Title: Truth or Dare

Genre: Humor/Romance

Summary: Who would've thought that a simple sentence could send the stoic, sole surviving Uchiha reeling. "Sasuke-kun! The truth is… I-I… you see, I… I touch myself thinking of you!" Life between Sasuke and Sakura would never be the same.

Author's Notes: Hehe, needed a fun one to work on in between my other dark stuff. I was going to upload this in my oneshot collection but I think it will take at least three chapters to complete. Next chapter will be in Sasuke's POV (now that will be entertaining to write lol). Somehow my chapters always end up being 5000 words or more, yesh. This is a bit AU'ish as I imagine it to take place after Sasuke completes his revenge and returns to Konoha but at the same time, the characters are rather carefree + Neji is still alive (ehem, if you don't read the manga just pretend you didn't read that... but you really should get your butt into gear and get caught up!).

Please, if you can, spare a minute to review! It makes me happy ^p^

Chapter 1: The Game Begins

. . .

I.

Laughter filled the room as four girls sat comfortably on their sprawled out sleeping bags, sharing gossip and all the filthy details of their teams. Sakura wiped tears from her eyes as she listened to Tenten recount the latest saga on the ongoing Lee-Neji rivalry. It was one of those rare occasions where the girls' schedules lined up and allowed for them to have a small slumber party at Ino's house.

Things were going smoothly, with the junk food laid out on the ground before them, and not a care in the world. That was, things were. The mood, for Sakura, was shattered when her best friend and rival suggested they play a 'little game.' Games never boded well for Sakura when Ino was involved, and they were never 'little', as the blonde audaciously suggested. Sakura did not miss the opportunity to share her displeasure by sending a glare in her friend's direction.

"I know the perfect game for us to play!" Ino's loud voice chimed smugly, as she cast a mischievous glance at the pink haired girl sitting across from her.

It was times like these, Sakura realized, that she truly, without a doubt, hated her best friend. She knew that look. That arrogant, prepare-to-be-put-in-your-place, holier-than-thou look that only ever promised humiliation and defeat for Sakura. She also knew, from the smug tone of her pig-headed friend, exactly which game she was talking about.

"Truth or Dare!" Sakura cringed as the words left Ino's lips.

Now, any normal person would find having to perform an embarrassing and altogether troublesome 'Dare' rather painful. The natural way to counteract that unpleasantness was to take the easy route by choosing 'Truth'. Should be no problem, right? Wrong. When you play with Yamanaka Ino, there is no easy way out because of her infernal clan's ability to possess and invade the thoughts of another person's mind. Whenever a person's answer to Truth questions raised the possibility of doubt, it was an accepted rule of the game that Ino was allowed to use her technique to verify the validity of the response; in Sakura's case, the blonde applied this rule rather liberally and frequently slipped into her mind to divulge all the nitty-gritty details of the truth.

The feel of Ino rummaging inside her head was absolutely dreadful. Maybe even worse than the humiliating Dares the blonde always seemed to have in store for her. Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if Ino stayed up late into the night thinking of potential Dares she could one day ask her. One time Ino dared her to purchase a copy of Icha Icha Paradise, to which she accomplished with much embarrassment and sideward glances from the shop owner. Not so bad. Except on her way out she bumped into none other than her sensei, Kakashi, who simply had to point out how proud he was that one of his student's took after him. Since that day, he treated her like a closet-pervert.

On another occasion, Ino dared her to run around the block wearing only her tight bicycle shorts and a bra. You'd think because this took place in the middle of the night that no one would be around to witness her in such a state but such an assumption would, in fact, be wrong. First, she ran into Jiraiya who was stumbling down the deserted street, clearly intoxicated but sober enough to snicker and all but rape her with his eyes. If that wasn't horrifying enough, just when she thought she was home free and could see Ino's house in her line of sight, she collided face first into the rock-solid chest of, who else, but Kakashi. As he reached down an arm to help her up off the ground, he just had to ask if she was re-enacting the scene from the latest Icha Icha Paradise volume, in which the heroine is seduced by a stripper-lady in the late hours of the evening. She remembered gapping at him, at a loss for words, with her cheeks as red as the Sharingan in his left eye. Then she let out a muffled scream and ran, tears of embarrassment burning in her eyes.

