A/N: I don't know if all the technology or what not in this chapter is appropriate for the actual time setting of the anime, but let's just role with it okay?

Disclaimer: Dude, just no.


The Strength of Love

Chapter Seven: The Fight No One Expected

Sasuke slammed Sakura up against the door kissing her both passionately and ferociously at the same time. Breaking apart only for a minute to gasp a breath f air, Sakura fumbled for her keys to try to unlock the door to her apartment while Sasuke nibbled away at her neck. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Sakura's petite body as Sakura continued to try key after key for the door. 'Why does Sakura have so many damn keys?!' Sasuke thought to himself as he grew more and more impatient.

"Mmphm… ahh… got it… Mmmphm," Sakura gasped between breaths of air and kisses. She had finally got the key in the door when Sasuke pushed her back up against the door causing the keys to fall to the ground. "Damn it," She let out breaking away from their passionate kiss.

Sasuke was getting fed up now. He pulled Sakura as close as physically possible indulging himself in a battle of the tongues. "Sasuke-kun," Sakura moaned causing Sasuke to lose it.

"Fuck it," He said as he kicked down the front door pushing Sakura inside beginning yet another passionate, but rough kiss.

Pulling away, she looked Sasuke in his onyx eyes, "You know you're going to have to- Mmmphm." Sasuke cut her off by taking advantage of her opened mouth. Sakura soon forgot her train of thought as she wrapped her arms around his neck running her fingers through his raven hair.

Sasuke grabbed her by the back of her slender thighs and picked her up with her legs now straddled around his waist. He quickly made his way up the stairs and into Sakura's bedroom. He gently laid Sakura down on the bed as she begun to undo his shirt, one button at a time. "Mmphm… Argh.. This is taking… Mmmphm... Too long," He said as he ripped his shirt off tearing the buttons off as he did so.

"Impatient ehh Sasuke-kun?" Sakura pulled away from their kiss giving Sasuke yet another seductive look before pulling him back down into another kiss. Sasuke gently slid Sakura's dress off enjoying the parts of Sakura that had always been clothed. She was in nothing but her bra and panties now. She looked even more attractive than Sasuke could have imagined making him only want her more. He frantically undid his belt to his pants and kicked them off.

Ring….Ring… Ring… It was Sakura's cell phone lying at the end of the bed in her purse. "Forget it," Sasuke whispered into her ear.

"Okay," She replied knowing that she was not going to forget it. She grabbed the back of Sasuke's head with one hand and pulled him close creating another passionate kiss while her other hand reached for her purse to pull out the cell phone. Sasuke, clearly distracted, consumed himself in their kiss not aware of Sakura's cell phone. Sakura flipped it open as she slyly opened one of her eyes to see the message she had received.

"Oh Kami." Sakura shouted as she pushed Sasuke from off of her.

"What?" He asked wondering what it was that had caused Sakura's sudden outburst.

"Shikamaru dumped Ino! I have to go talk to them."

Sasuke stared blankly at her while anger bubbled up inside of him.

Sakura frantically rolled out of the bed in search of her dress. Finding it, she pulled it over her head and headed towards the door.

"What the hell Sakura?" Sasuke shouted blocking Sakura's exit from the door.

"I know! I thought things were getting better too! Ohh I bet it had something to do with that Temari girl." She said as she tried to get around him.

"That's not what I mean!" He growled as his anger grew by the minute. Could she possibly think he was more concerned about his so-called friends' relationship at this moment in time?

"Then what the hell do you mean?" Sakura replied clearly annoyed that Sasuke was still blocking her exit. Did he not just hear her? Shikamaru and Ino just broke up. She had to talk some sense into them.

"You can't possibly be thinking about going after Ino," Sasuke stated as his eyes narrowed.

"No, I'm not. I have to talk to Shikamaru first and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Her anger was now growing inside of her as she began to shake with rage. "Get out of my way!" She shouted as she pushed Sasuke out of the way.

"You're running off to another man at a time like this?!" He hissed loud enough for her to hear him. He couldn't believe that Sakura was seriously going off to see another man. Suddenly, jealousy boiled up inside of him.

"Do what?" Sakura snapped as she reappeared at her bedroom door.

"You heard me! The moment was finally right, and you're running off to another man!"

"They're our friends!"

"You're my fiancé!"

"They need our help!"

"How do I know that?"

"How do you know what?" She hissed furious that he was questioning her.

