A/N: There's a thing called artistic license, so no comments about not being consistent with the anime, okay:)

Crush

by Little Kunoichi

5 Years Old

Little Sakura giggled happily as she flew through the air on the swing, her short pink hair fluttering in the breeze. Her face then set into a determined expression as she swung higher and higher. Bracing herself, she jumped from the swing, stumbled, and then stopped, hunched over.

"Yay!" Sakura cried, standing up straight, holding her arms up as if she had just done an incredibly difficult stunt. Punching a fist in the air, she said, "Oh yeah! Score one for Sakura-chan!"

She jumped when she heard laughter behind her. Sakura turned, blushing bright red. A boy around her age was smiling at her, his black eyes twinkling like stars.

"That was cool!" He exclaimed. His hair was black, like his eyes, and it was so messy, it made Sakura wonder if he had ever used a comb in his whole life.

Sakura smiled shyly and scratched her head, "I was just playing around..."

"You know what?" He said excitedly, rushing up to her and leaning close to her face, "You should become a ninja! That's what I wanna be when I grow up!"

"Huh?" She said, staring at him. "What's that?"

He gasped as if it she had just said a curse word. "You don't know? It's the coolest job ever! I know because my brother's one! You get to go to a ninja school, and throw these cool knives and everything! Then you graduate and become a real ninja and you get to beat the bad guys and stuff! And you get you get to jump on top of trees and buildings and lots of other cool things! And you can learn how to do stuff like this," he then attempted to do a cartwheel but only succeeded in falling over.

Sakura giggled and said, "Like this?" as she performed a perfect cartwheel.

"Wow!" He cried, admiration shining in his eyes. "You're so cool! What's your name?"

Sakura held out a hand to help him up and said, "My name is Sakura! What's yours?"

He smiled at her again as her as he got up. "My name is Sasuke!"

Sasuke then leaned colse to her face again and said, "I like your hair, Sakura-chan! It's pretty."

Sakura beamed at him, blushing a light pink. Sasuke grinned back.

"You know... you're really cute when you smile, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said. He turned red.

"Yeah!" Sakura cried enthusiastically, punching a fist into the air, "Now I know I want to be a ninja when I grow up! And then maybe we can be partners, right Sasuke-kun?"

"Cool!" Sasuke replied eagerly, "Then we can be the strongest ninja team ever! No one will be able to stop us!"

"Yay!" Sakura said, and hugged him. But Sasuke pushed her away and said, with a red face, "Hey! Ninjas don't hug!"

Sakura laughed and said, "Oops! I forgot."

10 Years Old

Sakura sighed and tapped her pencil on the desk. The chuunin, Iruka, droned on and on about chakra something or other. She didn't really need to listen to the lecture, as she was the one of the top students, along with Sasuke, and a few others. The blonde, Naruto, she noticed, was currently trying to sneak a frog into the hair of the girl sitting next to him.

She sighed again and glanced at the clock on the wall, wondering where Sasuke was. He wasn't usually this late.

And then, as if the heavens had heard her thoughts, the door slammed open, and there stood Uchiha Sasuke, in all his glory.

Sakura stared as she noticed what he was wearing. Normally he would wear a blue shirt and brown capri-length pants. Now he was wearing a very dark blue shirt with khaki shorts. The shirt had what Sakura recognized to be the Uchiha clan symbol imprinted on the back.

Iruka stared at him disapprovingly and said, "You're late, Sasuke."

He said nothing. Sakura quirked an eyebrow. That was very un-Sasuke like behavior.

Sasuke made his way up to where he sat next to Sakura. But instead, he turned to the other row of desks, where he sat, isolated. Sakura was surprised, if not hurt.

"What's wrong?" Sakura said to him discreetly as Iruka resumed the lesson.

He ignored her.

She furrowed her eyebrows, and said a little louder, "Sasuke-kun,"

Again, he showed no signs of hearing her.

"Sasuke."

Slowly, he turned to look at her, and said, "What?"

Sakura was severely taken aback. His tone was so harsh and cold, totally unlike the normal Sasuke. She slowly spoke, "What's wrong?"

He stared at her for a long time with an expressionless face, and then Sakura saw a little of the old Sasuke in his eyes. He responded blankly, "Itachi,"

And suddenly, Sakura understood. Sasuke had been having fights with his brother, who he had so long admired. Lately, Itachi had been pushing everyone away- including his younger brother.