She was sort of starting to wonder if Kakashi was stalking her.

The punishment for those who failed to complete a Dare was almost as bad as having to do the Dare itself since they had to serve as a virtual slave for an entire day to the person who Dared them. In Sakura's case, this was usually Ino, and Ino made damn sure to inflict the maximum damage to her pride by forcing her to perform a large array of degrading tasks and chores. The ridicule she received and the constant gloating made such a failure entirely unbearable.

To say Sakura hated the game of Truth or Dare was, quite simply, an understatement. Why someone would come up with such a sadistic game was beyond her. No, actually, correction. She knew exactly why someone invented the game. Clearly, they were as sadistic as Ino, perhaps even a distant relative, and relished the torment of kind, gentle, innocent individuals such as Sakura; she had a very flattering image of herself.

Sakura crossed her arms above her head in a large X.

"No way!" She stated firmly, shaking her head for added emphasis, not caring at all how childish she was being.

"Aww," the smugness never left Ino's sickly sweet tone, "Is little Sakura too much of a chicken?"

"I am not a chicken!" She pouted, resenting how her so-called best friend constantly looked down on her. "I just refuse to partake in such a childish game." Sakura now crossed her arms over her chest and 'hmphed' with her head turned to the side.

Ino leaned forward a bit and pointed at her pink haired friend, "Just admit it Saku-chan, you're too chicken to play such a grown up game."

"I. Am. Not!" Her cheeks were turning pink from uncontained anger boiling in her gut. Ino always knew just the right things to say to push her buttons and for the life of her, she couldn't quite remember why they were best friends in the first place.

"Really?" The blonde asked with feigned curiosity, "You could've fooled me. And, besides that, did you care to think whether Tenten or Hinata wanted to play?" At the mention of the other two girls, Sakura's attention snapped to them, silently imploring them with a desperate look to side with her.

Tenten scratched the back of her head sheepishly and coughed, "I… sort of…" a fleeting look at Sakura before she uttered the words that all but punched the rosette directly in the gut, "want to play."

No! Sakura's world crumbled a little as she looked at her sole remaining hope. Hinata was a shy and modest girl, surely she would side with her because wholesome girls should stick together.

"U-um…" The pale eyed Hyuuga found sudden interest in her lap with all three girls eyeing her intently. She gulped, "I-it could be fun," her voice trailed off before she looked up apologetically at a mortified Sakura, "I'm sorry, Sakura-san!"

Why. Why did she have friends at all.

Sakura's chin dropped to her chest and her shoulders slumped forward in complete and utter dejection. Who was it that said you could rely on friends to get you through the day?

Ino clapped her hands in excitement, "Wonderful! Truth or Dare it is. Everyone knows the rules, we'll draw sticks to decide who goes first," she grinned as she pulled out four toothpicks from her pocket, and broke the end off one.

The action made Sakura's eyebrow twitch. The evil, conniving witch had been planning this from the start.

"Ok, each of us picks a stick. The one who draws the short one gets to start us off." Ino fisted her fingers around the sticks so all appeared to be of equal length, and held them out for the drawing to start. Sakura, Tenten and Hinata collectively swallowed as they pinched their fingers around their chosen toothpicks and pulled them out to examine which of them drew the short stick.

"Ha, I guess I get to go first!" Tenten smirked as she victoriously held up her toothpick for all to see. Without much hesitation, she turned to Hinata and asked, "So, admit it… Does Naruto know yet that all these 'dates' you two have been going on recently are actually dates?"

