Crush

Sakura loved shojo manga. The heroines were always so strong, so special, and so pretty that if she wanted to be them. The shojo manga heroine may not always be physically strong but also emotionally strong and would always prevail the trails set before her. Sakura also hated the stereotypical shonen manga heroines, who despite wielding great emotional strength mostly act as a supporting shadow for the lead.

For the first time in her life Sakura's situation was a bit like a shojo manga where her first kiss was stolen, and it was by no accident.

A kiss.

A gust of white petals and wind rushed against Sakura's bare skin and woke her up from the situation. Out of common sense, she drew all the power she could muster and pushed Uchiha Sasuke away, and out of natural reflex she also sent a fist at his jaw. "SHANNARO!"

My first kiss.

Sakura released the heavy breaths and found her own hand reaching out to trace the bottom of her lips. Her limbs felt like jelly and her mind was in disarray. What the hell just happened?

Sasuke remained apathetic and his eyes stared deep into nothingness, it was like the punch didn't affect him.

"Sasuke-kun! Come and play with us!" Ino's voice echoed from inside the room drove Sakura into a state of confusion. The yellow curtain was hiding them, but eventually she would have to head back.

…

Moments passed in silence and they feel like years to Sakura. She has never been so shaken before and took deep breaths to calm down.

The sound of the veranda door opened where Naruto emerged.

"Sasuke! Did anyone gave you chuu- "

Chuu~

Kiss.

H-He is kissing Naruto!

Sakura stood in the middle as a witness to Sasuke pressing his lips against Naruto's.

"NO WAY!" Sakura blurted.

Also out of natural reflex, Naruto sent a strong fist flying at Uchiha Sasuke's perfect face, successful putting him out before any further lip locking activities could occur.

"Who the hell gave the bastard chuu-hi?!" Naruto shrieked back to the room, halting all exercises in the vicinity.

"So this person lip locks with anything that moves when given sugar." Sakura reconfirmed the information given to her, trying to comprehend the ridiculous situation that has just occurred. The headache from the alcohol was slowly catching up to her and fowling her mood in the process.

Everyone sat in a circle in seiza, the drunk and tipsy alike looked down at the unconscious Uchiha Sasuke in the centre with disgust and confirmed. As ridiculous as it may sound, they were all dead serious.

Leader Neji noded in confirmation. "Aa, I've been a victim."

"Me too."

"Me three."

"M'four."

"Five."

Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Chouji and Lee.

Sakura's expression alone asked the unspoken 'Really?'

"He doesn't get drunk on alcohol, but sugar." Tenten offered Sakura bottle of waterand settled to Sakura's right. Sakura sipped her drink gratefully, hoping that the water could somehow help her comprehend the strange case sugar induced intoxication. Any more alcohol and Sakura too would lose her self control and immerse in a family inherited temper.

"He only ever kisses boys." Ino sighed, Sakura did not miss the hint of disappointment lingering somewhere between her words. "Consider yourself lucky forehead girl."

F-forehead girl? Sakura decided that she disliked the half glare-half sceptical look Ino gave her. What's her problem?

"Naruto-kun just happens to always be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"H-Hinata!" Naruto whined. "But, Sakura-chan you've gotta give him a piece of your fist when the bastard is awake."

She was never one for violence.

"Sakura-san, I believe that one as beautiful as yourself should regard this as nothing less than being on the receiving end of youthful unpleasant sexual frustration-

"Ha?" There was something about Lee that eerily disgusted Sakura. "Sexual frustration?"

"Ignore this one. " Tenten knocked Lee out with a good punch to the head.

"Well, consider that your welcome to the circle Sakura. Though I wouldn't mind giving him another piece of my fist in your place. After not molesting Akamaru – my dog."

Sakura refrained from going anywhere near the thought of making out with a dog. Considering the wide range of experience Sasuke had, it was no longer a surprise that he was a good kisser.

"I need to discipline Uchiha." Neji sighed.

"How troublesome. If you're going to discipline us by making us secretly follow Hinata around and act as her body guards again, then it's not going to work."

