Title: Five Times Over
Summary: It was then that I realized that I had fallen in love five times. And it's all because of you Sasuke Uchiha.
Author's Note: Okay! New one-shot! This one has been tumbling around in My Documents folder since I first learned about "love" in my Religion course! (which was about November...) But hey. I've finally finished it, am pleased with it, and excited to post it here! This is actually one of my favorite creations so far and I've gone in a bit of a different direction with it. See, I wrote it in first person (from Sakura's POV) and it's mostly written in present tense which I usually don't like or use. So I'd appreciate any feedback you may have concerning my story or any of the techniques I've used. :) Thanks for clicking on this story's link and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own not a thing of Naruto. (sorry, my current English project is a Shakespeare study. lol!)

I was bored and alone in the house when I first found the book. It originally caught my eye because it was absent of any title on its blue spine. I pulled it out of our shelf to see that it was titled "The Times of the Greeks". It held information on the Ancient Greek culture and I remembered it as being a book my mother had given me a year or two ago – when I expressed interest in the topic.

While I read through it, I came across a chapter that was dedicated to the language and I skimmed it over quickly – intending to skip to the next chapter about their religious views – when my eyes caught sight of a special word. Several special words in fact: Hetaireia, Eros, Storge, Philia, and Agape. All five translated to mean 'love' but each word described a different kind of love – a different relationship. And when I took time to think about it, I realized that I had fallen in love with you five times over.

Hetaireia – the relationship between companions, co-workers or classmates

Being in the Academy was tough at first. I remember that before Ino, I didn't really have any friends – or anyone that would talk to me actually. People kept their distance at first because of my quiet and shy personality and then the bullies discovered my forehead and no one really talked to me after that. It was just one thing after another in my childhood. I know that you told me that I had no idea what true loneliness was like, but I don't know what to call my childhood other than lonely. Of course, that loneliness dispersed soon after I befriended Ino. She lent me some of her courage and I was able to make a few friends who hadn't even noticed I was in the Academy before Ino introduced us – I guess I was better at hiding than I thought.

And then I met you for the first time.

It wasn't very dramatic or cliché at all. Or at least, not in my book. We couldn't have been older than six at the time. I had been lost in thought inside of the Yamanaka Flower Shop. I was waiting to play with Ino and gazed at the flowers in the window, trying to remember everything that she had taught me about them. That was when you and your brother came in and, spooked, I hid amongst the flower displays – I mean, as well as my hair would let me.

You were looking for a flower to give your mother as a birthday present and, spotting my pink hair, you pointed right at me and said, "That pink one's really pretty."

Itachi laughed, poked you in the forehead, and said, "It is, but look closer Sasuke; that's not a flower."

You walked up to me to get a better look and I think I blushed so hard you couldn't tell my skin from my hair. Wide-eyed you said to me, "Oh! Sorry! I didn't see you there! I thought you were a flower!" And then you laughed and I remember quietly giggling with you.

You offered me a hand and declared, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha by the way!"

Shyly, I reached out my hand into yours and whispered, "I… I'm… My name is Sakura."

"So you are a flower!" I blushed again and you couldn't stop laughing until Itachi told you that you had to go soon if you wanted to train with him before dinner. Excited, you picked out a pink rose for Itachi to buy and before you headed for the door, you held the rose up by my face.

"Wow," you awed in amazement, "it's almost as pretty as you!"

I blushed while looking down and twiddled with my fingers. I think Itachi sensed that I was uncomfortable because he urged, "Come on, Sasuke. You wanna work on that Shuriken Jutsu don't you?"

"Oh, yeah!" you sounded as if you had really forgotten about your training time. Sometimes I wonder if you had. "Sorry but I hafta go. I gotta train real hard if I wanna become a great ninja like my brother!"

You ran towards the door where Itachi was waiting, but turned back to me just before you left and called out, "Bye Pretty Flower!"