The pale-eyed girl's cheeks flamed a deep shade of red and she sputtered for words, "A-ano… I-I… Well, you see…" At last she buried her head in her hands and shook her head, too devastated to utter the word 'no' out loud. The other three girls laughed softly before Tenten reached over and gave Hinata a reassuring pat on the back, "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll realize eventually." For all of Naruto's emotional strength, he was still blind to Hinata's lifelong crush and love for him.

Once Hinata collected herself, she looked between all three girls before settling on Ino, "Truth or Dare?" She asked meekly.

"Dare." There was no fazing Ino. She was the undefeated master of the evil game.

"Oh, um…" as her voice trailed off, Hinata looked to Tenten and Sakura for help, to which they happily complied. It took the power of their three minds to come up with a worthwhile Dare, though they lacked the same finesse that the blonde-haired female seemed to naturally possess.

"Ok," Hinata looked up with some determination, "I dare you to kiss the first male to walk by your house."

"Is that all?" Ino rolled her eyes and got up from her comfortable position on the sleeping bag. "I could do something like this in my sleep," without the slightest bit of unease, she left her bedroom and made her way to the streets below.

Sakura, followed by the remaining two girls, rushed over to the window and eagerly awaited to see who Ino would have to kiss.

"I hope it's an old geezer," Sakura grumbled under her breath. "No wait. I hope it's a horribly disfigured, smelly old geezer," she corrected herself with a snicker. That would definitely be worth all the dread of playing this horrible game. The image kept replaying in her mind, making her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Without even realizing it a maniacal grin twisted onto her face and her eyes gleamed with a certain sinister quality that would definitely scare away any poor child that happened to look up at her.

"Sakura… stop making that face, it's creepy." Tenten shivered as she looked at her friend with a semi-disturbed expression.

"S-sorry," was Sakura's mumbled reply.

Suddenly, they noticed a rather elderly man hobbling down the street and Sakura couldn't help but giggle. Maybe he wasn't disfigured but this was close enough. She could already picture how often she'd retell this story to humiliate Ino amongst their friends.

The girls held a collective breath as Ino casually walked up to the man. Sakura's heart beat wildly in her chest and the anticipation made her throat go dry. She watched, without moving a muscle as Ino took the old man by the arm and led him to the other side of the street. Odd. Don't know why that was necessary, but whatever. As long as the result is all the same.

Slowly, Ino leaned in with a smile on her soft features.

This was it. Sakura could feel the euphoria coursing through her veins.

The blonde leaned in a little closer and… planted a chaste kiss on the man's on the cheek before waving goodbye to him and looking up in triumph at the girls in the window.

"What!" Sakura's heart plummeted as she slammed her palms against the window in disappointment.

"A kiss on the cheek, are you kidding me!?" The whole time Sakura was imagining Ino's humiliation, it was over a definite lip-lock with an unsuspecting male. It never once crossed her mind that when you tell someone to kiss another person, they could miscue it to mean a peck on the damn cheek!

"Argh, we should've said a kiss on the lips!" Tenten smacked herself in bitter resentment for how things panned out.

"S-she made that look so natural… Helping him to cross the street." Hinata stated in partial awe. If it had been any one of the three of them, they would've turned the whole ordeal into a fantastical scene, which would probably end in sexual assault charges.

Ino returned to her room with her ego inflated impossibly higher. How that was even possible, Sakura had no idea because she had felt certain that the blonde's ego was at maximum capacity. Maybe her clan possessed a secret jutsu that enabled them to access unchartered heights of egoism. Anything is possible in the shinobi world, right?

Shuffling her feet back to her sleeping bag, Sakura sat down and grabbed the bowl of half-eaten popcorn to ease her disheartened mood.

The other's resumed their sitting positions as well. Tenten and Hinata looked expectantly at Ino, while Sakura's head remained immersed in the bowl of popcorn, completely oblivious to the mounting anticipation around her.

An unpleasant, smug voice broke through her bubble, snapping her attention back to the game of which she was an unwilling participant.

