A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!

Disclaimer: My parents refused to get me Naruto for my birthday so unfortunately I still don't own it.

The Strength of Love

Chapter Four: A Smile & A Kiss

Sasuke stared at Sakura secretly admiring her beauty. He liked to watch her when she was thinking. It was obvious that she was thinking because she would stare off into space and bite on the side of her bottom lip just as she was doing now. It was clear that she wasn't paying attention to the movie she had invited him over to watch despite her staring straight at the television screen. She was apparently off in another world. Sasuke wondered what she was thinking about, but shrugged it off. He was comfortable exactly here he was- his head in her lap and her stroking his raven black hair.

Sasuke was lost in a world of his own too. It had been over two weeks since his birthday- two weeks since his proposal. They could was yet to discuss any plans for the wedding. They were also yet to tell any of their friends of their engagement either. He wondered why Sakura wanted to hide it from their friends, but he figured they shouldn't be in any rush. They were just 18, but he had never been so sure of himself in his life despite being so young. He loved Sakura, and he knew he wanted to marry her. They may have not been in any rush, but his body was filled with anticipation for the day he could call Sakura his wife.

A lot had happened in the past few weeks which Sasuke had found himself rewinding over and over in his head. He had proposed to her, and she had said 'yes.' Fortunately, Shikamaru and Ino made up. Despite having their normal bickerings, every thing seemed to be going fine between the two which pleased Sasuke tremendously. Not that he particularly cared about their relationship- he never really was too fond of Shikamaru or Ino for that matter- but he was glad that there had been no more "interruptions" in his alone time with Sakura. It seemed as if every time one of their friends had a relationship problem, they would come flocking to them. And of course, Sakura would stop everything she was doing and try to help them. She had too big of a heart sometimes in Sasuke's mind.

They both had seemed to get over their little bickering they had had after Shikamaru's interruption as well. Sasuke had gotten of her insecurities and jealousy for the most part in the last two weeks as well. He had become slightly less social, but he blamed it on their friends being so damn annoying with their relationship problems. He felt like that was all he heard about lately, whether it was from Sakura or their friend directly. As of late however, e had shown no interest in spending time with anyone other than Sakura. He had come to appreciate the silence in which they spent together such as this occasion. A passing smile and a small kiss had said enough for the both of them.

"I think we should have a winter wedding," Sakura smiled breaking the silence as she looked down at Sasuke still stroking his hair.

"You've been thinking about the wedding?" Sasuke asked as he looked up at her. Somehow, he had thought that the wedding had been the last thing on her mind with all of those annoying "interruptions."

"Of course, haven't you?" She asked raising her eyebrow.

"Well kinda, but with all of those interruptions lately," Sasuke blushed not wanting to admit that he had been picturing Sakura looking radiantly in a wedding gown.

"You mean our friends," Sakura stated rather frankly.

"Yeah, our friends," Sasuke rolled his eyes, "The whining ones that come running to us for every little thing."

"Well they need our help Sasuke-kun." She said defending their friends.

"Well I still don't see why you always try to help them," He snorted.

"You helped Naruto and Hinata didn't you?" Sakura asked fully aware of the answer.

"Hn," He grunted. He was about just as much willing to admit that he had a soft spot for the blonde headed dobe and his girlfriend as he would admit he liked that purple ass ribbon he wore when training with Orichimaru.

"See? They're our friends. We're obligated to help them."

"Whatever," Sasuke said trying to change the subject, "What about a winder wedding?"

"Huh? Oh right…" Sakura had forgotten what it was she was saying but quickly remembered. "I think we should have a winter wedding. You know, when the snow is on the ground, but not too much, just enough to cover the grass." She finished staring off into the distance as if she was imagining it.

'So this is what she was doing earlier,' Sasuke thought recognizing Sakura's stare. "You've been thinking a lot about this haven't you?"

"Yeah, kinda," She blushed knowing that she had been planning their wedding since they were placed on the same team as genins. She would have never imagined that all of her plans would be real, though, but now they were. She was going to marry Sasuke Uchiha.

"Tell me about it," He said sincerely wanting to picture the wedding Sakura had imagined.

Sakura smiled at Sasuke's interest. "Well, it would be outdoors at night under a full moon and a sky full of stars. We wouldn't need much light because the snow would reflect the night sky." She stopped noticing Sasuke's closed eyes, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Mhm," Sasuke nodded. He was trying to picture the wedding she was describing. "Go on," He added pleased with the image in his mind.

She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead before continuing, "Well we would be married under a trellis which would be lit with Christmas lights. I would want it to be a small wedding with maybe 30 guests at the maximum. Hinata would be my Maid of Honor. Wait… Who's going to be your best man?"

"No one."

"Sasuke-kun…" She said warningly.

"Fine, the dobe." Sasuke stated bluntly with his eyes still closed.

"Don't call him that!" Sakura snapped.

"Fine, Naruto, is that better?" He answered opening one eye, "Now will you continue?"

"Aww… You're interested in our wedding!" She grinned from ear to ear.

"No. I'm merely entertained by the situations you're describing. I am not remotely interested in our wedding or anything of that sort. You act as if I proposed to you or something…" Sasuke stated bleeding sarcasm with every word he spoke.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him, "At least you're not just imagining the honeymoon."

"Ooooh that's nice too; let's describe that shall we?" Sasuke smirked before receiving an elbow to the stomach.

"Well, the reception would be inside of course, and our wong will be the song we first danced to on our first date."

"I'll Be?"

"Yes, Sasuke-kun, 'I'll Be'. What else would it be? Oh never mind…" Sakura rambled off, "I want it to be played on violins and other string instruments though; it'll be much more romantic that way."