"How do I even know that Ino and Shikamaru broke up?! How do I know that you're not just running off to see that Hyuga behind my back?!" Sasuke finally snapped. All the feelings of bitterness, jealousy, and insecurity he had been holding back finally erupted.

"Excuse me?" Sakura's eyes narrowed clearly offended by Sasuke's accusation.

"I saw you Sakura! He kissed you and you didn't even say anything about it!"

"He kissed my hand!" She shouted before something else dawned on her. "You were spying on me?! Do you really think I'm that unfaithful?!"

"I wasn't spying on you! I was coming to pick you up for our date! It's not my fault you just let other men kiss you in public! I was bound to see it!"

"It was my hand! And you're jumping to conclusions!" She screamed as she tugged at her hair.

"I don't have to jump to conclusions! I know what Neji said about you at Naruto's stupid thing AND I saw the way he was looking at you ALL FREAKING NIGHT LONG!" He jumped up as he slid his pants back on as it was clear their previous 'activities' were not going to continue.

"What?" Sakura asked curious to what the Hyuga had said about her.

"I knew you were interested in him!" He shouted taking Sakura's curiosity as interest in Neji.

"I AM NOT! We are JUST FRIENDS!" Sakura screamed. She couldn't fathom where all of this was coming from. "Maybe, I said yes too soon," She muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked hearing that Sakura was now mumbling.

"I said," Sakura paused unsure of what to say. "Maybe, I said yes too soon." There was strain in her voice as she struggle the words out.

Sasuke starred at Sakura obviously hurt and in shock of what Sakura had just said. Turning his hurt to anger, he stated coldly, "Well maybe I shouldn't have ever asked."

Sakura closed her eyes, "Maybe you shouldn't have." She didn't know what she was saying, but she didn't want to go on like this. "Maybe this was all a big mistake."

"Yeah, well maybe it is. Maybe we shouldn't continue with this mistake either." Sasuke said even more coldly than before. Sasuke shook with anger. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't care less about what happened now. He pulled his shirt on and walked out of the room. "Well, I'm outta here. Goodbye Sakura," He said as he slammed the door to her room and continued out of her apartment into the street.

The night air stung his chest as his shirt no longer had any of its buttons. He immediately felt guilty and wanted to turn back, but he heard what Sakura had to say. She didn't want to marry him. That was the whole reason why she had decided to keep the engagement a secret. At least he finally knew the reason. He still loved Sakura, but she would be better off this way without him. He had always hurt her. He didn't know how to love her without causing her pain. She was better off without him.

He hung his head down as he headed towards Ichiruka's ramen stand. He had an empty gorge within him he had to fill. He knew it would be impossible, but he was going to try to fill it with ramen. Normally, he would have gone to Naruto, but he just felt like being alone right now. He sat down on a stool and ordered the special.

As Sasuke waited for his order, he heard small sobs beside him. 'Sakura?' He thought hopeful for a moment as he turned around to see who the sobs were coming from. It wasn't Sakura. It was just Ino. She was slouched over on the counter with her face covered by her arms. She was crying. Sasuke turned back around. There wasn't any way that Sakura was going to chase after him. It was ridiculous to even think in the first place.

Soon, Sasuke's ramen was placed in front of him. He slowly took a few bites wondering how Naruto could eat it so often. He tried to ignore the sobs Ino was making as he ate, but he hated it when a woman cried. He figured he would have to at least talk to her before she would stop so he could eat his ramen in peace.

"Ino?" He asked as he turned to face her. He was didn't particularly want to talk to her, but she wouldn't stop that incessant crying.

"Yes?" She sniffed as she looked up at Sasuke in surprise. "Sasuke-kun?" Apparently, she hadn't even notice he was there.

Sasuke sighed. He couldn't turn around now. "What's wrong Ino?"

"Shika… Shika… Shikamaru broke up with me." She sobbed.

"Well, you're not the only one." Sasuke resigned as he placed his hand on her shoulder hoping that it would be the end of their conversation.

"You and Sakura… Broke up?" Ino asked still crying.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sasuke replied coldly. He knew he shouldn't have said anything about it.

"I… I just can't… He broke up with me." Ino's tears began to come flooding from her eyes now causing Sasuke to feel sorry for her. He had never seen Ino cry before.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked trying to put sympathy into his voice as he had seen Sakura do many times while talking to her friends.

"No," Ino muttered.

'Oh good,' Sasuke thought to himself as he turned back to his ramen. He didn't want to listen to her problems either.

"It's that Temari girl's fault," Ino piped up.

