Stolen Sakura

Chapter 12

Conflicted

Sakura's day was going slow – not many new patients, small amount of paperwork to complete, no incidents worthy speaking of – just a sleepy routine, until she bumped into Ino who broke into the impromptu happy dance in the middle of the hallway.

"What's got you so happy?" Sakura asked in bemusement.

Ino halted her dance and blushed at being found out, but the huge grin didn't come off her face. "I've got a date! Tomorrow!" she announced excitedly.

"That's great! With who?" Sakura's curiosity got the best of her. She just had to ask. Maybe they weren't love rivals anymore, but she still liked to be up to date with Ino's love life.

Ino's eyes gleamed. "Well, wouldn't you like to know?" she said playfully. "You've got one guess! And the hint is: he's tall, dark, handsome... and from your team!"

Sakura stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. "No way..." she whispered, both hands flying up to her mouth. Ino had bragged about her recent mission with Sasuke, which had been a part of his trial period, but... Ino couldn't have... with him... It was impossible! Sakura didn't want to even consider this, but all the puzzle pieces fell into place right before her eyes – several conversations between them she had witnessed, Sasuke's regular visits to the flower shop, even that one time Ino had said that she'd like to pursue him again when he'd come back.

Unaware of her friend's internal distress, Ino laughed out loud. "Yes way! Bet you didn't expect this!"

Sakura shook her head slowly, straining to give a smile, even if it was a fake. "No, of course not."

"Yamanaka-san, the patient in room 405 has a fit!" A panting nurse jogged up to them.

"I've gotta go! See you later, Sakura!" Ino waved her goodbye and sprinted off. Without doubt her mental techniques were crucial at the moment to heal the mind of some badly wounded shinobi or kunoichi.

Ironically, there was no help coming Sakura's way. She leaned her back against the wall with the heavy thump and cradled her head as she attempted to chase away the half-coalesced thoughts that battered her mind incessantly. She forced herself to breathe, deep and steady, until she calmed her racing pulse and could think of this rationally.

Why would she be so rattled about this revelation? She didn't owe Sasuke anything, to the contrary – he owed her an apology! However, at this point she was convinced he didn't regret a single thing he'd done or said. She hadn't seen him since their argument, over three months.

Sakura reminded herself of his harsh, hurtful words and combed fingers through her hair from front to back in a soothing gesture. She accepted there was nothing more between them than a team bond and a memory of one mistake that she'd rather forget.

Ino could have him if she wanted him so badly! Sakura definitely would not stand in the way.

She clapped her cheeks to get herself focused again, the reverie concluded, when a blond head peeked in through the window.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, startling her.

"Naruto!" she yelped.

"Did I scare you?"

"What? No! I just didn't expect you."

"Oh, but you remember you promised me something?" he asked pointedly.

She smiled. After all, Naruto was the best medicine to pick her mood up. It was hard to keep worrying about Ino's news when he came up to her with that funny mock-pout. Ever since his big apology to her, he had strived to rebuild her trust in him and he'd never once broken his word.

"I'd never forget! Give me a minute to clock out and we can go," Sakura told him.

"To Ichiraku?!" he called after her as she walked off.

"Of course! I promised, didn't I?" she replied and sped to her office to change out of her white doctor's coat.

Dressed in her casual clothes, she met up with Naruto in hospital's lobby where she took him under his arm. They strolled to the ramen stand, filling the time with upbeat chatter. Sakura chuckled at the story of Naruto's day, but her laughter died down suddenly.

She wasn't prepared to see Sasuke again.

When she saw the familiar back adorned with the Uchiha fan at the Ichiraku ramen stand, she almost turned on her heel and walked away. Only Naruto's hand wrapped around her own kept her tethered in place.

"What's wrong?" Naruto whispered to her.

"What's Sasuke doing here?" she hissed back at him.

Naruto's brow raised as he regarded her in utter confusion. "He got promoted to chunin today so I invited him to dinner with us to celebrate. Is that a problem?"

Sakura realized she must have been behaving strangely to him, so she shook her head rapidly. "No, no, I just thought we'd be alone... you know."

