Title: Kiss the Girl

Summary: On the contrary, Sasuke doesn't dislike Sakura. He's just a shy boy who's a little in love. Non-massacre.

Chapter 1: Operation Greet Haruno Sakura

8 years old

Sasuke is almost at his seat when Sakura greets him.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," Her voice is soft and a smile is on her face.

He freezes.

He and Sakura have been classmates for a long time and he still gets nervous around her. He doesn't understand why his face burns whenever she's near and why his heart beats abnormally whenever she talks to him. All he knows is that maybe- just maybe- he doesn't mind the confusing feelings that she somehow brings out of him.

He braves himself to greet her. He wants to give her a smile or a wave, to make her like him a little more, to have her talk to him more, but he is afraid that if he does, it may come out weird (because he has already practiced in front of a mirror every day, and stretching his lips to a smile looks forced and awkward)and Sakura will avoid him. He doesn't want that.

He settles for the usual nod, wishing to have the courage to return her greeting with the same enthusiasm.

"Sakura."

He curses himself for being too shy.

He commits the sunny smile he receives to memory before sitting in contentment.

Operation Greet Haruno Sakura success for the day.

She's crying. Sasuke thinks as he hides himself behind a tree.

He doesn't know what happened. A while ago, after the teacher dismissed them, he went to the bathroom to do his business. When he came back, all he could hear were jeers and insults about a large forehead. He was at the door when Sakura came out running, looking as if she'd cry.

He followed her and now he's not sure what to do. So he stays, his heart feeling as if being stabbed mercilessly every time she whimpers and wails.

I… think I should comfort her.

He takes a small step forward before chickening out and running to a tree farther from the previous one.

He moves stealthily, like the ninja he will be, and peeks at the crying girl. He averts his eyes immediately because something traitorous inside him wants to lose control and hug her- or cry with her. He pushes the dangerous thought out of his mind.

I can't just leave without making her feel a little bit better. Sasuke tells himself that the only reason why he even bothers is because he's a good kid. Not because she's very special to him. No. Of course not, he persuades himself, feeling a little satisfied.

He looks at her crying figure once more, wondering what to do. Should he give her food? Call her parents? Or take revenge on their classmates for her?

Then he remembers his mother and her words of wisdom.

"Words can move mountains," Uchiha Mikoto once said to him. He doesn't know what it means exactly but it certainly sounds like a life lesson to him. And that it uses words.

So he'll just say some words and… yeah. Sounds like a good plan.

He clutches his chest trying calm his quickly beating heart. He slowly takes a shaky step forward. Then another one. And another. Until he finally finds himself in front of her.

Sakura has her knees raised to her chest, her head resting on them and hands clasped at her feet. It is such a pitiful sight that Sasuke almost wanted to copy her position and join her.

"…Sakura."

She lifts her head slowly to see Sasuke fidgeting, his expression coming off as someone who wants to be anywhere but there. She wonders if he's here to continue bullying her. She wouldn't be surprised.

She sniffs hatefully.

"What do you want? Come to bully me more?" Her voice is trembling but she needs to act tough. A future ninja isn't allowed to cry every time someone bullies them. This will be the only and last exception.

Sasuke's eyes widen.

"They bullied you?" he asks, shocked.

Sakura is confused. He didn't know? Then why is he here?

"Yeah. Weren't you there when they were making fun of my humongous forehead?" she replies bitterly.

"No."

They made fun of her forehead? His eyes quickly shoot forward to inspect it and he thinks that it isn't that big. It's larger than the average ones but didn't people always say that larger foreheads house smarter brains? So his classmates bullied Sakura because she is smarter than they are?

What jealous eggheads.

Sasuke doesn't know what to say yet so he settles for uncomfortable silence, gathering comforting words in his mind to tell Sakura after he gets the courage to. Sakura breaks that silence.

"Will you please leave me alone for a while?" she says quietly. She wants to be alone for now, wallowing in sorrow before crushing it and getting ready to face tomorrow with a smile. Now that's a nice thought.

