Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary: It's Valentine's Day in Konoha. It's the day to celebrate love, romance, and… murder?!

Warnings: Character death! Don't like that idea? Don't read this. This is not by any means a romance.

How to Win a Man's Heart

The soft echo of laughter and cheer rang through the air as couples of various ages walked the sunlit streets of Konoha. Young girls giggled flirtatiously as they clung to their significant other. Pink and red lanterns hung from street lights, their glow just barely visible in the bright sunshine.

A young blond boy sat slumped across a table just outside a nearby ramen shop. His chin rested in his hands, held up by his elbows that rested on the dirty table. His bright blue eyes stared past the streaming happy couples, with a look of childish boredom and despair on his face. His eyes lit up almost instantaneously as a familiar voice rang from behind him.

"Naruto!" a young pink-haired girl called out as she approached.

Naruto spun around in his seat and leapt to his feet. "Sakura-chan!" He noticed her expression was rather odd, not the usual cheerful sweet smile he was used to seeing. Concerned, he spoke out, "Is everything alright Sakura?"

Sakura timidly shuffled her feet over the small pebbles scattered along the asphalt, her eyes averted down with a blank expression. After a brief moment, she lifted her head again, her typical cheerful smile returning to her soft face. "Yes, I'm fine…" she paused for a moment and glanced around at her surroundings before continuing on, "…have you seen Sasuke?"

Naruto's face contorted strangely as he struggled to remember where he had last seen their comrade. His face lit up overzealously as he exclaimed, "Yes! He said he was going to go train and he headed for the South exit to the woods!" His smile softened as he admired Sakura's soft features, thinking to himself about how he wished she were as interested in him as she was in Sasuke.

"Thanks Naruto," Sakura stated, and with that she turned on her heel and swiftly headed towards what Naruto assumed to be the outlet from Konoha.

Naruto let out a deep sigh before slumping back into his lonely seat at the table, staring hopelessly at the passing couples.

Not far outside the limits of Konoha, Sasuke stood in the center of a ring of trees. Each tree held a small paper target, pinned to the trunk. In his hands he held several kunai, one for each target. He closed his eyes, taking in several deep breaths before soaring into the air and releasing each kunai, one after the other in uniform intervals. As his feet hit the soft turf below, he quickly scanned his targets. He smiled sanctimoniously as his eyes passed across each spot-on kunai. His expression took a sudden turn though, when he turned to the final target, which he had missed by several inches for the fourth time that day. He scowled, silently scolding himself for his disappointing performance. His teeth ground together as his fists balled at his sides. Just as he was about to release a howling scream of frustration, he heard the familiar voice of a much unwanted visitor.

"Sasuke! There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Sakura called out as she strolled up behind Sasuke. Her eyes trailed down to his tightly balled fists, but quickly averted to his eyes as he turned around to face her.

"What do you want?" Sasuke murmured coldly. As he expected, Sakura remained calm and disgustingly sweet.

"Actually, I wanted to show you something," Sakura stated matter-of-factly.

Sasuke noticed a slightly strange appearance to Sakura's smile, catching his curiosity. His soulless eyes scanned hers suspiciously, noting a strange glint in her eyes.

"I've been practicing this new ninja technique that I've been itching to try out," Sakura continued on.

Sasuke released a sarcastic 'huff' and turned his head away in an act of indifference. He really didn't care to see or hear of her new technique. It was probably some foolish ability that any decent ninja could perform.

Sakura took several swift strides forward, stopping only several inches before Sasuke. Her eyes suddenly disappeared into the shadows as she hung her head lower and an unexpected storm cloud swept across the sky above them. Sasuke's full attention was now on Sakura as she spoke in a strangely deep and menacing tone. "I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone," Sakura whispered, her words sounding more like a hiss to Sasuke.

The combination of Sakura's sudden change in demeanor, along with the just as sudden change in climate, had Sasuke feeling uncharacteristically nervous. "What are you saying?" he asked, his voice cracking despite his struggle to conceal his apprehension.

Sakura's lips sinfully curled up on one side as she replied, her tone remaining eerily low, "I've also come to celebrate this Valentine's Day, by taking your heart."

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror, but Sakura gave him not one second to react before she gathered as much chakra into her right hand as physically possible, creating sharp fields of energy that protruded from her fingers like nails. Faster than even Sasuke's trained sharingan eyes could follow, Sakura lurched forward and drove her hand right through Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke stood, eyes agape and lifeless, as Sakura slowly removed her blood-covered hand from his chest. She held out before him, so that he could clearly see, his bloody, still beating, heart.

"This! This is what you've done to me!" Sakura seethed through her bared teeth as she tightly squeezed Sasuke's vital organ only inches from his colorless face. "This is the kind of pain you've put me through all these years!" She could feel the rate of his heartbeat slowly dying as she continued on. "All these years, I've been kind to you, cared for you, but all you've given me in return is hate," she seethed, her teeth grinding as she squeezed the organ tighter in her hand.

Sakura finally released the slowly dying heart as Sasuke's legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground. The bloody organ fell at his side, still hanging on by mere threads of tissue and vessels. Just before his heartbeat slowed to a complete stop, his eyes rolled back inside his head and Sakura smiled down at him sadistically. Lightning shot across the sky above them, and thunder crashed, echoing through the dense forest. "Happy Valentine's Day, Sasuke," Sakura muttered, and turned back towards the village.

After rinsing off her bloodied hands in a nearby river, Sakura nonchalantly made her way down the busy streets of Konoha, a bright smile on her face. As she passed by Naruto once again, she paused, knowing he was certain to approach her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he spotted the person that he thought of as his true-love. He jumped to his feet and ran to greet her. He smiled sheepishly, his right hand behind his head. "I forgot to give this to you earlier," he explained as he reached into his pocket before holding out his hand before Sakura. She gazed down at his closed hand, awaiting the unexpected gift. As he opened his hand, he revealed a small heart-shaped chocolate, covered in a colorful pink wrapper. "Happy Valentine's Day Sakura!" he exclaimed, a big cheesy smile on his handsome face.

Sakura's smile softened and she took the candy from his hand. She took a step closer and closed her eyes as she planted a chaste kiss upon Naruto's unsuspecting cheek.

Naruto's eyes widened, not expecting any sign of affection form Sakura, not even on that day. His cheeks turned a very slight shade of pink as he chuckled softly.

"Thank you Naruto," Sakura spoke softly before slowly strolling off.

Naruto stood in the crowded street, watching Sakura walk away, wondering what had her in such a good mood. A sudden commotion from behind him caught his attention and he turned to a group of frantic villagers.

"Did you hear?" one of the men exclaimed. "They found a boy dead just outside the village!"

Naruto stepped closer to the crowd, his curiosity growing.

"Yeah! Someone said it was that Uchiha kid, Sasuke I believe was his name!" another man hollered.

Naruto's eyes widened, but his surprise only grew as he heard more.

"His heart was ripped from his chest and lay motionless beside his body!"

Naruto's stomach churned and he turned back around to go tell Sakura the terrible news. She was gone from sight though, and that was when realization hit him sickeningly hard.

A/N: I hope this was enjoyable. I know I enjoyed writing it, but I have a sick sense of humor. My sincerest apologies to anyone offended by the death of Sasuke, but I felt it had to be done. I'm fed up with Sakura offering her affection only to have that jerk give the cold shoulder. Sasuke is just lame all around. I don't know why Naruto or Sakura would have a care in the world for this guy. He's such a whiner (not a winner).