My first SasuSaku fic. (:

Disclaimer: I wish Naruto was mine but reality sucks, so he doesn't.

"Sasu-chan, I like you!" A pretty pink headed little girl bellowed, her emerald eyes gazing adoringly towards a certain handsome little boy. She was standing quite a distance from him when she yelled her first confession to him, only moving closer to him now, after remembering that the ever so silent boy was not someone who would yell back.

The little pink head had been following him for quite some time, as always, admiring him for countless of reasons. It was finally now, after a month of setting her eyes on him that she plucked up all her courage she had in her petite little body to confess her undying love to him.

The said boy blushed at the confession he had heard, his onyx eyes held amusement in them as he started to walk away from her. He had noticed her long ago, her pink locks catching his attention most of the times while her emerald eyes drew him in. She was Haruno Sakura, the pretty girl that puts cherry blossoms to shame. A slight smile adorned his face now, when his back was to her. "Hn."

And that was all that he needed to say for the little pink head to hopeless fall even more in love with him. She smiled her wide big bright smile, showing her pearly whites as she giggled to herself, because it was not everyday you see Uchiha Sasuke blushing.

"Forever, okay? Because forever is a really really long time!" She once again yelled out before Sasuke disappeared from her view.

The pink head, Sakura, smiled slightly as she swung her feet to and fro, in and out of the water. "Sasu-chan, I like you." She muttered out tenderly as she turned to face him. A brief thought that maybe asking him to meet her here was a bad idea, since his whole family was brutally massacred not long ago.

Onyx eyes devoided of expression merely stared forward. Turning back, he started trudging out of the area. After all, it brought him horrid memories, seeing as how it was the area where his father had thought him the Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.

He scrowled as he remembered how his dear big brother had betrayed him and his family, massacring the clan ruthless. Walking away from the area, he spat back. "Don't call me that."

Sakura merely smiled sadly in return, making a solemn oath to herself that no matter how he treated her, she would always be by his side. Her eyes trailed after him as he walked away coldly before she looked down into the water.

Her reflection stared back at her clearly, until a drop of water dripped down and caused the image to waver. It was only when the droplets of water kept on dripping at the same spot that she knew she was crying. Yet she did not do anything to stop her tears from flowing.

Because she knew Sasuke would no longer cry, and she would cry for him and herself.

Beaming with excitement, she rushed over to where Sasuke was. "Sasuke-kun, I like you!" A wide smile was etched onto her face as her emerald eyes shone with glee. After all, she was in the same Team as Sasuke which gives her an advantage because she would be with him. Unlike Ino, who was somewhere off alone with her other teammates, who was not Uchiha Sasuke.

Flailing her arms, the gleeful look remained on her face as she pranced around Sasuke whom was twitching just slightly, just slightly enough that it was barely noticeable. Well, as one would expect from the Uchiha twitch.

Sasuke grunted, mustering his fiercest glare. "You're annoying." And with that said, he had walked away from the prancing girl who had stood at the side with a pained smile. If he somehow managed to see that look on her, either he did not care or was ignoring her. With his mind set on training right now, he continued on to the training ground.

Sakura forgave him though, because she was the only one who knew what he had really gone through. In her heart, she knew that he was still the boy that she had fallen in love with. Though she wondered how long more her little heart could take his constant rejection.

Sighing, she then turned back and walked the opposite direction from Sasuke. Determined not to let this rejection, which was the most painful by far affect her, she skipped off to find a serene area to eat her lunch.

Tears trickled down her pale cheeks as she gazed at him lovingly, longingly. A weary smile graced her face. "Sasuke-kun, I like you." Sakura sighed out as she took a few steps forward, her tears dripping from her chin to the ground.

A soft barely audible sigh was heard as Sasuke walked on. He had heard enough and it was time to meet Orochimaru's minions already. Though, he did stop when she mentioned about screaming, not that she wasn't. However, more screaming would have proven troublesome and he did not want trouble while leaving.

His stop was merely for a spilt second before he moved again. He knew what he had to do, even if his chest was swarming with feelings he did not know. But this was destiny and he had to fulfill his destiny, which was to attain immeasurable power to kill his last standing kin.

Sakura wiped the smile off the face, seeing that she could not persuade him to stay. She had threatened him by screaming, not knowing that she had already been screaming all along. Breaking into a full blown sob, a look of fear etched onto her face as she bit onto her lips. Fear that because in her heart, she knew that it was a lost cause. It was only when she felt a hit on her pressure point did she realize that he had disappeared from where he was walking to behind her.

