Sakura was six and it was a Tuesday. Just like every other Tuesday she found herself seated on the floor of Sasuke's room watching as he terrorized his town of blocks with an aged green dinosaur.

Why was she at the Uchiha household, exactly?

Well, her mother had to work and so did her father. She saw them early in the morning and didn't see them again until her brother walked her home from the Uchiha's house. Sakura was in school, but she only went half days along with her classmate, Sasuke, whose mother was a good friend of hers. Her brother was in primary school with Sasuke's brother, Itachi.

Let's just say the Uchiha's and the Haruno's couldn't get enough of each other.

"Ne, Sasuke," she starts. Sakura let her foot shake from side to side as she sat perched on the carpet with her legs spread in a V-shape while her arms rested in between them. Sasuke paused in his destruction to stare at the pink haired child with large blank eyes.

"Hn?" He answered. Normally he would ignore her since she had a tendency to talk a lot but his mother always gets on his case about being nice, so he decided to humor her just this once. Looking at her face, he could barely see the eyes hidden behind her bangs to get a glimpse of what kind of emotion she was trying to express. Narrowing his eyes a bit he came to the conclusion that she was a little weird.

"Where—." She paused. It was seemed as if she were trying to gather her thoughts. "Where do babies come from?"

Well he was stumped. At her question, Sasuke fell back onto his bottom with a soft thud as his preferred stuffed animal slipped from his grasp and landed on its side. Honestly, he had never considered the question before and he was baffled to say the least. He looked at her once more to see her head titled to the side. Where had that question come from anyway?

"I…I don't know." And he was embarrassed for there was rarely ever a question that he didn't know the answer to. Sasuke bit his lip out of frustration before crossing his arms. Sakura furrowed her brow. So, if Sasuke didn't know then who did?

"D'you think your mom might know?" She asked. Suddenly the two became very hopefully and shot out of the room and towards the kitchen where Sasuke's mother sat at the table writing something down on a piece of paper.

"Mother! Mother!" Sasuke called. Mikoto looked up and smiled at the children before her.

"Hm?" She answered softly.

"Where do babies come from?" In all their childish innocence, they asked a question that shouldn't be answered until they reached their adolescence.

"Babies, huh?" She answered. She wasn't too keen on lying to the child of her good friend let alone her own offspring but how else was she supposed to climb out of the hole they'd thrown her in with their too mature question asking? Well, one little white lie wouldn't hurt, she supposed.

"Babies come from God." Well it wasn't technically a lie. Their eyes widened significantly as their little fists balled up in excitement.

"Really?" Sakura asked. Mikoto nodded with a smile. That seemed to sedate them for a while. The two bounded out of the kitchen mumbling to each other as they made their way back to Sasuke's room, she presumed.

It wasn't until Itachi and Sakura's brother came home that she regretted her answer.

"Seiichi! Seiichi!" Sakura shouted. She was obviously distressed, her cheeks reddened and tears threatening to fall from her wide green eyes.

"What is it, Sakura?" He asked. He crouched down and rested his hands on her tiny shoulders, searching for any physical injuries.

"Mikoto said th-that babies come from God, bu-but Sasuke said I came from the demon bastard!" She screamed. Fresh tears trailed down her face as she thrust herself into the unsuspecting arms of her dear sibling, hoping he'd provide adequate comfort for her.

Haruno Seiichi was at a loss for words. He peered up at Itachi whose narrowed eyes were focused on his little brother who seemed to ignoring the situation completely. He sighed as he patted his dear little sister on her back before gently pushing her away to get a good look at her face.

"Hey now Sakura, you mustn't listen to everything Sasuke says, okay?" He replied with a sincere smile. "There's no way a cute little sister like you could ever be from the demon…bastard..." He was going to kill Sasuke for teaching a word like bastard to his little sister. That is, if Itachi didn't get to him first.

Sasuke was on the verge of tears from being scolded by his dear older brother. In the back of his mind he was cursing that Sakura. She was known to be a tattle tale, but for her to snitch on him for something that was supposed to be a joke, he was vowing to make her pay. Somehow, someway, she was going to get it. Right after he cried his eyes out for being reprimanded by Itachi.

