I do not own Naruto.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Pair: SasuSaku, SakuNaru, HinaNaru, ShikaIno
Rated: M

I want to pretend I never loved you. I want to forget that I'm with you. You're no longer the one I want to be with. SasuSaku, NaruSaku Mentioned HinaNaru, ShikaIno

Unfulfilled Fantasy

Sakura brushed some soft pink hair behind her ear. It was spikier than it used to be because of the length, but she liked it better this way. Her short hair reminded her of her energetic teammate, Naruto.

She sighed as she bit the end of her pencil while writing up her hospital reports for the day. Once she was done she said her goodbyes to her teacher Tsunade, her coworkers, and her best friend Ino. Sakura hesitated a moment before approaching the blond. Ino didn't notice. She was too busy Eskimo kissing and giggling at Shikamaru, who had a rare smile on his lazy face. The pink haired girl never figured someone as ambitious as Ino would settle for her teammate instead of the boy they once rivaled over, but it seemed Ino had been the smart one when it came to settling down.

Sakura hadn't been so lucky.

"Bye, Ino-pig!" She stuck her tongue out as the other girl yelled her goodbyes and gave her an obscene gesture. Sakura laughed. It was easy for her to pretend now as much as she hated it.

The walk towards the Uchiha compound was long, but that was how she liked it. She could have easily run the rooftops and got home under five minutes, though what would be the point? Sakura sighed as she thought back to when she was younger. When before all she could ever hope was to be with Sasuke Uchiha, the only survivor of his family, and now that she had him…

She couldn't even stand being with him.

Their relationship had always been rocky. With her shamelessly chasing after him and hoping he'd love her and with him not even reacting, unless she annoyed him. Then when he came back she was supportive as she had always been. When Sasuke asked her to be the mother to his children because that was the only goal he had left to finish all she could do was say yes. She had been so happy.

Sakura found out the hard way that the fantasizing about a relationship with the man of her dreams was much better than the reality. She felt like she should have just known.

Sasuke never beat her, but she was starting to think a punch in the face would be fantastic. It'd give her an easy opening to leave because what he did do is neglect her, snap at her whenever she tried to have a conversation with him, shrug away her touch and made it seem like a chore to even make love to her.

The pink haired girl stared up at the starry sky. Her mind started to wonder to Naruto again. The blonde boy had given up on her because he wanted her to be happy. Soon after Hinata confessed her infatuation to him and they had started dating. Every time Sakura was around the two he was constantly doing such thoughtful romantic things for the shy girl.

She didn't even care she was being selfish when she wished with all her heart that it was her Naruto was still in love with and that it was her Naruto was with.

Sakura constantly fantasized about the two of them ending up together. Maybe she would seduce him away from Hinata, maybe he would say enough was enough and show her how a real man took care of a woman, maybe he never stopped loving her and was pretending to love Hinata instead because Sakura was unavailable.

She snapped out of that line of thought. It already going too deep and the affects it had on her body made her want her teammate even more than she should.

Not long after that Sakura was home. She entered the house and found Sasuke in the back, training with his shirt off. She gazed at his body, up and down, but all she was thinking about was tan muscles, a light blonde happy trail, and a goofy smile.

"You're back late."

"Ye-yeah." Sakura played with her hair. Sasuke had stopped training to look her over. She noticed the frisky look in his eye and tried not to wince. "I had a lot more reports than usual."

He grabbed his shirt and motioned towards the bedroom. There was no romance or love about their relationship.

Sakura hated that.

XXX

Sakura sighed as Naruto came hopping into the hospital. "Hey, Sakura! How are you doing?"

"Fine," Sakura nodded towards him thinking, if I could only slip my fingers under your shirt and touch your stomach. Maybe I could get away with biting your lower lip and pulling you closer…

"That's good! Everyone's been saying you've been really depressed lately. I came here to make sure you weren't being treated badly by Sasuke-teme. Want me to beat him up?"

The pink haired girl smiled and almost replied with an insult towards the blonde's fighting skills, but at last minute decided not to. The smile slipped from her lips.