It was possibly that Sasuke wasn't the only one in the group that was strange.

"N-Neji-nii-san!"

"H-Hinata-sama it's not like that!"

"I say we feed him to the bugs."

Sasuke definite wasn't the only strange one.

Chouji cringed. "Shino, I don't think your bugs will like the taste."

"At least it wasn't your first kiss right" Ino chirped slapping Sakura's back hard enough to make her fall forward.

…

Sakura has just met Ino, yet the urges to rip the girl into pieces has been acknowledged within her.

Sai chuckled. "At least he's-" but never got to finish his sentence when Ino shoved a can of beer at his face. "Don't want to hear it!"

"Oh right, Ino you're into fun size." This time everyone threw a can of beer at Sai whilst Ino turned beet red.

"It wasn't, right? Sakura?" Ino pressed on.

It was her first kiss. Years of strict education at the top institution, hours of cram school, extra-curricular activities, and self studying for medical school meant that love and dating has never been at the top of her priorities. Not that she was ever popular with the guys to begin with.

Just shut the hell up Ino-pig!

Soon Sakura could feel her own face blushed crimson red.

…

"EHHHHHH!"

She was eighteen years old and un-kissed until thirty minutes ago.

The morning sunlight seeping through the curtains woke Sasuke up to a painful sting. His head throbbed in pain and his vision was blurred because he had, once again, spent the night with his contacts on.

This time there was a different addition to his normal blurry vision, it was pink.

An unknown floral scent he never knew existed in Naruto's musky room filled the air he breathed in. It took a while, but his heavy head finally questioned why Naruto would have anything pink and floral in the room. It took several more seconds for him to realise that Haruno Sakura's face, inches away from his, was this very pink addition. Sasuke quickly jerked upwards, knocking her legs in the process and met another bolt of pain striking his face nerves.

For the first time in a very long time, Sasuke freaked out. What the fuck happened?!

A soft groan came from the girl beside him and she slowly rose up, one hand rubbing tired eyes like a kitten. Her expression shifted to an uncomfortable blush upon meeting his gaze.

"S-Sasuke-kun." She choked and her fist rose to a protective stance against him almost as if defending herself.

He questioned her action with a frown and she turned tomato red in response. "G-Good morning!" she laughed awkwardly as her hand messily fiddled to even out the locks of her hair. She was such a girl.

Dehydrated and in pain, Sasuke searched around the room for a bottle of water, without a word or acknowledgement to the girl; he crawled toward the bottle and drained as much of the content as he could.

Naruto was still comfortably asleep. The others were probably home.

His attention diverted back to Sakura when he noticed movement from his peripheral vision. Sasuke didn't like admitting, but he was curious to what she up to?

Moments later, Sakura pressed a cold can of beer against the source of pain on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke winced, "What the."

"The bruise is awful." Sakura commented, her nervousness did not bypass him, and it makes him wonder. Just what the heck did he do to make seem as if she was walking on thin ice.

Sasuke took the can and Sakura finally let go, blushing as deeply as ever. She didn't look bad, nor was her hair messy but her hand immediate moved to fix her locks again. Her left hand tucked in strands of hair that were already tucked from the first fixture.

She was nervous, he concluded, just like the rest of the female species who has ever been under his intense stare.

Something about her gesture was so traditional and controlled, yet sneaked glances at him as like a shy little twelve year old. It made her look out of place, and made him wonder if she was for real.

He was wondering too much. He realised.

"Did I kiss anyone again?" Sasuke found himself asking almost too casually. Something inside told him that he did and that was the result of the pounding pain on his jaw.

Sakura stiffened, face burning into an even redder shade, she sneaked another glance at him and breathed out incoherently "N-N-Naruto. Hahaha…you…eh…kissed Naruto!"

Out of all people to kiss again. It was pathetic and Sasuke wanted nothing more than to bleach his mouth.

"I-I'm going to head back now, thanks for having me over."

