clung to whoever was carrying her or even being brought to the hospital. All she needed was sleep and maybe a small touch-up on healing and she'd be fine. The last thing she remembered though was someone putting her in a hospital bed and then she was out.

The next thing she remembered was being sort of awake and she could barely register the fact something, or rather someone, was touching her hand. Whoever it was, their hand was warm, but calloused like her own, which gave her the impression it was one of her friends, not her parents.

She wanted to give into the sleep, just allow herself to slip into a dreamlike state and not wake up again for hours on end. There was something stopping her though, a nagging feeling that she needed to know whoever it was touching her. All she had to do was open her eyes for a split second, look over and then she could go back to sleep.

With a deep breath she forced her eyes to open, the room blurry in a disarray of pale greens and white as she looked over to her left to see the outline of someone in the chair next to her bed. It took a moment before her vision focused enough for her to realize that it was Sasuke.

All she could do though was turn the hand he was holding over so that her palm met his and wrapped her fingers around his hand. She didn't want to talk to him right now because she knew that if she had a conversation with him, A. she could be trusted with what would come out of her mouth and B. she probably wouldn't remember jack squat. So instead, she held onto his hand and turned on her side where she was facing him before letting herself fall back to sleep.

She was out for a good six or seven hours before she woke up again around three in the morning.

Sakura was groggy as she started waking up, her first registered thought was the fact her hand was still wrapped around someone else's. She doubted it was Sasuke's, but when she heard his voice say her name quietly, she forced herself to open her eyes and focus, taking only just a moment to get used to the darkness in the room.

"Sakura?" she heard his quiet voice once again.

When she looked over at him, she just gave him a blank expression, slightly shocked he had stayed with her and even more so that he was still holding her hand. When that moment passed she just gave his hand a light squeeze, as if to see if she were going completely insane.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

She rolled onto her back, still holding onto his hand as she used the free one to place it on her forehead, her head pounding. She felt like she had been beaten within an inch of her life, by the bruises on her body, it probably wasn't that far off either. She knew it was just chakra exhaustion, but it felt like the hangover from hell.

"Since this afternoon," he said, assuring her that it had been only hours that she'd been asleep, not days.

It wasn't until she dropped her hand that she reached over and grabbed the bedside clock, holding it in the light coming from the hallway to see it read three thirteen.

"Sasuke, I'm so sorry."

She bolted to a sitting up position, regretting it when she felt the world spin, finally letting go of his hand to steady herself as she dropped the clock in her lap to place her hand on her head.

"You didn't have to stay here with me, you must be exhausted," she said, pain seeping into her voice.

"You should be more careful," he said, looking a little annoyed but not angry.

Sasuke frowned and picked up the clock, placing it back on the nightstand.

She took a few deep breaths before looking over at him, giving him a confused look. "Don't take this the wrong way, trust me, I'm glad you're here, but... Why did you stay?"

That wasn't a farfetched question, she would have expected this of Naruto or her parents, maybe Kakashi even, but the last person she thought she would have ever seen was Sasuke.

"You said the mission wouldn't be very dangerous," he answered with a frown.

A sigh escaped her when she laid back down, closing her eyes as she listened to his answer, if that could even be called an answer. He was just scolding her, but for some reason, she didn't take it to heart.

He wouldn't have waited apparently all afternoon and the majority of the night just to remind her of what she had said about the mission. But then again, it wasn't her fault they were ambushed. She just couldn't bring herself to fight with him though.

"It wasn't supposed to be. We were ambushed by the guy we were tracking and he had the upper hand. It nearly depleted all my chakra just trying to get everyone to the point where they could travel safely."

Sasuke frowned. Next time don't get hurt," he said stubbornly, still refusing to acknowledge that it couldn't have been helped.

She looked over at him, sitting up but much slower this time as she brought her legs over the side of the bed and sat there. She stared at him for what felt like forever smiling gently at him. "Thank you, for staying. I'm sorry."

When she really thought about it, the only explaination was that he was worried about her. At least that meant he considered her somewhat of a friend.

Reaching out she used the arm of his chair to balance herself as she stood up. Sakura had no problems with hospitals, but she worked in one, spent the majority of her time here. The last thing she wanted to do was sleep here if she didn't have to. All she would have to do was take the next few days off and rest before she'd be good as new.

"You are not walking home. You have two choices. Spend the night here or let me carry you home." He sent her a glare to let her know that he was serious. With the state she was in he could easily force her to stay.


	5. Kissing

Sakura looked up at Sasuke, surprised at his offer. Those choices weren't particularly ones she favored though. Sure she had no qualms with him carrying her, but it would have to wait until after they were out of the hospital.

Also, she couldn't go home tonight, not looking like this at least or in the middle of the night. If she did, her parents would wake her up at the crack of dawn grilling her with questions about every detail that happened and how exactly she wound up in the hospial.

"Well, I didn't plan on going home. I really don't want to explain this all to my parents. Would you mind if I slept on your couch tonight? I'll leave first thing when I wake up, and I'll even let you carry me there. I have to walk out of the hospital by myself though, or they won't let me go," she explained, hoping he would accept.

Sakura frowned before reaching for her chart, using her pen to write 'discharged' across it along with a short note explaining she'd do the papers next time she was at work.

Taking a deep breath she looked back over to Sasuke, a gentle smile on her face. "Really all you have to do right now is help me walk to the elevator."

Sasuke looked curiously at her for a moment, appearing to be mulling it over.

"I'll take the couch. The injured person gets the bed," he said, referring to her.

By the look he gave her, she wasn't going to argue with him about the whole, bed and couch issue. She could maybe convince him later to switch spots with her, but right now it was obvious he wasn't going to talk about it.

At least Sasuke was a gentleman of sorts, or had decent manners on guests. Either way, she was surprised at how... Nice he was being. Holding her hand all night had been a surprise, offering to carry her home had been a stretch, but now he was agreeing to let her stay at his place. This couldn't have been real, but the pain simmering in her joints said otherwise.

He sent her a serious look to indicate that it was not up for discussion if she wanted to stay at his place. "Fine, let's get going then," he said, finally releasing her wrist.

He stepped beside her, probably in case she would lost her balance while she was walking and needed to lean on him.

She smiled at him before slipping on her shoes and started walking towards the door. "Thank you."

There was no one in the hallway and Sakura was thankful for that, not really wanting to explain to anyone why she was leaving. It wasn't until they got to the elevator though and the doors were closed that she slumped down against the wall. She barely stole a glance at Sasuke before the bell gave a short 'ding' to show they were arriving at the first floor, a sigh escaping her as she pushed herself up and started walking.

It was a slow day in the hospital and save the few people asking how she was doing or saying hi, pretty much everyone else was going about their business and ignoring her and paying a bit more attention to the person walking next to her. Sasuke. Sasuke glared on passed, not even really noticing anymore and looking completely unfazed.

That caused her to hurry her steps, sending a few of her own glares here and there to people who were a little too blunt with the stares. When they finally got outside she motioned for Sasuke to keep going until they were at the wall that surrounded the hosptial, blocking their view from mostly everyone inside the building.

She wasn't going to embarrass him, nor was she about to have anyone asking her questions why Sasuke Uchiha was carrying her... anywhere. It wasn't their business and the last thing that Sasuke needed was rumors they had something going on. He'd kill her for sure over that.

Once they were in a safe area he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to give her support. Then in one swift movement, Sasuke put his free arm under her legs and picked her up in his arms, causing her to gasp. She had expected him to do something along the lines of a piggy-back ride, yet when he, for the lack of a better word, scooped her up, it was safe to say she was a bit shocked.

Her only real reaction though was putting an arm around his shoulders and resting her head against her upper arm. She couldn't bring herself to much care about however they got back to his apartment or even bother to hide the faint blush on her cheeks.

She was aware enough to feel his hand at the crook of her knees or his fingers brushing up against her arm at her waist. If she wasn't so tired though, she'd probably be nervous as all get-out. Right now she just didn't care what-so-ever.

"Hold on," he said, sprinting off at full speed. He decided to take the rooftops to reach his apartment complex.

When Sasuke had come back, she had known she still loved him, even if that love was a pipe dream from her childhood. She thought though, that she hadn't loved him in the same way. She had believed with every fiber of her being that she loved him the same way she loved Naruto, just a friend who she'd do anything for. It was only a little awkward seeing as what she and Naruto had gone through for him and he didn't seem technically grateful for it. She wasn't sure she'd feel about him in the same way she had as when she was a kid.

But then that bastard had to go and be nice. She could remember talking to Naruto about him, Just a few days ago actually. She talked about how he had changed, Naruto talked about how he was still a little sensitive about things, but he could see the changes too.

She figured Sasuke's conversations with Naruto were much different than the ones between herself and him. Naruto was his best friend.. She was just, well, she still didn't have a freaking clue what she was to him.

They arrived at his apartment and managed to open the door after taking a minute to figure out how to get the keys out of his pocket without dropping the pink haired girl. But he eventually got it and was able to open the door and enter, pushing it closed with his foot afterwards. He didn't set her down until they were just outside his bedroom. Then he set her feet down on the floor, giving her a moment to make sure she wouldn't fall over before he let go.

His apartment was still nice and clean with content of the boxes she'd given him the only semblance of a mess that could be seen. Even his bedroom was without mess. All the clothes were neatly hung and the bed was made.

"The bed's in there," he said, pointing into his bedroom.

"Sasuke, I'll take the couch, you don't have to."

Next Sasuke set himself to gathering up a pillow and blanket so he could sleep on the couch. He grabbed the extras he had from his closet and tossed them over onto the couch in the living room. She made her way over to the couch, a little more awake now that she was trying to balance herself.

Sakura glanced to Sasuke's bedroom before following him to the couch and laying a blanket down over the cushions. She knew this was going to piss him off that she was being stubborn, but she wasn't about to take his bed when she asked if she could stay here. As tired as she was and as much as she didn't want to argue, she wouldn't feel right, as if she were overstepping her boundaries.

"Please," she mumbled.

Sasuke frowned and crossed his arms. "Fine, do what you want."

Sakura stole a glance at him, expecting to see a heated glare or anything of the sorts. She only made it to his shoulders before she lost her nerved and looked back down to what she was doing, tucking in the edges of the blanket and tossing a pillow on one of armrests.

She felt a wave of nausea come over her before she slumped down on the couch, placing a hand to her forehead as she leaned her head back.

Sakura sighed. "Can I just have a glass of water though?"

"Hn," he said, leaving to get her a glad of water from the kitchen.

He returned a minute later with a glass of ice water and handed it to her. He was still sulking though, along with frowning.

"Sasuke, don't be mad." She looked up at him as she took the water, meeting his frown with one of her own. If they had switched roles, he'd be doing the same thing. It didn't matter that he was trying to be a good guy or that she had just gotten out of the hospital.

She had asked to stay here, she wasn't about to take over his bed when she was invading his space. Her parents had always been a stickler for manners, and she just assumed that this fit into that category. The only way she was going into that bed was if he dragged her in there, cause she didn't see herself moving on her own will another inch tonight.

"I asked to stay here so I should have to sleep on the couch. It's not a big deal to me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm not mad," he said stubbornly.

She sunk back down in the seat before taking a drink of the water, setting it on the end table afterwords.

"Anything else?" he asked, still sounding annoyed.

She glanced back up at him and she could only shake her head, inwardly wincing at how annoyed he sounded. Sakura had to remind herself that if he had a problem with her being here, he would of outright said 'no' to her staying. He could have just taken her home instead and left her more in an aggravated state of disappointment than nothing else. She would have forgiven him for it in a day or two anyways.

"Goodnight. Get some sleep," he said before leaving the room without another word, going into his bedroom.

Sakura could only let out a sigh as she pulled the other blanket off the back of the couch and covered up with it. He may have said he wasn't mad, but he certainly wasn't happy with her.

She honestly couldn't bring herself to worry about the issue as she buried her face into the pillow. It smelt like Sasuke, and she honestly didn't know how to explain it. He had a unique smell just like everyone else, but he was one of those people that you just couldn't describe it. All Sakura knew was that she liked it.

She couldn't remember when she fell asleep, but all she remembered was continuously waking up throughout the night. Once around three fourty-five, another time after four, again at five and then right before six. She must of been having a bad dream, but she couldn't remember exactly what it was. All she knew was that whatever it may be, it kept waking her up with a light cold sweat and her breathing would be labored.

That last time she woke up, she took that time to look around his apartment, giving a faint smile. He really hadn't moved anything from where she had put it. She felt so comfortable here, like it was her own apartment or something of the sorts. The thought of leaving at that moment never even crossed her mind. Rolling over on her side to face the apartment she held back one last yawn before going back to sleep.

* * *

Sasuke was always an early riser. Sakura remembered that from when they were younger. It was shortly after dawn when he woke up. Yawning, Sasuke left his room and headed to the bathroom, still in a daze and half asleep.

The sound of a shower running was what woke Sakura up for the final time. Sasuke's apartment was quiet, even with Naruto living one floor directly beneath him, but every little sound woke her up. She'd given up though on trying to sleep, not when the sun was rising at least.

She was usually up a good while before this, either having to go to the hospital early or taking a run around the village. Occasionally she would throw a full blown-out training session in the mix, but in most cases she saved those for mid-day, even if it was the hottest time of the day.

She had to force herself to sit up, pushing the blanket back and making the move to stand. She could have stayed on the couch all day, and if it had been her house, she would have. Sakura had a hunch though that Sasuke wouldn't want her around, not after last night at least. He had been annoyed with her and probably would be even more so if she was still here by the time people started to leave to go to work.

They probably dodged anyone that had been out and about last night, but it would be her luck to be seen walking out of Sasuke's apartment this early in the morning. She felt bad just leaving though, the least she could do was make breakfast for him.

Her body felt heavy, but she wasn't near as exhausted as she was a few hours ago. She just felt like she was dragging was all, but she could push that thought aside.

Picking up the blankets she had used she folded them neatly and placed them on the coffee table with the pillow resting on top before heading over to the kitchen. Opening the door she wasn't surprised to see the amount of tomatoes in there. Sasuke really did have an issue with the red fruit she would never understand.

Sighing she reached in and grabbed one along with three eggs, going through the motions of cutting the tomato up and mixing it in with the eggs. The final product wound up being an omelet, and a misshapen one at that. Sakura could cook decently, and more often than not it all tasted good but never could she make a dish look pretty. She could only frown at the folded egg before setting it on the counter along on a plate before turning to the sink where she began washing dishes.

She nearly cursed though when she heard Sasuke coming into the kitchen.

Sakura smiled at him. "Good morning. Sorry I'm not gone yet, I figured I should clean up though."

He shrugged. "I don't care when you leave," he said nonchalantly. He honestly didn't care.

Sasuke looked at what Sakura was doing, his eyes pausing as he noticed tomatoes, his favorite food. She glanced over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow at Sasuke.

"You made breakfast?" he asked, looking awake and fresh from his shower.

She had apparently surprised him, his rhetorical question and expression proving that fact. What Sakura couldn't figure out was why he was surprised. It wasn't like she had never cooked for him before. She would of done it regardless of who she was staying with too.

"Just a way to say thank you."

He picked up the plate with the omlette and a fork and started to eat. He didn't bother sitting down at the table, probably because he didn't plan on staying long.

"I might go back to sleep then, if you really don't mind. I know my parents care and all, but their lectures on me needing a new job are a little much to take sometimes."

The memory of when Sasuke flat out told her off when they were kids came rushing back to her, that first day out of the academy when they were put in teams. She'd been complaining about her parents and it had obviously struck a chord with him. She knew better now, but still, nagging was nagging no matter who it came from and she didn't want to deal with it right now.

She smiled at him, the expression short lived as she was rudely reminded of what she was cleaning, the knife she had used to cut the tomatoes cutting her palm.

"Damn it," she exclaimed.

A sharp breath passed her lips as she switched the water to cold, running her hand under it to wash the blood away. It wasn't deep, but it still stung like hell. Her pain tolerance was high, just like any other person in their profession, but even things like cutting yourself with a knife or getting a simple papercut still hurt. There wasn't an adrenaline rush to counter act the pain, an annoyance she wished she could do without.

Sasuke looked up when he heard her curse and saw her washing the blood away from her hand. "You shouldn't be so careless," he said as he watched her.

She frowned. That was definitely something he'd say in these types of situations. Not an 'are you okay?' or something along those lines. No, he had to tell her not to be so careless. He was right though, she hadn't been paying attention to what she was doing, so really, what could she say back to him. Maybe he had reached his quota on being nice to people for the next couple of years. Hah, that wouldn't surprise her in the least bit. That was just Sasuke for you.

After she recleaned the knife and set it down next to the pan she had used, reaching for a paper towel and pushing it in her palm she began to rethink the decision to leave so early. He had said she could stay for as long as she wanted. Or rather, he said it in his weird and slightly insulting way of speaking. She could use another few hours of sleep to be honest and she still wasn't ready for the onslaught of questions her parents were sure to have.

She turned with her back to the counter, leaning against it as she looked down at her hand whileSasuke set the plate down and left the room for a moment, returning with bandages in his hands.

"Go back to sleep then. If I'm out when you wake up then lock the door when you leave," he said, taking her hand and shooting her a glare to tell her not to complain about him bandaging her up.

She was about to take the first aid kit from him, before he told her to lock up when she left and then took her hand without even thinking to let her do it herself. Sure it was easier if he did it, it even made since for him to do it, but he had proved her wrong again. Here he was, being nice to her and taking care of her... Again. The blush that crossed her cheeks was light, but it would be stupid of her to think he couldn't see it.

He moved the papertowel and looked at it. It wasn't big enough to need wrapping, a simple band-aid would do. He opened up the band-aid wrapper and stuck it on over the cut. It was kind of ironic, him bandaging her up for once instead of the other way around, even if it was just a tiny cut.

"Thank you," she said softly.

She watched as he put the band-aid on it, smiling softly at it. She couldn't remember the last time it had been someone bandaging her up besides herself. It was nice, and even nicer that it was Sasuke doing it.

When she braved looking up at him, she hadn't realized how close they were standing, but she was very aware of the fact she hadn't pulled her hand away just yet.

"Hn." He looked down and then back up at her.

"And I don't mean for just this or the past few days. I mean it for everything." She meant it for him coming back, staying here, spending time with Naruto, with her, taking care of himself and so on and so forth. Just, everything. "It means a lot to me."

Then there was a moment that seemed to move time so fast she couldn't even move. He leaned forward and his lips brushed against hers in a very light and very short kiss. He realized what he had just done and quickly released her hand and took a few steps back to put some distance between them. It hadn't lasted long, Hell, Sakura wasn't even sure how it happened.

"I have to go. I need to work on the Uchiha district some more," he said, keeping his voice at its usual tone as if nothing had happened.

He exited the room without giving her a chance to say anything, going into his bedroom to change into his training clothes.

One moment she was looking up at him, the next he leaned in, and now he was in his bedroom.

There was only one thought replaying over and over again in her mind. "What in the hell just happened?" She whispered to herself as she reached up to her lips and her eyes slowly fell to the door he had disappeared to.

Sasuke didn't kiss people, at least, not voluntarily. So really, what was she supposed to do right now? Follow him and confront him about it? Leave? Pretend nothing had happened? She wanted to do that first option.

She really couldn't go home now with this on her mind, and she was sure Sasuke would want that last choice. Maybe she could compromise... Then again, this was Sasuke she was talking about. Sure he had done the unimaginable and kissed her, but it had been so short and he had bolted like she was a plague.

Sighing she finally got ahold of herself enough that she pushed away from the counter, making her way to his bedroom door. Might as well figure out where he stood in all of this. God only knew what was going on in his head right now. Lifting up her hand she gave a light knock.

Sasuke frowned as he opened the door, looking reluctant.

"What?"

She wasn't entirely sure how to react. She wasn't stupid, she knew he'd say something along those lines, he more than likely didn't want to talk about it, but still, there was a big difference between thinking it would happen and it actually happening. She wasn't sure if she was mad he was ignoring it, hurt, or just plain relieved. Because honestly, she didn't know what she would say to him either.

"You really have to say 'what'?" Sakura questioned.

She raised an eyebrow at him before crossing her arms. She wasn't angry yet, she wasn't even sure if she was going to talk to him about it right now, but she wasn't exactly happy with him playing Mr. Forgetful either. He had kissed her, not the other way around so he couldn't be the one in denial right now. She didn't give a damn if he got annoyed with this, he had dug his own grave.

Before she spoke again, she stopped to think about it and took in his point of view. Sasuke had been under a lot of stress lately, anyone in his situation would be. She couldn't blame him for doing irrational things. She had told herself she could compromise on this. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it now, the least she could do was give him awhile to accept it all and figure out whatever the hell had been going through his head be it good or bad.

Only a sigh escaped her before she took a step back to get out of his way.

"Sasuke, look. I'm just going to go back to sleep. I can do that here or at my house." Though she probably wouldn't get any sleep there.

"Hn," he grumbled that one syllable.

"Can I stay here for a while or do you want me to go? You won't hurt my feelings if you'd rather me leave."

"I already said you can stay here. I have of work to do. See you tonight," he said nonchalantly, as if nothing had changed.

He was moving too fast. Sakura didn't even have a chance to react, barely had a chance to notice he'd changed into training clothes.

He left his room, heading for the front door. "Go back to sleep," he said before leaving, getting out of there as fast as he could.

Sakura was left giving a dumbfounded look to Sasuke's front door after he left. She didn't have a damn clue what had just happened and she had been here for all of it. Everything had been so fast and she had been caught so off guard, it was a miracle she still wasn't leaning up against the counter with her jaw hanging open like a fish.

The only thing that really pissed her off about it all though was that Sasuke didn't even give her a chance to do anything, to say anything. The kiss had happened before she could react and he was gone before she could even put a sentence together that briefly even scratched what she was feeling. She wanted to beat the living hell out of him, but then again, even with the rush going through her, her body was still fighting to just stand.

She frowned before turning to his room and walking inside of it. Again, everything was in the same place as she had arranged it, even the bed was in the same place. She slowly climbed into it, pulling the covers over herself and relaxing into the warmth. The bed smelt like Sasuke way more than the pillow from last night had, it was comforting even though she was still angry with him, or rather, frustrated was a better word.

She wasn't mad, nowhere near it actually, but still, he had kissed her and then skipped out. At least she was still invited to go to his training session. She could grill him all she wanted then.

She rolled on her back, bringing her hand up to look at the band-aid across her palm, a gentle smile coming across her features as she ran the fingertips of her other hand over it. Sure there were times where he was an idiotic jerk, like before, but he could also be nice at times.

He could make her feel like she was important because he treated her differently than every other girl. Plus, she was the only girl in Konoha to say she had kissed him, that was a big plus. Ino would throw a fit whenever she found out, though that wouldn't be for a good while Sakura was sure.

Dropping her hand, the medic rolled back onto her side, her breath slowing as she relaxed a little more. She'd deal with this more when she wasn't as tired, when she could think rationally. Because right now, the only plan she could come up with was to be the one to kiss him first next time she saw him and see how he reacted.

She could lose Sasuke as a friend acting like that, but it was either that or talk to him. She had clearly gotten nowhere with the talking, so maybe being irrational was the way to go. Pushing the hair out of her face she just let out another sigh before burying her face in his pillow and trying to get at least a few more hours sleep.

* * *

She woke up in the early afternoon and it was the first time she had felt somewhat back to normal. Sure she was still tired, but at least she wasn't on the verge of collapsing anymore after taking three steps. After Sakura had gotten up, she made up his bed and put on her shoes, making sure everything else was in order before leaving, locking the door behind her as he asked.

The only time she had stopped was when she was in the kitchen stealing a glass of water as she stared at the spot where she had been leaning. Maybe she had just drempt it all or something of the sorts. Sasuke Uchiha didn't kiss people, especially when that 'people' was her.

The rest of her day was fairly uneventful. She went home, thankful her parents were out and took a quick shower and changed clothes. She left a note telling them she was alright and she'd see them in the morning. She visited Ino, was asked a million and one questions about Sasuke, but never once could Sakura bring herself to say anything about the morning.. incident.

She doubted that if Sasuke had ran out on her so quickly that he wanted her telling anyone about it, especially the gossip queen of Konoha. All she said was that the reason they were so comfortable around each other was because she had spent a lot of time with him recently as his doctor, making sure everything healed right.

When night finally rolled around she made her way to the training grounds. Sasuke was already into his routine, going about his business and completely ignoring her.

She had brought a book with her, but as much as she was pretending to read, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. Her initial plan had been to walk up and kiss him, to see how he reacted, but he was still avoiding even so much as looking at her, so that couldn't be a great plan.

Sakura's next idea had been to interrogate him about it, but pestering that boy would get her nowhere. She made the excuse for him that since they had been spending so much time together lately that he had just been relieved she was okay and he got caught up in the moment. He meant nothing by it besides he was glad she was alright and that was that.

She didn't like that excuse, but at least if she needed to give him anything that they could at least still be in each other's lives, she'd say that. She'd give anything if that kiss meant something to Sasuke, but that was a pipe dream that would get her nowhere. She'd just have to suffer through it and pretend that it meant nothing to her either.

As he summed up his training, she stood, watching as he made his way over to his supplies and followed suit.

"Hey, want me to take a look at your eyes?" she asked, not mentioning the kiss just yet.

She'd let him bring it up, if he chose to do so. Other than that, tonight she was just his medic.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered.

He reactivated his sharingan and moved closer to her so that she could get a better look at the problem with his eyes. "

They are still uncomfortable when I use the sharingan even without the mangekyou."

She didn't say anything as she lifted up her hands, placing them on either side of his face as she looked at his eyes. She went about examining them before allowing some of her chakra to seep from her fingertips, focusing on healing his eyes to see if that would do anything to ease the... discomfort. She did this for only about thirty seconds before she noticed a change in his expression.

He paused for a moment, looking a bit unsure for a moment before speaking. "I have feelings for you. That's why I kissed you. And I don't regret it."

If someone killed her right then and there, she would of liked to of said she could die happy. Those three words, 'I like you,' were about the closest she could get to the three things she really wanted to hear him say, and she never thought she'd hear them coming from him. Well, coming from him and directed to her.

Before she could respond to it though, she needed to consider everything. Sasuke wasn't just any guy to her, he was _the_guy, and he'd had his share of rough times, probably enough for the both of them. She'd have to tread lightly with him.

"Sasuke..." She trailed off, not entirely sure what to say to him.

He had to of known how she felt, it wasn't like it had changed in the past three years, but she didn't have a friggin' clue what was going on in his head, even if he did admit to liking her. He had been throwing her so many mixed signals, for instance he stayed with her at the hospital, but then he ditched out on her after kissing her. What the hell was she supposed to do about that? He said he didn't regret it, and she could believe him on that, but did he honestly know how he felt about her? Damn it all... To hell with it.

She slowly lowered her hands to his neck, trailing the pads of her thumbs along his jawline before pulling him down a little bit as she leaned forward the rest of the way. She kissed him gently, but just as he had done, she kept it short, hardly giving him time to react before she pulled away, dropping her hands to her side and taking a step back.

Sakura made no moves to walk away, instead staring at him as if she were waiting for some kind of reaction.

"I don't regret that either."


	6. Teasing

The kiss was short and Sakura pulled away quickly. The look he gave her had sent a tiny pang of panic through her system. What if he just turned around and walked off? What if he realized that he had made a mistake kissing her that first time and now he didn't know what to do? What if he realized he didn't feel the same? There were so many 'what ifs' floating around in her mind, but the thing about them was, was that they were all negative.

She didn't even bother considering the other side of the consequences, the 'what ifs' that were bound to leave a smile on her face. No, instead, her heart was racing and she didn't have a clue what Sasuke would do next. She certainly didn't expect him to say her name and then kiss her again.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, his voice low and soft.

He took a step forward, closing the space between then and wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her even closer. She knew what was coming by the time his arms wrapped around her waist. He leaned down and kissed her, but this wasn't a short light kiss. It was longer and full of passion.

She wasn't caught off guard like the first time, instead, meeting him with the kiss. She didn't hold back as she tried to express her feelings through that kiss, nor did she ignore what he was trying to convey back. His kiss felt like he was trying to show her everything, what he felt about her, how he felt right now, so on and so forth. She was aware of her hands finding his neck and her fingers threading through his hair, but it was like she was on auto-pilot. So what if she had never kissed a guy, apparently her body knew what to do.

She pulled back slowly, resting her forehead against his as a large smile crossed her face as she tried to regain her breath and regulate her heartbeat again. She had just kissed Sasuke Uchiha, and what made it more farfetched was that he kissed her back. Hell, he initiated it! That was the one point she couldn't seem to get over.

Sakura slowly looked up at him, dropping her hands from his hair to his upper arms. She didn't say anything, hell, she didn't know what to say after that, so all she did was try and read his expression and get some inkling of what was going on in that head of his.

He closed his eyes for a moment, deactivating his sharingan as he did so. Sakura couldn't read his expression as much as she'd wanted.

"It's late," he said, finally breaking the silence between them.

His hands left her waist and he turned around and walked away from her, going over to his supplies. She couldn't help but just stare. She still couldn't believe what in the hell had happened today. It was like she had stepped into a parallel universe and she had become the mayor of backwardsville. She certainly had no qualms with it, but she had a feeling that any minute she'd wake up, or tomorrow everything would be back to the way it had been yesterday, when her only solid conclusion about him was that she knew that he thought she was annoying.

As she watched him pack up his things though, she couldn't get rid of the smile on her face that was probably making her look like an idiot. He gathered up the supplies, putting his weapons in his weapons pouch and putting away his bottle of water as well. Then he walked back to her and took her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers.

He looked calm as he spoke. "We should get going."

She forced the smile down a few notches to just a gentle curve of her lips. Sakura could feel her heart skip a beat when he reached down and laced his fingers with hers. His hands were calloused from his years and years of training, but she didn't care, in fact, she liked it, as if it gave his hand a signature. She was focusing so hard on keeping her blush down and trying to memorize what his hand felt like in hers, she nearly didn't hear what he said about them going.

"Yeah."

Sakura fell in step beside him. She still couldn't help wondering what was going to happen between them. So they kissed and he admitted to liking her. For anyone that wasn't that big a deal and it didn't really mean much besides stating that they were interested. For Sasuke though.. Well, for him to even give you the time of day was a big deal.

She wasn't sure if he would want to let anyone else know about it or just keep it all low-key. Honestly, she wouldn't mind gloating in the female population of the fire country that Sasuke had kissed her, sure she'd be hated for it, but she still wouldn't mind gloating. Then again, she wanted him happy, and if that meant not telling anyone about what did or was going to happen between them, even Naruto, than she wouldn't say a word.

"Oh, and by the way, in case you didn't get this: I like you, too," she said with a small giggle.

And she still loved him, but she'd keep that part to herself for now.

"I figured that out," he answered, looking a little amused.

He gave her hand a light squeeze in reassurance. "If someone asks me about what has happened between us I won't deny it."

In other words, she could tell Naruto and anyone else all about it and he would openly admit to it. But he probably wouldn't actually go around advertising it himself. He wasn't embarrassed; he just didn't feel the need to.

She let out a chuckle. Of course she knew that he wasn't blind to her feelings, she knew he knew that as well, as confusing as that was. She had never been the one to hide how she felt about him, but she felt like she had toned it down dramatically. Instead of telling the world she was holding the hand of the man she'd had a crush on since she was seven, she really wanted to only tell two people. Naruto and Ino. After the beans were spilt though, it was bound the entire fire country would know within an hour.

She looked up at him, her expression changing to a blank stare. Sakura knew Sasuke wasn't lying, he wouldn't of brought it up if he was, but she still found a hard time believing it. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was actually interested in someone, her of all people.

For some reason, that comment alone had struck something in her and she knew that this, whatever it was between them, was not something she wanted to mess up. A blush had already crept onto her cheeks as she looked ahead, a smile on her face before she leaned against him for a brief moment, hugging his arm in that time.

"Thank you, Sasuke. I think I'll refrain from telling anyone just yet. You still need some time to get settled and I'd rather Tsunade not start you off with the worst missions in the world to 'test' you. Cause she would."

Sakura laughed as she looked up ahead, the place in the path where they usually went different ways approaching. She wasn't going to make him walk her home or anything of the sorts, he was probably exhausted. Then again, she wasn't ready to say 'bye' just yet either.

They saw the spot where they usually said their goodbyes up ahead and Sasuke looked over at her for a moment.

"I'll walk you home," he said.

Sakura probably should of started acting surprised when Sasuke started doing normal things. For instance, when she hugged his arm, usually he would of pushed her right off, but now, nothing. He was holding her hand, apparently kissing her now amongst other things, so on and so forth.

So far she could do whatever she wanted and he didn't seem like he would push her away. Of course she wouldn't do anything in front of people, at least not now. Not when she had decided to stay low-key for a short while.

"Sasuke, you've been busy all day, you don't have to. If anything, I'll walk you home."

Sakura glanced over her shoulder at the direction of his apartment, a pang of guilt rushing through her. He had been physically doing things all day. She on the other hand, have been sleeping and here he was taking her home. She knew arguing with him would get her nowhere though.

A sigh escaped her as her thoughts traveled to other things. For instance, what were she and Sasuke. He was willing to admit they kissed, that he liked her, and he was letting her hug him and the like. He'd probably get pissed if he saw her with another guy, for instance the man from her a last mission who had gave her and her team a tour around the village. It made her feel special, and that was all she could ask for from him, at least right now.

Sasuke frowned. "I don't need to be walked home. You're the one that's chakra depleted," he said stubbornly.

She shook her head at his defensive tone, chuckling quietly to herself as they got to the split in the road, turning in the direction of her home.

"Sasuke, the only reason I said that was because I slept all day. I'm not that tired."

She hadn't even thought about how he would take that. It was a safe guess that Sasuke had probably never dated a girl, well, it was more than a safe guess. She was absolutely positive that Sasuke had never dated a girl. She could tell though, that he was probably going to be traditional, very into his role as the 'man.' She didn't have a problem with it, in fact, she was still laughing to herself about it all.

She looked up at him, noting how he seemed to be thinking about something, staring up at the sky. She knew he had a lot going on right now, and she had a hunch she was probably a few notches down on his priority list. She was okay with that, because frankly, she couldn't see their routine changing all that much.

She'd be working in the day a lot and have missions while he'd be busy working on the district. Sakura would go see him when he was training and catch up on her case studies until he finished and then they'd go from there. Anything else they'd just have to figure out when the best time was. The last thing Sakura wanted to do was add pressure onto him.

"You know, I still can't believe what happened. I can practically feel the new found hatred that half the girls in Konoha have towards me now."

"They don't hate you yet. They don't know anything to hate you about," he responded before shrugging. "And I'm sure you can handle them anyways."

She let out a light scoff as she looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Clearly, she wasn't buying it.

"Are you kidding me? They have a, I don't know, Sasuke-alarm or something. They may not know who they're hating yet, but they know to hate someone."

She couldn't help it as she started laughing at herself. She knew it sounded crazy, but she knew the feeling. Honestly, she didn't really care if some girl hated her over it all, because like Sasuke said, she could handle it, but it was still going to be aggravating.

"So this Sasuke-alarm, do you have one of those?" he asked, only halfway serious.

She laughed, looking up at him with a smile. She had only been messing around with him, and she was sure he knew that, but she could hear the curiosity in his voice about it all.

Sure noone knew about this now, but she had a feeling that the second someone saw him, they'd at least know something was up. Sakura didn't see a difference in him, but there was already a few girls that hated her just by the mere fact she was on a talking-status with him. She simply side-stepped his question.

She smiled. "You're lucky. No guy is going to hate you over this, and if for some reason they did, they'd be too intimidated to say anything."

As her house came into view, Sakura felt something sink within her. Sure, her body was screaming at her to sit or lie down, but her mind was racing. Hell, she hadn't stopped completely blushing since Sasuke started just holding her hand. She knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight, not with this on her mind.

"Something wrong?" he asked, catching her expression.

