A/N: Sasuke's thoughts on Sakura after they meet after 2 and a half years… I'm in the drabble zone lately, all right?

Disclaimer: Not mine.

The Unexpected

He hears something, and he glances to his left. Sakura is rushing at him, arm pulled back and prepared for a blow. It is their first meeting in two and a half years, and this is what he sees.

Sakura, who used to trail after him in the street.

Sakura, whose eyes had always been full of awe for him.

Sakura, who had given him a flower at age nine, and then blushed furiously for the rest of the day.

Sakura, the one human being Sasuke thought would never dream of hurting him.

And the shadow in his mind lifts, just for a moment, and he registers the hatred in her eyes, and it pierces him more than anything had in the past two years.

Is this look of hatred and anger truly Sakura? His Sakura?

But his hands are moving before he can control them, because two and half years of honing his skills to attack anything that flies at him has his sword poised and ready to lunge through her heart before he can retract his arms, stop in his tracks. Sasuke tries to command it, but his body refuses to listen, and he has to stay strong and steady, but he sees her eyes and feels something worse than fear, shock, or hatred.

It is confusion.

But that man who replaces Kakashi jumps in front and takes the blow. The guard is weak, and the guard fails.

Sasuke can't help it, and glances at Sakura, who is standing behind the man, now grimacing in pain at the sword lodged in his chest. She is trembling, not from fear or sadness, but from anger. She is glaring at him, wide brow furrowed so viciously that Sasuke can only blink. Tears shine in her eyes, but he knows she won't let them drop.

And Sasuke is swamped by that confusion for a split second, but he has trained to be like a stone now, through and through, and soon the shadows of the last years descend upon him once more, and Sasuke is caged in his mind with the hatred again… and he forgets all about Sakura and her anger and just how deeply it stabbed at his heart.