Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is my second fanfic, hooray! I think it doesn't have a very good plot (but, really, it just kept nagging at me!); i mean, it doesn't have very major themes, and I'm warning people now that there's smut. I'm trying this out to test my versatility. Sha-chan, I think you better not read this if you don't want to (I mean, you get finicky with topics like this... I miss you, by the way!).

So, basically, I'm using a Sesshoumaru/Kagome plotline, and I think it would have particularly interesting results... Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Basic Instinct

It burned. Beneath his eyes, under his skin, the fire raced unchecked and uninhibited. He fell helplessly, unable to fight against the strong currents of liquid inferno blazing through his body. It would not be long now. He had fought against this inevitable instinctive impulse for as long as he could; yet he always knew he had to succumb to it. Now, it was all a question of when. And who.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto energetically called as she stealthily tiptoed to the forest edge. "We're still training. Where are you going?"

Busted, damn. Sakura groaned inwardly as she slowly turned around to face her blond teammate.

Giving him a huge, fake smile, Sakura waved her hands around. "Oh, I just need to take care of some womanly things."

Naruto looked at her bemusedly and scratched his head. "Like what?"

Wow, could he be any denser? Trust Naruto to ruin the excuse she always used on men when she needed to get away for a while.

Sakura gave him a withering stare as he innocently gazed back at her and started fidgeting.

"Sakura-chan, why are you looking at me like that!" he finally whined loudly. "I mean, what do I know of womanly things?"

"Never mind, Naruto," she sighed, turning around once more to continue her trek to the forest. "Maybe in about thirty years, when you have a wife and kids of your own, you'll figure it out." She looked piercingly at him. "And don't follow me, or I'll rip your head, got it?"

"What!" he screeched, frantically bouncing around, "That's not fair! Why can't I follow you, Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan!"

"Let her go, Naruto," Kakashi-sensei said as he looked up from his copy of Icha Icha Paradise. "You don't want to know what she's going to do."

"But, but…" he sputtered incoherently.

She studiously ignored him as she approached the dappled forest, hardly daring to hope as she stepped under its cool canopy.

She, Kakashi-sensei, and Naruto were training a long way from Konoha. It was a different kind of training, for it required a large area, and a certain amount of time. They were only here for one day, and had arrived that morning.

Sakura brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and bit her lip. Since she and Naruto were reunited after training with their respective masters, she had acutely felt the absence of a certain black-haired member of the group. Not that she didn't miss him before, it just seemed more obvious, now that Naruto's special brand of stupidity was back in her life, the lack of the mysterious and often dark aura of her long-time love was all the more illuminated. Despite her cheerful demeanor, and unaffected attitude when he was mentioned, she always felt a certain melancholy and bleak hope inside.

Now, she had seen a glimpse of black hair and red eyes in the shade of the trees when they were traveling. Her heart had leapt, and she looked quickly at Naruto and Kakashi-sensei if they had noticed it. But they hadn't. She looked back down, disappointed, and mentally bashed her head against a very large pillar for hoping too much. But it happened again, and this time she let her eyes linger, and was quite certain she had seen someone with black hair staring at her. It could be anyone, but it caused her heart to pound.

Breathing shallowly, Sakura looked around the forest and took out small markers so she could come back to the training place. Walking forward with small hesitant steps, she took a deep breath and took off in search of Sasuke.

He smelled her. It was faint, at first, but the smell slowly grew to overpowering proportions that he nearly crumpled. He did not mind; the smell was sweet and flowery, comforting and inviting. The fire burned even more hotly now, and he yearned to reach out and touch this creature with the intoxicating scent.

He drew himself up, licking his lips in anticipation, as she came closer and closer.

Sakura skidded to a stop, panting slightly, her eyes clouding with tears. She had tried sweeping through the outer parts of the forest first, going in a circle until she came to the middle. The forest was huge, and it had taken her sometime to go around its entirety, but now she was in its heart and she had seen no sign of Sasuke.

Chuckling bitterly, she wiped her eyes. She couldn't expect anything else; he didn't exactly send her a special invitation. Besides, she went and did this on her own, so she had no one to blame for her current misery but herself. He could've avoided her and left ages ago. It grew dark a long time ago and she was tired and weary, both in body and heart.

She sank to her knees in an exhausted heap, laying her head against the trunk of a sturdy tree and trying to blink the wetness from her eyes. Shaking her head to clear it, she figured she could probably sleep here for the time being, provided she managed to build a strong enough fire. As she rubbed her worn out feet, she told herself she would think up an excuse for her suspicious behavior on the way back tomorrow.

Setting her teeth in determination, Sakura heaved herself to her feet to look for firewood. She took one step forward, and froze.

There was someone in the clearing besides her.

He gave a low growl, his body poised for action. She was here.

A.N. There you have it. Oh yeah, I didn't exactly watch Naruto Shippuden, so all of the supposedly canon events are mere guesses. Sorry, but I may not be watching the anime anytime soon. Anyway, please review!