"No, nothing's wrong. Like I said, I'm not really that tired. I know it's silly to say this, but I have a feeling I'm not going to get any sleep tonight. Not after today."

Kissing Sasuke had been one of her childhood goals. After she got older, she had accepted the fact it would probably never happen, but now that it had, she still couldn't get over it.

Sasuke frowned, looking over at Sakura. "If you don't sleep you'll have a hard time getting your chakra back."

"Trust me, I'd like to sleep." She rolled her eyes at him..

That was one thing they were night and day about. He was always so precise, focused while she only really concentrated on being a ninja when she was outside Konoha, training, or working. It wasn't something she could bring herself to think about twenty-four/seven. Not even if she wanted to.

"It's not my fault I've wanted to kiss you since I was seven." She muttered that last part to herself, though she knew he could hear.

He scoffed, clearly having her the soft comment. "It's not my fault either."

"No it's your fault. Everything is your fault. I blame you for not sleeping one hundred percent," she teased.

Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow as he looked at Sakura.

"Oh forgive me. I feel so guilty. I'll never kiss you again so that you'll be able to sleep," he said sarcastically.

She just frowned at him, crossing her arms as she did so. Two could play at that game, but she had a feeling that being stubborn with Sasuke would get her nowhere.

She needed a new strategy and fast. Sakura knew Sasuke wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what to threaten her with, but she needed a way to make it seem like she wasn't all that upset about it. Even if the entire situation was just a crock. So, she decided to brush it aside.

"It could be a challenge. But we'll cross that bridge if we ever come to it. I don't plan on moving a pebble tomorrow so I highly doubt you'll have to worry about fighting with me over it."

Her frown disappeared and was replaced with a mischievous smile. Sasuke was the type of guy who liked contests. Or rather, he liked winning and proving himself. All in all though, he was still a guy. So at his last question, her smile seemed to widen as the wheels in her mind started turning. She was horrible with flirting, but she could give it a shot.

Sakura smiled at him. "So I'm not working tomorrow, Shizune actually told me to take the rest of the week off to rest. Would you mind if I came to the Uchiha district?"

She knew he said he didn't want help with it, and she wouldn't help him. She could do just as she did when he was training, sit and study on medical books.

She kept her gaze on him, still trying to read him even though she rarely could. "If you don't want me to, it's not going to hurt my feelings, you can just tell me. All I'll be doing is reading anyways."

Sasuke paused to think for a minute. "You can come, but no helping."

"I promise, the only help I'll be doing is bringing you water if you ask for it. There's plenty of books and case studies I need to read anyways, so I'll be able to keep busy and resist the urdge to do hard labor."

"Water would be alright," Sasuke agreed with a small nod.

There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone at that last part. Sure she had offered to help, and really, she wouldn't mind in any aspect of it. Construction of any kind really wasn't on her favorite things to do on her days off list though.

"And I know that if I tried to move even a rock my Sasuke-alarm would be screaming 'Danger, danger,'" Sakura teased.

She had a feeling that sarcasm of any kind would be her best friend when it came to Sasuke. He seemed to communicate best to it.

"Hn. And your mouth would be screaming 'Put me down. Don't make me stay with Naruto all day,'" he retorted, implying that he would forcefully carry her and leave her under Naruto's supervision for a full day if she did anything even remotely close to trying to help with his cleaning of the Uchiha district.

She immediately dropped the smile she had as she gave him a sharp look.

"That's just low, Sasuke. I love him and all, but c'mon. That's just mean."

Sasuke smirked triumphantly. "Then stick to your reading while you're at the Uchiha district."

"Oh trust me, I will. I'd hate for you to get mad at me when we would get in a fight over that and you'd lose," she responded.

"You should be more careful. That almost sounded like a challenge."

She grinned at him, pushing the thought of how long she'd known him aside. It really wasn't all that important. Sure she hadn't really known him for nine years, she didn't really start getting to know him until she was twelve and they were on the same team together.

Those were the years she found out about what he wanted out of life, how he planned to get it, what his favorite foods were and what he hated. Those small pieces of information were what made her fall in love with him, even if she had only been around thirteen at the time and desperately trying to win his affection.

Sakura laughed then as they finally got to the front of her house. As she slowed to a stop, she gently squeezed his hand before letting go, turning to where she stood in front of him.

"Do you want me to bring you anything tomorrow before I head over to the compound?" she asked.

He paused for a moment, thinking. "No, I have everything that I need already." But then he stopped, thinking of something. "It wouldn't be bad if you brought lunch."

"I can maybe bring lunch. What will I get?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, fighting a smile to try and keep up her persona that she was actually trying to negotiate a trade with him. She probably would of brought him lunch even if he didn't ask, she knew he wasn't the best at making himself rest.

That was one of the main reasons she wanted to go see him tomorrow. He was probably killing himself with everything he was doing from working all day and training half the night. The least he could do was sit down every once in a while and let his body catch up.

"What do you want for it?" Sasuke asked, looking curious.

She took a step towards him, playing with his shirt as she put on an innocent face and looked up at him.

"Well, a kiss would of sufficed, but seeing as how you took that off the table, I guess you'll just have to come up with something creative, and better."

A shrug was the last thing she gave him before she took a step back and started to turn towards her house. She was still going to bring him lunch, even if he didn't stop her, but Kami knew she was praying for the latter.

He was actually stunned into silence for a moment, as he paused for a moment, looking thoughtful and just a bit devious.

When he seemed to have made his decision, he took a step forward, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. She had thought she won. But then he leaned down as if he was going to kiss her, and then changed direction to instead whisper in her ear, very quietly. "That wasn't good enough flirting. You'll have to try harder than that if you want me to kiss you."

It was safe to say she was a little peeved and even more determined. Sasuke wasn't going to let up, but this was one contest she wasn't going to lose with him. She wasn't great with flirting, but for some reason that jerk was. The feel of his breath against her ear caused her to blush tenfold, her mind going blank. Sasuke had that effect on her, to where he made her so frazzled she couldn't put a sentence together let alone a plan to get back at him. What made her the most frustrated with it all was that he knew it, too.

She wasn't going to lose though. Not this time.

When it was safe to say her blush had died down, she leaned back, just far enough so that she could see his face, raising an eyebrow at him before she raised her arms to rest on his shoulders, her fingers lacing their way through his hair as she played with the dark strands. Biting her lip she looked away from him, clearly thinking. The only technique she could think of was to play with his hair, but honestly, now she had nothing. Sure she could feed his ego, but that was a bit obvious. He knew what to expect and he was probably already thinking three steps ahead. That was just Sasuke.

"Sasuke..."

Sakura really was drawing a blank on how exactly to go about this challenge of theirs. She didn't want to lose, but she had a feeling she was going to. She could only keep her hands occupied with his hair for so long. Damn it all.

He removed one hand from her waist and placed it just under her chin, very gently moving her face back so that he could look her in the eyes.

"It's very cute how pathetic your attempts are." His smirk was mocking her. "And the blushing. That's cute too."

Sakura could only frown at him. The attempts weren't pathetic, it would of worked on most guys. Sasuke was just stone cold. Her dead panned expression was short lived though at his second comment about her blushing. She felt the heat rush to her face before she could do anything as she gave him a surprised look.

She was suddenly very aware of his hands, the one at her waist and the other brushing the hair away from her face. It wasn't fair. He was making her weak in the knees just by standing close to her while she was apparently having no effect on him what-so-ever.

She slowly moved her hands from his hair to his neck, then to his shoulders and finally to his upper arms. She was going to have to get Ino to teach her a thing or two about flirting because if anything, Sasuke was just going to get better at it over time. He was always looking to improve any skill.

"Obviously not cute enough. I can't even get the guy who admitted to liking me to kiss me."

You were the one complaining that you won't be able to sleep because I kissed you," he said stubbornly.

She let out a sigh as she trailed her fingers from his arm down his chest to his abdomen, once again playing with his shirt. She looked up then, smiling gently before shrugging. "Like I said, I would have traded a kiss for lunch tomorrow, but since my attempts at flirting with you are pathetic..."

Sliding her arms around his waist she leaned against him, looking up with a raised eyebrow as she traced circles on his back with her fingertips.

"What do I get then?" she asked.

The Uchiha smirked, reaching a decision and starting to speak. "But it doesn't make any difference to me whether you sleep or not."

He leaned down and actually kissed her this time, one arm still around her waist and the other finding its way to the back of her neck.

His lips were touching hers and all she could do was rely on instinct to react. She was aware of his hands placed on her neck and waist and all she could do was lean into him, wrapping her arms around him in the process. Sasuke was like a vortex to her. Anytime he wanted to pull her in, even if it were completely against her will, he could do it without so much as a single problem.

It was a gentle kiss, but not short. Before too long he pulled away without a word, though he still kept an arm around her waist, not allowing her to escape his grasp just yet. She leaned back only far enough to look up at him, raising an eyebrow with a small smirk on her features.

Sure, maybe he had mocked her a million times over and won the mental battle, but he was still the one to kiss her first. Maybe it was a compromise, but Sakura would still take it as a win on her part. She was stubborn, and even though she could take a lose here and there, she still didn't like it. She had a feeling bringing the whole compromising win thing to Sasuke though wasn't amongst the best of ideas though. He really didn't like losing.

"Thanks for that. Hah, I can't believe you called me cute. Twice. I can't believe I heard you use the word 'cute.'"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I never said that," he said amused, a smirk on his face.

"I'll have to start bringing a tape recorder if you're gonna be like that."

She chuckled to herself before she hugged him, resting her head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. The thought that such contact could be uncomfortable for him entered her mind, but she knew Sasuke. He wouldn't be there if he wasn't okay with it all.

"I guess you get lunch now. A good one, too," Sakura teased.

She smiled to herself as she paid more attention to the rise and fall of his chest more than anything else. It was so peaceful standing like this with him, she just didn't want to move. In fact, she didn't really give a damn if anyone saw them.

"You should go inside and go to bed," he commented, looking at her house.

By Sasuke's comment of suggesting she go in and get some sleep, she had a feeling that he was the one who needed sleep.

"Alright, I think I lied to you when I said I wouldn't sleep."

A yawn passed her lips before she looked up at him, bringing her hands up to his shoulders as she leaned up to kiss him. The kiss was soft and she kept it short, using every ounce of will power to do so.

"Good night, Sasuke. I'll see you tomorrow. With lunch." She laughed before pulling away from him and heading into her house.

When she got to her room she resorted to just collapsing on her bed, staring out the window with the taste of him on her lips. She almost believed she could still feel his touch on her neck, or the sound of his breath against her ear. He was going to drive her insane if she kept thinking like that.


	7. Splashing

Sakura had woken up the next morning to the sounds of her curtains billowing. She was on her stomach, an arm dangling off the bed, her fingers brushing the hardwood floors while her face was halfway buried in her pillow. Usually when she woke up like that, it meant she had been in a deep sleep, a rarity these days, but that was when she felt the most rested.

Even with all that, it only took her a moment to remember yesterday and a smile tugged at her lips. She always knew that if anything like that happened with Sasuke, it would make her happy, but never had she thought she would feel _this_ way. The weird thing was, that even though it only just happened yesterday, it felt right. Maybe that was from already being in love with him, but she knew that this wasn't something that would last just a month and then they'd call it quits.

No, she had a feeling that unless something horrible happened, she'd still feel this way in months, years, and maybe if Sasuke felt the same way, they'd be in it for the long haul. She knew not to get her hopes up, but she also knew Sasuke cared about her.

Sakura wasn't sure how long she laid there before she finally pushed herself out of bed and headed down for breakfast. Her parents were already awake, and all through the meal they kept the chatter up, as if it was their last time to eat together or something. It made her feel guilty in a way, but she knew they were just worried. It took her nearly half an hour to reassure them she was fine, happy, and healthy. Hell, during that time she even got Sasuke's, along with her own, lunch made and packed.

The rest of the morning she spent getting a few books and putting them in a small messenger bag along with a journal she took notes in. After one last reassurance to her parents she said her 'byes' and left, her feet taking her in the direction of the Uchiha district.

It wasn't a long walk by any means, maybe ten minutes at the most, but when she got there, she slowed. The place was already looking better, a good portion of the land cleared. She hadn't imagined Sasuke would of already been this far along, but then again, she doubted he took the breaks he needed too and he had always been a diligent type of guy.

When she spotted Sasuke, she just gave him a soft smile before heading to one of the cleared areas and sat down, placing the lunches she made along with a few bottled waters on her left and her bag on her right, pulling out the contents and laying them out in front of her. Sasuke saw Sakura sit down nearby but he didn't stop to greet her.

She'd make Sasuke take a break in a bit, or hopefully he'd come over to her and save her from yelling at him across the compound to rest. Taking one last glance to him she finally forced herself to look down and opened one of the many books.

Just before noon Sasuke took a few more minutes to finish up the area that he was working on, before stopping what he was doing and walking over to where Sakura was sitting. He took a seat beside her and picked up a bottle of water, taking a drink.

Sakura glanced up to him, raising an eyebrow. She put her pen down in the medical journal she had been scribbling in before closing it and the book she had been reading out of, setting them both aside.

After taking a moment to breath Sasuke looked over at Sakura.

"Sleep well last night?" he asked with a smirk, referring to when Sakura said she was going to have a hard time sleeping after everything that happened.

She was caught up in that smirk on his face, as one of her own crept across her lips as she stretched her arms across her crossed legs.

"I actually slept great, thank you. Never better, so I guess your kisses just don't have the effect I thought they would."

Her smile had matured to a full blown grin, and it was obvious she was kidding with him. Sasuke was like a drug to her, he clouded her mind in the best way possible and the reason she slept so good last night was due to the fact that this Sasuke, her new Sasuke, made her feel relaxed and at peace.

"Tch, I'll just have to try harder next time to make sure you can't sleep," he responded, obviously not serious.

The only bad thing about it all, in her case anyways, was that Sasuke knew all of this. He knew how long she'd cared about him, of what lengths she'd go to for him, how she reacted to whatever he did, so ont-family: Times New Roman,serif;"Sasuke to her though was still an enigma. Sure, she understood his background better, but not fully. She knew his likes and hates and that language that was all his own. She could decipher his glares but everything else was greek to her. Ask her to explain Sasuke's feelings on anything and all she'd be able to do was give some weak attempt at an answer or just stay silent about it all. At least she knew he liked her, but then again, that didn't really explain his feelings for her save the fact he could be around her.

"Yeah, try harder and than deal with the repercussions of me with no sleep. I'm a joy to be around."

She looked over at him and smiled. "I don't think trying harder will help you though. You just have to accept there is some things you're just bad at."

She was still joking, but she had a feeling that comment could go one of two ways. Either he'd take it as a joke, or he'd take it as a challenge if it bruised his ego in any way that he could possibly be bad at something. Sasuke was never one to take something of any caliber when it came to being the best at something. He was a prideful guy, and prideful people just didn't like hearing they were bad at things.

"Hn. We'll see," he said with an annoyed glare.

"We'll see? Really, Sasuke-kun?"

She laughed as she looked back down at her food, shaking her head as a amused smile crept up on her face. He had changed a lot over the past three years, but she guessed there were same things in him just too adamant to budge. Like his ego.

He obviously didn't like the comment she had made about him being bad at something. Yet it left her grinning like an idiot. He was good at kissing, his freakish talent for being awesome at anything he did coming into play, but she couldn't imagine what it would be like if he was actually trying to prove her wrong. She was almost excited for it.

Yeah, we'll see. I'm going to prove you wrong," he said, looking even more annoyed.

"I'm sure you'll try." She knew it was taunt to Sasuke as she lay down, a pile of debris blocking her view of the road. She doubted he'd try anything right now though, he wasn't going to gain anything from taking risks. Still, it was amusing to poke a little fun at him.

Sasuke sighed lightly and leaned back, looking up at the sky. It was a clear day and there were almost no clouds in the sky at all.

"What did you make for our lunch?" he asked.

"No Sasuke. I didn't make you anything. I'm a horrible person."

She smiled at him before reaching behind him and picking up the two lunches. She set one down in front of him and then pulled the other in her lap, opening it to reveal rice and dumplings.

"I didn't really have a lot of food in the house this morning so I just had to stick with onigiri again. I did find a tomato though, so you have at least one of those. One of these days I'll make you something fancier though. Maybe," she said with a smile.

She smiled at him before taking a bite of her own food.

"So Sasuke. I've been thinking. I know we'd agreed on keeping this a low profile, also if anyone asked you wouldn't deny it, but I figured maybe we should just keep this between us for awhile. I mean, I don't want to add any pressure on you, and as much as I hate to say this, if people found out they'd probably make it into a big deal. As much as I'd love to go screaming to the world that Uchiha Sasuke is finally off the market, it would probably be a lot easier on the both of us. I'm sure the last thing you want is people asking you about us."

He looked up in surprise. She laughed and looked over at him, a wide grin on her face.

"And can you imagine what Naruto would say?"

He spoke after thinking for a moment. "Alright, it can be a secret. Just don't slip up and accidentally tell someone. It'll be all over Konoha within the hour."

A wave of relief passed over the medic. "Like I'm gonna slip up you jerk. I'm an excellent secret keeper. I think it's you we should be worried about."

She raised an eyebrow as she stabbed at her food with her chopsticks, trying to keep her expression straight while holding back a laugh. She honestly couldn't imagine Sasuke whispering secrets with anyone, like Ino for example. He wasn't the polar opposite of a gossip queen.

She laughed. "You were always the one who gave the blunt truth when we were kids."

Sasuke frowned. "Right, because I'm so chatty. I have a hard time resisting the urge to tell everyone I know about my love life. That sounds like me," he said sarcastically.

He took another bite of food. "And I won't have to change a thing to give the blunt truth still. I can still tell girls that I have no interest in them, with or without saying that I'm already with someone."

She took one last bite before setting her finished lunch down next to her, glancing over to him and giving him a wide smile. She opened one of Tsunade's journals she had brought with her and started reading it, reaching up with her free hand to trace small circles along Sasuke's back.

Sakura sighed. "I know, I know. Trust me when I say Im relieved that you'll be able to keep things quiet. You don't have to worry about me telling anyone though."

This was going to be better for them, but he was right. If one person found out about it, the news was going to spread like wild fire. She hated to admit it, but it'd be a big deal if she was dating Sasuke. For one, Sasuke was still new to the villagers, the idea of him being back was something they were all trying to accept.

Another thing, was that seeing as how he was interacting with people, actually making an effort to show that Konoha was his home again, people were warming up, namely girls. The last thing she wanted was for a bunch of girls would be plotting ways for her to disappear. As funny as that was because she knew they wouldn't succeed, it was still an annoyance she could do without.

Sasuke eyes moved to examine Sakura, who was now laying down, obscured from the road by a pile of debris. She was smiling but the wheels seemed to be turning in that genius brain of Sasuke's. Then his eyes moved to the stuff around them, the lunch boxes, a couple bottles of water, and that medical journal Sakura was reading. A smirk formed on his face.

She smiled to herself as she continued to run her fingertips over his back. He had made it clearly obvious that he was the better one at flirting, but this seemed to be working, a little. Sakura could only find it funny that it was a challenge that had him interested. Maybe that was why he considered Naruto his best friend. The blond always had a new challenge for Sasuke, but then again, her challenges were quite different. He seemed like he was calculating something, which she assumed was a way to get back at her. Yet when he turned to her, she didn't expect what came out of his mouth. Not in the least bit.

Sasuke picked up a bottle of water and took a drink, but neglected to put the cap back on. Then he turned, so that he was sitting, directly facing her.

"Sakura…." He said, looking down at her with that same smirk.

"You look really hot right now."

She guessed she was expecting something along the lines of a threat, but instead, he had to go and say _that_. He leaned down and plucked the journal from Sakura's hands in one swift motion, all the while looking down on her. He set it far off to the side, safely out of the way. She barely even noticed, her gaze locked with his.

He stared at her for a moment before tipping his hand holding the nearly full bottle of water over, spilling the entire bottle of cold water directly onto Sakura's stomach and chest and effectively soaking her.

"You should cool down.," he said mockingly, that evil smirk ever present.

Then that jerk had to ruin the thoughts that were in her head as he dumped his water on her. Surprise was the only look that crossed her face as she looked down at herself, a shiver running through her.

Only moments passed before she decided to retaliate against him. That was where they differed. He always seemed to plan three steps ahead, she on the other hand, was an impulse person.

Yet when she looked up at him, her instincts telling her to empty the contents of her own water bottle all over him, it was all forgotten when she saw the look on his face. He was acting like he was almost... Happy? Or maybe content was a better word to tack on it. Sakura couldn't imagine thoughts of training on his mind, or what had happened in the past or what could happen in the future.

He was just living in the moment, he was just enjoying himself. She couldn't ever recall a time where she saw Sasuke like this, and just the fact that she was here to see it, that she had helped cause it, she completely forgot about being mad about him for a good twenty seconds or so.

But then a drip of freezing water ran down her side, reminding her of why that bastard was smiling.

"Sasuke! That was just uncalled for!"

She looked down at herself, sitting up to pull the wet fabric away from her body, a second shiver running through her as she looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. Reaching down she grabbed her own bottle, the cap already off before she pointed it at him and squeezed, half the contents squirting out at him. She started laughing before she turned the rest of the bottle over above his head, her impulse finally satisfied.

He looked down at the water soaking through his shirt and droplets of water rolled down his forehead. Both possibilities all rolled into one. But Sasuke was prepared for this.

"It was completely called for. You looked hot so I cooled you down. It's simple to comprehend Sakura," he said, sounding a little annoyed at her yelling, just for appearances.

She had expected him to evade her attempts at getting back at him. It would of been so easy for him to just zip past her, or hell, make her spill water on herself. But he didn't do anything, he just sat there and took it and it was at that moment she knew she could trust him completely again.

It had been months since he came back and he had changed completely. She wasn't afraid of him and she knew he'd be there for her, Naruto and the village. He was sitting there letting her throw water on him not because he had to, but because he wanted to.

Sasuke ran his hand through his hair, shaking lose all the excess water. She was about to lean it and smack him in the shoulder for what he said, but as soon as she started to move, he did as well, and his movement stopped her in her tracks. Sasuke looked down at his wet shirt once more, and then he smirked. He pulled his shirt off and tossed it towards Sakura.

"You should keep that temper of yours under check," he said sarcastically with a satisfied smirk.

Everything within her just froze in shock for a moment. Her body seemed to be on auto-pilot though because without a thought in her head she caught the shirt, a wave of his scent hitting her. Her eyes followed him then yet when his sentence soaked in about her temper he was already a good fifteen feet away working.

Then he just walked away, going back to the cleaning he'd been doing before he stopped for lunch.

Setting his shirt on top of one of the lunch boxes so dirt wouldn't get on it she looked around. Grasping a water bottle, Sakura untwisted the top before looking down at herself again. She had seen Ino do something once to a guy and it had seemed to work quite well in her favor. Then again, that guy had been no Sasuke, but she could at least give it a shot.

A sigh passed through her before she poured some water in her hands before splashing it on her sides, stomach and chest, getting the fabric to stick to her again. She was immediately regretting the plan at the chill that passed through her, but standing up she patted the fabric against her before taking a second, unopened bottle and started to make her way to Sasuke. Ino had touched the guy, to make herself known, but if she did that to Sasuke, he would know she was attempting to try and lure him in. She had to be casual. She just had to show she cared while all the while acting mad.

"You wanna be a jerk, fine. But at least be a hydrated one."

She went around him, setting the bottle on a pile of bricks. She swayed her hips as she walked just slightly and she could feel herself blushing. Sakura couldn't believe she was doing this.

By the time she was turning though, she had been able to push the blush down, getting an annoyed look on her face as she walked back past him. She kept herself in his arm's reach though to give him the opportunity to stop her, though she doubted he would.

"I'd rather you not have a heat stroke," she said, trying to sound confident.

"Hn," was his only answer as he finished moving aside a small piece of rubble to get to a more difficult spot.

He was reaching for that spot when he just happened to catch a glimpse of Sakura out of the corner of his eye. It stopped him right there.

The Uchiha turned to get a better look at the girl, his hand catching her wrist to stop her from getting too far away as he did so. His dark eyes narrowed momentarily as he took a good look at her. She was just about to the point of accepting defeat. She had taken maybe two steps away from him and he had yet to even react. She hadn't even noticed him looking and it made her feel a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.

Then without a single word he led her over behind one of the walls that still partially stood up, still holding onto her wrist. It caused her to stop immediately, slowly pivoting her body to get a better look at him.

Once they were out of sight of anyone that happened to be nearby, Sasuke's demeanor changed. He backed Sakura against the wall, effectively pinning her there with his hands leaning against the wall on either side of her. She had expected him to face her and be angry. It caught her off guard.

He leaned in close, their bodies close enough that he could feel the cold water on Sakura's clothes against his chest. She could feel him move with every breath, a blush heating up her cheeks when she recalled the fact he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Are you trying to drive me insane?" he asked in a whisper in her ear.

When she felt his breath on her ear, a triumphant grin spilled across her features.

"I didn't know I could, Sasuke."

She drawled out his name, lowering her own voice to a whisper as she looked up at him. "I'll keep that in mind."

She knew she was playing a dangerous game with him. Sasuke wasn't going to kiss her here, not after they had agreed to keep things at a low profile. She knew that much. She was taunting him though, and she had a feeling that if he recalled it later, when they were completely alone, he'd get her back for it with full force.

"I'm going to get you back for that," he whispered before backing up from her by a few inches but still keeping her pinned against the wall.

The smirk on her face grew. Sasuke wasn't one to take a hit and then not retaliate, he had proven that much when she had joked around about his ability to kiss, starting this entire ordeal. He didn't seem angry about it all, which was the only reason she was keeping up this innocence facade, chiding him on.

To tell the truth, she wasn't exactly sure what Sasuke was feeling. Maybe frustration? She was distracting him... Apparently, so that could have something to do with it. Yet when he spoke, she couldn't help it when she started laughing.

He moved one of his hands from the wall and used it to brush a stray pink hair from in front of Sakura's face, his hand gliding down to Sakura's waist on the very edge of her shirt, feeling the wet cloth.

"And next time you want me to pay attention to you, you can just say so instead of pouring more water on yourself," he taunted with a smirk.

"Well do you know how hard it is to get your attention? It's like trying to get Naruto to stop eating ramen. It takes drastic measures."

She was very aware of his hand touching her waist, a blush on her features despite the cool nonchalance she was trying to display. Sakura couldn't help but crave his touch. It was usually her that reached out to him, but on that rare occasion he do simple things like brush the hair out of her face or when he held her hand when they walked.

It made her realize this wasn't just some fling or something she was imagining. It was real, and he cared. Even if they were playing some game of Who Can Drive the Other Insane First.

He'd figured out what she'd done, and looked to be amused by it. But with that Sasuke took a few steps away, turning his back to her.

"I'm getting back to cleaning up this mess now. We'll finish this conversation tonight," he said as he walked away.

Her smile softened as she watched him. Pushing off the wall, she caught up to him, keeping her hands intertwined at the small of her back as she looked up at him.

"Well, if we're continuing this conversation later, I should get out of here before I get myself into more trouble."

"Hn," he mumbled.

Sakura smiled at him before slowly changing her path towards her things.

"I need to go see Tsunade sometime today anyways. She said she had something for me to do. I'll see you later tonight, okay?"

"Change clothes first," he said in response.

After that Sasuke got back to work, letting Sakura do what she needed without any further interruptions from him.

When she reached her things, she picked up Sasuke's shirt and laid it out over the pile of debris that was near where they ate lunch so it could dry. She had a smile on her face from Sasuke's comment about changing her shirt. She wasn't stupid, she knew why he said it.

If it could get him to look, it could probably get a few other people to look also and that was really the last thing she wanted. It was definitely amusing though that Sasuke had said something and cute in an odd sort of fashion. She was his, even though she had been since she was twelve.

She had made her way home using the backstreets, quickly changing and leaving the books. Her next stop was the Hokage Tower, Sakura taking her time in getting there. There was no clue as to telling what Tsunade was going to ask of her. It could be anything from a stupid errand to go place a bet on some game in a neighboring village to going on another mission.

Even though she was ready for it mentally, she knew her body couldn't handle running through a forest all day so she highly doubted it had to do with leaving the village. Then again, she could never tell with the woman when she'd had a few shots of sake in her. Whatever it may be though, Sakura highly doubted she was going to enjoy it.


	8. Sneaking

From the time she had left the Hokage's Tower to when she was walking the path towards the training grounds hours later, she had been in a sour mood. The news she had gotten was nothing bad, just _annoying_. She also knew, that she'd have to tell Sasuke eventually, and he'd be none to pleased about it. It wasn't like there was anything they would be able to do either.

When she saw Sasuke though, a smile came across her features as the thoughts of their previous conversation came to mind. She had a few weeks to get the problem with Tsunade sorted out and that thought alone was enough for Sakura to push the problem to the back of her mind, her entire focus going to what was happening now.

Taking a seat near his things she opened the medical journal she had brought with her and placed it on her lap, reading through it. Sure, she wasn't really paying too much attention to the material at hand, but she was trying to act as casual as possible. She had a feeling the more at ease she appeared, the more it would bug him. That alone was enough to keep her from staring at the him as she waited for him to 'get her back.'

During his training, she had maybe read a page and a half tops and actually retained it. She knew that whether she had her guard up or down, he was going to get her back. Despite how hard she had worked over the two years he had been gone, Sasuke was still stronger than her. If he really wanted to get her back for anything, maybe Sakura could put up a good fight, but he'd still win. Hell, it was probably safe to say he was one of the best ninja's in the village, along with Naruto and a few others of their generation.

After a while Sasuke decided that he was finished training. He walked over to his supplies and grabbed a bottle of water, taking a drink before setting it aside. No pouring water on her this time. Sasuke was too smart to repeat what he did before.

He took his time gathering up his things, not acknowledging Sakura' presence the entire time. Sasuke usually never acknowledged her when he was in the middle of training, he hadn't even done so last night when there was that awkward tension hanging between them. Yet whenever he would finish, he would usually make eye contact with her, let her know how his old injuries and eyes were doing and then at least take note of the fact she was there. Not just flat out ignore her.

It wasn't until he was done that he finally looked at her. He held out a hand to help her stand, a completely neutral expression on his face.

"Come on," he said calmly.

Sakura had long ago closed the journal and was just staring at him, her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what was up. She had a feeling that he already had a plan and she was in for it and she could only wait in anticipation. There wasn't much she could really do about it though, it was just the waiting around that got to her. It wasn't like it was a bad thing though.

Smiling at him she slid her hand into his and stood up, putting the journal in her kunai holster.

"Come on, where?"

He didn't release her hand once she was standing, and instead laced his fingers with hers. She felt something kin to content wash over her when he slid his fingers through hers, holding her hand. He had done this last night as well, yet it was still so new to her, as was this entire side of Sasuke. She knew she wasn't going to be able to get enough of him, or when he initiated things like this, looked at her with something other than annoyance, etc. etc. He was hers just as much as she was his.

"I'm not ready to walk home yet," Sasuke answered vaguely.

"Okay."

She still knew he was going to get back at her, and when he started to lead her into the woods opposed to the village, she knew something was up. It was darker there, much of the moonlight being blocked by the tree tops but still enough to be able to see where they were going.

He was either taking her in here to get back at her or kill her. She knew he wouldn't do the latter, but the jerk was taking his sweet time in all of this. He must of known what he was doing to her if he was drawing it out this long.

When it started to get darker, she took a step closer to Sasuke as she looked up to try and catch a glimpse of the moonlight. It wasn't that she was scared or anything, she was just unnerved.

She had been in these training grounds millions of times, but for some reason she was realizing just how ominous this place was in the middle of the night. Maybe it had to do with the fact she was waiting for something and she was alert. Either way though, a creature roaming around in the forest should of been the least of her worries considering who she was walking with and the fact he'd had a good eight hours or so to plan revenge on her. All she had done for the past eight hours was try and think of ways to get out of Tsunade's request.

"So what do you feel like doing?" she asked.

"Proving you wrong," he said in response to her question, referencing earlier when she'd question his ability to kiss.

Sasuke was fast and it only took him a moment to turn around, let go of her hand, and pin her against a tree. They were in the exact position as they'd been when they were behind the wall earlier in the day, only this time there was no way that they could be seen.

Sakura's eyes widened a fraction . She stared up at him as he got close, his hands resting on either side of her head. Heat rose to her cheeks as she tried to think of a way to not let him have the satisfaction of winning but her mind betrayed her as it came up blank. All Sakura could do was stare up at him and keep the grin she was fighting off at a calm, upward turn of her lips.

And then Sasuke kissed her. T

his wasn't like one he'd given her before. It was full of fervor and she could practically feel the want that he'd been suppressing. If this was the kind of reaction she was going to get every time she teased him a bit and made him wait, then by all means it wouldn't be the last time.

Then again, he'd only had to wait a third of a day, she could only wonder what he'd do if she made him wait the length of a mission. Then again, that would mean she'd have to wait also, but it might be worth it.

Sakura leaned into him, her hands sliding around him as if she were trying to pull him even closer. Moments passed before she slowly broke the kiss, her breathing heavy as she leaned back against the tree, looking up at him with a coy smile on her face. Sasuke too was breathing heavily, looking at her as he caught his breath.

"Okay, I'll at least admit that you're not a bad kisser if anyone asks," she teased.

She still didn't say he was good though. Sasuke was like a drug to her though, and she knew that she definitely wanted more.

Sasuke frowned at her. "Only not bad?"

Bringing her hands up to his face she kissed him this time and put every last emotion she had into it. From the happiness she felt from being around him to the relief he had come back home to her own frustrations of the unrequited love she'd had for him for almost four years now. She cared about him.. She loved him, and she wanted him to feel what she was experiencing, even if it was through just a kiss.

It was Sasuke that finally pulled away from the kiss this time, needing to breathe. His hands left the tree beside her and he took both her hands in his, lacing his fingers with hers very slowly. Then he closed his eyes, still staying close to her but not speaking.

Sakura took deep breaths, watching his hands. She followed his movements and led their hands down to rest at their sides as she began to rub the side of his thumb with her own before she looked up at him.

His expression looked so peaceful she couldn't help but stare at him. His eyes were closed and he had yet to move away from her like she almost expected him to. Sasuke wasn't much of a guy for physical contact, or so she had thought up until now. He seemed relaxed with her and that was enough to show her that he trusted her. But it was his hands, his fingers laced with hers, the fact he was so close to her and the emotion she had felt earlier with those two kisses that she knew he cared.

Sure, he may not be in love with her, but she loved him still. He had to know how she felt, but she wasn't about to put him in some position where she expected for him to say it back. It was honestly enough for her right now just to know that he really did care for her. He would be sad if she died or left, and he was happy.. Or really he enjoyed, being with her.

She had recalled promising him that she would make him happy if he had stayed in the village when they were twelve, and this was her proving him wrong all the same, though she wouldn't dare mention that to him. That night was a sensitive topic for the both of them and she'd be satisfied if it was never mentioned again.

She gave his and a reassuring squeeze, it was the only way for her to convey she knew how he felt without outright saying it. Then she leaned up and gave him a very light kiss, just a gentle brush of the lips with the faintest of pressure before she shifted her weight to rest against the tree behind her, smiling up at him.

"Would you mind, if maybe we stayed here awhile before heading back?" she asked quietly.

"Hn," was his only response as he opened his eyes.

She smiled softly. Sasuke always had his own vocabulary but she was getting to the point to where she could decipher it without too much thinking on her own part. Sakura had a feeling she could safely assume that was one of the things that attracted her to him.

He never liked explaining himself to anyone, and at least with her, a good seventy percent or so of the time, she could usually figure out what it was he was saying with the littlest bit of effort on his part. Even Naruto wasn't horrible at figuring it out, then again, maybe it was because they had all been on a team together. Everyone else was usually left in the dark.

