Just a quick one-shot that hit me on a plane ride. I think it's good exercise to sometimes write about pairings you like actually not working out - after all, some relationships just don't.

This fic does not favour one pairing over another.

And don't worry - am still working on Daybreak, although Rifts has been put under brief hiatus because Daybreak swallowed most of the plot bunnies for it.

Hope you enjoy! Reviews are welcome.

Six months after Sasuke returns, Sakura takes a deep breath and lifts her fingers to trace his cheek.

"You don't have to do everything alone anymore, Sasuke. You don't have to be alone."

He looks past her, out the window to where autumn afternoon light stretches lazily along the trees, and says nothing.

His skin is clear and smooth, sliding like silk underneath her touch. If she does not do something, he will slip away again, into nothing. It has already begun.

"Please." She whispers, and his eyes move slowly, slowly to her face. "Please, let me make you happy."

He is looking at her now, a coded gaze that she can't decipher. It is cool and understated, just like the rest of him.

Sakura gathers her courage, spills the words out before she can think about it too hard. "I love you. I'll do everything I can to make you happy, I swear."

Her hand is still on the curve of his jaw. He doesn't move away. Nor does he draw closer.

"I love you." She repeats, feels like she is on the edge of a precipice, teetering between solid ground and the abyss. Or perhaps two different darknesses. Love is not meant to hurt like this, is it?

Sasuke looks again to the window, where the pastel light is beginning to creep towards their feet. Naruto and Sai are training a few hundred feet away, their shouts and occasional laughter filtering through the thin air easily back to this room.

She waits, breath frozen, as his eyes flutter closed. After an agonizingly long moment, he leans into her touch.

"Okay." He breathes quietly, and every thump of her heart sends rolling tremors of joy and relief through her limbs. Sakura throws her arms around his neck and draws him into an embrace. His arms, cold and somewhat leaden (somehow not like she imagined) encircle her waist a few seconds later.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear that." She murmurs into his chest.

Sasuke doesn't answer.

aaa

Sasuke and Naruto are at each other's throats again. Insults fling themselves across the table that the three of them sit at, drawing stares from the other patrons of the bar. Both of them are disproportionally mad about the situation.

"What are you, too good to come join the rest of us now, Sasuke? You really think you're better than the rest of Konoha, don't you?"

"If you think for an instant, Naruto, that I'm going to waste my time training with someone who is clearly not at my level-"

Naruto's eyes narrow. "And I'm not at your level, is that it?"

Sasuke puts on his smirk that is reserved solely for the blond and says nothing.

Sakura can practically see Naruto getting ready to lunge across the table. "I've already proved myself to you, Sasuke! If you think that playing around with Orochimaru for a few years made you anything more than a common trai-" He snaps his mouth shut, obviously realizing that this would be a very bad thing to say.

Sasuke's face goes even paler, if that's possible. Sitting next to him, Sakura can feel his fists clench beside his knees. "You-"

She sighs and slams her hand on the table, causing their cups to jump.

"Naruto, the Orochimaru and Itachi things are long done. Let's not drag things up from the past, okay? Sasuke..." Sasuke, you're just as bad, saying things you know will provoke him.

She does not voice this thought, though.

Naruto's flinted eyes soften as he glances over to her.

"But-"

"Naruto." She growls a warning, and he throws his hands up, an easy grin directed at her replacing the scowl.

"Well, if makes you unhappy, Sakura-chan..."

Sasuke's eyes are darker than usual, and he stares at Naruto. "No, Sakura. I want to hear him say it."

Naruto gives him a look that says, Not in front of her.

Sasuke gives him one right back that says, To hell with everyone else.

Their eyes lock, and Sakura feels a thousand miles away from them. Sasuke looks away first, abruptly turning his gaze to the busy Konoha street outside, and Naruto slips away, muttering something about grabbing more drinks.

"Sorry about that, Sasuke." Sakura sighs, twining their hands together.

