Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N : This story is dedicated to Brix, because she requested it. I hope you like it!!! =)

Sakura was waiting, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. She had thought of an ingenious idea earlier in the morning, but had missed every opportunity to execute it. She was on a mission, one of utmost priority, and she couldn't fail, she wouldn't fail. There was no way that anyone, not even Naruto, could mess up her plan.

She was sitting in class, paying very close attention; not to the teacher, of course, but to Sasuke. Sakura had been waiting to carry out her plan all day, but had never been able to catch him alone, or keep Naruto away long enough. This was the perfect opportunity; Sasuke was staring aimlessly at the wall, while Naruto was doodling randomly on a piece of paper behind them. It was time.

Sakura leaned over toward Sasuke, who was sitting right next to her. "Hey… Sasuke?" This interrupted his train of thought, as he turned toward his pink-haired friend. Now that Sakura had his attention, she continued. "Well… I was wondering, would you like to take a walk through the sakura cherry blossom trees at the park? They're in bloom…and I just kind of thought you might like to view them with me."

She paused to analyze his reaction. Sasuke was staring at her, his face masking his thoughts. Finally, he replied, "I guess, we can go after class."

These words triggered an automatic response, "Where are we going? Is it to get ramen? I hope we're getting ramen…" Naruto chimed in, slinging an arm around each of them, his eyes glazing over at the thought of ramen.

Sakura shot him a death-glare and punched his arm after shrugging it off. "OWW!!" Naruto whined, retracting his arm, "what was that for?" Sakura continued to glare at him, and with all the power of telepathy in the world, tried to communicate to him that he was not invited.

Sasuke simply rolled his eyes and sighed. He was not amused, nor interested in their little quarrel, if anything it was just annoying. "We're going to view the sakura blossoms after class today," he stated acutely.

"What!? Really? Sweet!" Naruto exclaimed, "Woah! I just realized, Sakura-chan is going to view sakura blossoms!" The thought entranced Naruto in a fit of laughter. When he finally recovered himself, he added, "It's kind of funny since they have the same name, you know?" He started into another round of laughter when Sakura cut him off.

"Shut up Naruto! Nobody asked you anyway! Besides, that's not even funny! Stop laughing at me!" she ordered, trying to control the anger that the blonde was provoking.

Sasuke rolled his eyes again. "Naruto, stop picking on her, or you can't come with us to view the sakura blossoms." This shut him up, the excitement in his eyes dimming, as the blonde agreed to his friend's terms.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Great! Everything was going perfectly until Naruto ruined it! I'll have to remember to kick his ass later as payback.

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The day continued as the three students carried on with their scheduled classes. After they had finished their daily cleaning duties, they headed to the park. Sakura instinctually lead the way, following the path she had laid out after their plans had been established. She had planned it all very carefully, Naruto would not ruin her perfect date with Sasuke, he simply would not. This determination lead to her walking two extra blocks, in order for them to pass a ramen shop on their way to the park.

"Look Naruto, a ramen shop!" she exclaimed as she pointed to the little building.

Naruto's eyes lit up as he whipped his head in the direction she pointed. "RAMEN!?!?" he shouted with enthusiasm, then he thought for a moment and glanced back at Sakura. "Um… would you mind if I stop in there just for a second…" he rambled, his eyes slowly returning to the ramen shop calling to him.

Sakura smiled, perfect. "Oh, no problem Naruto! We'll wait out here, okay?" The blonde boy thanked her with an enormous smile as he raced off to the ramen shop.

After he had left them, Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "Sakura, if you didn't want him to come, you should have spoken up, I wouldn't have invited him. It would have saved you the trouble of trying to distract him and get rid of him."

She shrugged and looped her arm around his. "Well, you know me… I didn't want to be rude or anything to him, he is, after all, our friend," she giggled. "Come on Sasuke, we both know he'll be in there for at least an hour, let's head over to the park."

Saskue shrugged and continued walking, not bothering to remove his arm from ushering her down the sidewalk; he knew she would just grab hold of it again if he tried. With a sigh, he continued on his way, leading her, around another block to the park. While they walked, Sakura rambled on about her thoughts on everything from their school assignments to her most recent training technique. This was sufficient enough for Sasuke, he only had to reply with a few words every few minutes or so, since she did most of the talking; this allowed his thoughts to wander elsewhere, to thoughts that he was trying to analyze and decipher, himself; uncharted thoughts that kept returning to a pretty pink flower, Sakura.

--- ---

About a half hour later, they arrived at the park. Sasuke continued to lead Sakura through the park, around in aimless circles, encircling the exquisite blossoms on the sakura trees.

"Sakura," Sasuke interjected, "why did you want to come view the sakura blossoms with me?"

Sakura paused and cocked her head to the side, "That's a silly question! I asked you because I thought it would be nice if we viewed them together, they are, after all, very pretty this time of year."

Sasuke thought for a moment, turning his gaze toward a large and prosperously bloomed sakura tree. Moments later, he found himself nodding. "Well… thanks for inviting me. I'm glad I came, you're right, the trees are beautiful." These words brought a warm smile to Sakura's lips.