"Thank you." He whispered into her ears as her eyes went wide and more tears fell down freely. Catching her as she fell backwards, he then carried her over to the bench at the side. He frowned as he once again felt those uncomfortable feelings in him. Tucking her beautiful pink hair behind her ears, he then crushed the feelings he felt and went on his way.

It was only when two Jounins had walked passed, in the early morning, and called to her did she wake up screaming out his name. Her eyes once again welled up with tears as they fell down her face and all that rang in her mind was how useless she was.

Three long years had passed since he had finally once again returned to his home land. Sasuke had managed to kill off the sneaky disgusting snake after much planning, knowing that his body was in danger. Sure, the said sneaky disgusting snake had taught him much, but hell would have frilly pink unicorns trotting around if he allowed Orochimaru to take over his body.

Of course, in the span of three years, he had managed to locate his brother and at long last, silencing him off.

It was gruesome because the fight had ended up with Sasuke getting caught in Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan and suffering in his world by getting stabbed repeatedly and going through mental torture like seeing his parent's death again. Of course he was also stabbed physically and ended up with a bruised face with cuts here and there, his right arm dislocated with a broken wrist, left hand sore and bruised due to Chidori, practically a hole in his guts and his blood nearly caking his whole body.

Though the fight was worth it in his eyes because Itachi was in a far worst position, because other then the injuries marring him, he was dead.

He was found passed out in the outskirts of Konohagakure by a team of ANBU members. Of course, with his luck, Naruto had been one of the members in the team and when they were scouting the area, they had found him. Thus, the order of killing Sasuke on sight was voided.

Being brought back and healed of his injuries, by Tsunade herself and Sakura, he was soon fit enough to move around in less then two weeks. Though Sakura would only heal him when he was unconscious.

Endless amounts of trails were brought up to decide the fate of Uchiha Sasuke. It was only after two months of his return that they allowed him to be pardoned of his death sentence. After all, killing off the village's two huge threat, Orochimaru and Itachi, was a big deed. That and he had the support of Naruto.

The final decree was to have at least a member of Team 7 constantly by his side wherever he went, and he was only allowed to do low ranked missions for a year. Though, Naruto suspected that Sasuke would be able to go for high ranked missions sooner then a year due to the fact that the Uchiha is a useful asset for the village now that he came back.

Sakura stood alone by the bridge, where Team 7 would always meet up before missions and trainings. Sasuke had been back for three months and in these three months, he had once again like before, shunned her. Occasionally he only muttered 'Hn', 'Aa' or 'Dobe', and it seemed as though he had yet to acknowledge her even though she had placed a lot of effort in her training, being the best next to Tsunade in terms of being a medic and not forgetting her monstrous strength.

She had also tried so hard just to talk to Sasuke but things just turned out plain awkward or he would ignore her. A grim look settled on her face then as she remembered all those times she tried to get him to open up to her but failed.

Sighing in defeat, Sakura wiped the grim look off her face. She was only at the bridge because she knew that Sasuke would pass by every night after training, and she had wanted to bid him farewell before her next mission straight after.

Sasuke raised a brow as he saw Sakura at the bridge. He continued along before coming to a stop in front of her, wondering why she would be out here so late, not that he cared, but she was his teammate and the 1 percent of the girl population that no longer pinned on him.

"Sasuke…"

If possible, Sasuke's brow would have arched higher, and it did. He then mulled over where the suffix she had always placed after his name went, but then again, he did not care. "Hn."

"Sasuke, I love you…"

Now, Sasuke frowned. It seemed that she was still in the 99 percent of the moronic female population that still pinned on him. He took a deep breathe, looking forward instead of her face with an annoyed expression. It was time to settle this problem once and for all.

"Sakura. I don't like you. I will never like you. I thought you've changed. But, hn. You're still annoying, if not, worst now, just like those fangirls." And with that long speech, he continued walking on.

A pained look settled on Sakura's face before she hastily went forward and grabbed his hand, which successfully made him stop. She then dropped the pained expression and let out a great big smile in which made him more annoyed. "I know… I know. Just wanted to tell you that."

With that, she walked in front of him and pulled him down into a simple kiss.

"Forever…"

Sasuke merely complied only because he was shocked. As soon as she had kissed him, he felt something wet on his face before Sakura had disappeared. Frowning, he wiped his cheeks and mouth before walking on.

A month had passed since anyone saw Sakura. Team 7, including Sai and excluding Sakura were situated at Ichiraku.

Frowns were set upon the faces of Kakashi and Naruto while Sai held his fake smile. However, it was obvious even Sai was disgruntled with the fact that Sakura has not been seen for nearly a month.