He took a single step back letting go of only one of her hand and still holding the other, giving her some room so that Sakura wouldn't be pinned against that tree any longer. She took note of the confusion on his face.

"It's just quiet out here, and I like being with you like this," she explained.

Once they headed back if they were going to stick to this whole low-key bit, they wouldn't be able to so much as walk close to each other. She wasn't sure how long she was going to be able to keep it up though. Sure, for awhile it would be exciting to have to hide it and it would be easier for sure.

But then she was also missing out on things. She wouldn't be able to go on a date with him, she had a feeling Sasuke really didn't mind that though, she wouldn't be able to kiss him good-bye when one of them went on missions or even so much as hold his hand walking down the street. That was the part that made her want to stay here.

"So I don't think you're going to like why I went to see Tsunade today."

Sakura looked up at him as she tried to get rid of the thoughts polluting her mind. Sakura pushed away from the tree and released his hand as she started pacing through the small clearing of trees they were in.

"In a few weeks I'm going to have to be a guide to this ninja that's coming here. Let's just say he's not very shy of his feelings for me."

She laughed nervously before she stopped to look at Sasuke, curious if he was going to even have a vague reaction to it all. She doubted he would, but at least she was giving him a heads up.

Sasuke frowned.

"It doesn't matter," was what he finally said in response, the usual calm expression on his face.

He continued looking at her calmly. "I'm sure you'll deal with him," he said with a shrug.

She stopped her pacing, looking at him with a deadpanned expression. Maybe she had just been getting used to him surprising her because she had been at least expecting a raise of his eyebrow.. Something. Not a simple 'It doesn't matter,' and nothing short of a blank look to go with it.

He had went out of his way to tell her to change her shirt earlier, but then again, what reason could she really give someone if they saw her come out of the Uchiha compound with a good portion of her front side soaked to the bone.

"Pfft, well, if it doesn't matter than I won't bother thinking of ways to get out of it then."

She wasn't mad at him, just annoyed. She knew he cared, so she was sure it would bother him if some guy was asking her on a date right in front of him, which was bound to happen if Ronan was around. She didn't care that he wasn't visibly annoyed with it all, maybe a little disappointed, but it was the whole 'it doesn't matter' part that was repeating over and over again in her head and just eating at her. Then again, what she should really be asking herself was why she wanted to see him jealous in the first place.

Sighing she sat down on the ground, stretching out her legs and leaning back on the support of her hands. She had been moving around all day and she had to admit, she was exhausted. Shizune would kill her if she wasn't in top shape by the end of the week.

His demeanor changed just for a moment, but it was just for a second. He quickly regained his self control.

"Tch. Fine, do whatever you want. I don't care."

He took a seat directly across from her but several feet away, his back against a tree.

Now she was mad at him. Sakura's eyes locked onto him immediately, narrowing as she tried to figure out a way to stop this from becoming a full blown fight between them. She knew it couldn't be good if they were already fighting, but she knew that if she left that he wasn't going to come after her and both of them would just stay mad.

Sasuke was stubborn and probably the proudest person she knew. She wasn't going to get anywhere with him if she couldn't bend a little. Sure, she was stubborn also and had an incredibly short temper, but if they were going to make this work, and how she wanted it to work, than one of them was going to have to be careful about what they said. Just because she was being careful of her words though certainly didn't mean he was going to win every fight they had. By no means.

Plus, if it ever came down to it, she could always fall back on crying. _She_certainly wasn't too proud to cry.

"You don't care."

She repeated the statement more so to herself than to him, nodding her head slightly as if Sakura was trying to make herself understand.

"Well, the only reason I told you was because I wanted to give you a heads up. I didn't want you to get mad at me for having known for weeks and not telling you." Her voice had lowered to a very calm tone, not the frantic one that always seemed to overcome her when she was angry.

"But you don't care." There she was again, talking to herself.

She lay down then, staring up at the canopy of trees with her hands folded over her stomach. It was going to take some mistakes to really learn this side of Sasuke, the Sasuke she was involved with. He was going to have to learn to because it honestly couldn't be all her. She wasn't going to let it be all her no matter the outcome.

Sakura wanted to be with him, and she had a feeling that she would be for a long time, if he was willing to learn. Then something struck her. An idea that she had a feeling might work but she'd have to wait for the right time to use it. Or really, she'd have to get to the point where she wasn't so mad she could make herself say it.

Sasuke glared at Sakura, looking annoyed.

"I don't care because I have no reason to. There are some girls that are interested in me, but you shouldn't care either. Because you're the only one I care about," he explained.

And then all the sudden, her anger flew out the window. She sat there for only seconds staring up at the canopy as it sunk in before she slowly sat up to look at the boy sitting across from her. Sasuke's eyes were closed and he seemed to be waiting, she guessed it was for her reaction to all of this. S

he couldn't get over staring at him in surprise though. She had expected this fight to drone on for a good ten minutes or so but just like that it reminded her how she had started to fall for him and she was just done being angry. She had always savored those moments with him where he treated her different than everyone else. Where he acted like he didn't think she was the most annoying creature on the planet.

She got up as quietly as possible, though she figured he already knew she was up and moving towards him. So when she sat down next to him, she let out a sigh and took one of his hands, lacing her fingers with his and leaning her head down on his shoulder, a quiet laugh escaping from her.

He finally opened his eyes and looked over at her when he heard her speak.

"Well, I guess you're a pretty good boyfriend after all," she said with a soft smile

"Is that so?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Sakura gave a small smile when she could practically hear him smirk. "Yeah, that's so."

He let go of her hand because he had to in order to move. He wrapped his arm around her, his hand resting on her waist and pulling her closer. She really did love his touch, but what made this better for her was the fact that she felt safe. She could forget the slightly creepy training grounds around them and instead let him pull her close.

Sasuke smirked at her. "Don't fall asleep."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh a bit when he told her to not go to sleep.

"Sasuke, that's like telling me not to think of a pink elephant."

It was at least one in the morning and she felt like she was at home in bed. Warm, comfortable, and again... Safe. Also she could feel his every breath, and when she laid her head back down on his shoulder she had her ear against his chest and could hear his heart beating.

She tossed an arm across his stomach as she turned her body to face him, pulling herself even closer. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she relaxed against him.

"Plus, what's so bad about taking a little nap, hm?"

She looked up at him and gave him a somber smile. She still wasn't ready to leave just yet but she was exhausted.

Sasuke sighed. "Fine, but don't let a little nap turn into all night. More than an hour and I'm taking you home."

Sakura relaxed against him, resting her head on his shoulder again. She couldn't stop the smile though that he gave in, or rather, it was more like he was giving her permission to sleep. She even went on to laugh, turning her head just slightly to muffle it into his shirt.

"Well thank you, Sasuke. You can wake me up if I fall asleep though."

It was always like that with him though. Sasuke was very much into doing things his way. He rarely compromised, and never just flat out gave in.

The medic grew quiet as she started to focus on Sasuke's breathing. Each breath was deeper than her own and she could tell that he was calm. When they were kids, she could remember on missions whenever he'd fall asleep before her.

Sasuke had always seemed so on guard then, his walls were always up, even when he was sleeping. Even when he was awake he acted like he was waiting for something and despite being cool and collected, he wasn't calm. Only in fights he'd appear to relax a little.

Right now though, he was just in the moment. He didn't seem so hidden away in himself like a burden had just been lifted from his shoulders. She guessed in a way, it was. Now he had a place to calm home, people he could trust, and she could assume closure on a lot of things.

"I don't want to be an inconvenience on you," she said very softly.

Sasuke glanced down at her. "Hn."

He pulled her closer.

"Worth it."

Sasuke was being nice to her, because she knew that after awhile, sitting against that tree wouldn't be so comfortable. He had a way with words though, or rather, the lack of them.

She knew that she was in trouble with that department. Even though he was slightly lacking on knowing the right thing to say at the right time, he could make up for it. He was a charmer in his own way and curse it all, good at flirting. She knew that unless she could stop falling into his traps, she'd never win an argument with him. She didn't ever think she'd be able to stay mad at him or even pretend to do so...

He closed his eyes, relaxing and now he was yawning. He couldn't help himself though. It was an involuntary action, and he couldn't stop it no matter how much self control he had.

Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard that catch in his breath. A slow smile forming on her face before she let out a quiet chuckle.

"I thought you said not to fall asleep, Sasuke."

She smiled at the fact he was trying to hide his yawn, but then when she really thought about it, he had to be exhausted. He was waking early and working all day only to top it off by staying out late training and here she was keeping him out even later. A pang of guilt shot through her followed by a sigh as placed a hand against the ground and pushed up, pulling away from him slightly as she sat up to look at him.

Sakura knew that the boy would never admit to being tired, but he looked it. From the dark circles under his eyes to the position of his body, just lax and the limbs falling where they may. She wasn't going to keep him out any longer, he needed his sleep just the same as she did.

Leaning forward, the rosette whispered into his ear.

"C'mon, let's go home."

She sat there for only a few short moments, her breath fanning his ear before Sakura pulled back far enough to kiss him softly on the cheek. She stood up after, brushing herself off and then holding out a hand to him. She knew he didn't need help getting up and that he might just brush her hand away, but the only reason she did it was for the kind gesture of it all.

"If I stay out here and fall asleep, I'm not going to want to leave later."

He nodded. "Alright, let's go."

Sasuke ignored the hand she offered to him, standing up on his own. She wasn't surprised by him ignoring her hand, she had been expecting it, but she pushed the thought aside.

"Next time, pick a better place to fall asleep," he said as he started walking back and grabbing her hand.

This was one thing she'd never get tired of, the feel of her hand in his. It made her feel privileged, that he had chosen her. There were so many girls he could of picked, girls that might be a more logical pick for him based on their traits and personalities. But he had picked her. Sure it had taken him a long ass time, but the wait for him was worth it. Sakura couldn't imagine belonging with anyone else.

"Well maybe next time you want to get back at me for something you should pick somewhere more comfortable. Like your apartment, not the middle of the creepy woods."

Sakura raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him. She hadn't wanted to move from that spot. She had been comfortable and could of slept there the entire night. Why was it her fault he had decided to be broody and sit down against a tree across from her. He always could of laid down on the ground next to her and the problem would of been solved. It wasn't her fault he was prideful.

"How was I supposed to know that we were going to end up on the ground?" he asked with a scoff.

"I don't know. Wasn't there some rumor floating around that the sharingan could see the future..." Sakura mused.

It was a rhetorical question by all means. She knew how farfetched it sounded, but she was only messing with him. And if she did recall, some people really used to believe that it was true, making the technique sought after. Sakura had always been wary of those red eyes since she was little, maybe because there was something dark about them, but now, she found them captivating. Well, she found Sasuke's eyes captivating.

Sasuke looked over at Sakura curiously. "Only in theory."

She frowned. "You could of just told me to move so you could get comfortable, too. I'd like to think I'd understand if you had to move because the bark of a tree didn't make a great back rest."

"Tch, there wasn't anywhere good to move to."

"Well thanks for letting me sit there regardless of your comfort level."

Sasuke was truely a proud guy. She was positive now that she really thought about it that he couldn't of been comfortable. He had obviously planned on sitting there for the long haul though and as much as she would of liked to of slept, she knew she wouldn't of been able to do it to him.

Sakura laughed lightly before covering a yawn with the back of her hand. She was already regretting getting up without taking a small nap looked over and noticed.

"Don't fall asleep while walking either," he said with a smirk, teasing her.

She raised an eyebrow. She had only gotten out of the hospital for chakra exhaustion two nights ago she left the hospital. She still wasn't even allowed to train for another day or so.

"Haha, very funny. I didn't even realize how tired I was until I thought about going to sleep back there. I just want to sleep right now. I honestly don't even care where. I wouldn't mind stretching out in the middle of the training grounds."

"You may not care where you fall asleep but I do. I'll walk you home," he said, deciding that Sakura couldn't be trusted not to fall asleep between the spot they usually parted and her home.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I don't care where I sleep half the time."

She knew there was no point in arguing with him about it even though he had to be tired as well. He was going to be walking to her house with or without her right now.

He frowned and looked over at her. "You should care where you fall asleep."

She just smiled. It was always amusing to her whenever he'd say something like that, nagging at her almost. Hell, even when he lectured her on something she'd still just nod at him to assure him she was taking note and then grin like an idiot. It was Sasuke's way of caring, his way of saying she should be careful and that he'd like her to stay safe. Well, that was her assumption of what his nagging came down to, it was either that or just get annoyed with it all. She'd go with the former.

Her smile didn't last long because when they reached that point she reluctantly let go of his hand, taking a step away to put some distance between them. They weren't the only ones out right now. There were guards on duty probably doing rounds, there were probably other people out and about as well just like they were on their way home. She knew this, Sasuke had to know it but she wished she could just be naive for once.

Sasuke too seemed to notice the people. "My eyes are doing better. The discomfort when I use the sharingan is nearly gone now. I haven't tried the Mangekyou yet though."

Sasuke was always one to cover his tracks as well, the topic of medicine being their cover.

"Good. Remind me tomorrow and I'll do a full check-up on everything. You're moving like everything healed right but just to make sure."

He had been out of the hospital for awhile and it had been about a week or so since she had checked on everything from his ribs where they had been broken to his eyes.

He nodded. "My arm feels fine. I can't feel anything wrong with it. Same goes for my side."

"Well, like I said, you look like you healed just fine. You are almost like Naruto, you can just bounce right back."

That was one thing that the boys on Team Seven had always been better than her at. They always had more stamina than she did, more drive. When she got hurt, it would take her nearly twice as long to get back on her feet than them. Even now, Sakura was still feeling the effects of chakra exhaustion after three days. Sasuke and Naruto would probably only have to sleep on it and they'd be back to normal the next day.

"Hn," he grumbled.

Sakura smiled. "As for the Mangekyou, I suggest that you put off even trying it out until all of the discomfort using your regular sharingan is gone. Until then, using it could possibly make you go blind. From what I've read up on it. Hopefully Tsunade isn't going to throw you to the wolves though. I doubt she would."

He frowned. "I shouldn't need the Mangekyou anytime soon."

"Well, if you don't need it soon, then you have no worries. I'll check on your eyes tomorrow though."

She knew that he'd be stuck with D-rank missions for awhile and it was probably going to drive him close to insanity. He was still technically a genin though by Konoha's books. She wasn't going to give him a blow to his ego by rubbing it in his face, that would probably just piss him off. Tsunade wasn't stupid though.

Sasuke was a strong ninja and he'd be useful on a lot of the missions that had been coming in lately. Sakura knew the woman would torture him a little with cat chasing missions and the like, but it wouldn't be for too long.

Sakura laughed gently as they turned down a street, her house in sight.

"You should be able to start doing missions again soon, right?" she asked.

Sasuke paused, counting in his head the days until he would start missions again. "A little over a week, then I'll start with D-ranks. Who knows how long I'll be on those."

She smiled at him. "Just don't complain about any missions she gives you and I'm sure it won't be too long. By complain, I mean act all broody and annoyed."

He sighed. "Are you coming to the Uchiha district again tomorrow?"

They slowed in front of her house, a sigh passing her lips at the thought she couldn't even kiss him goodbye crossing her mind.

"Yeah, tomorrow is my last day off for awhile so I'll come stop by. I'll bring lunch."

She smiled at him before unlocking her door, glancing back at him after she opened it.

"Good night, Sasuke."

"See you tomorrow then. Goodnight," he said before walking away and back to his apartment to get some much needed rest.


	9. Leaving

Two weeks had gone by fast. Maybe it was because she was happy and things with Sasuke were going well. Really well, actually. Being with him was easier than she thought it would be for one thing.

He was a different Sasuke with her than everyone else. He didn't act annoyed or on guard. He was relaxed with her, gentle and he'd actual joke believe it or not. The only thing that made what they had hard was the fact that they had to be careful. She didn't like keeping a distance from him when they were out in public or the fact she couldn't kick every single one of his fan girl's asses everytime they tried to get his attention with some crazy stunt.

Then again, keeping things secret also had it's level of excitement. Anyone could walk up into the training grounds at night and Naruto had a habit of busting into Sasuke's apartment whenever he so pleased.

She had fallen back into her usual routine though with work included. She'd work during the day at the hospital and then go to see Sasuke afterward. The two days she had off a week she usually went to the Uchiha district and would study and eat lunch with him then usually train for awhile herself until she would meet up with him again later.

She had only one mission though and had been gone one day, coming back without even a bruise on her. The only thing that she could label bad was the fact that Sasuke was leaving for a week at least.

Shikamaru requested him specifically for a higher ranking mission. Apparently the lazy genius required both a byakugan and sharingan for a mission he was leading. Kakashi had been originally slated to go, but something important came up and he was sent away on something top secret. It would be Sasuke's first mission out of the village since he came back and he seemed relieved to finally be away from all the D-ranks.

And then it was in that week that Ronan was coming. She had done everything she could to get out of it, but apparently Tsunade was set on trying to get her together with this guy...

Sakura closed the medical journal she had been reading when she walked into the training grounds, leaning against the tree Sasuke usually set his things by. She wasn't all too happy about not being able to see him off tomorrow, but at least she was getting to give him a goodbye in some fashion, even if it was a night earlier. She knew he'd be fine, but she couldn't ignore the fact she was worried about him going. It was only going to be a week though, two tops. He'd be fine, at least, she hoped he would be.

Sasuke finished his training and as he walked over to Sakura he deactivated the sharingan, not needing it anymore. He stopped to get a drink of water first, needing to cool down after the intense training session. Once he was done with that he turned his gaze back to Sakura.

Without a word Sasuke planted a soft kiss on Sakura's lips. "I'll come see you once I get back."

She smiled up at him, trying to cover the fact that she was worried about him. Sakura knew this was something she was going to have to get used to. They'd both be going on missions over time, some long and some short, but it was their jobs.

She knew the worry wasn't going to go away though, and that was something he was just going to have to get used to. She had just gotten back from a mission that wasn't supposed to involve contact with enemies and look what had happened. Their entire team spent at least one night in the hospital.

Sakura took a step towards him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her cheek against his left shoulder. Sasuke let Sakura embrace him, resting a hand on the small of her back. She took a deep breath, her nose filling with his scent as she did, she didn't even care he just finished training.

"You better. I think I might actually miss you a little bit."

"If you'll only miss me a little bit, then it won't matter if I let the mission take extra long," Sasuke teased in return, clearly lying.

"Sasuke Uchiha, if you stretch out that mission any longer than it has to be and I find out about it, you'll wish you stretched it out indefinitely."

She gave him a playful glare before smiling at him and laughing.

"There, you happy? I'll miss you a lot."

She knew he got some great ego boost when she'd say things like that. Things like him being a good boyfriend to having good flirting skills. She didn't mind feeding the ego a little bit now an then.

"Is that so?" Sasuke replied with a smirk. "I'll just have to make sure you don't find out about it then," he said, referencing her threat.

"You do that, Sasuke. We'll see how it works out for you."

"Or I could just come back on time and not tell you," he teased.

She smiled up at him, playing along with the little game between them. She knew he wouldn't do such a thing unless he had a good reason too, like he needed space from Konoha, Naruto or even her. She could understand that, respect that. He'd gone through a lot, and if he ever needed time, she'd wait. She had waited three years for him, a few extra days on a mission wasn't going to kill her. Sakura wasn't lying though when she said she was going to miss him like crazy.

The rosette laughed gently before pulling away from him as she turned and started to gather his things. He released her, moving to help gather his things as well.

She sighed. "I have a feeling this Ronan guy is going to have me wanting to rip my hair out so I guess I'll apologize now if I'm a little frazzled when you come back."

He paused and frowned. "Hn," he said, the sound of his voice in that one word betraying his dislike about the man's attraction to Sakura.

She gave him a sheepish smile as she started handing him the extra weapons he had laid out. Sakura had watched him put them up enough to know the order he did it in. The last thing she grabbed was his water bottle, turning to face him as she held it out for him to take it.

"Hopefully he'll be gone by then, though I doubt it," she added.

Sasuke grumbled a bit. "It doesn't matter. He's just a pest."

"A pest is an understatement."

Ronan wasn't horrible, he was actually a fairly charming guy. Just when they had been in his village, he was always there. He hardly gave her room to breathe, her only solace away from the guy was when she was out with her team scouting or in her room at the inn they were staying at.

Otherwise he within five feet of her the entire time and constantly chattering. He reminded her of Naruto almost, except the kind of Naruto she really couldn't stand. Academy Naruto.

The Uchiha frowned. "Hn," was his only reply to Sakura though.

She was amused by how Sasuke didn't even know this guy yet here he was, already deciding to have a strong dislike of him. Then again, she didn't really care for the guy what-so-ever either. She cared about Sasuke on the other hand, and she could only pray Ronan was gone when Sasuke came back.

Once all his things were put up Sasuke took Sakura's hand, as he'd become accustomed to doing every night as they walked back towards the village.

Sakura didn't hesitate to slip her hand in his. It was something they had both gotten used to.

When walking back to the village from here he'd take her hand and hold onto it until they got to the sign post that was at the tree line. She wished she had more time with him, but she knew how important it was to him, how serious he was about missions big or small.

"I wish I could go with you guys instead of here worrying myself half to death," she said.

He looked over at her, looking not happy that she wanted to go.

"Tch, I don't need a babysitter. I can take care of myself. I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

She slowly looked up at him before coming to a stop. She tugged on his hand slightly to get him to stop with her.

"Sasuke, I know can take care of yourself, and I'm sure you'll be fine, but I'm still going to worry. You can't tell me not to. You're probably going some place where people won't hesitate to fight you and just the idea of something happening to you scares me. Sasuke, I care so much about you and I don't know if I could handle it I lost you again. So don't tell me not to worry about you."

She could feel tears start to brim in her eyes. She wasn't even sure why, but she felt that she needed him to know all of this. She was scared he might not come back, and she wanted him to know that he had people that cared about him here, that he could have a home here.

"Cause I will if I damn well want to," she added.

"Sakura…"

Sakura looked down, brushing away the tears that had overflown with her free hand.

He leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. Feeling the soft kiss, she almost broke down. She had made a promise a long time ago she'd try not to cry in front of him, but that was back when she was trying to prove something, that she was strong. She couldn't seem to help herself now though. There were no sobs, no sniffles, just silent tears rolling down her cheeks every time she'd close her eyes.

"It's alright," he said softly.

She took a step towards him, letting go of his hand as she slid her arms around him, hugging him tightly and burying her face in his chest. Sasuke seemed startled, loosely embracing the pink haired girl in return.

She trusted Sasuke, she did, but there was still that small seed of doubt in her mind. She had trusted him before and he left then, there was nothing stopping him if he wanted to leave now.

He'd been back for almost three months now and the villagers were still a little uneasy around him, he was having to rebuild his entire life here. The pressure of that alone would be enough to make her at least consider leaving. The only difference between now and then was that she was with him.

That could only leave her asking the question of was she enough... There was also the idea that if someone got the drop on him, or if they were outnumbered severely. He could get taken from her just as easily as if he were leaving on his own whim. She'd barely made it through the first time, she highly doubted she could do it again. She wasn't strong enough for that.

Sakura pulled only far enough away from him to wipe her eyes before looking up at him. She wasn't sure how many seconds she had stared at him before she reached up and pushed the bangs out of his face. She ran her fingers through his hair before she slowly leaned up and kissed him. Sasuke's eyes locked with hers for a few moments and he looked surprised, though he didn't pull away, relaxing into the kiss.

It was gentle at first, and she almost pulled back before she decided to go with her instincts instead, deepening the kiss. She didn't care he could probably taste her tears or if she was making a fool of herself. She wanted to give him a reason to come back.

Sasuke didn't break it until he needed to stop for air. Once he did he looked at her curiously, clearly confused.

"Sakura?" he asked, brushing a remaining tear from her cheek.

She was quiet as she looked up at him, giving a half-hearted smile. By the looks of it, he was trying to figure out why she was crying. He probably thought it was something he did, too when it was only her mind bringing forward everything she was unsure about forward.

"I didn't mean to cry in front of you. I'm sorry."

She ran her hand through his hair one last time before dropping them both to his shoulders, looking down as she forced herself to relax.

She sighed. "I guess I'm just as scared as I am worried. It'll just take me awhile to get used to you going on missions is all."

She needed to trust him even more. Sasuke would come back, he'd said he'd come see her, and he wouldn't of wasted his breath if he didn't mean it. Sakura had to believe that, otherwise she was just going to drive herself insane.

"Don't apologize," he said simply.

Her eyes focused up on him. "Just be careful. Please."

Sasuke frowned. "I will be back. I'm not leaving for good again and I'm not going to die."

She looked down the pathway and could see the spot where they'd have to split ways. She wasn't going to let him walk her home tonight, not if he had to wake up early. She wasn't ready to say bye to him yet though. She just wanted to be around him as long as possible.

He too saw the split in the path ahead as well. "I promise."

He pulled her closer, his arm tightening around her waist.

"I'll be careful, just for you."

She smiled softly. "Thank you."

It was all she could think to say to him as she hugged him tightly. She was listening to his breathing, his heart beat and it was working in calming her down. He was better at comforting people than she thought he would be. Sure she was still worried to the point where he would probably be all she was thinking about until he came back but honestly what could she do? It was his job to go, he had been training his whole life for things such as this.

There was something he said that bothered her though. He said he wasn't going to leave and that he wasn't going to die. The first part she couldn't bring herself to address, she'd just start crying again. About him dying though, that was something she hoped she'd never have to deal with.

He was a strong ninja though, and one of the geniuses of their generation. He wasn't going to be going on C and B-rank missions that involved enemies that were hardly worth labeling a threat to no real danger at all. No, Sakura had no doubt in her mind that Sasuke would make it to ANBU, which would effectively cut his life expectancy into half the percentile.

Death only happened once, and even Sasuke wasn't immune. Sakura had to push those thoughts aside as well though. She was just going to get herself tangled in an even more complex web of worry and fear.

"Well I guess I've made myself look crazy enough that you know how much I'm actually going to miss you."

"I figured it out already," he answered.

She laughed gently as she finally looked up at him, giving him a faint smile. She was still upset, that much was clear but she was calming. She felt guilty though along with everything else that she was keeping him out. As much as she didn't want to tell him to go, she knew it was for the better.

When it came to people she cared about, she was never going to be able to ease up on her worrying when it came to missions. When she was twelve, she honestly never thought about one of her friends coming back dead, but after Sasuke left, when there was that true possibility that she'd never see him again, that was when she became like this. No matter who it was, Ino, Kakashi, Naruto, she'd always think about them. Over the years, she had learned how to hide it from them, but with Sasuke, she just couldn't...

She wasn't in love with the other people.

"Sasuke, if you need to go you can. You don't have to stay here with me cause I'm like... This."

Sasuke frowned "Tch, no chance in hell."

Not exactly the most romantic way of saying that he'd stick by his girlfriend's side until she felt better, but that was what he meant. She laughed quietly. It wasn't the conventional way to say he'd stay, but to her, he couldn't of said anything better.

Sasuke definitely had his own language when it came to these situations, but she couldn't get enough of it. It made him so unpredictable, always leaving her wonder what he'd say next. Usually she could tell his mood ahead of time, or what his reaction might be, but what was going to come out of his mouth always eluded her.

"Come to my apartment for a while, until you cheer up," he said glancing around at how public this spot was.

She nodded in agreement, reluctantly pulling away from him and crossing her arms as if she was suddenly cold. She turned and started walking again, brushing at her cheeks to try and dry them.

"I might move out of my parents house."

She was trying to change the subject, getting the thoughts of him not coming back for some reason out of her head.

"They're supposed to be building another complex, about a block from the one you live in. It just seems like a good time to."

Sasuke looked over at her.

"How long until that apartment complex is finished?" he asked in response.

"It'll be a month or two. They're just putting the finishing touches on it I think."

Sakura wouldn't be happy when she moved out, but she'd be excited. It was something new, something that gave her independence. It would help her grow up and she'd be closer to the hospital... And Sasuke, but that was besides the point.

It wouldn't matter after he moved back into the Uchiha compound though, that was actually closer to her parents' house. Yet she wouldn't have to worry about waking her parents up when she got home or worry them with things like when she'd get cuts and bruises. It'd make it a hell of a lot easier to avoid them during those times, them and lectures.

"You'll have to make sure to give Naruto a spare key so he can visit unannounced whenever he wants," he said sarcastically.

"Well if you'd rather Naruto have it than you, okay."

She wondered what his reaction would be to that. She was insinuating she planned on giving him a key to her place, whenever she got one, and that at least showed she had trust in him. Naruto on the other hand, was a completely different story. She trusted the blond, but with things like her life, not her clean apartment.

Sasuke smirked. "I could get in even without a key, but if you actually want to keep Naruto out of your apartment I could take it."

She could only smile to herself as his sarcastic remarks about getting a key to her apartment. Of course she wanted him to take one, but she didn't want to sound to enthusiastic about it. So she only nodded in response to all of it, plus it didn't help she was slightly distracted.

She wasn't near crying again, but she knew the tiniest comment could send her right back into a slump she wouldn't get herself out of until he came back. Sakura didn't want to be like that, so when he said her name, she could only look at him and give a soft smile.

"There's a new Chinese take-out place that's opening soon. When I get back from my mission we can get some and eat at my place," Sasuke said.

Sakura looked up at him. That was a date to her, she'd take it no problem.

"I can't believe Sasuke Uchiha just asked me to dinner."

She gave him that same half-hearted smile, trying to get herself in a better mood. "That'd be great."

She looked back down and crossed her arms, his apartment was in sight and she was just ready to be inside.

"Isn't that what boyfriends are supposed to do? Or maybe you changed your mind about us?" he asked.

"Yeah, Sasuke. I'm going to trade you in for a better model."

He arched a curious eyebrow but didn't speak.

She let out a scoff at that and playfully rolled her eyes. Like she would honestly break up with him for anyone... She knew Sasuke was the one she wanted to be with. She'd already proved it enough she'd follow him anywhere and do anything for him. Sakura knew that he knew that as well and she had a feeling that he'd do almost anything for her as well. Here he was putting off sleep for his mission all because she had cried.

Once they were up to his apartment Sasuke unlocked the door, letting them both in and then closing it behind them. His apartment was nearly exactly the same as the last time Sakura had been there, with the exception of the boxes of his family's stuff she'd given him. Those were now neatly put away, minus a few pictures that were now framed on a table.

"Make yourself at home," Sasuke muttered.

Then he set about putting his training supplies away. The Uchiha was ever the neat freak and he always put his things away as soon as he walked through the door.

She started to head towards the living room, slowing when she passed the pictures he had up. They were from the photo albums she was guessing, seeing as how they were of him little and his family. Sakura took her time to look at each one, smiling gently at the last one. It was just a picture of Sasuke and Itachi. They both looked happy, even though they were apparently arguing over something in the photo.

Finally making her way to the living room she turned to where she was leaning against them armrest of the couch and facing his direction. Her arms were still crossed, though she lifted one hand to rest her chin on her palm, covering her mouth with her fingers as she stared at the ground. The thoughts just weren't going away that something bad was going to happen.

Sasuke finished putting the last of his training things up and locking them away with all of his other ninja items. Then he found Sakura in the living room and walked over to her.

"Sakura?" he asked, looking a bit unsure.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. I'm fine."

"You're lying," he responded.

She reached out and took his hand, pulling him towards her. She knew she'd feel better if she was close to him, but then again she wasn't going to be held responsible for keeping him up late.

"If you want to go to bed, you can. I can lock up when I leave," she said quietly, hoping he'd refuse.

Sakura rose an eyebrow up at him in curiosity as she sat down on the arm rest of the couch. Even with that few extra inches between them, despite the fact he was still close, she had to crane her neck up to look at him.

She'd decided something. She knew that it'd be hard for her to do, but she wasn't expecting anything back from Sasuke. She just had this feeling that she needed to explain to him just how much he meant to her. Why she was going to miss him so much. There were only two ways to do that. One was to outright say it, which she planned on, and two was to actually show him, which she trusted him enough that she wouldn't be opposed to doing that either.

"Sasuke..."

She dropped her gaze to his hand she was still holding, suddenly becoming very interested with is palm.

"I dont expect you to say anything back to me, so don't feel like you have to. I know you don't feel the same way as me right now, but I've felt like this since I was twelve. The reason why I started crying before is because I love you. I'm just don't want to lose you, or have anything happen to you. I'm sure you'll be fine, but still..." She trailed off, not really sure where else to go with her explanation. She could only keep staring at his hand, unsure of his reaction to it all.

Sasuke leaned down so that he would be able to speak quietly into her ear.

She could feel the anticipation of his reaction. Sakura knew that he wasn't going to feel the same way. She knew he cared, more than she ever expected him too, but it probably wasn't going to be easy for him to fall in love with her.

She wouldn't be surprised if he was hesitant about it. She knew she was just jumping to assumptions, but he already had everyone he loved taken from him once, he probably wouldn't be so eager to take that risk again. Again, it was just making an assumption, but she wasn't about to rush him into anything. She'd wait, and it'd be worth it.

"You are my most important person," he said quietly.

She felt something knot in her stomach, though it was a good feeling. Probably the best feeling she had ever gotten. She honestly didn't even think he'd say anything like that even. It had taken him awhile to respond, but she still didn't regret what she had said, and she wasn't about to let him regret anything, either.

He gently placed the hand that Sakura wasn't holding onto under the pink haired girl's chin, bringing it up and looking at her eyes.

"And I promise to always return from my missions. Every time."

She knew that if she thought about it, she could cry again. She wasn't going to freak him out though, he seemed slightly unsure of how to react the first time she did. Yet what he said did actually work a little bit. She wasn't sure if it was because how intimate they were being, or the tone of his voice, or even how close they were, but she believed him. Sure it was a crazy thing to promise because that wasn't something you could technically guarantee, but he believed it, too.

Sakura slowly slid off the armrest into the small space between Sasuke in the couch, leaving him feeling her every breath and movement and her the same with him. Right now, there was honestly nothing she could say to him that would convey her feelings to him. She was happy, happier than she had ever been, and she knew she loved him more than anything. She just had to show him. She was caught in the euphoria of it all, and she knew that unless he did something, she wasn't going to stop. She didn't want to stop.

She slid her arms around his neck, holding herself balanced as she stood up to kiss him, letting every feeling she had explode with that kiss. Sasuke seemed surprised but returned her kiss, feeling the emotion that she'd put behind it. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to him.

She wasn't going to regret anything that had to do with him and she wanted, no, needed him to know that more than anything. He was her choice, and she was his and she didn't plan on changing her mind any time soon. She wanted him and it was as simple as that.

Sakura was surprised by all of this as he apparently seemed to be. The only difference was, she didn't care right now. She didn't care that she let it slip how she really felt, or that he didn't even say it back. The only thing that she cared about was that he knew before he left. She wanted him to feel like he had something... Someone to come back to, that maybe he could finally consider this place home after everything he went through. She cared about the fact he said she was his most important person and she wasn't going to take that lightly. Right now though, she was just letting her actions do the talking.

Sasuke seemed to be doing that as well. He wasn't toying with her, or even settling. She could tell from that kiss that Sasuke wasn't going to hurt her, that whatever they had was going to go somewhere and he'd do anything in his power to make her happy. What really got her the most was that she had a feeling he was happy, too, or at least, as close to happy as Sasuke could really get.

Sasuke pulled away from the kiss to breathe, only taking a moment for air before pulling her into another equally passionate kiss. Sakura had no idea how long they stood there kissing, she wasn't even positive when one of her hands slid to his jaw, her fingers weaving through his hair while her other hand wrapped around his shoulder to hold her balance.

She knew that she was content though with not going anywhere. It took her a good few seconds to slowly pull away from him just so she could make at least that known.

"Sasuke... I don't want to go home tonight."

The rosette had only pulled inches away from him, her breath mingling with his.

She looked up at him. "I want to stay here, with you."

She knew where things could go if she stayed, and honestly, there was a part of her that hoped things would go there, but she also knew that nothing might happen at all, and she was alright with that, too.

