Authors Note: Hello everyone! I noticed the painful lack of Nozakura fics out there on the internet, so I figured I should write a little piece for the pairing since it's super cute. If you enjoy, please fav/follow and enjoy!

"He loves me, he loves me not..." Sakura said to herself, picking away at the white petals of the flower she held in her hand as she idly kicked her legs that were hanging off of the couch she was seated on in Nozaki's apartment. She laughed at herself, playing such a silly game from her childhood at the age of sixteen. Picking away the last petal, she said to herself with a gloomy expression,

"He loves me not."

Sakura had known her feelings for Nozaki since they had met 5 months ago, and since becoming his assistant, she has loved all the extra time that she's been spending with the tall boy she's been crushing on for such a long period. Even though I enjoy all my time with Nozaki-kun...I wish he returned my feelings, too. It kept her up at night sometimes, sometimes crying herself to sleep when she thought of her Nozaki-kun marrying another woman whom he actually had feelings for. She felt selfish, trying to hold him down and keep him for herself but she didn't regret her strong feelings for the young man. Why does he always act so stoic? she thought to herself. Can't he just...give me a sign? Anything? She knew that she shouldn't blame him for acting so...calm and collected all the time, but part of her hated him for it. Not knowing what he was thinking or feeling really drove her crazy, she wished he was easier to read, but no. He just kept his stoic and unimpressed expression 99% of the time, his thoughts and true feelings locked up inside his head for only him to read. Even though he wasn't perfect, and neither was she, she still loved him for who he was. Although he was silly and couldn't read the atmosphere of the room at most times, he was handsome, funny and kind. A lot of girls seemed to think Nozaki was weird, always being exceptionally quiet and keeping to himself, but Sakura didn't mind it for the most part. She admired it at times actually, he was very different than most other boys his age. Maybe it was just her wild fantasies acting up, but she imagined Nozaki would be a very good father should he ever have children. The thought of the two of them getting married and having kids was enough to make her face go red as a tomato, which was poorly timed as Nozaki re-entered the room and noticed the embarrassed expression on her face.

"Are you feeling alright, Sakura?" he asked.

"Y-yes, Nozaki-kun! It's nothing..." she said with a sad tone, looking down at the floor. She cursed herself daily for her lack of confidence while in his presence.

"You know, you can tell me what the problem is, Sakura. Is it about that guy that you like?" he asked nonchalantly.

HOW DID HE KNOW!? she screamed in her head. Nozaki had a knack for guessing what she was stressed about, whether it was pure luck or instinct, she didn't know.

"Well, yeah...I'm just not sure if he sees me as someone important to him or just someone useful to keep around." she said quietly.

"Does he make you happy, Sakura?" he asked.

"Yeah, he does Nozaki-kun. I'm really glad that I met him, even if things aren't exactly going as I had planned." she replied.

"Do you make him happy?" he asked as well.

Pondering this for a moment, she could recall all the moments she had shared with Nozaki where she had seen him happy or laughing, although they seemed few, they were still special to her.

"I think so." she replied.

"Well, if you make each other happy, then I don't think you have anything to worry about. Maybe he's too shy to admit his feelings for you, too?" he said, looking down at the ground himself now. He didn't have that usual stoic expression that seemed to be glued to his face, but he had that little smile that he gets sometimes, as if laughing at some personal joke in his head. She remembered only seeing that smile for herself at the festival a few weeks ago, it was small and barely noticeable, but she saw it.

"Hey, Sakura." he said, looking back over at her with a smile on his face.

"Yes, Nozaki-kun?" she replied.

"What do you think of me?" he asked nonchalantly as always, definitely not reading the atmosphere.

"WHAA-well...I think you're really kind, Nozaki-kun. You're smart, funny and I'm really glad that I met you so many months ago. I always thought that maybe you were just keeping me around because I was useful, though. Even if we were friends." she said much more confidently than usual.

"Sakura...thank you, really. It means a lot coming from you. I think you're a lot smarter than I am, you're more friendly and sociable and can read the mood of a room a lot better than I ever could." he said with a chuckle. "I would never keep you around just because you helped me with drawing, I'm not that shallow or manipulative. I'm glad that I met you too."

"Nozaki-kun..." she began, getting teary eyed at his kind and reassuring words for her. So he does care about me after all, she thought as she sighed with relief. Feeling overcome with emotion, she jumped forward and hugged Nozaki, taking him by surprise. For a second, he didn't hug her back out of shock, but that quickly wore off as he wrapped his arms around Sakura's back and smiled, closing his eyes.

"Do you really mean it?" she asked hopefully, looking up at him with those beautiful purple pools that Nozaki loved so much. He didn't know when the young woman had started to affect his mind so much, but he had now realised what it meant to really be in love with someone. He always cursed himself for saying the wrong thing, and hated his lack of confidence when it came to this sort of thing. He always kept that stoic expression on his face to hide how he really felt, but every time he saw Sakura either at school or when they walked home to his apartment to work on manga, his heart always did backflips. He loved everything about the girl, from her pretty orange hair to the cute little polka dot bows that she always wore on either side of her head. He loved how short she was, always looking up at him when they addressed each other made him feel like a protector or a big brother, and he loved that sense of responsibility. Although he cursed himself for ruining his confession to Sakura at the festival a few weeks ago, he played it off instinctively by saying something about fireworks. Damn it, Nozaki, why do you always say the wrong things? he thought, cursing himself at being unable to let her know how he really felt. Looking down at the girl who still had her petite arms wrapped around his tall frame, he smiled and ruffled her hair affectionately, saying,

"Of course I do, Sakura. To be honest with you, I haven't been truthful about my-" he began, when he spotted the petals lying about his couch.

"What's that?" he asked Sakura, pointing to the petals on his couch.

"Oh, I'm sorry Nozaki-kun! I was just...playing a game before you came in." she said, picking up the petals.

Grinning to himself, he had a gut feeling about what she was doing with the flower before he had come in, explaining her red face when he entered the room. Walking over and picking up a flower from a vase, he walked back over and sat down on the couch, offering to play with her. She sat down, curious as to what he was going to do. Looking at her, then down at the flower, he began,

"She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me..." he said, picking off each petal as he played the age old game. Sakura felt herself going red in the face, but didn't say anything and just watched him continue.

"She loves me, she loves me not, ..." he said, stopping with only one petal remaining on the white flower. Leaning in close to her, he planted a kiss on her cheek, saying the fateful words,

"He loves her."