Disclaimer: If it's familiar, it's not mine.
"I don't want to. I'll just go—"
"Sakura!" Sasuke exclaimed, his frustration growing. "Just get on my bed!"
"I said no!"
"Do I need to make you—rgh!"
"WHAT is going on?" demanded Itachi and while his voice sounded calm, his face was made of marble, completely indomitable.
The fury behind Itachi's dark eyes was bright and terrifying and directed entirely towards his brother, and Sakura felt her heart leap into her throat—then felt her panic seeping in as she realised Itachi had lifted Sasuke up by his throat and did not show any signs of releasing him.
Sasuke made a faint choking noise, and Sakura's eyes raced between the two brothers.
What had just happened?
"I-Itachi, what are you doing?" she pleaded. "Sasuke can't breathe!"
"Sakura, step outside into the corridor a moment. I need to speak to Sasuke. Privately," he said in a dangerously soft voice.
Sakura floundered, wondering what had sent the normally passive, even-tempered Uchiha heir into such a state; and then their words returned to her and she realised how it must have sounded.
"Itachi, it's not what you think!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and begging him to just look at her. "We were arguing about whether he would take your room tonight or I would, since the guest room wasn't made up—he wasn't—he wasn't forcing me to do anything! I mean it! I was being difficult—please, just put him down, he can explain! I can explain!"
"Do NOT make excuses for him," Itachi said softly, his gaze finally turning to hers and sending shivers down her spine. By this time Sasuke's hands had clamped down on Itachi's wrist and he'd started trying to bend his brother's fingers back, alternately pinching the nerves of his wrist to get him to loosen his hold. It worked for him to get a raspy breath in, but it wasn't enough; if there had been more light coming in, Sakura was sure she would have been able to see the colour of Sasuke's pale skin changing and mottling.
"Now I've told you to step outside," he added, making it obvious he didn't like to repeat himself.
And it was that commanding, condescending tone that made Sakura's temper snap, and her Inner self surge forward.
Without another thought, she let go of his arm and seized his ponytail, yanking his head down until his forehead crashed into hers and she snapped his gaze onto her own unforgiving, emerald-hard green one.
She didn't see starts; she only saw ever-widening black seas, and she dove straight in, caution be damned.
Her grip tightened on his hair and she dug her nails into his scalp to hold him still.
"Now you listen to me you fucking Uchiha prick—Sasuke hasn't touched me or made any move to, he doesn't have that kind of interest in me, we're friends and have known each other too long to and he is MY BEST FRIEND, and if you don't let go of him right now I will kick you so hard where it hurts that when you swallow you'll be able to lick your own balls. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"
There was silence, broken only by her harsh panting as she finished her very clear threat upon the future (intended) leader of the renowned Uchiha zaibatsu and captain of the most decorated martial arts association in the country.
And where most others would have at least started uttering apologies under their scrutiny, Sakura stood her ground without a flinch.
The Uchihas just stared at her.
And she didn't allow them too much time to reflect on how determined she was to follow through, giving Itachi's head a shake by the scruff of his neck, glaring at him.
"I. Asked. You. A. Question."
Itachi didn't dare blink as she held him in place, and slowly, agonizingly slowly so as not to startle anyone, he lowered his hands from Sasuke's throat and released his brother gently to the ground.
"Yes," he replied peacefully.
"Good." She turned her eyes on Sasuke next, looking him over. "You okay, Sasuke?"
"Yes," he croaked, refusing to show weakness or indicate how not-okay he felt by lifting his hands to rub at his neck. "Fine."
She gave a quick nod and turned back to Itachi, giving him a long, steady stare before releasing her hold on his hair and drawing away from him.
"I'm glad we talked about this. Thank you for your concern, Itachi."
"I meant no disrespect; I clearly misunderstood, and apologise."
Her brow furrowed immediately, and Itachi recognised his error.
He turned to his younger brother, and repeated himself. "I apologise for misunderstanding, Sasuke."
"That's better." Sakura's eyes swept between the two brothers twice more before she settled her arms across her chest and her shoulders drooped with a sigh. The fight had fled her. "Well, I'm going to go brush my teeth. Sasuke, you go get the futon from the guest room and drag it in here; Itachi, go get me a sleeping bag. And a pillow. I'll take the floor, and you get to keep your bed. Or something. Whatever, I don't care anymore," she mumbled, turning to find her bag on the floor where she'd dropped it. "I'll be right back."
