Bright green eyes stared into onyx eyes. Sakura was standing tall as Sasuke held his weapon pointed at her. No tears flowed this time he noticed. In fact this time she looked like she was just angry and a little pleased with herself. The question was why would she be happy that she had failed to ladna blow and was now probably going to be killed?

For a moment he thought back to his past and the way she used to be. He remembered her training, her emotion instability, the way she seemed to cling to anyone who showed her affection, when she had saved him, stood up for him, protected him and told him she loved him. It wasn't long after their last scuffle that he realised had Naruto not been quick enough when he was going to kill her he would have killed the one person in the world that he cared for more than anything else. Yes Sasuke Uchiha admitted it he cared about his pink haired former team mate who was at this moment on the other end of his weapon.

Bringing himself back from his mental reverie he noticed her head had dropped. When he cleared his throat to get her attention her head snapped up.

"So I guess you have decided which way you are going to kill me. That is what you were doing wasn't it? Figuring out which way would be the most satisfying." He was taken back though he didn't show it. What she said hadn't shocked him so much as the way she was smiling like she wanted him to kill her.

"What makes you think I'm going to kill you?" he watched the shock in her eyes but was once again confused when instead of relief he saw anger and disappointment.

"Why not? We're enemies remember? You hate me, you think I'm annoying."

"Hmm" he grunted hoping she would start acting like herself before he poked her just to see if she was Sakura. By now her head had dropped again and she had clenched her fists.

"Do it." It was quiet and a whisper but he heard it. She had told him to kill her. Before he could even blink though she had raised her head and the look on her face was anger.

"DO IT!" she yelled over and over again. Soon he couldn't take it.

"WHY!" he knew he shouldn't have raised his voice but he was honestly shocked. He decided to listen when she spoke because her expression had changed to show the hurt as well as the anger.

"Why? Because. I can't do it anymore. I can't do this anymore. Living is just too hard. I told you I loved you and you left. You broke my heart and ripped it out of my chest, then put it back in," the tears had pooled in her eyes as she continued, "then just when it started to heal you showed up again. And bit by bit you started claiming my heart again. But this time was different. This time I knew it was love and I hated it. I wanted to hate you for hurting people I cared about. You tried to kill people we called friends. You tried to kill Kakashi, you tried to kill Naruto, you tried to kill me." Now the tears were spilling down her cheeks and Sasuke was fighting the urge to throw caution to the wind and embrace her right then and there but he couldn't, too many watching eyes. "Every time it would tear my heart apart a little more. It hurts so much and the pain won't go away. You tore my heart to pieces and I can't take the pain anymore so kill me. Slit my throat, cut off my head, run me through I don't care just kill me so it will stop, please" the fight in her eyes had died. He watched as she dropped to her knees.

It was then that his composure snapped he chanced a glance at everyone else and noticed that they were alone. Taking a breath he waited as she stood up in front of the tree she had been standing in front of this whole time and looked him right in the eyes. Sasuke felt like someone was looking into his soul. Raising his sword he thrust it forward into the tree missing Sakura's face by millimetres.

"I'm not going to kill you. God you are such an idiot sometimes, you know that" she was clearly shocked. Who wouldn't be? Not only had he not killed her but he had spoken more to her in the last thirty seconds than he had in the entire time she had known him. Regaining her senses she glared at him.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you" smirking he approached her and placed one of his hands on the tree as he leant down to her.

"No you don't" she stopped glaring and more tears appeared.

"No I don't because I love you. I hate that I love you, I do" they were face to face noses almost touching but she refused to let herself give in.

Seeing the uncertainty in her teary eyes he did what he had wanted to do since she started yelling at him. He moved so quickly she barely had time to gasp as his lips took hers. Eyes wide she attempted to hit him but he simply held her wrists until she stopped. Carefully he let go to take hold of her waist as she reached over his shoulders and positioned her hands in his hair. He pulled her closer to deepen the kiss and she complied. He broke the kiss after what felt like eternity to breathe.

When he looked at her he read the emotions in her eyes. She was happy, frustrated, angry, sad, worried and scared. Sighing he pulled back a little and decided to explain himself.

"I won't kill you Sakura. I can't kill you because I care about you. You are important to me okay" he watched as her jaw dropped.

'great,' he thought, 'I tell her how I feel and she looks like Naruto just refused to eat something' rolling his eyes he sighed and said he wasn't going to repeat himself.

Blinking a few times Sakura managed to close her mouth and was about to ask millions of questions when the bushes rustled. Turning her attention to them she watched Naruto emerge. But when she turned back to Sasuke he was gone. Sighing she looked back to her team mate and started to heal him as he rambled on about defeating his opponents. Sakura asked where the rest of the team were and he told her they were on the way before launching back into his story. Try as she might Sakura couldn't concentrate on his heroic tale because her mind was on a certain onyx eyed ninjas confession moments before. Naruto rambled on noticing the small smile that appeared on Sakura's lips. Truthfully Naruto saw the whole thing. He was glad at least they knew he cared now. As Naruto kept talking Sakura could only think one thing.

'that was one hell of a kiss!'