Sasuke raised a brow, staring at Naruto who was eating his ramen like an old man. He then glanced at Sai who was smiling like no tomorrow and then to Kakashi who had not whipped out his Icha Icha book. He had sensed that they were all worried and it was driving him nuts because it was annoying that everyone kept silent about it.

Impatient with their behavior, he growled out "Spill."

Naruto placed his chopsticks down, staring worriedly into the bowl. He had kept silent and that only made the Uchiha even more annoyed.

Sai then decided it was time to speak, before Sasuke erupted. "Ugly is missing. She should have returned within a week after setting off for her mission." He said, with his fake smile on.

This ebbed the Uchiha's annoyance and it only led him to shrug. "So?"

"It means that despite a team of Anbu members skilled in tracking out there, there is no trace of her at all. Which also means that Sakura could be…" Kakashi stopped abruptly, not wanting to say what his heart was thinking.

'Dead'

Banging his fist onto the table, Naruto whose gaze was still at his Ramen bowl yelled out, "MISSING! She is just missing! S-SHE. SAKURA-CHAN IS STRONG. She'll come back soon…"

Sai's smile waved a little but he had nodded to Naruto's words despite knowing that Kakashi's theory, if he had complete his sentence would be more truthful. But being with Team 7 while Sasuke was gone had made him realize how to be hopeful and optimistic.

"Whatever." Sasuke said, not really bothering about how they were worrying over Sakura. He then stood up and walked away, towards the training grounds to practice instead of wasting his time with them thinking about Sakura.

Frustrated, Naruto got up just when Sasuke had, determined to beat the shit out of him for being so uncaring. However, he never got the chance because he was pulled back by Kakashi.

"That bastard! Sakura-chan loves him, but he doesn't even care about her! He doesn't deserve her love! Let me beat some sense into him, Kakashi-sensei!"

Sai then went over and smacked Naruto on the head before pointing upwards, where an eagle was hovering around in a circle.

Hastily, Naruto paid for his meal before dragging Kakashi and Sai over to the Hokage's office. After all, that eagle represented the need of an urgent meeting.

Upon reaching the office, they noticed the grim atmosphere in it. The three looked at one another with dread and the silence in the room was broken due to a slam.

"Hn."

Tsunade took a deep breathe, wondering how she was going to break the news to Team 7. Settling with a wry smile, she then clasped her hands together. "As you can see. I called you all here because there is something important I wish to tell you."

Sasuke frowned, wondering why the woman was wasting his time right now when he could have been doing something more productive. Yet, he could not shake off the dread he felt stirring up.

On the other hand, Naruto was blatantly showing the dread he felt. "Well?! What is it, Tsunade-baa!?"

"Right. As I was saying, Sakura is finally back from her mission…" Tsunade trailed off, her wry smile now turned brokenhearted when she saw Team 7, excluding Sasuke, breathe out in relief.

"But…"

This gained the attention of everyone and as soon as the news was told, gasps were heard.

People were grieving and sobbing their hearts out, the loudest of them being Ino who was practically wailing her soul out.

Sasuke frowned internally, annoyed with the constant sobbings and noise but since he was unable to do anything, he shrugged it off.

He had felt the same ache he had felt before leaving for Orochimaru, when she was nearly pleading for him to stay. Those same uncomfortable feeling were once again swarming in his chest.

Sasuke however did not show how he was feeling, as he gazed down to the tombstone that carved her name and at the symbol that represented her, the Sakura symbol.

Naruto glared at his 'best friend', his once bright blue eyes now dull with tears dripping from them. He shook with anger and this attracted the attention of Sasuke. Truth to be told, he would have pummeled the bastard by now because he was not the least bit sad, but it was Sakura's funeral. Her funeral, therefore he would not do such an act in front of her.

"She said she loves you, bastard." he growled out.

"So?"

"Not 'I like you' anymore."

It was then that something in Sasuke clicked and he suddenly knew what he had always been feeling. His eyes grew wide in realization as his body trembled. But then he realized that everything was too late.

Because the person he could have loved, the person who had loved him with all her heart, soul and being was gone.

Feeling his cheeks getting wet, he raised his head to face the skies. A frown settled on his features when he noticed it was cloudy but it was not raining. His gaze settled back onto the tombstone as he lifted his hand to wipe his face, only to realize that it just got wet again.

A sob came out from him before he could control himself and he soon found himself crying hardly, like when his whole family was massacred.

Because she was gone forever, and forever is a really really long time.