"I guess that means it's my turn," Ino beamed happily before putting a finger on her chin. "My, my, I wonder who I should pick," her eyes started to shift over the three girls and her grin turned into a dangerous looking smirk.

Sakura felt the dread start to creep in on her face as her stomach fell. Her palms grew sweaty and pupils dilated. No, no, no. Please don't pick me. Please don't pick me.

Please. Don't. Pick. Me.

She chanted the phrase in her head, praying to every god out there to bend her friend's subconscious mind into picking either Hinata or Tenten. Why did it always have to be her at the pig's mercy! She squinted her eyes shut and continued her chant.

"Sa-ku-ra." Said pink-haired female never hated her name more. Not when it was pronounced so mischievously by Ino; it was laced with something sinister and the promise of sure indignity.

"Ino-pig! You always pick me, it's not fair!" Sakura pushed the popcorn bowl off her lap and slapped her hands to the floor in a fit. Whatever happened to friends being nice to one another!

"Don't have a temper tantrum, Sakura. It makes the vein on your temple pop out so your forehead looks even bigger." Ino poked out her tongue, watching as Sakura's mouth dropped open at the appalling insult.

Quickly, her hands rose to cover her forehead and she glared, "It does not pop out!" If she weren't sitting in front of Ino and had no remorse for her pride, she might've run out of the room to double-check that claim in front of the mirror. As it was, she focused on reining in the urge to pout.

Ino rolled her eyes and flipped her bangs to the side before asking the inevitable, "So, what's it going to be, Truth or Dare?" Everyone's attention fell on the rosette, who internally raged with the impossibly hard choice. It was basically like asking someone 'so, what way do you want to die? Impalement or burning?'

Whichever answer she chose, Ino would undoubtedly make her regret it. To pick Dare ultimately meant public humiliation and the likely chance of making Kakashi think she was even more perverted than he already thought. To pick Truth, resulted in much the same but it would at least be more or less contained within their circle of friends. Apply the term 'circle of friends' generously though, because Ino had a rather large mouth.

Ugh. She really didn't feel degrading herself publicly tonight. Making her decision, she looked dead straight into Ino's eyes, her brows narrowed with resolve.

"Truth."

With an equally level tone, and in the absence of shame, Ino asked, "Have you ever masturbated to thoughts of Sasuke-kun?"

…

"Dare! I choose dare!" Sakura yelled, jumping up to shake the blonde by the shoulders. It turns out she would rather be humiliated publicly then answer a question like that. Especially not when Ino would use her weapon of mass destruction and see everything that… her cheeks turned a bright red.

"You can't do that," Ino frowned and brushed her friend's hands off her shoulders, seemingly unmoved by her obvious sense of panic.

"I… I meant to say Dare from the start! I just… the word Truth accidentally slipped out…" She finished lamely. She now stared at her lap pathetically, letting her bangs fall in front of her eyes. Maybe if she cried a little Ino would take pity on her. No, that would never happen. Instead, Ino would use that as further ammunition to torment her within the near and distant future. Crying was definitely not an option.

"Ok, ok," Ino waved her off, suddenly smirking with yet another sadistic plan forming in her evil head. "I'll believe you Sakura," her hand reached forward and she tipped her friend's chin up to look her directly in the eye, "Many wouldn't, but I will."

Sakura had to hold back a shiver. Suddenly she felt her stomach start to tie in knots, and bile lurch in the back of her throat. That look. It made her want to go cower under the covers of her sleeping bag and never come out.

The words departed Ino's mouth, slowly, in an effort to prolong the drawn out, devastating death blow.

"I dare you," blue eyes narrowed, "to tell Sasuke-kun that you touch yourself thinking of him."

Sakura knew her friend's lips were moving; she could even hear sounds filtering in through her ears. She thought she heard everything but surely she must've been mistaken because there was no way her best friend was asking her to tell Sasuke that she touched herself thinking of him.

