AN: One shots are the stories I cheat with when I'm bored or hit a writers block on one of my other ones. I can't help it. They're the noncommittal one night stands of the fanfiction world and the temptation is just too much to pass up. I'm a one shot/no plot commitment whore. Sue me.
Sasuke's sharingan eyes narrowed. This was exactly the sort of predicament he had come onto this mission to prevent. Damn. Charges exploding around them but he ignored it, eying the health of two on their team. Part of him longed for the days of being a nukenin; he didn't have to look after anyone but his own back. He'd simply gathered a dispensable, disposable team. The other part of him was the reason why he was still here. The logical portion, the part that needed justification, said he needed the challenge of a team, working with variable strengths and weaknesses to better hone his own. The real reason he knew was her. Red eyes looked to bright pink hair. Sakura was passing off the unconscious Hyuuga heir to Sai who shifted her weight on his back. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she glared out into the snow at their enemies. They had been ambushed by half the country's forces. It was inevitable that casualties would happen.
"Get moving, Sai" She ordered harshly, brushing stray hairs away from her face with bloodied hands.
Sasuke didn't think he would ever get used to this new Sakura who was not squeamish about blood being caked in her hair. She was so different and yet so fundamentally the same. It annoyed him. He knew what she was going to do. She was still predictable. She would protect her precious people and get herself killed in the process. Idiot.
Dobe was going to kill him, if he lived through this, Sasuke thought bitterly.
"You too, Uchiha." Sakura said flatly, thumb motioning after Sai.
That irritated him. She refused to call him by his first name in front of others. She was trying to distance herself from him. Sasuke ignored her, concentrating on the position of the enemy. They had about ten minutes. He pulled the wire from his pack, slicing his kunai through it quickly as he began to set up traps.
"Are you disregarding a direct order from your captain?" She snapped.
He continued to ignore her, focusing on the task at hand.
"Are you listening to me, Uchiha"
"No" He replied.
"Damn it, Sasuke, get the hell out of here" Sakura snarled, grabbing him by his vest, as she glared up at him.
The smirk that pulled at the corners of his mouth spread. He loved it when she was angry. Then she would acknowledge him, would act like he actually existed. He could understand now why Naruto had done all those stupid things in his youth. Acknowledgement was worth its weight in gold. She'd said his name, proof that he got to her and that's all he wanted. Proof that she was still who she was beneath the weight of responsibility and leadership. Beneath the exteriors she put up to keep him out.
"Stop being annoying. Dobe would never forgive me if I left you to die alone" Sasuke replied, completely focused on his task at hand.
In hindsight, he should have known that she would be childish about it, but part of him welcomed her anger. It was better than her passive aggressive bullshit.
Sakura slugged him, hard. "I'm not going to die, you idiot! I don't need you!" She cried.
Sasuke wiped the blood dribbling down his chin, red eyes glaring balefully. He deserved that, but it didn't stop his jaw from clenching. He was getting god awful tired of letting Sakura punish him for the past.
He had come back, which was what she wanted, what team seven had wanted. They had fought so hard for it. Now that he was here, it was like he had disappointed them. Like it was a bunch of trash, the words they'd spouted to him while he'd been gone. He was in Anbu now, under her direct supervision. Him submitting to her leadership. It certainly wasn't because she was stronger than him...it was because they trusted her; he trusted her. What should have been him returning to find her waiting for him, the fairy tale ending, and him getting his best friend back. What should have been life becoming more manageable because the dead finally could rest in peace, and him having the life he'd had before, had turned into something of a nightmare.
Instead he found himself being the odd man out. Sakura and Naruto were dating. By entering into their relationship, they had abandoned him. They had gone somewhere he couldn't, a place he couldn't follow. Their relationship left him wrung out in the cold. It was painful to be around them, but he did it anyways hoping for something of their former glory. Now with Sai in the picture and Naruto and Sakura coupled up, it was awkward and forced.