"Ah!" Sasuke did not miss the soft twitch in Sakura's eyes. Her face wrinkled into an awkward smile and it dawned on him without needing any further observation. He watched her tumble out of the room clumsily.

Naruto woke up moments later and demanded that Sasuke 'apologise to the receiving end of a unfortunate release of sexual frustration', as Naruto liked to creatively describe it with the limited vocabulary the idiot could muster. And as much as Sasuke hated himself for even mistaking cherry chuu-hai for beer in a state of drunkenness and confusion, it was his weakness and he has come to accept it. Sasuke being Sasuke hated dealing with women, but Sasuke being Sasuke knew that those types were the easiest to deal with, because they can be read like a picture book. Those sheltered princess type who have had little experience with the real world was exactly what Sakura was.

For the following days, Sasuke completely missed her despite living on the same floor. It wasn't until a English class that he found himself in a room and the first thing he noticed was a flash of her pink hair, looking like the awful tasting cherry chuu-hai. By then most seats has been occupied. The only open ones were ever unattractive because the occupants were too giggly and battling their eyelashes as if their mascaras were too heavily applied. Sasuke opted for the free spot beside Sakura, who didn't seem to take notice of the commotion in the classroom until the clattering of chair beside her drew her attention away from her medical textbook.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" she uttered in surprise, and yet again her face plunged into a crimson blush making she looked like a perfect can of cherry chuu-hai with that forehead of hers. Sasuke would be in denial if he didn't admit that the girl was attractive in a non-invasive way. Sakura's slender frame was accompanied with a decent height, she was not too short to look like a child, and not too tall to deem intimidating to the male population. Her posture projected confidence and strength, not weak and helpless like the rest of the more popular girls.

"Aa." He replied, pulling out a notebook from his bag and a pen while completely ignoring the shock on Sakura's face. There was really no need to address it.

It didn't faze him few male onlookers in the classroom gossiping in hushed tones about the cute girl with pink hair. They noticed his watching eyes, and Sasuke returned their gaze with a smirk. Cowards. He recently developed a taste for provoking cowards, and seeing people squirm was ever so entertaining.

"You're also taking this class." She stated the obvious and hesitated before continuing, "what faculty are you from?"

"Law." He answered, eying her closely as Sakura's face showed her obvious discomfort in not knowing what to talk to him about next.

"I'm doing Medicine."

"I know." He deadpanned. She was obviously taken back and the twitch in her eye gave her irritation away. Sasuke was infamous for his lack of sensitivity, more or so in the past a lot of his fan girls left him alone exactly because of it. This is interesting. Sasuke waited for her to blow up, he would rather take another blow and called it even with her.

…

Instead Haruno Sakura's face formed a sugar coated smile. Self control eh? Sasuke hated sugar, and he just knew that this girl was troublesome.

"About the other day…" Sasuke began, "I didn't mean to-

"Ah yes, everyone explained to me that it's because of the sugar. You know people do strange things when they're high on sugar, but it's okay really, I understand…" she continued babbling.

"I didn't mean it," when Sasuke was sure that he has gotten her attention, he continued, "forget what happened."

His words had put Sakura into dumbfounded silence.

It wasn't what a normal people would call an apology but Saskue's logics told him that it wasn't entirely his fault. Regardless, he was compelled to say something, so under muffled breath he whispered a soft "Sorry". Partially because the idiot would never shut up, but also partially because Sakura didn't deserve to have such accident occur to her.

"It's nothing." She blushed and smiled softly in sincere way and it made him wonder why she would even smile.

Her name is very fitting. He absentmindedly acknowledged when his eyes trailed beyond Sakura to the field of cherry tress in the courtyard.

It was pink, white, every bright shade of colour he could think of, even that horrible cherry chuu-hai and it made him realise that Sakura was completely different to him.

"I'm sorry about your left jaw…" her cheeks flushed into an even darker shade of pink.

The most fatal blow, and the only one that left a bruise on his face that fateful night was due to the courtesy of Haruno Sakura. Not the blow that blacked him out.

Sasuke could feel his pride bleeding.