"Yeah, sorry for that. It was supposed to be our date," Naruto agreed with a frown. "You think it's not too late to kick him out?"

"No! It's okay, I don't mind he's here," she reassured him, going against every instinct that screamed at her to beg Naruto to get Sasuke away from there. Now she couldn't take back what she'd said, so she gulped and steeled herself before sliding into the seat beside Naruto, who unknowingly acted as a shield separating her from Sasuke.

During the dinner Sakura and Sasuke didn't speak to each other, but they also didn't keep quiet, which would call attention to the wall of silence between them. They both talked with Naruto, just never addressed the person on his other side. Between them and his beloved ramen, this tactic seemed to be working perfectly.

Naruto slurped down the last noodle and smacked his lips.

"So, at last Sasuke's a chunin," he said. "Do you both know what this means? Team Seven can go on missions together!"

If the lighting struck the ramen stand at the same moment, its effect would be less shocking than Naruto's innocent comment. Without meaning it, Sakura glanced over his shoulder, only to meet Sasuke's impenetrable gaze. She looked away, as if she burned herself.

Sakura swallowed and inhaled deeply. "Isn't it too early? The paperwork's going to take a while to be processed."

"Don't worry, we already took care of it! Kakashi-sensei even chose a mission for us."

"What is this mission?" Sasuke inquired, speaking up for the first time since the topic came up.

"He wouldn't say, but I'm sure it's something good!" Naruto grinned.

"Well, I'd hate it if it was chasing cats, like when we were genin," Sakura joked.

"Don't even say that!" Naruto cried out and laughed. Once again, she glanced across him and caught Sasuke's amused smirk.

Naruto stood up and opened his frog wallet, but then shook his head and looked pointedly at Sasuke who released a small sigh and paid for the dinner with his own money.

"Team training tomorrow at eight?" Naruto suggested.

"Okay."

"Yeah."

Sakura and Sasuke answered at the same time, exchanged startled looks, then hurried back to treating each other like air.

Naruto chuckled. "I guess we won't be needing much team practice. Want me to walk you home, Sakura-chan?"

She nodded and her boyfriend wrapped an arm around her.

"Bye, Sasuke," Naruto called over his shoulder.

"...Bye," came a delayed reply.

Sakura didn't say anything to Sasuke. A cold shiver climbed down her spine but she didn't risk peering back at him.

If she did, she would've seen the black eyes boring into her back.

"This was fun," Naruto said, the satisfaction from their meeting apparent in his tone. "Without Sasuke it wasn't the same. I'm glad his stupid trial period ended."

Sakura made a noise of vague agreement.

"But today something was different than usual, I just can't say what it was," Naruto mused, tapping at his chin thoughtfully.

Her breath caught and pulse quickened in the sudden attack of dread. She desperately didn't want to be the only one there to take the brunt of his uncomfortable questions.

"Really? I didn't notice anything. Are you sure?" she asked, praying that Naruto wouldn't think too hard about this. "Maybe it's just because we all haven't been together for so long."

He gave her a squint-eyed look as he mulled this over. "You're right, it was probably my imagination," he finally said, letting the matter go.

Sakura breathed out. That was close, she thought pensively.

She really didn't intend to show up at the training grounds early, but the force of habit was too strong and half past seven she already left her house. Even dragging her feet on the way, she arrived with more than ten minutes to spare. The sight of Sasuke standing in the morning sun and soaking up the rays, with the aura of meditative calm spreading outward from him, made her freeze.

Sakura took him in for the first time since their argument in the hospital. At the dinner the previous day she was too nerve-wracked to take a closer look at him, but now, away from any prying eyes, she could do that in peace.

The first thing that came to her mind was that he appeared healthy... though her trained medic eye detected slight thinness. His shirt didn't hang on him, but the loose material indicated there was more space under it than she remembered. Also, he wore a belt on his pants which was buckled on the fourth hole.

