WARNING: Fluff, SasuSaku, mentions of KakaSaku and SaiSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, TsuJira, KakaAnko and NejiTen.
Broken Hearts and Goodnight Kisses
"I. Hate. Valentine's. Day."
Those are the four words she says to everyone that wishes her a happy one. Because it is the truth. She does hate it.
Years and years she's been alone. It's become a ritual. She hurt herself with love too many times to ever try again. And it's not the fact that she's alone on Valentine's Day that actually bothers her, oh no. It's that fact that all her friends are with someone. She's the only one that's alone on Valentine's Day. Sakura desperately wishes she had someone. She's tried again and again, but they all break her heart. Each and every one of them.
The first was Sasuke. He tore her heart out and left her sleeping on a stone bench. Yeah. She'd gotten over him for a while, insisting to herself – somewhat hysterically – that she loved him as a brother, as a teammate and as friend. Nothing more. She sounded stupid even to herself.
Her next series of boyfriends isn't much, but it was painful. There are three on this sad, sad list of hers. Three.
Hatake Kakashi.
Shiranui Genma.
And Sai.
Kakashi left her for Anko. She was too young.
Genma was a player and a jerk. He played a vicious game of seduction, won and the left.
And Sai…she can't explain him.
There was something about the emotionless artist that she loved so very much. He intrigued her, attracter her on a completely different level. And she did the same to him. But their "love" wasn't love. It was mental attraction, wonder and awe. The emotions she thought she felt were cheap imitations of the real thing, something she now knows is a sign that the relationship is failing or isn't there at all.
So Sakura sits alone, dressed up in her oh so nice pink kimono that matches her hair perfectly, looking out at the crowd around her. She is at the Valentine's Day Ball, something that Tsunade put on just for her, without knowing that she was only making things worse. Every shinobi is there, with their partner – because her generation, unlike those before her, decided to take a chance, and even knowing that there was a chance that one of them would go out for a mission and never come back.
Her hair is up in a bun. Her makeup is perfect. The only thing that is missing is the mood.
Her eyes are dull as she looks around the dance floor.
There are Kiba and Hinata. Teammates and now lovers, the shy girl having finally realized that Naruto wasn't the one to bring her happiness. They are perfect together. He is gruff, but she brings out his gentle side, and she is quiet, but he shows the world how passionate she can truly be.
Beside them are Ino and Shikamaru. Also on the same team for years and now together. Those things happen. He is so lazy and impassive, but she can make him melt into a puddle of goo with her smiles and her eyes. And she is up in the clouds – Sakura knows, she's been subject to her best friend's many rants – but he can bring her down and keep her there.
Neji and TenTen are swaying gently to the music beside them. No one knew that the cold Hyuuga could ever feel something for the weapon's mistress. They were proven wrong. Like everyone else, they balance each other out, they bring out the best and the worst in each other, and they love each other.
She sees many more people – Kakashi and Anko, Jiraiya and Tsunde (who, after all these years, finally admitted that she loved him), and so many more ninja she knew. Genma was there with someone, she wasn't sure who, possibly a Sand kunoichi, and hell, even Sai was there.
There are few faces she doesn't see.
Naruto.
And Sasuke.
She doesn't know where those two are. No one does. Naruto has been gone the entire day, off somewhere doing something. She knows he's planning something, but she can only imagine who it is for.
She sticks out like a sore thumb. A girl, alone, with no one to dance. At a Valentine's Day Ball. She hoped Sauke would come – the probation he was put under when he first returned to Konoha two years ago was finally lifted and he was free to come and go as he pleased – but he isn't there.
"Sakura."
Speak of the devil…
"Sasuke. What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing. I thought you hated Valentine's Day."
"I do."
"Then?"
"Tsunade."
That word alone is explanation enough. Kami only knows the woman's methods of torture.
"Ah."
Silence hangs over them. She just looks away.
She won't admit it to anyone, sometimes not even to herself, but her heart is broken, and badly. Those years of bad relationsips, one after another, have taken their toll on her. She is, simply, afraid to love.
And that is why she avoids the Uchiha.
Because every time she sees him, her stomach flutters and her breath catches and she needs to teach her heart how to beat again.
Because every time she sees him, she imagines that night all those years ago on that bench.
And she hears the words she shouted, desperate for something, anything, just for him not to leave.
And she remembers what he said.
"Thank you…"
That night is burned into her brain, memories she knows she will never forget as long as she is alive. That was the night that her heart was ripped in half and then stepped on.
It was the night her heart was broken beyond repair.
And now that he is back, now that he is here and she can feel his presence next to her – quite literally – every single day, those memories are coming back, feelings she can't shake or pretend aren't there.
Because Sakura Haruno is, quite possibly, still in love with Sasuke Uchiha.
"Happy Valentine's Day," she mutters eventually, breaking the silence.
"Yes. Happy Valentine's Day."
And now it is awkward.
And this, this whole stage of complete and total awkwardness between them, were neither of them can find anything to say and it just feels so strange, is what Sakura hates most. Because she knows he is there, and she wants to do something – even though she vehemently denies it – but she can't.
So it comes as a surprise to her when he takes her hand and pulls her up, dragging her to the dance floor.
"Sasuke, what are you doing?"
"Dancing with you."
"…Why?"
"Because I know how, and I presume you know how. And I like this song. Is there a problem?"
"No…"
"Then dance."
She doesn't know how long she's there. The first dance, then the second and the third, and the sake she's been drinking all night, and the hours just blur after a while.
And thus Sakura Haruno, drunk and disoriented, finds herself in the arms of Sasuke Uchiha as the fireworks go off overhead.
The temperature changes, and she's suddenly very aware of the way Sasuke is holding her, so very close, and the lights go off, the fireworks enough to bring life to the room, and as the colours dance across his face, she wonders how she could have ever pretended not to love him. Because it is in this painfully beautiful moment that she can see she was wrong in thinking that, that she does truly love this man in front of her, with his raven hair and pale skin charcoal eyes that look so tortured and et so beautiful…
"Why?"
She knows what he is asking, just by his tone.
"Because I'm alone. And they're not. They have someone to love. Someone that loves them."
"And you don't?"
She doesn't get a chance to answer. His lips are on hers gentle and soothing, laced with the words he didn't say.
You're not alone.
You have me.
I love you.
It isn't a deep kiss, more of a peck really, but it's all she needs to finally know the truth that's been staring at her this whole time. She is not alone. She is loved and she loves someone.
He pulls away, and looks into her eyes, deep and dark and smouldering, and she feels the flutter come back into her stomach.
She forgets how to breathe.
And she restarts her heart.
"Goodnight, Sakura. Happy Valentine's Day."
His lips press to her forehead this time, and right there, with his arms around her and her arms around him, she can't think that her heart was ever broken.
Not much to say here. Today was a good day and someone wished me a Happy Valentine's Day when I was all alone, so I felt the need to pour all my happiness - and minor confusion - into something. And this is what came out. I hope you like it. Also, please review. It totally makes my day when you do. I appreciate everything you guys say, even if it is flames. Which also means flames are welcome. I view them as constructive criticism that shows me what I can improve on.
Happy Valentine's Day!
-Green-Eyes-Love