Be Careful What You Wish For

By: Poison Ivy

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: This chapter is written in a slightly different way. I was _so_ stuck thinking of how to indicate time passage without writing out every chapter, but well, here it is. The reason I chose to do this is because everything else so far has happened in what? Two, three days? And wouldn't it be a _little_ strange that Sakura and Sasuke got together in three days? I mean, if you really looked "underneath the underneath", then it would mean that Sasuke was doing the whole romantic thing out of revenge or spite.

And isn't it every little girl's dream to date out of spite? {1}

Yeah, so anyways, I did this to show _growth_.

But on a slightly different note,

*waves to Crimson Girl* thanks for the great review! And I love that ramen phrase! I _know_ that I'm going to incorporate it in one of my author's notes. *is insanely proud that she had ramen for lunch*

*sniffs* and here I thought nobody read my author's notes. Here I thought that I just happened to be blabbing to myself! Well, I was wrong ^-^ *for some strange reason is happy to be wrong*

Notes:

Thoughts
"Speech"
Chapter Six

~

For the first time that he could remember, Sasuke woke up late. He had spent a night tossing and turning, thinking over the events of the night before. He felt stupid, wanting something that Naruto had. But even is she _does_ like you again, he told himself fiercely, you'll only go back to ignoring her. Yet he couldn't get the image of her out of his mind, defiant and angry. In fact, he hadn't been able to get it out of his mind since the night that she had changed. And he had to admit, though she was annoying, (used to be annoying, whispered the traitorous voice in the back of his head) at least she was loyal.

And he did kind of miss her calling him Sasuke-kun.

It wasn't like he didn't have bigger problems, (he did) but just something about her, the way she smelled…like cherry blossoms…well it was safe to say that Uchiha Sasuke was feeling very screwed. To put it lightly.

And to top it off, when he arrived at the clearing, (ahead of Kakashi at least, thank Kami) he had to do without the "Ohayou Sasuke-kun!" and instead with Sakura pointedly ignoring him, paying more than the usual attention to Naruto.

And he began to wonder if Naruto was right about Sakura switching attentions, though he would only admit it only torture. Really _really_ painful torture.

So he had to sit through the dobe's steadily increasing "looks". They were, as Sasuke began to admit to himself, getting harder and harder to ignore.

And for the first time, for the first time since he had learned to build walls anyway, Sasuke felt lonely.

When Kakashi did arrive, Sasuke had been on the verge of jumping up and throwing a kunai punching at Naruto. The last look had been especially long and hard, plainly stating, "I have something you don't have!" Sasuke had been about to give him something else he didn't have; a black eye.

So while Kakashi's presence was a good thing, he also had to remain calm when Sakura yelled at the sensei's excuse. (A beautiful girl was stuck in a tree) Because now she had talked to everyone except him.

To say that his life was screwed was becoming a bigger and bigger understatement.

It didn't help that in a few weeks (of the same old treatment, and Sasuke found that to his surprise instead of his resentment dimming, it only grew) she lopped off her hair, saying that it was too hard to manage. {2} Not that he asked. Still, it meant that the part of him in her life was gone forever. And vice versa.

Yet he still kept his silence, though there were moments (as there were bound to be) when they were alone. They both kept it (the silence), she, not needing his words to complete her day, and he, not quite knowing what to say.

Even though her hair was now short. He found it even harder to keep silent then, and even harder to talk.

But one thing that kept him satisfied (through long nights of dreams of _her_, though he had managed to accept them as inevitable) was that Sakura and Naruto never went out. The dobe was wrong. About one thing at least.

She had tried, once or twice, to be friends, but Sasuke, not expecting it, didn't respond. He was trapped behind the walls that he himself had built, and it took too long to tear them down. And by then, she had stopped trying.

And so he kept his silence, though his breaking point was near. One of the nightmares that he had was that when he did break…he would have nothing to say.

"Sakura…"

*

She loved snow, she really did. {3}

Before, she was afraid of it, because it had reminded her of him (though it was white and he was dark), and now that he was no longer important, she feared that snow would cease to be important as well.

But she found that she loved snow for its own sake, and not for his, and for that she was grateful.

She had found that there were a lot of things that she needed to reexamine, and to reevaluate. Like her hair for one, which she had only grown because Sasuke liked long hair.

After cutting her hair, she hadn't recognized who she was when she looked in a mirror for over a week. She hadn't been sure who _Sakura_ was, what people would say (how they would describe her) now that she was no longer the pink haired girl with an obsession over the Uchiha.

And so Sakura was glad for snow.

She skipped and played in it, giggling with her friends and having snowball fights.

He, of course, wasn't there.

And Ino almost wasn't as well. She couldn't quite reconcile with Ino yet, not until both of them grew up.

And she found that she rather enjoyed hitting her face with a snowball, horrible as that thought was.

She turned her thoughts (slowly, inevitably) to Christmas, and shopping. She wondered idly whether or not to get him anything, and in the end decided to get him something small, as he undoubtedly got dozens of presents. She didn't really think that he would notice.

And though the events of summer were al but nearly forgotten, luring a cat down with ramen being but a vague haze in her mind, that night, when he had come over, that night she couldn't forget.

She still woke up sometimes, not quite remembering why, but suspecting that he had something to do with it.

Another reason (she admitted to herself, though when she did it was tinged slightly with sadness) she and Ino couldn't forgive and forget.

Though she no longer called him Sasuke-kun, she hadn't been out on a date with anyone else, either.

And though she was _sure_ that she loved snow for its own sake, whenever she saw it, she couldn't help but remember dark hair and eyes, and whenever it fell on her face, Sakura couldn't help but remember his touch on her cheek.

~

Notes:

{1} If anyone can guess which TV show I stole the line from (though I slightly modified the words), you will get both a cookie, and a request fic from me! ^^

To give y'all a hint, the original words substituted married for to date. And another hint (because I'm feeling generous), the show's pretty popular…_I_ laugh at it all the time.

{2} Yes I know. In the manga she cuts it off during a fight with the Sound-nin. But since the chuunin exams don't take place in this fic (*blinks* did I forget to mention that? They're all slightly older, so I guess this is a little AU), I still wanted her to have short hair. Just for different reasons.

{3} And again, I know. Spring is her favourite season. But that doesn't mean that she can't love snow! I said _snow_ not _winter_.

*

Anyways I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and don't complain to me that it was different. The next chapter will go back to the same style, I promise! *hides crossed fingers* heh heh….Gomen…reflex

But to tell you the truth, this was probably my favorite chapter to write. Sasuke-kun is so cool! *waves Sasuke banner*

Please review!

They are to me like ramen is to Naruto! (See Crimson Girl? I told you I'd put it in somewhere…you don't mind…do you?)