As much as she had tried to stay away from anything pertaining to him, stopping Naruto from complaining about Sasuke's absence would have been a fool's errand. In result, she knew all about the back to back missions he had taken with their fellow chunin and jounin of Konoha. They had drained him more than he was letting on, she surmised with some growing annoyance at their resident, lazy Hokage. Really, what was Kakashi thinking when he'd been sending Sasuke off on mission after mission without any rest? She'd have to give him a piece of her mind.

Sakura's angry huff caused Sasuke to look up and zero in on her position in between the trees. Her throat dried up. Time was up, no more hiding. He knew she was there.

She came out, hands clasped behind her. She wrung them, overcome by trepidation. Naruto still hadn't arrived to save her from being alone with Sasuke.

"Sakura," he said her name under his breath.

"Hi," she uttered equally softly.

The wind blew and played with her longer hair. This gave her something to occupy her hands with as she tucked the loose strands behind her ear, while thinking hard about what to say to him next.

"Sasuke. Congratulations for your promotion," she began with a banal, knowing fully well how lame she sounded. One day late, even worse that she could have said it then. She hadn't lacked in ample opportunities.

"Thanks," Sasuke replied coolly.

Sakura stared at him, tongue-tied as the conversation's momentum was cut. She was mashing her hands and bending them every which way, but the gesture didn't help much. She hated this stilted awkwardness that settled over them and sapped at her courage like a sponge absorbing water.

Ino would know exactly what to say to him, a little voice whispered insidiously to Sakura. The beautiful blonde had somehow managed to become the first person ever to snag a date with the aloof Uchiha after all. Not that Sakura cared, she had a perfectly good boyfriend of her own already.

Sasuke took off towards the path that led back to the village, interrupting her inner monologue.

"Hey! Where are you going?" she asked, jogging to catch up with him.

"To get Naruto," he replied succinctly.

"Why? We should just wait. He probably won't be long."

Sasuke gave her a doubtful look, but didn't answer.

"I'm coming too," she decided.

"No need." He shot her down. Her fists tightened in the upsurge of ire that swept through her.

"I'm not in a mood to just stand around and twiddle my thumbs, you know," she said scathingly. "Or do you think I'm incapable of looking for my own boyfriend?"

"I didn't say that," he said with a growl.

"Then what?" Sakura spat out, still ticked off and unwilling to let him off the hook so easily.

"I meant that one person is enough to drag the dobe here."

"You're right and usually that person is me. So maybe you should stay and I'll go."

"No."

They glared at each other, both unwilling to back down and let the other get away with a convenient excuse.

"Two people can find him faster," Sakura returned to her first proposal, just to get out of the stalemate that was taking decidedly too long. Sasuke's gaze unnerved her – there was something undecipherable lurking just beneath the surface.

"And then waste time to search for the other person that's still looking?" He unerringly found the hole in her plan.

Sakura bit her lip. "Um, we could use walkie-talkies?" she offered.

"Do you have any on hand? I don't," he pointed out.

Sakura also shook her head. This was a failed idea.

"Then it's settled. I'll go and you wait here," Sasuke returned to his first decision.

"No!" Sakura protested heatedly, nostrils flaring. "I can find him faster."

"And I'm faster than you," Sasuke said arrogantly.

Sakura briefly imagined smashing her fist into his face. But before she had time to decide if she should make this pleasant daydream into a reality, Naruto burst out from the tree canopy and rolled in front of them.

"Sorry I'm late!" he gasped out as he straightened up and dusted off his pants. "Kakashi kept me waiting. I'm late because he was late!"

"Typical," Sasuke commented, rolling his eyes.

Sakura just smiled tiredly, glad their buffer arrived before anything drastic took place. Then she bumped Naruto lightly on the shoulder. "You could have warned us with a clone!"

"Yeah... sorry about that, Sakura-chan." Naruto leaned in and pecked her cheek sweetly. "But we can get to training now!"

"Finally," Sasuke grumbled, looking away from them.

They weren't sparring, instead they concentrated on practicing team formations. Most of it depended on the intuitive action – knowing how your partners moved and fitting yourself within the combination as seamlessly as possible. Ninja, trained together from the young age in cooperation, could easily fall in synch even after years apart, however this day their team was somehow unable to perform as they should have. One of them always took a step out of line, appeared in their place a second too fast or too late. Even Naruto's boundless energy and cheer petered out as the frustration mounted.