"I'm really sorry, Seiichi." Itachi bowed politely before smacking Sasuke in the back of the head, urging him to do the same.

"S-Sorry," he grumbled irritably and through frustrated tears.

"Ah, it's fine. Sakura's overly sensitive anyway." Seiichi sighed. He ruffled the flustered Sakura's hair as she stared at Sasuke through puffy eyes, wondering if he was really sorry. "Well, we better get going then. See you tomorrow, Itachi. Say bye Sakura."

Sakura remained silent and only waved as she gripped her brother's hand tightly as they strode through the door. Sakura couldn't understand for the life of her why Sasuke was so mean. What did she ever do to him, she wondered? Maybe he disliked her because she was always in his room, touching his things and playing with his toys? Maybe she should bring her own toys?

Or maybe she was annoying, or boring, or stupid? Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke was really smart in school so maybe he didn't like her because she was stupid? Oh, this was just awful!

"Ne, big brother," she sniffled. He turned his head toward her as they trekked home. "Am I stupid?"

"Eh? Honestly Sakura…" he sighed and smiled up the sky. "Is the sky green?"

"No…?" Came her confused reply.

"Then my little sis is not stupid!" He replied as he picked her and placed her on his shoulders, sprinting the rest of the way home. Both children laughed as they ran through a grassy field across from their humble abode.

Yes, he was certain that Uchiha Sasuke was going to die by his hands.

Sakura was seven and it was Saturday. It was raining hard and Sakura was forced to stare forlornly out her second story window as drop after drop hit her window and slid down the pane. She watched as the burly man known as her next-door neighbor, Kento, tugged a heavy black trash bag out onto the edge of his yard before rushing back to the shelter of his home.

And Sakura sighed because rainy days were no fun especially rainy Saturdays. She was told to stay indoors and play by herself while her mom and dad were at work and Seiichi was busy doing his homework.

Despite the dreary weather Sakura knew of one task she could do that would occupy her time and that was to read. Ever since that fateful day as a six-year-old, Sakura had convinced herself that she was stupid despite her brother saying otherwise. So, she persuaged him to help her read better so she could go to the library and check out books.

It wasn't long before those simple kindergarten level books became a thing of the past and she found herself reading fourth grade material, with limited difficulty. Sakura had found her solution and she hoped that this would make Sasuke like her at least a little bit more.

"The answer is four, sensei." Sakura answered as she stepped back from the chalkboard after expertly solving the problem of two plus two. And Sasuke watched with narrowed eyes as the young girl received praise from the teacher, smiled sweetly, and bounded back to her seat.

Just who in the world did she think she was anyway? Anyone could've answered that question, she wasn't special. Sasuke grumbled as he wrote down the problem in his notebook and moved onto the next one. He had sworn revenge on her after she told on him that one time and he'd never forget it as long as he lived. Even if she was still coming over his house after school.

"Kyaa~! Sasuke is so cool!" One girl gushed as she watched the boy answer question after question with ease while the rest of the class seemed to be struggling, save for one pink haired girl.

"Amazing! He makes it look so easy." Another added. Sakura heard their chatter and looked up from her finished assignment to see half the female population of their first grade class staring at Sasuke with hearts in their eyes. And Sakura could only smirk to herself as she closed the assignment and pulled out a book to read.

'Sasuke doesn't like stupid people.'

Sakura was eight and it was Sunday. And she could barely read the words on the page of her notebook. All the letters started jumbling together and she had to squint just for them to make sense. To top it all off, her head was hurting really badly. She frowned and closed her book choosing to do something else instead. Sakura rubbed her eyes as she went but fell back onto her bottom suddenly.

"Ouch…!" She cringed. Looking up she noticed that instead of walking through her door, she walked into the wall.

Something wasn't right.

"Ne, having glasses isn't so bad Sakura." Seiichi told her as she stared at her reflection with a deep frown marred on her features. After several headaches, and accidents from running into things, her mom had Sakura's eyes checked at the local optometrist. As it turned out, her eyesight had deteriorated from reading in the dark too much, for which she was told not to too many times.