She continued to stare, wide-eyed and mouth agape at the blonde haired shinobi. In the back of her mind, she heard Tenten gasp and Hinata release a strangled sound, as if she were on the verge of fainting. Yeah. She, was definitely screwed.

With her victory expression growing, Ino arched an eyebrow, "Do you need me to repeat myself, forehead?" Sakura knew better then to assume the question had been asked out of actual concern for her having missed something. Rather, it was a way for Ino to rub in the fact that she had found a Dare impossible to complete.

Finally breaking out of her shock, Sakura snapped, "You can't honestly expect me to say that!" This was low, even for Ino. It was depressing to admit, but she knew that Sasuke only found her existence tolerable because they were on the same team. She couldn't imagine how low his opinion of her would fall if she said something like that. Moreover, and most importantly, she would literally die from embarrassment. In fact, she couldn't even repeat the sentence inside her head without blushing.

Sakura was one of those girls that said 'thingy' instead of… well, you know, the 'D-word' for the male anatomical part. Sure, she was a gifted medic but that didn't mean she could apply the same clinical rhetoric to sex.

"All you're doing is telling him the truth, aren't you?" Ino winked, enjoying the way she could make the rosette squirm in discomfort.

"Th-that's not true! I never…!" She smacked her friend's shoulder and puffed up her cheeks.

"Hmm, I guess you want to quit then?" There was that sickly sweet, mocking tone once again.

Sakura's fingers fisted into the material of the sleeping bag. A frown adorned her face while she struggled to find the words most fitting for an honorable admittance of defeat. Sadly, nothing came to mind. Instead, the sound of Ino's gloating voice irritatingly rang in her ear, making her want to slap her hands at the side of her head to knock the dreadful burning sensation in her eardrums. Oh, how she loathed submitting to Ino.

The blonde goaded her further, "Just admit that I have you beat." Sakura's teeth clenched together, yet still, the Yamanaka clan member continued.

"I'm so excited to have you as my slave for the day. There's so many backorders at the shop that need to be caught up on, and I've been wanting a pedicure for the past week," she leaned in to whisper in Sakura's ear, "You get to be the one to wash my feet. Maybe I'll even let you wash Chouji's fee-"

"I'll never lose to you!" Sakura yelled without thinking, pointing an angry finger in the blonde's chest. There was no way she could admit defeat to Ino, she had her pride as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf and she would be remiss if she allowed her to think she held some form of superiority over her all because of some ridiculous game!

"Those are some big words, Sakura. Can you actually follow through with them?" Ino's head tilted in innocent curiosity, but Sakura knew there was not an innocent bone hidden in her conniving friend's body.

Standing up and snatching the cordless phone from the desk in the far corner of Ino's room, Sakura glared down at her friend. "I live by my promises, I won't lose," she snarled.

Taking in a deep breath, she hurriedly dialed her stoic, teammate's number, not wanting to lose her nerve as the time slipped by. The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Her tense muscles started to relax, thinking he wasn't going to pick up. It's not considered losing if Sasuke's not around, right?

Another ring.

Sakura started to pull the phone away from her ear in preparation of hanging up. She opened her mouth to tell the girls that no one was there, and began, managing to utter the first syllable, "no—"

"Hello?" A gruff greeting could be heard coming from the receiver. Instantly, Sakura froze. Her eyes widened to saucers and her breathing halted entirely, that familiar cold sweat started to break out all over her body and her heart rate spiked to an almost painful level.

That… had to be her imagination. Yes. There was no way Sasuke answered, and there was no way she foolishly called him in the middle of the night to say she did stuff while thinking of him. No. Way.

"Is someone there?" The voice lowered in annoyance, and for once in her entire, miserable life, she wished to god that Sasuke would just shut up. Yes. The stoic, cold as ice, man of extremely limited words, for once spoke too much.

Shakily, she brought the receiver back up to her ear, breathing heavily into phone. She swallowed, and breathlessly spoke, "Sasuke-kun."