When Sakura for the fifth time jumped in with a small delay to complete their group attack, Sasuke had had enough.

"You're too slow. Try to keep up," he criticized openly.

"I'm as fast as I can! You don't give me the time to prepare!" she cried out, throwing her arms into the air to demonstrate how she wasn't to blame for unsuccessful exercises.

"I give you time. Your reflexes are just dull," he observed.

"Are you saying I'm incompetent?!" Sakura hissed out in her most dangerous tone. The blood would be shed if someone didn't do something to stop this right now.

"Guys..." Naruto said, but they weren't listening.

"Not incompetent, too slow to react. It screws with the timing," Sasuke corrected Sakura's assumption. She barked a laugh.

"You're the one to talk! You're screwing up just as much as me, only because you're blindly rushing ahead of both of us!" she accused, not without right.

"Speed is crucial to survival, if you can't hurry up, that's not my problem."

"Guys! Stop this!" Naruto snapped, putting himself in between his two increasingly angry teammates. "This isn't like you! You shouldn't be fighting!"

"He started it!" Sakura spat out in irritation.

"I know, Sakura-chan, I know, but it's just how he is! He's a bastard, but he's our bastard."

"Why are you defending him?!"

"I'm not! I'm not defending anyone!" Naruto denied firmly. "I just want you two to stop arguing. We won't get anywhere like this. When there's a problem, we have to sit down and solve it together. Teamwork, remember?" The reasonable tone accompanied by a disappointed look he gave his teammates effectively stamped out their anger. Sakura looked at her boots, ashamed of herself and how she'd lost her temper. In moments like this Naruto resembled the most the Hokage he was destined to become.

And this was the man she had so frivolously betrayed? The crushing weight of guilt was added to the burden of shame she felt for her behaviour.

"Okay, let's start from the beginning." Naruto clapped his hands once. "Sasuke, Sakura-chan was right, you really were going too fast. Try to go with us, not before us. Sakura, you were distracted and went too slow, I know you can do it better. You both need to concentrate on me and match my pace, alright?"

They nodded.

After Naruto's intervention, their performance as a team improved, but it didn't prevent the same mistakes from cropping up again, even if to a lesser extent than before. At the lunch time, Sasuke declined the invitation to go together to grab something to bite, so Sakura and Naruto went alone.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he slurped his noodles.

"Yeah?" she asked absent-mindedly and bit on the fishcake she took out of her ramen. She wondered where Sasuke would take Ino out on their date. Plain old Ichiraku was more Naruto's style. Sometimes she thought that for her boyfriend dates were just excuses to eat more ramen. Sasuke definitely wouldn't choose Ichiraku for a date venue...

"What did Sasuke do to you?" Naruto asked.

Sakura choked on her food then coughed it up into a napkin.

"What-what do you mean?"

"It's just... you've never argued with him before. I think he did something earlier to piss you off," Naruto explained.

Relief flooded her. So he didn't really suspect anything.

"No, he didn't do anything at all," she replied without looking at Naruto. Instead her eyes were glued to the steaming bowl in front of her. "It's all my fault. I didn't sleep well last night, so I was in a bad mood and took it out on him."

"I see. I still think it's because of Sasuke. He can get on anyone's nerves, right?" Naruto chuckled and she readily agreed. "If he does or says something stupid to you, you know you can tell me and I'll set him straight."

"I know, Naruto. Thanks." Sakura smiled lightly, then fell into her thoughts.

When she returned home, she paced back and forth across her bedroom, torn over what she should do yet had no desire to. She would have rather avoided this, but lying to Naruto any more would be too dangerous. Sakura made her decision and after her parents went to bed she slipped out of the window.

Sasuke came back to the dark house, craving only to shower and rest. He had continued to train on his own in order to get rid of the angry black ball of miasma churning in his gut restlessly. Even after three months of keeping his distance from the village, of staying away from Sakura, he still couldn't stop thinking about what happened between them. Sleeping with her was supposed to help him forget his desire, not make it worse.