'Great,' He sighed to himself knowing that she didn't want to talk about it was too good to be true.

"He d-doesn't l-love m-me anymore," She stuttered as she tried to wipe away her tears.

"Sure he does," Sasuke stated in a monotonous tone. "I'm sure you were work things out," He stated once again trying to end the conversation.

"N-no he doesn't. H-he left with h-her."

"What?" He said in complete shock. He hadn't expected Shikamaru just to leave with another girl. He had figured they had just gotten into another one of their stupid arguments and took it a little too far.

"He said… He said I was…" Ino trailed off as tears formed in her eyes once more.

"He said you were what?"

"He said I was too…. Too... Troublesome!" She shrieked as she began to burst into tears again throwing her head back onto the counter.

Sasuke stared at Ino for a moment trying to think of ways to get her to stop crying. He didn't want to listen to her sobs. He had his own problems after all. After deciding that comforting her would be the only solution, he placed his hand back on Ino's back causing her to look up in surprise.

"Don't cry," He scolded. "He just doesn't deserve you. You're better off with someone else who loves you." He wiped away one of Ino's tears. "So don't cry, okay?"

"Sasuke-kun,"

Sakura stood in her bedroom bewildered at the events played out so far tonight. She hadn't run off to talk to Shikamaru; instead, she just sat on the edge of her bed. She had been wrong.

She was wrong to not tell everyone about her engagement to Sasuke. She looked at the ring on the chain that resided around her neck. 'Things would have been so much simpler if I had just told everyone,' she thought to herself.

She had also been wrong not to tell Sasuke why she had wanted to keep the engagement a secret. 'He would have believed me. Hell, he would have probably agreed with me if I had just told him I didn't want our friends to get hurt/jealous by it.'

She had been wrong to not tell Sasuke that she had been secretly meeting with their guy friends to give them relationship advice so everything would get back to normal. 'He probably wouldn't have gotten mad. He wouldn't have said anything to the girls about it either.'

She had also been wrong to interrupt their night together just because their friends were having relationship problems. 'The moment was finally right, and then I had to go blow it. Ha, I caused my own relationship problem by trying to handle everyone else's.'

She was wrong to ever say that she had said yes too soon. 'I knew I wanted to say yes; there was no doubt in my mind when I answered him. It was all a lie. He wasn't even thinking about breaking up with me until I opened my big mouth.'

She had been wrong to say that maybe their relationship was all a mistake. 'I don't know why I even said that. I never meant it. I loved every minute in our relationship. I loved being with him.'

Most importantly though, she was wrong to ever let him walk out that door. 'I don't know what I was thinking. I let him walk out of my life. I just let him go. I let the love of my life go.'

"What am I doing?!" She yelled out loud as she hopped to her feet. What had she been thinking? Here she was sulking around in her bedroom while she should be running after Sasuke. "I love him! I can't just let him go, not again!" She exclaimed as she ran through her apartment and out of the door not even bothering to slip on any shoes.

Tears were strolling down her face as she ran through the street. Where could he have gone? She didn't see him any where. 'He might have gone to Naruto's,' she thought as she started running the way to his apartment. She ran past Ichiruka's ramen stand on her way. She slid to a stop as she heard voices from the stand. One of those voices was Sasuke's. The other's was probably Naruto's. 'That's right. He probably took him out for Ramen. That's right.'

She stood in front of the curtain that stood between her and the love of her life. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought to herself ready to risk it all for Sasuke. She flung back the curtain knowing he was behind it. Her jaw dropped.

It wasn't Naruto he was with. It was Ino. And they were kissing. Sasuke and Ino were kissing.

Tears of pain flooded from her eyes. "I can't believe you!" She shouted as she tore the engagement ring off of her neck and threw it at Sasuke. "I can't believe I even came chasing after you!" She screamed pain obvious in her voice as she turned around and ran off.

Sasuke immediately shoved Ino off of him. He hadn't been kissing Ino. Ino had kissed him. There was a difference. He didn't know that she was just going to kiss him out of no where. It was just his luck that Sakura would show up the second Ino's lips met his. "Sakura!" He shouted calling after her, but she was already gone. He picked up the ring that had fallen to the ground. If he hadn't lost Sakura before, he had definitely lost her now.


A/N: I would reply to some of the lovely reviews I received from my last chapter, but I should be on my way to work as of this moment, but let me just say, You all are AWESOME reviewers. Oh, and just so you know, this is not the last chapter just in case there are any questions about it.