She turns to Sasuke who seems to be focusing on something. He's staring at the ground with utmost concentration.

Comforting words. Comforting words. Saycomfortingwordscomfortingwords. Sasuke repeats the mantra over and over in his head that when he opened his mouth, he almost blurted out 'comforting words' instead of what he was supposed to say.

Idiot is what he thought to himself.

"Idiot," is what he also said out loud.

Both of them freeze.

Both of them stare at each other for a long time until Sakura says, "…Did you just call me an idiot?"

No! Nonononono! Of course not! That was for me! I'm the idiot! Whywhywhywhy! WHY?

Though his heart rate has sped up to dangerous levels, none of his turmoil is apparent on his face. In fact, his whole demeanour is calm, as if nothing potentially relationship damaging is happening with the girl he almost-like-likes.

He needs to fix this awful mistake, say that she heard wrong. Be smooth. Be- uh- persuasive. And suave.Damn it. He's panicking.

Confidence.

Charm.

He vaguely hears his mother's voice saying, "Think the words and become it."

He takes a deep breath and-

"Of course not. You will never be an idiot in my eyes." That sounded cool in his head but Sasuke clearly underestimated his stupidity because what tumbled out of his mouth was, "Of course. You were always an idiot in my eyes."

SHIIIIIIIT.

Sakura looks angry and offended. Her eyes are blazing with the dark fires of Amaterasu that Sasuke had to take a step back from her frightening glare. She thought he was a decent human being because he did not say anything demeaning to her forehead like everybody had. But instead, he insults her intelligence when she was already hurt, not unlike rubbing salt into a gaping wound.

She stands up suddenly. Sakura seems to forget her earlier sadness as rage comes off her in waves.

"I'm not an idiot! I'm smart and I'm going to be a ninja!" she declared.

Sasuke agrees wholeheartedly but because of his nerves, he can't seem to get it across. He came here to stop her from crying and he definitely succeeded. Just not in the way he liked.

He then becomes agitated because he only wanted to help her and he messed up.

He answers her, the words not registering in his mind anymore.

"If you're going to be a ninja then why were you crying? Ninjas aren't supposed to be crybabies, you know." He curses himself over and over but he can't take the words back anymore. If he's going to help her stop crying then he has no choice but to do it in this silly, unconventional way, even if it hurts both him and her.

"Ninjas hide their emotions to be strong. Crying only means you're weak. If you can't control even that then your career as a ninja is finished before it's even started," Sasuke finishes both his speech and their barely there friendship.

He can almost see himself popping a tiny bubble labelled 'friendship with Sakura'.

Woe is he.

Sakura thinks over his words and realizes that he is not wrong. If she were older she would tell him maturely that he is a correct bastard. But she is a child so she leaves the 'correct' part and uses child swear words.

"I hate you, chicken butt hair!"

Hm? What are those broken shards on the ground? What do you mean they're Sasuke's heart?

She continues and- oh. The shards are beneath Sakura's feet now.

"I'm going to be the most revered kunoichi of all time, crybaby or not! Just you wait, Sasuke!" She stomps off to go wherever Sasuke isn't, leaving him to mourn. Not that she knows.

But hey, at least the tears in her eyes are dried up now.

After her departure, Sasuke curls up in the position he first found Sakura in.

It's his turn to cry.

Meters away behind a tree, Itachi is caught smiling in amusement with a mix of pity. He gives his younger brother a few minutes before taking him home.

The next day

Sasuke is already at his seat when Sakura greets him.

"Good morning, Sasuke." Her voice is tense and there is no smile on her face. She greets him, nonetheless.

He does his usual nod, hoping to have the courage to smile like she did yesterday ("But not today," a voice that sounded like him whispers pathetically).

"Sakura."

There is no sunny smile to file in his brain. She also removed the honorific from his name.

Operation Greet Haruno Sakura success for the day.

He goes home later, depressed.