Next to Me

They're standing in his kitchen, (he just had another outburst) holding on to each other. He has his arms wrapped around her waist, while he cries into her shoulder. She's just standing there holding him, trying to comfort him. She can't stand it when he cries, (which isn't very often) but she tries to be strong. For him. If it were anyone else, she would have cried her eyes out. But, for him, and only him, she tries to stay strong.

She returns to reality when she feels the weight on her shoulder lessen. She looks up to see Sasuke staring at her. They stand there looking at each other for a while, until he moves his right hand off her waist and to her face. He starts stroking her cheek, then moves his finger over her lips. He stares at her as if just now noticing how she looks. He moves his hand back onto her waist, then he moves closer. She notices and stiffens up.

In his head, he's thinking, I never realized, but she's so beautiful. I wonder if she'll let me…

Back in reality:

She notices him staring at her in a weird way. A way he's never looked at her before.

"Sasuke?" she asks looking at him a little freaked out.

He smiles a sweet, little, innocent smile and leans down as if he's about to kiss her. But, right before his lips meet hers, she pulls away and turns her back to him. He looks stunned because he knew she had been waiting for him to kiss her, but he hadn't expected her to turn away. He's still staring at her with a weird expression on his face when she turns back around.

"Sorry Sasuke. I've been waiting for this to happen. It's just that, I can't kiss you. Not right now anyway. Not while you're like this. Sorry, I'm going to go to bed now. 'Night." She said softly leaving him in the kitchen with that same weird expression on his face.

The next morning:

Good morning Sasuke. I'm going home now." She said as she started opening the door to his apartment.

"Wait!" he shouted sitting up with such a jolt that even Sakura jumped. "You're coming back tonight aren't you?" he asked her as he made his way over to where she was standing.

"I wasn't going to. I thought that was just a one night offer." She said staring at him confused.

"No, actually, it wasn't. You don't have to come every night, it's just…" he stopped in mid-sentence and looked at her. "… I like having you around." He finished blushing a little.

"Oh, o-okay. I guess I could come back tonight then. Bye." She said as she walked out the door and headed to her house. Sasuke just smiled as he watched her walk down the street.

Later that night:

"Hello?" she whispers as she walks into his apartment. She didn't know that he was in the kitchen, so when he walks into the living room, she screamed so loud and jumps so high, she made Sasuke spit out the drink that was in his mouth and start laughing.

"What are you laughing at? That was so not funny, you scared the life out of me." She said turning red.

"Sorry." He said cleaning up his mess. "It's just that, I didn't even do anything to scare you. All I did was walk out of my kitchen and you screamed." He watched her walk over and sit on the couch with her arms folded over her chest. He moved over and sat a little ways away from her on the couch.

"Look, I really am sorry." He said turning on the TV.

"It's okay." She said walking out the room. "I'm going to bed. Good night." He called her name and asked her to come back. She obediently did as she was asked and went back into the living room with her pajamas. When she got there, she yawned a little and asked, "What is it?"

"Do you think maybe I could sleep in my bed tonight?"

"Sure." She said as she went back to Sasuke's room. As he was walking into his room, he almost ran into her walking out with a sheet and pillow in her hands.

"No, I meant could we share the bed?" he asked standing in the doorway. When she gave him a look that questioned his sanity, he hurried up and added, "I know what you're thinking, and nothing's going to happen. I swear." He stopped for a moment and then added, "I just… I want you near is all."

After finally convincing her that nothing would happen, she crawled in on one side of the bed and, after he changed, followed suit on the other.

The next morning

Sasuke woke up to the feel of someone's breath on his neck. When he opened his eyes, he found Sakura with her left arm over his torso, her left leg over his right one, and her face buried in his neck. He had to fight the urge to pull her closer and kiss her because he didn't want to wake her. So, instead, Sasuke just wrapped his arms around her and instantly went back to sleep.

