Title: Rainy Day Cliches
Pairings: Sasuke x Sakura; with hints of Shikamaru x Ino, Neji x Tenten and Naruto x Hinata
Warnings: OOC, TWT, and an odd premise which may or may not be slightly!crackish. HAHA. Mild innuendo. You'll see.
Summary: She smiled mischievously, her long lashes dripping with rainwater. "Every girl wants her upside-down kiss in the rain, Sasuke-kun."

Dedication: All the ever so lovely reviewers of Three Kisses. Here's to Sasuke x Sakura! And a special shout to Epiff Annie for being my first reviewer; and zOMG for all of your wonderful SasuSaku. Makes me giggle every time. :D

Notes: Here's the end! I hope everyone's enjoyed it. But this isn't the last you've seen of me. Whether that's a good thing is a whole different story...

Disclaimer: Naruto, Spiderman, and A Bug's Life, do not belong to me. They all belong to their respective creators. No matter how much I cry.

"That was the biggest waste of time."

"Agreed."

"Ino kicked me out for that? Tch..."

Naruto was loudly proclaiming that the "spider-spandex freak" probably played for the other team. This, of course, didn't sit well with the emotional Rock Lee, who immediately challenged him to a duel. Thankfully, Neji intervened before any major bones could be broken.

Kiba snorted in disgust.

"Who the hell would wanna make a movie about bugs, of all things?"

Shino looked mortally offended.

A spider, one of nature's noblest creations,played a major role.

How could it be anything less than eurhythmy in motion?

He could have easily taught Kiba a lesson using one of his kikai, but that would have been entirely too merciful. Instead, he chose a slightly more subtle approach.

"That wasn't when you said when we watched A Bug's Life a few years ago."

Stunned silence greeted his quiet statement.

Then, the laughter began.

"Oi! Flik was special!"

The Uchiha only looked vaguely amused as he watched Kiba attempt to "wipe that smirk off your ugly mug, Shino!"

"Hn. I'm leaving."

"Don't be late for sparring tomorrow!"

"Good night, Sasuke-kun! May your youthfulness grow with the dawning of a new day!"

Several eyerolls later, Sasuke turned off at his corner.

"Night."

"So…how about that kiss?"

"Mmm…in the rain…"

"It was so romantic!"

"I wonder what the chances of Shikamaru planning something like that for me are."

"Ha! You'd have better luck convincing Sasuke and Naruto to kiss again. Besides, you'd have to be worth the effort."

"Shut up, Forehead! I am so worth it!"

Tenten rubbed her temples and flung a kunai, which, as she intended, landed directly in between them.

"Hush, both of you!"

The two kunoichi simply huffed and turned away from each other, leaving Hinata to try and placate them, and Tenten rolling her eyes in exasperation.

Honestly, those two were such girls.

Moments later, when she opened her eyes, the two were smiling at each other like nothing had happened.

"So Forehead…how's it going on that front, anyway?

Sakura quirked a brow at the blonde's question.

"What front?"

"Duh! Sasuke, of course! Don't lie, we all know you're still hung up on him." She muttered under her breath.

"No matter how many cuties I set you up with…"

Sakura fidgeted for a moment as she thought about her answer.

How were things going with Sasuke?

Well, he's still quiet, though not nearly as cold. He never lets me walk home alone, but he doesn't exactly initiate contact, either. I haven't done anything forward in years, so he probably thinks I don't like him anymore. But we talk more…that's good right?

After a few more moments of silent contemplation, she answered Ino.

"Well…I'm not exactly sure."

"Not sure? What do you mean? You either want him, or you don't. Which is it?"

Before another full-scale argument could erupt (again), Hinata hastened to smooth things over.

"I think what Ino-chan means...is that it's been quite a while. Years, in fact. Is Sasuke-san still the one you want to be with?"

Sakura scooped a helping of triple-fudge, rocky road ice cream into her bowl, and sighed.

"Of course he is. I know you all think that I ought to move on, and Ino, the guys are great. It's just that…"

I can't give up on him.

Silence reigned for a few moments.

"Well then, you'd better find out, and soon."

"What do you mean?"

An expression of gravity replaced the usual smile on Ino's face.

"Sakura, we aren't getting any younger. I know that in our line of work, it's probably not a good idea to get attached to anyone." The line of her mouth grew taut, and her eyes took on an almost stubborn gleam. "But speaking from experience, it's always better to have a reason to come home, to make it through. That's what Shikamaru's given to me." Sensing the tense atmosphere, she smirked, though it was a bit forced.

"And I'm sure Tenten feels the same way about Neji—"

A kunai imbedded itself in the wall, just above Ino's head. The blonde ignored it.

"—And Hinata, about Naruto."

Tenten stopped glaring at Ino to give Sakura a gentle smile.

"What she means is, you don't have time to waste. So make up your mind soon, ne?"

Hinata's soft voice woke the medic-nin from her thoughts.

"When are you going to see him again?"

A look of resolve was on Sakura's face.

