--

"I don't see what's wrong with my original plan," Sasuke grumbled as he watched Sakura pace around the room.

She rolled her eyes in his direction and Sasuke wondered just when Sakura had grown the backbone she was suddenly showing around him. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not. Certainly she was more easy to handle when she was hanging on his every word like he was a god, but the way she had clung to him was annoying as well. And somewhere along the way he had discovered that Naruto was actually right about something: Sakura was really hot when she was pissed off.

At that moment, her pale green eyes sparked with ire and her face was flushed prettily as she turned to rail at him. Sasuke actually missed the first half of her tirade because he was too busy staring at the way her lips moved.

"Sasuke-kun it was a stupid plan," she said, bluntly. "We can't force fruit down Naruto's throat. He'd just choke on a grape and then I'd have to save him and I don't want to spend all my time using up my chakra to heal him and you after he recovers enough to come after you for trying to force feed him fruit."

Sasuke looked offended for a moment, but conceded the point. "You're right; he's way too stubborn and too stupid to know what's good for him. But how else are we going to get him to do it?"

"If only there was a way to make him think it was his idea," Sakura said, racking her brain.

Then, Sasuke stiffened and he caught Sakura's eye. "Sakura…just how good is your genjutsu these days?"

And Sakura started to smile.

--

"Well that was a complete failure," Sasuke sighed as he picked watermelon seeds out of his hair. "Maybe you should have tried a smaller fruit."

Sakura fumed. There was a red stain on her blouse that was never going to come out. The next time she saw Naruto, he was a dead-man.

"I couldn't find a smaller fruit," she growled between clenched teeth. "Today isn't a market day, you know. And that watermelon was expensive!"

Sakura tugged at her blouse and then started to take it off. Her sports bra provided enough coverage to act as a top anyway, and she didn't want to be sticking to her shirt all the way home.

Also, she liked the way Sasuke's eyes suddenly glued to her fingers as she unbuttoned the shirt and shrugged it off her shoulders in one graceful motion.

"I'll reimburse you for the watermelon," Sasuke offered, sounding a bit distracted. "It was my idea, after all." He watched Sakura slide her thumbs under her bra straps as if to make sure they were still in place and swallowed hard.

Sakura gave him a dazzling smile and tied her soiled shirt around her waist.

"That's so sweet of you, Sasuke-kun!"

He mumbled something unintelligible under his breath and looked away from her, but not before she spotted the tell-tale flush that had risen in his cheeks.

"It was a good plan," she said, "it's just too bad that genjutsu doesn't mask taste. He really did think that slice of watermelon was a bowl of miso ramen."

"Up until the point where he bit into it," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "Now we're back to square one."

Sakura scowled and kicked at the grass, pretending the dandelion at her feet was the blond head of her team mate.

"Stupid Naruto. Stupid stupid stupid stupid Naruto."

Sasuke watched her send the head of the weed flying into the air, eyes narrowed as if he too wanted to kick something.

"You noticed, didn't you," he asked her, quietly.

Sakura seemed to deflate, her shoulders slumping as she stared at the ground. "Yeah…I noticed. He's moving slower. And his heal-time is getting slower as well. That bruise I gave him two days ago is still there. At this rate, he's going to get sick…"

Sasuke felt his nails bite into his palms and forced himself to calm down. "That idiot. He doesn't even see what his stupidity is doing to u…you."

Sakura twitched. 'Us, he was going to say us. Oh wow, does that mean…?'

"Um, Sasuke-kun," she started, cautious, "you care for Naruto, right?"

"Of course I do," Sasuke said with a snort. "I wouldn't be running around playing nursemaid for the damned idiot if I didn't."

"No…no, I mean,"—Sakura swallowed hard—"I mean you care about Naruto. You lo…like him, don't you?"

Sasuke scowled and glared at the ground as if it had personally offended him. "What? No way! You…what makes you say that?"

Sakura smiled softly, trying to reassure Sasuke with her eyes alone, since he looked like he'd jump a mile high if she actually touched him right then. "Just the way you look at him sometimes. Like you're relieved—no…grateful. Like you've been given something you really appreciate but have no idea what to do with it. And you're fussing."

"I am not!" Sasuke protested.

Sakura glared right back at him. "You are too," she said, raising a finger to poke in the direction of his chest. "Don't even try to deny it, Sasuke. I see right through you."

Sasuke blinked in surprise at the dropping of the usual honorific to his name. Then he made his expression carefully blank. "I suppose you don't approve," he drawled, tonelessly. It wasn't a question.

Sakura's eyes widened and she shook her head. "I don't…Sasuke you don't need my approval for something like that."

"Yes I do," Sasuke muttered, and evaded Sakura's attempts to meet his eyes. "I…don't want you to think that I'm tainted or anything."

'Tainted? What the hell…?' And then Sakura watched him trace the edges of the curse seal with long pale fingers and understood. She didn't know whether to hit him or hug him.

