Author's Note: Hey all! I've started something a little new and something dedicated to some very special people! I've been asking you guys for random stuff to inspire me as I write The Life of the Child. This is my way of telling you all that even if you don't see a connection between what you told me and what happens in my story, you're words DO inspire me! Just maybe not for The Life of the Child. So I've put that inspiration to work and will write a oneshot every now and then based on what someone has given me in their review. ^^ Sound cool? These will all be SasukexSakura unless you wish otherwise and send me a message. Thanks!

Inspirator: Marie Pattin

Inspiration: "For the love of all that is holy!", "Maybe you should just jump off that bridge", ticking clock, memories, envelopes.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the characters. I only own the plotline which was actually gift wrapped and delivered to me in a lovely review by Marie Pattin! This one's for you!

Tick. Tock.

Rustle of papers.

Tick. Tock.

Scratch of pen.

Tick. Tock.

Sigh of annoyance.

Tick. Tock.

Tap of foot.

Tick. Tock.

"Oh, for the love of all that is holy!!"

A second, deeper sigh sounded throughout the spacious room. The man of soon-to-be-twenty-one years of age was clearly irritated. He cast a dark eyed gaze towards his boisterous companion. She was ripping her fingers through her hair and looked no happier than him.

Tick. Tock.

Oh.

Tick. Tock.

My.

Tick. Tock

God.

Tick. Tock.

Kill.

Tick. Tock.

Me.

Tick. Tock.

Now.

Tick. Tock.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God!!"

"Sakura…" came a growling protest. Honestly, he would have liked to know where exactly she learned to express herself so… explicitly. He had a short list in mind but was prepared to bet that her present mentor held a large part in maturing his comrade's fierce temper. He had always felt that Dr. Tsunade would be a bad influence on his once-innocent friend.

"What, Sasuke U-chi-ha!?!?"

"I'd prefer if you weren't so free with your exclamations whilst in my house."

Now, Sasuke was in no way a Christian Catholic. But his mother was, and she had frequently brought him to mass during his youth. Sure, she was a few hundred miles away now but he would be damned if she ever found out that such things were ever spoken aloud by a friend of his. If Mikoto ever came to visit – which she was bound to do. She was rather attached to her sons and always kept in touch with both whether she was an annoyance or not – Sasuke was unsure whether she would attack Sakura with holy water or simply boot her out of the house and out of her sight. His mother was quite capable of both. Tch. Fierce woman.

"Exclamations!? I was praying jerk!! Is that so wrong?" He decided against dignifying her lame cover-up with a reply. But Sakura was no idiot and could practically read what was going through his head. She huffed, turned her head away and proceeded to grumble under her breath. "Just because I practice a religion while you brood and sulk your way through life…"

"Brood and sulk?" Sasuke scoffed and laid back to relax in his corner of the couch. "I'm not the one who's frustrating herself over a bunch of stupid invitations."

Sakura groaned. This had to have been his eighth complaint. "You're becoming an adult in nine days! That doesn't happen every day, y'know!"

"I never asked for a birthday party much less for you to organize one for me."

"Well," Sakura flustered with the scattered invites and envelopes in front of her. Curse her less-than-impressive organizational skills. Psh. And she wanted to be a doctor. "What would you have me do instead?"

Sasuke gave a sly smirk and guided her by her wrist to his side of the couch until she was practically sitting in his lap. "I can think of a few things."

Sakura showed mock consideration in her eyes; she was suddenly feeling very playful, just like she always did when Sasuke acted like that.

The two friends had only started flirting very recently. It would always start out suggestive and coy but always ended with laughs and jokes when one of them would spit out an extremely corny or cliché line. While it confused some of their other friends, both were happy with the play as long as it was all in good fun. Besides, they only did it because it kept things interesting between them, they never actually did anything. Hell, they had never even kissed each other – despite there being very close incidents and a small variety of other contact.

Sakura quickly made herself comfortable and slinked her arms around Sasuke's neck when she felt his arms secure themselves around her waist. "Can you now?"

"Mm-hm."

Sakura slowly positioned her mouth to his ear. He had to resist a shiver as she whispered, "Care to give me an example?"

