One hour, twenty-two minutes, eighteen seconds and counting. Sakura glanced anxiously at her watch as if hoping by some grace of god it was mistaken. Of course, it wasn't. The chair across from her still lay empty, the salad meant for two still sitting there warm, wilting and untouched.

She couldn't help but feel helplessly disappointed. She had met a simply amazing guy, handsome and intelligent, with a look of great cunning in his obsidian eyes. It wasn't that she was desperate for a date or a story-book romance but she had had her hopes so high on this one, perhaps too high. The dating pool she'd been fishing in had nothing but commonplace bass and smelly tuna, yet somehow she had thought she'd finally caught that big fish she'd been looking for ― that marlin, that white whale. It was beginning to look as if her line had broken without her noticing.

He had brilliantly charmed her ― or fooled her, it seemed. He had stood her up and yet here she sat; alone, daydreaming foolishly over his divine features, his attention, his voice. Perhaps she had hooked herself a marlin but he had hooked himself a sucker.

The waitress made her rounds about the quiet room, arriving at her table once again. "Would you like a refill?" She asked brightly, though her smile was a sad, pitying one. "Or perhaps the check?"

Sakura frowned down at her drink, thinking grimly that it looked nothing but half-empty from here. "The check, please." She said finally, deciding there was no use waiting around any longer. There was no getting around it ― he wasn't coming. Silently she wished she'd left long ago when the suspicion first struck her; before it looked utterly pathetic to still be sitting here waiting, before the waitress could realize what was going on and give her that pitying smile. She didn't want to be pitied, she wanted to be kissed, held and loved by the date that had never shown. She hardly knew a thing about him but this feeling in the pit of her stomach told her, 'This might really be the one.' and like a fool she had believed it.

Once the bill had arrived and was paid for, she went on her way, realizing that wearing a beautiful dress to this fancy restaurant without anyone to admire her in it had been an awful waste. She thought glumly perhaps she would wear it to bed so that whatever prince charming that came riding through her dreams on a white horse would at least be able to appreciate it.

Just as she pushed open the door, she came face-to-face with a man in a great hurry, taking breaths in shallow gulps like a fish out of a water. It just so happened that she recognized the man in question, dark hair and even darker eyes, pale skin beaded with sweat ― Sasuke Uchiha; her date!

"Wait," He said softly, composing himself. Those piercing eyes of his felt as if they were seeing right through Sakura, and she felt momentarily embarrassed as if perhaps he knew how badly she wanted him to arrive. Though, most girls wouldn't wait half as long as she had. Perhaps she was more transparent than she thought. "I'm sorry for the delay. Won't you have dinner with me?"

"I suppose." She replied smiling, though mostly to herself. In all honesty she was extremely relieved to see he hadn't just forgotten their arrangement. It would've put a terrible damper on her self-esteem of she was that forgettable. "I hope this will be worth the wait."

Sasuke raised his thin, elegant eyebrows in a mixture of surprise and amusement, an expression that did not seem to fit his face ― perhaps not many could evoke such emotion. "I'll let you be the judge of that." He said simply, holding out a polite hand to escort her back into the building. She took his hand gladly, their hands fitting together in a quiet sort of harmony.

And while she would learn a lot about Sasuke, about his family, his friends, his job and some of his little quirks ― though some may not have been so apparent at the time ― there was something she'd learned with his sudden and pleasant arrival. Love is always worth waiting for, even if it might only be the slightest chance.