With that she dug out her soap-bag and tiredly made her way to the nearest washroom.
When they heard the door close with a soft snick, and only then, the brothers looked at each other.
They looked at each other for a very long time, in dawning understanding.
The first to speak, Sasuke immediately went on the defensive. "Not. Yours," he said coldly.
"Not yours either, I see," replied his brother thoughtfully. To Sasuke, it almost sounded amused.
Sasuke's jaw clenched at his brother's words, and yet he smirked confidently after something crossed his mind the next instant.
"But Mom likes her too much to let you near her," he said smugly, and with that he moved past his older brother to go collect the futon.
Later, Sasuke would realise how masochistic it was to have taunted Itachi, but in that single moment, it had felt beautiful to gaud the immaculate Uchiha.
Itachi decided it would be a terrible time to start disappointing those around him.
Of course Sasuke's words held some truth; he should not go near Sakura.
But he could keep her close to him…
And it would be at her own behest, he mused to himself.
It was dark in Sasuke's room, the door was open barely a crack—Itachi had implied he was only thinking of Sakura's reputation.
"I only came home to act as chaperone," he'd said in his silky tones.
"Fuck you," Sasuke had wanted to snap back.
Sasuke rolled from his back to his side to look down at Sakura, watching her breathing and knowing she wasn't asleep yet.
"Hey," he said quietly.
"Hey."
"I thought Ino was your best friend."
A soft smile crossed her lips, and Sasuke's dark eyes watched her hungrily for her answer.
"She is my best girlfriend," she replied with a small, stifled yawn, her eyes still closed. She shifted and stretched a bit to get more comfortable, and he couldn't help the tightening in his stomach as he saw her lovely, pale throat and peeks of her shoulders from the wide-neck t-shirt she wore. He swallowed as she continued, "But you and Naruto are my best male friends. I can't imagine my life without you two. You're a part of me."
He thought it over and grunted, his elegant dark brows drawing together. "You sleep with him," he mumbled.
Surprised, Sakura opened her eyes and turned to look at Sasuke who was suddenly very grateful for the dark room. "We've napped in the same bed… It's…" she considered her words, trying to find the right fit to explain. "It's… not a romantic sleeping arrangement," she said finally with a small, fond smile. "It's more of a brother-sister thing; maybe more than that—we're comfortable enough around each other that we can do that without it meaning more."
"He's loved you since we were four," Sasuke pointed out.
"And I love him, too, but not in the same way, and he's okay with that. He can differentiate the feelings and he has his eyes on other girls, too –I'm just different because…" she wondered how to phrase it. "Because I was one of his first friends. So I'm just stacked higher on his shelf of friends than some others. But I'm not on the Romantic Interest shelf with him. I'm on the Lifelong Buddies shelf. You're on that shelf, too."
"I am?" he said weakly.
She laughed at his defeated tone.
"Naruto sees you as his brother—of course you're part of his Lifelong Buddies shelf."
Oh, that's what she'd meant… Naruto's buddy-shelf-thing.
"It's a pretty exclusive club, you know," she teased, and he huffed, pretending to be offended.
"Sasuke?"
"Hn?"
"What's up? Are you feeling okay? Your throat okay?" she asked in concern, but quietly so as not to irritate him with her personal questions.
"Just… you really trust guys enough to sleep in a room alone with them? I thought you were smarter than that."
"I only trust two guys to do that," she said, smiling again—he could hear it in her voice. "To be truthful, I don't know if I'd be comfortable with anyone else in the room while I slept, Sasuke. But you and Naruto, you put me and my interests first… when you consider them," she teased. "No one else. Not even that paragon of virtue you call a brother," she added lightly, and against his best efforts betrayed himself with a chuckle.
"So you're saying you don't see us as men."
There was an awkward silence, and Sasuke suddenly wanted to brain himself with a shovel. He was getting obvious.
Sakura moved in the sleeping bag, the light rustling giving her away, and looked at the ceiling; he wondered if her cheeks were burning as harshly as his.
Of course by 'us', he meant 'himself, Sasuke'… and Sakura wasn't known for being dim-witted.
He wondered if he could feign a spontaneous case of narcolepsy with any credibility. Or maybe he could go find a proper shovel in the garden shed and just head a head-start on digging his own grave. It would save on the shame. He was such a… No, he just didn't acknowledge his emotional reliances the way Naruto and Sakura did. He wasn't a coward, per se, he just… didn't have their trust in others to give his feelings any voice. He wasn't willing to risk being hurt, even if it meant he might gain something a thousand times better.