The overprotective nature of Sakura's father landed Sakura in various martial arts disciplines in the past. She had never intended to join any martial arts activities because they had simply branded her as a tomboy all throughout her schoolings.

The atmosphere was pleasant as Sakura settled on the sideline watching a spar match between Naruto and Lee. It wasn't until a certain Uchiha Sasuke entered the dojo that she choked on her own spit. He has the overwhelming kind of aura that could drown people.

Memories from days earlier where he had approached her an apologised, in his own way, came flooding back. Uchiha Sasuke has never occurred to her as the type to directly apologise and that confused her even more because it contrasts against his cold, apathetic image. Yet, despite looking 'too cool' to apologise, he did it somehow in his own manner, and it felt sincere. All of a sudden, the accidental kiss didn't bother her so much, unlike popular fiction assumption.

Ino's presence beside her broke her out of the trance. In the ring, Naruto counterattacked Lee in a series of kicks.

"Sakura! The flowers are in full bloom right now and we're planning a hanami before it ends. You up for it?"

"Of course!"

Ino followed Sakura's line of sight.

"Sasuke-kun eh?" Ino said knowingly. "I won't waste my time if I were you."

"No! It's not like that!" Sakura denied, almost too abruptly. It was the truth, because whilst Sakura did find Uchiha Sasuke attractive and was beyond curious about him, she knew nothing about the guy. She was just curious. "Besides, someone of his level would never fall for someone as plain as myself."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ino frowned, "I have to say he is easy on the eyes, had the biggest crush on him all throughout high school."

Sakura wasn't surprise to hear it, but at the same time, she had thought otherwise. "Really? You don't strike me as someone who would go mainstream."

"I'm not. But everything about him is just so perfect…" she muffled a cough and regained composure. "but that boy is as asexual as they get. Never seen him with a girl all though out high school, not to mention middle school. I got tired after a while and find that experimenting with the various male specie is much more interesting."

"I would have thought that someone like him would be surrounded by girls all the time." Sakura spoke her mind too quickly.

"He was and still is. Just that he never commits to one."

Sasuke was always surrounded by girls whenever Sakura had caught a glimpse of him around campus.

"Player!"

"I know right?"

"Heh~ but Ino~ from what I can see you still have a crush on him!" Sakura had meant to tease Ino, but the faltered smile and the serious look in Ino's eyes was enough to confirm her feelings.

"A crush might be an understatement. But I know I'm not in love with him."

Honesty. Ino was so honest with her feelings that it made Sakura jealous. Ino was a perfect shojo manga heroine.

"But sometimes I wonder if he and Naruto are stuck by the hips." Ino added, a twinkle of mystery shined in her eyes.

The image of the drink up incidence replayed in Sakura's memory and sent her into a fit of laughter.

"I've decided forehead girl, I like you." Ino said, clearly, cleanly and in such a carefree manner that Sakura appreciated.

"I think we're going to get along, Pig." Sakura replied and the two girls burst into another fit of laughter.

In the midst of her laughter, an aura of pressure drew Sakura's attention to an area in the dojo where she caught the man in question watching her with sharp eyes. Sakura instinctively stopped laughing when heat rushed to her ears and cheeks. Her heart constricted. His gaze was curious and searching, searching through her like an open book, and it scared her.

It was a crush, Sakura decided. She was merely appreciating the fine specimen.

As promised, days later the karate circle held a hanami event. Sakura could have never imagined that the university would actually have a field of cherry blossom trees right in the centre of the campus. Apparently, the karate circle's leader, Neji has an eye for things and had somehow found the place during one of his jogs.

"I must say this place is amazing!" Ino spread herself lazily onto the newly laid out picnic mat.

"Neji-nii-san has very sharp eyes for these things." Hinata replied while laying out the premade food.

"Hinata did you make all of this." Sakura probably didn't need to ask because Hinata seemed the type to be good at cooking. She was the sweet type, perfectly feminine, curvaceous figure, soft spoken, strong at combat and beautiful. She was like a perfect shonen manga heroine.

"Yes, but Neji-nii-san also helped!"

