Aneko: Ah, the long-awaited fic I've been waiting to put up. I couldn't wait for this one, even though it took me eons to get all the words exactly the way I wanted them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke NEVER would have left. YOU HEAR THAT, MASASHI KISHIMOTO?!

Petals

"And this type of arrangement goes with just about anything."

A young Ino said, holding out a bouquet flowers for Sakura to look at.

"Wow Ino, you're so amazing!" Sakura said, admiring her friend's handiwork.

"Now you try to make one." Ino instructed, looking at Sakura.

"O-okay." Sakura turned to the field of flowers, kneeling to look at the different kinds. A few silent minutes passed as Sakura searched, a little hopelessly.

"Hey Sakura."

Sakura turned to her friend. Ino had put down her arrangement and was twirling a single daisy between her fingers.

"Have you ever tried using the petal rhyme before? Well, that's just what I call it, anyway."

"What is it?"

"What? You don't know what it is, Sakura?" Ino laughed.

"H-hey, don't laugh!"

"Sorry." Ino calmed. "It goes like this. If you have someone you love, you say this rhyme while picking the petals off a daisy: He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not." Ino demonstrated, plucking the petals. "They say that if it ends up on 'He loves me' that he will end up liking you! So is there anyone you've done this for?"

Sakura's cheeks heated as she realized what Ino was asking. "N-no. I don't like anyone yet," she said, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Ino laughed again. "That's okay. You'll meet someone someday."

Sakura ran home, smiling and humming to herself. She didn't know what she would have done without Ino in class today. With Ino's knack for flower arranging, Sakura thought she understood it now.

Thunk!

Sakura paused. She was passing the training grounds on the way home.

That's funny. Everybody should be going home right now, she thought.

Letting curiosity get the better of her, Sakura turned toward the training ground and the noise, peeping out from behind a tree.

A boy her age was standing in front of a training dummy, which was riddled with kunai and shuriken. He was breathing heavily, and already had another kunai in his hand. Sakura saw spiky black hair and the fan symbol of the Uchiha clan on his back.

Sensing her presence, he turned, and Sakura let out a little gasp as their eyes met for a moment. His eyes were a solid black, but Sakura still thought they were pretty.

Realizing that she was staring, Sakura gave a little squeak, turning and running.

Behind her, Sasuke frowned. What was that about? Shrugging, he turned back to his training.

Sakura continued running until she was out of breath. When she thought of the cute boy she had seen, she blushed, smiling to herself. If she remembered right, his name was Sasuke, and he was in her class. She wondered why she had never noticed him before, and figured it must be because she was so shy. She wondered if she might be able to work up enough courage to talk to him in the future.

A white patch on the side of the road caught her eye, and Sakura looked over to see a daisy. Walking over, she picked the delicate flower.

Remembering Ino's rhyme, she began to slowly pull the petals one by one.

"He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me…"

Sakura stared in disappointment at the last petal. It had ended on he loves me not.

"B-but I won't give up!" She said aloud to herself, clenching her fists.

Sakura felt like a great hole had been put in her chest. She couldn't believe what she had just done.

The look on Ino's face, when she had said they were rivals…it was almost too much to bear. She almost wanted to run back, and ask her if they could be friends again. Almost. But it was too late for her to turn back now. Words had been exchanged that could never be taken back.

Sakura's eyes, which were trained on her feet, noticed a small white flower. She picked it, and began the rhyme, as though it could reinforce that what she had done was the right thing to do.

He loves me not. Sakura sighed, unable to think of a way to dispute the result.

As she walked home, she couldn't help a silent tear slipping down her face.

Sakura nearly danced home. She couldn't believe it- she was on the same team with Sasuke! She felt like singing. It was just as she had hoped for. Now she could definitely get to know him better.

She stopped in her yard when she saw a little white flower waving to her merrily.

Smiling, Sakura walked over and picked the daisy.

"He loves me, he loves me not…"

Sakura frowned at the result. He loves me not. After a moment though, her face brightened again.

"He doesn't know me very well yet. When he knows me better, things will change!"

Sakura leaned back against the cherry blossom tree, closing her eyes.

To the casual observer, it might look as though she had fallen asleep, not moving save for the steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her short hair tickled her cheek as the wind blew gently.

After a while, Sakura opened her eyes again, staring listlessly at the blue sky above.

Had it really been over three years? Three years of special training, to become a worthy ninja, and to bring Sasuke home? It felt like so long ago- it had been so long ago- that Sasuke had been part of Team 7 with her and Naruto.

Sakura felt something graze her hand, and she looked down to see a daisy. She smiled at the familiar flower, remembering how she used to pluck each petal as she said the child's rhyme.

Picking the flower, Sakura held it between two fingers, rolling the stem so that the flower twisted back and forth.

She still loved him. That much had not changed; but after so long, she had come to believe that he would never love her back.

So, when she began to pull the petals off the flower, Sakura felt surprised at herself. Nevertheless, she continued, watching the petals fall.

He loves me.

A pure white petal floated gently to earth.

He loves me not.

Sakura remembered the day she had tried talking to Sasuke about Naruto, and failed. Sasuke had told her she didn't know what she was talking about. She was "annoying."

He loves me.

He had protected her once, on the way to the Land of Waves. He could have just let her try to protect herself, but…

He loves me not.

When she had tried to impress him when they were learning to climb trees with chakra, it had only annoyed him that she was able to climb to the top of the tree before him.

He loves me.

In the Land of Waves, he let her hug him. He did say it hurt, but he didn't say it was annoying.