"Really?" She asked softly.

"Yup, it means that you're really smart." He beamed and Sakura couldn't help but smile along with him as she stared at the black rimmed spectacles framing her green eyes. She couldn't help but believe him this time.

Sakura couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face as she strolled into class the following week. Her classmates surrounded her excitedly, attracted by her new feature. They showered her with compliments, how cool she looked, now she was super smart, she'd probably skip a grade. And Sasuke walked right into the middle of it.

"Ne, ne Sasuke!" One of his classmates caught his attention. "Look at Sakura's new glasses!"

Then he saw her, donned in black rimmed glasses that slightly slipped down the bridge of her nose. And he couldn't help but stare, just for a little while. She looked so different and everyone clearly noticed the difference. It wasn't until they caught gazes that he frowned, and he made sure she noticed his frown too. But he turned away before noticing her downcast expression.

So, he still didn't like her.

She allowed herself to daydream as sensei stood at the front of the class, lecturing about something she had read about the night before. Sakura had come to the conclusion that Sasuke wasn't mean to her because she was stupid. She was very smart now so that couldn't be it. Now what else could it be?

She sighed once sensei gave them a break. Looking over in Sasuke's direction she noticed one their classmates, Akira, walk up to him with a package of sweet dumplings in her hands. She thrust it forward, hoping that the Uchiha would it accept. But when he grimaced and declined her offer, she shied away, sat at her desk and tried to hide her sorrow at being rejected.

Akira was pretty, Sakura thought. She was kind of tall, had big brown eyes and short brown hair. Sakura's hair was also kind of short. Maybe that was it! Sasuke didn't like people with short hair! At that moment Sakura decided that in order to stay far from his mean streak that she'd grow her hair out, completely ignoring the fact that Sasuke hated all things sweet, including sweet dumplings.

Sakura was ten and it was Thursday. Her hair had grown a whopping eleven inches ever since her declaration. But she hadn't really noticed a change in Sasuke's behavior. He had grown hostile towards her and even roughed her up a couple times with a sick grin of satisfaction on his face. He even pulled her long pink locks. What the heck was his problem?

So there Sakura sat, in Sasuke's room, hauled up in a spot farthest away from him where she could read in peace without disturbing him. Her parents had work as usual and Seiichi had club activities along with Itachi. Sakura knew that this set up would be in order for a long time but that certainly didn't stop her from trying to make it better to the best of her abilities.

"Ne, Sasuke," she called just like she had all those years ago. He didn't bother answering, just looked up from whatever he was doing and spared her a glance. She swallowed hard before opening her mouth. "Do you—."

"I brought you two some snacks!" Sakura closed her mouth at Mikoto standing in the doorway, wielding a tray of onigiri. She entered the room, sat them on Sasuke's bed, smiled and departed, closing the door behind her. Sakura got to her feet and went to reach for one until Sasuke snatched the tray away, grinning at her maliciously.

"H-Hey!" She shouted in protest and approached him with a frown.

"What? You want one Sakura?" He asked. He was taunting her, and it wouldn't be the first time. She steeled herself, fist curling at her sides and face turning a deep shade of red. "What's the magic word?"

"…p…please…" she mumbled angrily to herself. He huffed and shoved the tray in her direction, not before taking his portion, and returning to his task.

"You give in too easily." He said. Sakura looked up at his expression and her mouth fell open. Shaking her head Sakura took her half and walked back to her corner, pulled her knees up to her chest and munched silently on the triangular snack as her mind worked.

Of course! That had to be it! Sasuke didn't like people who were weak. That's why he looked up to Itachi so much. Itachi was strong and so sure of himself. Maybe he could help her? All she wanted was for Sasuke to be nice to her so their time together would be more pleasant. What's the harm that it could do?

"I-Itachi!" Sakura called timidly just as she and Seiichi were about to leave. The elder Uchiha stared at her with curiosity. Her call also caught Sasuke's attention who was just about to head upstairs. "Can you…uhm…"

"What is it Sakura?" Seiichi asked. He was also confused as to why Sakura was reaching out to his friend like this.