"Women and romance these days," Sasuke mumbled starting to sound like Shikamaru.

"Oh you know you love it!" Sakura teased.

"No, I love you, and you love romance. There's a difference." He stated dully.

"Oh you can be such as smartass sometimes," She mumbled.

"You know you love it." Sasuke laughed. It felt good to laugh. He hadn't laughed in a while.

"No. I love you, and you love being a smartass; there's a difference." Sakura mimicked.

Sasuke shrugged it off. "December 14th," He stated as he pointed towards his hair which Sakura had stopped stroking.

"December 14th?" Sakura questioned confused by what he meant by 'December 14th.'

"That's our wedding date." Sasuke told her rather than asking her.

"What?"

"The day of our wedding; jeez Sakura,"

"Okay," She agreed knowing that Sasuke was not going to change his mind, "It's a date… I guess we should start planning? December's not that far off."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. Sakura thought she had broken him of that habit, but ever since he had proposed, it had resurfaced.

"Oh it's going to be perfect Sasuke-kun!" She exclaimed gleefully.

"Hn," He grunted again.

"You can stop grunting now," She said clearly unamused.

"Well, what's the point Sakura?" He asked suddenly finding himself bitter.

"How am I supped to know the meaning of your grunts? That's the point, Sasuke-kun, so I can understand you!" Sakura finished crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"That's not what I meant. What's the point of planning a wedding? No body even knows we're engaged!" He hissed.

"But Sasuke-kun, I thought we both agreed that no one knowing yet would be the best thing for righ-"

Sasuke cut her off, "No Sakura, you agreed for us."

"But Sasuke-kun, you just don't understand," She said quietly knowing that she hadn't told him why she thought they should wait to tell every body. She just didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"Dammit Sakura, you're so annoying." Sasuke stated both coldly and harshly as he sat up with his back turn to Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun…" She whimpered.

Sasuke immediately shot back to his sense upon hearing the hurt in Sakura's voice. 'What did I just say?' He thought trying to convince himself he didn't just say what he thought he did. How could he be so cold, so heartless? He could hear her sniffles behind him; he knew she was crying.

"Sakura…" Sasuke turned around placing his arm around her shoulder. She snuggled her head up against the crook of his need. He felt as if a kunai was being driven thought his heart- if he had a heart seeing as so heartless he had just been- as one of Sakura's tears dropped onto his bare shoulder. He was the sole reason she was crying. He had secretly promised himself that he would never cause her to cry again on their first date after realizing exactly how many tears he had caused her over the years. But now he had failed himself; he had failed her… He had hurt her. He looked down to see Sakura trying to wipe away her tears.

"Well, we'll need to invite your parents, Tsunade, Shizuni, Jiraiya, Iruka…" Sasuke trailed off.

"What?" She sniffled.

"Choji, Shino, I guess we could invite Gai and Lee, oh definitely Kakashi, and Kiba… hmm I don't know who else there is to invite to our wedding. 30 is a high number Sakura." Sasuke stated while scribbtling the names down on a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked noticing the tears flooding from her eyes had stopped.

"I'm making an invitation list for our wedding. We need to start planning. After all, December 14th isn't that far away," She said trying to give her a small smile.

"What about Ino, Tenten, Hinata, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Neji?" She asked as she dried her face.

"Well Hinata and Naruto have to come seeing as they're going to be the maid of honor and best man, but I figured the rest could be bridesmaids or groomsmen."

"Sounds good to me," She laughed, mainly at herself for how easily she had gotten upset. It was only a few words, and Sasuke didn't mean them. They still hurt, but she knew he didn't mean it. She smiled at Sasuke.

Sasuke still felt incredibly guilty though. He was going to marry her. If she had her own ways of going about the engagement, so be it. The important thing was that he was going to spend the rest of his life with her, and he couldn't keep hurting her like this.

He tried his best to return her smile. Inwardly, he tried to push those feelings of bitterness, jealousy, and insecurity aside. He couldn't talk to Sakura about them; he was afraid he might hurt her. He would have to deal with them on his own. He pushed his thoughts aside as his kissed Sakura on the cheek and laid his head back down in her lap where she continued to stroke his raven black hair. The silence returned, but as he had said before, 'a smile and a kiss was enough.'

"Hey guess what today is!" Sakura said breaking the silence after a couple of minutes.

A/N: This chapter may have came off pretty pointless, but trust me; it'll actually play a bigger role in the rest of the story. I also wanted to describe Sakura's and Sasuke's relationship when no one was around. Plus, I kinda wanted to use this as a turning point in the story. I can't say too much because I don't want to give it away, but within in next 2 or 3 chapters, the story is going to take a drastic turn. Please R&R!

Oh and to answer some reviews-

CAMEO: Haha I like you're idea a lot. I kinda already have where I'm planning to take this story, but I would love to write a one-shot about your idea after I finish this story!

Kawaii-llely: You're reviews are too cute. They make me laugh, but you're also dead on with a lot of things! I love reading your reviews

els1234 & Ms. Itachi Uchiha: Hehe I'm glad you like the sequal. I have to admit I was kinda worried that people weren't going to recieve it as well as "It All Started With a Dare", but I'm glad that you guys like it!

PureDevil: Totally know what you mean. I kinda feel that way too, but trust me that's something that might come up later in the story. I'm really sorry that chapter 3 was a little confusing, but I'm really glad that you like it though! I love hearing your input

To Everyone Else: You guys' reviews seriously make me want to write more. I know I've already said that, but it's soo true! A lot of people say stuff about how I update so soon, but it's not because I've already written the story, it's because of the reviews I get! It makes me want to let everyone know what's going to happen next. I love to read all of your reviews and keep 'em comming wink wink

Next Chapter: Feeding the Fire