A/N: I am not exactly sure if I like this story, but the idea just would not let me go.

Strong hands slipped around her hips to press her against a hard chest. His head was lowered to her shoulder, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke softly.

A hot kiss on the side of her neck had her eyes trying to roll back, effectively stopping her work on the report in front of her on the counter.

"You look tired," a roll of the hips, a sharp, needy gasp, "Why don't you come and lie with me?"

His soft, caring tone did nothing to cushion the force with which the double-entendre slashed into her skin and shredded her composure. Indeed it would be lying, because there most certainly was no love about what they were doing. Harshly, she forced her eyes shut to keep her tears of regret in.

"Of course," her voice held the tenor of the sob that threatened to escape, "Do I ever say no?"

Instantaneously responding to her answer, he gripped her tighter, assaulted her neck and shoulder more forcefully. The shame balled in her throat tasted strongly of bile and painful could-be's. These actions were nothing like this man that held her and these words were so wrong.

How had she changed him? Why was he so willing to sacrifice his heart for such a depraved substitute for love?

One of his (much too rough) hands slipped into the front of her shorts and began to rub across her inducing near-delirium. She leaned forward to brace her hands on the counter top and bit one of her fists to quell her cries of both pleasure and guilt.

He kept her pulled close against him with his free arm around her waist, his chest hot against her back as he thrust his fingers into her. His erection was a throbbing presence against her lower back as she ground into him.

"You have forgotten me lately, Sakura-chan," he groaned into her temple, "I have missed you a great deal." He punctuated his seductive murmur with his palm dragging against her clit, and she fought not to cry his name.

She would not acknowledge the damage she had done to this man. She could not put a name to the person that had once been so innocent.

His actions stopped shortly as he pushed her underwear and shorts off with a growl. Quickly, he dealt with the zipper on her vest, leaving her in nothing but her house slippers and a nondescript bra. She glanced over her shoulder to see that plain black pants and a short-sleeved shirt had replaced his characteristic green jumpsuit. The t-shirt was thrown off, and the black pants were pushed down to his thighs to free his prominent erection.

"How did we get to this place, Lee-kun?"

Her question caused him to pause, and he looked fleetingly into her eyes as he urged her (in a slightly more gentle manner) to lean forward against the counter.

"Because you will not let me any further in, Sakura," he began seriously as he arranged himself against her, "and I cannot seem to forget you," he finished with a whisper and pushed in.

"Ah!" a gasp poured from her lips. She rested her forehead on her arms and tried to keep her legs from collapsing under his onslaught.

Was this all they had anymore? A wholly unsatisfying physical relationship that only caused them both anguish could not last forever. Eventually, one of them would have to make the choice to leave or commit.

"Please," and her sweet Lee was back, being as much of a gentleman as one can be while thrusting into someone from behind, "please, Sakura-chan…love me."

For the second time since he had walked into her house that evening, Sakura felt like crying. She felt like loving him forever, but she was not so sure if either of them could have a relationship not fraught with some type of pain.

Hands on her hips pulled her onto him repeatedly, and the whole time she felt him trying to convince her that he was it for her, that he could truly satisfy all her needs.

The rocking motion that had her so high suddenly stopped, and before she could protest, he turned her body to face him. His wide eyes were full of contradicting lust and torment, and she could see that their relationship as it was caused him more pain than he could ever hope to hide from her.

Emotions that passed over his face quickly cemented into desperate determination as he kissed her for the first time in weeks. Lips pushed against hers in a way that made her want to throw him down and have her way. His tongue teased against hers and prompted her to touch his chest, his shoulders, his face.

Leaning down a bit, he coaxed her into hooking one of her knees over his elbow. As he stood back up, he slid into her again and began a slower pace with more power behind it.

Each thrust had her shaking and gasping for air, for release, had her clawing at him helplessly.

One of her breasts filled his empty hand, and she pulled an ear lobe between her lips at the sensation. The sound of her rapid breath in his accelerated his pace.

And though he was drunk on the feeling of their actions, she could still see his pain. Fear was evident in the way his (endearingly thick) eyebrows slanted downward, how his frown could not seem to be banished. He sincerely wanted nothing more than her love, and she knew she would shatter if she didn't give it to him soon.

"Lee-kun," she managed right before her eyes began to shut and her body began to shake, "I do love you."

Her orgasm hit her hard as he rocked into her and called her name into her neck and gasped his release.

Lee was making a valiant effort of keeping them upright, though gravity and exhaustion were trying to undermine him.

He was looking at the floor when he spoke, and his voice was uneven. She realized that he was crying.

"I cannot imagine being without you, but I will not be with you if it is a lie." He looked into her eyes and his tears left her with no words.

"Did you mean it?" and he searches her soul through broken windows.

She considers telling the truth and trying to build a life from what little they have left. She imagines what they could be if only she could manage to get over herself.

"No."

But she knows she is not yet strong enough to pull her broken life together enough to make a place he deserves to be in.

Warm brown eyes harden to black ice as rejection settles in once again. His lips scorch her forehead as he gently sets her foot back on the floor and makes sure she is steady before stepping away. He pulls his pants up, puts his shirt back on, and casts a forlorn glance at her sinking to the floor before he quietly disappears from her life.

Sakura knows he will eventually give in again and come back to her.

Maybe next time she will have more than a body to give him.