Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Naruto or the characters used in this story.

Haruno Sakura, Sasuke thinks, is interesting.

She, unlike others, looks at him as him, as just Sasuke—not the traitor who abandoned his village. She looks at him with so much love and trust, through those too clear, too expressive green eyes of hers—and he feels his chest tighten at the sight.

(He wants to think she is a fool, for giving him her heart when he knows fully well that he does not deserve it, but he cannot bring himself to do so. Because he is Sasuke, and he is selfish and wants her all to himself.)

She, with her too-bright pink hair and eyelashes so long they tangle at the ends, small hands just as calloused as his own, and that brilliant smile— He thinks she's never looked more beautiful.

(He thinks that, for the first time in a long time, he is happy. Because that smile is for him, and only him.)

She, with a temper like no other and strength that could easily crush mountains, can be a dangerous woman to be around. He does not mind though—he knows she's damn proud of it, and he is proud of her growth as well.

(He still protects her, even though he knows she does not want it. He does it because she is Sakura, and she has always needed to be protected.)

She, with her incessant worrying when he is injured or away on a mission, gives him an odd comfort to know she will always be there.

Always.

Even so, he is hesitant to reach out to her, to love her just as she loves him.

(Because everything he's ever loved before was taken away from him.)

But when she looks up at him with so much hope in her eyes that his cold, shriveled heart could burst, he wants to take a chance for her.

Because she is so, so Sakura.

And that, Sasuke thinks, makes all the difference.

So when she flashes that breathtaking smile at him, he thinks he could love her—

(Every bit of her, from her bubbly laughter that makes his skin tingle to the freckles on her rosy cheeks.)

— so he does.

First submission, woot! I found this old little drabble floating in my docs, so I decided to clean it up and post it. Criticism is welcomed, but I do ask that you are not disrespectful about it.

Thanks for reading! :)

- alittletasteofheaven