However, he'd forgotten that Sakura was known for her courage under fire.
Her voice was slow and measured when she spoke again in the heavy darkness.
"No… I'm saying… I realise you didn't like it when I saw you… in that way. Years ago. And I've respected your wishes since," she said diplomatically. "You mean too much to me to lose you, Sasuke. You made it clear I was welcome as a friend. For lack of a better expression, I took what you were willing to give. And you're a cheapskate," she chided him mockingly, and laughed at her former self so pityingly.
Knowing her as well as he did, Sasuke was sure she was biting her lip. He could barely make out her features in the dark, but he was sure he knew every inch of her face and expression in that moment. Yet he wanted nothing more than to flip on the lights and drink her in, to read what her face was expressing that she kept from him in her voice.
"I'm… cheap?" he asked slowly, testing her reaction.
"Well, not with your attention," she said immediately, trying to soften what she must assume he'd taken as an insult. "I mean, do you have any idea how grateful I am to you for bullying me into working on that Econ tonight?" she admitted. "Who else would you have pushed so hard? Not even Naruto. But you make me work harder, do better, because you know how much it means to me that I come out on top with my studies. Because it's one of the things I value most. You know that about me—understand that about me, and why it means so much. And you actually took the time to spend with me to make sure that I'm exceeding even my own expectations."
She shifted in her sleeping bag again, and her voice came clearer; she must have turned towards him.
"And like I said," her humour turned dry again, "I'm pathetic enough to take whatever you'll give me, Sasuke. I try not to ask for more than that, though."
Things were becoming clearer to him as he listened to her confession, and with each word he felt his heart beating in his chest, both heavier and lighter at the same time.
"So," he began, and swallowed as subtly as he could but his voice still came out a bit tighter and huskier than he'd intended, "You'd sleep with me in my bed as long as we were friends? Just like Naruto?"
Her response was a long, overwrought time in coming.
"Because you don't see me as a woman, you see me as a friend, yes," she replied guardedly.
"But if we weren't friends…"
"… not if we weren't friends, but…"
Their words drifted off as the tension held.
Sakura swallowed and then coughed to cover the obvious noise. He smirked and it quickly turned into a genuine smile, surprising him with its enthusiasm.
"You're such a bastard," she muttered under her breath, making him snort.
"This from the woman who cowed the Uchiha Itachi with nothing but her bare hands," he said drolly.
He heard her shrink under her covers and groan.
"I'm never living that down, am I?"
"Ever," he sighed happily.
"I thought you idolized Itachi?"
He snorted.
Sakura huffed and turned back onto her back.
"… has he ever been scary like that before?..." she asked after some time had passed.
"Not in a long time. And never with me," Sasuke admitted quietly. He remembered when Itachi had been like that; when he had rushed in to protect him from their crazy uncle. The uncle their parents often went to visit, since he'd been admitted to the asylum.
They were silent then, considering the implications.
"I know you'd never hurt me, by the way. Well, not intentionally. I wasn't scared of you—just… scared for you, once I saw Itachi had you by…. Anyway. I know you'd never force me to do anything like that. You know, in case you were worried," she said, and he had a feeling she was biting her lip again when she finished.
"Of course I wouldn't," he scoffed quietly. "We're… friends."
And the awkwardness that had lifted during their brief banter descended again in a heavy curtain.
"If Naruto were here, we'd probably end up sleeping together under one big blanket again," Sasuke said, remembering their old sleepovers and trying to dispel the tension.
Sakura smiled fondly, remembering the times they would camp out in either her or Sasuke's living room, all their blankets piled around them, and all of them cuddling together underneath them in a snugly heap. Those had been the days.
She chuckled. "He'd make me sleep in the middle so he wouldn't have to risk accidentally touching you now," she said, and started laughing harder. "Could you imagine? I think I would laugh so hard if I were to wake up to see you two spooning each other like we used to! I remember when your mom came to wake us up that time in grade one, and you and Naruto were cuddled together so adorably she took a picture and-"
"Oy!" he began testily, eager to cut off that particular train of thought. He'd had enough of hearing it from others; to hear it from her would crush at least part of his ego. "We were kids. The only person I'd be spooning now would be-…"
He broke off barely a millisecond before it was too late, sweat suddenly beading on his forehead.
