Sasuke agreed easily to dinner with Ino and Shikamaru (another testament to how much he'd changed about this kind of thing), which meant that Sakura found herself in her room on Friday evening wondering what to wear (and slightly irritated with herself for it).

It was only an Italian place, but it was their first date, and no matter how she felt about Valentine's Day, Sakura thought that warranted something special. After a few minutes of staring at her closet, she just rolled her eyes at herself and picked out a blue dress to wear with black tights and boots. She left her hair wavy and put on some makeup. For some reason she felt a little nervous, which seemed completely ridiculous.

These are your best friends, Sakura, she told herself, irritated. And your…boyfriend.

She didn't think she'd be able to pull an Ino and refer to Sasuke as 'my boyfriend', no matter what their relationship was like. Sakura was pretty sure he would always be Sasuke. Not Sasuke-kun anymore, that was from a different lifetime...Just Sasuke.


She picked up Ino an hour later to meet the boys outside the restaurant.

"I can't believe it's snowing on Valentine's Day again," Ino said as they got out of the car, shielding her head from the flakes that were drifting down. She'd curled her hair to look especially nice (Ino loved Valentine's Day).

Sakura remembered the snowstorm of last year; it had sealed everyone up in their houses for two days. Today's snow wasn't nearly as bad. It had only started an hour ago, and at least for now didn't seem to be piling up.

The boys arrived a minute later.

"Finally," Ino said, linking her arm with Shikamaru's.

"It's not like we're late." Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes. He put his arm around her shoulders and led the way in.

"Hi." Sakura said to Sasuke.

"Hey." He said with a slight smile.

The two of them followed Ino and Shikamaru into the restaurant. It was a small place, with tables in the middle and booths lining the painted walls.

Sasuke brushed a few flakes of snow off the shoulder of Sakura's coat. "Thanks." She said, blushing slightly.

"No problem." Sasuke said with a smirk.

A waitress led them to a booth and Sasuke sat down first. Sakura slid in next to him; their legs were touching slightly.

Ino and Shikamaru sat down across from them. "Well, this is cozy." Ino said with a grin.

Shikamaru sighed. "Not necessary, Ino."

"Hey, it's Valentine's Day. Anything sappy goes, doesn't it?" She grinned at him, and Shikamaru just shook his head with a smile.

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance.

They all pulled off their coats and Sakura saw that Sasuke had dressed up slightly, too. He was wearing a gray button-down and black pants, sleeves rolled up as always. Suddenly Sakura remembered seeing him in a similar outfit at Homecoming; it felt like so long ago.

She could still hear Ino's voice from that night. It was going to be you and Sasuke.

It was amazing how much had changed.

Sakura found Sasuke's hand under the table and his fingers closed around hers.

They started to look over their menus. Sasuke started rubbing a circle with his thumb on the back of Sakura's hand, still reading his menu, and it felt amazingly comforting. It wasn't something she would've ever expected him to do, but it felt so natural, like every other gesture that they'd slipped into doing over the past week.

"Are we sharing food?" Ino asked, eyeing Shikamaru.

Shikamaru grinned. "Yeah, sure."

The waiter appeared. "Welcome! May I start you lovely young couples off with some drinks?"

Ino grinned. "Just water for me."

"Me too." Shikamaru said.

"And me, thanks." Sakura said.

"Four waters." Sasuke said with typical succintness.

"Excellent." The waiter said. "And may I offer you some Valentine's Day roses?" He produced several flowers from behind his back.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke. His eyebrows were raised.

"Oh, thanks!" Ino said, smiling at the waiter.

"I'll be back shortly with your beverages." The waiter said. He flashed them a smile before disappeared into the back.

"Didn't realize they'd go this far." Sasuke muttered to Sakura. She laughed.

"Yeah, seriously." Shikamaru said. "'Lovely young couples'?"

"Oh, just play along, all of you." Ino said, rolling her eyes. "Apparently love does nothing for cynicism."

"It does a little bit." Sakura said honestly. She felt Sasuke's eyes on her and she looked over at him. He just shook his head with a slight smile.

A waitress came by to refill their glasses and Sakura looked around at the rest of the restaurant. Clearly the four of them weren't the only ones who'd gone out for Valentine's Day; the restaurant was filled with couples (old and young) showing all levels of affection. Old, classic romantic songs were playing softly in the background and there were candles on the tables. It was the archetypal date setting, but Sakura didn't mind at all.

The waiter came back with their drinks and they all ordered. Shikamaru and Ino were sharing pasta; Sakura and Sasuke had ordered separate dishes.

"So is pasta a tradition with you two?" Sakura asked. Ino's dates with Shikamaru were the only thing the blonde tended to be private about.

"First date meal," Ino said. She was playing with Shikamaru's fingers on the table. "It's our an anniversary-slash-Valentine's Day tradition."

"It wasn't planned." Shikamaru said, shaking his head.

Sakura smiled. The two of them had such an easy relationship; they knew each other inside and out. She wondered if it would ever be like that with her and Sasuke.

Then again, sometimes it felt like it already was.

"Just wait, Forehead, you two will have traditions too. Even though you're both totally not sappy." Ino rolled her eyes.

Sakura couldn't imagine having any kind of traditions with Sasuke. It wasn't the kind of people they were at all.