Not that long after Sasuke went back to sleep, Sakura woke up and found herself halfway on Sasuke with his arms wrapped around her. She softly lifted herself up to look at his sleeping face. She gazed at him in awe for a while, taking in every curve and crease of his handsome face. 'He looks so much older. So much hotter than he did when we were younger.' She thought as a smile crept over her face. Slowly, she leaned over him and placed a soft kiss on his lips, which caused him to wake up and kiss her back. It wasn't a really big kiss, but it was big enough to get both of their hearts racing. She pulled away slowly, savoring the feel of his lips against hers.

He didn't want the kiss to end, but he didn't want to move too fast and scare her off, so he reluctantly let her pull away. They stared at each other for a while with smiles on both of their faces when she realized something. When the kiss began, she was hovering over him. Now she was laying with her chest on his, and with his arms wrapped around her in a very comfortable embrace. She softly laid her head on his chest and thought to herself, 'I never want this moment to end. I wish we could stay like this forever.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Sasuke's doorbell, and the yelling of one annoying jounin at the door, "Yo Sasuke! Come train with me. Hey, Sasuke!"

"Naruto!" fumed Sakura as she went to get off of Sasuke so he could answer the door. She started to lift herself up, but was pulled back down by Sasuke who whispered, "Maybe if we're quiet he'll go away."

She giggled a little and looked at him smiling. She gave him a quick kiss and said, "No, you can go and train. I have to go home anyway. My mom's probably worried sick."

She sat up in the bed and yawned and stretched. While she was yawning, Sasuke took advantage of this and gave her a very long and very passionate kiss, tongue and all. When he pulled away, she had a huge blush on her face. Then she got up and went change, leaving Sasuke there staring at her. He hadn't noticed before, but just then he noticed what she wore as her pajamas. She wore very short, blue, cotton shorts with a light pink tank top that shaped her curves. He had to admit that ever since Sakura was 14, she had started getting her very attractive womanly curves in all the right places. He also noticed that she had gotten a little taller, and her breasts had enlarged a lot. She looked older and womanlier than when she was younger. He had to admit she was beautiful.

15 min. Later:

Naruto was still waiting by Sasuke's front door when Sakura walked outside. When he saw her walk out of Sasuke's apartment, his jaw hit the floor.

"Hey Naruto. Bye Naruto." She said as she hurried home. About three minutes after Sakura walked out, Sasuke walked out and locked his door. When Sasuke saw Naruto's face, he looked confused.

"What are you making that face for?" asked Sasuke hitting Naruto in the head.

"What do you mean 'What are you making that face for?' Dude, Sakura Haruno just walked out of your apartment." Said Naruto with wide eyes.

"Yeah, so? What's your point? You act like it's such a crime for me to have my girlfriend sleep over at my place every now and again." Said Sasuke walking down the street.

"Whoa! What do you mean your girlfriend? Since when?"

"Like I said, Sakura is my girlfriend. Oh, and since this morning." Sasuke said with a grin.

Of course, with Naruto's big mouth, it didn't take long until the whole village knew about Sasuke and Sakura.

A couple of years later:

Sakura is a substitute teacher at the local academy. She was just getting her things together so that she could leave for the day, when she felt two familiar arms snake around her waist, and pull her against a wall of muscle. She turned her head up, to see her boyfriend standing behind her with a smile on his face.

"Hey Beautiful. Wha'cha doin'?" he asked as she turned around and slid her arms around his waist.

"I was just packin' up so I could head home. What are you doin' here?" she asked as she leaned up and kissed his cheek. He lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug.

"I just figured I'd walk you home. It's pretty late. Plus, I was thinking that maybe you'd like to sleep at my house tonight." He said in a teasing tone. She laughed and started picking up her things. He let her go and started to help.

"I'd love to." Suddenly, he stopped and looked at her.

"Sakura, I've been thinking. We've been dating for how long now; three, four years?" he asked as she nodded. "Well, I've been thinking, and I think it might be time for us to live together. I mean, you're eighteen. It's about time you got out of your parents' house. There's plenty of room in my apartment, and…" He was cut off when she pressed her mouth to his.

"Sometimes, you talk entirely too much. And, I think you're right about everything. I was just wondering how long it was going to take you to ask me." She said with a giggle as she continued walking. He smirked and sped up to walk beside her. God, he loved that girl.