Sakura, clad in a loose, feminine winter coat, positioned herself quietly out side a door near the presence of a streetlamp. Her heart apprehensively skipped beats, and her fingers rapidly fidgeted as she shivered nervously in attempt to drive away the haunting gloom. Impatiently, she huffed, trying to maintain a prideful composure, the arrogance inside her seemingly at risk. There she noiselessly stood, her lips anxiously quivering as her feet awkwardly shuffled against the ground.

Nighttime had fallen and bright stars dotted the sky, accompanying a crescent moon hiding behind the clouds.

Aware of her apparent solitude, she found herself listening intently to any presence nearby, her eyes shifting as she tried to wait.

Unfortunately, he wasn't opening his door.

"That jerk," she muttered to herself, staring earnestly at her own shadow cast down in front of her. "He's ignoring me."

Sakura looked up and peered at the sky then the back down, her cherry blossom hair following her every move effortlessly. Shes calculated that it must be midnight by now, and, out of boredom, started to pace. Holding her breath, she tried to amuse herself as she impatiently anticipated for his arrival, of when he'd open the door.

An hour had passed (or so it seemed) and Sakura had gotten quite cranky, the cold finally catching up on her. Unfortunatly it had only been five minutes had slowly gone by. She was growing very impatient.

Sasuke awoke to something hitting the front door of his apartment. Something that sounded like a knock, except that the knocking was growing louder around his second-story apartment home. He rolled over and checked the clock, and found it half past midnight.

There was another knock at his door.

Sasuke froze for a moment, going over his options. He could pretend to ignore the noise and go back to sleep, he could check the door and find out what (or who,) was making the noise and why, or he could jump out of his window now and act like he wasn't even there. And as nice as options one and three sounded, there was no way he could possibly go back to sleep afterward, the curiosity would have been too great. So, just as he was about to reluctentaly get up and push the covers away he stopped when heard a familer female voice.

"Sasuke, you better open this door! Or I'll break it down!"

Sasuke's head hit the mattress again. He gritted his teeth. She would be the one knocking doors off their hinges, wouldn't she? Why hadn't he just ignored his curiosity and just fallen back asleep?

From outside his door, he could hear Sakura pacing. This was less comforting, but she had complained about him going on a date with her. Then the pacing stopped. Sasuke gave a rare, hidden smile of relief and rolled over. Rest at last. Sasuke assumed the girl had given up and left. He hoped she would go away soon. Sasuke could never sleep knowing his ex-teammate was standing outside his door.

Knock.

No. Sasuke opened one eye and looked at the door. She knocked again. Sasuke hoped his ignoring of her would get her to leave. First it was annoying but now this was becoming harrassment.

Knock. KNOCK.

Sasuke let out a long sigh. He couldn't ignore her now. There was no telling what nature her temper would unfold. No matter how bad he wanted to relax.

So, somewhat reluctantly and certainly against his better judgment, Sasuke pushed back his covers. "I'll kill her," He muttered to himself as he rose to open the door. His bare feet padded across the floor quickly, accidentally kicking a discarded shirt from earlier.

She doesn't hear him coming to the door. And here she was, out here in the cold helpless! Not if I can help it! She snorted as she gripped her gloves from her bag and with wordless cry and a single punch the door open allowing her access. She wasn't even aware that Sasuke was thrown against the wall by the force of the door.

Pushing the door of his battered body he winced at the pain. He tried to suck it up...but damn she hurt him in places that people wouldn't even think to look. Sasuke hasen't actually realised how strongshe really was. Sasuke stared at her wondering how strong she was at full strength. He had to admit, he didn't want to fight her, not because she was a girl, not because she was Sakura his old teamate but because she could snap him in half, crush his bones with a flick of finger. Sasuke wanted to kill her very bady, but found he was very afraid of this inhuman strength she possessed.

He raised a brow at the sight of her in his doorway. She was pissed. Her choice of attire was also extremely unusual. She wore a small little red red dress top with black heals. The top part barely held in her full breasts and exposed some of her figure. Her short, hair barely kissed against her mostly uncovered shoulders. The shortness of the dress exposed most of her legs. She was practically naked…not that he was looking.

"Sakura." She didn't turn to him yet, taking another opportunity to ajust her dress properly, "Sakura!"