"Can you make me your apprentice?" She all but shouted, startling all three boys in the room at her request. Seiichi looked at her with strange mirth. Sasuke was appalled that she had the nerve to ask such a thing and Itachi was still curious.

"My apprentice?" He asked, humoring the girl.

"Yes! I-I promise I'll do my best! Please!" She bowed deeply. Sakura's face was scrunched up tightly as if she were expecting him to reject her.

"What? Big brother doesn't have time to—!" Sasuke started but stopped once Itachi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"All right then." He agreed, surprising the other three patrons. Sakura's face broke out into a limitless smile, Seiichi grinned and shook his head, and Sasuke growled clearly unhappy. "But it won't be easy."

"Thank you!"

And Sasuke had yet another reason and hold a grudge against this insufferably irritating girl.

Sakura was thirteen and it was Wednesday. Spring was approaching them and so was graduation. That meant a lot of things. One, she'd be entering high school along with Sasuke and a few of her other friends. Two, Seiichi and Itachi would be leaving for college soon. Three, her birthday, March 28, was in thirty-two days.

It was still fairly cold outside though, what with it still being winter. Sakura breathed out a long sigh as she and Itachi walked home from school one evening. Ever since he agreed to be her master, they had spent a lot of time together. He tutored her, got her interested in kendo club, and helped her in all areas of life. Sakura wasn't sure how strong she must be but surely it was enough to get Sasuke to like her, right?

"Master," she called quietly. He gave her silent glance much like Sasuke would. "Why doesn't Sasuke like me?"

"You think Sasuke doesn't like you?" He asked. His tone was an even as always. She nodded, burying her embarrassed face in her scarf. "My younger brother is very foolish. What you may see as acts of hostility are actually meant to be acts of kindness."

"Kindness? But…I don't see how the things he does could be seen as kind." She said. Sakura refused to believe the words he was saying to her. Even though he was her master and always seemed to be right, she couldn't say she agreed with him at all.

Itachi could only chuckle.

"You don't understand him at all, then."

Sakura was seventeen and it was Monday. She was sitting in homeroom staring heatedly at a lone, folded piece of paper sitting in her hands. The object of her distress was a note that she had found in her shoe locker. She was suspicious of the note and quickly stashed it in her tote before anyone noticed it in her possession. There was only one plausible reason why someone would do such a thing and do it in such a manner.

A love letter.

Biting her lip nervously, Sakura unfolded the paper and let her eyes quickly scan over the note before anyone caught her reading it. She looked over the messy kanji for what seemed like hours before feeling a foreboding presence coming behind her. Hastily she folded it and stuck it inside her desk, opting to pull out her notebook for class.

Sasuke eyed her strangely from the seat right behind her. She was stiffer than usually and seemed to be daydreaming a lot more than she normally would. It didn't help that they were seated in the back, by the window that overlooked the field of blooming cherry blossoms.

"Sakura," she jumped out of her dazed state and peered at him over her shoulder. "Pay attention."

And she blushed, turned around in her seat sharply and frowned. How dare he order her around? Sure, he'd done it for years, but he had absolutely no right to. Sakura's frown deepened as she took down the notes that sensei wrote on the board. She was furious.

Sasuke could've sworn he saw smoke rising from in front of Sakura somehow.

Club activities had just ended, and Sakura found herself walking towards the back of the school. Her admirer had asked to meet there in secrecy. Sakura decided to go along with it, knowing that it took a lot of courage for the person to stick it in her locker in the first place.

That's when she saw him. She couldn't miss him. That messy head of blond hair was a dead giveaway. And she was surprised, to say the least. And here she thought he liked that shy girl, Hyuuga Hinata.

"Naruto?" She called. He looked up from the floor to see her approaching with a nervous look on her face.

"Sakura," he started then a smile broke out on his tanned face. "Hey—!"

"Listen, I got your note a-and," she bit her lip as she stared at the floor. "I'm so sorryi! I can't return your feelings."