Sakura had become an Anbu Captain, Naruto a special jounin with his own little team. They were getting along famously without him. It hurt, if he ever acknowledged the ache in his heart in the first place. And of course there was that pasty face imposter who'd stepped in, in his place for team seven. The pasty faced fool never ceased to remind him of that fact when Sakura and Naruto weren't around. Of course, Sasuke never ceased to show him why he would never be good enough to fill his shoes. Sai irritated him, grated on every nerve. The bastard had the nerve to smile and call him fake even after he'd handed him his ass in sparring.
"Chee. I said the same thing when I left. We're a team, remember? I'm not going anywhere, Sakura. Now shut up, and do something useful for a change" He said passing her the wire.
Sakura's eyes narrowed and glared at him, but did what she was told and focused her anger into the task at hand. "I'm not doing this because you think you're right, and you can bet your ass that Tsunade's going to hear about your insubordination."
"Just say it already Sakura. It's okay to admit I'm right" Sasuke smirked as the two leapt into the trees to string the wire.
"The hell you are." Sakura snapped back. The traps were laid. They might actually survive this if the enemy ninja weren't Anbu class.
"Let's make a run for it. We should be able to find shelter along the way back home" Sakura said, breaking into a sprint as she slipped on her mask.
Sasuke followed after her, following suit.
Home. Sasuke's brow furrowed. He lived for missions, the times where he was away from the reality of what he had done. On missions he could delude himself into thinking that things weren't the way they were. His team put the emotional baggage aside when it came to missions, able to overlook his obvious betrayal that no one seemed to let him live down. That Sakura loved him the way he needed her to when she'd look at him terrified and heal him from the brink of death begging him not to go.
At home, on Konoha soil people went out of their way to snub him out of some vindictive loyalty to Sakura and Naruto. At home, Sakura grew even colder to him around Naruto who didn't understand and had resorted to the meetings with the two of them present at minimum. Their friends however picked up on Sakura's spite and seemed to conclude it was deserved and added fire to the flames. Naruto tried to talk to them, escalating the problem and claiming that everything was fine now. But everything wasn't fine. Things would never be the same again. Things couldn't be. And their friends felt like they had to rub it in his face every fucking five seconds. Yeah. He was getting damn tired of being punished for the past.
They ran on, sticking to the trees to avoid the snow laden ground covered over explosives. Idiots. If they wanted to catch Anbu class ninja they would have to be a lot more creative. As it was, their civilians would probably kill themselves on accident by the traps laid out. Sasuke tried to remind himself that he didn't care, when several of Sakura's kunai hit the targeted explosives. The boom resounded through the forest.
"You just gave away our position, Taishou" Sasuke told her.
"We can handle our own. Civilians don't need to suffer for their lack of skill. Besides…" She grinned as several similar explosions went off. "They'll be a little busy"
"When did you find time to arrange those?" He asked, calculating the damage.
"When I wasn't on watch last night. Figured they'd come in handy" She replied, giving him a real smile. That real smile distracted him, and a moment's heisitation was all they needed.
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened to warn him as she launched her kunai at the attacker. Enemy nin exploded in the area from their ambush site. Her kunai had saved him a mangled arm. Katana out, he parried the blow that meant to kill and killed him with a chidori blast through the blade. Sakura apparently was dealing with the brunt of them. He felt the death of one of the men she punched into a tree, the death of a group of them as she launched senbon at them. He round housed another into a tree. She cracked the ground killing several low end shinobi. He saw her getting pummeled by taijutsu moves, but he couldn't do anything about it because he was dealing with a division of sword bearing nin. Irritated beyond all belief, he turned and shot the surrounding area with a katon blast, roasting them all and sacrificing chakra for the sake of time.
He turned Sharingan eyes back to Sakura and she stumbled as she had punched the brains out of her last opponent a bloody mess surrounding her within 300 yards. His eyes widened as he saw the sword poking out the back of her kidneys. Damn her and her carelessness. Moving with lightning quick speed, she was in his arms, choking on a sob as he was running sprinting for all he was worth.