Sakura just knew that she wanted to see him in the morning before he left, even if it was only long enough for her to kiss him bye and to tell him she'd see him when he got back.


	10. Undressing

A/N: Changed my penname. The old one was from like 2007 and it made like no sense anymore.

* * *

"Okay," Sasuke immediately answered without hesitation.

Despite the feelings that were circling through the back of her mind about him going on a mission in the morning, she couldn't hold back the smile that crossed her face. He replied fast enough that she highly doubted he thought about it, which was enough for her to know he probably wanted this as much as she did.

That assumption was enough motive for her to get bolder and pull the first move. After that though, he was going to have to give her something. She leaned back forward, closing the distance between them as she started to kiss him again.

Sakura's hands slowly slid from his hair and shoulder down his chest to the hem of his shirt. She leaned into him only for a few seconds before going underneath his shirt, her fingertips barely grazing his skin before she began pulling up on the fabric, clearly wanting it off.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, but she knew she wasn't going to regret any of this. She wanted it... Wanted him. It was the only way she could think of to really get all of her feelings expressed to him, to show him how much she loved him and would miss him. She wasn't scared and she trusted him more than she had ever trusted anyone.

Sasuke took a small step back from her to put enough distance between them and lifted up his arms, allowing her to remove his shirt. Then he turned his attention back to her, his hands tracing the bottom hem of her shirt for a moment before clutching it. He started pulling it up, but paused with only her stomach exposed.

It hadn't really registered what they were doing until she tossed his shirt over the armrest of the couch behind her. She knew she was perfectly fine with the idea of it, but if anyone had told her five weeks ago she'd be in this situation with Sasuke Uchiha, she probably would of just told them they were crazy and laughed it off.

Here she was though, in his apartment... Alone... And him without a shirt while he was in the process of taking off hers. Her knees weakened a little at the sudden realization.

He took a moment to look at Sakura, his eyes questioning. "Are you sure about this?"

The question stopped her from kissing him again. Sakura would of never guessed that Sasuke would be the one stepping on eggs shells here. She was the one who initiated the kiss, asked to stay over and pulled off his shirt and he was the one asking if she was sure about it. That alone was enough to make her want to laugh, but she wouldn't dare, not when he was giving her that look.

Instead, she opted for just meeting his gaze and giving a faint nod.

"I'm sure, Sasuke."

Sakura raised her hands and allowed him to finish taking off her shirt before she leaned forward, kissing him again before sliding from between him and the couch, taking a step backwards in the direction of his room, not once breaking the contact of their lips. He gladly returned the kiss without holding back in the slightest and followed her towards his bedroom.

Sasuke placed his hands on her waist, guiding her to make sure that she didn't bump into anything as the two made their way to the bedroom. They arrived at the bedroom and the only light in the room was the light that came in the open door from the living room, making it just bright enough in there to see.

This was a side of Sasuke she had never seen before. He wasn't thinking, he was just doing and he wasn't holding back. Who knew what happened to her shirt, but she pushed the thought aside when he started to kiss her back.

Sasuke stopped her once they neared the bed, his hand traveling up from Sakura's waist and to the back of her bra. She could feel the sheets of his bed brush against the back of her legs and it only served to pull her more into the moment. She almost completely forgot about his hands at her waist until she felt him begin to move one, the warmth of his hand ghosting against her skin until he came to a stop at her bra, undoing it in a record time.

It was scary some of the things he was good at.

There was no hiding the blush that spread across her features as she slowly pulled off the article of clothing one strap at a time before discarding it to the floor somewhere. She broke the kiss between them as she started to trail kisses down his jaw line to his ear where she gave a light nibble on his ear as she made quick work with her hands to start undoing his pants.

Sakura had been successful at least at getting his pants open, but before she could make another move she had to stop when that first brush of his lips came in contact with her neck. That alone was enough to drive her insane at the agonizing teasing that he was ensuring.

In most situations, she would say that two could play at that game, but this wasn't most situations and Sasuke wasn't someone she could just out-smart. Plus, there was his stupid talent again, making him good at everything.

Sakura slowly pulled away from him then, putting only a short amount of distance between them as she slid back onto the bed, reaching out to grab his hand and pull him with her before kissing him. He kept his hand on either side of her to prop himself up above her, leaving barely any space between them. She fisted a hand in his hair while keeping the other on the bed to balance herself.

She felt something brush up against her and suddenly recalled what she had been dangerously close to touching earlier. Maybe if she hadn't been so upset earlier, or had just confessed that she still loved him she might of teased him a little bit, but right now the idea of bruising his ego was the farthest thing from her mind.

Sasuke pulled away from the kiss, once again kissing her neck but this time not stopping at just her collarbone. She had a feeling he was just testing the waters, trying to figure out those sweet spots she had, but it didn't stop there. He kept going down. Way down. He slid his body further down the bed, kissing his way all the way down her stomach before stopping. His hands reached under the edge of her skirt-shorts that she always wore, slowly starting to pull them down.

She didn't have a problem with it, but when a soft moan passed her lips before she could stop herself, a blush took over her face entirely. No one had ever done anything like this to her, touched her like this and she was enjoying it. Then again, she couldn't help but feel a little self conscious.

He seemed to be taking control and she knew right now she couldn't fight it. She was just going with what she felt and in all honesty, she didn't know what she was doing and Second, it just felt too damn good to tease him. She slowly released the fistful of hair she had as he started to kiss down her neck again.

She was suddenly thankful for the fact the light was off and despite the illumination from the living room, she highly doubted he could see the blush getting even worse on her cheeks. It would be naive of her to say she wasn't nervous about what he thought about all of this, but she wasn't going to stop, and neither was he.

Sakura didn't hesitate to lift up her hips, watching him as he discarded the clothing and left her completely bare. She was torn between waiting to see what he was doing and getting him out of his pants, as well.

In the end though all she could do was stare up at him. She wanted to see Sasuke's reaction to her, what he was doing.

"You look so beautiful," Sasuke muttered.

All she could do was stare at him, a small tug at her lips. That was probably going to be the moment she remembered about this night the best. Sasuke's compliments were few and far between and were almost always just subtle phrases. Sure, he had called her cute once, but that was nothing compared to what he said. Sakura knew he had to mean it, and that was the only thing that caused her blush to die down, her embarrassment close to disappearing.

Sakura took in a sharp intake of air when she felt his hand brush her thighs and slide in between her legs. She tilted her head back, all of her thoughts completely focused on what he was touching, how he was touching her. She barely registered when another moan passed her lips and she didn't care. He really was her drug and she knew she'd never get enough of him.

It took everything she had to reach down, placing her hand over his to make him pause his movements. She moved to look at him; her green eyes meeting his dark ones and a slow smirk crossed her lips.

"Lose the pants, Uchiha."

It wasn't fair she was the only one naked.

He slipped off the bed for a moment, removing his pants and becoming just as naked as her. She watched his every motion , his thumbs hooking in the waist of his pants before he took them off. She hadn't been blind to the fact he was staring at her earlier and that was the only reason she wasn't ashamed to stare right back.

Working at the hospital, it was safe to say she had seen her share, but she could assume that Sasuke could obviously add another thing to his list to things he was good at.

He then moved back onto the bed, kissing her once his face was once again next to hers. She leaned into the kiss, wrapping an arm around his neck to pull him close to her. She felt another wave of boldness wash over her as she deepened the kiss.

She wanted to know his reactions as well, he was in this just the same as she was. So she didn't hesitate to let her other hand trail down past his shoulders, chest and then stomach. She felt her blush return just slightly when she finally touched him, but she didn't break the kiss, all to curious as to what he'd do.

For a quick moment he stopped kissing her and gasped ever so slightly out of his surprised reaction. But then he returned to kissing her, even more fire in his kiss than before. His hand reached the back of her neck, keeping her close.

He seemed caught off guard, but he obviously didn't mind. His reaction amused Sakura, but when he kissed her again, it was her turn to be vulnerable. She was so caught up in the moment, every fiber of her being knowing that this was where she wanted to be. Sasuke was what she wanted and she highly doubted that would ever change. It was strange to think that two months ago she had been terrified of him and now she just couldn't picture him that way anymore.

He pulled away from the kiss, his eyes closed and face flushed, though not because he was embarrassed.

"Nnn…Sakura…"

She smiled, enjoying the fact that it was her who was making those noises come from him, that she was making him feel this. She slowly traced her fingers down the length of him as she started kissing his neck as she tried to lean up in the attempts to get him to roll over and give her control for a minute. Her options were limited unless he rolled over. She knew she wanted to make him feel even more though.

For a moment, she didn't think he was going to budge and just keep going along his merry way, though she doubted she would of been disappointed. Yet when he rolled over, taking her with him, she could only smile and respond to his kiss.

She kept it short before she slowly began to kiss down his neck, her bangs falling so that the ends brushed across his skin in her wake as she slowly began to kiss down his chest. By the time she made it down to where her fingertips were still touching him, she paused. There was no telling how he'd react, but she wouldn't know until she tried.

Sakura started with just a gentle kiss before trailing her tongue down the length of him and then back up the other side. She gave one sharp breath of cool air against the tip before kissing his stomach again and working her way back up to his chest.

He let out a moan, tilting his head back at the feel of the sensation. His hands clutched the sheets beside him. She sat up just enough to look at him then, watching him for only a few moments before kissing him, her hands resting on his shoulders.

Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her so close that their bodies were pressed together.

Then just as he'd done before, he rolled them over together, which was easy for someone as strong as him. He was back on top of her now and he kissed her again. She put as much emotion as she could into that kiss as she hugged him to her. Sakura trailed her hands down his back, the realization hitting her again. Sasuke was about to be her first and there was no backing out now, not that she even wanted too.

His hand left her waist and found its way to between her thighs once more, slipping two fingers inside her. A gasp escaped her She broke the kiss as she pressed her cheek against his, her breathing heavy.

"Mhmm, Sasuke."

She moaned as she leaned back into the bed, arching her backs toward him as she moved her hips involuntarily, spreading her legs a little more to give him more access. She wasn't too wet, but enough so that she could consider herself well aroused. If he kept this up though, that could change very, very shortly.

He slowly moved his fingers in and out and took the opportunity of her needing to breathe to kiss her neck, though not as lightly as before. She could see the smirk on his face through half lidded eyes. She wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing that he knew how much influence he had on her, but right now she didn't care.

Everything was good to her right now. Everything from his touch to the feel of his lips against her skin. Right now he had complete and utter control over the situation and she was just along for the ride.

She could already feel him testing her limits. She pressed her chest even more so against his as she began to rock her hips in tempo with his hand.

"Sasuke..."

She didn't know what he was waiting for, but she was ready for whatever was coming, or at least, she liked to say she was ready.

Sakura slowly sat up, kissing him again. The kiss was short though, being interrupted by a moan that been louder than the rest that escaped from her. He was doing something with his fingers that was making him hit just the right spot every few minutes and it was driving her so crazy she couldn't even focus on kissing him.

Sasuke slid his fingers out of her. Then he kissed her, not stopping for a long time. She couldn't hold back the upturn of her lips as she leaned back into the bed and pulled him with her. She had pushed all thoughts aside about him leaving on a mission in the morning, about the dangers that came with that. What was happening right now was the only thing filling her mind and the fact that she honestly couldn't believe that she was this happy. She never thought Sasuke would care about her in any way other than a friend or ever want her like this but it was obvious he did.

She knew what was coming next. Sakura wasn't stupid, she knew that her first time was going to hurt, she specialized in medicine for one thing. She wasn't sure Sasuke knew, but he was going to find out sure enough.

Once he did pull away for air he positioned himself at her entrance before pushing slowly inside. She started to feel a sense of relief. It didn't hurt that bad... At first. Whatever relief she felt in the next few seconds was gone when he got deeper, a sharp pain shooting through her.

Sakura's hands immediately found his shoulders, stopping him as she lay her head back on the bed and bit her bottom lip. She could feel the tears burning behind her eyes as she shut them tight, waiting for it all to subside. Only a few short moments passed before her breathing began to slow as she relaxed, adjusting to him and soon that pain began to turn to pleasure.

She slowly opened her eyes to look at him. She moved her hands from his shoulders, letting them fall to his arms and gave them a gentle squeeze as if to give him the go ahead.

Sakura had caught that look on his face before she had closed her eyes. He looked almost guilty over something, but she had no idea what about. The only thing that could even possibly come to mind was the fact that she had been in a bit of pain only a few moments ago but she knew what to expect, she knew what she was getting herself into and it was bound to happen sometime.

"I'm okay."

She smiled at him gently and she felt him start to move.

He was being so careful with her, and that only went to show how he felt about her. She knew Sasuke didn't feel the same way about her right now, but he had admitted more than she had expected him to. Everything he had said and done up until now was more than enough for her to forgive him for anything he had ever done to hurt her. She loved him, and she couldn't imagine one thing she'd ever want to hold against him.

She placed a hand against the back of his neck, pulling him down as she leaned up. Sakura gave him a tender kiss that was short and gentle before she leaned back again, letting out a moan. It felt damn good now.

"Don't hold back," she whispered tohim.

She just wanted him to go with what he felt. Regardless, this felt amazing to her, at least now it did, and she could already feel a pressure gathering inside of her. She moved her hips with him as she leaned up, kissing his neck.

Sasuke didn't hesitate, his thrusts speeding up as he let his body do what it wanted.

"Sakura…" he gasped out, his voice filled with want.

Sasuke wasn't that hard to convince. At least, that was what Sakura noticed. He was going with what he was feeling and she couldn't get enough of it.

She loved the way his hips were moving, they way that it felt like every time he pushed into her he seemed to get deeper. He was hitting a spot within in her that made her gasp each time simply because she felt him hitting that sweet spot.

She kept up kissing his neck for as long as she could, but soon it became too much. She wasn't sure what it was, but before she knew it she felt like something exploded inside of her. Like she had fallen off an edge and it felt great.

She let out a loud moan as she leaned back into the bed, knowing she had hit her peak. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before, and she loved it. That was enough to send him over the edge as well, causing him to moan loudly as he finished, his entire body feeling the amazing effects.

Sasuke was still for a moment, catching his breath after. He planted a soft kiss on Sakura's lips. Then he slowly raised himself off of her and rolled over onto his back, lying next to her on the bed.

She smiled. He had seemed to enjoy himself, despite the fact he seemed as out of breath as she was. There was another thing making her smile though. She knew this wasn't just a fling between them and for the first time she felt like he really knew how much she cared about him... Loved him. The worry was still there about his mission tomorrow, but she found it slightly easier to believe that he was coming back. She had to believe it, absolutely had to.

He closed his eyes, still catching his breath. He didn't say anything as he laid there, just breathing.

Sakura had no idea how long she lay there before she looked over to Sasuke, turning herself towards him.

"Let's get some sleep, okay?"

"Hn," he grumbled in response.

She pushed herself up to where she was hovering over him just enough so that she could kiss him. When she pulled back she couldn't help it as she smiled at him again, brushing the hair out of his face.

"Thank you."

She could only whisper the phrase to him before she pushed herself out of the bed and made her way to the living room to turn off the light and grab their shirts.

"For what?" he asked, opening his eyes suddenly as she was already leaving.

When she came back, her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness in the room. Sasuke had just set her clothes on the dresser, a slight blush rising on her cheeks at the bra that was sitting on top.

She followed suit and tossed his shirt in the hamper before setting hers with the rest of her clothes. She almost considered getting dressed and going home so he could sleep, but she wanted to be here with him for as long as she could before he had to go.

"For caring about me," she said, finally answering his question.

She knew she stole the answer from him, but it basically summed up her 'thank you.'

She closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him and placing a kiss on his chest before she took a deep breath.

"C'mon."

She pulled away from him, her hand finding his as she gave it one gentle tug in the direction of the bed as she got in, pulling the blankets around her. She didn't even realize how tired she was until her head hit the pillow. A yawn escaped her as she turned on her side, all to ready to just sleep.

* * *

Sakura woke up in a groggy state of mind like she had just woken from a coma. A yawn escaped her as she rolled over, almost expecting to be met with her ceiling.

Then it all hit her. What they had done last night, the fact she was still at Sasuke's, still in his bed, and the list could go on. A smile spread across her face as she started to listen. She could hear his shower turning off in the other room. She honestly wouldn't have a single objection if she could wake up like this every morning. Or better yet, with him still next to her.

She rolled back over to face the dresser, staring at her clothes for a minute, debating on getting dressed or not. She was half way tempted to see if Sasuke would wake her or not before he left. Sakura was positive he would, but then again she was also curious as to how he would wake her.

When they were kids she could remember him once nudging her awake with his foot, and although it wasn't all too flattering, it was better than being kicked awake like he had done Naruto.

She didn't see the harm in testing him, and there was no doubt in her mind she was still tired. Pulling her pillow towards her she buried her face in it, closing her eyes. It wasn't that hard to pretend to be asleep.

It wasn't much longer before he walked back into the bedroom, eyes gazing on her in the bed. She wasn't even pretending anymore by the time he came back in the room. One moment she had been listening to him open the bathroom door and the next she could feel him touching her hair and then shoulder. She hadn't meant to fall back to sleep, but it had just been too easy. Plus, the fact that his apartment was so comfortable to her, it felt like she was already at home.

He walked over and sat on the bed beside where she was laying, just looking at her for a moment. His hand brushed against her hair, then trailed down to rest on her shoulder.

"Sakura, wake up."

Sakura slowly opened her eyes for the second time, turning her head to look at him.

"Morning."

She smiled at him gently as she took in his appearance. He was in his mission clothes, ready to go apparently, and to top it all off he was wearing a forehead protector. She found herself staring at the metal plate longer than anything though. She never thought they day would come where she'd see him wear one of those again, at least one with the Konoha insignia on it. It was so nostalgic to see him with it on.

She reached up, flicking the protector once before dropping her hand to the bed, a short chuckle escaping her.

"It looks good on you."

"Hn."

Sasuke brought a hand up and touched the cold metal.

"It's too shiny," he grumbled.

Sakura could only raise an eyebrow, giving him an 'are you kidding me' look. A chuckle escaped her as she turned more on her back to look at him.

"Yeah, I can see myself in it. I look real good in the mornings, huh?"

She laughed again and took the hand he had placed on her shoulder in hers, running her fingertips over his palm as she smiled up at him.

His eyes scanned her up and down. "Considering what you're wearing, you don't look so bad," he said, very amused.

She blushed at his comment as she tried to fight off a smile. There it was again, him saying something that was the last thing she expected and catching her off guard. She didn't say anything though, figuring that could be a conversation they could save for a time when neither of them had to go anywhere. Sakura could only answer him with a playful shrug and then run a hand through her hair in some attempt to smooth it down.

She knew he was about to have to leave, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him bye just yet. She wanted to tell him to be careful, to come see her when he came back, to not kill Naruto cause she was sure the blond wasn't going to miss Sasuke's first official out of the village mission since his coming back. She wanted to tell him a million things, but she wasn't about to bring up anything that led on just how worried she still was about him.

Sasuke frowned. "I have to go. I can't be late."

Her smile didn't last long, fading to something a bit more to a look of worry. Tucking the sheet of his bed under her arm she sat up and kissed him gently.

"Look after yourself, please. I don't mean to keep repeating myself, but..." She trailed off, knowing that she was getting her point across.

She loved him, and if she lost him again she wasn't going to be able to handle it. Sakura was sure he could get along without her, but she needed him. It was a selfish way of thinking, but he was like oxygen to her. She just wouldn't survive it.

"I'll be careful."

"I'm just going to borrow your shower and then I'll be sure to lock up when I leave. You better get going or Naruto's gonna come busting through your door wondering where you are and then how in the world am I gonna explain being in your bed without any clothes on?"

Sasuke frowned, looking annoyed. "Naruto's probably still asleep."

She gave a half-hearted laugh to try and keep the subject of his going light. She wasn't going to put herself in a situation where she started crying again.

"I'll see you when you get back," she said.

"I'll see you again soon."

And with that he was gone, walked out of the room and then out of the apartment without looking back.

A sigh escaped her before she lay back down, staring at the ceiling for a long time, her thoughts revolving around the said boy. He'd come back, hopefully without a scratch on him. That was the mantra she would be repeating to herself over and over again.

She wasn't sure however long passed before she pushed herself out of bed and grabbed her clothes, disappearing into his bathroom and taking a hot shower. She made sure to make his bed and clean up his apartment some before she locked up and left.

She made a mental note to ask him if there was something of his she could have to hold onto whenever he went on missions, something to remind herself that he'd be back for it. It would probably be the only thing to keep her sane.


	11. Bathing

A/N: Some of you were wondering why I didn't update last week. Well here it is, a double length chapter.

* * *

The past two weeks had done nothing but drone on for her. She spent the majority of her time she spent doing one of three things. Training, working at the hospital, and running errands for Tsunade. It was working well, actually. Sure Sasuke was still on her mind the entire time, but the knot in her stomach became something she could just push to the back of her mind and let simmer. It wasn't until she'd be alone lying in the on-call room at night or in her bed when she'd stay awake just thinking about him.

That was her routine for the first week. Then Ronan showed up. She had been called to the Hokage tower to meet him, an annoyed look on her face the entire time. Sasuke had been right, not even an hour into the tour she was instructed to give him around Konoha had he proven to be a pest. A big one at that. He kept asking her things like if he could show her a good place for dinner, or quiet places he could go to 'train.' It was obvious what he was trying to do and the only thing she could do was give him lame excuses. She would of loved to rub it in his face that she was seeing someone.

When two weeks was up, she would use the Hokage tower as an excuse to get away from him, but also as an excuse to check up on Sasuke's mission. He was running late, and that suddenly made the knot grow tighter and tighter in her stomach with every day that passed. Before she knew it, two and a half weeks had passed and there was no sign from them. At least until she left the tower that day, bumping into Neji and Shikamaru. She couldn't help it that she immediately asked about Sasuke, but they didn't seem to think much of it, simply telling her that he had gone home.

Sakura wasn't stupid, she knew Sasuke had promised her he'd come see her right away, but it was the late afternoon and people were everywhere. It'd have to wait. So the rosette went along with normal things like meeting with Ino, getting an afternoon jog in and then going home to shower. It wasn't until midnight that she set off for the training grounds, trying to see if Sasuke was there. She was half way surprised that he wasn't. She could of guessed he was tired, but she had come prepared to scold him if he was out here training just after he got back.

So she went to his apartment, the only other place he could be. There was a chance he'd be asleep, but she didn't care right now. She needed to see him, make sure he was alright, and then she'd go. It wasn't something that could wait until morning.

When she got to his door, she gave a light knock, her hands practically shaking.

A smile grew on her face when she heard him on the other side of the door. He was up and moving at least, and by the lack of a drag to his step he probably hadn't been asleep. It sent a wave of relief through her and the knot in her stomach loosened up immediately when the door opened.

Sasuke opened the door slowly, looking exhausted.

"Hn," was all he said, but he did step back from the door, giving her room to come in.

He was alright at least, but even with that burden from her shoulders her smile disappeared the second she saw his face and heard that response. Maybe he wasn't completely alright.

She tried again to give him a smile walking passed him. There was definitely something bugging him. When she got to the living room she stopped, turning to look at him and crossing her arms.

She knew how Sasuke acted when he was like this. He would become obsessed with thinking about it and forget things like eating, sleeping and the like. He would focus so hard on the problem at hand that everything else was forgotten until he could solve it. The only thing was, she wasn't totally sure how to react to this Sasuke. He was unpredictable. Sometimes it was best to be blunt wit him while at other times, you just had to wait until he opened up about it in his own time and way. It was a fifty/fifty chance of her annoying the hell out of him or comforting him. She could only pray it was the latter.

"You look tired, Sasuke."

She slowly set the keys to her house on his kitchen table before she motioned towards the couch.

"Why don't you rest for awhile. I can cook you something if you want?" It wasn't exactly the way she wanted to greet him, but she was playing with fire in this situation.

"I'm not tired," he said stubbornly, "I'm not hungry either."

The upturn of her lips lessened just slightly before she walked into his kitchen, opening his refrigerator and looking into it. If Sasuke was going to be his usual stubborn self, she could play that game. He didn't want to show weakness of any kind, but maybe if she was doing it for herself, he'd go along with it. She didn't mind showing a bit of weakness on her part, if it got him to go along with her, she'd throw her pride out the window.

"Well I'm hungry. You sure you don't want anything?"

Sasuke frowned. "Fine, if you're hungry too."

She glanced over her shoulder at him and took in his appearance. There were dark circles under his eyes and a distant expression on his face.

"Starving."

She kept in mind that everything edible in his kitchen was two weeks old as she gathered things to make, winding up with noodles, a few decent looking vegetables, and chicken. She could only start boiling water for the noodles and pulled out a large pan to cook the rest in. It was obvious she had done this a few times at her own house, just throwing things together. She would usually do it after a long shift when she was hungry but wanted something quick. Right now she wanted to do nothing more than get food in Sasuke's stomach and give him her full attention.

She wanted to ask him what happened on his mission, what he was thinking, if she could help. She knew the only answer she'd get would be vague if not a flat out lie. Either way she'd knew she'd get frustrated with him but she knew she had to be persistent.

He was probably going to get pissed off at her at one point, but Sakura wouldn't let him push her away. She planned on staying in his apartment until she either knew A. what was going on, or B. that he was alright.

"So you haven't missed much." She turned back to his fridge, taking a few things out here and there to make a meal with. "The only thing different really is Ronan being here. Hah, you should probably avoid ever meeting him."

Sasuke reluctantly took a seat on the couch, still looking annoyed.

"How annoying is he being?" he grumbled.

She let out a light laugh as she pulled out a cutting bored and began to work on the chicken.

"Well, could you believe me if I said he was worse than Lee when I first met him? Maybe not as... Dramatic about it, but persistant." She shrugged as she started tossing things in the pan, the smell already filling the apartment.

"And you can't hand him off to someone else?" `

She looked over her shoulder. She could only raise an eyebrow at him before looking back down to what she was doing, a smile crossing her features. He was jealous. There were times when she would rub things in his face just to mess around with him, but this wasn't one of those times. She wasn't about to bruise his ego and put him in an even worse mood. She knew that Sasuke cared about her, but it was kind of flattering to see him getting so annoyed with a guy he had never even met only because the said guy had a crush on her.

"I can't. Tsunade is already dropping hints I might have to go back with him to his village. Apparently they have something she needs to look at and she's trying to decide who to send to the village to go get it. Maybe if I'm nice about this whole tour guide thing I can convince her not to send me on it. She's already started dividing my patients up at the hospital so I'll be free."

"So you'll be alone with him for even longer," he said with a frown.

Well, yeah. But like you said, you shouldn't care. Nothing is going to happen. He's not going to touch me." She couldn't help it when a small laugh escaped her.

"Of course. It doesn't bother me," he lied.

"I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get out of it though. I know a few things to persuade her with." She smiled again.

"Are you going to do something devious?" he asked, halfway joking.

A coy smirk overcame her features at his question. Her, devious... Not quite. Her, bribing the Hokage... That was more her style.

"Let's just say I know where a few things she holds precious are hidden."

In other words, Sakura knew where Shizune had stashed Tsunade's collection of sake. A few bottles of the alcohol would easily persuade the Hokage to do what she needed. She didn't want to be alone with Ronan. She didn't want to spend more time with him. No, she was much more satisfied here. Spending time with Sasuke. Being alone with Sasuke.

"The mission was a success. No serious injuries either."

She glanced back at him, nodding along with the summary of how it went.

"You now, if this one went as well as you say it did, then you're bound to get more and more missions outside of the village."

She was happy for him, yes. He wanted more challenges, more chances to get out and put his training to use. Tsunade would just be childish if she didn't acknowledge that. She wasn't going to demote him back to the D-Rank missions just to torture him more. He was going to be gone more though. That was the only catch that Sakura saw.

"Yeah, I probably will." He shrugged. "We might occasionally have missions together from now on."

She took out two bowls, turning off the stove as she began dividing the food up, giving Sasuke plenty more than herself. She set everything aside so she could clean it later and picked up the two bowls, opening his refrigerator once more to get out two bottled waters before walking into the living room.

She smiled at him. "You know, I never thought about us going on missions together. You'll finally be able to see what I can do. I don't think you've ever seen me actually fight before."

Sakura held his bowl out two him as she sat down next to him on the couch, balancing her own in her lap as she set the bottles down on the coffee table in front of them. She honestly couldn't recall a time though when Sasuke had seen her fight.

He was always somewhere else, unconscious, or she was being protected. That would definitely change if they went on missions. She knew he'd protect her if she needed it, but he needed to know she could hold her own all the same.

"It will happen eventually. I will be on plenty of missions were a medic is needed." Though that wasn't completely a good thing. His missions were going to be dangerous.

Sakura's gaze flickered to him for only a few moments. That didn't sound too promising to her. She knew in the back of her mind that about ninety percent of his missions would require a medical-ninja in the party. She just didn't want to bring those thoughts forward. She couldn't break down in front of him again over the same issue.

"Yeah, well, after Shizune I'm the highest ranking non-ANBU medic. So I'll probably be on a lot of your missions. I hope you don't get sick of me." She laughed a little in her attempt to lighten the mood. Even she could admit she was curious to know what a mission with _this_ Sasuke was like.

"I doubt I'll get sick of you. I prefer you as my medic."

"I hope you don't."

"I won't," he said once again, reassuringly.

She smiled at him as she went back to eating her food. In fact, the chances of them getting missions together were pretty high. They had a history of working together on missions and the results were more often than not good. With Sai, they would have a very well-balanced team. Naruto and Sasuke were the two head-on fighters, while Sai was the long-ranged and she was the medic. Tsunade knew this, the woman may be sadistic but she wasn't stupid.

"I won't," he said once again, reassuringly.

"So, how did it feel? Being out of the village and all?"

She looked over at him as she took a bite. She felt guilty that there was a part of her that thought he wasn't going to come back because he was out in the world doing what he wanted without the pressure of things. There wasn't anyone giving him glares or crossing the street to avoid him. There wasn't any rule that said he had to be careful of his actions or ANBU watching him. He could just be. That would be tempting to anyone.

"Hn," was all he grumbled, not feeling like giving a real answer to her question.

"I missed you." Sakura figured maybe if she was more intimate with him it would help him relax more. She didn't turn away from the food she was cooking, but her tone became much softer.

"I'm glad to be back here," he said, still not looking cheerful, not that he ever did.

He took a bite of his food, merely nibbling at it and looking contemplative .

"It's good," he mumbled quietly.

She could see the small changes in his expression and his grunt of an answer only confirmed her suspicions. Something was wrong with him. She completely ignored his wanting to change the subject as she looked down at her food. She had a few ways to approach him, but questions like 'are you alright' and 'what's wrong' would give her only dead-end answers on his part. She'd have to choose her words carefully. The best thing she could come up with still had that possibility to get her nowhere.

"Sasuke, I'm only going to ask this one time. You don't have to answer me, but I know something is bothering you. What happened on your mission?" she asked, studying him closely.

"I can't say," he answered after a moment, looking away.

She watched Sasuke. He wasn't going to talk about it now, hell, she wasn't sure if he'd ever talk about it but she didn't want to push him. She'd said she would only ask once and she planned on sticking to that agreement.

He stood and walked into the kitchen and she kept her gaze on him until he stopped in front of the sink and began to wash the dishes. The rosette stood up slowly, picking up her things and following him to the counter tops. She set the empty bowl down next to the sink before she took a step back to where she was behind him and slowly wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her cheek between his shoulder blades.

"Okay."

"Thank you," he responded quietly.

Sakura could feel a smile tugging at her lips. She had only just gotten to a point where that phrase didn't freeze her in her tracks and instead gave her a feeling of serenity. Sasuke just didn't go around 'thanking' people or paying them compliments.

It made her feel special to him in a way and that was the reason she knew she could believe him when he said he wasn't going to get sick of her. Sasuke saw her differently than everyone else. He wouldn't give her the time of day if he didn't want too.

Then again, that 'thank you' also left her feeling slightly disappointed. He wasn't going to answer her question. Something had happened on that mission and it was eating away at the Uchiha. He wasn't going to let her help though. He wasn't going to let anyone help if he had a say in it all. She could only wonder, what was that ominous that it made Sasuke so uneasy? She couldn't ask him, at least not after she had told him she'd only ask him the one time. She wanted to though... Badly.

"Stay here tonight," he said calmly.

"I'll stay."

"Good."

Did he think she would say 'no' to staying here? She only had to go to the hospital tomorrow to check on the three patients she had left. That would take an hour tops and she could do it whenever, so she really had nowhere to be. Unless Sasuke wanted to get up early to go the district to work, she didn't expect him to be up and about either. She wanted to relax with him, for just one day. She had missed him, and she wasn't going to pass up a chance to be around him.

There was no chance in hell she was going to leave him if she had the choice between comforting him or sleeping. She wasn't going to bug him about what happened, but she was damn sure going to be there to try and help him in whatever way she could. Even if that meant just staying over at his apartment. In fact, she'd probably do whatever he asked of her right now, just so long as it didn't trouble him or involved killing someone.

"So how long am I going to have to wait before you kiss me?" She chuckled to herself as she loosened her hold on him and took a step back.

She figured a complete subject change would do him good and that was the first topic that didn't involve missions that came to mind. She slowly released the hold she had on him as she pulled away, instead moving to stand next to him over the sink as she took some of the dishes he had already washed and started to dry them off.

She couldn't help but steal glances at him as he finished washing the dishes. She wasn't sure if he'd ever talk to her about what was wrong and even though she promised him she wouldn't mention it again, it worried her. She'd try to keep that promise too him, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was something incredibly important. Sasuke was the type of guy to keep problems, big problems, to himself. She couldn't help but wonder what else he wasn't bringing up, or what he might keep to himself in the future. It was only the fact that she trusted him that she could keep herself from pressing the issue. If she needed to know, he'd tell her about it... Eventually.

It only took his another minute to finish and he set the last dish down once he'd finished washing it. Then he stepped behind Sakura, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her back against his chest. She smiled as she relaxed against him, leaning back. But then he had to go and kiss her neck.

"How can you expect me to kiss you when you face away from me?" He leaned down and very lightly kissed the side of her neck, teasing her.

She couldn't help it when she laughed, putting the towel she had been using to dry the dishes down before turning to face him.

"Well I just got so distracted by watching you do the dishes," Sakura teased.

He was a guy trained to kill and he had been washing a bowl. It seemed so ordinary but unnatural at the same time. It was definitely amusing... and cute.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Did you think I never wash anything?"

"I figured you always just threw it out and bought new stuff. Until now I couldn't ever picture you cleaning anything besides your weapons. I might just have to buy you a frilly pink apron and see if that helps the image at all." She laughed again.

That would be a sight to see for sure. Sasuke was a macho guy, there was no question in that. She couldn't picture him in pink anything, let alone an apron. It would leave her laughing her ass off for days though.

"Tch, I'm perfectly capable of cleaning. I'm not Naruto." He frowned. "And I don't wear pink."

She laughed, shaking her head at him. "So I think I'm going to go take a shower and then go to sleep."

If he wanted to tease her, two could play at that game. She didn't give him a chance to kiss her as she moved from between him and the counter and pulled away, heading towards his room.

"Hn."

She smiled at him. "Do you mind if I borrow some clothes?"

"My clothes are all dirty. You'll have to go without."

That was a lie. Even if he had been gone for two weeks she had seen his hamper. It was empty and she knew better than to think Sasuke only had a few sets of clothes. He may of been a macho boy, but she was sure that he had plenty of clean ones stored away somewhere. She knew he was only messing with her though. She could easily kill two birds with one stone though and address both of his comment and question.

He used some of that ninja speed of his to quickly close the distance between them, his hand catching hers in order to stop her. She wasn't escaping that easily. "And I'm not done with you yet. Do you suddenly not want to kiss me?"

"No Sasuke, the thought of all of your dirty clothes repulses me so much I just don't think I can kiss you anymore." The sarcasm in her voice was obvious as she let out a playful sigh and placed her free hand on her hip.

