Why Won't You Let Me Love You? (A Sakura/Sasuke Story)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Though I wish I did...)

Note: This story takes place when Sakura and Sasuke are both 16, and are now jounin.

Sakura's Point of View:

I was getting ready to go on another mission with several of the other jounin, like always. I put on a pair of black pants and a white

tank top, and my usual ninja sandals. I put my headband on like I always do, on top of my pink hair. I looked in the mirror for a

minute. I never really noticed before, but I looked different than I was four years ago. I had gotten taller, curvier, and my hair had

grown back and was now almost to my waist. I packed all of my weapons and went to meet the other jounin in the woods.

When I got there, everyone else was already there. Naruto was talking to Shikamaru about ramen, Lee was practicing his taijutsu

moves, Neji was leaning against a tree, and Sasuke had his back turned away from everyone else. For as long as I can remember,

I've always had a huge crush on Sasuke, and every time I try to talk to him, he always pushes me away. I never understood why

he was so cold…but that just made him so much sexier. He had gotten really tall, and a bit more muscular than he was during his

days as a genin. I have been trying so hard for years to get him to come out of his shell, but nothing has ever worked.

p "Okay, listen up," said Shikamaru having us gather around. He's always been one of the smartest shinobi around, despite his

laziness. But he usually got to lead missions. He told us the mission in great detail. There were some enemy ninja from the sound

village, and they were planning on assassinating the hokage, and we would have to stop them. Their current hideout was said to be

in a cave in the mountains. The six of us left and set off for the mountains. When we got to the cave, the sound ninja were already

hiding inside. We split up to look for them and take them down. According to the ANBU black ops, there were at least a dozen of

them, and we would have to use our wits if we even hoped to defeat them. Before the six of us split up, Shikamaru had us gather

around for a second. /p

p "All right, we're going to have to split up. Naruto and Lee, you take the left tunnel, me and Neji will take the one in the middle,

and Sasuke and Sakura; you can take the one on the right." We split up, and I followed Sasuke down the right tunnel. We both

kept our hands near our kunai pouches, in case of an ambush.

"Sasuke, I can't see anything," I said quietly.

"Get used to it. If we light a torch, then the enemy will be able to see us," he said as we continued walking.

Then I tripped over something, and fell on to Sasuke, making him fall flat on his face.

"Sorry," I whispered as I got off of him.

"Hn." I could tell he wasn't too happy. Not only did we make too much noise, but now those sound ninja would be able to find us

for sure. We got up, and continued walking. Then a kunai flew out of nowhere and almost hit me in the face. I took out a kunai

and held it tight in my hand. Sasuke had already taken out several and had them rearranged between all of his fingers. We stood

back to back and kept our eyes open, even though it was dark. Sasuke activated his sharingan and threw a kunai to his left. I

heard a scream, and sounded like he hit someone. /p

p "Sakura."

"What?"

"There's a sound ninja ten feet from you," he said. I threw three kunai in three directions in front of me, and heard someone

collapse on the ground. Then a kunai came flying back towards me, and we both dodged it. Then about a hundred senbon needles

came at us, and we had to make a run for it. We kept running deeper into the cave, where it would be darker and harder for the

enemy to find us. But then several sound ninja cornered us, leaving us no choice but to knock them out. Both of us threw several

kunai at them, and the last of the sound ninja fell to the ground. I had just hoped that everyone else was okay.

"Let's go find the others," said Sasuke walking down a smaller passage. He had a map of the cave, and this passage would lead

us to the center path were Shikamaru and Neji were. /p

p "How much further?" I asked.

"We have at least another mile to go," he said plainly.

"Are you serious?" I said. I wanted to get out of this stupid cave as soon as possible. But then I screamed as I almost stepped on

a rat and fell over. The walls started to shake, and I covered my eyes.

"Get down!" said Sasuke. A huge pile of rocks had fallen on both sides of where we were, but the larger rocks didn't crush us.

We were alive, but we wouldn't be for very long. The area around us was about the size of a small room. It was big enough for us

to walk around and stand up, but we wouldn't be able to go very far.

Sasuke just sat there, pissed off at me.

"I told you to keep your voice down."

"Excuse me? Its not my fault that rat ran right in front of me, "mister, I won't light a torch in this cave!"

"Hn." I sighed and leaned against a pile of rocks.

"So? What do we do now?" I asked.

"If Neji is smart, he'll use his Byakugan to find us. But first they'll have to realize that were missing."

"I doubt they'll figure out in time," I said. "Naruto probably won't have a clue."

"Then I guess we'll have to dig our way out," said Sasuke. We tried breaking as many rocks as we could, but all we did was

make a small hole between the other passages on both sides. The rest of the rocks were too heavy for us to move, even with all

the jutsus we used. /p

p "Well, at least we have enough oxygen to live," I said laying down on the cold stone floor. Sasuke simply turned away from me

and sat there silently. This was so boring! If we were stuck in a cave together, the least he could do would try to talk to me!

"Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"You've been awful quiet, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said closing his eyes and turning away from me.

"I only asked because you seemed tense," I said getting up to sit next to him.

"Hn."

"So you don't want to talk?" I said turning to look at him.

"No." He was impossible. Every time I tried to have a conversation with him, he always pushed me away! I needed to get to the

bottom of this, and maybe I would find out what his problem is/p

p "What is your problem now?" I asked him.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said turning further away from me.

"Sasuke…is it…is it about…him?" I asked.

"Never mention him in front of me," he said in a low angry voice. We sat silent for a few minutes then Sasuke spoke again. "It's

not about him…"

"Then what is it about?" I asked. He sighed, and got up.

"You," he said quietly.

"Me? What did I do? Is it about what happened earlier? I didn't mean for us to get trapped here!" I said nervously.

"You talk too much," he said. "And its not what you did," he said looking away from me.

"Then why have you been acting like such a jerk?" I asked annoyed.

"It's complicated…" 'Complicated? How could it be so complicated? He was just making it complicated!'

"I wouldn't mind if you explained it to me," I said softly.

"No."

"But…why?"

"I said I didn't want to talk about it…" That really made me mad. I got up and I turned him around. /p

p "Just tell me!" I said angrily. He looked at me for a second and then sat back down. I heard him mutter something, but I couldn't

hear him.

"What did you say?"

"…I can't stop thinking…about you…"

"About me?" Sasuke looked down to the ground.

"I've never felt so weak in my life…"

"But Sasuke, there's nothing wrong with that at all. It's okay to have feelings, its what makes us human…"

"How am I supposed to beat him…if I have these…feelings?"

"You're more human than he is by admitting that you have emotions."

"I'm still weaker than he is. I train every day, and I'm still always a step behind him." I sat there for a minute and thought about

what he said.

"I don't think so. You're better than him, at least…to me you always will be." Sasuke turned around to look at me.

"Why is that?"

"I've always cared about you."

"I know," he said as we both sat down next to each other. We leaned against the wall for a few minutes, staring at the opposite

wall. I looked over at Sasuke, and as soon as I did, he turned away from me.

"What's wrong now?" I asked looking at him. He sighed.

"Why do I have to feel this way about you? I just don't get it…I act like a jerk to push you away…but nothing works."

"Sasuke…are you afraid?" He turned to look at me with sadness in his eyes.

"You know what happened to my clan. But do you know what its like to have everyone you know and love be taken away from

you in an instant?"

"No…I'm sorry, but I never have…"

"It hurts. I told myself to never love anyone again. If I did, he would just take them away from me. That's why I have to kill him."

"Sasuke…I would never let Itachi take me from you."

"Don't say his name…"

"Sorry." Then I felt his hand on mine, and he looked back towards me. Then to my amazement, he actually started to lean in closer

to me. I closed my eyes, and I felt my lips touch his for the first time. About a second later, he pulled away and I opened my eyes. /p

p "I've been waiting for you to do that for seven years."

"I just wish you were my first kiss," said Sasuke touching my face. I remembered witnessing his first kiss with Naruto the day we

were assigned into teams.

I remember me and the other girls were so mad when Naruto's first kiss was with Sasuke, but now I can't help but laugh thinking

about him. I started chuckling with that thought in mind.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Your first kiss."

"Hn."

We sat there for ten more minutes and hardly spoke.

"Sakura?"

"Yes?" I said looking over at Sasuke. He leaned in and kissed me again. As soon as he pulled away, I could feel myself blushing

heavily. But when I looked up at Sasuke, he was blushing too. Then we heard a voice coming from outside. /p

p "Hey!" I looked up and I saw Naruto. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," I said getting up.

"Hold on, we'll dig you guys out." Naruto, Neji, Lee and Shikamaru dug us out and fifteen minutes later, all six of us were out of

the cave. Naruto and the others ran ahead.

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you…for telling me how you feel," I said looking in his eyes. He sighed.

"I didn't have a choice. You would be on my case all day…so I had to tell you," he said leaning me up against a tree. I touched his

face, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them, our faces were less

than an inch apart. We both closed our eyes, and enjoyed another sweet kiss. After we pulled away, we saw Lee coming towards

us. /p

p "Are you guys coming?"

"Yeah, I guess its time for us to head back home," said Sasuke as we followed Lee back down the mountain. As soon as we got

back to the village, we all went back home.

"Sakura…" Sasuke approached me.

"Yes?"

"Can I…walk you home?"

"Okay." I took his hand and we walked into the sunset, knowing now that our friendship has been changed forever, from one

single kiss. /p