Sasuke led Sakura to the large tree he had been gazing at moments before. The two settled against the base of the tree, underneath the canopy of blossoms hanging over them.

It was now Sakura's turn to interupt the thoughtful silence. "Thanks for coming with me Sasuke, I think the sakura blossoms were much more beautiful with you here with me…" she cooed, looking up at him from under her lashes.

Sasuke flashed a smile of amusement, "I doubt I made that much of a difference." He paused for a moment, trying to decide if he should speak his next thought. Finally he decided to just go for it, he had the strength to do so, probably. "You're the pretty one, not me."

This brought an immediate response out of the pink-haired girl beside him. Her eyes lit up, sparkling with excitement. Sakura was smiling so much, she could barely control her enthusiasm. "You… you think I'm pretty?"

Sasuke blushed and glanced away from her. After recomposing himself, the young boy turned back to her and thought of the best way to phrase his next sentence. "Sakura… you make the sakura blossoms look tediously plain and repulsive… You are…" he blushed again, unable to muster the courage to finish his declaration. Sasuke forced his attention to the grass beneath him, as a silence enveloped the two of them. The silence was killing Sasuke, he could only imagine how revolted Sakura must be with him for speaking to her like that. He wished that she would say something, even if it were to tell him never to speak to her again, if only she'd say something, and stop staring at him like that…

Moments flashed by, and the silence still sat stagnant. A soft breeze was blowing, and shook one of the sakura blossoms loose from it's tree branch. It floated effortlessly and gracefully down into Sasuke's lap. He picked it up thoughtlessly and began to twist it between his fingers. Sakura watched him do so, begging him to say something, since words had left her.

After several more minutes of the dreary awkward silence, Sakura got her wish. "It's petals are the color of your hair," Sasuke whispered nearly incoherently. He didn't know what else to say, but he could feel the tension building between them, and making Sakura feel awkward, he didn't want that for her; so he had to say something, even if it was something stupid and thoughtless. However, after the words had left his lips, he regretted them almost immediately. He thought that it seemed like something Naruto would say, something stupid and thoughtless, yes, that was him. His irritation brought another blush to his cheeks; now he must sound really ridiculous to Sakura. What had he done now?

Despite Sasuke whispering very softly, Sakura still heard him. She nodded, "Yes, but also…" she paused, "it's the color of your cheeks," she comforted with a smile.

Sasuke looked away to hide yet another blush. He didn't want Sakura to seem him like this, weak. Sakura scooted closer to him, trying to hold his hand in comfort, to tell him it was okay. However, Sasuke pulled his hand away quickly out of embarrassment.

"Sasuke?" Sakura gently guided his face closer to hers, forcing him to look at her. "Sasuke, why are you embarrassed?" she asked.

This caused an involuntary glance away from her, and another blush to form against his cheeks. "I'm not embarrassed," he muttered.

"Then why won't you look at me or talk to me!?" she asked frantically, trying to uncover the truth, whatever it may be.

The sound of her voice, the strain and panic in it, stuck a cord in Sasuke. He looked back up her, straight into her eyes, with his blazing and overpowering gaze. Sakura was happy that he was looking at her again, and as she stared into his eyes, she picked up immediately on the determination and decision-making taking place within them.

Heat rose to Sakura's cheeks and her mouth went dry. Even though she could see a decision being made in Sasuke's eyes, she did not know what it would be. Sasuke leaned down, slowly, and gently, and kissed her. It wasn't much, just a sweet, simple, and cute peck on the lips; but it was a kiss. Sasuke glanced back to Sakura's face to see how she was reacting to it, to see if he had overstepped the line. However, she was smiling, her eyes still closed, almost… expectant? She didn't look to be mad at him for kissing her, so he thought he could risk one more. Sasuke leaned back into her, kissing her more passionately this time. Just as he was getting ready to pull away again, he was shocked to find that Sakura was kissing him back.

They kissed for a few more moments before Sasuke pulled away, a smile that matched Sakura's, playing on his lips. After taking a deep breath to control his emotions, he whispered, "Sakura, I was right. The sakura blossoms are nothing compared to you." He took the sakura blossom that he had been twisting between his fingers and placed it elegantly in her hair, right above her right ear.

Sasuke drew her close into his protective arms so that she could lay back safely against his chest. He kissed her cheek, lightly and playfully; their blushes of first love matching the budding pink of the lovely sakura blossoms.

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A/N : so this is my very first Naruto fanfiction... would you believe that i wrote this story without reading ANY of the Naruto manga, or watching ANY of the anime? because it's true. i learned about the characters via fanfiction.. xD despite not reading Naruto yet, i think i got the characters down for the most part... what do you think? anyway! i hope you enjoyed the story, i certainly enjoyed writing it. =) i encourage everyone to leave a review, if not to give an opinion of the actual story, then at least to tell me if you thought i wrote the different characters correctly.

until next time, xoxo. -Rhea.