"I'm kind of busy here!" she shouted back at Sasuke.

Something snapped. Was it his fingers? Whatever happened, something wasn't right. Panting, her emerald green eyes glanced around. Everything was still; she lowered her fist wary of Sasuke's pressence.

His large hand suddenly gripped her upper arm, "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Relizing he had turned her to face him, Sakura's heart nearly exploded at the sight of him. He was bathed in bluish moonlight and, she noticed, not wearing a shirt. Why was he not wearing a shirt? More importantly why was his hand on her arm?

"I'm here for our date." She replied holding her fist steady eyeing the still man uncertainly.

"Plus I came to fetch you. I told you I'd be here." She added turning to meet him.

She refused to acknowledge the fear that raced through her body even as she readied for a fight, shock at the man's appearance thrilling in her blood and apprehension for his intentions tensing all of her muscles; she couldn't afford to show even the smallest sign of distress in front of him.

"Get out."

Sakura sighed, "So bitter… and so transparent. Don't be mad; I am not here to harm you or kick you clear across Konoha again… but we do have much to discuss, and I will not leave until we have come to some sort of understanding," Sakura said softly.

The woman took a cautionary step backwards as the tomoed eyes approached through the blackness, slowly curling a fist in case she needed it. "I have nothing to talk to you about. I am not your friend, and I don't want to go on anywhere with you or what the circumstances entail. Just leave by the way you came, and there will be no need for any escalation."

"I told you once and I'll tell you again. You're going on this date with me Sasuke wether you like it or not."

The red irised eyes didn't blink, waver, or stop their approach, merely staying staidly locked with her narrowed green. "Idle threats will do you no good against me, Sakura. We both know that you cannot compare to me in a fight…" the man said, strands of dark hair hanging around his blood red, deep-set eyes.

He observed the woman's position silently, "And I disagree with your statement. Your disappearance half a decade ago caused more problems than it fixed, and you I have much to talk about. We will talk tonight," she assured him with her green eyes facing him, and Sasuke bristled.

"If I need to answer for anything, which I don't, the retribution will not come from you, Sakura. You have no right to preach to me, no right to tell me what I will do, and no right to intrude on the life I have created for myself." he said indignantly. "I'm going back to sleep" Sasuke was pulled back with full strength.

"The date isn't over yet, Sasuke. "Normal people don't go to bed at midnight on a Friday night, they go out and do stuff!" She pulled him towards the door and gestured to him. "So, come on and do stuff!"

"I will not, Sakura" he replied.

"Have fun for one night," she shrugged. "Besides, you made that deal with me, remember?"

"I made a deal and you said it would start tomorrow." he hissed. "The sun isn't even up yet."

She shook her head in such a condescending way that Sasuke almost went towards her to give her a piece of his mind right then. "Sasuke, Sasuke. I thought, for someone like you, that you'd be a little smarter! If it's twelve-thirty, the day's already changed! So it is tomorrow already, silly. Now were going to start this over. Starting with greetings."

"This is stupid."

"It's not stupid, Sasuke. Here you go first."

"Sakura were already talking. Don't you think greetings are little late by now?"

"Sasuke. Now. Or else." her voice was deadly and she ment it.

Her fist was infused with chakra as a warning and Sasuke winced as he unconciously rubbed at arm where she had hit him earlier.

Finally he grunted at her as a cold greeting. She smiled back in reply.

"Hey," she greets softly, and the casual, common word is painfully out of place in its current setting.

A pause.

Sasuke does not respond in any way, as she had expected. Although his silence hurts, she is relieved that there is still a part of him that she can predict, still a part of him that she knows. For although she can depict the features of his face in exquisite detail, can describe the exact pitch and cadence of his voice—

She doesn't know him. She doesn't know this person that would form a team of missing-nin, this person that would join Akatsuki, this person that would attack Konoha. She doesn't know this person that was once her teammate, her beautiful tragedy of a boy, her Sasuke-kun.

This person she is watching whose black bangs hang to cover his eyes is a stranger. Her familiar stranger. But a stranger nonetheless.

And that hurts.

"I'm sorry I was a little late. It's very hard to escape my sessions, really," Sakura murmured, her words aiming for a compensation. "Especially when we're secretly dating and all.."