Well, Sakura had no such problems, judging by her closeness with the dobe, Sasuke thought bitterly.

At this point he knew his place so well, he could move around without switching the lights on. He was in the middle of pulling up his shirt when he belatedly noticed that the house wasn't as empty as he'd thought.

Someone was sitting in the armchair in his living room.

Sasuke stilled and allowed his shirt to fall back down.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"You're late," the person replied. He recognized her voice.

Sasuke lifted his hand to hit the light switch.

"Don't," Sakura said, swiftly stopping him. "No one should see me here." His hand fell to his side.

"How did you get in?"

"The window in your bedroom. The hatch is still broken. You should get that fixed."

Sasuke ignored that comment as irrelevant. "Why are you here?" He thought she didn't want to see him outside of team meetings.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to cry on your shoulder," she quipped, throwing back his own words from that time in his face. "I came to tell you that I want everything to go back to how it used to be."

"It can't," Sasuke bit out the first thing that came to mind as he crossed his arms. How naïve she could be?

Sakura made a frustrated noise. "It has to! We can't continue acting like we did today! Naruto will notice. He's already asking if something happened between us!"

"And what did you tell him?"

"Nothing, I said I was cranky because I didn't sleep enough. But I can't lie to him everyday. If this is going to work, we have to go back to normal."

"Define normal," he ground out. He was starting to detest that word.

"Sasuke!" she snapped and got up to her feet. "Why are you being so difficult? I'm not asking for much, only your cooperation."

He scoffed. "You came to the wrong person. Ask this of yourself, not me."

"You provoked me today," she accused, coming up to him.

"It wasn't me who was acting out of ordinary. Naruto noticed it too. You didn't control your anger."

"Because of you!" she said hotly, getting into his face. "You were provoking me on purpose! What's wrong with you?!" she cried out in frustration. Then she forced herself to take a calming breath and continued with a little more restraint. "It's about that night, isn't it? I told you it was a mistake. I thought you moved on too and we can go back to normal and be a team. But you're ruining it again. Why?"

Her modulated, patient tone affected him like a red flag waved in front of a bull. She was acting like she was the only reasonable person between them and he was an insufferable idiot. He couldn't stand this any more. His temper flared out.

"Maybe because you're annoying, Sakura," Sasuke sneered.

She stumbled back, almost like she was shot by a bolt instead of his cold, piercing glare. For a split second he glimpsed the sheer disbelief on her face, then she hang her head slightly, shadowing her eyes from him.

"Annoying... You always called me that," she said in a low voice. "I guess some things never change, huh?" she added with a weak chuckle. "You brush me off because what I have to say doesn't matter to you. So, I guess... I'll be going now... There's no use talking to you."

Sasuke stood there, still and numb, as Sakura made her conclusion and if her pained smile (because of him) wasn't enough to utterly gut him, the way she completely gave up on fighting him, like he was a lost cause, like he just wasn't worth it—this was the finishing blow for him. The moment Sakura headed for the door, he blocked her way.

"Wait," he demanded.

"What is it, Sasuke?" she asked tiredly.

He noticed the bags under her resigned eyes and in a flash of epiphany he understood that if he let Sakura go without saying a word, she would cross him out of her life permanently. This wasn't like whenever he'd walked away from her in the past, this time it was Sakura leaving, Sakura cutting him off. A core part of his being balked at this idea in a violent objection. He couldn't let this happen.

Sasuke swallowed his pride and bent his neck. If the dobe had done it, then he wouldn't be worse.

"I'm sorry."

Uchiha Sasuke didn't apologize often. The words didn't come easily to him, but when he said them, he actually meant them. And Sakura knew it.

Sasuke risked a glance at her. She was listening. That was a good sign. He licked his lips and continued.

"You are right about me. I shouldn't have provoked you and I shouldn't have treated you like this today... or that day in the hospital. It was uncalled for and you didn't deserve this from me. And I apologize for that," he said with sincerity.

"Then... why did you do this?" she asked.