Iruka's stern voice brought her back to reality. "Sakura, what are you doing?"

Snickers echoed around the class as Sakura straightened up, blushing. "Uh, just telling Sasuke-kun about the lecture, as he was late, Iruka-sensei," she said, thinking quickly.

His eyes drilled into hers for a moment before he said, "Alright."

Just as he was about to continue, however, the bell rang, signaling recess.

Iruka groaned and said, "Okay kids, go play," and he turned and left to eat lunch.

Sakura was about to step out the doorway when someone pushed her suddenly, causing her to fall over. Her books toppled out of her hands. "Ha ha, it seems that Sakura's forehead is so big, she can't even balance on her own two feet!"

Sakura groaned and got up, and slowly retrieved her books. They were teasing her again.

The two girls were smirking at her. It seemed like they never left her alone.

"Come on forehead-girl, can't you be less clumsy?" Ayu said condescendingly, as if Sakura was a bug beneath her foot. Yuki snickered derisively.

Sakura helplessly took the insults, and looked at Sasuke, hoping that he would come to her rescue like he usually did. Instead, what she saw all but broke her heart.

Sasuke was not looking at her. In fact, it didn't even look as if he either cared or noticed what was happening to her. He was glaring at the two girls and said, "You're blocking the door."

They both squealed and moved out of the way, blushing. Sasuke walked past her as if she wasn't there.

And at that moment, Sakura knew that the normal Sasuke was gone. At that moment, she knew that he, or she, for that matter, would never be the same.

15 Years Old

Sakura, now a young woman with shoulder-length cherry blossom hair, sat atop a tree, all but hidden from the world by the thick foliage. She sighed and looked at the tree trunk next to her. It read Sakura + Sasuke. She laughed bitterly, trying to remember a time when she was that naïve. It seemed almost impossible to believe that that bubbly, pinked haired girl used to be her.

After the murder of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke had almost completely shut down. It was to be expected that he was profoundly affected, but he was hurting more than anyone knew. Anyone but Sakura, that is. She knew, better than everyone else, maybe even Sasuke himself, why. She knew that Sasuke used to look up to his brother more than anyone else. She knew that deep down inside, Sasuke was devastated.

Sakura still remembered how he would talk to her for hours about how cool Itachi was, how talented he was, how much he wanted to be like Itachi. She knew that the little kid inside Sasuke, the one she met ten years ago, was aching. But that boy was already lost in the black hole of revenge.

After the incident, Sakura watched Sasuke. It was an odd habit, not so much stalking- just observing. It was the closest she knew she could ever get to him. She watched him grow up, and so started to like him- in more than a platonic way. She developed a crush on him. She didn't know what hurt more: that she had become like all the other foolish girls, or that she could never get him to care.

When she was put on the same team as Sasuke, she was overjoyed. On the outside, she bragged to the other girls, tried to make them jealous, but on the inside, she knew there was no chance with Sasuke. She was merely glad, because she had thought that was closest anyone could ever get.

But then there was Naruto. At first, Sakura underestimated him- just like everyone else. As she watched Naruto fight with Sasuke, she never would have thought they would be anything more than rivals. But, amazingly, impossibly, the blonde achieved what no one, especially not Sakura, could have ever could have: he earned the respect and acknowledgement of Uchiha Sasuke.

There was no way Sakura could have hated him for doing the impossible without even trying. Truthfully, she admired and respected him. She understood why Sasuke had chosen him. Naruto was loud, annoying, and obsessed with ramen, but he was also determined and head strong. He stood his ground when everyone hated him- when everything was trying to get him to break down. Something Sasuke had not done.

Sasuke, however, had never spared her more than a glance. Sakura, to him, was nothing more than a "weak girl." And while she knew this, accepted this- it didn't stop it from hurting so much that she couldn't sleep at night. It didn't stop her heart from breaking.

Sakura shook her head. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

She looked down, and saw Sasuke. He was silent, but she knew he knew she was there. He always knew, because she was too weak to hide- and frankly, she didn't even care anymore.

And so, Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes as she laughed sullenly and repeated the same mantra in her head that she always did.

It's just a crush. It's not love, it's love, it's not love, it's not love...