"Wait! Y-You got the note? N-No way?!" He shouted in dismay. Sakura looked up to see him frantically running his hands through his hair as he seemed to be throwing a tantrum.

"N-Naruto?" She asked nervously.

"But, that means…!" He seemed to be at odds with himself and Sakura was growing uncomfortable with each passing minute.

"It'll be all right." She said. Finally, he seemed to remember she was standing there and let out a nervous laugh.

"Ah Sakura, you see that note wasn't for you." He said nervously.

"Eh?" She sputtered. Then if the note wasn't for her then who was it for? Hinata? "Ah I see, then it's for Hinata, then?" She answered hopefully.

"Eh? How'd you know?"

Sasuke found himself lurking. And he hardly lurked, ever. Only when Sakura was involved. He wanted to have the perfect moment to humiliate her, so lurking was necessary. But humiliation wasn't his reason for lurking today, not this time.

He'd found a confession in Sakura's desk and immediately became furious. Why? Well, he didn't really know. Only that Sakura wasn't allowed to date until he had implemented his revenge on her. After all, he didn't want to involve any innocent bystanders. At least, that was his initial reason for being angry.

Back to his lurking. He was just around the corner of the back door when he saw them. Sakura and…was that Uzumaki Naruto? He still had a crush on Sakura after all these years? To think that idiot actually thought he had a chance with her was laughable.

Then again, Sakura was smiling. He had to get closer, to hear what they were saying.

"It wasn't that hard to notice, you know?" She laughed. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. She…did she turn him down?

"I guess I am pretty obvious…" Naruto scratched behind his head nervously. Sasuke scoffed. Obvious was an understatement when talking about Naruto.

"Yeah, so you were going to confess then." She stated. Wait, he hadn't done yet? What was he waiting for? Sasuke groaned, he didn't want to see this. Especially if Sakura was involved.

"Y-Yeah, I've felt this way for a long time." And he blushed. "I'm not sure I can do this, Sakura."

And Sasuke couldn't take anymore. Screw blowing his cover. He couldn't understand why seeing the two of them together tore him up inside, but it made him feel some kind of awful.

"Sakura," he called out. Sakura looked over at him with a startled expression before it fell into some sort of glare. "We have to go."

"Wait Sasuke, I'm in the middle of something." She said back, not seeming to care that he was ready to go. The nerve, he thought. "Go on Naruto."

"Eh…" He stammered. Looking at Sasuke's heated expression he couldn't help but feel just a teensy bit put off.

"Come on Sakura, I don't have all day." With that, he glared at her. But she returned it right back, surprisingly.

"Go on without me then." Was her reply. Sakura steeled herself. She wasn't going to allow him to tell her what to do anymore. Master taught her to stand up for herself and she be damned if she let him push her around.

"Uhhh…I gotta go!" With that Naruto took his leave, not wanting to be a part of what he assumed would be a fight. Sakura noticed him departing a tried to stop him, but he was simply too fast. Deflated she turned to Sasuke to see him strangely satisfied.

And that pissed her off.

"You see what you did? You chased Naruto away!" She shouted at him.

"Good riddance. Now let's go." He said simply.

"No! I'm not going with you!" She stood her ground and refused to move. Sasuke stared at her incredulously. Just what in the world was wrong with her?

"Tch. What's your problem?" He asked, suddenly angry.

"What's my problem? What's your problem? Ever since we were little you've been nothing but mean to me! You've made me cry, teased me, and just made me feel awful!" She shouted. Sasuke could only stare at her.

"Sakura—"

"All these years I was trying to figure out if I'd done something to make you angry or if you didn't like me for some reason. You don't know how many times I've changed who I am just so…just so you'd be just a little nicer. But no matter how many times I've tried, nothing's change." Sakura wiped her tears and laughed bitterly. He made her cry again.

"…" He remained silent. What could he say?

"Ne, Sasuke," she started. "Aren't you tired of hating me?"

"Wait Sak—"

"I don't want to hear whatever it is you have to say. I'm done trying to please you. I've wasted eleven years of my life. I'm done." With that Sakura made a move to walk past him. Away from him. Away.