Now he had to hold back a small growl. He could feel her smile and he did not like the fact that she was currently dominant. Oh, well; time for his revenge.

"Hmm…" he hummed as he gently nuzzled his face in to her smooth neck. He made sure to breathe on her skin and smirked when he felt her shudder in response. He went a step further and lightly – so lightly that it was barely there – brushed his lips near her pulse. He was sure that her heart quickened its pace and sped up even more when he taunted, "How badly do you want that example?"

Closing her eyes, she reactively stretched her neck to give him easier access and was disappointed when nothing happened. Wait.

Tick. Tock.

Damn it! Emerald eyes shot open in alarm. She could not be disappointed that nothing happened next! Being disappointed meant that she wanted him to do something and wanted that meant that she was letting her feelings for him resurface. She had always liked Sasuke. Ever since she handed him that picture of the purple flower with blue leaves that had pink polka-dots in their first grade to the time they realized they were headed for the same university. She had always really liked Sasuke. Yes, he was the local hottie where ever he traveled but he had numerous other good qualities about him too. He was caring towards her, if not a bit protective and he was always willing to listen when she needed a person to talk things out with. He saw her through the drama of Middle School and High School and she helped him through his rough family times. They never let each other out of their sights for too long; they knew too much about each other, had too much history with each other: embarrassing moments, dark secrets, special confessions, silly pranks, blackmail, secret hideouts, and lots of good memories. Somewhere in between all of that… she grew to love him.

And when this… flirting thing came up, Sakura had decided that she would not get any of her hopes up and wish that some sort of spark would ignite between them. She had promised herself this. She had promised Ino too. Ino had been concerned for her friend when Sakura told her about the new development in her relationship with the Uchiha and told her to 'be careful'. Sakura nearly scowled at the lack of helpfulness in the quote. 'Being careful' never accomplished anything, especially when she was getting hopeful even though she had kept her emotions in check. Damn her and her stupid attraction towards her lifelong friend!

Sakura felt Sasuke frown and she realized that her body was frozen stiff. He knew that it was a sign that she was uncomfortable and he pulled his head back from her tempting neck. Sure, perhaps he held a slight attraction towards his pink-haired friend. Who wouldn't? She was kind and beautiful and sweet and supportive and loyal. She had been his safe haven when Itachi and his father started fighting and was always there to calm him when his anger became too much: even after he had hit her that one time. She hadn't forgiven him in the snap of a finger but once she had he swore to protect her from anyone who would harm her: including him. In time, and with determination to keep his promise, he had earned a large amount of self-control. But damn it all, it took all of his control not to kiss her each time they got that close! He had hoped that the flirting would somehow quench his thirst for her but it had only succeeded in taunting him. 'You're close but not nearly close enough!'

Sasuke tried to cover what was going through his mind and tried to focus on Sakura. "What's wrong?"

Her eyes seemed to twitch to the side before they kept direct contact. "Nothing's wrong Sasuke."

"You're lying. Something's up. Did I go too far?"

Sakura shook her head. "That wasn't it."

"Then what was it Sakura? Tell me."

Sakura held his gaze. It wasn't a prying one but it was expectant. He wouldn't push her if she didn't want to talk but he did expect to know about it sooner or later. Sakura didn't see how she could tell him about her attraction towards him though. It would only make things awkward between them right? Sakura sighed before she realized her mistake and let out a small yelp when Sasuke neared her face. Their breath tickled each other's face and Sasuke repeated in a whisper, "Tell me."

Sakura couldn't have said a thing if she had wanted to. She wasn't able to form intelligible thoughts while in such close proximity with Sasuke. Did he even realize the effect he had on her!?

Sasuke was having similar difficulties with keeping distance between his lips and hers. When he was this close, he got a full whiff of her shampoo and was intrigued to smell a citrus scent. He inhaled deeply in an attempt to distinguish the fruit but only succeeded in clouding his thoughts with the intoxicating feel of Sakura. Sakura on his lap, Sakura in his arms, Sakura in his mind, Sakura in his sights…

Sakura on his mouth.