Pretty Flower. That became my nickname then. I remember that you were so surprised when you saw me playing in the Academy's sandbox with the other girls – it hadn't ever crossed your mind that I might be a kunoichi in training. You waved to me and I waved back before you ran off with one of your friends. After that, you talked to me every now and then. You even played in the sandbox with me once. Actually, because you played with me, you had to stay late to practice because you promised yourself you'd practice the Shuriken Jutsu for at least two hours before you went home.

But after that, you didn't talk to me anymore.

You didn't wave to me, didn't smile when you caught sight of my pink hair, didn't laugh when I nervously played with my fingers. You didn't wave, smile or laugh at all after that and, for the longest time, I couldn't understand why.

Until I heard of the Uchiha Massacre.

I always felt uneasy about you once I heard. Not because I couldn't express how sorry I was – somehow, I think you always knew how much I cared – but because… the day that I remembered sand castles, laughter, and smiles, you remembered blood, tears, and death. And I was sad for a while because I knew that you would never remember that first time we played in the sandbox.

Philia – the love between two friends

A few years past without either of us really talking to one another. Sure, I squealed at the mere mention of your name and you always had a cool retort to pause my pursuits but we never really talked. We exchanged words, we made the odd comment to each other, and my fan-girling and your brush-offs came like second nature to us. But you never called me Pretty Flower anymore. I never admired the pink roses in Ino's shop anymore. I didn't play in the sandbox anymore and you certainly didn't smile anymore.

But then we graduated and we were put on the same team with the loser of the class.

It's strange, now that I think about it. The three of us were so incredibly different with completely opposite goals and motivations. But somehow, we just clicked; we worked. We grew together and learned to respect and care for each other in our own ways. You would protect me from danger and push Naruto to his very limit. Naruto would keep me believing in myself and I think that he made you remember what it was like to smile. Looking back, I'm not exactly sure what I did for you two. I made lunches, I paid for ramen dinners, I took care of you in the Forest of Death, and I kept you two in check… but those things seem so minor. No amount of small favours could repay the debt that I owe the both of you.

And even though neither of you got much in return, you still kept me as a teammate. You accepted me as a friend. For whatever unfathomable reason, you treasured my friendship and I, yours.

I know that once you left you refused to believe it but… we were friends once, Sasuke. And I never stopped being your friend. Even though I claimed to love you romantically, I loved you as a best friend first. And at the time, that was enough for me.

Eros – the sexual, romantic love between a man and a woman

Eventually, the love that both Naruto and I held for you pulled through and we managed to get you back in Konoha relatively unscathed. The council was, in my opinion, barbaric and stubborn in their wish for your execution. I'm only glad that Naruto and Tsunade were just as adamant in their wish for your future in the village. I, of course, was a small part of that battle for your life – the two feisty blondes only allowed me to get a couple of words in – and I was completely overjoyed when we won the council over.

I don't remember you looking to be particularily happy nor upset upon the outcome but a few weeks back in Naruto's company and I think you were remembering how to smile again.

You'd been in Konoha for four months when things between us changed. I barely remember what happened exactly.

It was your birthday – that much I know for sure. Naruto and I planned a surprise party for you but there weren't too many people there; we knew how much you disliked big crowds. Actually, you disliked any size of a crowd; especially when they were in celebration. And I knew that you would have preferred to spend your day just being around Naruto and me. So I was incredibly happy when you put up with our plans. You even seemed to enjoy yourself a little bit.

It was time for your cake and I asked you to come help me prepare the candles properly. Of course, that was a lie. I only wanted to get you alone so I could tell you how much I appreciated your co-operation throughout the entire night. I told you as much once we were alone in the kitchen and you brushed it off, saying that it wasn't really such a big deal. I smiled at you because you looked away from me as you said it, as if you were embarrassed at my thanking you. I knew then, that you had suffered through the party because Naruto and I had put effort into planning it; you cared enough that you didn't want our efforts to be wasted. I was so happy! Happy enough to reach up and kiss your cheek – or at least, that was the plan – but you saw my movement and looked back at me to see what I was doing and we kissed. In a rather cliché manner.