Immediately she regretted it. What a horrible mistake. Was her giant forehead filled with nothing but air!? Because surely she did not just speak when she could've just hung up the phone and pretended this phone call never happened. You know, maintain at least some of her dignity, at least in the eyes of her long time crush. That brief moment of adrenaline that ran through her veins only minutes ago had vanished, turning her once more into the quivering, weak girl she really was.

It's okay, she tried to reassure herself. Sasuke didn't really pay much attention to her anyways so he probably couldn't recognize her voice. She could still get out of this.

"Sakura?"

She slapped her forehead. For the second time that night, she really hated her name.

"Y-yes." She stuttered, sounding very much like Hinata. No other words followed as her brain decided to abandon her and drop into an abyss where not much of anything made sense at all.

Neither spoke for a good minute, which was quite alright with Sakura because she honestly had no clue on how to proceed.

Surprising her yet again, it was Sasuke to break the silence. "Is there something you want?" She could tell from his voice that he was growing rather impatient and probably wanted to hang up, but she also noticed a small rasp-like quality to his tone that one normally got in the moments after waking up. Distracted by this thought, her brows knit together and she glanced over at the time.

11:14pm.

Wow, it was much later then she realized. All of a sudden she felt ashamed with herself, "O-oh, I'm so sorry! Did I wake you, Sasuke-kun?" Knowing his training regiments, he probably went to bed quite early. She heard him release a frustrated sigh.

"Sakura."

She knew what meant. It was his abbreviated way of asking 'Can you just get to the point?' Ever the man who got straight to the point. He didn't even give her the chance to regain feeling in her legs or recapture her resolve. Nope. He just wanted to get right down to the self-inflicted knock-out punch to her limited pride.

Her fingers trembled as she pressed the receiver even closer to her ear. Her heartbeat was beating erratically in her chest and for several uncomfortable seconds, her faint, shallow breaths were the only sound made. The heat in her cheeks was a clear indication that her face was as red as a beet and the butterflies seemed to flap thunderously in her stomach.

Oh god. She didn't think she could do this after all.

"Look. I'm going to hang up now," his curt reply broke the silence.

"No wait!" Desperately she pleaded into the phone. Really, she chastised herself. Was she subconsciously a masochist? Why didn't she just let him hang up and let him to think of her as a complete idiot. Naruto lived with the nickname 'dobe', surely she could get used to it too. They could rename Team 7 to Team Idiot and live happily ever after.

Maybe it was the way Ino's face lit up as she started to snicker. Or maybe she didn't want to feel as though she had wasted Sasuke's time over absolutely nothing. Whatever it was, her mouth continued to act on its own.

"I… the truth is… the truth is that…" she wiped a line of sweat that had formed on her forehead and took a shaky breath.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun!" She yelled with her eyes squinted shut before going in for the kill, "I-I… you see… I… I touch myself thinking of you!" As soon as the stammered sentence left her mouth, she pulled the phone away from her ear and slammed down on the 'end' button to disconnect the call. Without any further strength, she collapsed onto her knees and stared blankly at her lap.

Apparently she would rather Sasuke think of her as a pervert than an idiot.

No one spoke, too stunned to say anything until finally, after a good several minutes passed Ino's breathless voice cut through the silence.

"Wow forehead, I didn't think you had it in you."

Just like that the world as she knew it came crashing down upon her. There was no way she could ever talk to Sasuke again. She wouldn't even be able to look at him. Were there any shinobi teams that needed another member? Maybe she could request Kakashi-sensei to send in a request to have her reassigned. Would Tsunade-sama let her join a group from one of the other hidden villages? That would be most preferable because there was no way in hell she could ever face Sasuke again.

Sayonara, Haruno Sakura. Hello, new-named girl from a far off land.

II.

Five days.