He loves me not.

On the way home from the Land of Waves, though, he refused her offer to go out together.

He loves me.

Before the exams, it was Sasuke who cheered her up when she felt like she wouldn't be able to take the test.

He loves me not.

But he had also been the one to tell her she was worse than Naruto.

He loves me.

In the Forest of Death, when he finally woke from Orochimaru's seal, the first thing he asked Sakura was who had beaten her up.

He loves me not.

She had tried asking him out many times, but each time, he said no.

He loves me.

When Sasuke was under Orochimaru's curse in the forest, he had returned to normal when she hugged him.

He loves me not.

She had seen how many times he looked annoyed with her.

He loves me.

Before he had left the village, Sasuke had explained why he had to leave. Couldn't he have just knocked her out?

He loves me not.

In one final effort to make him stay, Sakura had poured out her heart to him; but no, she was still "annoying."

He loves me.

He said "thank you." For what? Being annoying?

He loves me…

He left.

…not…

A blanket of white petals dusted the ground around Sakura's feet. Sakura stared at the flower a moment, before smiling humorlessly at the irony.

There was one petal on the flower left. He loves me.

She laughed sadly, shaking her head as she looked at the flower in her hands.

"Little flower, why must you mock me? How can you tell me he loves me, now, when he is gone?"

She sighed, closing her fist lightly over the stem with the single petal, closing her eyes.

"Thinking about someone, Sakura?"

Sakura jolted upright, her eyes widening. She would know that voice anywhere. Anywhere.

He stood before her, not five feet away, as a sudden gust of wind blew the petals by Sakura's feet into the air between them for a moment before Sakura saw him clearly.

"Sasuke…" she breathed.

Sakura stood slowly, her head cocked to one side. His eyes were just as serious and blank as she remembered them, but they seemed a little…lonelier? There was also something else, but Sakura had never seen it in his eyes before, and didn't know what to call it.

Sakura sighed, closing her eyes again. Even my dreams torture me. Why does he have to seem so real? It will only hurt so much more to wake up and see that he's not.

"What? Do you think you're dreaming?" Sakura could hear the smirk in his voice without opening her eyes.

"Can you say anything to prove that I'm not?" Sakura challenged, looking at him again.

"I know you're a perfectly rational person, Sakura. Do you honestly think you are?"

"…No." Sakura admitted, her shoulders sagging a little as she looked down at her feet. Her voice and eyes had a hint of sadness in them as she continued, "Why did you come here Sasuke?"

"…I killed my brother." A flash of something like regret went through his eyes.

"But why would you tell me that? You need to tell Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei."

Inside, she was screaming at herself. Why was she pushing him away? Why, why, why, when they only thing she had wanted for more than three years was for him to return home?!

But she knew that answer to that. He had hated her. It was unlikely that that fact had changed after all this time of being apart. Still, she hoped that just maybe, if she was not so pushy as before, he might begin to think a little better of her. She could start by giving him some space.

"I will, eventually. Naruto would be too stupid to understand unless I stand right in front of him and punch him."

Sakura smiled weakly. "Yeah, that's Naruto…"

There was a few moments of silence. Finally, Sakura's emotional wall burst.

"Why, Sasuke?" Sakura murmured, so much like that night, those three years ago. But today, everything was different. He voice was steady, but a tear tracked silently down one cheek. "Why are you here? You hate me. Did you come because you wanted to make me suffer from that knowledge? I know you care about Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, so you should find them. They'll be happy to see you. You don't have to hang around me, so…please." The last word came out in a sobbing whisper.

It hurt that he had been gone. It hurt that she was pushing him away. It hurt that he didn't love her. It hurt that she couldn't be close to him. It hurt that he came to her first, though he hated her. It hurt that she didn't know what he could possibly be thinking.

Everything hurt.

"You are annoying, Sakura."

Sakura looked up with her tearstained face, unable to reply. That's all he had to say to her?

Sasuke was frowning at her.

"I don't recall ever saying I hate you," he murmured, giving Sakura the benefit of a full gaze from his deep, black eyes.

As Sakura's mind unbelievingly tried to process this information, Sasuke slowly brought up his left hand, which had been in a fist at his side.

He opened it to show something small and white. Time stopped as Sakura's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. A whispering of breezes carried it out from his hand, grazing Sakura's cheek slightly. The petal felt both soft and waxy.

He didn't have to say another word.

Absently dropping the petal in her own hand, Sakura ran to him.

A single tear fell, landing on her petal in a pearly drop.

He loves me.

Sakura was crying hard, clutching him with all her might. Sasuke did not hug Sakura back, because he was Sasuke. And Sakura knew that; but he closed his eyes and let her cry.

"You're annoying, Sakura," he said, putting hid hand on top of her head, "because you care."

The petals they had both dropped lay, one clean the other dropped with a tear, touching gently.

Aneko: YES!! It's finished!! This one took forever to write. I had to try my hardest to get the story along smoothly (and to keep Sasuke from acting like a lovesick fool). So I finished it on m vacation in London. I really hope you enjoy it. – Frets about people not liking story- Please comment!! .

Believe it or not- I actually had trouble finding moments where SasukexSakura is not implied! (News to cheer on SasuSaku fans like myself)

I know it's a (supposedly) happy ending fic, but listen to Sadness and Sorrow when she does the last petal rhyme, and Hokage's funeral when She hears Sasuke's voice to the end.

I just called it the Petal Rhyme cause I didn't know what else to call it…

Ja, Sayonara.