"You mean by Orochimaru?" she asked, gently, ignoring the way Sasuke flinched at the name that had been taboo ever since he had come back to them. Her hands groped for his arm and she gave a sharp tug, bending him down to look her in the eye.

"I could never think that you are tainted," she said, seriously.

He remained silent, but the tension in his shoulders eased, and she felt comfortable enough to lean her head against his chest.

"Besides," she continued, "if lo-liking Naruto makes you tainted, then I'm tainted too."

"…What?"

Sakura giggled at the astonishment in Sasuke's voice. "Well you have to admit, Sasuke-kun, he's grown up quite a lot, even if he refuses to be mature about his diet. I mean, did you see him yesterday when he took off his shirt to show Iruka-sensei his seal? Now that's tasty."

Sakura watched Sasuke's eyes grow wider and wider until she was certain they were going to fall right out of his head. Grinning wickedly, she moved in for the kill.

"You know," she mused, voice low and husky, "I bet all that enthusiasm Naruto shows on missions transfers over…elsewhere."

That got a reaction, but not the one the pink-haired kunoichi was looking for.

"Oh…" All of Sasuke's breath was expelled in that one shuddering exhalation and Sakura watched, mystified, as he struggled to speak again.

"I see," he said, and Sakura could tell from the tone that he didn't see at all. "You two, while I was gone…I had thought…" Sasuke's lips thinned into a line and he started walking away from Sakura at top speed. She had to move quickly to keep up with him.

"Sasuke…"

"It doesn't matter," he said, his face a perfect blank expression. "I'll just leave you two alone. I wouldn't want to get in the way. He's loved you forever and…you'll be really happy I know so congratula—"

"Sa…SASUKE." Sakura caught him by the elbow and wrapped her arms around his waist, pinning his arms to the side the same way she had when Orochimaru's seal had first reared its ugly head. She had been afraid of losing him then too.

He stilled in her grasp, like before, but his body vibrated with tension and his voice was something colder than she had ever heard.

"Sakura…let me go."

"NO dammit," she growled, gripping him tighter and burying her face in the back of his shirt. "You are not doing this again. You are NOT running away from us again. I'll kill you myself, if I have to. Or Naruto will. But you aren't leaving. Not like this."

"…Sakura."

He felt the back of his shirt grow wet and winced openly. He had made her cry again. Would he ever stop making her cry? Maybe it was best that she loved Naruto. Lord knows he would make her happier than Sasuke ever could.

"NO. Shut up," she sobbed, "You're so stupid, Sasuke. Did you think Naruto and I would get together and not tell you? Did you think I was lying when I said I loved you? That I would follow you anywhere? Did you think we were happy without you? Why the hell would we have searched for you all that time if…if we didn't want…Sasuke we're a team."

Sasuke said nothing, but he didn't run away when Sakura's arms slipped from his waist and she stepped around to face him. The hurt expression in his eyes made her want to kick herself for not saying it more clearly.

'Obviously I need to be as blunt with Sasuke as I would be if I were talking to Naruto.'

She brought a hand up to cup his cheek and smiled as he turned in to her touch.

"Sasuke," she whispered, "did you think we would leave you alone? Team Seven is a three person group. Have you forgotten our first lesson?"

"No," Sasuke mumbled. "But it's not the same."

"What's not the same?"

"I know you guys l-love me and we're a team and all that. But if Naruto and you are together…look, it's just not that kind of love."

'Boys are so dense.'

"And who says it's not that kind of love?"

Sasuke froze and stared at Sakura, unsure of what he was hearing.

"But…you can't seriously want—"

"Both of you?" Sakura interrupted, blushing faintly. "Yeah, I do. I'm greedy that way. And you want both of us as well, don't you?"

Sasuke scowled but he didn't deny it, which Sakura took as a good sign.

"And Naruto—"

"Naruto wants you," Sasuke stated flatly. "Not me."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Sakura said, smiling. "No one was more devoted to getting you back to Konoha then he was. There were a few times when I thought I would never see you again," she continued, softly. "But Naruto never gave up on you. He was so sure he could get you back and I just had to believe in him. He was…the only one I felt really understood what it was like. We both lost someone…really precious to us."

Sasuke breathed deeply and lifted a hand to Sakura's cheek, brushing away a few stray tears that hung on her dark lashes.

"We missed you," she whispered, "both of us did. So you can't leave us again, Sasuke."

"...I won't. But Sakura…that still doesn't mean that Naruto thinks of me…that way."

The pink-haired kunoichi giggled and took a step back, shooting Sasuke a wicked leer.

"Well, there's one good way to find that out," she said.

Sasuke glared at her and said, accusingly, "You've been planning something."

"Yep." She grinned. "And if this plan works, and it will because I am brilliant that way, not only will we get Naruto to agree to a…mutually beneficial agreement, but we'll get him to eat his fruit as well."

Sasuke lifted an inquisitive eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.

"I'm listening," he said.

--

To Be Continued.