Sasuke closed his eyes at the sudden sensation of her lips against his. He surprised himself by learning that he had been expecting her to kiss him. Her kiss was gentle and sweet, just like she was when her temper wasn't through the roof. It was when Sasuke started to respond that Sakura jumped back. She quickly averted his gaze and made haste for the door.

She was gone before he could call out her name properly.

"Happy Birthday dear Sasuke! Happy Birthday to you!" cheers erupted throughout the cozy house of Sasuke Uchiha as the birthday boy reluctantly blew out only twenty of his twenty one candles. This resulted in much teasing from the idiots he called his friends and much eye rolling on his part. There were more people at his party than he expected. Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Hinata, Tenten and even Itachi, Deidara and Kisame had made an appearance at his evening celebration.

"A toast to the jerk," Naruto suddenly called out, holding up a soda drink. "today you are no longer a minor in any part of the world! Here's to Sasuke and crossing the bridge between boy and man!!"

"Oi Sasuke! Maybe you should just jump off that bridge before things get complicated eh?" teased Deidara. Sasuke huffed. He never understood why that freak was his brother's friend in the first place.

Itachi laughed beside his little brother and slung an arm around his brooding frame. "Lighten up bro; it's your birthday. Besides, there's a very pretty lady waiting for you."

Sasuke raised a brow and gave his older sibling a confused look. Itachi gave a chuckle and gestured towards Sakura who was currently wrapping up a conversation between herself and Shikamaru. She seemed to be edging towards the front patio.

Sasuke caught Itachi's knowing glance and tried to brush it off. "It's just Sakura."

"Yeah. Just the Sakura you kissed recently."

Sasuke snapped his head towards his brother with a glare. "I did not kiss her."

Itachi shrugged. "So she kissed you, same diff. The question is, what are you gonna do about it?"

"What makes you think it even happened?"

"I see a lot of things with these eyes Sasuke. It doesn't take a genius to read body language."

Sasuke watched Sakura slip through the door and out to the front patio. She was probably looking for fresh air from the suffocating atmosphere of the small crowd. She had always preferred being outdoors anyway. Sasuke didn't even realize that he was moving to join her company until the cold evening air rushed in to his lungs.

"Hey birthday boy." At least she wasn't completely silent after what had happened the last time they saw each other.

"Hey." Nice approach. Keep it simple stupid.

"Looking for a birthday present? Mine's on the table with the rest."

Sasuke shook his head. "No. That's not what I'm here for."

"Okay." Sakura nodded to show that she was following. "So what's up?"

Sasuke sighed and copied her stance of resting her elbows on the railing of the patio. He stared at the sky for a minute before he sighed and faced his lifelong friend. "What was with the kiss a few days back?"

Sakura held his gaze. She knew that he would approach her sooner or later and she had already planned out how best to say what she meant. But she was risking a lot by telling him this. Strangely, that threat didn't stop her from slowly explaining, "I really like you Sasuke. A lot. Kissing you that time… it felt like a good way to tell you that."

Sasuke nodded in understanding and turned his gaze forwards again. He thought over her words in his head and had to smirk. He couldn't stop his playful side from saying, "You should tell me that a lot more often."

Sakura laughed. It felt good not to be rejected. But thinking back on everything she had ever shared with Sasuke, she couldn't remember why she had been so scared that he would turn her away or let their friendship deteriorate from that one thing alone. Sasuke was her best friend! Why on earth had she been so scared to tell him that she liked him?

She brought her own playful side out and replied, "And why is that?"

"Because I really like you a lot too."

Sakura smiled. She felt so relieved that no big drama had occurred like she thought. Sasuke even seemed to be more relaxed too.

"Then you have to tell me that every now and then, alright?"

Sasuke's smirk grew. "Sounds like a deal to me."

Sakura nodded and kept her smile on as she gazed at the moon. It was a simple half moon that night. Nothing much special.

"Hey Sakura,"

"Hm?" She turned to Sasuke and was met with a pair of lips meeting hers.

She smiled when he pulled away and whispered in her ear, "I really like you."

Who knows? Maybe the half moon could be special after all.

Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed that; especially you Marie Pattin if you're reading this! ^^ Remember Marie, YOU made this happen!