Sasuke

"Sasuke-kun!" I heard Ino Yamanaka yell from across the room. I rolled my eyes, turned toward her and scowled. Unfortunately, that didn't stop her. She kept running up and just before she could tackle me, Hinata, of all people, stepped in front of me, braced herself, and stopped Ino from reaching me.

"Hinata-chan? I thought you didn't like Sasuke-kun."

"I-I d-do b-but l-like a b-brother. His s-sister is a g-good f-friend."

Ino scowled and trounced off.

"Thank you, cousin," I whispered softly.

"No, no problem, Sasuke-kun." She quietly walked off to her seat. I stayed out in the hall for a few more moments waiting for a certain pink haired girl.

A few minutes before class was supposed to begin, Sakura walked up to the class room. Our eyes met and I was pleased to see her trying to contain herself as I signaled for her to come over. She even controlled her pace walking toward me. Unlike Ino, she also didn't try to tackle me.

"I'm so glad Sakura over heard us the other day. Wait, did I really just think that?" I thought to myself.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" she asked standing kind of in front of me with her arms behind her back.

"Would you, uh- Would you like to- come over after class today and spar with me?" I asked her. Why the hell was I so nervous? I could feel my face getting redder and redder. "Maybe afterward, we could go to Ichiraku's and have some ramen?"

Sakura

Needless to say, I was shocked.

"You mean, like a date?" I said trying not to squeal.

"Hn," he said nodding his head. His face was so cute! His cheeks were all red from blushing!

"Sure!" I said my face getting warm. We just stood there for a few moments and when I turned toward the classroom door to go take a seat, Sasuke grabbed my hand.

"Could you do me a favor?" he asked looking serious.

"Sure, Sasuke-kun. Anything," I said with a smile.

"Please, for yours and my sake, do not tell Ino or any of my other girls, except Hinata, you can tell Hinata."

"For our sakes? What do you mean?"

"You know for a fact that they can be very spiteful. If they knew, you especially would be getting glares from them like Naruto gets from the adults."

He- he cares about me? I nodded to him and to my chagrin, he let go of my hand, but I tried not to act defeated. He likes strong kunoichi after all.

After the Academy

Sasuke

I waited for Sakura around the corner of the academy. I'd told the dobe to go get something to eat and not to come to the training grounds. Now, I was almost regretting it. I'd never show it, but I was nervous, and more anxious than I have ever been. Just as I was about to loose my cool, Sakura walked around the corner.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun," she said a blush gracing her face. "So, where are we going to spar at?"

"At my home, in our, my sister and mine, training grounds."

"Okay," she said with a smile, "lets go then."

Sakura

We walked in silence, deliberately bypassing any routes that would have taken us past Ino. Ugh, that girl can be so annoying sometimes. Sure, I'm her friend and all, but if she says one more time how much Sasuke likes her and how she's going to marry her, then I'm going to strangle her! Once we got closer to the Uchiha complex he stopped and turned toward me.

"Have you ever been in the Uchiha compound?" I shook my head no.

"Don't- don't be surprised… It's kind of, well, dead," he said with a downcast look.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm just glad you're opening up to me."

He smiled a bit at me, grabbed my hand, and pulled me forward. We hurried through the street and into the compound. I hardly had a moment to actually see the compound, but Sasuke was right, it was kind of- dead.

He quickly pulled me through the main road and past what I thought was the main house. A few seconds later we arrived at what I saw was the training grounds. They were huge. Of course, I don't come from a ninja family, so I don't know what training grounds are like, but this on was big.

Sasuke

I looked back at Sakura and her face only held amazement. I smiled a bit and stopped walking.

"You okay there, Sakura?" I asked searching he face.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Sasuke-kun," she replied after a few seconds. "I'm just shocked at the size of this place."

My heart fell for a moment as the memories of my clan mates training here were brought back into my mind. I must have been silent for too long or something, because Sakura asked me if I was okay.

I nodded my head and said, "Yes, I'm fine. You ready to spar?"

She nodded her head nervously and let go of my hand. I took a few steps back and just looked at her. She looked very nervous. So I took a deep breath and echoed what my sister always said to me,

"Okay, just a few simple things that we should agree on. First, if either of us needs a break, just say 'stop.' Second, don't play tough. If you need a break, then you need a break. Sound good?"

She just nodded and got into her taijutsu stance. I followed suit and we circled each other for a few moments.

Sakura

I was so nervous and as we circled each other, it just got worse. The words "be strong" kept floating through my mind. I noticed after a few seconds that he wasn't going to make the first move. I took a deep breath to calm myself and I steeled myself to what I was about to do. I was going to attack him.

I ran towards him my fist cocked back as I neared him I punched toward his chest. He caught my fist and spun me around so that my arm was behind my back.

"Do you give?" he asked.

I relaxed my body and leaned back into him. I tangled my legs up in his and flipped us forward so that he landed on his back. Once we were in that position I chuckled and said, "Nope."

He just laughed. I felt his hand let go of my wrist and move to my waist. Both of his hands rested on my waist for a moment and then he threw me off of him and to the right. I hit the ground, rolled, and quickly got up. When I looked at Sasuke, he was smirking.

This time, he came at me. He took a swing at my neck, right at a kill spot that would have ended our spar. Much to his amazement, and possibly amusement, I blocked his punch and did a quick follow-up jab to his windpipe. He coughed and grabbed his throat. Next thing I knew, I was on my back with his fist floating above my nose. And, the next second, I was blushing like crazy because he was straddling my waist.

He furrowed his brow like he was asking what I was embarrassed about. My eyes flitted to his left leg in answer.

Sasuke

My eyes widened in understanding and I got off of her. I stood and helped Sakura up.

"Sorry about that. I'm not used to sparring with anyone but my onee-chan. She usually flips me off of her if we end up like that," I said in explanation.

"Sarame no kage, right? What's it like to spar with her?" she asked me.

"She kind of plays around with me. Every once in a while when we spar she trips me with a shadow just for a laugh," I said shaking my head at the memory.

"She sounds awesome," Sakura said with a smile. "Can I meet her?"

"Once she's better. She's pretty sick right now."

"Okay! Sounds good to me!" she said her eyes lighting up.

"So, are you hungry?" I asked her. She nodded and took my hand. I smiled and walked with her back through the Uchiha compound. Before we exited through the gate, I took a deep breath and squeezed Sakura's hand.

"I don't care what they'll think," she said and pulled me through the streets of Konoha to Ichiraku's Ramen shop.