Sakura was six and she had a pudgy face, stringy pink hair and highest pitched voice that Sasuke had ever heard. She talked a lot and was a cry baby. But he guessed he liked her.

Sakura was seven and possibly the smartest person in their class. She always answered the questions right and Sasuke was a little jealous. Still, he didn't want her to think he was stupid, so he tried his best to get all the answers right too.

Sakura was eight and she had glasses. The whole class was amazed at them and gave her all sorts of attention. But he didn't really care. Besides, glasses didn't suit her anyway.

Sakura was ten and her hair was really long. Sasuke didn't really like the color pink. But she wore it well and it was pretty. Sometimes he wanted to reach out and touch it to see just how soft it was. Maybe he was a little rough with his caresses, but it was only because her hair was interesting. She was interesting.

Sakura was thirteen and he hardly ever saw her outside of school. She was always with his brother what with her being his apprentice and all. Sasuke was furious. Itachi was his brother, not hers. And she had a brother, why'd she have to take his? But more than anything he was upset that he didn't get to spend as much time with Sakura anymore.

Sakura was seventeen and she was beautiful. Her hair was longer, and she'd really grown up. And she was tough too. But more than anything, she was so nice. She was nice to everyone, even that Uzumaki boy who, no doubt, was the most annoying thing to Sasuke. But he couldn't understand why Sakura suddenly stopped being nice to him.

Granted he hadn't made her life easy, but they were still friends, right? But, now that he had time to really think about what she had said to him, she was right. He was downright awful to her. On more than one occasion, he'd made her cry.

He teased her for unknown reasons. Pushed her down a few times. Withheld snacks that his mother had prepared for the both of them. He talked down to her. Ordered her around. He did everything he possibly could do make her life a living hell. But why?

'Because she was the reason Itachi yelled at me! The reason he spent more time with her than me! It's all her fault, she deserves it!'

But even as he stared up at his ceiling, his mind thinking such thoughts, he couldn't bring himself to agree with them. They were childish thoughts and to blame his terrible behavior on them was wrong. So why?

It took him days to figure it out, but when he did, he instantly felt like Sakura's hand was on his heart and she was crushing it.

Sasuke was seventeen and it was Friday. He was in love.

"I don't hate you." He said one morning as he stood at her doorstep, ready to walk to school. Sakura stood inside. She was tired. So very tired that she didn't know what to do. She'd lost sleep after blowing up at him. Seeing him at her door was either a blessing or a curse.

"…" silence.

"I never did. I just…I never meant to hurt you, Sakura. You…you're important to me."

'What you may see as acts of hostility are actually meant to be acts of kindness.'

"Sasuke…" she whispered. Itachi's words echoed in her mind. Maybe she didn't know him like she thought she did back then. But she had a hunch that she did now. "Do…do you, uhm…"

"Sakura," he stepped towards her. "Pleaase. Forgive me."

And Sakura felt her heart clench and she realized that not only did she not know Sasuke, she didn't even know herself. Seeing him bowing, lowering himself, did something to her. It created an internal feeling that she couldn't describe.

"Sasuke." She breathed out, placing her hands on his shoulders as he rose. Slowly, but surely, she wrapped her arms around him and embraced him tightly.

"Do you like me?" And wrapped his arms around her, taking in her scent as he did so.

"Aa."

Sakura was nineteen and it was Tuesday. And just like every other Tuesday she found herself in Sasuke's room, hiding behind the door, waiting for him to come in.

"Wahhh!" She screamed obnoxiously. But he doesn't flinch, nor jump and there's no indication whatsoever that she scared him. Only a smirk that clearly said, 'Not this time.'

And she deflates and starts to walk out of the room, defeated, until he grabs her and wraps his arms around her and kisses her like no tomorrow.

Sakura never found out how to get Sasuke to be nice to her, or why he even started. She figured he'd always liked her; he just never knew it.

A/N: By far my longest oneshot ever! And it's SasuSaku! I haven't done one of those in years! This was inspired by when I was on vacation and my friends hid in the closet of our hotel room and tried to scary me. It didn't work. Haha! But I'm very proud of this story and how it turned out.