"Sasuke kun.." She choked out, hands catching in the folds of his anbu shirt, clinging to him. She was somewhere between conciousness. He didn't have time to savor the old ending on his name. He had to get them the hell out of here
"Heal yourself, damn it!" He demanded, popping an antidote pill into her mouth.
Her face took on a healthier sheen as she gasped. Sasuke grimaced. He was trying his best not to jostle her, but that was practically impossible on the move when they needed speed. Explosions rocked behind them and Sasuke pressed on using the explosion to cover their retreat. He didn't stop sprinting as he left traps behind him in his wake incase the explosions weren't enough. Green chakra lit around her as she healed her internal organs around the sword whilst they moved.
"We need to seek shelter, Sakura. Those clouds" He gestured towards them. "don't look promising."
She nodded, pain stricken across her face as she held the sword in place.
"Thank you." She said softly.
"For?" He wondered.
"For saving my life" She replied.
They wandered into the snow storm. The pro was that they would loose the other ninja who weren't crazy enough to go through the weather to find them and risk death. The con was that they might die of frostbite themselves. They had winter cloaks but it didn't matter with the extent of their injuries. Added was the fact that they were soaked to the bone. Sasuke shivered, but searched among the caves lining the mountains they were being snowed into. Sharingan poured over every nook and cranny, for something sheltered enough and secluded enough to not draw attention. He was being picky, or cautious depending on how you looked at it. He finally found something that would work. He set her down and she grimaced in pain.
While she pulled the sword out of her abdomen, he secured the area, and unpacked his supplies.
"We'll need a fire to survive the night, which means I have to try and find dry firewood." He said, taking off.
Traps were laid within two miles of their camp with Anbu expertise. He would know if they came too close. He should go back and check on her. A wound that grevious was still serious business. He gathered firewood quicker, worried.
Sakura sighed, throwing the sword to the side, as she took her pack off, setting up their sleeping arrangements. Her abdomen was still tender but major damage healed. She scowled at their residence. Of course the cave was small. The cave was long and narrow. She set up a cooking area towards the front of it and pulled out what was left of their meager supplies. The noodle balls. Her nose wrinkled in distaste. It was all they had with them. These were their emergency rations. They should have been home today to re supply. Naruto would worry. Sakura bit her lip feeling the tears.
The man she had fantasized about for years, her childhood crush was here. The prodigal Uchiha whom she had grown to hate. She still wasn't sure what about him that she disliked, when not so long ago she had loved every bit. Perhaps it was who she became when she was with him. Or the girl she had been who loved him. In either case, she hated it.
He returned and sealed the cave behind them with a boulder, shielding them from the wind chill as he set up the fire, setting spare branches for the rest of the night. Sakura's teeth chattered as she huddled in her cloak. With a breath he started the fire, and coaxed it to flames. She set up the makeshift grill, and set the pot with snow on it for melting and boiling and sat, lost in her thoughts. Both of them huddled in their gear and cloaks, across from each other and the fire at the widest portion of the cave. His feet, stretched out to soak up the fire were almost touching her crossed knees.
"Are we going to ignore each other the entire time?" He offered, sharingan still activated in case the other ninja were truly crazy.
"I figured you would appreciate the gesture as something significant from our childhood" She remarked, angry jade staring into the fire. He sighed.
"I hate it when you ignore me" He told her honestly.
That got a reaction. She looked at him in shock. He smirked.
"Surprised? You shouldn't be. After all Uchiha thrive for attention with a flare for dramatics" He snapped, mocking the very words she had used earlier in her public rebuke of him with their anbu team.
"I guess so" She replied coldly.
"Why do you hate me?" Sasuke threw it out into the open, tired of dancing around the subject with their verbal spars. They had sharpened their tongues on each other one too many times for him to stand it any longer. Now was as good a time as any to hash out their problems, particularly without one ramen breathing dobe trying to peace make.