She knew teasing him was a dangerous game, but she had to admit. It was fun, and losing to him wasn't all that bad. She'd eventually win one though.

"And well ya see, my idea was that you join me in the shower and you could kiss me there and it'd be a hell of a lot better. Seeing as how you've informed me there isn't a single piece of clothing here that I can borrow, I guess I'll just have to go back to my house then. That's a shame." She shrugged once before giving him a blank expression, still joking with him. "I'm so disappointed I might never stay over here again."

The Uchiha frowned. But then he smirked, that dangerous smirk he always got whenever he had an idea.

"Even if you're not going to kiss me, you're not going home. You already agreed to stay the night. You won't go back on your word, will you?" he asked.

His hand released hers, but immediately he closed the space between them, backing her up against the wall so that she couldn't escape.

"Since you can't kiss me, then I'll just have to be the one to do all the kissing."

He began to lightly kiss her neck, making his way down to her collarbone.

"What charm. You talk about the color pink, my hair color, like it's the most vile thing on the planet and now you're going to hold me hostage in your apartment. It's a good thing you're easy on the eyes." She smiled again.

"That's different. You're a girl."

She could only roll her eyes . The least he could do was lie to her and said he liked it on her or something. But no, he had to be a stubborn boy about it all. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Sasuke."

"You're surprised that I would hold you hostage?" he asked with a smirk.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Not surprised. Just, well... I'm trapped between you and a wall. If you were me you'd be a little flustered, too. It's not like I'm complaining though."

She gave him a smirk of her own. She could tell he got an ego boost by what she said. It was so easy to mess with his ego. A simple compliment could make him smirk while the tiniest of insults would send him into brooding mode. She couldn't exactly say anything though. She was the same way.

"Is that so? You don't mind being so close to… the wall?" he asked teasingly.

She laughed and shook her head. "No, I think I'm in love with the wall. I'm actually going to leave you for this particular wall."

Sakura smiled at him as she reached up and ran a hand through his hair, brushing it out of his face.

"I'm sure the wall would kiss me any time I wanted and not make me ask for it." She chuckled lightly to herself before dropping her hands to her side, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

Sasuke frowned. "Maybe I should leave you alone with the wall then."

She knew she was going to be done for if she didn't do something quick. It was hard to think with him kissing her like that.

"So I'm guessing that's a no-go on my whole shower plan?"

She was running out of time, that was for sure. All she wanted was to kiss him, and she knew that meant losing. She wanted to win one, but she missed the feel of his lips against hers, the way his emotions pooled out. She missed him holding her close and the feeling of how she could block out everything else but him. Screw it. She could lose.

He looked her in the eyes. "I never said anything about that being a no-go."

"You know, you promised to come see me when you got back from your mission and you didn't do that. So I think I'm entitled to one going back on my word." She had meant for it to sound like she was going to go home, but she was talking about kissing him.

She was trapped between him and the wall anyways and she had a feeling he wasn't going to budge until she caved which she was more than willing to do. She placed her hands on his shoulders to push him back just enough so that she could kiss him. When her lips found his she pressed against him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did so. Sure, she'd give in to kiss him, but if he wanted anything else it definitely wasn't going to be that easy for him.

He hesitated, looking a bit guilty for a moment. "I guess I have something that you could wear."

She smiled, but she didn't miss his small hesitation when she kissed him. She made the mental note to not mention anything about his mission because whatever had happened, it was going to remind him of it. She wanted him to forget about it, if only for a little while and she wasn't going to make the mistake of bringing it up again.

"You just think of a secret stash of clean clothes, did ya?"

She smiled as she gave him a quick kiss before leaning back against the wall, smiling at him wit a raised eyebrow. "Thanks for being so sharing, Sasuke."

"It turns out, I have clean clothes in my closet," he said sarcastically, as if he had forgotten that very obvious fact.

"You know, your closet is probably the last place I would of looked."

He stepped back just a little bit, putting a bit of room between them. "Hn. Are you going to let me join you in the shower?"

She was about to ask him what she'd have to do to earn a few clothes for the night, but she figured she already knew his answer. He confirmed it when he asked about his invitation to her shower. She wanted to at least look like she was considering saying no. It was the only reason she grew silent and looked down at his shoulder, biting her bottom lip.

"Let's just say that if you don't join me in the shower, you'll never see me naked again in your lifetime. I'll let you choose though."

She reached up and patted his cheek once before slipping under his arm and heading towards the bathroom. Along the way she even went so far as to take off her shirt and drop it on the ground in her efforts to tease him. It wasn't until she closed the door behind her that she decided to give him a small, almost insignificant challenge though it was sure to annoy him.

She locked the door. Smirking to herself she then gave her attention to the shower, turning on the water.

"Sakura?" she heard him ask, sounding surprised and a little annoyed.

A smile grew wide on Sakura's face. She could only imagine what the look on his face was at the fact she locked the door. He was probably just as shocked as he was annoyed by her and she had a feeling she'd pay for it later.

She could only chuckle as she removed the rest of her clothes, leaving them on his bathroom counter before she got into the shower, being quick in washing her hair.

When she heard the door open she was just finishing rinsing out her hair. It was a shower that had all four walls. Two were glass, one being the door while the other two were tile. The glass was frosted over, allowing her to only see an outline of Sasuke through the steam coming from the water. She swore she could see that triumphant smirk on his face.

"It took you longer than I thought it would. I'm almost finished."

She knew it was a bruise to his ego, but unlike last time, she wasn't caught up in an incredibly intimate moment. No, now she didn't have a problem teasing him at all.

She heard the sound of the door close.

"You're going to regret that, Sakura," he taunted, an amused tone to his voice.

She smiled to herself. She knew it, the guy liked holding grudges whether it played out or not in her favor. She honestly didn't have a problem with it though. From the few times he'd made her 'pay' for something, it usually meant just letting him have control. She really didn't see an issue with that. Sure she liked control now and then, but with this situation, she preferred to know what she was doing before she took any control what-so-ever.

He opened the door to the shower, letting a mass of hot steam out which caused her to shiver. Then he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.

"You locked me out of my own bathroom. Do you still not want to kiss me Sakura? I guess that's fine then," he said, grabbing the shampoo and proceeding to start washing his hair, completely ignoring her.

There was plenty of room in the shower for both of them to stand and move around a little bit, but that was about it. Even when he started shampooing his hair, not even so much as looking at her she still had plenty of room to switch spots with him so he could be under the shower head.

A blush crossed her cheeks though as she started to wash herself down with the soap. It was the second time she had seen him naked. The second time he had seen her naked. Also it wasn't dark. She was quick to fight off the pink hue of her lips as she turned back to Sasuke.

Sakura smiled. "I think I can suck it up and kiss you now."

He finally turned his attention back to Sakura. "Thank you for that sacrifice, " he said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." She laughed gently as he gave her his own sarcastic retort.

He seemed almost annoyed with her but she didn't care. It was amusing to her at how like him old self he would get when she played these games with him. Sure he'd be all for the competition, and she would usually 'lose,' but the end result was something she could live with.

She grinned at him before she reached up and turned his head to her as gave him a short and tender kiss.

"Plus, you're too good of a kisser to pass up." She hoped throwing him a bone would prevent him from giving her the silent treatment.

But the short kiss she gave him wasn't enough for him and he leaned down, giving her a much longer, more passionate kiss. She was surprised by the amount of want she felt coming from him.

So he had missed her after all. She returned the kiss with the same amount of effort on her part, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pressed herself against him. She could taste him along with the shower water sliding down his cheeks.

This kiss seemed different than all the rest though. Sasuke seemed more into it than she could ever recall him being. It was like he thought she was going to leave tomorrow and never come back. That thought alone scared her. She didn't want to think about being apart from him.

When she pulled away from the kiss she rose an eyebrow at him in curiosity before reaching up and pushing the hair out of his face. She wanted to ask him about it, but she wasn't sure if it had to do with the mission. She could only push it aside as she placed her hand against his cheek, brushing a few suds away with her thumb.

"Do you forgive me for locking the door?"

"Hn," was his answer, "Not yet."

"I thought you liked challenges. I was just giving you what you wanted." She smiled up at him.

He leaned down, his mouth becoming very close to her ear. Her smile only grew.

"You don't look so bad without any clothes on," he whispered very softly.

His hands traveled to her hips, holding her close to him. He gave her a short kiss on the lips before his hand reached between her thighs, slowly exploring.

A gasp escaped her. She rested her forehead against his shoulder, closing her eyes as she focused on his touch, his movements, his breathing. She didn't have a problem with his teasing, in fact, she loved it. No, more like she loved him and she was open to let him do what he wanted. She slowly started to press her lips against his chest before working her way up his collarbone to his neck.

His fingers continued to move between her thighs, searching for what made her react the most. Then he slipped two fingers inside her, still moving slowly.

She had remembered the first time he did this, she had stopped him. The jerk had still be wearing his pants at the time and she had been curious what exactly he'd do. He had done this before, but still, it felt amazing. It was like he was always trying to find what made her tick, and he was definitely doing a good job.

"Sasuke." She moaned out his name as she paused at kissing his neck.

It was odd. Sure she had been in love with the guy for years, but she had also known him for years. One day they had been just friends now he was doing this to her. The weird thing to her was, that the transition from friends to a relationship had been so easy. They had both been on the same page and it made it all remotely effortless.

She began kissing his neck again when she got over the initial surprise, working her way up again from his neck to his jaw to his lips. When she kissed him then, it was just a light peck of the lips as a second moan escaped her. Then she went back for more, kissing him long and hard.

Pulling away from the kiss, Sasuke trailed kisses down from Sakura's neck until he reached her chest. She instinctively arched her back to him. Then he placed kisses all across her breasts, exploring them as well. He wanted to see her reactions from that as well. All the while his fingers still moved between her thighs. He'd always been a good multitasker.

It felt wonderful, what he was doing with his lips and hand. She let out a loud moan as she trailed her fingers from his shoulder to his back, pulling him closer. Sakura bit her lip as she leaned her head forward, her mouth next to his ear.

Sakura slowly began to move her hips with the motion of his hand, hooking a leg around his to keep herself balanced as she arched back again.

"Sasuke... Please." She wanted him, badly.

He looked her in the eyes with that smirk he always got on his face whenever he was teasing her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, pretending not to know exactly what she wanted.

She looked down, a deadpanned expression crossing her features. He was going to keep doing this to her? It had to be because she locked him out. It was the only explanation. She could tell Sasuke wanted to go further, but she had a feeling he was just going to keep teasing her. He usually put the satisfaction over getting his revenge than his own wants.

He then continued kissing her chest, trying to ignore his own want for just a little longer. His fingers slowly slid out of her, going back to touching outside.

But Sakura wasn't going to play that game. She wasn't going to let him just get her back and do what he wanted. A smirk grew on her face, a soft moan passing her lips as he continued to roam. She knew just the thing and it was sure to catch him off-guard.

Reaching down she wrapped her hand around him. She was being a bit forward, but it would be the only way to get his attention. To fight fire with fire. She placed her other hand on the side of his face, pulling him up and kissing him as she gave a gentle squeeze. He let out a gasp of both surprise and pleasure.

As he pulled away from the kiss, his hand also released her. Both of his hands trailed down her back, going even further down. A grin spread over her features . She had surprised him and it made her feel a sense of triumph. Also, Sasuke seemed to be enjoying it as well.

"Wrap your legs around me," he said as he lifted her up.

Sakura did as he said, wrapping her legs around him. She kissed him as she did, also bringing her arms around his neck to hold on as well. Sasuke returned her kiss with fire. She moved to where he was positioned at her entrance before slowly lowering herself down on him, breaking her kiss with him to let out a sharp breath.

"Don't hold back this time," she demanded.

"I didn't plan on it," he responded.

Sasuke began to move in and out of her, his pace picking up rapidly with every thrust. Sakura held on tighter, raising and lowering herself to the pace he set. Her breathing was shallow as she reached behind him and placed a hand on the tile as if it was something to hold onto. This felt amazing to her. She had wanted him so much, to feel this way with him. It had been torture to wait.

"Sakura…" he moaned

She loved him so much it made her ache not to tell him every day. She knew he still didn't feel the same, and it might be awhile before he ever did. Sakura didn't want to make him feel guilty for not saying it back to her, that being the only thing that stopped her. When he finally did say it, she knew she'd be able to believe him. She'd just have to resort to showing him now instead of anything else.

The longer they went the better it felt. The water from the shower washed over them, combining its heat with the friction from their bodies and making him feel even warmer than he already was. He closed his eyes as he seemed to finally relax, letting his guard down.

She couldn't get over the feel of the water coming down on her, the sound of his breathing, the way she could barely fight back a moan every time he filled her completely.

"Sakura, I'm going to…" His voice trailed off, unable to even speak anymore because of how distracting it was to feel so good.

She knew exactly what he was talking about only because she was feeling the same way. Every thrust brought her rapidly closer and she could only hold onto him tighter.

Then it happened. She toppled over the edge and her body began to writhe in pleasure. She placed her hand on the back of his neck, her fingers in his hair as she hugged herself to him. She knew he had to be close also. She could feel it. It was barely a few seconds after she reached her release that he too completely let go and went over the edge.

After, he stood there for a few seconds, just catching his breath and letting his brain start working again. She leaned against him only a few moments, catching her breath.

Then he slowly pulled out of her and set her down, making sure she got a good footing before he let go of her. He planted a very light kiss on her forehead, smiling softly at her, which was very unusual for him. She was about to move to look up at him when he kissed her on the forehead. Her gaze landed on his expression and it stopped her. She had never seen that look on Sasuke's face before. It was so caring, so gentle and yet it didn't look out of place. All Sakura could do was return the smile before leaning in and kissing him tenderly before she hugged him, resting her head on his chest.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there like that with him before she placed a kiss on his shoulder and pulled away, placing a hand on the door.

"I'm going to go get dressed. Does it matter what clothes I borrow?"

The only reason she was asking was because she wasn't sure how Sasuke would react if she had on something with an Uchiha fan on it. He was proud of his clan, and she didn't want to offend him by wearing something with his clan symbol on it because she wasn't an Uchiha.

He paused to think when he heard her question. "In the future, borrow anything you want. But tonight, it matters," he said with a smirk.

Sasuke turned off the shower and ran his hand through his hair to get rid of the excess water and stop it from falling in his face. Then he exited the shower with her and he wrapped a towel around his waist. She followed him out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her torso before ringing out the water in her hair over the sink.

She was quick to follow Sasuke into his bedroom, sitting down on the corner of his bed while he dug through the closet. She could only raise an eyebrow in curiosity as she wondered what he was looking for.

He found it, the only shirt he owned with his clan symbol on the front instead of the back. It was made of a very light weight white fabric and sort of long, making it just long enough to look like a nightgown on the shorter Sakura.

"You can wear this," he said.

A smile formed on her face as she stood up and took the shirt from him. She had locked onto that clan symbol first thing and that was enough to let her see how much Sasuke felt about her. He was letting her wear it, and that alone meant more than enough for her.

She turned her back to him as she dropped the towel, pulling on the shirt as she did. It fell to her mid thigh, hugging at her hips in a relaxed fashion. She was definitely comfortable. She bent down the towel and picked it up before turning to look at him, drying her hair out in the process with the said towel.

"Since it matters, how do I look?"

Sasuke smirked. "It not bad. You can keep that."

"You really don't mind if I keep it?"

"It's fine. I have plenty of clothes."

She grinned at him for only a moment before looking down, pulling the shirt away from her body so she could look at the clan symbol. She felt so... Bad ass. Also to add things to the list she felt incredibly special. She had known Sasuke wasn't playing around with what was going on between them, but this only proved it further. She was his completely and it made her feel and she honestly had no objections to that.

"I think I know why you want me to keep it." She laughed when she looked down, taking note of the fact it was fairly see-through. He was becoming a closet pervert.

"Hn," was his only answer.

"Too bad I can't wear it anywhere but here."

She shrugged at that when she climbed in the bed, getting herself situated. "I think that'd be a dead give-away."

She smiled to herself, it was the only thing to keep the frown from crossing her features. The whole sneaking around thing was entertaining to her, yes, but sometimes when they were walking, she wanted nothing more than to just take his hand in hers. She hated she couldn't see him off on missions, that she couldn't run up and hug him in the street whenever he got back. Just a list of things she couldn't do. That was the downside of everything to her.

He went back to his closet, pulling out a pair of pants for himself. He tossed his towel into his hamper and put on the pants.

Then he turned back to her. "Come on, let's go to bed."

She followed suit and put her towel in the hamper before crossing the room kissing him gently once before making her way to the bed and getting inside. She let out a long, relaxed sigh when she pulled the blanket over her and got comfortable.

Sakura liked sleeping next to him. For one, she felt the safest she ever felt in her entire life. Two, it relaxed her which helped her sleep even better and three, his bed was incredibly comfortable. She'd had a problem getting herself out of it the past two times she had slept in it.

"I hope you don't have anywhere to be in the morning. I'm not going anywhere," she said with a smile.

Sasuke followed Sakura into bed, snuggling up behind her and wrapping an arm around her waist. She relaxed against him, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes.

"I'm resting most of the day tomorrow. I'm still training tomorrow night though," he answered.

"I don't have much to do tomorrow. Probably around one I'll need to check on some patients and then the rest of the day I'll have to spend with Ronan."

If Sakura's eyes had been open she probably would of rolled them at the idea. He had asked her when she trained and she told him it was usually in the early mornings or afternoons. He insisted on coming to one. She figured that mentioning to Sasuke she was going to be training with this guy was not a grand idea. He'd probably think she was cheating on him, she had never even trained with Sasuke since he came back.

She grew quiet for awhile, listening to him breathe. She had almost been on the verge of sleep before she felt him move, his breath fanning her ear.

"I love you," he said very quietly, his voice barely audible.

He loved her. She knew that he meant it to was what made it even better. She smiled softly as she laced her fingers with his and brought his hand to her lips, lightly kissing it. "

I love you, too." She let go of his hand and relaxed completely, going back to listening to him breathe.


	12. Cuddling

Sakura woke the next morning a little later than she usually slept. She usually woke up at dawn, but she could see the morning light pooling on the floors underneath the curtains. Everything was so calm to her. She was about to get out of bed before she felt a weight across her waist and remembered exactly where she was. Sasuke's arm was wrapped around her, and a warmth at her back. She was surprised he hadn't gotten up yet.

She smiled to herself as she hugged the pillow she was using and let out a deep breath. She was so comfortable she didn't want to move, but she was sure she already woke Sasuke up if he wasn't already awake. He was such a light sleeper.

His eyes opened slowly, looking at her. He smirked, and instead of letting go of his grip around her waist, he pulled her closer. She could easily say she was relieved when she saw him move, glad that she wouldn't have to put in anymore effort into waking him up. She was so comfortable she didn't want to have to move an inch. She could probably stay here all day if she wanted to without a care in the world.

"Good morning," he said before giving her a kiss on the lips, this one longer than the one she'd just given him.

She smiled at him, the smirk on his face all to welcoming to her. He loved her. She was on cloud nine right now, that was for sure.

Then he pulled away, eying her curiously. "You slept in late. I thought you were going to sleep all day."

"Well I was testing you. Seeing how long you'd stick around before you got bored and got out of bed. You passed."

Sasuke smirked once more. "Is that so? All because I haven't got out of bed yet I passed."

"Yeah, you passed because of that. I figured I would of woken up and you'd be gone. I think waking up next to you is probably almost one of my favorite things to do."

She threw the almost in there to tease him. Waking up next to him was definitely something she could get used to. She had never slept so well in her life or woken up with such a feeling swelled up inside of her. She was happy and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

"I'll wake you up before I get out of bed next time then."

Sakura laughed. "Don't get mad if I go back to sleep on you, then."

"That sounds terrible. You know how much I hate being near you," he said sarcastically.

She laughed quietly as she looked over to the clock on the bedside table. It was only eight in the morning. They both slept in. She really didn't feel like rubbing it into his ego right now though. Oh no, she had to make sure she hadn't been hearing things last night first.

"Reminds me why I love you," she added.

Turning with her back towards him again she hugged the pillow to her as she let out a yawn.

"I love you too," he said, pretending it was nothing, as if he said it all the time.

She grinned to herself. She was plenty sure she was awake now and she definitely wasn't dreaming. She had never thought she'd hear him say that. It had been a shock enough just when he admited to liking her. She felt like she accomplished something though. It had been her goal when she was twelve to get him to say that to her and it was like she was finally finishing that part of her life. Sasuke Uchiha loved her.

He yawned and sat up. "We should get up."

Sakura didn't turn to look at him though, a frown crossing her features. Unless he was going to get breakfast, she was definitely not ready to get out of bed yet.

A smile spread across her face as she turned around completely before pushing herself to sit up. She moved quickly, wrapping her arms around his upper torso before pulling him to lay back down beside her. Sakura moved to where she was hovering over him, raising an eyebrow in question.

"You really wanna get out of bed? Ugh, fine."

She was teasing him as she climbed over him before making the move to get up. His hands quickly caught her waist, stopping her from moving any further.

"You didn't have to climb over me to get out of bed." He smirked. "And if you really want to stay in bed, we can. I can make that sacrifice."

She started laughing. She placed her hands on his chest to balance herself as she looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. She was practically straddling the guy and he was calling staying in bed with her a sacrifice.

"Well, your side is closer to the door. It just seemed a way to save time."

"So it just has to do with how close my side is to the door?" He smirked. "Maybe we should sleep on opposite sides of the bed next time so that I don't have to put up with you being all over me like this."

"I can completely see that. I mean, you broke into the bathroom I had locked myself into cause you just can't stand me being around you."

Sasuke smirked. "I just wanted a shower so badly that I had to break into the bathroom and put up with you being around."

"Well that sounds like a really bad case of you hating me then," she teased right back.

"Yes, I hate you. Last night in the shower was the most disgusting experience of my life," he said, looking happy for once as he teased her.

"I bet. I'll make sure you never have to go through it again."

She mocked a serious expression, nodding along with herself as if she was coming to a decision.

"Yeah, I think I can live with that."

She couldn't hold herself to that if she even wanted to. Sasuke, the spoiled brat, could probably get what he wanted ninety-nine percent of the time when it came to her. It wasn't that she had a problem saying 'no' to him, it was just that the majority of the time, she didn't want to say 'no.'

Sasuke actually looked like he might laugh. "Good. Because I don't want you anywhere near my shower."

"You don't want me near your shower, fine. I'll never use it ever again."

She rolled her eyes at him playfully. This was definitely amusing to her. She knew Sasuke liked challenges, and she guess he saw this as such even though it was more just like a game to her. She could only recall one fight she'd had with him, and they hadn't even argued all that much. She couldn't imagine being so mad at him that she wouldn't talk to him or even so much as be around him. She could barely go ten minutes at a time without thinking about him at least once.

She smiled down at him, obviously enjoying herself. She loved it when he would do this. He'd just joke around with her, have fun with her. Sakura couldn't get enough of seeing him so at ease and just happy.

She laughed. "If that's what you want though, me not being 'all over you,' and all, I can always just sleep on the couch."

Sasuke frowned. "The only way you're sleeping on the couch is if I'm there too."

"But I thought you didn't like being near me?" she asked, pretending to be hurt.

Sasuke was being serious about that one. He wasn't going to let her sleep anywhere in his apartment unless it was his bed. Sure she could probably get away with a nap or two on his couch, but if Sasuke planned on sleeping, too, it was going to be in his bed. She wasn't about to sleep on the couch with him tough. Sure she'd be comfortable for a little while, but she doubted it would be for long.

Sasuke smirked. "I don't want you ruining my couch by sleeping on it. You'll give it cooties."

She started laughing. She wasn't necessarily laughing at him, just at the main fact he was implying she had cooties. She had never thought the day would come where she would hear such a word come out of his mouth, let alone a seventeen year old's mouth. God, she really did love him.

"Too late. I've already slept on that couch once. It contracted them."

He was always surprising her, even if it was just a choice of his vocabulary.

"I burned that couch. The one I have now is new. I didn't want to infect the rest of my apartment."

"Well your bed has cooties I guess. So I guess you'll have to burn that too. I'd hate for you to have to keep replacing furniture, so maybe I'll just stop coming here altogether." She smirked.

Like she could honestly stay away. Besides his apartment, they could only really be alone together at the training grounds. She needed to get her own place. The apartments only a block away were leasing places out... Finally.

She smiled down at him before she placed her hands on his shoulders, just so she could keep him from leaning up as she closed the distance between them, her lips only a few inches from his as her hair fell down and brushed against his cheeks.

"Staying in bed with me is a sacrifice, huh? I should thank you, then." She sat up with a yawn, making sure to stretch her arms above her. "Breakfast?"

"No breakfast yet."

When she finished stretching she placed her hands on her knees, careful not to touch him as she did. Sasuke was better with the words and charm for sure, but she had a hunch she was getting better at this flirting thing. She had started asking Ino about it, claiming she wanted to know how to flirt in case she ever had to on a mission. It was a lame excuse but the blonde went along with it, probably under the suspicion she was going to try something on Ronan or something. Ino said always leave the guy wanting more, and that was what she was trying. She was making as little contact with him as possible all the while just making her attempt at being casual.

"Well, if no breakfast, than what?" she asked.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him as she drummed her fingers on her knees. She was curious as to what he had in mind. She certainly couldn't sit like this forever. She wouldn't object to just relaxing in bed with him though. She could easily go back to sleep, or simply just talk to him. Either way she was set but she was still wondering what he'd suggest. Or what he'd do if she dared to tease him again by leaning down again and keep him from kissing her.

He looked her up and down. "You should come down here and find out."

"Oh yeah?"

She slowly leaned down to where she was just out of his reach, still be so very careful to keep her hands on her knees.

"Okay, now what?" She had a tone that she was unimpressed, clearly still teasing him.

Sasuke would probably take that as a chance to get back at her. He seemed to be always looking for something that he could 'make her pay for later' but frankly, she didn't have a problem with that.

He frowned but then after a moment his eyes widened and Sasuke smirked. "Now I can see down your shirt."

He continued to surprise her still. A blush spread across her face and she sat up quickly, holding the shirt against her. She was self conscious, the reaction was completely instinctive. She had to stop herself from going so far as to apologizing to him. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, he was obviously pleased with himself. She was definitely going to win this one... Or at least try to.

Sakura slowly leaned forward, still being careful not to touch him as she kissed him. It was soft at first and then she deepened it. The kiss was still short, her pulling away quickly and raising an eyebrow at him.

"I hope you enjoyed the view, cause that's all your getting. I don't want to disgust you further seeing as how you hate me and all," she taunted.

He looked at her curiously. "Why are you blushing? I've seen your chest before. I've seen much more of you than that even."

She smiled at him as she rolled off of him and laid down on her designated side of the bed as far from him as she could. She turned on her side with her back to him and she started to pretend she was going back to sleep.

Sasuke smirked, thinking up a plan. He snuggled up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her neck. He obviously didn't like her moving so far away from him.

"If you're going to give me the silent treatment then you might not be so bad to be around. You do look good in that shirt," he teased.

Sakura continued not to speak but did turn back towards him. She slid his fingers along the edge of his pants, just teasing him even as she pretended not to be interested. She thought she had him for a moment. He had at least looked surprised, and then he seemed to be actually thinking over what she was implying.

But Sasuke still was one step ahead. He leaned down and kissed her, this time longer and with more passion. She wasn't really caught off-guard by the kiss, she was half way expecting it, but what really got her was when he rolled her over and was suddenly on top. Before she could react to anything he was kissing her and she couldn't help but return it.

All she could do was drop her hands from his waistline and put them down at her side. If he wanted to do it that way, fine. She'd go back to not touching him, and her plan was to drive him absolutely insane. She was careful to enunciate every movement of her lips, and then she even went so far as to bite his bottom lip. He was playing dirty, so she definitely could, also.

When she pulled back from the kiss she laid her head down on the pillow and smirked at him, giving him a coy look like she still had a trick up her sleeve. She honestly didn't know what else to do besides not touch him and try to turn him on at the same time. That was difficult enough just by itself.

He chose not to kiss her anymore, instead his mouth moving down to kiss her stomach which had been exposed earlier when he pulled up her shirt some. He seemed to confident, which wasn't a good sign. Before she could change her tactics though she knew she was going to lose.

His hand had found her way between her legs and that was something that had worked on her every time before. His touch was unpredictable and it felt amazing. She closed her eyes tried to focus on anything else, but the second his lips touched her stomach she let out a moan. That was all it took for her to surrender.

Sakura slowly slid her fingers through his hair, enjoying his every touch. She was halfway glad she had gone through the motions of at least putting on the bottom half of her underwear last night, giving him at least one obstacle. She wasn't going to stop him though. He won, so the least she could do was let him do what he wanted for a little while before she started up another challenge.

He placed another kiss on her stomach, slowly trailing kisses down until he finally reached between her thighs. He kissed there too, followed by a gentle lick, before looking up at her face for a reaction. She could only lean her head back, her lips parting as she moaned softly. She spread her legs a bit more, the only gesture she could possibly comprehend on doing to keep him going.

It felt so good to her she could barely control herself. She wanted more. She had never known she could want someone so badly. Sure she had wanted Sasuke for a long time, but if it was possible, her want for him, her love for him, had increased tenfold. She had come to learn an entire new side of him and she couldn't get enough of him. She wanted to always be around him, and when she wasn't she missed him like crazy. She didn't care who knew anymore, or how people would judge her.

The only thing that had stopped her from telling the world so far was Sasuke. He wanted it secret and she'd respect that. Regrettably.

He continued exploring her with his mouth. He went slowly, just testing for now. He always had to know everything, something that could be both good and bad. Moans and gasps would escape her, each louder than the next. What he was doing to her was unlike anything she had ever felt before and she couldn't get enough.

Before she knew it she felt the knot tying at her core and then it exploded in a feeling of pleasure not soon after as she toppled over the edge. It was an amazing feeling and she had a feeling Sasuke was just getting warmed up.

Sakura smiled as she pulled him back towards her, sitting up as she did. She kissed him, hard, as she wrapped her arms around him. She waited a few seconds before placing a hand against the bed and pushing forward, causing him to roll over. She smirked when she was on top of him, much like the same position as before.

She leaned down and kissed his neck gently before she started trailing kisses down to his chest. Sasuke closed his eyes, clearly enjoying it. She stopped when she came to the waistband of his pants, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow as if she were expecting him to do something. He opened his eyes and looked down at her.

He removed his pants, looking slightly unsure if that was what she wanted. He was now the first one naked, while she still had a shirt on.

Sakura smiled. "I guess I did win after all. You're the first one naked for once."

She smirked up at him as she kissed his stomach one more time. She wasn't going to give him a chance to argue with her, especially considering the curious look he was giving her, instead, moving down farther. The only other time she had done this he had seemed to enjoy it, but she wanted to do something he wouldn't forget anytime soon. She certainly wouldn't be forgetting this morning for a long, long time.

Sakura kissed the tip once as she trailed her fingers down the length of him. He leaned his head back at gasped, surprised at the touch. She didn't hesitate to take him in after that, being precise with each movement on her part. She experimented with it for awhile, only looking up every so often to see what kind of reaction she was getting out of him.

She wanted him to forget everything for just a little while. He had to have a lot on his mind, she never did find out what was bothering him so much. She just wanted him to be at ease, even if it was only for a short while. Anything she could do to bring him just a little bit of peace she'd be up for. She wanted him happy, no matter what.

Sakura ended it all the way she had started, kissing the tip and trailing her fingers down the length of him and then across his hips down to the bed. . A loud moan slipped from his lips, clearly surprised.

She looked up at him before kissing her way up his chest to his neck and then to his lips, giving him a tender, short kiss and smiling at him.

"Don't move," she demanded.

She kissed him one more time as she moved to where she was over him, slowly lowering herself down until he was completely inside of her, seeing him watching her closely with lust filled eyes. She gave herself only a short moment to adjust to him before she placed one hand on his stomach and used the other to push the hair out of her face before she began to move her hips. His hands gripped the sheets and then he started to move, keeping with her hips to let her control the pace.

She knew he wouldn't of been able to sit still for long, but she had been curious as to how long he'd wait. He hardly lasted ten seconds. That was all the motivation she needed though to put her entire focus onto what she was doing as she began to move faster, rolling her hips with each thrust.

It felt amazing to her, as if he were touching places she didn't even know she had. She let out a loud moan as she continued on, her breathing heavy. His breathing was getting heavier as welland he continued to thrust harder into her, keeping up with the way she moved her hips. She could already feel the pressure growing for a second time and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer, not when she was so close.

She felt herself reach her limit only moments before he did. It was until he stilled that she stopped herself, taking deep breaths to try and find some balance. Sakura felt like she was floating, but at the same time she was tired out. All she could do was lift herself off of him and collapse next to him. She was still slightly pleased with the fact he hadn't even accomplished taking her shirt off. That had been her chance to be in control, and she had loved every minute of it.

She pushed herself up only enough to kiss him softly before she lay her head down on his chest, listening to his heart beat as she finally started to regain her breath. She could easily lay there forever.

"I'm pretty sure you have cooties now, too," she joked, watching as Sasuke continued to try to catch his breath.

He opened his eyes and looked at her, watching her closely before he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

"I can live with that. It's a small price to pay," he said with a smirk.

She smiled. She slid one arm around his waist and squeezed gently to hug him to her as she closed her eyes, relaxing against him. Sakura listened to his heart beat, was very aware of the rise and fall of his chest and the way his scent filled her nose. He was slowly taking over each of her senses and she just didn't care. In fact, she preferred it.

"Oh really? Well thanks for 'paying the price' then."

She smiled softly to herself as she closed her eyes, putting her attention back on what he was doing. She couldn't get over what it was like to lay next to him, to trust him and to have him trust her back. It was one of the best feelings in the world and she never wanted it to go away. If she had anything to do with it, it wouldn't.

Before too long, she felt his breathing slow and his hold on her slackened a bit. Sakura was careful as she looked up at him, a smile crossing her features at the fact that he was asleep. Reaching down slowly she pulled up the blanket of his bed, covering them both as she nestled back into Sasuke's chest. She could nap now too for sure.


	13. Studying

Morning came around and Sasuke jerked up suddenly, drenched in sweat. He looked down and Sakura, his expression softening and lying back down in an attempt not to wake her. Sakura had stayed asleep all up to the point where he laid back down on the bed.

She had thought about going back to sleep at first, but after a few moments of lying there she realized that he seemed warmer than usual and tense. Sakura let out a short yawn before sitting up and rubbing her eyes, trying to wake herself up enough to give him her attention.

"Sasuke?"

She propped herself up on her elbow as she raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed to be sweating and his face was a little pale. Had he'd had a bad dream or something? She couldn't remember ever seeing him look like that and it was enough to send a chill through her. She didn't like that look on him, the uncertainty on his face.

She pulled herself up to where she was closer to his head, staying propped up on her elbow. She furrowed her brows at him as she tried to figure out what was wrong because she knew there was no way she could ask him. He'd just brush it off like it was nothing. She knew that something was definitely wrong though.

She leaned over to him and kissed him gently before brushing the hair out of his face.

"It's alright. It was a nightmare I'm guessing?" she said quietly.

He held her close, a worrisome look on his face. "I'm fine. It was just a dream."

She continued to look at him for a long time, debating on if she should push the issue or not. She highly doubted that she was going to get a straight answer from him, so that was the only thing that convinced her to lay her head back down on his chest. There would eventually be a time when she could bring this up again, but now certainly wasn't it. It would probably just piss him off if she continued to pester him about it.

She continued to run her hand through his hair over and over again. It had been something her mother would do when she was a girl and it always comforted her, she could only hope it would do the same for him.

"I love you so much," he mumbled before giving her a deep but gentle kiss.

She looked up when she felt him move and was surprised by the kiss he gave her. She didn't hesitate to return it, tightening the hold she had on him until he pulled away.

"I love you, too. More than you know."