"… who?" she asked now quietly, her voice no longer muffled by her sleeping bag. The slinky material rustled around her as she sat up and looked at him directly. "Who would you sleep with?"
He swallowed, cursing his thoughtlessness.
"Who would you sleep with," he countered.
"… I already told you earlier, a friend," her words were barely breathed, they were so quiet.
And at that, his heart thudded hard in his chest, his head going light.
"Am I a friend?" he asked, staring at her in silent longing.
"Are you?" she returned, putting it back to him to decide.
She was good, he'd give her that.
That and more.
Slowly and obviously, he pulled back the covers on his bed.
"If you're cold…" he hedged—hedged, because he was not nervous-, and waited.
He held his breath when he heard rustling from her sleeping bag a minute later.
He thought his heart would beat right out of his chest when he felt the first dip in his mattress as she lay down beside, but not touching, him. Something soft dropped down beside his head, and he realised she'd brought her pillow.
"Your bed's comfy," she murmured timidly.
"Hn."
"And warm," she agreed, settling down on her back with a pleased sigh. "Thanks."
"Hn."
"Do you say anything positive other than 'hn'?" she asked, closing her eyes and yawning. Her day had been a long one.
He wondered about that a moment, and wondered if she would help him test out a theory…
"Maybe."
"What would you say yes to?"
He shifted closer to her, and readjusted their covers. "Ask me, we'll see."
"Hmmm…" she said sleepily, and was half-asleep as she felt his breath fan over her cheeks. She wrinkled her nose as she felt it, and he smiled.
To her surprise, she felt long, warm fingers trailing down her forehead to tuck some loose hair behind her ear.
"Sasuke?"
"Hn?"
"Oh, I thought you were going to say 'yes'."
"Hn."
She yawned again, and automatically turned towards him to hear him better. Now his breath ghosted over her lips. "You feel pretty close," she murmured. "Do you need me to make room?"
"No."
"Let me know if I take up too much space."
"You never could."
She shook her head slightly, felt something brush her lips and reacted instinctively to rub against them. His fingers thrummed at the contact. "You're just saying that because we're friends."
"No."
"No we're not friends?..." her words were blending together in her tiredness and worried he would lose his nerve, Sasuke made his decision.
"No," he said, leaning forward; his lips brushed her forehead in the lightest of kisses.
"What are we?"
"More," he said, kissing her eyelids.
"More… than friends?" she asked tremulously, and she turned further towards him, closer, seeking more contact. He was more than willing to comply, sweeping butterfly kisses across her delicate cheeks in a downward direction.
"Hn," he murmured, his kisses remaining light, but giving in to a degree of the longing that had haunted him for so long.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, more alert now as the intention of the kisses had changed.
"Hn?"
"What do you want?"
He nosed a lock of hair away from her neck as he placed a small trail of kisses down her jaw to her throat.
"More," he replied in a low, velvet voice, his breath warm and moist against the shell of her ear.
"More than friends?" she asked more clearly, and he revelled in her quick intake of breath as he sucked on her pulse-point.
He pulled back just enough to meet her eyes, dark and shining; his arms came around her then to draw her closer.
And when he stroked her back, he answered her questioning eyes with a simple, "Yes."
To his surprise, she looked down, away from him, causing his brow to furrow.
"Are… are you teasing me? Or," she swallowed, continued in a tighter, more restrained tone. "Is this just a physical… thing?"
Taken aback, he halted his ministrations.
"Sakura," he began, but she shook her head.
"I shouldn't have…" frustrated with herself, she pulled away from him. "I'm not easy," she said quietly. "Excuse me, I'm sorry I gave you the wrong impression. I'll—"
Torn between his good intentions and his poorly controlled emotions, Sasuke felt anxiety flare through him. He was losing her, and ruining what she'd worked so many years to preserve.
"It-it isn't just physical," he tried to explain, and refused to give in to the urge to grab her and hold her to him. He would not scare her. He was NOT the person his brother had misinterpreted him to be.
"Sakura, more than friends to me isn't… it doesn't end at the physical," he said, raising a hand to run through his hair irritably. He let out a low breath to calm himself. "I'm sorry I tried to start it there," he half-growled. "I was trying… I was trying to be…" He gave up in a huff, still trying to communicate in words what he'd felt for so long inside.
"… romantic?"
He glared at her, and looked away with a huff.
