A/N: I kind of imagined this situation and just felt like I had to write it out. REVIEW!! (I mean it :D)

She's just across the room, with her friends. There seems to be an annoying blonde (who has shot me a flirty grin more than once), a shy dark haired girl (who blushes at everything), and well, there are a couple more, but that's not the point.

It's her.

Why, why does she sit there and taunt me like that?

It's a library. I get that. A college library, where people come to study and learn. But how is anybody supposed to study when pink locks fly to and fro. I swear, I can almost hear the swish they make as they cut through the air. It's ridiculous.

I don't know her name. For God's sake, I don't want to know her name. Uchiha Sasuke does not go after girls.

Hn, girls go after me. (And they generally get rejected.)

:::

She's giggling today.

I've never been much for the giggly type, but it would be a lie if I said that her laugh wasn't a pretty sound. Not that it is a pretty sound. It just isn't not a pretty sound.

She's looking in my direction now, and I see that her eyes are green. They seem like they would be quite easy to get lost in, not that I would ever do such a ridiculously cliché thing. Then again, she is getting up. Is she going to talk to me?

She's walking, walking, walking. Now she's only a few feet away. I won't initiate the conversation, but if she talks to me, will I talk back? I might. What would I say? Hmmm.

…Oh.

She walked over to get a book, not to engage me in the conversation that may or may not lead to something more.

Hn, not that I care.

:::

Her name is Sakura.

The blonde one called to her when she walked in, and she gave her a friendly smile in response.

Oddly, even though she does seem to get rather angry (and rather violent) sometimes, I think the name fits her. Because beautiful, up until now, was not a word I would have considered using to describe a girl. But Sakura makes me want to change my mind.

Hn, I never liked cherry blossoms, but there are exceptions.

:::

They're looking at me.

I'm not sure why. I mean, it's nothing new for girls to be looking at me, but this particular group, which includes Sakura has never really checked me out.

Her eyes are sparkling. Interesting, how they look in different lights.

Now she's walking over again. I feel a tiny pull to get up and accidentally bump into her, but ugh, there I go with the cliché things again. I would never do anything like that.

"Um, Uchiha-san?"

I look up to find Sakura, yes Sakura, standing next to me, a nervous smile on her lips.

"Yes?"

"Kakashi-sensei says that you're the best student in our year. C-Could you help me out with the biology homework?"

I pause, though I don't really have to think about it. Of course I can help her.

"Hn. You can pull a chair over."

Her smile widens, and before getting a chair, she informs me of something else.

"My name is Sakura, by the way. Haruno Sakura."

"I kn–"

I stop myself midsentence, not wanting to sound creepy, but she looks at me expectantly.

"It's nice to meet you."

She stifles the small giggle that escapes her lips and turns to go get a chair.

Hn, I had to smile. It's contagious or whatever, right?

:::

It's been a week since she first asked me for help.

I've found out a lot about her. She's studying to be a doctor, she wants to help people get better, she wants to cure the world of disease. Of course, her last goal probably isn't going to be achieved, but I haven't expressed my opinion about it.

We study together often now. She's smart, in addition to being attractive. It's a good combination.

"Sasuke-kun, I don't understand any of this."

She complains loudly but I only notice the way her eyes silently beg me for help.

"Hn, this cell process affects…"

And I go on to explain everything to her, in detail. When I finish my mini lecture, I look at her to see if she understands everything and find her head on the table. Instead of being angry, as I usually would, I smile and put my jacket over her shoulders. It's a little cold in the library.

Hn, now I'm cold. I rub my arms, but I don't consider taking my jacket back.

:::

It's been exactly four months since I first talked to Sakura.

…Not that I'm counting.

"Hi Sasuke-kun!"

She's here, obviously. I could probably hear her cheery voice from miles away. Sometimes I want to wince, but most of the time I just feel the corners of my mouth turn up.

"Hn, Sakura."

She puts on a pout.

"Sasuke-kun, you're always so mean."

I look her over, my eyes narrowing. There's something different about her today. She notices my roaming eyes, and blushes, an explanation pouring out immediately.

"I have a date later, so I thought that I'd go directly from here. Because it's nearby. What do you think?"

A date? So, she goes out with other guys. And she gets dressed up for them.

"You look the same."

That is the best I can do, under the circumstances. I don't particularly want her to look pretty for her date with some loser, but I mean, she does. Then again, who said that I had to tell the truth all the time? That's right. Nobody said that.

Her face falls, and we study in silence until she has to go.

Hn, I could care less about her date.

:::

Her makeup is messy, which is strange. Sakura's makeup is always done to perfection, but there are dark streaks on her cheeks and her lip gloss is sloppy. Her greeting is dejected sounding as well.

