This story was inspired by the song Bleeding Mascara by Atreyu. It begins before the final chunin exams.

One - To The Stage

"One date." He said this reluctantly.

The two words only left his mouth because he was possibly the most annoyed male in the world at the moment. Her incessant badgering had finally gotten to him.

Yes, the pink-haired Sakura Haruno had finally broken Uchiha Sasuke. He figured one date would keep her quiet, and if he was lucky other fan girls would assume he was taken and bugger off.

Sakura wasn't a bad specimen lately. Her chakra control, should he want to continue this affair, would be a marvelous trait to pass onto any possible heirs produced.

This could work nicely. He had no feelings beyond friendship for his teammate at this point, but he'd do this if only to shut her up.

And there went those eyes. Widening jade eyes, slender brows lifted in surprise. Sakura could not believe her ears.

"Excuse me?" She gaped at her childhood crush. Did her ears deceieve her? His pale, usually emotionless face, held a tiny smirk. Sakura gulped.

Now that she actually had this oppurtunity, the kunoichi was at a stand still. Where was one supposed to take an Uchiha heir on a date..?

"I'll go on day eye with you, Sakura-chan." Sasuke said cooly. He was quite amused with his teammates behavior. Normally squeemish and easily embarrassed around Sasuke, Sakura could put on a brave confident front also. She was never hesitant about her crush.

Now that he had caught her off guard... It was rather entertaining to see her falter and stumble about.

Her eyes were wide, mouth ajar, and face as pink as her hair.

"Um, I know this place... It has great tomatoes..." His interest was peaked. How had Sakura known he loved tomatoes so much?

"... When are you free?" Sakura finished unsurely, cautious should this be a joke.

"I'll meet you at your house after training today. Expect me around 10:00." He said this as if he had a care in the world, then turned and walked away. Sakura paled.

Had that just happened to her?

If she had any girlfriends to gush to she would run to them in a flurry. But alas, no female friends had made an appearance in her life. Ino was, of course, a delicate subject to the pinkette. Plus the blond was likely to scratch Sakura's eyes out after this news.

So instead Sakura simply took a walk around her village. She'd always loved observing the people shed sworn to protect. The village had been so peaceful when she was a child, but the tension was slowly rising. Something was building.

Sakura was worried. Since the forest of death... Her innocent perspective was definitely not the same. With Sasuke's curse mark and her obvious lack of skill, there was much to fret about.

However shallow her feelings for Sasuke were before, they had began to deepen into something more complex and intricate during her time spent on his team. She was sighing more than ever these days. Worrying over him and Naruto.

Everyone was growing up, leaving her behind in childhood.

She set down the mascara on her vanity, smiling sheepishly at her reflection. She'd often dream of this night... A chance with Sasuke-kun.

She had made sure her beauty was top notch, yet subtle. He'd be there any minute to whisk her away.

Slowly she made her way to the hall outside her front door and sat waiting on the steps. It seemed there was a hurricane in her stomach. This hardly seemed like reality.

A knock on the door started the drums in her chest. Carefully, oh so carefully, she opened the door. And there stood Sasuke Uchiha with that trademark Uchiha smirk.

Sakura couldn't breathe.

"You ready to go?" He asked, quirking a brow. And Sakura was reminded. It was Sasuke, her teammate. Not Sasuke, the heartthrob. He was a person too.

"Yeah." She smiled.

The walk to the stand was comfortably silent. Both pondering what they'd actually do on a date.

When they arrived, Sakura broke the silence. "When my dad was alive, my real dad, he'd take me here after he got back from a long mission. He loved tomatoes too." Sasuke noticed she said this so calmly. No bitterness nor sadness. He hadn't even known her dad was dead...

"Aah." He replied simply. They timidly made their orders, then went back to a reserved silence.

Sasuke noted that Sakura hadn't been all the screechy. In all honesty, since the forest of death, she had changed. That intrigued him.

"Are you ok?" He asked nonchalantly. Sakura looked at him curiously.

"Yeah, why?"

Sasuke pursued his lips. What should he say? To say he's noticed a drastic change in the girl would imply he'd been watching the girl.

Oh well. He was on a date with her anyways so not like he had any dignity to uphold.

"I noticed you've been different lately."

Sakura didn't know how to respond at first. Maybe she had been a bit gloomy, but surely Sasuke wouldn't notice something like that, right?

"I'm just stressed out. Since the Survival exam, I've..." She trailed off staring at his neck.

Sasuke gave her a warning look. Then he looked away, deep in thought. Sakura looked at her lap, angry with herself for upsetting Sasuke.

When their orders came, they ate with an awkward silence that was ironically slowly eating away at Sakura. "Sasuke-kun, you know I really look up to you. As a ninja, not as a heartthrob. I mean I think your skills are very good and you always seem to know what-"

"-Sakura, shut up." As he said this, though, he had a small smirk. And knowing Sasuke as well as she did, well, it made her smile.

"Thankyou, Sakura-san."

His voice, gentle and blissful, made her stomach fuzzy.

"We should do this again."

"Sure."

They smiled, well one them did.

Maybe she isn't so bad.