There was no use in hiding the answer. Sasuke took a shaky breath in and forged on. "When I saw you and Naruto, something... came over me. I was so pissed off that I didn't think straight," he admitted to her. "I know that's no excuse... and you have no reason to believe me, but... what you say and think does matter to me, Sakura," he said sincerely, looking straight at her. "Please... forgive me."

He bowed his head again and closed his eyes. This helped him feel a little less naked and vulnerable before her. He bared so much of his soul to her, giving her the power to crush him into dust. He wouldn't really blame her if she did. He deserved to be punished, not forgiven.

For a long moment Sakura remained speechless, but he heard her faster than normal breathing, the tremble in her body as she decided his fate.

"Sasuke..." she whispered, then repeated, louder, "Sasuke-kun."

His heart leaped in his chest at the old suffix she used. Only Sakura could make his name sound so good.

"Look at me," Sakura said softly and he obeyed. A wet glimmer in the corners of her eyes told him of her inner turmoil, even as she appeared serious and confident in her choice.

"I forgive you," she said and a giant weight was taken off his shoulders. "And... You shouldn't take all the blame... I was at fault too. I started all of this mess when I came to you that night and I'm sorry for that." She lowered her eyes in shame and impulsively, Sasuke touched her cheek.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he said vehemently. "You didn't know what would happen. I don't regret that night—my only regret is that I hurt you later."

Sakura shivered under his intense focus, overtaken by the quiet ferocity of his confession. "Sasuke..." she whispered his name and bit her lip in hesitation, unwittingly drawing his attention to her mouth. Her pink, velvety soft lips which had felt so good under his own.

"Sakura," he said deeply, his thumb gently brushing her cheek as he leaned in slowly, his intention clear. Sakura's breath hitched and a thrill went through him when she didn't move away. Her tantalizing lips parted.

The kiss was short and tentative, just a hesitant touching of two pairs of lips, but it still dazed him. It was like the first flower of spring sprouting shyly through the snow after the long winter.

"Please, don't... I have Naruto and you... you shouldn't do this to Ino," Sakura murmured when they broke apart.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks. "Ino?" he repeated in utter confusion.

Sakura appeared just as lost as him. "But... but she told me she has a date with..." she stammered out, then caught on. "She wasn't talking about you?"

"Apparently not," he said with a tinge of amusement and brushed a stray strand of hair off Sakura's face, then cupped her cheek. "You were jealous," he observed with a smirk.

"O-Of course not!" she denied, but that embarrassed blush gave out her lie.

"Good." Sasuke steered her backwards and crowded her against the couch. "I wouldn't waste my time on Ino. She's not the one I want," he said heatedly into Sakura's ear and nipped on it.

Sakura gasped and shuddered in his arms. With just a few words and a simple touch he could make her react so much, but that wasn't enough for him. He craved her lips again, so he took them without any hesitation in a deep, dominating kiss. Sakura yielded to him with a small moan that sent a charge through him. Sasuke pushed her down and laid her carefully on the couch.

Her arms circled his neck as he climbed on top of her, but when he pressed his body to hers, putting a little more pressure down on her, her hands clamped on his shoulders and started to push him away. Her mouth became unresponsive to him. Something changed.

Sasuke quickly broke the kiss. Sakura was breathing harshly through her mouth, staring over his shoulder. She looked petrified.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" he asked in alarm. He checked but there was no one behind him.

Her lips moved soundlessly, forming the words he read even without the Sharingan.

Na-ru-to. Stop.

Sasuke sat up, taking his weight off her. "Sakura," he repeated her name, then touched her shoulder.

She blinked and the spell over her passed away. She gave a relieved sigh. Sasuke watched her with sharp eyes.

"What was that?" he asked.

"N-Nothing. Sorry about that." She turned her head away from him.

"You said Naruto. Why?" He wasn't going to let that go without any explanation. Something was obviously wrong with her and it had to do with Naruto.

Sakura's lips pursed and she refused to speak or make eye contact.

"Then it was me. Did I do something wrong?" Sasuke asked patiently.

She shook her head slightly. "No, it's just... that position reminded me of something..."

"Something Naruto did?" Sasuke followed up and from her surprised look he knew that he guessed correctly. "Is it what he did that night you came to me?"