"Well, he's training with Naruto tomorrow, and you know how those two are. Probably not until the weeke—"

A small smile (that was almost a smirk) blossomed on the face of the Hyuuga heiress.

"Don't worry about Naruto, Sakura-chan. Just think about your battleplans for Sasuke-san."

One last time.

It was cold today.

Sasuke shivered a bit as he made his way down to the training fields. A long, hard spar would be exactly the thing he needed to keep the chill away. He looked up at the sky and scowled.

It was definitely going to rain.

He sighed, stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets and walked on until he came to the rendezvous spot.

However, the pink-haired figure, in the red sleeveless top and black spandex shorts, was definitely not Naruto.

"Sakura? What are you doing here? Where's the dobe?"

She licked her lips, and eyed him up and down.

"Naruto…is otherwise occupied. I'm your opponent today."

Her voice was deeper, throatier…almost like she'd spent last night screaming…

Sasuke tried desperately not to lose his indifferent expression—and his dignity—by succumbing to a nosebleed.

After all, this was Sakura.

Sakura was scared.

This whole "seductive" approach had been Ino's idea.

If the rumors are true—and there's no reason to think they aren't—Sasuke hasn't dated anyone since…well, ever. That means years with nothing but his hand to keep him company. He's stoic, yes, but he's also a man, Sakura.

Right.

She'd have to be brave.

Sasuke was definitely worth it.

But, on the other hand…if he didn't respond today, then she'd go on. She'd promised herself. And anyway, it wouldn't be too terrible to just be friends with him. She could handle that, right?

Just friends…

So absorbed was she in her internal conflict, that she failed to notice Sasuke's impatient stare until he'd flicked her on the forehead.

"Oi. I said, are you ready? I don't have all day, you know."

She swallowed her doubts and lunged.

Please don't push me away.

By that afternoon, Sakura was cursing herself for sparring with him. She was no slouch; her training with Tsuanade-shishou saw to that. But Sasuke was on an entirely different level. It was now ten o'clock, and they'd only stopped to breathe twice after going at it for six hours. Now, it was raining—which was all well and good for her plan, but hell on her traction. She'd fallen a few times evading his attacks, and there were spots of mud on her top.

Despite her fatigue, she was pleasantly surprised. She'd been keeping up with him for the most part, her still-superior chakra control balancing out his own brute strength. Despite that, she knew she only had a bit of fight left in her, so it was now or never.

She flickered out of sight and masked her chakra, leaving Sasuke on guard. He stepped backwards near the smattering of forest that surrounded the field. A rumble from underground caught him off guard, and he jumped up onto the lower branches of the nearest tree, kunai in hand, and braced in a defensive position.

Heh. She's using the dobe's technique; the one from his match with Hyuuga. I'll wait for her to make her move, and then attack when she gets close. The mud will slow her down enough for me to catch her. Though how she didn't consider that when planning her attack makes me wonder…

Then, he'd heard it. An almost imperceptible squish.

He spun around to throw his kunai…

…only to come nose-to-nose with the girl he'd thought was underground.

For the first time in his life, Uchiha Sasuke had no idea what to do. He tried to move, but found himself unable to. For one brief moment of insanity, he considered looking around for Shikamaru. Perhaps he'd gotten on his bad side or something, and now he was using Kagemane no Jutsu to get revenge…

But no. The only presence he felt besides his own, was Sakura…

"Sakura? What are you doing?"

Was that a…waver she heard in his voice?

Sasuke was looking at her, an almost frightened look in his eye.

She ran her gaze up and down his body, which was still hanging upside down, stunned into self-inflicted immobility. There was no jutsu on him, no special technique that was keeping him in place; he could've moved at any time he wanted to.

Sakura supposed it was surprise that kept him there. But to ensure that he didn't run away, she hesitantly placed her two small hands on his face.

His eyes widened, as he braced himself for a confession of love, a slap, anything.

She ignored the rain falling around them, and began to speak that breathy voice that made him feel strangely hot...

"Oh, Sasuke-kun...I've told myself over and over again that this…whatever, I feel for you, isn't going anywhere. That I should give up. And maybe that's true. Maybe I should."

He waited for the sound of flesh on flesh.

"But first…"

Grant me this.

She smiled mischievously, to cover up the pounding of her heart.

"Every girl wants their upside-down kiss in the rain, Sasuke-kun."

And then, after taking a breath to presumably calm her nerves, she leaned in…

Her lips were soft.

That was his first thought when he first felt the slight pressure of them against his own.

His eyes fluttered close, and covered her hands with his own.

Her lips were soft and—despite the rain—she was warm.

Sakura…

She was blushing.

His blood was rushing to his head, and he was feeling a little dizzy.

A large part of him smugly thought that passing out would be worth it.

They broke apart.

And then, he smiled, a small one, but a smile nonetheless.

"You did well today. We should…do this again."

No more words were said, but she'd heard all she needed to know.

As he walked her home that day, Sakura could only thank Hollywood, and comic books for their rainy day clichés.

FIN.

Yes, I'm a sap. And this was tied up way too neatly.

I'll have to do better next time. ;)

Thanks for reading, and please review!