All of my stories will be set in the same world before or during Sasuke and Sakura's relationship. This is before they date.

Backstory: Sasuke returned to the village after killing Itachi and getting his revenge. He doesn't know the truth about Danto's involvement and Itachi's true motives.

11:31pm

Team 7 passed the Konoha gates. It was the middle of winter and it was freezing and only Sasuke and Kakashi were dressed for the weather. Sasuke has opened up a little to his teammates over the past 5 months. He's also become quite famous for his strength, good looks, redemption and eventual inheritance of the Uchiha fortune. He hates ever being the center of attention, but he's grateful to be leaving the village going on missions with his…friends? Anyway, they have just returned from a week-long mission cold, tired and weak.

They walked together until Kakashi turned towards his house with a quick "See yah!"

"Do you guys wanna go get some late-night ramen?" Naruto asked to his two remaining friends.

"No I just want to get back to my bed and go to sleep for the next 24 hours," Sakura replied tiredly.

"Ok, what about you Sasuke?" the blonde inquired.

"No," Sasuke bluntly told his best friend.

"Fine I'll go grab some by myself," Naruto told them both, "Oh that was the turn! See you two tomorrow!" He turned around and shot a hand up in farewell as he ran back in the direction of his favorite ramen hut; leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone walking down a dark, isolated road.

"Wow that was *yawn* a really, really long mission," Sakura originated.

"Yeah," Sasuke replied with his hands stuffed in his coat pockets while staring at the ground.

"At least we have the next few days off," she said.

"Hn," was all he replied.

"Do you have any plans this weekend?" she asked.

"No."

"Maybe we could go do something, you know, just you and me?" she optimistically asked.

"Eh, like what?"

"Well there's a new restaurant not far from here, or there's that new Yukie Fujikaze movie. Or maybe we could—hey, is the circus in town?"

Sakura pointed ahead of them at a large building covered in a red and white striped tarp.

Sakura said, "I hope they have lions and tigers and—oh huh? That's, that's my apartment!"

She ran to the building leaving Sasuke alone in the street. She read a notice on where her building's front door should be. Sakura ran back to her crush and told him:

"They're bug-bombing the whole building! I must've missed the notices while we were gone," Sakura explained.

"Oh. Where will you stay tonight?" he asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to wake Ino up this late but I could probably stay with her tomorrow. Could you walk me to the motel? I could just stay there tonight."

"Yeah sure," he told her, "where do your parents live?"

The two of them began walking again.

"They moved to the Land of Water last year," she let him know, "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, the motel here isn't that good" he replied.

"Any bed will be better than the camping we've been doing."

"Hn."

They kept walking as the moon raised and the temperature fell. It was cold enough for them to see their breaths and Sakura's teeth began chattering. She wished she had brought a sweater. This was one of the coldest Winters Konoha had in a long time. It snowed light enough not to pile up on the ground, but that would probably change soon. Sakura rubbed her arms to keep warm.

"Jeez it's cold," she commented.

Without saying anything, Sasuke took off his coat and placed it around her shoulders.

She giggled and said, "Thanks Sasuke-kun. Are you sure you don't need it?"

"I'll be fine," Sasuke assured her.

"All right I think we're almost there anyway."

"You know, the hotel would be nicer."

"It's sweet you care, but that's miles away and we've already been walking all day. One night in a crappy little room won't be the end of the world."

"Don't you have any other friends you could stay with? That motel probably needs to be bug-bombed more than your place."

"It's fine Sasuke-kun. Hey, isn't that your street?" she asked as she pointed down a row of apartments.

"Yeah," he told her in his typical quick response.

"I don't want to make you walk all the way to the motel then all the way back here. I can make it from here if you wanna go to your place."

"Uh, you know, I have a guest room," Sasuke informed her.

"Are you saying what you I think you're saying?" she asked with a huge grin growing.

"Do you want to stay with me? Just for tonight?" he asked embarrassed.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'd love to," she acknowledged.

The "couple" turned down his road towards his apartment. He owned the Uchiha estates but they needed renovations from years of being empty. Sasuke would fix them once he got his inheritance on his 18th birthday.

"Thanks for inviting me," she told him.

"Yeah it's no problem."

"This'll be fun! It's like a sleepover," Sakura happily said.

"Hn, yeah I guess," he remarked with a smirk.

"Yup. It'll be fun!"

"I thought you were tired."

"I'm too excited to sleep now!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and he began to reconsider his offer. He didn't like having "fun" and he never had a sleepover before.

They got to his very expensive looking apartment. Sakura had knocked on his door many times but she had never gone inside. Sasuke unlocked his door and walked in with Sakura close behind him. Her eyes widened with amazement at how nice of a place he had. It was clean, but that could be because of how little he owned.

"Wow Sasuke! It's nice in here," Sakura complimented as she put Sasuke's coat on a rack. They both kicked their shoes off.