"She's right. It'll happen." Shikamaru said, yawning and putting his arm around Ino's shoulders.

"Tch." Sasuke said, but it wasn't at all derisive. He turned to Sakura. "Can I get out? Bathroom."

Sakura scooted off the seat and stood up. Sasuke's fingers brushed her arm on the way out and she felt the familiar tingle. She smiled to herself and sat back down.

Ino was smiling slyly.

"What?" Sakura said.

"You two." Ino said, shaking her head with a grin.

Sakura raised her eyebrows.

Ino rolled her eyes and stared at Sakura. "Look, I'm just going to say one thing before Sasuke gets back. I knew this before…But you two have ridiculous chemistry."

"Even I can see it." Shikamaru said lazily. "And I wasn't sure how you two were going to work out."

Ino swatted his arm. "Seriously?" She asked incredulously.

Shikamaru shrugged. Then he slid out of the booth. "I'm not gonna have this conversation. Even if it's Valentine's Day." He yawned again. "I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be back."

Ino rolled her eyes and waved him off. Then she turned back to Sakura.

"I have to admit something to you since Shikamaru's gone. Remember that time in Ichiraku with Gaara and Temari and everyone?"

Sakura nodded, not sure where Ino was going.

"Temari was saying all that ridiculous stuff, but you know what the awful thing was? I totally agreed with her. You know, about your and Sasuke's chemistry." Ino grinned. "That's why I was so angry, because we both saw exactly the same thing."

"Oh my God." Sakura shook her head, knowing her face was bright red.

"But anyway, at least I can admit it now." Ino said. "God, I hate that I thought the same thing as Temari, but it was tortuous not saying anything. Honestly I probably would've mentioned it even if you two never got together."

"What, to annoy me?" Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Or convince me to get together with him?"

"Oh, wow, Forehead. You know I could never convince you to do anything. Especially where Sasuke's considered. That was all you." Ino grinned.

"Yeah..." Sakura said. Then she couldn't help smiling. "Well, you've got that off your conscience now." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Got what off her conscience?" Sasuke had reappeared.

"Nothing." Sakura said hastily, getting up to let him in.

Ino smirked. "Right."

Sasuke looked at both of them for a second, and then just shook his head and slid into the booth.

Shikamaru came back a minute later, just in time for their food to arrive. Shikamaru and Ino were sharing a large bowl of spaghetti, while Sakura was having ravioli and Sasuke was having chicken.

They started to eat. The food was delicious (but even if it hadn't been, Sakura didn't think it would've affected the night very much).

"Want to try this?" She asked Sasuke when she'd made some progress with the large bowl. "There's a lot."

"Sure." He said with a smirk, pushing his own plate towards her.

They weren't quite at Ino and Shikamaru's level (the two of them were more than comfortable using each other's forks), but Sasuke speared a few ravioli without hesitation. He cut a piece of chicken for Sakura with her fork and held it out.

"Thanks." She said with a smile and took it from him.

"No problem." He said, smiling slightly.

Sitting there sharing food, Sakura wasn't sure she'd ever felt so content.


They left the restaurant over an hour later; it was almost dark and the snow was starting to pile up on the ground. Sakura snuck an arm around Sasuke's waist, and he put his arm around her shoulders.

Shikamaru and Ino were talking quietly to each other, several feet ahead of Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura watched them both lean in to kiss each other; it was gentler than usual. They broke apart a minute later, and Ino followed Shikamaru to his car to say goodbye.

"So I guess I'll see you on Monday?" Sakura asked.

"Aa." Sasuke said. "I don't know about the whole Valentine's Day thing. But this was…Good."

"Yeah." Sakura grinned. "I don't know, maybe we are too cynical."

Sasuke smirked and shrugged.

Several people came out of the restaurant and the two of them moved out of the way.

"So…I'll see you then." Sakura said, looking up at him.

Sasuke nodded. Then he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss.

Sakura held on to his arm to prolong it for a moment, and then they pulled apart. For some reason they both felt self-conscious acting like this in public, at least so soon.

"I'll see you Monday." Sasuke said with a slight smirk.

"Talk to you this weekend?" She asked him.

"Aa." Sasuke said as if there wasn't a question about it.

Sakura waited by her car for Ino, who was still by Shikamaru's car (the two of them were glued together).

She averted her gaze from them and watched Sasuke get into his own car. She caught his eye and they smiled slightly at each other before he got in and closed the door.

A minute later, Ino joined Sakura, looking slightly out of breath. "So. Successful first date?" She asked.

"Yeah. Definitely." Sakura smiled.


A/N: Good to know a lot of you respond to bribes, even if I didn't actually get 30 reviews. Lol but actually you guys said some really nice stuff last chapter. Also all of you guest reviewers, wow, I wanted to reply to you but you're all infuriatingly anonymous so I'm just going to say a general 'thank you!' to all of you. Someone said that this story makes them believe in love and that's probably the biggest compliment I've ever gotten. I don't want to say I'm touched because that's so sappy, but yeah. Hearing that makes this worth it.

Thanks for reading :)

Oh, also: if you want to hear one of the playlists I was listening to while writing this chapter, it's posted on my tumblr. Might enhance your reading experience or whatever lol. It's all old romantic songs (perfect for Valentine's Day fluff).