Sakura had somehow made it the better part of a week, employing every shinobi tactic she'd learned over the years to avoid the infamous Uchiha. It was no easy feat either, because as far as shinobi go, Sasuke was about as stealthy as they came. And, it didn't help that he and Naruto made frequent visits to the hospital due to their over-exertive training habits. Already this week they had been in on three separate occasions, but she managed to avoid them by, very forcefully, compelling the hospital staff to deny all knowledge of her whereabouts. She had to wonder, though, if they were pulling for a record.

When she did leave the safety of the hospital or her house, she made sure to travel on busy streets so she could blend in to the crowd and dodge into alleyways and shops at the slightest hint of a possible Sasuke-sighting. She was actually getting pretty good at the whole avoidance routine.

At least, that's what she thought until Naruto cornered her earlier in the day, asking her to meet up with him and Sasuke for ramen later that evening. Funny. She never thought Sasuke was much of a ramen eater.

"Sorry Naruto, I'm very busy tonight!" She informed her friend, feeling a little bad that he had to be dragged into the 'Avoid-Sasuke-Like-The-Plague' plan. It especially left a bitter taste in her mouth when Naruto's face fell and he sadly asked, "Did I do something to upset you?"

Quickly, she hugged him to reassure him that there were no hard feelings between them. "I promise you Naruto, I'm not mad at you," she paused, carefully choosing her next words.

"To prove it, let's go on a date tomorrow night, just the two of us!" She smiled warmly and felt her heart flutter when the blonde gave her his signature grin and a thumbs up.

The moment she made it back inside her house, she promptly called the Hyuuga heiress to inform her that, whatever news she heard, she was not making a move on Naruto. It was simply, the only way she could ensure that the third member of their team was not invited.

For the rest of the evening, she remained holed up in her house until a light tap on the door alerted her attention. Sighing, and pulling away from the medical text she was currently reading, she slowly made her way to the door.

She shivered a little at the cool air that met her, but that was quickly forgotten when she realized who she'd just come face-to-face with. It was like all those horror stories she read where the unsuspecting female opens the door to find the devil incarnate glaring down at her.

"Sasuke-kun," she breathed out. Eyes wide, feet glued in place and suddenly feeling numb all over, she held onto the door tightly for support. What was he doing here?! She couldn't even think of a time when the raven-haired male had ever come to her house.

With his eyes narrowed and a frown marring his carefully chiselled features, she had to say he looked rather angry. In fact, for an Uchiha, she might just as well say he was downright pissed.

Did her 'confession' disgust him so much that he felt annoyed with her? The thought made her stomach drop and tears prickle the corners of her viridian eyes. To make him mad at her stung more than the thought of him thinking she was some kind of pervert. He must've been especially cross if he bothered to come all the way to her house just to yell at her.

Her shoulders dropped and her head bowed in heartbreak.

"We need to talk." His surly tone, laced with impatience, seemed to bite her skin in much the same way as the air does on a winter's day. Though, he didn't give her much time to dwell on it.

"It's about th-"

Instantly her eyes snapped up. He actually wanted to talk about it. As in, her telling him that she… Her face flushed. She remembered then and there why she'd been avoiding him so adamantly. She did not want to talk about that. No. In no way did she want to hear whatever mortifying, harsh, bitter words he had to say on the matter. He should know to act as though nothing happened, like any normal person would do under the same circumstances.

"Oh my goodness!" She shrieked loudly, not having to try too hard to fake urgency in her voice as she interrupted him. "I just remembered I have somewhere important to be! Yes! Um, well sorry! I uh, I gotta go," quickly she slammed the door in his face and dead-bolted it, leaving a stunned Uchiha on her front step.

Nevermind that the 'important place she had to be' was right inside her own house. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do in order to save herself from a fiery, heart-stopping and humiliating end.

All she had to do was outlast an Uchiha. How hard could that be?

Sakura's form slid down the cold wooden door and she buried her head in her knees and hands. All she could think was that she was, indeed, destined for a cruel end.