"I don't hate you" Sakura replied weakly.
"Like hell you don't. You treat me with chilled civility, at best, Sakura. You use any opportunity public or private to put me down. I think I liked it better when we were geinin, at least then you'd fight fair and beat it out of your system. Instead of this passive aggressive bullshit" Sasuke spat.
Jade eyes narrowed.
Sasuke said nothing, his point having been proven. Sakura scowled. Sasuke waited, staring her down with those dark red eyes.
"I don't know, okay?" She ground out, jaw clenched.
"No. No, it's not okay. It hasn't been okay for months! Just tell me what's wrong already so I can fix it already. I'm tired of this" Sasuke snapped.
"You can't fix it! It's broken, Sasuke! There's nothing you can do! You left us and then you walk back in and Oh everything's fine. It's not fine!"
"I never expected it to be fine. I knew it was a failure to begin with, but at least I'm trying. You won't even give me that"
"How typical of you to underestimate us. You didn't give us the chance when it mattered" Sakura snapped.
"There was no point to hoping, was there with the outcome the same?" Sasuke replied.
"Stop it" Sakura snapped.
"No! Just Tell me Sakura, anything is better than this"
"It can't be like it used to, Sasuke!" Sakura screamed.
"Why?" He demanded. "Why not?" he said, moving closer to her
"Because I'm not supposed to love you" Sakura cried and then froze. Green eyes widened as tears streaked down her face.
"You-" Sasuke's eyes were wide and he flash stepped; was in front of her with lightning speed.
"Don't-" She begged, hand up as his chest met her fingertips. She froze again and he looked down at her hand, gloved fingers sliding over it.
"No." He said. She recoiled and retreated against the wall of the cave, trying to tug her hand back which he refused to relinquish.
"You love me" He said, drawing closer, brushing the blood caked strand from her face.
"No" She whispered, turning her head, closing her eyes against him, against his touch.
"You do" He told her simply, using his thumb to wipe the dirt and tears from her face.
"Damnit I said no." She replied, hanging her head.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me" Sasuke dared her, smirking.
"I don't love you" She cried, throwing the words at him as jade eyes bored into his Sharingan.
"Liar.." He told her, sharingan whirling.
Then he kissed her, hard, needing to feel the touch, the contact. She gasped, and it lit his mind on fire with desire. He wanted her, and it physically hurt as he yearned for her. The first touch of her lips against his, her tongue had been heaven. He waited. And waited. And then he opened his eyes. She met his look head on. She didn't respond. She didn't move. She became rigid and he all but ground against her trying to prompt her, to kindle the fire within her. He might as well have been kissing a statue. It hurt. It irritated him.
He broke off and glared at her. Of course she denied him. She was his own personal limbo, somewhere between heaven and hell.
"I said no." She said as he broke it off, arms boxing her in.
"You're fighting what has to be" He snarled, furious.
Sakura's green eyes dulled as silent tears made their way across her cheeks. Everything she had with Sasuke was always bittersweet. She would have died for his attention only years before. Everything with Sasuke was pain, always pain. She loved Sasuke. She loved to torture herself over Sasuke. She would always love Sasuke, she supposed with grim disillusion. But he wasn't Naruto. They were night and day. And she owed Naruto so much, for changing her. Naruto had picked up the pieces Sasuke had trampled on and left behind. In her own way she loved them both. But being with Sasuke was drowning in a pool of black.
"No. I'm fighting what could have been" Sakura murmured.
Sasuke glared. "If you think I'm just going to roll over and give up, then guess again. I will fight this, Sakura, even if you wont."
"There's nothing to fight. I'm dating Naruto"
"I can be patient, Sakura. I waited years for revenge. We're meant to be. You and Dobe are no more than a fling, a passing fancy."
"It's over, Sasuke. It's been over" She reproached.
"It will never be over." He told her with finality. "and I wont fight fair anymore"
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "Sasuke?" He was gone, disappeared into the snow storm.