Summary: sasusaku "You're kinda like a tomato." "Have you been huffing chemicals at the hospital?" In which Sakura compares Sasuke to his favorite obsession: Pie. Nah, just kidding, it's tomatoes.

I really have no idea where this came from; it was about two o'clock in the morning, I was half-asleep, I was reading rippal fanfics, and I just really, really wanted to write, but I didn't want to get up and turn the light on, so I wrote most of this on the notepad on my iPod Touch. So enjoy.

Disclaimer: Aww, disclaimer! A horse is a horse, of course, of course! I own not Naruto, of course, of course! (Wait, did I just call Naruto a horse? Awkward!)

"You're kind of like a tomato."

Eyebrows threatening to disappear into his hairline, Sasuke stared at her incredulously from across his kitchen table. In his kitchen. Where she had just showed up, unannounced, and unwelcome so early in the morning. "Have you been huffing chemicals at the hospital?" he asked her.

Sakura shook her head at his pathetic attempt at humor. "No, I have not. I'm completely serious. You're kind of like a tomato." And she tested the weight of the red fruit in her hands, pleased to know that she had distracted him enough to steal it off his plate, not that the three others would miss it. "Wanna know how?"

"If I say no, will you give it back and go away?"

"No."

"Then yes, by all means, enlighten me." His words were dripping with sarcasm and annoyance, but she ignored them. Rolling the rounded fruit in her hands and testing its firmness, she began with, "Tomatoes are a misunderstood food. They're confused for vegetables; some people don't like their taste... And a long time ago, they were thought to be poisonous."

"...so you think I'm poisonous?"

"In a way. But that's not the point. See, you are misunderstood, much like tomatoes. When we were younger, you were thought to be inferior to your brother because he was so much more advanced. Some think that you're just a cold, thoughtless, stuck-up, anti-social bastard who cares only for himself. They think that you're selfish, and rude, and that Konoha was better off after you left."

Her tone was a bit bitter and her voice had gotten high-pitched as the words spilled out faster and faster. He scowled and wondered why he was even listening to her.

She stared down at the tomato in her hands and was silent for a moment, thinking, pondering. Just when he was about to break it, she continued, "You're all of those things, Sasuke-kun. You're all of that and more. You're stubborn and hard-headed and-and-" She seemed to almost deflate, and he wanted to say something to make her look more Sakura-like, but nothing seemed right, so he did what he did best and did nothing.

"But there's good in you both, too," she said, so softly that he was sure that he was hearing things. She was almost squeezing the fruit now, and he was tempted to pull it out of her grasp so that she couldn't mangle it. "Tomatoes are good for you; there are lots of vitamins and minerals in them, they're a good source of vitamin C, and the antioxidants present in tomatoes help protect against cancer. They smell delicious, like garden and soil and home. They're pretty to look at, too, a nice brilliant red, if you're lucky. And they go with a lot of dishes." She smiled down at it. "And you..."

He unconsciously leaned forward, almost eager, in a way, to hear her. "And me?" he prodded.

She laughed. "And you're so confusing. One minute you're cold, then you're joking and smirking. First you say something cruel, then you do something really sweet that makes my heart flutter. You spar until I'm ready to pass out, then berate me on a mission for putting myself at risk. You care more than you let on."

"I don't care," he told her with a hint of a scowl. "I'm not that sort of person, Sakura."

"Yes you are. You just like to pretend you're tough and collected. But I know that inside you're a person that worries if Naruto drinks too much, that warns men off of me because you're over-protective, that puts up that barrier because you're afraid of being hurt again. You still feel guilty for leaving and trying to kill us and innocent people, even though we have forgiven you. You still keep me at an arm's length because commitment makes you uncomfortable. You're friends with Naruto, but you insult him because you don't want to publicly display your affection for him, like a brother. You're just afraid to show that you care."

"I don't-"

"And like a tomato, you'll always be hated, and looked down upon, and thought less of, because that's life, and it's never fair," she continued. "But like a tomato, there will always be people who love you, who would be with you every day because they love you so much, who would gladly die for you or spend their lives with you, or leave you alone if you wanted, just to make you happy!" It wasn't about tomatoes anymore, he knew it but kept silent. "And maybe they're going a bit crazy because you don't show that you care, even a little bit, and they just love you so damn much-even though you seem perfectly fine with a platonic friendship-"

"Sakura."

"And tomatoes never want to spend time with you, and they seem perfectly fine with just wasting their lives, sitting in a place with too many memories, remembering their family history and drowning in woe! And they always, always want to put you down and consistently distance themselves, and they like to break your heart, and they like to be so damn beautiful that you die a little inside when you see them and know that they're not yours, and you just want to hold them and kiss them and, let's face it, do lots of other stuff because, damn, they're sexy as hell, and-"

"Sakura."

"WHAT?" She was panting rapidly and her eyes were wild, caught up in her own thoughts and staring straight at him.

"…." He hesitated, then said, "I don't just warn guys off of you because I'm over-protective. I'm just… a bit jealous, I guess."

She blinked and swept her bangs out of her eyes, as if she was sure that they were somehow obstructing her hearing. "Huh?"

Sasuke smirked, but it wasn't in a sardonic sort of way, then he reached across the table and pried the now completely mangled tomato from her hands, then grasped them in his. "It's okay. The, er, tomato is glad that you know him-them-so well. And they, uh, they… Like you too."

"….like like?"

He sighed. "Yes, Sakura, like like."

A beatific smile lit up her face, and she squeezed his hands in hers, close to tears and laughter. "Okay. Well then, tell the tomatoes that I'm free tonight. And they better bring flowers to the restaurant, because otherwise I will murder them in their sleep. And they won't get any."

"I'll be sure to relay the message."

She pulled him across the table with her inhuman strength and captured his lips in a fiery kiss, and he liked it, even if her lips were salty with her tears. When he pulled back, he was smiling, but then he thought of something and frowned.

"So wait, you really think I'm like a tomato?"

Yeah, I'm not sure where this was going, but I promised to put this up, so yeah! Friend me on facebook, link's in my profile, I like friends… That wasn't creepy at all. I know it's short, but I wanted to hurry and get it up, and my butt hurts, so yeah. Also, strange thing, as I was reading this back aloud, every time I read Sakura's part, it came out in Meredith Grey's voice lol I don't know why, but it just fit. So, review, please! Oh, and I'll update my other stories soon, kaykaykay?