For: GabbaGabba

Prompt: "I told you. You don't love someone because of looks or their clothes or their car. You love them because they sing a song that nobody but you can understand." – from Night World by LJ Smith.

Pairings: SasuSaku, KibaIno, NaruHina, ShikaTem, NejiTen, SuiKarin

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything by LJ Smith.

a/n: This was originally going to be part of my oneshot collection, called Forever And A Day, but I liked the prompt so much that I wrote two versions. I thought this one was better off as a oneshot not in the collection, and so, here it is! Enjoy.

THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN

Suigetsu fell in love with Karin for her looks. Their relationship didn't last very long.

Neji fell in love with Tenten because she scared him, just a little bit, and that was saying something. Really. What kind of girl knew every kind of weapon that had ever existed and how to use it?

Shikamaru fell in love with Temari because she had no respect for him. Whatsoever. It kind of turned him on.

Naruto fell in love with Hinata because Sakura and Ino and (surprisingly) Sasuke set him up. But that's a story for another time. Simply put, Naruto walked into the biggest trap known to mankind. Cheerfully. Still, though, he fell in love and that's all that matters.

Kiba fell in love with Ino for her looks and for her ability to make him want to be more than what he was. She made him want to be better, to deserve her. Yes, he loved her. Their relationship outlasted Suigetsu and Karin's by several thousand years.

Sasuke fell in love with Sakura simply because she was the only girl he had ever loved. To any extent and in every meaning of the word.

Karin fell in love with Suigetsu because Sasuke didn't love her. But Suigetsu didn't love her enough. She died one day and he didn't even know.

Tenten fell in love with Neji because she had grown up alone and so had he. Until they'd met and fallen in love, both had only been one-half of a whole.

Temari fell in love with Shikamaru because he was fun to tease. Seriously. He had made her laugh until she'd cried more than once, and that was all she needed after spending more than half of her life watching over a psychologically-disturbed monster.

Hinata fell in love with Naruto because he never gave up, and she admired that—and she wanted to be like him. But you all knew that already.

Ino fell in love with Kiba because he was loyal and she knew it. When Sasuke left for Orochimaru and never returned, deep down she'd cried for Sakura, because Sakura would never get her fairy-tale ending—because Sasuke would not stay, even for the girl who loved him. And Kiba was the only one who had noticed the tear-tracks fading into Ino's own skin.

Sakura fell in love with Sasuke the first time because he was good-looking, skilled, loyal, dark and mysterious, every girl's dream boy, and cared about her enough to never tell her to find someone else—because he knew that Sakura was one of those people that needed to love someone or they were no one at all.

Sakura fell in love with Sasuke the second time because when he came back, he let her slip and tangle herself into his life until there was no distinction between the two. And every moment that she spent with him told her that he knew the difference between who she was and who she'd been, and that made all the difference.

And this time, he cared about her enough to never tell her to find someone else because he knew that he was too selfish to ever let Sakura love someone else.

Most people fall in love for real only once in their lives.

a/n: For the Karin to Suigetsu paragraph, I'm talking about when Sasuke got her and Danzo at the same time with lightning. Because if she had died, Juugo and Suigetsu wouldn't have even known until afterward. I mean, you know the whole thing about: "He's dead." "No, he's not." "How do you know?" "Because I would have felt it in my heart. So I know he's not dead."

Anyone catch the double meaning in the Sasuke to Sakura paragraph? The "to any extent and in every meaning of the word?" I want to hear your thoughts!

Review and make me happy? Because when I'm not happy, I end up writing sad, sweet things. Kind of like this.