Author's Notes:This is just a new drabble/one-shot/short story/vignette collection I've started because I have too many plot bunnies running through my mind and I just need a platform where I can store them and look back on them later. I might possibly make some of these drabbles into actual stories in the far off future. The rating of this collection of stories may vary according to the content. Anyway, enjoy!

Pairing: SasuSaku

Prompt: First Time

Rating: K+

Genre: Romance

Words: 832

Dedicated to: My friend, R.

The first time Sasuke acknowledged her strength was when Sakura punched him across the face for calling her annoying.

Her retaliation was unexpected. Sasuke had blacked out and when he had awoken at the hospital later, he had glared at her with all the strength his injured pride could muster. Nursing his bruised jaw, he had opened his mouth with a measured amount of movement - because seriously, it hurt like a bitch - and very eloquently stated, "You punch like a gorilla."

Sakura had just handed him an icepack and beamed at his indirect admission.

The first time Sasuke had shown that he cared was when he had given her a new pair off gloves.

He had watched Sakura take off her frayed, old gloves after training and noticed that there were several burns, scratch marks and kunai wounds littered all over her pale hands. And it was a bleeding a little from when she had punched the ground a bit too hard and the skin had roughened a little from constantly handling sharp weapons and channeling chakra. As he had walked past her, he had quietly said, "You should take better care of your hands. Without them you won't be able to make seals."

The next day, when Sakura got home from work, she had found a pair of gloves hanging on her doorknob, with a small slip attached to them. 'Use them. Training tomorrow at six sharp. Don't be late.' There was no signature but Sakura smiled - she knew who they were from.

The first time Sasuke had complimented her was when he had seen her with her hair down.

It had grown long again and between training, missions and work at the hospital, shortening it had totally escaped her mind. She had taken off her hair tie one windy afternoon after a sparring session with Sasuke and had plopped down on the grass beside Sasuke. Sasuke had looked at her from the corner of his eye, and perhaps it was because his fatigued state had not allowed him to retain common sense, or perhaps it was something else, but before he knew it, he had verbalized the first thought that had crossed his mind. "You look... nice like that."

Sakura had turned to him with startled eyes but he had already gotten up by then, muttered something about meeting Naruto and taken his leave Kakashi-style. Sakura had stayed there for a long time afterwards, fingering through the strands of pink hair. Suddenly, she didn't want to cut it anymore.

The first time Sasuke had asked her out had been... Sasuke-esque, to say the least.

Sakura opened her eyes when she felt his presence settling down on beside her on the grassy slope. The wind rustled by and she looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Hey." she smiled in greeting.

"Hn." he greeted before closing his eyes and relaxing against the grassy slope. Sakura smiled - just the fact that he was here and spent time with her was enough for her to know that he enjoyed her company.

Sakura lay back too and closed her eyes as a comfortable silence fell around them. It was nice being there with him - lying on the grass, under the open sky, with a soft breeze blowing by. Suddenly, she felt something warm clutch her hand and she opened her eyes to see that he had held her hand up with his own and was scrutinizing it closely.

"You've been using the gloves." he stated after a long moment, drawing judgement from how her hands seemed to be in better shape than before.

"Um, yeah." Sakura said with a hint of confusion, wondering why he still hadn't let go of her hand yet.

Sasuke sighed as he let the tension flow out of his body and gripped her hand tighter. "Dobe asked me something yesterday." he suddenly said.

Sakura frowned, not seeing where this was going. "Okay, so what is it?"

Sasuke fixed her with a firm gaze and shrugged, as if what he was about to say next wasn't nerve-wracking at all. "He asked me if you and I were going out."

Sakura blinked. "Oh."

Sasuke observed her with something akin to frustration - she was brightest kunoichi in the village! Did he have to spell it out for her? "Well?" Sasuke asked, an eyebrow raised in inquiry.

Sakura blinked again, as comprehension suddenly dawned - she had a feeling she knew where this was going. "Well what?" she asked cluelessly, although inwardly she smiled deviously at Sasuke's poorly hidden frustration.

Sasuke sighed. Getting up, he shoved a hand nonchalantly in his pocket and turned his head away from her general direction discreetly, so that she could not see his expression. "Well, what do I tell him?"

There was more to that question, she knew. Figured Sasuke would be so indirect in these matters. Sakura got up as well, brushing invisible specks of dust from her medic skirt and desperately trying to implement some control over her rapidly accelerating heartbeat. Trying to ignore the soft blush spreading across her cheeks, she cleared her throat and managed to appear composed.

Giving him a soft smile, she said, "Tell him, yes, we are."

Ending Notes: Well, there you have it. I'd really like to know what you thought since this was hastily typed up and edited within the span of just one hour, at 4 o'clock in the morning. Actually, my friend R wanted me to write a Sasusaku and since I couldn't sleep, I thought that 'What the heck! Might as well get to it.' For those of you waiting for the next chapter of FAF, well, I could post it now but I still have one more scene to complete and I really don't feel like cutting the chapter short. It's already over 15,000 words, so it should be up as soon as AmberIce-zlkh edits the whole thing.

Anyway, I've been reading these really cool drabble collections and I was thinking of taking prompts since post-exam holidays have just begun and I have a lot of free time. So, I guess utilizing this free time by taking on challenges would be a great way to improve my English.

So, if you have any prompts, just state it in the review along with the pairing/pairings of your choice. But you may choose up to only two pairings for a particular prompt and yes, I'm open to all pairings whether they be hetero/homo. But you'll have to forgive me if I'm ignorant regarding certain characters - I'm not up to date with the manga, you see.

Anyway, just give me the prompt and the pairing and I'll see what I can do. Okay, now go click the green/gray button and make this lowly author happy.