"Hello Sasuke-kun."

I frown, wondering what could be wrong.

"In case you're wondering why I look so horrible today, my date didn't go very well. Not that I know if I wanted it to go well, but nothing really went well yesterday. Then again, you might not think I look horrible. You probably think I look exactly the same, because you probably notice nothing, right? Right."

I listen intently, trying to mask my slight amusement.

"And now you're smiling? You can be a real, I don't know. You can be a real jerk sometimes, Sasuke-kun."

I open my mouth to give some excuse, but she flounces off stormily without another word.

Hn, I don't care if she's mad.

:::

She sits with her friends again today. A few of them are shooting me dirty looks. I didn't do anything, so I don't dignify them with any response. Is it my fault if she is dysfunctional? No, not really. She's being just slightly ridiculous.

I have half a mind to go over there and ask what is wrong with her. But that might require an apology or something. Please, I didn't do anything wrong.

See, now she's walking over. It'll be all good.

…Well. It would've been all good if she hadn't walked right past me to get another one of those books.

Hn, if she wants to be like that, she can be like that.

:::

I don't look at her for the whole time they're here, not that that takes any effort. I've been doing it for a few weeks already. Her dark haired friend comes up to me after they've left, timidly biting her nails.

"Uchiha-san?"

I look up, pretending that I hadn't noticed her presence before.

"Hn, what do you want?"

"I'm Hinata, one of S-Sakura's best friends. A-And I wanted to t-talk to you about h-her."

I give no response but my sigh is enough to let Hinata know that she has my attention.

"She r-really likes you, U-Uchiha-san. I think that y-you like her t-too, but you're b-both too stubborn to d-do anything about it. Your fighting makes her s-sad, and y-you don't seem h-happy either. I wish that one o-of you would a-apologize. And…"

I smoothly integrate a retort as she tries to think of what else to say.

"I see nothing that I should apologize for."

Hinata stares at me, meeting my eyes for the first time in the exchange. Finally managing to stop her stutters, she leaves me with one last thought.

"I would say that I hope you two will be happy together, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen."

Hn, I'm not even going to bother shooting off a comeback. (Though I'm not sure I'd have one if I wanted to.)

:::

Today the library is slightly louder than usual. Looking around for the source of the noise, my eyes land Sakura and her friends. Sakura seems to be berating Hinata for something. I'm guessing that she found out about Hinata's chat with me. Hinata doesn't look regretful, but she does look hurt, and finally she runs out of the library. The rest of the girls follow her, shaking their heads at Sakura in disapproval. When the last of them is gone, Sakura sinks into her chair and breaks down crying.

I sigh, thinking about Hinata's words, and knowing that I need to do it, I walk over to Sakura.

"Sakura."

She jumps a little bit at the shock, but regains her composure quickly, with a scornful huff.

"Uchiha-san."

"We can stop being childish."

She looks at me in disbelief, her mouth forming an 'o'.

"Childish? Is that supposed to be some sort of an apology?"

I look at her tiredly, almost groaning as I drop into the chair next to her.

"No, that's supposed to be a statement. I do not do apologies, in case you haven't noticed."

"Well maybe you should start 'doing apologies', Uchiha-san. Because when you don't say sorry, people don't like you."

"Sakura, please stop this."

Her voice raises to a higher pitch, and she looks more flustered than ever.

"No, you stop this. You know, we started coming to this library because you studied here, and it took weeks for me to work up the courage to say anything to you. And then, I thought, hey, maybe we might actually have something here. But then, it turns out, you notice nothing about me. You probably even think of me as an annoying burden or something. And if you think of me like that, then fine. Because I don't care."

"You are annoying."

Sakura glares at me, all her hurt showing through.

"But mostly because it was me that couldn't work up the courage to say anything to you. And mostly because I thought, hey, maybe we might actually have something here. Mostly because then, it turns out, you're going out with other guys, so I guess I don't matter too much. And mostly because if you think of me like that, then fine. Because I don't care."

Her voice lowers considerably, to a barely audible whisper.

"Sasuke-kun."

"Hn."

Her gaze is fixed on me, so naturally I look up, to find her face all streaked with mascara again. I guess she was crying (over me?), so her makeup got messy.

Motioning to herself and smiling, she gives me a chance to redo my 'mistake'.

"What do you think?"

I study her, from the baggy sweats to the wild hair to the color strewn face.

"You look the same."

She looks like she's ready to hit me, but I smirk and add on another word, one that changes everything.

"Beautiful."

Realizing my meaning, Sakura edges her chair closer, so close that I can feel a strand of her hair tickling my face.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun."

Hn, I love her too.