She smiled at him before kissing his chest and then laying her head back down, the worried look crossing her features again. She couldn't possibly imagine what was bothering him so much, but she'd help in whatever way she could. She loved him more than anything, and she knew that wasn't going to change. Unless his feelings changed, cause her's certainly weren't going to, than this would be it. She could easily see herself with him for the rest of her life.

"Want me to get you a glass of water or make you breakfast or something?"

Sasuke nodded. "I do like tomato omelets, but I also like being with you."

She'd be up for either, and it wasn't like she couldn't go make breakfast and then they could go back to cuddling on the couch or something of the sorts. She certainly didn't have a problem compromising.

"Why don't we stay here for a little bit, and then you can go take a shower and I'll cook you breakfast. Then we can go from there," Sakura suggested.

He nodded in agreement. "We should shower separately."

"Yeah, just don't break into the bathroom this time."

"Then don't invite me in then lock the door and I won't break in," Sasuke joked.

"I was just giving you a challenge. It would of been too easy if you could of just walked right in." She smiled at that.

She had been surprised he hadn't just broken the door down completely then. She had figured he would of been impatient, but no, instead he decided to break in by picking the lock. It seemed Sasuke would use any excuse he could to use his ninja skills.

She laughed and laid her hand down flat against his chest. She moved to where she was laying on her stomach, her chin resting on that same hand as she looked at him.

"I'll cook though and you can eat while I shower."

She was trying to keep the subject changed, because despite it all he still looked troubled by whatever his dream had been about. If he wouldn't talk, this was the best next thing she could do for him.

She relaxed against him as she started to trace circles on his stomach. The least she could do was give him something else to talk about.

Sakura smiled at him. "So they're leasing apartments at that complex I told you I was thinking about moving into. I think I'm gonna get one. That is if you think you can stand living just two blocks from me."

"I can't stand living two blocks from you." He gave her a little smirk. "Wait a little longer before getting your own place."

"You really don't want me to move there?"

She raised a curious eyebrow at him. Sasuke had to of had a reason why he didn't want her moving just yet and that right there was enough to worry her. Her mind started to jump to conclusions and it made her feel silly for even considering them. One was he was breaking up with her. That would explain why he was acting so odd and then not wanting her to move in closer to him, but then why would he of even bothered to say he loved her.

Sasuke wouldn't waste his time going so out of the way to pull a prank like that. Another theory would be that he just didn't want her that close. That one stung a little...

He paused, an amused expression forming on his face. "No, I don't want you moving _there_."

She couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him. She had caught that stressed word and everything suddenly began to click. Was he asking her to move in with him... Unofficially?

In all truth he was probably just letting her in on his plan. He'd ask in his own due time and it would probably be after the village found out they were a couple and the dust settled down. Until then though she'd need to at least get some things from her house and move them here. Like a toothbrush, some clothes for her, etc. etc.

She thought about what living with Sasuke might be like. It would definitely be something she'd enjoy. She wouldn't have to say bye to him every night or wait until his night training to see him. She could wake up next to him, she wouldn't have to miss him and she could make sure he was taking care of himself. It would be ideal and she knew she'd be happy without question.

She pushed herself to turn in the bed and sit up. Sakura pushed the hair out of her face before running her fingers through it to try and smooth it down some.

"So you want an omelet?" she asked.

"Hn."

She laughed. "Okay, well go shower and I'll have it ready for you when you get out."

She looked over at him as he got out of bed. She leaned over and grabbed the pair of pants he had discarded earlier and pulled them on before she got out of bed herself and went about straightening the sheets as she began to make it.

"If I'm not here when you get out I might be at the market. I don't know if you have any tomatoes here," Sakura said.

"I always have tomatoes here," he retorted with a scoff.

She laughed, shaking her head as she followed him from the bedroom. She went to the kitchen and opened up his refrigerator glancing around at the food.

Sure he had food, but she had to take in he only got back from his mission yesterday. Surprisingly enough though he hadn't been lying and there were in fact tomatoes. She could only shake her head as she grabbed them along with eggs and cheese.

As she went about cooking, Sakura couldn't help but let her mind wander a bit. If she was right and Sasuke was going to ask her to move in with him than a lot of things would be changing.

Also, if he was planning on asking her to move in, than that meant they would have to tell people. If he was ready for that than she wouldn't object, but she wondered how long it would be or what he was waiting for. Things between her and Sasuke though were going smooth and better than she ever expected. It was a big step moving in together and she wanted to do that more than anything. The next step though would be marriage. That would probably take a hell of a lot longer, but if things kept up, she could easily see it happening.

Finishing with his omelet she set it down at the kitchen table along with her own and sat down, smiling at one of the pictures there was of him and his family sitting out before she turned and started with the dishes.

Sasuke didn't take too long in the shower. They had just taken a shower the night before, though they hadn't gotten too clean while they were in there.

He appeared from the bathroom briefly, but quickly disappeared into his bedroom in search of clothes. She glanced over her shoulder. She could only watch him walk by with a smile on her face before she looked back down at what she was doing.

After a few minutes he came out of his bedroom, fully clothed in his usual training clothes. He walked into the kitchen, looking for Sakura with his hair still dripping with a bit of water.

"Smells good," he said.

She just kept up with doing the dishes, that was until she felt his arms snake around her waist and pull her back against him. She hadn't even heard him coming. Sasuke was an expert at stealth, her only excuse for him being that he just walked that way.

Then he planted a kiss on her cheek before releasing her and turning his attention back to the food. He sat down and starting eating the omelet.

"I'm glad."

She leaned back against him, her smiling growing. She looked at him as he took a seat and began eating. He seemed to be enjoying it which was more than enough for her. It wasn't until she put the last clean pan away that she finally came and sat down next to him, eating her own omelet.

"I'm gonna leave here around one so I can head home, change and still get everything done before two o'clock. Ronan thinks I get off work at two. More than likely he'll be waiting in the hospital lobby." She rolled her eyes and took another bite.

Sasuke frowned. "Hn."

She wasn't saying all of this to make him jealous, but instead to simply give him a head's up.

"While you're gone I'm going to see Naruto," he said.

Sasuke finished his omelet he stood up, taking his plate with him to the sink and washing it. He was quiet, which wasn't unusual for him. He was often silent for long periods of time, even when he was around Sakura.

"You're going to willingly spend time with Naruto?"

She looked at him in curiosity before shaking her head and going back to her food. They would probably wind up doing only one of two things. Either eat ramen, or train if not both.

She knew that Sasuke cared about the blonde, he had admitted he was his best friend on a few occasions, but that didn't necessarily mean he tolerated him. Naruto just understood Sasuke better than most people and apparently even Sasuke wasn't immune to his uncanny ability to make friends with almost everyone he met.

"I need to discuss something with him," he clarified.

She stood up and walked to the sink, washing the plate and then putting it up. She glanced up at him for a short moment, trying to figure out if he was okay or not. He didn't looked bothered by anything, so she could only assume he just didn't have anything to say. That was just how Sasuke was.

Sakura smiled at him gently. "I'm gonna go take a quick shower."

"Hn."

She ran her fingers across his back as she passed him. She always wanted to touch him, just to double check she wasn't real and she wasn't dreaming. Sure it had been a couple of months since they got together and she shouldn't still be in shock, but she was.

She was so scared that it was all going to get taken away from her and something was going to happen to him. Going into his bedroom she grabbed her clothes before going back to his bathroom to take a shower.

When she got out of the shower she went to the mirror, wiping the fog away. She stared at herself for only a short moment, trying to go over in her mind what Sasuke saw in her. She wondered what attracted her to him, what had made him first start to care about her. She kept going over things like that in her head, a simple confidence issue that almost all girls had. He had chosen her, and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

Sighing she changed into her clothes, taking the shirt and pants she had borrowed and folded them. When she left the bathroom she crossed through the living room to the bedroom, smiling softly at him as she passed and saw Sasuke sitting down and reading. He didn't look up as she walked by.

She put the clothes away in his closet before going back into the living room.

Sakura slowly eased down beside him, curling her feet underneath her as she leaned against him, her head on his shoulder. She glanced over what he was reading, it involved the sharingan. She boiled it down that he was just doing research to better his fighting style.

She decided to let him read, instead turning her attention to his apartment. There were a few pictures of his family here and there and then nothing but the furniture she had put in here. That was one reason she felt so at ease here. He hadn't changed a thing about how she decorated this place and it made it feel like home to her. It was her mark in his world and she felt so at peace with the thought.

Before long he reached a stopping point in his book and shut it, setting it down on the nearby coffee table. Then he turned his attention to Sakura.

"You look comfortable," he said with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around her.

She smiled softly as she moved closer to him. She hadn't meant to distract him, it was kind of nice just sitting there as he read, but then again she wasn't going to object to his attention, either.

"Yeah, I'm comfortable, but you smell weird."

She was joking with him on that last part. One of the things she loved most about him was how he smelled. It was unique and something that made her feel calm. She honestly couldn't explain it. She loved everything about him, the only thing she could really find herself getting frustrated over at times was his pride. She admired him at times for it, but when he did things like keep his troubles to himself and not admit to needing help, she wanted to kick his ass.

Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow. "With how close you and I always are, I've probably got your scent all over me. So if I smell weird, it's your fault."

"That's called the scent of clean." She laughed and leaned up, kissing his neck.

Sakura laughed. "Or it could just be the cooties, who knows?"

She shrugged as she looked out one of the windows. She could see rain clouds coming and by her guess, they'd probably be here tonight.

"You can blame it on me though. No one would ever believe me if I told them you were a closet cuddler."

He was though, which was perfectly fine with her. She craved his touch, and she doubted she'd ever reject standing within arm's length of him.

Sasuke smirked. "Yes, no one will ever believe you. So don't bother telling anyone."

"Don't worry, I'm saving that fun little fact for blackmailing in case I ever want something."

She had been surprised with Sasuke over the first few weeks they had been together. She hadn't expected him to let her always be so close and hell, he was the one usually initiating it. Now, she was used to it. Even more so she was used to not touching him in public, which she was sure would probably be the norm anyways. Besides maybe holding his hand walking down the street or a quick kiss on the cheek, nothing between them would really change if there was someone else around.

"What were you reading?" Sakura asked.

She knew it was over techniques, but her question was more directed to the topic of what they were and the like. He was always looking to better himself, another quality she admired. He wasn't the type of guy to settle for mediocre or average, a fact that made her feel special that he chose her. It was something that led her to believe he'd be able to uphold his promises and do whatever he set his mind to.

He would make ANBU, a captain more than likely, he'd rebuild his clan, etc. etc. Sasuke had a future, and she could only hope that nothing would change that kept her from being apart of that future.

"Special mission tactics for sharingan users," he said calmly. "I intend to learn some of Itachi's strategies."

She looked up at him. Sakura was sure that the subject of Sasuke's brother was a sensitive one to him. She hardly ever hear him so much as mention his older sibling and whenever he did he would always wind up brushing it off like it was nothing.

Besides what Kakashi told her and what she'd read, she didn't know anything about Itachi. Sasuke wasn't angry with the mention of his brother but he didn't seem necessarily happy to bring him up. She'd have to watch herself, but she wanted to know. She was curious.

"Sasuke... Did you forgive him?"

She knew he had accomplished his goal, but she wasn't sure if it brought him happiness or closure or what else was going on in his mind. Sasuke had never spoken about what happened between himself and Itachi or how he killed him.

The only other time she'd heard him speak of him was when he told her the clothes had belonged to him that she had gotten from the Uchiha district. He had seemed okay with it, but she couldn't recall ever seeing him wear them.

It took him a minute to think of a proper answer to Sakura's question. He seemed to be in deep thought.

"Forgive isn't the right word," he finally answered. "Murdering our clan wasn't right, no matter what the reason. And I wouldn't have chosen the same path. But I understand what he was thinking and his reasons behind it and I no longer hate him."

She grew quiet for a moment, letting it soak in. He had seemed okay with everything that happened, well, as okay as someone could get. It was comforting to know he had at least some form of closure when it came to that part of his life.

"It's good you don't hate him anymore."

She wasn't really sure if she could ask him anymore questions. His relationship with Itachi was always something she wondered about. They had to of gotten along at some point in their lifetimes.

Sakura gave him a soft smile. "You're a good guy, Sasuke. I hope you know that."

She sat up enough to look at him, leaning forward and kissing him gently. Sure he had made some of the wrong choices along the way, I. E. trying to shove a chakra infused hand through her head, but she had long ago forgiven him for that and pushed it from her memory.

Sasuke was a good person and he'd always do what he thought was right. Also, it was getting evident that the village was starting to forgive him as well. There weren't quite as many dirty looks directed his way the past week or so.

Sasuke had a far away look on his face and it really worried her. She could never tell what was going on in his head.

"Hn."

She smiled briefly at his one syllable answer. He was just agreeing with her to avoid saying what he really thought. It was a typical move on his part but it also made her think about what his real opinion of himself was. He had done a lot of things in his life that he probably wasn't technically proud of but she knew he didn't regret anything. He was the type of guy who accepted that whatever happened in the past, happened. He was good though, and she knew that and she'd spend however much time she had to trying to get him to see it, too.

"What do you want to do until you have to leave?" he asked.

She put her head back on his shoulder, hugging him closer to her.

"I don't know. I'm fresh out of ideas. What do you want to do?"

She was content sitting here with him, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sit still for long and neither could he. If they weren't trying to keep things secret they could go somewhere, like for a walk or to the training grounds. Anything.

Also, the fact she really shouldn't be running around the village was there. She couldn't risk running into Ronan, or at least, she didn't want to risk it.

Thinking about her question for a moment, he smirked. Without a word Sasuke stood up and went into his bedroom, catching her off guard but returning a minute later with three scrolls in his hand. She recognized them. She could remember digging around and finding them when she had gone through the things at the Uchiha district. She had thought she had been around their archives and had been gathering up some of the written history on his clan.

"You might find these interesting," he said as he sat back down on the couch.

She took them from him, pushing herself to sit up. Sasuke seemed to be watching her closely.

Getting up, Sakura moved to the floor in between Sasuke's legs, leaning against him and the couch as she laid the scrolls down on the table in front of them. She was careful as she opened one up, only reading a few lines before she stopped, her eyes wide with excitement. The rosette quickly turned her upper torso to look at him, a serious look on her face. There were medical techniques inside, ones she'd never seen but had heard of.

"It's really okay that I'm reading these? I've heard of these techniques, but they're very top secret. I don't think anyone outside of your clan has seen these," she asked.

She wanted to read them so bad, but she had to be clear with him about the importance of them. Tsunade had gone over some of the hardest jutsus to learn and the most effective. The Uchiha medical scrolls were on both of those lists but they were highly restricted to Uchiha medics only and used with such discretion that the techniques couldn't be copied. She couldn't believe he would trust her so much with something like this.

He smiled a little then pointed at one of the unopened scrolls. "See this marking on the outside. That's my clan's symbol for top secret information. It's not forbidden, just requires permission from the appropriate person. Go ahead and read them. Someone should know this information."

"I feel so special to know the appropriate person."

She laughed gently as she leaned back, reaching up to pull him down so she could kiss him. She pulled back just far enough to smile at him.

"Thank you," Sakura added.

Sakura turned back to the scrolls then, her attention falling to the one that was already open as she began to read it. She skimmed over it to get a basic understanding before taking in the fact that Sasuke was looking over her shoulder at it. So when she went to read it a second time, she paused every few lines to explain to him the mechanics of the technique. What each hand sign was for, what the purpose of it all was, what you should be looking for, etc. etc. Sasuke was the type of guy who liked to understand things, she could at least run him through the basics.

She wasn't sure how long she spent reading before she put the last scroll aside, leaning back and hooking her arms over his legs as if she had just had a huge meal. She took a turned to look at him but her eyes fell to the clock instead. It was almost one, which meant she would have to go, something she really didn't want to do. She had to though, a feeling she was dreading as she finally turned to look at him.

"I need to go."

She sighed before pushing herself to stand up and moving around the table as she picked up the scrolls. She walked over to one of his bookshelves and slid them in a small open space, turning back to him.

"Can you leave those there for me? I want to keep looking over them but I can't exactly take them with me."

If someone caught her with those it would be fairly obvious that Sasuke trusted her... A lot. Ino would be able to put two and two together with no problem.

"That's fine," he agreed with a nod.

"You're training tonight, right?" she asked.

He nodded again. "I can't afford to miss training."

He frowned once more. Sasuke walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close and giving her a short kiss. She stayed close to him, looping her arms around him as she hugged him.

She had been so worried about him, even more so when she first saw him last night. He had acted so strangely but he seemed to have pushed aside whatever had been bothering him. It relaxed her that he wasn't pacing his apartment or brooding in a corner somewhere.

"I'll see you late tonight. If you manage to get rid of that guy earlier than expected I'll be with Naruto," he said, looking annoyed that she had to go.

"It'll probably be tonight. I'd like to say sooner, but he's not exactly easy to get away from."

Sakura let out a heavy sigh before pulling away from him and walking towards the door. "I'll see you then."

She thought about saying she loved him again, but she wasn't about to put him in the situation where he felt obligated to say it back. She knew how he felt and that was more than enough. She didn't have to hear it from him to know he loved her too. Instead she just left, going to take care of her responsibilities.


	14. Fighting

When Sakura left, she went straight to the hospital, seeing her now only two patients. Tsunade was getting on her nerves turfing her patients to other doctors. She was trying to clear up her schedule for a mission and she could only pray that it wasn't her going with Ronan back to his village.

She was already annoyed with the guy and she hadn't even seen him yet today. Like she had told Sasuke though, he was waiting for her in the lobby and was giving her a smile the second she got off the elevator.

She went home and changed before they headed out to the training grounds. He kept on talking to her the entire time they were walking there and it was extremely amusing to her at the idea of how much she knew this guy would annoy Sasuke. Ronan talked all the time, usually said silly comments about the most random things, and had the natural ability to make everything about flirting.

It wasn't until they started training though that she realized what a mistake it had been. She was forced to make physical contact with him, and even though she could throw stronger punches, he was better at taijutsu. She hadn't even seen it coming when he pinned her and before she knew it he was leaning in to kiss her.

She could hear the sound of voices in the distance. Someone was arguing. But that didn't help the matter at hand. At least she thought it didn't.

Her heart was racing as Ronan started to lean.

"What the hell?!" came Sasuke's voice, loud and clear.

She was in a little shock of what he was actually trying to do and it took her a minute to move. She turned her head away from him when his lips finally reached her, touching her cheek. She was quick to fight her arm free and put it on his chest, pushing him back.

Her head whipped around to see that Naruto was holding back Sasuke. Ronan was off of her at this point, a confused look on his face as to why she had pushed him off and she stood up.

"Oi bastard, calm down," Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke struggled to escape Naruto's grasp and if it wasn't such a serious situation they probably would have looked quite funny, but the red color of Sasuke's eyes proved how serious he was.

Sakura wasn't exactly sure what to do. She couldn't walk up to Sasuke, not with Naruto here or Ronan for that matter. But then her thoughts fell to the lecherous asshole that was standing up next to her. She didn't think twice as she whipped around and punched him enough so that he stumbled back holding his nose as blood dripped from his chin.

"What in the hell was that?! Have I not made it clearly obvious that nothing will happen! You did not have the right to do that!" Sakura yelled.

She turned and started walking towards Sasuke and Naruto, her gaze flicking to the both of them before she focused on Sasuke. He looked so mad, the last time she had seen that look he tried to kill her and she had to admit, it scared her a little.

Seeing Sakura hit that interloping idiot caused Sasuke to at least stop struggling to get away from Naruto and go kill Ronan. Unfortunately Naruto didn't realize that Sasuke had stopped struggling and continued to hold onto Sasuke, making it appear as if the blond was trying to hug him.

"Idiot, I'm not going to kill him so let me go," Sasuke said, pushing Naruto away from him.

She kept walking past them as she crossed her arms, tears burning at the back of her eyes as she tried not to cry. If she had reacted a second later than Ronan would of kissed her and she could only imagine how pissed off Sasuke would of been. Everything they had could of been ruined all because of some stupid idiot.

She could hear Sasuke and Naruto talking behind her, or rather Naruto talking and Sasuke grumbling and refusing to answer quesitons, and it was safe to say she was a little panicked. She was on the verge of crying, Sasuke was pissed off and nearly took Ronan's head off, Naruto knew something was up by the questions he was asking and she had no idea how to get Sasuke alone to try and make sure he knew that she wasn't going to let anything like that happen.

It wasn't something that could wait until later though. They needed to talk about this now because if she let Sasuke sit around and really think about it, there was no telling what kind of conclusions he might come to. She had spent so long building trust in him and it could very well of just shattered.

When they came to the point in the path where Sasuke and her usually went separate ways she stopped, looking back at the two. "Naruto, can you please keep Ronan occupied for a little while. He has to have a village escort and I can't be around him right now."

She turned to him, hoping he wouldn't argue with her. It wasn't like she lied to him about anything, either. She couldn't be around Ronan, she didn't want anything to do with him after that.

"Please," she pleaded.

Of course Naruto complained about wanting to know what was happening, but Sasuke turned around and sent him a glare.

"I'll explain when I talk to you tomorrow about what we have to discuss. Just go," he grumbled to Naruto.

Naruto looked rather dejected, but the blond left, knowing not to piss Sasuke off anymore than he already was.

But even when they were alone Sasuke stayed silent. He was still walking towards his apartment, so that he and Sakura could be alone and no one else would hear them discussing their secret relationship and their secret fight. He didn't even glance over at Sakura, still caught up in his own gloomy thoughts. Sakura knew she was in trouble. From the way Sasuke was walking to the expression on his face. He was tense, and when she fell in step beside him she felt like a child about to get scolded.

She knew the moment she was in his apartment there wouldn't be anything holding him back from venting and she couldn't admit to him she was scared. She kept telling herself that he wouldn't hurt her, but in the back of her mind she couldn't get rid of the nagging thoughts of what he could really do to her. Or even worse, what he would do to Ronan if he was ever alone with that guy.

Once they arrived at his place he unlocked the door and let them both in, still not speaking.

When they entered the apartment she walked in and didn't say a word. What could she say to him, really? She wasn't apologizing, she didn't have anything to be sorry for. She needed to train, Ronan tagged along and just started being stupid. She didn't let the guy kiss her and in fact she punched him. She didn't do anything wrong and she'd stick to that. She had a feeling that wasn't what Sasuke wanted to hear though. So all Sakura did was stood in silence in his living room leaning against the back of his couch.

"You were alone at the training grounds with a stranger who is strong enough to pin you to the ground and try to kiss you. Don't you realize how dangerous that was?" Sasuke wasn't yelling. His voice was quite and retrained, but still with that element of coldness that his entire body currently showed.

"Sasuke, I'd hardly consider that dangerous," she retorted.

She knew she was just digging herself a deeper hole by disagreeing with him, but she wasn't going to just roll over for him to make him happy. He needed to understand, it wasn't like she was going to go around the rest of her life letting him win every fight.

"For one thing, I was in the village and another thing, he was just trying to kiss me, not kill me. Okay, I needed to train, something you should understand, and he knew it. He wanted to tag along and I can't say no. If Tsunade found out she'd consider it a failed mission and I'm not about to let something as stupid as this go against my record as a fail just because I needed to train and he happened to be there. I'm pretty sure me punching him will mark it as a fail, but that's for a good reason and I'm not spending any more time with him, alright?"

She stayed on her side of the apartment, watching him closely. She could understand why he was so upset at the situation, but what she couldn't get was why he was pissed off at her. She hadn't done anything wrong but here he was scolding her anyways. There had to be another reason why he was blowing this out of proportion but she had no idea what it could be unless it involved what was bothering him last night.

Sasuke frowned. "But he could have tried to kill you. You don't know him well enough to know that he wouldn't. You could have brought someone else with you to training. I would have gone with you if you'd even thought to tell me what you were going to be doing."

"He wasn't going to kill me. He either has to be incredibly stupid to kill someone in their own village or incredibly skilled, which Ronan is not." She sighed as she turned away from him and began pacing.

"Plus, you know you couldn't of come along and everyone else is busy. As long as we're keeping this," she paused to point at the both of them, "a secret, than we can't do things like train together or even so much as walk down the damn street."

Slowly pushing away from the couch she made her way over to him, stopping when she was in front of him but not touching him.

"I really don't understand why you're mad at me. What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

He paused for a moment. "I'm mad because you were careless and some other man nearly kissed you. Next time it might not just be nearly."

Sakura was getting mad now, also. That wasn't fair for him to accuse her of going with Ronan alone. She knew him better than Sasuke apparently thought. She was forced to spend a lot of time with him and he wasn't the most complex guy to figure out, unlike a certain someone else. She knew Ronan wouldn't hurt her, but she had still asked around to try and find someone to go with her.

She hadn't had a single urge to be alone with the guy but everyone she had asked was busy, and when Sasuke said he'd be around Naruto that had taken her last option and she wasn't about to subject Sasuke to actually meeting the guy. If she knew it would of blown up in her face so badly than she would have agreed to just train with Naruto and Sasuke and let the chips fall where they may.

"Sasuke, I wasn't being careless. All I did was lose a sparring match. Sure he took winning a step too far, but I'm fairly positive he's not going to try anything again."

She honestly didn't know what to say to him besides the fact that what happened, happened. It had been bound to happen eventually, also. Ronan didn't know she had a boyfriend and she couldn't very well tell him. He thought she was single and was just going for it. Sure it pissed her off how he did it, but she wasn't going to put herself in that situation again.

Sasuke frowned, looking annoyed. "That's my point. You lost the sparring match and if it was a real match you would be dead. You would be dead and I'd be alone again. Don't you even care about that?" he said, his voice growing increasingly cold

The feeling she got after he spoke was almost the same as if someone had wrenched a knife in her. Sakura stopped pacing and just looked at him with a raw, hurt expression. She couldn't honestly believe he was accusing her of not caring. She cared about him more than anything and she had thought that had been apparent enough.

Usually she could brush his angry comments off and retaliate with one of her own simply because they were usually minor things that they would just share different views on. Her caring though, that definitely wasn't minor and definitely something she couldn't just brush off.

"You don't think I care?" Her tone was horribly calm as she stared at him.

She was pissed off and hurt. "How could you even think that? I think I have more than enough proved how much you mean to me over the years." Her voice was starting to rise and she honestly didn't care. She couldn't even help it when she started to cry.

"I love you Sasuke, with everything I have, but if you can't see that than I don't know what the hell I'm doing here!"

She didn't want to lose him, but if he was claiming that she didn't care about him than she was obviously wasting both of their times and she wasn't going to be selfish and keep him to herself. If anything he probably felt obligated to be with her out of everyone. She was the only girl he actually talked to.

Sakura took a deep breath as she looked from him to the door, and then back to him. She had heard that he was scared of losing her by his word choice, but she was more focused on the latter part that labeled her as someone who didn't care about him. It was enough to send her into debates on if she should stay or go.

But then like he had so many times before, Sasuke surprised her.

"Damn it," he mumbled to himself.

She looked back to him only to find him standing just inches from her, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her close. She wondered if the day would ever come to where she'd stop forgiving him when all he did was hug her and say something unpredictable that would catch her so off-guard she'd forget she was pissed. She doubted that day would ever come. He meant too much to her for her to even want to be mad at him when she had a good reason to be.

"Don't cry. I'm sorry," he said quietly, almost to the point of it being inaudible.

She stood there for a long time not hugging him back but she didn't pull away either. She just tried to stop crying.

She finally reached around him, holding him tightly to her as she kept calming down. He had apologized to her, something she never thought Sasuke Uchiha would do for anyone and he had done it for her. It had been weird to hear him say it, but she certainly wasn't going to object to it. For that comment, he had every reason in the world to apologize.

"Sasuke, don't you ever say anything like that ever to me again. Ever."

He nodded. "Hn."

She hugged him tighter before she pulled away and made her way to his room as she sat down on the bed and lay her head down in the palms of her hands as she started to cry again.

"Sakura?" she heard him call from the other room.

She wasn't mad at him anymore, but he had hurt her, something she hadn't been expecting. She was going to cry until she couldn't or just felt better. Right now she was more likely to run out of tears to cry before she felt even remotely better.

Looking confused, he walked into the bedroom. She kept her head down because she didn't want him to see her like this. Sasuke paused before sitting down beside her with a sigh.

"I'm not good at this sort of thing," he said quietly. "If you need comforting then you have to tell me how."

Sakura took a deep breath as she wiped at her cheeks, trying her best to dry them before she turned her head in his direction.

"Just promise me you won't think something like that. I care about you more than you'll ever know and as long as you want me, I'm not going to leave you. You just have to trust me," she answered.

Sakura turned her head the rest of the way to look at him and she was positive she looked like a train wreck but she didn't care.

"I promise," he said, looking very serious.

Sakura closed her eyes. She wasn't going to start crying again, at least not if she could help it. She didn't want to make him feel guilty and she knew when she cried it did. He would give her that confused, helpless look that he got whenever he didn't know how to emotionally deal with something. She hated it when he looked at her like that, too. He looked so unsure of himself and she couldn't stand how she was the one who was making him feel like that because she knew he certainly didn't enjoy it.

Sasuke leaned down and gently kissed Sakura's forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Sasuke used his thumb to wipe a tear away from Sakura's cheek that she had missed. "How about before I have to go to my training tonight, I go out and get us some take out? I did promise you a date."

She was quick to place her hand over his, holding it there as she rested her cheek against it, savoring his touch. She smiled just slightly at the fact he remembered as she turned her head and gently kissed his palm.

"That sounds good, but just stay here with me for a bit."

"Hn." He nodded. "We can stay here for as long as you want."

Getting closer to him she let go of his hand and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Thank you."

She closed her eyes as she leaned against him, just taking relaxing breaths. She knew what her crying did to him. The only two times she had ever been around him and she cried his demeanor would automatically change.

He would usually forget whatever it was making him mad and do whatever he could just to get her to stop. He would even go so far as to push his pride aside to get her to feel better. She knew he cared about her if he was willing to do that for her.

"I hope you don't mind paying for me. My money is at home," Sakura said with a bit of a smile.

She highly doubted Sasuke would of let her pay regardless but she didn't want him to think she'd automatically assumed that. Sasuke was an old-fashioned type of guy, and those types of guys hardly ever let girls pay.

Sasuke smiled slightly, seeing that Sakura was now much calmer than before. It looked like she wouldn't be crying anymore and that was very good. And she seemed happy about his suggestion of going on a date. He made a mental note to remember to take her on a real date out at a nice restaurant once they let the world know about the two of them.

Sasuke couldn't help but laughed lightly.

"Tch, do you really think I would have it any other way?" he retorted, confirming her suspicions.

A laugh escaped her. It was just a quiet sound, but he was already making her feel better. "I didn't think you'd mind, but I figured I should ask."

Sasuke looked relieved to see her laugh. "I wouldn't let you pay even if you wanted to," he replied with a smirk.

She turned her head up, her breath fanning across his neck before she placed a soft kiss. "You're better than you think at comforting."

"Is that so?"

She stood up after that, wiping at her face to try and dry it before she looked back at him, smiling softly at him.

"I love you," she cooed.

She took a step closer to him and leaned down, placing her hands on his shoulders as she kissed him.

Sasuke let go of her and returned her kiss. Then he pulled away before long, smirking up at her.

"I love you too."

He stood, taking her hand in his.

"Come on, let's get some food. You have to be hungry. It 's dinner time," he said, leading her into the living room and towards the front door.

Sakura only nodded in agreement. "Are we both going?"

She knew that was a silly question, but it was a legit one. They couldn't just show up at a restaurant together, grab food and bail out. If they ran into someone they knew, red flags would go up everywhere and it wouldn't be long before people found out. A part of her wanted to go, hoping he wanted to finally tell people but she wasn't going to rush him into it.

It was going to be weird whenever they finally got to that point where they told people. She knew a lot of girls would hate her for sure, but they weren't anything she couldn't handle. It would be nice though to walk down the street next to him and not have to talk about a medical condition regarding to his eyes as a cover-up. It would be like starting their relationship over but in the beginning they would already know how they felt about each other and they could already be comfortable. She was ready for it, no questions about it.

Sasuke paused, looking like he'd forgotten that their relationship was a secret.

"Right. I'll go. You wait here. I won't be long. There's a new Chinese take-out place a couple blocks away," he said, releasing her hand.

"Alright." She let out a light laugh again as she stopped next to the kitchen counter, leaning against it as she crossed her arms. "Thank you."

If she had been right about Sasuke asking her to move in thing, this was something she could get used to. Staying in, relaxing with one another and just feeling like she was at home. She knew she'd say yes when he'd ask her, the idea of waking up to him every morning was something she wouldn't dare pass up. She'd enjoy the sound of him coming home, just everything.

He gave her a soft kiss then stepped toward the door, leaving quietly.

Sakura pushed off the counter and went to his bedroom getting out a black shirt, the clan symbol present on the back, and a pair of pants. She wasted no time getting into the shower, and in the length of the ten minutes she spent in there she must have scrubbed her cheek where Ronan had kissed her a good fifteen times.

It had felt so wrong when it happened and Sasuke had been right. If it had been a second later before she reacted, Ronan would of kissed her and she had a feeling that Sasuke might not of forgiven her for that so easily.

She hadn't seen that side of him in a long time, Sasuke having been just so angry. He had that look in his eyes like he could of killed something and it had scared her. She could go the rest of her life without seeing that look. But she knew it would never be directed at her. It was Ronan he wanted to hurt.

When she got out of the shower she didn't bother with drying her hair as she put on the shirt and pants she had taken from his closet, folding up her own and taking it with her.

Going to his bedroom, she set it down on the dresser before going back into the living room and taking out the scrolls she had scanned over that morning. Sakura proceeded to lay them all out, sitting between the coffee table and couch again as she began to go over them.

She found one of the scrolls particularly interesting. It was over field techniques and how to get the maximum healing strength with the littlest amount of chakra use. If she could learn it she could automatically raise her value as a field medic and it would making getting into ANBU that much easier.

She wasn't technically sure if she'd be able to use the techniques though. Reading them was one thing, but actually using them was another. She wasn't about to overstep her boundaries.

Arriving back at his apartment with the food, Sasuke found Sakura once again looking at those medical scrolls. He sat down on the couch opening up the bag with the little Chinese food boxes and chopsticks.

"I just guessed at what you like, but I made sure it's not spicy," he said.

"I'm sure whatever you got is fine. Thanks." She smiled up at him.

She immediately went for the food, being hungrier than she originally thought as she took one of the sides for herself. Before she started eating it, she was sure to close up the scrolls and set them aside as she pulled herself up onto the couch next to him.

Sasuke began eating too, having picked the only thing on the menu that contained tomatoes for himself.

It hit her then that he said he didn't get anything spicy. She looked over at him, her gaze softening before she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"You remembered what food I don't like."

He merely shrugged. "It's not that hard to remember."

"It's more the fact you listened than remembered."

She smiled to herself a slight triumphant feeling swelling up in her. The last time she had mentioned to Sasuke she didn't like spicy foods was when they were around twelve and on one of their rare missions outside of the village. She wasn't even sure she really mentioned it, instead just turning her nose up at it and muttering a dejected 'no thanks.' It meant that he at least paid a little attention to her when they were little and that was great all in itself.

She continued to smile at him before she went back to the food, snapping the chopsticks in two. "Sorry I borrowed your clothes without asking, the shower was kind of spur of the moment."

He couldn't help but smirk a little. "It's not a big deal. I already said you can borrow whatever you want."

"I know, but it makes me feel special, you know? I know how you feel about your clan. I'm not apart of it and it just makes me feel grateful that you let me wear it."

"Tch, you don't need to walk around wearing my clothes to be special to me," Sasuke grumbled.

It wasn't long before he finished his meal, throwing his trash away when he was done. She tossed her trash away when she finished as well, standing up and going about cleaning up the living room. His clothes practically swallowed her but she didn't seem to mind as she went to the kitchen and got him a bottled water along with her own.