"Follow me, I'll show you the guest room."

They walked into a nice but plain room with a bed, desk and walk-in closet. There wasn't much in it because Sasuke has never had a guest over.

"You can just throw your bag anywhere," he told her.

"All right! This is nicer than the motel," Sakura told him, "Thanks again."

"Hn. Do you want anything to drink or something?" he asked which was about the extent of his friendliness.

"Ok that could be nice," Sakura replied.

The two of them walked into the kitchen and Sasuke opened his refrigerator.

"I have left over take out if you want some," he offered. It was mostly rice and tomato-based meals.

"Ok," Sakura said as if she was in a dream.

They sat at his table and began eating their midnight snack.

"So, what do people normally do at sleepovers?" Sasuke asked.

"Braid each other's hair?"

"No."

"Paint our nails."

"No."

"Watch a movie?"

"Maybe."

"Do you have any dvds?"

"No but I think my TV has OnDemand."

The two of them kept eating their food and she asked, "What kind of movies do you like?"

"Eh, no preference."

"So I can choose?"

"I guess."

They finished their food and Sasuke, being the good host, threw their plates into his sink. Sakura got up and began walking back to the guest room.

She called out, "I'm going to change into pajamas!"

Sasuke began popping popcorn because he figured that's what normal people do. He stomped back to his own room which was just across the hall from the guest room. He began changing into his own pajamas. He would normally sleep in just his boxers but he busted out pajama pants and a t-shirt for this occasion. He heard his microwave beep. He walked back to the kitchen and saw Sakura, wearing a white tank top and pink sweat pants, holding a bowl of popcorn.

He always recognized her as an attractive person, but it was just dawning on him how beautiful she was.

"Popcorn was a great idea, Sasuke-kun," she sweetly called to him.

For the first time in a long time Sasuke felt stunned. She took his breath away and his mind turned to a blank slate and he just stood there starring.

"Um, Sasuke-kun? You okay?" she asked.

"Ah, yeah. Yeah let's watch a movie," he stammered out as he sat on his tiny couch.

Sakura sat on the other side, which in actuality wasn't that far away, and put the bowl between them to share. Sakura grabbed the remote and turned on his TV which never got much use. She began flipping through categories of movies available to rent.

"What kind of movie do you want to watch?" she asked.

"Don't care."

"So we can watch a romantic comedy?"

"If that's what you want," he replied. The truth was he did care. He hated rom-coms but he wanted her to be happy. Why? Because he likes her. A lot. He's liked her for a long time but he repressed it so much he forgot about it.

"Oh good! I really wanna watch The Notebook again."

Sakura rented it and they were watching it for almost 10 minutes when Sasuke realized he hated this movie. When they finished the popcorn and they both got more and more sleepy Sasuke began to have a better time because Sakura leaned on him. She cuddled against him with her eyes glued to the screen.

"Ni, Sasuke-kun, it's getting cold in here."

"I'll get a blanket," Sasuke assured her. He stood up and went back to his room to grab a blanket. He instantly felt cold on the inside and out when Sakura wasn't cuddling against him. He hasn't felt like this in a long time. He grabbed a blanket and rushed back to the couch.

"Thanks *yawn* you're the best," she complimented as he sat back down and draped the blanket over them. She rested her head on his shoulder.

1:15 am

The movie was drawing to a close. Sasuke was still awake; he was used to staying up late and waking up early because that was the best way to keep the reoccurring nightmares away. The movie was boring as hell and he couldn't believe anyone would want to watch it more than once. It was now that he realized that Sakura wasn't commenting on Ryan Whoever or how much she liked this particular scene. He looked down and Sakura was nestled onto the couch, head on his shoulder and feet tucked up on the couch. She was fast asleep. He didn't know how long she had been asleep; all he knew was that he liked the feeling of her cuddling against him. He turned the TV off because he couldn't care less how it ended. With the TV and lights off the living room was completely dark, cool and quiet. He was pretty tired and he wanted to fall asleep.

I should wake her up. No, I should carry her to her room. Just leave her here. No that's mean. I should, I should just….

And with that he was fast asleep too.

8:42 am

Sakura was the first to wake up. She was lying on Sasuke who was almost able to lie down on the couch with her. They were cuddling under a small shared blanket. She sat up realizing the provocative situation they were in.

"S-Sasuke-kun," she said and then rocked his shoulder back and forth, "Sasuke-kun wake up."

His eyes opened. He rubbed them and sat up next to her, "Hey."

"Good morning. I guess we fell asleep during the movie."

"Hn."

She laughed, "It was a pretty fun sleepover."

"It was," Sasuke said still a bit tired.

"Sleep well?" Sakura asked.

He smirked and said, "Yeah."

"I did too."

"Wanna…go grab breakfast?"

And with that Sasuke rediscovered his old feelings.

The End