"It's not your fault. None of it is." He mutters, sparing her a slight sideways half-smile that makes her stomach leap.

"I love you so much." She beams at him, just as Naruto slides three beers onto the table. His face twitches at the words, and all three of them are aware of the jealously that briefly flickers in his eyes.

After an awkward pause, Sasuke reaches for his beer, hand brushing Naruto's by accident. The blond merely moves his own and passes a tankard to Sakura, but Sasuke remains frozen for a second, an expression on his face that she can't identify – shock, perhaps, although she doesn't know why.

"I love you too." He says, but his other hand is limp in hers and his eyes are on Naruto's face.

And Sakura recognizes his expression – one that her own features have morphed into so often.

Longing.

aaa

Things come to a head when Sakura and Naruto are sparring in a friendly match. He is more than a match for her in ninjutsu, and her sheer strength would crush him in taijutsu (genjutsu is out since they're both useless at it), so they simply train their hand-to-hand fighting skills with no chakra involved. Naruto smiles at her as he blocks a kick with his forearm, hair tousled in the sunlight. He looks particularly handsome today, almost sexy, as his muscles flex under tanned skin and blue eyes dance merrily at her. He slips back into a defensive stance, body flowing smooth as water, and something at the bottom of Sakura's ribcage connects to fury.

Her next punch catches him directly in the face, much harder than anything they've ever practiced together before. She molds chakra into it, feeling vindictive pleasure as his eyes widen in shock and pain. Naruto reels back several steps and braces himself with one arm against the ground, blood beginning to snake down from his nose.

"Well, that hurt a little bit." He half-jokes, attempting to wipe it away with his hand. Guilt wells in Sakura's breast, making her lash out even more.

"You should go spar with Sasuke, then." She spits. "He would definitely avoid hurting his precious Naruto."

His brow furrows. "...huh? Sakura-chan, we beat the crap out of each other every other day."

Her breath comes in rasps. "And hang out all the time, and do missions together... I don't know why I didn't see it before, he just has to be around you..."

The implications of this are lost on Naruto. He takes a step forward, the Kyuubi already healing his face.

"Sakura-chan, I don't understand what-"

"He's so in love with you, how can you not understand?!" Sakura screams at him, voice catching.

His mouth suddenly forms a small, round 'O'. She suddenly hates everything about him, so violently she is nearly sick.

"He's always wanted you, not me." She says, feeling very tired. "I should have seen it... I don't know why I didn't..." Turning to walk away, she calls over her shoulder; "You two have fun together."

Naruto's words stop her. "I don't want Sasuke."

She can hear his footsteps crunching on the brittle grass, moving towards her. "I want you, Sakura."

A hand on her shoulder, spinning her gently. Blue, honest, pleading eyes. "I love you."

"Naruto, I-" She begins to shake her head – he puts a hand on each of her shoulders, forces her to look him in the eye.

"I'm serious. I've loved you as long as I can remember... my heart, it feels so big sometimes when I'm around you... I can't stand it." Never before has she seen him like this, every molecule of his being focused on her. "Sasuke... he's not making you happy, Sakura-chan. It's not his fault – I don't think he even knows how to be happy himself." He hesitates, but his eyes shine. "But... I think that maybe... I could, if you let me. We could be happy together."

Sakura hears only the words she spoke to Sasuke on the road to Orochimaru all those years ago, and her pleas just a few weeks before, and for the first time realizes how it must have felt, to hear the words you so long to hear be spoken... be finally said, by the person that you do not love.

She thinks of Sasuke, probably in his apartment thinking of Naruto, who is looking at her with such hope in his eyes.

The sudden ridiculousness of the situation hits her like a punch in the gut, and she begins to laugh, so hard that she can't breathe.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto's voice is stiff and hurt, and he draws away briskly. "It's not funny."

"No, it's really not." Sakura manages between her giggles. "I'm not laughing at you, Naruto."

She flops down into the autumn grass, hearing it crack between her weight.

"It's just... I don't think any of us are going to be very happy for quite a while."