Sakura sat down on the armrest of the couch next to him, dropping the water in his lap.

"Thanks for dinner. I'll repay you somehow."

The smallest of smirks tugged at her lips as she took a sip of her water. She reached over and ran a hand through his hair before resting it on his shoulder.

"Any ideas on how?" she teased.

He took a drink but setting the water aside.

"No, no ideas at all," he said sarcastically. "But I'm sure you'll think of something."


	15. Discovering

Sasuke lay down beside Sakura under a blanket in bed reaching an arm around her waist and pulling her close so that their bodies touched after yet another intimate moment between them. Sakura turned towards him slightly, softly trailing her fingertips down his arm until she found his hand, slipping her fingers between his and locking their fingers. "I love you, Sasuke." Her voice was soft as she leaned back against him, her gaze focused on their hands.

He planted a soft kiss on her shoulder. "I love you too," he replied just as quietly as she had spoken and his thumb idly tracing pattern on her hand.

Sasuke glanced at the her hand that he was holding, with a small smile on his face.

He stifled a yawn. "I have a mission in a week. After I come back we should tell people about us. It's getting harder to hide it."

She had been so focused with watching his thumb move along her hand that she almost missed what he said. She wanted to brush off the idea of him leaving in a week, he had only just gotten back last night. That was a conversation she knew would probably wind up with them arguing a bit and right now she didn't want to fight with him.

She was so comfortable and in a state of serenity with the situation she was in with him right now. She didn't want to dare jeopardize it. That became easier with his second statement. He wanted to tell people.

"What?" She turned on to her back to look up at him, a surprised and excited look on her face. "'You really want to?"

"Hn."

She had wanted to tell for awhile now and she was more than ready to see the look on peoples' faces, like Ino for example. The blond would probably fall of her face out of sheer disbelief. What she was excited most about though was the fact she'd be able to be around him whenever they wanted to now. They could take walks, eat out, he could visit her at the hospital and she could see him off on missions. She knew she couldn't wait for that stuff.

"If it's getting harder to hide it I guess that means you must like me a lot, huh?"

She laughed quietly to herself as she continued to look at him, that same silly grin on her face. She was only messing around with him, but what he had said had been like a sugar rush to her. She was just ready for it.

He scoffed. "You already know that answer to that. You're just trying to get me to tell you how important you are to me again, aren't you?"

"What can I say? I like hearing it."

He smirked. "You are my most important person."

A faint blush dusted her cheeks as she looked up at him, a soft smile on her lips. She couldn't believe he still had such an effect on her. All he had to do was look at her and she felt like she was being pulled into existence. His touch alone would have her mind racing and her heart pounding. She couldn't stand to think of a future without him.

"Damn it, Sasuke. You could probably say you hated me and it'd still make me blush if you gave me that look."

"What look?" he asked confusedly.

"I don't know how to explain it and even if I did I don't think I'd tell you. If we got in a fight you'd just have to give me that look and I'd never win. Ever."

Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow but let it go. She laughed gently at the confused expression on his face. If she could pick any emotion to label as foreign on his face, it would be confusion no doubt. Sasuke liked knowing things, and the workings of her mind and reasons to her reactions were probably no different.

He looked down at her and smirked. "Once people know about us then you should move in here. I want to live with you."

She was about to tease him a bit more when he caught her off-guard though with his... statement. He wanted her to move in with him and was finally admitting it out loud. She'd guessed right about him wanting to ask her and she had known for awhile what her answer would be but he still surprised her. The grin returned to her face tenfold as she let go of his hand and turned towards him completely, leaning forward and kissing him softly.

"I will on one condition."

She pulled back from the kiss and gave him a serious expression for a short moment before she nervously looked down at the sheets as she began to run the fabric through her fingers. "I want you to meet my parents. They'd probably handle it a bit better if they knew you a little bit. Just one dinner is all I'm asking for."

She looked back up at him, a worried expression on her features. She had a small hunch he was going to say 'no' to that idea but she really did want him to get to know them better. Her mother was going to love him, her father on the other hand... Not so much. It would really be the only way to break the news though to them that she was going to be moving in with Sasuke.

His hand came to rest on top of hers she stopped, all to aware of the fact he had grown silent, even too silent for him. She knew he wasn't too keen on the idea of meeting her parents, she couldn't imagine he would be, but it was something that had to be done. They were her family and she wasn't about to lie to them about moving in with Sasuke. She was going to move in with him despite their opinions, but if Sasuke was going to be apart of her world, it had to be apart of her entire world, her parents included.

"Tch, fine," he grumbled.

"It doesn't have to be anytime soon, ya know. Just before I move in," she reassured him.

Sakura could already picture herself living here. She'd come home from work to find Sasuke reading over some type of scroll that involved details on a mission or technique or him and Naruto would be at the kitchen table cleaning their weapons and arguing over something as silly as who could get finished first. She was excited over things like getting to eat-in with him, coming home to find him there and waking up next to him. She'd move in immediately if she could.

With the hand he wasn't touching she reached over, running her fingers through his hair. "My mom's going to love you, I can tell you that now. She thought you were absolutely adorable when you were a kid. It'll be a good thing, Sasuke. I promise, you just have to trust me."

She leaned forward and kissed him gently before turning onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. A ceiling she could call her own in a few weeks. The only downside to everything was the fact that as much as she loved Naruto, she was also going to have to share in the punishment of living directly above him. At least he wouldn't be allowed to come barging in though.

"I know. I'll do it," he mumbled again. "But your father?"

"Well, I'm not going to lie to you but there's a very good chance he's not going to like you. You'll get on my mom's goods side though and that's all you have to do. If she likes you than she'll make sure my dad is on his best behavior."

She would be naive to think that this dinner would go well. She had spent countless years fawning over Sasuke and not exactly in a discreetly manner, either. When he left it was easy to say she fell into a fit of depression and her parents had seen a good chunk of the damage Sasuke had done to her. Her mother had mentioned she seemed happier lately though, so if she found out Sasuke was that reason than that would be all it took to get her roped in. Her father on the other hand...

Well, she may have told Sasuke that there was a good chance her father wouldn't like him but in all honestly, there was no way in hell her father was going to like him. At least the feelings weren't going to change over the course of one dinner. It would probably take months for her dad to even consider looking at Sasuke as anything else other than an enemy.

"I _am_ important to you. You're actually wondering what my dad will think of you," she added with a smile.

Sasuke wasn't the type of person to put much stock into what others thought about him. In fact, unless someone's judgment of him involved the success of a mission than he really couldn't care a bit. Here he was though, stressing, if Sasuke could stress, over what her father might think of him, the guy dating his daughter.

"Stupid, of course you're important to me." He planted a kiss softly on her lips. "I'm wondering because you're so important."

She just laughed and returned the kiss, obviously amused by the fact he was actually worried about this. Whatever was going to happen would happen and all they could do was cross their fingers and pray that it went for the better rather than worse. She knew that her father would warm up to Sasuke eventually if they both put a little effort into it and Sasuke avoided the sensitive subjects. Like the subject of him 'doing' his daughter. So long as the two could be civil to each other in the same room though, she'd take it as a win.

Sakura smiled. "Just let me know when and I'll set it up. I wouldn't mention anything about it to Naruto, if he knows about us by then, cause I promise you. He'll show up."

"We'll be able to know when after I get back from my mission. I'm not sure how long it will take, but probably not more than a week. And I'm not telling Naruto anything. He'll only cause trouble," he said, rolling his eyes with annoyance at the thought of Naruto.

She frowned. "So can I ask what this mission is? Or at least know how dangerous, who is going... Anything?"

Her smile was completely gone when she finally resigned to talking about him leaving again. It was something she'd never be happy about but she'd have to at least get better at pretending not to care. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to know the details but the only other time he came back from a mission he was completely distraught. If he was going to take an emotional punch to the gut, she wanted to at least know enough about why he was upset to try and comfort him.

Sasuke paused. "It's just me and Naruto going. It has to be limited to just the two of us and we're the only ones who can do it. That's all I can tell you."

"Just promise me you'll be careful." She looked down at the hand he still had resting over hers and she turned her palm up to him, lacing her fingers with his.

"I know you said it last time, but I'm fairly positive you'll have to promise me every time."

He smiled lightly. "I promise," he said, giving her a short kiss. "I'm going to be alright. There is nothing to worry about. This is just another mission where Naruto will do his best to annoy the hell out of me."

"Does he really have to try? I think he annoys you by just breathing," Sakura teased.

Sakura would never really get Sasuke and Naruto's friendship. They claimed to be each others best friend, and they honestly were, but she had a feeling they were each others worst enemy all the same. They had a strong rivalry and made everything into a competition, which made her understand at least why Sasuke tolerated the blond. They acted like brothers, very, very violent and aggressive brothers.

She did her best to try and smile at him but her thoughts were already taking a sour turn.

"I think the worst part is that I might have a mission coming up. I'll probably leave a day or two after you get back."

Sasuke frowned, but nodded after a moment.

"Then we'll probably have to wait until you get back from your mission to get you moved in here. And then my bed will be our bed. We should do something special to celebrate," he said with a smirk.

Sakura was pulled out of her thoughts. She could feel something knot in her stomach, not out of worry, but absolute excitement. The idea of him going on a mission was still fresh on her mind and she knew she wouldn't be able to move in with him until after, but every time she thought about the mission she thought about what would come when he got back and she couldn't help but smile.

Sakura couldn't help it when she started laughing. She had never thought the day would come when Sasuke would hint at things like that. For as long as she had known him she had never once caught him staring at girls, flirting with them and the idea of him kissing someone had been downright outrageous... At least up until a few months ago. Now he was a teenage guy bitten by the hormone bug.

"You do realize that when you leave for your mission that it will probably be a good two weeks, maybe even three before we get to 'celebrate.'" Sakura could only raise an eyebrow at him before she started grinning. "You're gonna miss me really badly."

He crossed his arms. "Hn. I might miss you. But only a little bit. Maybe we should do some preemptive celebrating to make sure I don't forget what it's like while we're apart," he teased.

"Only a little bit?" Sakura asked.

She knew he was kidding, his tone said that well enough for him, but Sasuke would never admit to it. That was what made teasing him all the better. She had a feeling that he knew that she was aware of all of this, too.

"I bet the first time you see me after my mission you'll start running towards me." She laughed again only because she knew she'd lose that one. She couldn't picture one situation where Sasuke would flat out sprint towards her.

Sakura knew how much she'd miss him though. It had nearly driven her insane last time he went on a mission because everyday when someone would walk up to her she'd be absolutely terrified that she was being summoned to the hokage tower to be told something happened. Seeing as how Sasuke didn't have a next of kin, she, Naruto and Kakashi were the main people to tell if something happened to him. They were his dysfunctional family.

"You are going to lose that bet. I don't run towards anyone."

"We'll see," she teased back

Tsunade was one of her mentors, yes, but Sakura hadn't picked up her bad gambling skills. Still, she knew she'd lose. She probably wouldn't see Sasuke until a few good hours after she got back to the village. They could figure out how they'd tell people about them and then they could start just living life together without the worries of what other people thought.

Then Sasuke leaned down an kissed her neck, starting from her collarbone and working all the way back up to her lips. He kissed her, this time for much longer than the previous short little kisses.

"Sasuke, we just.."

She had been completely prepared to protest against that idea, but the second he started kissing her all rational thoughts flew out the window. She didn't hesitate to kiss him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Her pathetic attempts at protesting made him smirk a little. He pulled away from the kiss just long enough to taunt her. "What? Don't tell me you don't have enough stamina."

But he didn't even give her the chance to reply and Sasuke kissed her again.

They were both so into it that their ninja senses weren't exactly at their highest, causing them to miss the sound of his front door opening. Sasuke really should have locked that. But what kind of idiot breaks into a ninja's apartment? And they didn't hear the footsteps coming to his bedroom door either. No, not at all.

And then it was too late. The door was slammed open by a certain over hyper blond shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Oi bastard! I-"

Naruto stopped mid-sentence, staring at the sight he had just walked in on. His jaw dropped nearly to the floor, and despite his loud nature, was finally stricken speechless.

That was until he saw a ultra super I'm going to kill you right now death glare from Sasuke along with the loud "Get the hell out!" which the surprised Naruto to attempt to cover his eyes and shut the door at the same time, too shocked to really react to what he just saw.

She put one hand on Sasuke's shoulder to push him back as she sat up instinctively. Sakura felt a blush attack her cheeks and she was suddenly very aware of the fact that she wasn't wearing anything and the sheets she had been covered with were dangerously low and threatening to slide right off her. She was quick to grab the edge of it and get herself more modestly covered, giving an alarmed look to Sasuke, who looked pissed beyond reason.

The door shut firmly behind the blond and she let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding before she pushed herself up and went to Sasuke's closet, quickly dressing herself in the first shirt and bottoms she could find which happened to be the shirt he had given to her and a pair of sleeping pants.

"Get dressed, if we don't stop him you realize he's telling everyone, right?" she urged.

She looked and saw that Sasuke was already headed to the closet to get some clothes. He pulled out some random training clothes and put them on as fast as he could.

"I'll talk to him," Sasuke said, heading out the door, now fully dressed.

Naruto was already out of the apartment, heading who knows where, and Sasuke sprinted after him.

"Bastard!" Sakura heard Naruto's voice from behind the door.

Sakura hurried into the living room. She could feel a surge of panic brewing inside her and she had a horrible feeling that the news they were together would be all over the village by the end of the day. She wanted people to know about them, but she wanted to tell people herself. She didn't even want to think how angry Ino would be if she found out that she and Sasuke were together and she found out about it from Naruto. She'd get the cold shoulder for weeks on end.

She heard some scuffling, a loud thump and "You moron, I love her," Sasuke yelled.

She hurried to pick up the clothes around the couch. The last thing she wanted was for Naruto to see her underwear if he were to come back in here and then freak out all over again. She was quick simply toss the clothes on the bed before going back through the living room to the front door. Sakura only stuck her head out in the hallway, taking note of the fact she was still wearing a shirt with Sasuke's clan symbol on it.

"Both of you get in here now," she hissed.

The hallway was definitely not the place to discuss it. Sakura couldn't help but give them both a curious look. There had been a silence between them, and Naruto was giving Sasuke another look of disbelief as if his best friend had grown four other heads and why was Sasuke rubbing his cheek...

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the wrist and forcibly pulled him back into the apartment, shutting the door and locking it behind them so that Naruto wouldn't be able to escape before they could explain.

"You talk to him," Sasuke growled out to Sakura.

Her gaze immediately landed on Sasuke's face. "Oh my God."

Sakura quickly closed the distance between them as she gently tilted his face for her to look at the already forming bruise. She could only shake her head as she led Sasuke into the kitchen and sat him down before getting ice and wrapping it in a towel.

"Put this on it until I come back. It'll get the swelling to stay down and then I'll take care of it," she urged quietly.

A sigh escaped her as she placed her hand on Sasuke's shoulder and let out a sigh as she looked back over to Naruto. He had a foreign expression on his face, as if he had eaten something he wasn't quite sure if he liked or not.

"C'mon, Naruto." She smiled at the blond before motioning for him to follow her as she went into the living room and sat down on the couch with him.

She must have sat there for at least ten minutes explaining to him what exactly was going on between herself and Sasuke. She told him everything from when they first got together to what they felt about each other. She mentioned how happy Sasuke made her and that they were even moving in with one another. Naruto seemed to really accept it at that point and even though he admitted to the fact that it was weird, it seemed to finally be clicking in his mind.

"Trust me, Naruto. This is a good thing," she told the blond with a soft smile as he seemed to be thinking it over.

Sakura patted his knee before she stood up and went back into the kitchen to where Sasuke was. "Let me see." She placed her hand over his, taking the ice from his hand and setting it on the table.

"He really got you good," she mumbled.

Sasuke scowled. It's not that bad."

"Naruto busted a couple of his knuckles on your cheek. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that bad."

She rolled her eyes at him as she brushed his hair out of her way before she did a very quick and routine healing job. Naruto had told her why he hit Sasuke. He'd completely misunderstood what was going on. Sasuke and Sakura had been acting completely normal, but having sex. The blond boy had jumped to the conclusion that Sasuke was using Sakura's love for him to use her for sex, taking advantage of her.

Naruto was one of her closest friends and he was trying to look out for her. He didn't seem crushed by the fact she was with Sasuke, which gave her the relief that he wasn't still in love with her, but it was like he didn't believe it, either. She could only hope that after Naruto did accept it, he'd at least be happy for them.

Sasuke glanced in the direction of the living room, making sure that Naruto wasn't following Sakura into the kitchen. "He's incapable of keeping a secret. You should probably tell your parents and whoever else about us tonight before they hear from his big mouth."

Tonight would be the night and Sakura could only let out an exhausted sigh before she slid into the chair next to Sasuke. There were a lot of people she'd like to tell face-to-face, people that deserved to know something big was happening in her life. There was her parents, Ino, Tsunade, Kakashi, it wouldn't hurt to let Rock Lee know from her. If she wanted to smooth things over with Ronan, which Tsunade was sure to make her, than she'd have to tell him. It was already late and the majority of those people were already in bed more than likely.

Sakura sighed. "It's too late at night to go knocking on people's doors to tell them. People are just going to get mad, I guess."

Sasuke felt his cheek. "They won't be mad for long," he added.

She hated that they were going to find out by rumor, but she'd be able to find a way to make it up to all of them. So long as her parents met Sasuke soon, they'd be fine, Kakashi would just want free medical care for awhile, she could kill two birds with one stone with Tsunade. Not only would she be forgiven but if she gave Tsunade alcohol then she could get rid of Ronan. Rock Lee would just have to fend for himself and she'd check on him later and well, Ino... Ino was her friend, sure she'd be pissed at first, but she'd eventually forgive her. At least, that was what Sakura was going to tell herself.

She looked down. "Sorry this all happened like this."

He looked over at Sakura. "This isn't your fault," he said, glancing back toward the living room.

She knew it wasn't her fault but she still felt the need to apologize. She had been apart of the situation as much as Sasuke and Naruto had and maybe if she had chased after Naruto instead of Sasuke then she could of brought him back to the apartment without a scene. The whole punch could have been avoided completely.

But then again, Naruto was upset and he was the type of person who needed to take things like that out physically, much like Sasuke was.

"I still have training to do," Sasuke said with a frown.

"All I have to do is change and then I can go with you if you want. There's no way I'll be able to tell people tonight, but if I get up a little early I can at least get to my parents and maybe Ino before the rumors are all over the place."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before she leaned back in the chair, crossing her arms. "I guess we don't have to really sneak around anymore. It'll all be out in the open tomorrow anyways."

A gentle smile formed on her lips at that thought. At least Naruto walking in did have one very thin silver lining. Sure it wasn't exactly to their timing or probably their first choice to breaking the news, but at least word would get out without much effort on hers or Sasuke's part. Even if they told Naruto to keep it all to himself, no matter how hard he would try he'd crack eventually and probably wind up blabbering to Kakashi about it and then maybe Tsunade and it'd spread like a wild fire.

Sasuke paused and then shook his head. "I'm going to take Naruto with me. It's better if you don't go."

It was a possibility they were going to be fighting a little more rougher than usual tonight and she didn't really care to see them beat the living hell out of each other. She could understand where Sasuke was coming from with bringing the blond along and working off some steam. It was how they sorted out their differences much like she and Ino had insult contests on the occasion.

Still, it was a break in her usual nightly activities and she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself rather than go home or to the hospital. Home would be the best option.

Sasuke sighed. "I'll make it up to you."

"I'm sure I'll look forward to that," she said with a small smile.

She was still slightly worried about how Ino of all people would take her and Sasuke dating. She knew that the girl didn't have any feelings for Sasuke anymore, maybe an attraction but nothing concrete, but the last thing she wanted was for Ino to think that she didn't trust her. It was safe to say she was her best friend and she hated jeopardizing that.

"I'm going to go home then, I work a pretty long shift tomorrow so I won't see you during the day. I'm sure we'll run into each other though."

He nodded. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

She glanced over her shoulder to see Naruto was still in the living room before she stood up and leaned down to kiss him. "I love you."

He returned her kiss. "I love you too."

She smiled at him then as she sat up straight and ran a hand through his hair. "Don't kill each other but just remember. Naruto's the reason you aren't getting to preemptively celebrate."

Turning on her heel she left the kitchen and went to his room to change.


	16. Drinking

The next morning she woke up early enough to catch her parents. She sat through a completely awkward breakfast and broke the news about herself and Sasuke and how she planned to move in with him. She explained to them how long she had been seeing him and her feelings about him, etc. They certainly weren't pleased about it and her father hadn't stopped trying to convince her to change her mind, but when she mentioned a dinner with Sasuke they eased up a bit. The whole ordeal wasn't exactly a fantastic way to start out her day, in Sakura's opinion.

On the way to work later that morning she was surprised to see that everything seemed normal. No one was staring or giving her a questioning look. Sakura made the mistake of thinking it wouldn't be that bad though. By the middle of her shift she started to notice the looks but just from a few people here and there. It wasn't until she was leaving the hospital that all hell broke loose and Ino showed up.

The blond started interrogating her immediately about the rumors and Sakura didn't bother to deny any of it. It made the girl furious that Sakura had kept it a secret, but what surprised Sakura the most was when Ino hugged her.

It caused the rosette to laugh and when Ino invited her to dinner so they could talk it was impossible for her to pass up. Sakura was duly reminded of Ino's definition of 'dinner' was though. A little bit of food, and a whole lot of sake.

* * *

It was late after a long night of what had supposed to be dinner with Ino, the two just leaving what the pig had called a restaurant but turned out to be a bar. Sakura was focusing on just trying to get one foot in front of the other as she left when she heard someone calling her name. It caused her to stop, stumble for just a second and then locate the source of the sound.

It just so happened to belonged to the most movement in the area too, that movement coming from a hyperactive blond. She could barely register the fact that Sasuke was with him before Naruto was already heading towards her. When he was in arm's length, all rational thinking went out the window. She didn't care Sasuke had never seen her drunk, cause Naruto had.

"Naruto!" She laughed as she met the blond, hugging him tightly.

She pulled away after that, placing a hand on his shoulder as she started laughing, telling him about how she got herself in the situation about trying to find her way home. He only started laughing as he responded with a 'you're drunk' in a sing-song voice.

"I am not!"

She made a serious expression like she was offended, though it only lasted mere seconds before a smile came across her face again.

"Okay, maybe a little... Or a lot."

She poked him once in the chest before she turned her attention to Sasuke walking up, her grin increasing ten-fold. "Hey!"

She didn't even think twice before she hugged him, though it was different with Sasuke than Naruto. She hugged him closer, burying her face in his chest as she took a deep breath. Sasuke looked very uncomfortable.

Sakura was quick to pull back, a pouty look on her face as she took a step back.

"I forgot! You don't like PDA."

She laughed as she wagged a knowing finger at him before she tripped backwards, grabbing on Naruto to steady herself, the blond still laughing. At least he was enjoying a drunk Sakura.

"You smell like sake,"Sasuke said, a statement which Naruto fond hilarious for some reason.

"I smell like sake?"

She gave Naruto an odd look, as if questioning why he was laughing as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Well that's a possibility." She looked back over to Sasuke, a grin spreading across her features. "Yeah. Definitely."

She had taken a step away from Naruto, because even though she was drunk, she still had a hazy state of awareness. She knew if she clung to him, like she had the previous times he had seen her drunk, that Sasuke would probably get mad. But if she wasn't allowed to hang onto Naruto for balance, than that was going to be Sasuke's job.

Sasuke looked her up and down. "You shouldn't be walking alone when you're like this. I'll walk you home," he grumbled in a serious voice.

"I had to walk alone! I had a real bad day ya see, and Ino took me here and then her team showed up. Shikamaru always tries to test me when I'm slightly impaired. I couldn't risk it!" she explained.

Sasuke frowned. "That's no excuse. You're more than slightly impaired. You can barely stand."

Naruto was finding this hilarious. He always enjoyed watching when Shikamaru would zero in on someone who had a little too much to drink. He'd have them flustered in seconds.

"Ino's drunk ya know. Go catch a show." She pointed at the restaurant before nudging Naruto in it's direction, trying to shoo him like a bird.

"Go, go, go!"

Sakura turned back to Sasuke, a coy smile on her face as she took a step towards him, she had planned to stop when she was just in his reach, but a stumble caused her to veer off course for a second and nearly fall over.

"You know, I dunno if home is the best idea for me right now."She only laughed as she tried to regain her center of balance.

Sasuke quickly closed the distance between them and wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her upright. She let out a quiet 'whoa' before she placed her hands on his arms, grounding herself.

"I think you're right," he said, far more serious than she was.

"Oh don't be such a buzz kill, Sasuke."

She gave him a serious expression for a record time of maybe half a second before she started smiling again. What kept her laughing was the fact that she knew she was acting like an idiot right now. She knew that Sasuke was probably going to be mad at her about it and that she was definitely going to regret it in the morning. She knew all of this, but she had just simply accepted the fact that it was happening and that there was nothing she could do about it. She relaxed, and that wasn't something she did that often.

He sighed. "Come on. You can stay with me tonight," he said, leading her down the street.

He still had his arm around her waist, once again appearing uncomfortable with being so close in public. Her grin just widening a bit as she focused more on trying to figure out how she was going to walk. There was absolutely no way she could go home right now. Her parents were definitely in for the night, but the task of her getting to her room without making a sound was right next door to impossible.

She stumbled the first few steps before finding a rhythm. She couldn't help but start to laugh again, looking up at him.

"Oh well thank you. You're so good to me." She reached over and patted him on his chest before she leaned over and cupped her hand over her mouth as she started to whisper to him. "Look at you, trying to get lucky tonight." It came out a little louder than she meant it, but there wasn't really anyone close enough to hear. She dropped her hand then and leaned against him a little bit.

"Hn," he grumbled, becoming more annoyed.

She could tell how forced the sound came out. He seemed embarrassed a little bit, though he was far to pride to acknowledge that. If Sakura had stopped herself when she had just started to feel the effects of the alcohol, than she wouldn't dream of bringing something private like that up outside of his, soon to be their, apartment. She was past the point of rational thinking though, and frankly, she just found it absolutely adorable that he was getting flustered by some little comment.

"I really did have a bad day," she repeated.

"Tell me about your bad day."

She could only smile and lean against him some more.

"Well I told my parents about us and about how I was going to move in with you. After I explained to them everything my mom was completely on board. She already loves you so don't say I never did anything for you."

"Yeah you did me a real big favor," he said sarcastically.

She pointed a finger up at him before she let out a sigh and looked forward again with a sign of defeat. "My dad's still a little skeptical though and I had to sit through the majority of the morning listening to a lecture. I lost a patient at the hospital, and then right after that people started staring and that's just been getting worse. Like right now, so many people are just looking at us. I wish they wouldn't." She yelled that last sentence out before she let out a groan, slowing her steps a bit.

"Maybe they're just staring at the awkward drunk girl," he said, halfway joking and halfway serious.

"You know something. You could be right."

She looked up at him as if they were solving the mystery of why people were looking at them. She knew she was drunk and she was probably making the situation a bit awkward she would admit.

Of course he was going to smirk a little. "Of course I'm right."

Sasuke always thought he was right, and almost never admitting to being wrong. She rolled her eyes. Sasuke was ever the egoist and he liked his share of compliments. She really didn't have a problem with giving them to him either. She loved him and she wanted him to see himself how she did. She loved everything about him from the flaws of his personality, a. k. a. anti-social tendencies, to the way his eyes would go from being dark as coals one minute to a stormy grey the next all depending on his mood. She couldn't get enough of just looking at him and she would say anything if it helped him realize that he was a good person.

"Are we almost there?" Sakura asked, changing the subject.

He looked at her, amused and actually laughing just a tiny bit. "No, which you should know. You are aware of exactly where I live. It's still quite a ways."

He pulled her forward more, urging her to keep walking. "Come on. We'll never get there if you don't walk."

She wasn't even mad that he was making her walk faster, instead her focus going to wrapping her arms around his middle and hugging him. "I love it when you laugh."

Once again in response to her remarks, his only answer was an uncomfortable, "Hn."

She frowned slightly when she felt him tense under her hug. She kept forgetting that physical contact out in the public eye made him uncomfortable. She wondered what he would do if she blurted out the fact he was a closet cuddler but she assumed he was already peeved enough at her for deciding to get a little hammered.

If she could remember, she'd try to keep herself in check. Yet when she took notice to how her hand was resting over his again she knew that would be impossible.

She smiled to herself before she pulled away, letting out a sigh as she made a slightly distraught expression. "It's so much farther," she whined.

Okay, maybe she'd complain a little bit.

"It wouldn't be so far if you would let me help you home without jumping around," he answered, pulling her closer again.

Se just let out a sigh of defeat, trying to get herself in a walking mood. She wasn't oblivious to the fact that he referred to his apartment as a home though, and that helped a little. In a way, it seemed he was referring to it as their home, and it would be in a few weeks and that was what excited her more. She was excited to come home to him everyday.

"At least you won't have to break the news about me moving in with you to my parents."

The dark haired boy sighed, then he smirked in that way he did whenever he thought of something completely brilliant.

"Come here," he said, pulling her into an ally without any people in it.

She followed him without a second of hesitation on her part. She trusted Sasuke completely, and if he said it was okay to go into a dark and slightly creepy alley then she'd believe him one hundred percent. She wondered if the roles were reverse would he be so ready to believe her, but then again, she'd probably never be in that situation.

"I'm glad I don't have to break the news to your parents," he said, giving her a quick kiss.

It'd be a rare sight to see Sasuke drunk, probably a sight she'd only experience if Naruto dared the boy... Something that was a definite possibility.

"That means that all we have to do now is have dinner with my parents and then I can move in. So just when you're ready." She emphasized the 'you're' by poking him in the chest.

Sasuke reached down in one swift movement and scooped her up, carrying her easily. A slight yell escaped her , her hands immediately going around his neck. He'd caught her off-guard, but the second she realized that he had picked her up he was already jumping up to the rooftop. If she were sober, she'd be throwing a fit at the prospect of being carried like a helpless child, but right now, she was enjoying it. Also, she was majorly laughing.

He was able to carrying her across the rooftops very quickly and before long he landed on the roof of his own apartment complex, where he set down Sakura.

"There, we're here," he asserted.

Now it was just a few flights of stairs down to his apartment. Hopefully she could restrain herself for that.

Her laughter finally started to die down before she turned to him, her hands sliding around his waist as she leaned forward, kissing him gently.

"Did you not like walking with me?" Sakura asked.

She knew she was contradicting her earlier behavior that insinuated she despised the long distance to his apartment but she couldn't help herself. It wasn't like she was trying to confuse him, she was just saying what came to mind, and for some reason, that was the question she blurted out.

"Yes, being near you disgusts me," he said sarcastically.

"You know you're a real fast runner? I think you do. I mean, you're there, aren't you?" she questioned in a flurry of giggles.

She was clearly thrilled with herself at the moment as she pulled away from him and making her way to the edge of the roof, stumbling only once before grasping the ledge and looking over.

"That's really far down."

She pointed down towards the street as she looked over to Sasuke before giving him an innocent grin and turning to where she had her back to the railing along the roof, leaning back against it and letting herself teeter over the edge a bit.

"I don't think a cat could even land on it's feet. It is really far." She stretched out the word 'far,' getting her point across as she shook her head. "Come look."

He rushed over to her, pulling her away from the edge and towards him. "Damn it Sakura, you can't get so close to the edge, especially when you're so drunk you can stand up right."

She just laughed, leaning against him as she placed her hands on his arms to hold her balance. "Don't be a scardy-cat, Sasuke. I'm a ninja, I'm not going to get killed by a roof."

Sasuke sent her a very annoyed glare and then lifted her up once more to carry her. "You're not walking anymore."

Then he opened up the door to the stairs going down into the building and started to carry her down, visibly annoyed. A yell of surprise escaping her.

"Sasuke!" She squirmed for only a second before she seemed to give up, relaxing completely in his arms as she sighed. "Fine."

She leaned her head against the crook of his shoulder, her breath fanning his neck. Her arms were folded across her stomach, one hand fisting his shirt as if she were nervous that any second he was going to drop her.

"Even if I was pathetically weak enough to drop you, holding onto my shirt wouldn't stop you from falling. You'd probably just rip it, and I like this shirt," he grumbled in annoyance.

She turned her head to look up. It caused a smile on her face and almost made her laugh. "Well I like what's underneath the shirt."

She shook her head and gave a light tug on his shirt before she rested her hand on her stomach again. She could easily go to sleep like this. She felt comfortable and safe, not to mention the fact that Sasuke was warm. Or maybe that was just her. He was right about her being a bit too drunk to function.

"I don't think you know how much I love you." She didn't look up at him as she slurred the sentence together, a yawn escaping her. "I have for a real long time and I just don't think you know."

She smiled softly to herself and slowly released the grip she had on his shirt. "I know everyone else doesn't know. That's why people were staring at me today. I just didn't like it and I wanted to give them a reason to stare besides us being together."

"Oh really? And how much do you love me then?" Sasuke asked.

He managed to unlock the door and stepped inside, setting her down once they were in. Then he close the door and locked it, just in case a certain blond hadn't learned from his mistake.

She placed her hand against the wall to keep balance as he locked the door. She waited for him to turn back towards her before she moved to him, sliding her arms around him and resting against him.

"You wanna know how much I love you? Let's see... I'd spend my entire life trying to make you smile at least once everyday and well.. More stuff like that. I can't even explain how much I love you." She grinned at him.

Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist. "More stuff like that huh? How very specific of you," he said with a smirk.

"I could use something to drink and maybe a shower." She leaned backwards, almost stumbling before she tightened her grip on him. "Or maybe just go to bed."

She shrugged and looked over her shoulder as if she were trying to make a decision. "Help me out here, Sasuke."

"A glass of water, then bed. You can shower in the morning, when you can stand up without nearly falling over.," he said sternly.

"Stay here," Sasuke said, prying himself from her grip.

He walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water for her, not trusting her to do it herself. Then he brought it back into the living room for her, handing it to her.

"If you're dehydrated in the morning, your hangover will be worse."

She could only smile at him. "Thank you Nurse Sasuke."

That earned Sakura a very annoyed glare from Sasuke. "I am nobody's nurse."

She laughed gently as she leaned back against the wall, taking a big drink. She took in a deep breath as she held the glass to her chest, staring at nothing particular as she let herself get lost in her thoughts.

They mostly revolved around Sasuke, but there was the occasional one about other people, the hospital and about what it would be like to live here. She could probably go ahead and start moving some things in.

When she finished the drink she passed the glass to Sasuke and moved past him. "I'm going to lay down."

She pressed a hand to her forehead as she went into his room, placing her hand against the wall along the way to hold her balance.

"Don't walk into the wall or something," he called after her.

She was still fairly inebriated, but she could feel herself to slowly start sobering up. Right now her main focus was to change into comfortable clothes and then get in bed.

It didn't take her long to pull on a pair of his sleep pants and the shirt he had given her, crawling over to the far side of the bed and getting under the covers. She relaxed completely once her head hit the pillow.

She loved sleeping in this apartment, knowing she was the one who got to fall asleep next to Sasuke each night and that he wanted her there. She didn't want anything else in the world right now besides that and she could honestly admit she was happy.

Being quick to change into sleeping clothes, Sasuke crawled into bed as well, lying down close to her. He wrapped an arm around her, his hand slipping under the bottom edge of her shirt and resting against her bare skin. She couldn't help but smile to herself.

Before laying his head down to rest, he planted a kiss on her cheek to say goodnight. Her smile only grew, but she was far too tired to muster up anything to say to him.

She moved, folding her arm over his and resting her hand on his through the fabric of her shirt. She loved his touch, craved it to be precise. It was what kept her anchored.

"I love you.," was all she could come up with in the end and it didn't come out much more than a whisper.

"I love you too," Sasuke managed to say in a sleepy and very cute sounding voice, at least to her.