"How are you and Hinata?"

Naruto's own goofy smile slipped a little before he put it back into place. "We're good. She never hits me like you do. OW!"

Sakura whacked him for his playful teasing, but the opening he had left didn't go unnoticed. Maybe if I play my cards right…

"Hey, Naruto…?"

His blue eyes met her green ones. He didn't look away, "yeah?"

Sakura propped her head in her arm, watching him carefully. "Have you ever thought that maybe we made a mistake… that maybe we should have been with each other instead of other people?"

"Why do you ask that?"

They were looking directly at each other now. No smiles, no pretending, and she had never felt so close to him. Her heartbeat pounded harder than it ever had when she was around Sasuke as she noticed Naruto placing his hands on her desk. She had to stare up at him now. He was so close…

"I made a mistake. I should have never chosen Sasuke over you. He can't even compete with you." So much for being sneaky, Sakura. Jeez I can't do anything right.

"How so?" Naruto lowered his head until he was barely a breath away.

"Damn it Naruto! Don't tease me." Sakura grabbed the back of his head and met his lips. Instantly they were in a passionate war of tongue and lips. She didn't notice Naruto lowering his head towards her neck, but her body just about spasmed as he gave her neck a light kiss and suck.

"Na…Naruto!"

The blond boy pulled back to stare into her eyes again. Sakura was so frazzled from the sudden loss of contact. It was like he had touched her everywhere instead of just her lips and her neck and she hadn't wanted to it to stop.

Naruto moved away from her. "How am I better than him, Sakura? I gave you everything and you never wanted it until you couldn't have me anymore."

"What?"

"You can't have me anymore Sakura."

He turned around and was walking away. Sakura jumped up and ran after him. She grabbed his arm and pulled it towards her, hugging it. "I know I messed up Naruto! I know I don't deserve you, but I want to be with you, it's not because you're with someone else! I've been thinking about you before Hinata confessed to you…"

Naruto leaned into her and she was so glad he wasn't Sasuke. The pink haired girl wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly. He was shaking… and pretty soon she figured out he was crying as well.

"You hurt me so much Sakura. No one in the entire village could rip my heart out like you can. And you did it over and over again."

Sakura sobbed into his back. There was nothing she could do to defend herself or her actions because she knew she was entirely at fault for everything bad that had happened between them from the time they had been put on a team together until now.

Naruto grabbed her hands, holding them briefly before shrugging them off. Sakura ran in front of him and blocked the door. "I broke up with Sasuke last night."

There was no shock in his eyes. He raised an arm to let it rest on the door by her head. "I know."

"How?"

"He told me, and then he punched me in the face. He loves you, Sakura, even though he can't show it like you want him too. And Hinata loves me. It was a mistake to even kiss you."

Sakura tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, "No it wasn't. It wasn't a mistake because I have NEVER felt anything like that kiss and I don't care if I'm ALONE for the rest of my life I want to be with you and NO ONE is EVER going to be good enough."

She couldn't read his face, her teeth were still clenched. Having to defend her feelings and her right to be with him was something too akin to being with Sasuke, but as much as she didn't like it she couldn't give up this last chance at her ex-boyfriend's best friend.

Naruto leaned into her again. Sakura easily grabbed his hips and pulled his whole body closer until there wasn't any space. "I broke up with Hinata two weeks ago."

They kissed again and Sakura couldn't remember who she was anymore. She clung to Naruto as he locked the door and maneuvered her towards the floor. Soon they were doing more than kissing and she had never felt so amazing in her life.

After they were done Sakura was snuggled into his chest as he gave her an Eskimo kiss. She giggled.

"Hey Naruto…"

"Yeah, Sakura?"

"I can think of a way to make it up to you for all the times I hurt you." She straddled him and loved the way he looked at her with a mixture of lust, awe and what she would assume was love.

"Okay!"

Notes:
Did not mean to make this a happy ending… Eh, oh well. Sorry for my use of blond and blonde. I was too lazy to fix them all because I'm constantly having trouble figuring out which wording I'd like to use.

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