He pierced her with an insistent look, fighting with his own inner frustration, but she stubbornly didn't answer. Sasuke exhaled to calm himself down, thinking really fast, then he got off her. She was free to sit up and she did so, with her knees tucked under her chin, her gaze somber.

"Sakura, tell me. I'm not going to beat Naruto up again," Sasuke promised. "Tell me what he did."

She glanced at him skittishly and he responded with an even, calm look, resolved to wait as long as necessary. After a while, she spoke, words muffled as she put her face between her knees.

"He was so drunk," Sakura began. "Very drunk. I brought him to his bed, took off his sandals. When I was trying to change him into pajamas, he... grabbed me. Started kissing. I didn't want to, he stank like sake," she said with audible disgust. "Before I knew it, he was all over me. Pulling at my clothes. I tried to tell him to stop, but he didn't listen. He grabbed my wrists, hard. I panicked and kicked him off. He tried to pull me back, but only got the necklace. Ripped it off my neck. I punched him and escaped. You know the rest."

Sasuke schooled his face into a blank mask as he listened to her emotionless recount, like she was giving a report to the Hokage. Only his clenched fists revealed the state of his mind. He had half a mind to break his promise, go right to Naruto and wring out his stupid neck. Or even better, go back in time and do it then.

"I see. And you forgave him," he commented instead.

"He was drunk. He didn't know what he was doing. He was horrified with what he did," Sakura defended Naruto. Then she sighed morosely. "What I did was worse."

Sasuke bit his tongue, before he voiced his doubt about Naruto's lack of awareness back then. However, Kiba could have been wrong and Naruto had been really smashed. He'd certainly acted that way at the party.

Sakura's trembling shoulders distracted him from his grim thoughts. Sasuke realized she was sobbing.

"Sakura," he said.

"So-Sorry, Sasuke, I'm a-always crying around you." She rubbed at her cheeks to wipe away the tears.

Why was she apologizing? He didn't understand, but he wasn't going to dwell on it.

"Sakura, come here," he said and opened his arms.

With wide tear-filled eyes she stared for a second, disbelieving in his offer of comfort, before she flung herself into his arms. Sasuke held her to his chest as she cried softly, wetting his shirt. He laid back on the couch, pulling her on top of him. Many thoughts swirled in his head. He wanted to put a Chidori through Naruto's heart. He wanted to take Sakura with him and leave. He wanted to erase the memory of Naruto's idiocy from her mind.

In the end he did none of these things. Instead, stroking her back slowly, in meditative circles, he listened to her quiet down.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," she whispered when all her tears were spent and she was drained. She gave him a pale smile, with tears still clinging on her eyelashes, and with the reddened eyes and nose she still looked so beautiful to him. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

He didn't know who started the kiss. They just moved together. It was damp and salty with her tears, but also heartbreakingly tender.

Sakura sighed happily and pulled away with a shuddering breath. She gave him a strange look, like she wasn't sure about something as she put a hand to her lips.

"It's late. I should go," she murmured.

"I'll walk you home," he offered, equally quiet, but she declined.

"No, I think that would be a bad idea."

Sakura reluctantly got up and he shivered as her warmth left him. She opened his window and looked out to check if anyone was watching.

"Sasuke," she called before leaving, "we have a truce, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then we'll behave normally around each other? No more arguing?"

"No more arguing," he agreed.

Sakura smiled and in the next moment she leaped out of the window and into the night.

She was gone.

Sasuke threw himself back down on the couch with a sigh and closed his eyes. The fleeting wisps of her scent enveloped him with a spring-like fragrance. Alone in his empty house, Sasuke wished that she had forgotten all about the dobe and stayed with him instead.

Then he was hit by the realization that she had given into him on the very same night she had denied Naruto.

A smug smirk appeared on his face.

This is far from over, Sakura, Sasuke thought.

to be continued...

AN: This chapter is the longest so far and it was definitely the hardest to write. But now I dealt with the worst of emotional drama. At least I think so.

Next chapter: Team Seven goes on a mission.

Please review, I will really appreciate it :)