Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the maker of my fangirling source is Kishimoto-sama.

SASUSAKU MONTH 2014

Day 4 (There Was No Warning)

The Thing That He Missed

She was kissing me.

Not a quick smooch on the cheek that wouldn't have been surprising, though would have still counted as a pretty impressively brave move. Not a tentative soft peck that made one's lips barely have contact with the other's, for a few seconds, uppermost. Not anything I could have been prepared for.

Her mouth pressed firmly against mine, aggressive and claiming. The muscles moved in sync with bones and capping tissues to make me remember how well they fit mine by heart (hell, was there even a way to ever forget?!). Her lips were salty, had to do with the ramen she'd just been eating before. Her fingers gripped my hair with the force that was almost enough to cause pain - so she wasn't Tsunade's apprentice for nothing, huh?

Some part of me heard Naruto cursing loudly, making a protest, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Never would I have thought that her fruity smell, her closeness and her warmth could become the only things existing to me in that one strangely intimate moment.

We were sitting at Ichiraku, the tradition of eating together on Friday nights invented by the baka. What for, I wondered? He claimed it was because that was what teams did but I wasn't particularly convinced. Take Sai, for example. It wasn't even until the war that I could have called him a teammate. Tch. Naruto had always exaggerated the importance of the smallest bonds.

Kakashi and Sakura were sitting at the far ends of the bar, leaving me in the middle with the other two guys at my sides. We were waiting for our order and, as always, senseless babbler filled the air as I tried to focus the remains of my concentration for the day on the tasks I had been supposed to get done before Naruto had dragged me out of my office by force. He had become one strong idiot, too, for my inconvenience.

"It wasn't until I began helping her that she started doing her job so well" Sakura was just complaining. "It just isn't fair that it's her who's gonna be promoted" she sighed and propped her drooping head with her hands. Naruto's blond fuzz shook briskly in disbelief, his arms crossed on his chest.

"You're right, Sakura-chan, it should be you, not her!" he exclaimed, his eyebrows drawing together in outrage. "Why won't you do anything about it?" he questioned curiously after a moment of silence. If you asked me, that was the most important issue all along. Not that I was particularly focused on their whining session.

Once again, a deep, tired exhale escaped the only kunoichi of Team 7. "Well, I don't know... I don't want to start a fuss" she explained. "Everybody likes her and I don't fancy being seen as a greedy bitch, you know?" she mumbled, hiding her face from the world behind a drape of pink locks.

I couldn't help but snort.

Everybody's eyes were immediately on me, Kakashi abandoning his beloved orange book, Sai not hiding his gaze with a fake smile, for once, Naruto's confused bright blues drilling holes in my obsidian orbs and Sakura brought to the edge of actually lifting her head. "What was that, Sasuke?!" the blond idiot yelled, squinting his eyes. I froze him with a harsh stare and turned my attention to the girl not taking her astonished look from my eyes. She wasn't afraid to show me her disapproval, anymore.

"What are you even debating on?" I asked and a frown twisting her features deepened. "Just take what's yours and don't care what others might say" I pronounced without any particular care what the words sounded like, wondering what that strange gleam in her eyes meant in the back of my head. Was that anger, hurt or-

"Naruto" her voice was bleached of any emotion "Please move from my way" she paused before adding quietly, like an afterthought "Or else I'll have to make you..."

"What?" the blond was as puzzled as the rest of us was. Sakura huffed in annoyance, placed a palm on his chest, pushed him roughly backwards and leant in my direction.

"Take what's yours, right? Sasuke-kun?" I didn't like the threat resounding in the quiet snarl, what was she-

My mouth was free again. Sakura pulled away a little, looking me straight in the eye, her emerald orbs defiant and flaming with dander. The intensity of that stare... However odd the feeling was and how much I didn't want to admit it... It had been a long time since anything had caused me to feel perturbed like her quaver form, pink strands in a mess, irregular, shallow breathing and those eyes.

The mystification was quickly knocked out of my mind with Sakura's fist making contact with my jaw. Ironically enough, pain shot right through the mouth caressed mere seconds earlier, the burning sensation enhanced by my body crashing into the ground, skin ripping off with the power of the scraping movement.

"Sakura, what the fuck?!" I growled, lifting the embarrassing muddle of limbs on my elbows, shock and shame and deep annoyance present clear on my face, of that I was sure. Kakashi and Sai's eyes were shooting from her to me and back, Naruto nearly joined me on the ground because of the strength of his laughter and Sakura... My eyebrow twitched in frustration. The pinkette was casually fishing little bits out of her ramen broth, not even caring to check if I was alright. It wasn't that I needed her attention, it was just... It wasn't like the girl I had used to know.

I slowly pushed myself to a standing position and placed the fallen bar stool back onto its place. Sitting down, I tried to catch a glance of Sakura's eyes, but, apparently, she decided to ignore me. Nobody said anything and so, we all focused on our meal, the group of freaks we had always been and would stay.

"You got it soo bad, Sasuke!" to add to our weirdness status, it was Naruto, the always-hungry ramen monster, who was the only one who still hadn't started eating and decided to try and not suffocate, choking on his own teases thrown in between hysteric cackles.

"Shut up"

"But, really, you-"

"Naruto, please get your ass to eating your ramen or it's gonna get cold" we were both startled by Sakura finally breaking her self-appointed silence. My eyes immediately shot up to meet hers and their offbeat calm gave me chills. Her lips were graced with a kind smile but even Sai would have been able to tell right away it was fake. Naruto gulped and obediently got back to his meal, but I wasn't going to back down. She was finally returning my gaze and I still hadn't got my due explanation.

"What was that kiss? And what did you hit me for?" I asked as leisurely as I could, having to fight not to be overcome with confusion at the sight of severity Sakura's green orbs held. Had I missed something? She had never acted that way before.

"It was you who told me to take what's mine, wasn't it?" she replied coolly, putting away her pair of chopsticks. "I just did what a cold-hearted, thick-headed bastard like you would never be able to get even a slight of idea of doing" she spat out, and though no other reaction was seen, I was able to notice how her fist clenched under the counter and hear that little noiseless note of pain in her voice.

Three more blinks of our eyes not being taken off themselves and she was standing up, sticking money for the meal into Teuchi's hands and not giving a damn about Naruto complaining about her ramen almost not having been eaten at all. After that, she was gone, not even honoring me with any more glances. Everybody's eyes were at me all at once and I couldn't not feel like I was in the middle of one of the most bizarre phenomena that had ever been present in my life.

"What didn't I understand?" I mumbled, frowning slightly, not giving any of them the same look they were attacking me with. There was a deep sigh which I identified as Kakashi's.

"You don't get how much people change during their time apart, Sasuke..."

ZJeM, 02.07-04.07.14

From author:

Waaah, writing from Sasuke's perspective is too damn hard. T T I'm so very sorry for the OOCness. ^^"

I was going to end it in a hopeful way, kinda like my "Bad Enough For You", but... Well, shit happens.

Also, thank you Tumblr's Sasusaku Month for existing. I've been feeling bad for not writing any fics for my OTP and you gave me the impulse to do so. c:

You can find it on me and my sister's Tumblr account, if you fancy. :)

THANKS FOR READING!