"You cousins act so lovey-dovey all the time," Tenten sighed, "who would have thought that the all mighty captain of our high school karate club would be such a sissy, all wrapped up around the finger of his cute little cousin."

Initially, Sakura could not imagine how such a straight laced up tight person like Hyuuga Neji would be such a loser for his little cousin. He just didn't seem the type. It wasn't until Sakura saw Neji going into hysteria when he had accidentally sent Hinata flying across the dojo with a fist. Hyuuga Neji had almost burst into tears of worry if Hinata had not woken up on time to assure him that she did not need an ambulance. Talk about a crazy sister-complex, or in this case, cousin-complex.

"Tenten-san!" Hinata cried.

"Tenten-san you're just jealous!" Sakura laughed.

"Hmph! Am not!" Tenten was the motherly type, Sakura observed. She has an uncanny ability to read the atmosphere and always made sure everyone was alright, always supporting, always cleaning up after the boys' mess. Her sharp tongue kept the boys in their places, she was the supporting character people often overlook.

"I absolutely wouldn't mind having someone as hot as Hyuuga Neji fussing over me!" Ino's comment earned her a disturbed look from Hinata sending Tenten and Sakura into fits of giggles.

"That is my cousin you're talking about."

"It would be nice to hear you girls talk about one of us for once!" Kiba who has brought into Akamaru today is extra cheerful. The dog barks at Kiba's comment as if understanding.

"Akamaru!" Hinata's eyes brighten when the dog kissed her before comfortably settling itself beside her "it's been a while hasn't it."

Seeing Akamaru made Sakura somewhat missed Pakkun. Pakkun was an old dog and has accompanied her through all stages of life.

"It must be nice to live at home Kiba, I sometimes really miss my dog."

"Sakura you have a dog too?" It was her first time speaking to Kiba.

"Yeah! His name is Pakkun! Lives with my grandma now, he is super cute right?!" Sakura pulled out a picture of Pakkun on her phone and showed Kiba, who in turn cringed.

"A-Ah yeah. Cute."

"Sasuke-kun! Over here over here!" Ino called out to the newly arrived Sasuke while motioning to the spot beside her.

"Yo! Ino!" Chouji and Shikamaru occupied the spot instead.

"Oi! That spot was for Sasuke-kun!" Ino angrily exclaimed, pulling on Chouji's collar as she continued with a colourful range of curses. Sakura wouldn't be too surprised if a fight did start, Ino was rather violent with the boys.

"What a troublesome woman." Shikamaru mumbled and began unwrapping the food. "Hinata these look awesome!"

"Thank you."

"Sakura-san!" Lee's voice called out to Sakura from the distance, eyes focused on the empty spot beside Sakura.

As much as Sakura enjoyed the attention, spending the entire evening with the beast was the last thing she wanted to do right now. Lee got rather clingy last time she sat next to him. So when Sakura saw Naruto and Sasuke approaching from a different direction, her quick thinking came into play.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! The food is ready now!"

"Sakura-chan!" just like that, Naruto pulled Sasuke by the neck, and dragging him along to settle beside Sakura before Lee could.

S-safe!

"Naruto! Stop being such a glutton!" Kiba yelled.

"Teme! What did you say you dog freak!" Naruto yelled back. The two boys dived in to compete for the food.

"Akamaru attack!"

"Stay away Kiba!"

"FOOD!"

"Oh my god, not you too Chouji!"

Sakura took the chance to manoeuvre herself beside Sasuke and ignored Ino's watching eyes.

"How trivial." Sasuke grunted at Naruto, Chouji and Kiba's fight for the food. Sasuke sometimes could not understand the unnecessary efforts Naruto and the others put into food.

"Sakura-san!" Rock Lee's voice hovered above them.

Sasuke has never had a particular opinion towards Lee outside his combat abilities, but it got annoying whenever Rock Lee was on another one of his ridiculous antiques in chasing after Haruno Sakura.

There hasn't been a day of peace in their sparring sessions with Lee obsessing over Sakura and chasing her around. And the girl, whilst obviously not interested did nothing to stop the affections thrown at her. To him, she was full of wonders.