… then felt her small, warm hands slide up to his cheek to gently turn his gaze back to hers.
"Use your words, Sasuke," she said quietly. "I can't understand unless you tell me what you want."
"You know me, you know what I want."
She shook her head a little at his pouting. "I thought I knew what you wanted, but it sounds like I was wrong. I gave you space to keep you close," he thought her smile looked sad as she spoke. "This time, you need to tell me, to guide me."
His face contorted almost comically, and Sakura looked for a second like she would laugh at his discomfort—but she didn't, and he thanked the heavens for small favours.
"Tell me what you want. I will listen," she promised, and the hand that had been on his cheek swept into his hair before resting on his shoulder in trust. She smiled at him in encouragement.
"I want you," he said after thinking about her words. "I have for a long time. I worry about you. I care about you. I dream about you." He swallowed again and tried to clear the huskiness from his voice before he began again.
"I want you," he continued, his confidence still shaky as he revealed more. "I don't know exactly when things changed, but I don't want to be 'just' your friend anymore. I don't want you to put me on the same shelf Naruto does for the two of us. I want to have an 'us'."
Her eyes opened wider, and she gripped his shoulder more tightly.
But still she listened.
"I want you," he repeated a third time. "I want to make you happy. I want you to make me happy. I want to be the one you count on. I want to be the one that you smile at in a way that you don't share with anyone else."
Gaining momentum, he reached tentatively for her again, resting a hand on the dip of her hip and giving her a light squeeze.
"I want you," he said more clearly this time, more determinedly. "I want to make sure you're safe. I want to see you succeed. I want to watch you climb mountains and in a way, I want to see you leave me in the dust because I know how amazing you are and you are the most beautiful to me when you shine."
Her cheeks were wet now, and he was worried he was ruining everything and about to lose her, and yet he still kept on, because that was what she'd asked for, and he'd be damned if he denied her anything.
"I want you," he said meaningfully, leaning his forehead against hers, and giving in to the final, more selfish desire he'd tried to hold back until that moment. His eyes closed a moment before he opened them and fixed them on hers, not letting her look away for a moment. "I want to spend time with you, on you, in you, learning you and what you like and how you want it. I want to taste you with my tongue, run my fingertips over every inch of your skin, and I want you to do the same to me and enjoy it, too. I want to touch you. I want you to touch me. I," he swallowed, almost in pain, "I want to move in you and feel you around me and I want to hear you sigh, or cry out my name, or even just gasp as I bring you to climax. I know it's a fantasy, but I want our time, our first time, to be romantic and memorable, for both of us. I want you to look at me when I do it, and I want to see your eyes as you come undone. I want you to take me in your mouth and make me come; I want to fuck you against a desk; I want to make love to you in my bed, and I want to claim you the way no one else has or could ever wish to."
He took a breath.
"I want to kiss you, Sakura…. I want to make you mine."
He swallowed again, and the look in his eyes softened.
"And most of all… I just want to be yours."
Within his ardent grasp he realised she was trembling as he finished, and with little prompting he drew her close to him once more, and this time she came willingly, tucking her head into his shoulder as she absorbed his raw confession.
"Are you crying?" he asked uncertainly, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head.
"I don't know," she said honestly.
"Did… Did I just ruin everything?"
He had to know. Far better to find out now and start rebuilding himself than to draw it out.
She sniffled, answering his first question; and then shook her head, sort-of answering the second, though it was a little debatable.
"But I don't think we can be friends anymore-," she said, brutally honest.
In reaction, Sasuke's stomach plummeted and he actually felt faint. There was a buzzing in his ears and he was struck with dizziness, and because of the intense nausea assaulting him it took a minute for her next words to truly sink in.
"-Because I want to be more than friends, too."
He felt her arms encircle him and pull him closer; and felt her lips brush lightly against his, searching for his decision.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked worriedly, and touched his cheek again. His skin seared under her touch, but in a wonderful, wonderful way. She kissed the corner of his mouth tentatively, then with clearer intentions.
And then she kissed him fully on his lips and his brain short-circuited.
Stars. He saw stars.
And he thought his heart may have exploded inside his chest.
"Hn?" he asked, still a bit dazed. His lips (finally) moved against hers and he felt like his nerves were all firing at once in excitement.
"Do you want to be more than friends?"
"Yes."
"Then could you kiss me, please?"
He could feel her smiling as he pressed his lips to hers for the first of their 'real' kisses.
TBC.