She leaned back against him and let out a yawn, shutting her eyes and easily falling asleep. She could let her guard down next to him. Nothing was going to get to her, not while she was here.

* * *

It was about four in the morning when Sakura jolted awake in a cold sweat. She wasn't sure what she was dreaming about but whatever it was had woken her from a dead sleep.

Sakura wasn't sure if she woke Sasuke up or not, but she didn't care to look when she felt the first signs of the hangover that was coming. She didn't necessarily feel sick, but she knew she was feeling it enough that she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.

Sighing, she slowly untangled herself from the sheets and sat up, turning to where her legs were hanging over the side of the bed. If Sasuke wasn't up by now it would be a miracle, but she would still be quiet, just on the one in a million chance he had slept through her getting out of bed.

Slowly standing up she went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, trying to shake the feeling of whatever nightmare she'd had away.

It wasn't very long before very sleepily, the dark haired boy walked from the bedroom, looking for Sakura. He found her in the kitchen and he leaned against the door frame, looking at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked somewhat groggily.

Sakura jumped when she heard Sasuke speak, nearly dropping the glass of water she was holding, which caused Sasuke to give her a sleepy smirk. He was sneaky even when half asleep.

She looked over at him and smiled gently before nodding, taking another drink. "Nightmare."

"Hn."

Sakura finished her drink and set it down on the counter, placing her hand down next to it as she leaned back. "I don't even remember what it was about."

She pushed the hair away from her face before closing her eyes, focusing on deep breaths. She wasn't feeling so great, but she was sure Sasuke knew that. She probably looked like a mess, she was guessing, but she couldn't find it in herself to really care right now. She didn't think she was going to get sick though, and that was the only good sign she could see right now.

"You can go back to sleep. You look tired," she said quietly.

She glanced over at him and gave him a half-hearted smile before she walked past him into the living room, sinking into a seat on the couch. He watched her walk passed him before following her.

If anything, she'd probably take a nap here but she didn't plan on sleeping anymore. "I'll be here when you wake up."

She didn't work today and if she could get over the initial headache, she might even be up for an early morning training session. She just had to get over this first wave of the hangover.

"Are you really stupid enough to think I'm going to sleep while you're clearly unhappy?" Sasuke asked.

She knew he probably wouldn't go back to sleep, but she wanted him to know it was an option. It wasn't like she could blame him, she had put him through hell last night probably. She could remember being carried around... a lot. He probably had just gotten frustrated with her antics and dragged her back to his apartment.

That was the only reason she was letting that 'stupid' comment slide. Plus, she knew he didn't mean it. It was his way of expressing himself. She wasn't about to yell at him for being a good boyfriend and staying up with her.

Sitting beside Sakura on the couch, he placed a hand over hers. "Do you want me to help you sleep?"

For a sharingan user like him, it would be easy to use a genjutsu to make her go to sleep. It might even be a better sleep than normal.

She smiled giving his hand a gentle squeeze as she curled up in the seat next to him. "That might be a good idea."

She rested her head on his shoulder, staring at the scrolls she was reading over, causing him to smirk a little. The scrolls were once again placed neatly on the bookshelf in the room. She felt so special to be his important person. That she could read things like that and he wouldn't bat an eye at saying differently.

"I don't want to walk back to your bed just yet though. Give me a little bit," she added in a quiet voice.

She could feel a headache start to simmer and she was terrified that if she moved it was going to hit her full force within a matter of seconds. Sleep without nightmares though, something she was sure Sasuke could deliver, was something that sounded welcoming.

"I could carry you again," he suggested, only halfway joking.

"I don't know if I would oppose to it, but I'd rather you not," she answered as she smirked to herself.

"Okay," was all Sasuke answered.

She was halfway expecting him to start scolding her now for last night, something she definitely didn't want to deal with right now. Maybe later in the day she could take his verbal lecture of him explaining how stupid she was last night and she'd deserve it, too. But not right now when every word spoken was like a scream in her ear. Still, she needed to apologize.

"Sorry about last night and thank you for taking care of me." She kept it short and sweet, plus, she could elaborate on her apology later.

"Hn."

Right now though she was much more keen on sitting in silence, closing her eyes and relaxing against him. She knew how much he cared simply by the fact that he was tolerating her through all of this.

It wasn't until she yawned again that Sakura moved, lying down on the couch and resting her head in his lap and closing her eyes. Her body was exhausted and she'd be damned if she fought of sleep. After another yawn it was only minutes before her breathing started to slow and she started to drift off again.

* * *

She wasn't asleep for too long before she groggily rolled onto her back, her elbow hitting the back of the couch and causing her to wake up. She was met with the sight of Sasuke resting with his head leaned back, eyes closed. He couldn't of been asleep. She knew that much and it was the only reason she didn't try not to wake him when she slowly pushed herself to stand up.

Sure enough, Sasuke opened his eyes when he felt Sakura move, and glanced down at the girl as she began to stand.

"I'm going back to bed," she explained.

The only reason she even bothered telling him was because she was hoping he'd join her, but if he didn't ,she wouldn't blame him. Sasuke was used to waking up at this time and he'd been up long enough to probably push the thought of sleeping aside.

Still, she slept better though with him next to her. She didn't have to worry about keeping her guard up or making sure she kept up a light sleep. Sasuke wasn't going to let anything happen to her so long as he was around. That much she was sure of.

Sasuke looked back and forth between her and his bookshelf for a moment, looking unsure for a moment. In the end he decided to follow her into the bedroom. She crawled back into bed and within a minute she was already falling back asleep. Sasuke filled her mind up until that point where her thoughts began to run together and a dream state started.

That boy meant everything to her and if he ever disappeared out of her life, she knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to handle it. She didn't want to live in a life that he wasn't apart of. No way, no how.

She was half aware of Sasuke climbing into bed but she wasn't near awake enough to open her eyes to look at him. She just smiled gently and sunk back against him, enjoying the warmth of his body. It was always soothing to feel him next to her, reminding her that it was all real and she wasn't about to wake up from some kind of dream.


	17. Running

The next morning, Sakura stood over the stove as she cooked breakfast. She kept the menu light, sticking with the safe bet of eggs and toast.

She couldn't help but get lost in thought as she started to prepare everything. She was positive Sasuke was on the same page as her. He wanted her to live with him, she wanted to live with him. He was attracted to her and she was very much attracted to him. They got along, he'd open up to her, etc. etc. She couldn't picture herself falling out of love with him and she couldn't help but think about what a future with him would be like.

They'd live here until he finished up with the Uchiha district and then they'd probably move in there. Sasuke was a fairly traditional guy, so there was no telling when he'd propose. Though his version of a proposal was probably going to be terribly laid-back and casual. He wasn't the type of guy to plan out something elaborate and try to surprise her.

No, if anything he'd probably look at her one day and just ask like he was asking her about the weather. They would eventually get married though, and she could imagine them doing this quite often. Getting up, her cooking for him and then simply starting their days. Some day they'd even have kids and that kind of thinking was something she definitely didn't mind pushing off for another day. She wanted kids, but there was a little more drama in that than she could possibly handle right now.

Thankfully the bathroom door opened and she just happened to glance back. The sight was enough to kick all thoughts out of her head besides the fact that Sasuke was standing there with only a towel around his waist. The only thought that came to mind was that she was proud of herself. Sasuke was definitely a very, very handsome man and he was her very, very handsome man. That was enough to bring just a small smirk to her lips before she turned back to what she was doing, finishing up as she divided the food for the both of them.

The Uchiha disappeared into the bedroom for a while before emerging fully clothed, though his hair still looked a bit wet.

"Smells good," Sasuke said as he entered the kitchen.

Sakura looked over her shoulder at him. She could only smile gently at him and shrug as she finished what she was doing.

"You have good timing. I was about to start eating without you though. I think you take longer than me to get ready."

She was obviously joking with him as she went to the table and set him a food of plate down along with her own.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Maybe I do. But that just means you should take longer," he joked in return.

"It's alright to admit it Sasuke. You just like to look good for the ladies, I get it. You don't have to be jealous of my natural beauty or the fact."

She was obviously joking with him, her tone sarcastically saying it all. He was right though, it should take her longer than him to get ready, but there had never been an occasion where she felt the need to really put much effort into her appearance besides the usual fixing of her hair and dressing.

She didn't wear make-up due to the fact she usually ran around all day, but on rare occasions she liked to make herself feel noticed. She could only wonder how Sasuke would react the first time she really tried to dress herself up. She knew he'd notice, he was ever the observer, but it was more a question of if he would react, not how.

"Yes, because I have such a vested interest in what 'the ladies' think of me. I like to play the field. Didn't you know that you're only one of my many girlfriends? All those times I pretended to be annoyed by random girls flirting with me were a lie," he answered with a sarcastic scoff.

"So Ino doesn't really believe that we're dating. She's fairly positive I'm full of it," she added with a quiet and shaky chuckle.

She knew she was starting to tread in dangerous waters. If she brought up the fact that she told Ino, it wouldn't be long before Sasuke connected the dots to the fact she told Ino yesterday, only to connect that to her drinking with Ino yesterday and then the lecture was sure to come spilling out. She didn't want to feel the anticipation anymore though and just get it out in the open. Sasuke had been annoyed last night, she knew that, but she was sure he'd forgiven her. If anything, the lecture was just going to be to try and avoid the whole issue again.

"Let her think what she wants. Even if she doesn't see us out together at all, she'll believe you for sure when you move in here," he said with a shrug.

And it didn't slip past Sasuke when Sakura brought up Ino, whom she had mentioned was drunk as well last night.

"Did you and Ino discuss this last night, when you were drinking?" he asked.

It started out as an innocent enough question, but a lecture was coming. "You know walking home alone late at night when you're drunk is dangerous, don't you? And you were loud, yelling things that should have been private. It's inappropriate."

She'd give him the point that she'd been stupid in walking home alone, but he wasn't going to win this argument. She was absolutely positive it wasn't going to be the last time he saw her drunk.

"Okay." She picked up a piece of toast, glancing it over once. "I'm sorry for walking home drunk last night. It was stupid of me, I'll give you that, and I'm grateful that I ran into you and that you took care of me."

She looked over at him as she took a bite, setting the toast down and leaning forward. "But I'm not apologizing for drinking. It was my choice, I wanted to do it and so I did."

The smirk on Sasuke's face quickly faded. She stood up and kissed his cheek before taking her plate, minus the toast over to the sink where she began to wash it.

"When I get so stressed that I can barely think straight, it's a way for me to just stop caring for one night. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy, but I just needed a small time out. I don't want to always think about how much time I have left before you leave for a mission or the fact you may or may not come back. I don't want to think about that patient at the hospital that died because I'm not quite sure what happened or if it was my fault or not. I don't want to think about you meeting my father and the fact you two will probably hate each other." She let out a sigh and put the plate, now clean, aside.

He finished his food and brought his plate to the sink as well. The wheels in his brain were still turning as he washed his own plate and set it aside to dry. She leaned against the counter, well prepared for him to start lashing out the reasons on why she shouldn't drink.

Then he was finally ready to speak. "I will forgive you for attempting to walk home drunk without me. But I have a condition. Next time you feel the need to drink, don't do it in public. Bring Ino here if you have to."

He was actually telling her to bring Ino Yamanaka, someone who he didn't go out of his way to even pretend to like, into his apartment and drink away. It was shocking.

"I think you just proved how much you love me." The rosette laughed as she reached forward and tugged on his shirt, pulling him down so she could kiss him.

"You mean you didn't already know how much I love you? After what we did in the shower earlier this morning? I guess I'll just have to show you again later." he said, teasing.

"Eh, I wasn't really paying attention in the shower."

She waved her hand like it had been nothing, though when she rolled her eyes and started laughing it was clear she was joking. Sasuke was very, very easy to get distracted by just by simply looking at him. He had to of known this, or at least known of the effect he had on her. It was impossible for her to just ignore him. Especially without clothes.

Still, Sasuke deadpanned. "Oh really? I'll bet you pay attention next time."

She looked up at him a humored expression crossing her features. She knew that he'd take that as a challenge, and she wasn't going to lie, that comment alone made her reconsider going for a run, but it was something that needed to be done. Sakura could only lightly laugh.

"I think I could deal with that. Thank you." She smiled at him before tilting her head in the direction of the door. "When you're ready we'll go."

She was thanking him for a lot of reasons, but mainly for the fact he didn't turn the entire thing into a fight. It easily could have, also, something she was sure Sasuke was well aware of.

He nodded. "I'm ready."

He started heading for the door. "What route do you take when you run?" he asked, curiously.

Sasuke wasn't a romantic guy. She knew this and she knew that he knew that she knew this. So she highly doubted the day would come where he would show up at her doorstep with flowers just because or anything like that. Hell, he wouldn't even kiss her in public.

Sasuke made up for all of that though with a different approach. There were those rare occasions he'd do something that would completely floor her and it would remind her how much he cared. Offering to let Ino come to his apartment was huge, as was the fact he was compromising with her and not flat out telling her he was going to get his way. Not that she needed him to prove anything, but it was certainly nice every so often.

"I usually take the main road all the way around. It's a few good miles and it's clear this time of day so there won't be that many people. We can go a different route if you want. I just want to run." She turned and followed him out of the apartment, watching as he locked the door. "If you want, we can go outside of the village. You wouldn't be able to go by yourself, but we can go if you're with me. I occasionally go for runs outside of here. It's relaxing."

Sasuke nodded "Your usual route is fine."

"Okay, usual route it is then."

She smiled at him before turning her attention ahead as they left the apartment building. She knew that Sasuke was just as annoyed, if not more so, by the stares that were coming from the villagers. She wanted to go anywhere else to escape them, but the longer they avoided the public eye the longer it would take for it's attention to fall off of them.

She slowed to a stop as she started to stretch, loosening herself up for the run. Sasuke began to stretch as well.

The last thing she wanted to do was to twist an ankle the first time she was actually doing something somewhat related to training with Sasuke. She wasn't weak, not anymore at least, but he had nothing to compare that too. She wanted to make a good impression, even if it was only running.

"So what was it exactly that I was saying to you last night that was so 'inappropriate?'" She looked over at him and grinned.

She was keeping her voice lowered so the conversation between them could be private but she knew it was still going to bug him with the fact she dared to bring it up outside of his apartment. What could she say though? She enjoyed pressing his buttons.

Sasuke frowned. "Hn," he grumbled, looking less annoyed than she'd expected.

He finished his stretching in silence, then looked at her and smirked. "You're too slow. I'm going on ahead. Try and catch up."

And then he took off running along the route she'd mentioned earlier, not even waiting for her.

"Hey! Sasuke!" Sakura called out in surprise.

She looked up at him, a deadpanned expression on her features before she slowly started to smirk, something she realized she had been doing a lot lately. She'd been hanging out with Sasuke too much.

She knew exactly what he was doing though, his answer having been enough proof. Sakura must have said something embarrassing if he wouldn't even answer her, but she hadn't really been expecting much. Sasuke was definitely not one for P.D.A., that much was clear.

Rolling her eyes, she took off after him, a good twenty seconds passing before she finally caught up to him. "C'mon, if you're gonna run ahead at least set a decent pace."

She stole a glance at him, a small smile on her face before she looked back ahead and started to run ahead just a little bit. She didn't necessarily mean it as a challenge, though he was sure to take it as such, but in all truths, he was taking it a bit slow.

Stamina had always been Sakura's problem in her training. She couldn't ever imagine having as much as Sasuke or Naruto did, but it was something she took extremely seriously whenever she trained for it. The pace she was running now was what she usually kept up but she was sure she could go faster if she wanted too. The last thing she wanted was for Sasuke to see her as weak.

That was one of the reasons she never joined in on his training sessions and never bothered with inviting him to hers. She wasn't as strong as him or Naruto, not by any means, and she was terrified that if he wasn't impressed, if that was the right word, than he'd rethink being with her for future reasons and that'd be that. Even running was stepping out of her comfort zone.

When Sasuke caught up to her, she couldn't help but steal a glance. In the end, she wound up going so far as to take a double take. She had expected him to have a smug smirk on his face, like he usually did when he was about to mock her or challenge her further. Instead, he just had his usual, calm expression, settling into the tempo she had set without so much as a peep from him. It threw her off for one, but in a good way. It was nice, just being with him. Sure she enjoyed a challenge every now and then, but she had no qualms with just being with him either.

Sakura's attention fell to the road ahead, a small smile on her face. There were a few people staring but she didn't care. This was what she had wanted and she was definitely basking in the fact that she was finally letting the world know that she was with Sasuke. Even if they were just running, that act alone was still proof enough that they were together. They weren't even hardly seen together in public before-hand.

"If you want to spar any, we can go to the training grounds. I'm kind of in the mood to train a little," Sakura offered.

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. She knew Sasuke was stronger than her and that he'd take any spar seriously, so she knew she'd lose, but still, she wanted to know if she could hold her own against him for at least a little while. It made her feel slightly vulnerable, but she was guessing she'd avoided training with him for long enough. It was bound to happen sometime, with the way Sasuke was.

"I don't want to spar," he answered.

"You not wanting to train? That's a hard one to believe. Why?"

She glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like he was rejecting her, at least not rejecting her like when they were younger, but something seemed off.

Sasuke was always looking to train and if it had been Naruto asking he probably would of said yes. Maybe he really did see her as something fragile and not worth his energy. She more than likely wasn't even a challenge to him, but still, training was training and he was turning her down.

Sakura wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to answer the question of why Sasuke was with her. He used to hate her, he'd admitted that, too. Sure she'd grown up a lot, but she still had her moments where she did something irrationally or reckless as Sasuke had put it. She had no idea what caused him to think differently of her, but she knew he loved her.

That was the only reason she didn't want it to turn into an argument that he'd turned her down. He wouldn't have without his reasons, yet she could only hope those reasons were something she could agree with. Otherwise, she wasn't sure she could keep that whole 'no arguing' thing up.

"Sparring with you would not turn out well. My preferred style of sparring is more suited to someone like Naruto," he said, frowning as if he knew she wouldn't be happy. "When Naruto and I train together, we're reckless. We go all out. It's common for both of us to end up injured."

As he tried to explain to her as to why he didn't want to train with her, she couldn't help but feel a small blow to her pride. She knew she wasn't as strong as him, and she also knew that he was aware of that as well. If that weren't the case, she would of kicked his ass and brought him home years ago.

Here he was though, simply declining her request to train all because he didn't want to hurt her. Sure, that sounded like a great reason and all in most situations, but when it came to training, being on a level that a guy like Sasuke flat out refused to spar with her made her feel like all the training she had done had been for nothing.

"I'm not the same twelve year old girl anymore."

She slowed to a stop, thankful for the fact they were on a section of the road in a more secluded spot, not a single person in sight. Sasuke stopped with her and turning to look at her.

Running with Sasuke had been relaxing, and if she had kept her mouth shut, it probably would of been after a few minutes of silence, but this was a sensitive topic for her. The only reason she had stopped was because she was trying to keep herself together. She didn't want to cry, not when she was trying to prove to him she wasn't weak.

"I've been trying the past five years not to be like that. I was finally starting to believe that I was catching up to you guys, but I'm not even close. You, Naruto and Kakashi, you guys are the strongest this village has to offer and I... I'm just..." She trailed off as a sigh escaped her, Sakura forcing herself to calm down.

"I know you're not the same little girl that used to practically stalk me."

Sasuke sighed, running his hands through his hair and looking frustrated. "This isn't about you not being as strong as me. It isn't about strength at all. I love you and that's why I can't. I just can't train with you."

It was obvious he was getting frustrated, and that only caused the frown on her face to deepen. Even when he looked so unsure of himself she still couldn't bring her expression to even lighten up a fraction of an inch. It made her uneasy that he couldn't give her a straight answer, even if he did claim it not to be about strength.

"Sasuke, it's not like you're trying to kill me or anything, it's just training. You know, trying to prevent the people out there that actually are trying to kill me from doing so. There isn't always going to be someone to come save me if I get in trouble and I figured you out of everyone else would want me to at least be able to hold my own," Sakura pleaded.

She was the one getting frustrated now, the tears pricking at her eyes evidence enough of that.

"Just forget I said anything," she added.

It was obvious she was mad and upset, but she honestly didn't know what to say to him either. She had assumed he would have jumped at the idea of them training together, or rather him training her for the most part. Clearly she had been wrong, but she just didn't understand why.

"I'm not going to forget you said anything."

He looked away, frowning. "What you said is just it. I did try to kill you. I wanted you dead and even simple sparring reminds me of that feeling. It's sickening." His voice was harsh, disgust in his voice.

It took everything she had not to take a step away from him. She knew he'd read into her body language and the last thing she wanted was for him to think he scared her. She could admit though she was caught off-guard. She wasn't sure if it was his tone or actually what he said that really got to her, either.

"That's why?"

She wasn't mocking his reason, she knew that'd be a very bad decision on her part, but she still couldn't really hide the surprise. All Sakura could do was simply stare at him for the span of a few breaths before she dared to move closer to him.

There was no hiding the fact that in one point in time, Sasuke would of liked nothing more than to see her, and everyone else from Konoha for that matter, dead. This wasn't the same Sasuke though, this was _her_Sasuke.

"When you first came back, everytime I looked at you, that was all I saw. The guy who tried to kill me. I was scared of you and I didn't trust you." As she reached him she placed a hand on his arm, reaching up the other to brush the hair out of his face. "I do now, and I know you wouldn't ever try to hurt me."

"Hn." Sasuke avoided eye contact.

She sighed and gave him a half-hearted smile. She wasn't necessarily angry or upset anymore, just worried. She had no idea he still thought about those kinds of things.

"I'm sorry," she added quietly.

"You don't have to be sorry. Someday I may be able to train with you, but not today," he said, trying to reassure her.

She was still disappointed that he wouldn't train with her, but his feelings on that particular topic were more than clear to her. She didn't really understand why it upset him so much, but his reasons were something that Sakura could respect. It wasn't a secret that Sasuke wasn't the most emotional of characters, and with him anything that involved someone's feelings would take baby steps. Hell, it took him being to the point of complete exhaustion to get him to say he loved her.

He sighed. "We should just run."

Sakura nodded. "We can just run, that's fine."

She paused as she turned his head so he would look at her. "I don't hold any of that against you, I hope you know. You don't have to be sorry, either."

She gave him a soft smile before she leaned up and gave him a short kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said, though more quietly than her.

She slowly pulled away from him as she started to walk back down the road in the direction they had been heading.

"C'mon, I really want a shower." She glanced over her shoulder at him to see his reaction to her comment. "I haven't decided if I'm going to lock you out or not."

She smiled at him, pushing the fact that they had just fought aside. She hated fighting with him, but she couldn't stay mad. She was beginning to think that she really would never win a fight with him simply because she just hated herself when she was angry at him. Stupid Uchiha charm.

He started to walk as well. "If you lock me out this time I just might leave you alone. I'm sure I could find something more interesting to do than you."

"Oh yeah, something more interesting than me?"

"There are lots of things more interesting than you. Tomatoes, for instance." Sasuke retorted.

She let out a scoff and rolled her eyes at him. By his tone, she knew he was joking. Sasuke usually wasn't one to turn that certain activity down, in fact, she could only remember one time where he had, and it was vague. She couldn't really remember hitting on him when she was drunk, but by his brash avoidance of the topic of whatever she said to him, she was assuming she had.

"I have this crazy hunch that you'll change your mind," she taunted.

She knew what she was about to do to him was going to either A. make him rush her home, B. piss him off, or C. both. She couldn't help herself, because it was something that she normally did so often, she wasn't going to think a thing of it.

Before she picked up the pace though, she tugged at her shirt, pulling it off over her head and revealing the sports bra underneath. It wasn't uncommon to see kunoichi training so casually around the village but even she was aware of the view lingering stares she'd get on occasion. Sakura had a toned, nice body, so it wasn't a surprise to her. All she did was tie the shirt around her hips and then took off at an even paced jog.

Sasuke sped up his pace, catching up to her easily then slowed down to match hers. "Are you trying to irritate me?"

She laughed at his question only because she knew exactly what he was saying to her. He wouldn't have even brought up the subject if he wasn't irked by her taking her shirt off. As bad as it was, it made her feel slightly special that he could get annoyed by the fact that other guys were looking at her.

"Me, irritate you? The guy that just ranked a piece of fruit over me? Never."

She laughed again as they followed the curve of the road into a busier section of the village.

Sakura had already lost count of the number of head turns they got by the time they passed the third store. There were a number of reason people could be staring, Sasuke being a big enough reason all in himself. He was a former missing-nin, he was a private guy which got the older gossips talking, and he was definitely not an eye sore, which was the reason for is fan base.

She wasn't bad looking and in the current situation, she was getting more stares than normal. Plus, she was running next to him, further confirming the rumors that had been floating around. There was plenty of reasons and all they could do was try to ignore it all.

She smirked at him. "If it bothers you, I can always put it back on. Just say the word."

She knew that last little comment would just be like rubbing salt in the wound for Sasuke. All he had to do was just ask her and she'd be more than happy to put her shirt back on, but by telling him he had to simply ask and admit to something bothering him was something she wasn't sure he could do. Sasuke was a prideful guy, and the last thing she was sure he wanted was to show he could get jealous. She wasn't sure why; it wasn't like he hadn't proved that enough by the whole Ronan fiasco.

"It doesn't bother me," he answered, sounding casual.

She just rolled her eyes at his statement of not being bothered. That was a flat out lie, because as much as Sasuke was ever the egoist, he was just that much possessive. Those were all due to the fact that he liked to be the dominant male in most settings, and the last thing someone like him wanted was a guy trying to make a move on his girlfriend. She knew Sasuke loved her, and any other guy that tired a pass at her would probably only get a punch to the fact.

Sakura swore she saw a hint of a smirk on his face, but by then it was too late.

Sasuke was very fast, and he used all his speed to completely disappear from sight, reappearing in front of Sakura and catching her as she ran. Then he disappeared again, this time with her, leaving only a whirlwind of leaves where they were. It was so fast that a person could miss it if they blinked.

They reappeared on top of the Hokage mountain, high up about the village and all alone. He still had his arm around her waist, not letting go of her just yet. Instinctively she wrapped her arms around him, trying to get her bearings before she dared to loosen up her grip on him. Her breathing was heavy as she looked around, though she was quite aware of the arm still placed around her waist.

"But maybe I'm bothered in a different way," he muttered into her ear.

"Bothered by a different way, huh? In what way might that be?" She finally looked up at him, a smirk on her face. She knew exactly what he meant, but for whatever reason, she was gettng a kick out of teasing him today. Apparently it was working, too, if he couldn't even wait the length of a run to get her alone again.

"Maybe I'm bothered by your presence in general. I could leave you stranded up here and go back to my nice little run without any distractions.," Sasuke taunted.

He was still holding her close, his other hand also around her waist now. "Or maybe I'm bothered in a way that makes me want to get you alone. Which one do you think it is?"

She laughed. She knew that she didn't bother him, well, at least not enough so that he'd leave her on top of a mountain.

"Well, I'd like to say that second one, but I know better than that. You did say you found a tomato to be more interesting than me. You can't be that attracted to me if that was true." She was tracing circles on his chest before she snaked her arms around his neck, shrugging ever so slightly as she spoke.

"If you want to be more interesting than a tomato, then maybe you should make an effort to be more interesting," he teased back.

"I'm not bothered by being dull. No, what I'm bothered about is the fact that my boyfriend is more attracted to a fruit than to a girl. That has to be some kind of red flag."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, her hands still running through his hair. Playing games like this with Sasuke was definitely becoming something that she could consider a favored past time.

Sasuke smirked. "I never said I was attracted to the tomato. I just said I find it interesting. You may be dull, but you're much more attractive than any tomato."

"Hah, you best be happy I don't make you choose between me and tomatoes. I'm sure I wouldn't like the answer, but at least I wouldn't be wasting my time anymore." She smirked at him, feeling slightly pleased with her come back.

She noticed Sasuke had a habit of contradicting himself when it came to things like paying her compliments. It was no surprise to her to hear his calling her attractive coupled with an insult.

"Time spent with me is never a waste. Besides, I wouldn't choose the tomatoes right away. I'd have to think about it first. Maybe for a whole minute before I decided I love tomatoes more than you," he teased.

She gave a fake pout. "A whole minute, huh? I'm sure I'll be fidgeting under all that anticipation."

He appeared amused. "It might take me a little longer to make up my mind now. That red color on your cheeks kind of makes you look like a tomato."

Sasuke had an ego on him, and oh what a power she could have if she could just figure out how to manipulate it. Sasuke was not an easy guy to read though, and to tell the truth she really didn't know if anything she said or did had remotely the desired effect she was trying to convict on him.

She narrowed her eyes. She knew he was only joking around, which was the only reason she wasn't actually mad about the slew of insults. If it had been Naruto in this same situation, though comparing a girl to ramen, that would be a completely different story. Sakura would of most definitely kicked the blond's ass by now.

She wanted to kiss him, and this was definitely a secluded enough area that they could, but apart of her also wanted to tease him even further. She wanted to push him to the point where it was driving him crazy, and as much as she wanted him, she could easily put that aside if it meant testing his limits.

"Plus, whatever happened to you being disgusted by me?" she asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him as she slowly ran her hands up his neck and through his hair. Oh yes, her mission was to drive him absolutely insane. "I'd hate for you to have to do anything you don't want to."

"I could say the same for you. You seem to be attempting to seduce me. That's far from being disgusted," Sasuke responded, smirking smugly.

She laughed again. She could hardly call it seducing when he was the one to bring her out here, it was clear that they both wanted the same thing and how this was going to end up. The only question was where they were going to end up

So Sakura didn't hesitate when she slowly brought her hands down from his hair to rest them on his shoulders as she leaned up, bringing her cheek to rest against his.

"Is it working?" Her voice was just above a whisper as she let her breath fan across is ear.

"Of course it's not. You'll have to do much better than that sad effort."

She smiled just enough that she was sure he could feel it before she turned her head, allowing her lips to brush across his jawline though she never applied an ounce of pressure to signify a kiss.

She even went so far as to let the corner of her lips touch his before she pulled back. "No, I couldn't possibly be."

Shaking her head she pulled back as far as his arms would allow, dropping her hands from his shoulders as she looked back to the village. "I better start heading back if I wanna get back before dark since you aren't gonna bring me down."

"And that's why I'm not going to let you go. I'm not above kidnapping, you know. Especially when you're the one I'm kidnapping. You'll just have to stay up here with me." He smirked. "You might have been able to escape if you were a little better at seducing me, but you're clearly not. Honestly, I'm ashamed to have a girlfriend who's so terrible."

His hands never left her waist, showing that he was serious about keeping her there. Sasuke really wasn't above kidnapping Sakura for a little while.

Her smirk didn't last long. She could only frown and drop her hands to her sides, simply looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, ya happy? I won't try to seduce you anymore cause apparently I'm that bad."

She sighed and crossed her arms, turning her head towards the village to avoid looking at him.

In all truth, she wasn't done trying to seduce him and she knew exactly what was going on. He was teasing her and in fact she was enjoying it, but Sasuke didn't have to know that. As far as he was concerned, all he needed to think was that she was giving up. He didn't need to know that she was trying to trick him into kissing her first.

Sasuke smirked before he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You're very cute when you're sulking like this. It's endearing really. Not sexy at all, but adorable none the less."

That caused a blush to form over her features She couldn't help the red tint to her cheeks though. Sasuke's compliments were few and far between and she was so unused to hearing him say things like her being cute or anything of the sorts she couldn't help but blush. Yet him saying she wasn't meant to be sexy caused her flushed out cheeks to return to normal real quick.

His grip around her waist loosened and one of his hands found its way to the small of her back, drawing little designs with his finger.

"But maybe you just weren't meant to be sexy. Being cute is alright too, if you're into that sort of thing. I like my girls smoking hot though," he said, his index finger ever so lightly tracing up her back along her spine, causing her to shiver.

As good as it felt though, she wanted him to take back the comment that implied she wasn't 'smoking hot.' It was a blow to her pride that he would even joke about something like that. Not that she'd ever let him see that, but still, even she liked hearing she was gorgeous every now and then.

So she took advantage of his loosened grip, pulling fully away from him and placing a hand on his chest. "I'm not sexy?"

Sasuke laughed lightly and let her keep her distance. "Not at the moment, no. You're only cute."

The frown on her face wasn't so forced anymore. With most guys, that was usually a compliment to be called cute, with Sasuke though, he had already given her his ranking system and she was falling down in the average zone with every other girl. She didn't want to be roped in with everyone else, at least, not by him.

"Way to dig yourself a hole, Uchiha."

He didn't look bothered. "But earlier, when you were running, that was hot. And when you were holding me so tightly when I brought us here, you looked very pretty."

Then he paused, appearing to think. "But smoking hot... That was when you were watching the fireworks and you looked so happy as you watched all the different colors. That was the first time I really liked you as more than a friend you know."

She couldn't help but to start blushing again, even more so when he told her when he started to see her as something more than a friend.

"Tch. You and your stupid charm," she mumbled.

She laughed gently as she took a step towards him, reaching up and patting her hand against his cheek. "A little word of wisdom though. When you're dating a girl, and you want to keep dating her, you always, always tell her that she is the most beautiful girl you've ever seen, even if they look horrible. You're lucky I already love you."

She leaned forward, though instead of giving in and just kissing him, she instead moved at the last second and placed a kiss on his cheek instead before she pulled away and turned her back to him, slowly walking away from him.

Sasuke merely frowned. He stepped forward and placed his arms back around her waist, pulling her back against his chest. Sakura knew she had him. She loved when he would hold her like this, pulled against his chest. She could hear him breathe, feel his heart against her shoulder and she felt warm. There wasn't a single person that could get to her when she was close to him like this and it was comforting in a way.

"I'm surprised that it's necessary for me to say this. You are the only beautiful girl I've ever seen. And the only one I would even consider cute.," he said quietly.

She couldn't help the smile that damn blush returning to her cheeks tenfold. "It's not necessary, but I like hearing it."

"I'll have to remind you every so often then," he said.

Sakura smiled. "It wouldn't hurt."

Then he leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her neck, though if he was actually facing her he would have given in and given her a real kiss. "And I'm not done with you yet. I'm kidnapping you for a little while."

She leaned her head back as she felt him kiss her neck, laughing quietly. She trailed her hands down his arms to his hands where she pulled them far enough away from her so she could turn around to face him.

"I think I'm okay with being kidnapped by you for awhile," she answered.

It was safe to say that Sakura was done with her teasing for now as she slid her arms around his neck as she pulled herself up to kiss him. Sure she had wanted him to kiss her first, but that compliment he had given her was enough to turn her to putty in his hands.

It was times like these where she liked being serious with him. She wanted to know what he felt, enjoyed the feeling that it was only the two of them and everything else was blocked out. Right now, she could forget about everything from the stress of her busy routine to the rocky history she had with the said boy. He made her feel alive, and she just didn't care about the rest of the world when it came down to him. She'd choose him every time.

Sasuke laughed lightly, smiling just a little. "I don't think you understand the concept of kidnapping. It doesn't matter if you're okay with it. You have no choice in the matter."

He smirked, looking devious. "I'm giving you warning this time."

Then a split second later he whisked them off, landing on the roof of his apartment building. As before she couldn't help but latch onto him, caught off-guard by her new surroundings. Even with that warning she still hadn't been prepared to move so fast, then again, it wasn't like she had a sharingan to help her see. It was just one moment she was looking at the top of the Hokage's tower and the next she was overlooking the hospital and the sound of the village was bustling right beneath her.

"See, you have no choice," he joked.

"Yeah, but you're the kidnapper who is too cocky in thinking he can kidnap a shinobi, in their own village, in broad daylight. Plus, you're also kidnapping a girl who has a mean boyfriend who could probably kick your lame-kidnapping-ass."

She raised an eyebrow at him but gladly let him take her hand, interlacing her fingers with his as they headed down towards his apartment.


End file.