I pulled back after indulging you for a few seconds and, pink in the face, I wordlessly brought out the cake to your party guests, you following right behind me.

I can't explain it exactly but things were different from then on. We saw a lot more of each other. We trained together every Sunday. You walked me home from my shifts at the hospital. I made you a special lunch every Wednesday when you went training with Naruto. We'd visit each other's houses when we were free for no other reason than to talk. You'd take me out to restaurants that I didn't remember telling you I liked. We connected. I laughed a little more and you smiled a little more.

And moments before our second kiss, you called me Pretty Flower.

I woke up the next morning sore but so incredibly happy and in a bed that wasn't mine. The best part was just lying there in your arms, surrounded by colours that I knew must belong in the Uchiha household (and in my future – our future).

Storge – the automatic love that a parent has for a child and a child for a parent

Sasuke Uchiha.

I remember a lot of things when I think of you. I remember having fun. I remember laughing a lot. I remember blushing like that pink rose. I remember playing in the sand. I remember a cold shoulder. I remember pain. I remember happiness. I remember strength. I remember power. I remember protection.

But most of all I remember love.

I don't have the faintest clue why, but loving you was always easy for me to do. I remember thinking that I'd never ever love anyone as much or as easily as I loved you.

You proved me wrong.

Because the time of the greatest pain I had ever been in – the birthing of our first child; the first step towards the Uchiha Restoration – was also the time of my greatest love. Throughout the pains of labour, I always kept in mind that it was all for you; for the man I loved more than anything.

But when I heard him cry and when I held our precious treasure in my arms, gazing down into his big black eyes I knew that he had captured my heart; that he had been slowly taking bits and pieces of it for the past nine months. And, for a little while anyway, you didn't completely exist to me. For those few moments when I held our son for the very first time, the entire world consisted only of myself and our little Kenta.

Watching him grow up, I could see a lot of yourself in him. Our Kenta smiled more often than he breathed, laughed with illuminated cheer, was always eager to learn new things, and – of course – he adored his mother with a passion that matched your own. During deep hours of the night, I remember you often mistaking those traits as gifts from my genes. But the first time Kenta brought me home a pink rose from an outdoor adventure, I was certain that he was a mirror of you, Sasuke Uchiha; more than any of the children that followed: Seita, my mimic and our first daughter; Setsuko, our prodigy in resemblance of Itachi; Muika, Naruto's favorite to treat to ramen; and Yukou, your little cuddling princess.

Agape – unconditional love that expects nothing in return for the affection

When I look back upon old scrapbooks of the time when we were young, I do not surprise myself to see a younger me always within close range of you. I look and I remember those good ole days. The times when I scribbled my name with your last name on to any writing surface; when I talked with Ino for hours about why you were so perfect; when I could forget my "affections" for you when Team 7 just hung out; the rare time you praised me; the not-so-rare time when we worked as a double team against our enemies; and the times you protected me with all you had, without giving it a second thought. To describe those days in a single word would read: F.L.A.W.L.E.S.S.

I won't say perfect because there were times of blood and bruises. I won't say peaceful because there were times of arguments and grudges. I won't say easy because there were times of challenges and obstacles. I won't say fun because there were times of hard work and failure. We weren't living in a fairy-tale so nothing could ever be like that for us. But I never saw us for more than what we ever were and that was: flawless. As you, as me, as Team 7… we were without flaw, mistake, or chip; hardships and all.

Flipping through images of my memory, I find it difficult to pinpoint exactly when it was that I fell into this sort of love with you. People almost always assume I loved you from start to finish but I know that is not the case, for I have never known any person to keep such a constant in all their lifetime. There were times I hated you, times I had no idea who you were, times I feared you, times I mistrusted you, times I was curious about you, and a hundred other times when I felt a hundred different ways about you.

So I don't know when exactly I started to love you so ferociously. All I know, is that I do.

And when you come to bed tonight – after you've tucked each child in their beds – I'll be sure to hold you close, rid away all your troubles and worries from your day, and you'll hear the words you've heard from me all your life:

"I love you."