"A-Ah! Lee-san, hello." Sakura replied with a smile Sasuke identified as fake.

"I must say that the lovely sight in front of us is very fitting as it perfectly describes you and your name."

Sasuke wondered how Sakura stomach those cheesy words because to him, as an onlooker, it was simply disgusting.

"Thank you?" Sakura answered, there was a half-heartedness in her voice that made Sasuke wondered why she would just not directly reject the man once and for all.

Sasuke has known Lee for quite sometime now Lee wasn't exactly the most talented in sensing the atmosphere. Lee's little attempts wouldn't have bother Sasuke at all if the he wasn't trying to push Sasuke out of the way.

Uchiha Sasuke didn't mind being left out of troublesome situations, but it annoyed him whenever people were disrespectful of him.

"Lee, get off, you're heavy." Sasuke commented making Sakura's eyes brighten. "There is plenty of space on the mat, go and find somewhere else to sit." He couldn't have made it any clearer.

Something along Sasuke's words must have flicked the fire switch within Lee's eyes because he literally burned. "Sasuke-kun! I challenge you to a duel! Right here right now!"

"EHHHHHH!" The shriek from Sakura was anything but lady-like.

What did he do now?

"Not interested. I fought you three times this week and you lost in all of them. We're here to look at flowers, not fight." Sasuke replied coolly. He really didn't mind fighting, but facing Lee again for the fourth time this week was no fun.

"That is why we must fight!" Lee raised his fist. Whenever Lee was in his burning mode, there was no stopping him. "Winner gets the attention of the prettiest flower of all!" he pointed at Sakura, who yelped in surprise. "That is unless if you're afraid of losing, Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke let out a long breath, he really couldn't fathom the stupidity sometimes.

"I'm not afraid of anything." Sasuke replied bluntly.

"Oh yeah? Then show it!" Lee got up, eyes menacingly challenging.

There was no backing out, he hated backing out of challenges. He was going to shut Lee up once and for all. "When I beat you, leave me alone for at least a month." Or at least for a while.

"Sasuke-kun too!?" Sasuke ignored Sakura who was a deer struck by headlights, he wanted to pound any unnecessary ideas out of her head, but he would have to save it for later.

"Lets go."

"If you two are so keen on training, I'll have you both run twenty laps around the university." Neji appeared in between the two. Sasuke has never feared Neji before, as the Uchihas practically grew up with the Hyuugas, but there was a sense of authority in Neji's voice that would make others cower.

Tenten used the chance to squeeze in between Lee and Sasuke. "Boys boys! Naruto, Kiba and Chouji are going to eat everything if you keep at this."

They all turned to the centre of the mat to find the three unceremoniously stuffing themselves.

"Those idiot, we haven't even kanpai yet." Neji pushed through to join Hinata.

"You, come and help me with the barbeque!" Tenten began pulling Lee away, and the boy did little to protest. Tenten could get scary whenever someone manages to tap her temper and Lee understood that better than anyone.

Despite giving in, Lee still made sure to continue glaring at Sasuke. The battle turned into a staring match.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called, "Let's eat." She said gesturing towards the food.

Sasuke smirked back at Lee, a perfect way to win the fight without getting physical occurred to him.

"Aa." He replied and settled down beside to Sakura, making sure he leaned into the girl close enough for Lee to see and smirked triumphantly back.

Sasuke won this round.

Victory and the look on Lee's face were priceless.

To be continued…

A/N: Thanks for reading. Again sorry for the grammar errors.
The last hanami I went to was awesome fun.
Do drop me a note and say hi.

Hanami – literally means to "view flowers" or in the English translation "flower viewing party". It's a picnic sort of event to spend with family and friends under a cherry blossom garden/tree. For a lot of university students, it's just another drink up under a tree.

Seiza – traditional Japanese form of sitting where one fold their legs under the thighs while resting the bottom on the heels. Seiza somewhat demonstrate seriousness in which the situation above accounts for.