Authors Note: This, like my other SasukexSakura fic A walk of True Love is a ONESHOT fic that I wrote while waiting for Naruto episodes to copy to my computer. I hope you like it, here goes. Please R&R

Dedications: I would like to dedicate this fic to my friend Selph who also writes on here, her pen name is Lysha, she is new to naruto, so my newest Naruto fic shall be dedicated to her, here you go Selph, your own dedication.

Coward……

"Coward!"

The bitter word rang through the air like a bad smell, affected everyone in its path. The word had come from Haruno Sakura's mouth, and had been directed at the person she had never yelled at before, Uchiha Sasuke.

Coward!

She stared at him, her eyes determined not to cry after realising what she had said. "Naruto may not act like an idiot, but at least he isn't a coward." She clenched her fists, her nails digging so far into her hands that blood was drawn to the surface, the cuts and bruises all over her body were a sign that she was not strong enough, but she wasn't going to run away, and she wasn't going to let him run way either even though he said they had no other choice; this wasn't him, he never said these things, right now he was acting like a coward, but Sakura knew that Uchiha Sasuke was not a coward, he was so much more than a coward.

Coward!

He stopped, frozen in his stride as the harsh words spoken by his friend Sakura sliced through the air. The shock hit him, is this really what she thought of him. At least Naruto isn't a coward Naruto was an idiot and he knew it, he was better than Naruto, and he was always happy knowing that Sakura thought so too, but hearing her say that Naruto was better than him made him feel a stronger hatred toward Uzumaki Naruto than he had ever felt before; he had never told Sakura about his true feelings, he kept them hidden away, but now he felt as if his chance had been ripped away from him, and the thought of Sakura not wanting him anymore made him feel so unlike himself, and the thought of her being with anyone else made him hate himself for not telling her sooner, but now she stood at least two hundred meters away from him and he couldn't even tell her, he didn't ever feel close to her anymore.

Coward!

The enemy took their chance to strike, his snake like tongue wrapped itself around Sasuke's body, squeezing him tight, the yells of his agony echoed through the entire forest, this was the end, the end of Uchiha Sasuke, the end of the possible life he could have had with her, everything was over now that Sakura's true feelings had been let out, there was no more reason for him to live; he was nothing without her.

Orochimaru, the man with the snake tongue, tightened the grip he had around Sasuke's waist; blood flew from Sasuke's mouth causing him to lose consciousness, his body lost its structure. Orochimaru noticed and threw Sasuke's body off the tree that they had once been battling on to the ground that was hundreds of feet below.

Coward!

"This is it." He thought. "Everything's over, I really am a coward."

Sasuke's lifeless body fell to through the air like a knife through butter; the air rushed past him at high speeds, his hair fluttered wildly around his face. He didn't even try to move or save himself. He fell, almost eagerly awaiting the moment where he would hit the ground. "At least now I won't have to see him with my sweet Sakura."

Coward!

Sakura watched Orochimaru as he caused this destruction and then simply without a care disposed of Sasuke's body and left without even acknowledging her or showing any mercy for Sasuke. When he had gone she stood confused, watching as Sasuke fell, she was paralyzed by fear of what just happened, she knew she needed to do something but what could she do, all she did was get in the way and make people feel bad. Tears flooded her eyes and soon leaked down the side of her face. "Sasuke-kun…" she sobbed. Only when she could no longer see Sasuke's falling body did she have the courage to move, she leaped from tree to tree on a downward descent to find him, afraid that she may only find a corpse Sakura was tempted to leave the forest and quit being a ninja, today had been to worst day of her life, and to top this all of, she had lost Naruto as well so she was all alone, a prime target for an attack.

When she reached the ground, she looked around for Sasuke's body, but it was nowhere to be found, She looked around everywhere, the only place she didn't look was up, and when she did look up, her friends body was falling at rapid speeds. She tried to place herself in a position to save him; instead he landed on top of her, unconscious he knew nothing of what was happening. Sakura managed, after a moment of struggling under his weight she managed to pull herself from underneath him. She lay Sasuke in a safe position, resting his head on her leg she sat watching over him, now was a perfect time for her to practise what she wanted to say to him when he woke up, but all she could do was cry, hoping he was alright, praying he was not dead, her tears flowing from her eyes like water down a waterfall and dropping onto Sasuke's face like the rocks below. She clutched his hand, hoping that he could fell her, hoping that he would respond to her.

"Sasuke-kun, please wake up. I don't want you to die thinking that I hate you. I just want you to wake up…"

Sasuke could hear perfectly well what she was saying, but he didn't eve have the strength to return the grip she had in his hand by holding hers, she was close to him, crying for him, now he knew that Sakura didn't hate him, he knew that their feelings were mutual.

"… Please Sasuke-kun, I need to tell you the truth, I don't hate you Sasuke-kun. I… I…" even though Sasuke was not awake, Sakura still found it hard confess her feelings for him. "…I… I love you Sasuke-kun."

Hearing these words Sasuke found the strength to return the grip on Sakura's hand, Sakura's eyes lit up, her face looked hopeful that Sasuke was alive. He struggled to open his eyes, looking up he could see the tress above him, he knew he had fallen, but seeing how far he had fallen made him feel so lucky to still be alive. He felt water drip onto his face, one drop, then another and then another, he looked up to see Sakura leaning above him, tears falling from her eyes, a smile spread across her face, and he forced a small smile himself. The moment was perfect; both increased the grip on each others hand further. Sasuke looked up to her. "Thank you… Sakura." He closed his eyes "You saved my life." He closed his eyes and whispered so gently that only the two could hear. "I love you Sakura."

Sakura gently placed Sasuke's head on the ground, she lay next to him, still holding his hand, the pair looked at each other, lost in their own selves that they were paying no attention to what was happening around them, their lips touched; and both Sasuke and Sakura felt that the events of the previous few hours had been destined to happen and unfold leading up to that very moment when they would finally be together.

-MissRikku

21st January 2006