He looked into her eyes disdain, in which Sasuke merely looked away, uttering a small "hmph" as a response.

"Sasuke? You're ignoring me again."

Anger raced inside of her, his silence only contributing to her annoyance. She'd been waiting for hours - alright, ten minutes - he better not expected her to easily forgive him of his silent demenor. A look of disdain was sprawled across her face as she glared at him with piercing eyes.

"Sasukeee.."

"What?" He demanded, cutting to the point.

"She broke into a large grin. "Don't tell me you already forgot about our date?"

"No. I would not go on a 'date' with you. It's twelve thirty. What are you even doing up at this hour?"

"I can't help it if Lady Tsunade keeps me over time." Sakura told him, looking him up and down checking out his appearence. Sakura frowned, "Judging by you're appearence you're not even ready."

"I wasn't even planning to go in the first place." sighing Sasuke stepped aside, allowing her into his room. "Come in."

"What?" Sakura was dumbfounded.

"I'm inviting you inside idiot." Sasuke said annoyed but stopped himself when he had just realized he had called Sakura 'idiot' A common name he often called Naruto. Sasuke shook his head at the weird akwardness of the situation. They both were idiots he supposed. His idiots to be percised.

"You should wear this, Sasuke," Sakura mutters.

"Sakura get hell out of my closet."

"Well excuse me but considering this is your first date. You propbably wouldn't even know what to wear."

Sasuke's brows furrow as the sounds of the chaos and slaughter next to him bear down on his hearing. The sound of her voice is nearly unbearable. "This'll be nice to wear to dinner or maybe this one. Hey Sasuke do you have a suit? Maybe a dress shirt; I'm sure of—"

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice cuts through her panicked blabbering.

With annoyance Sakura lifts her emerald green eyes. He's glaring, with as much heat as he can muster in his near-beaten state. "…Shut up…" his voice is perhaps more harsh than it would be in other circumstances "…and get out of my room till I'm decent."

Reluctantly, Sakura nods. Before walking out of his room Sakura get's one last peek at his muscled chest and abs while Sasuke's not looking of course.

"Sakura." Sasuke warned.

"Yeah, yeah..I'll wait."

When finally Sasuke came out he was dressed up in the clothes Sakura had picked out.

"Wow." She said..

"Yeah." He agreed softly, "I forgot about the extra clothes too until a while back." Sasuke looked up and sighed, "You know that you didn't have to punch at that door right? That wasn't necessary."

She blushed, "Oh just be quiet!" she growled. He glanced down at her and walked away. Irked at his sudden departure, she followed him muttering as she went. Sasuke opened the door and Sakura caughed letting him know to open the door for her. Sasuke glared the doors opened for her allowing Sakura back to the chilling cold before the sight of depressing room was concealed yet again.

"So," Sasuke asked as they walked down the stairs, with Sakura besides him, "How does this date go?"

She hesitated. "I don't know." Her voice cracked making her wince.

She bit her lip, unsure what to say.

He noticed, "You don't know." It wasn't a question.

"It doesn't matter." She hurried on quickly to hide her annoyance, "How about IchiRAAAAKKKU!" Her foot swerved on a step making her let out a yell. A gloved hand grabbed her wrist and spun her into his chest.

She swallowed feeling her stomach perform flips, she shivered trying to stop her trembling legs, "You ok?" he asked.

Sakura gazed up at him. She choked down the feelings the bubbled in her gut, "I—I'm fine." She stammered, "Stupid stairs, they're way too narrow!"

"What? No thank you?" He asked raising an eyebrow giving her a skeptical look, "What about lady knowing some manners?"

She glowered at him, "Like you have manners!" she growled stepping backward; he caught her again before she recalled that the steps were narrow.

"That's twice now."

She sighed ignoring the flutter in her gut, "Thank you." She murmured wearily trying to oversee the fact that she was pressed against him, "Again."

Sasuke moved aside her to the landing, he stopped midstep only to hold out his hand towards her, "You're welcome." He glanced down observing the stairs ahead, "Where are we going?" When she landed besides him, he released his hold on her. "We better not be going to Ichiraku. I don't want to be reminded of Naruto no more than I have to."

"I think I got a better idea then ramen." Sakura smirked.