A/N: Old submission for Sasusaku Month 2014 Day 14. Prompt: His Side of the Story. Also, this is paired with the story titled "Preliminary Assumptions"

Karin had stopped by the practice grounds after Team 7's sparring. He had to admit, he wasn't keen on having her stick around the village at all, even though the Hokage decided she was a valuable asset.

He could very much sense Sakura's displeasure when Karin started clinging on him. He just wanted to rip her off him.

"Alright then see you tomorrow." Karin finally retracted her arms and skidded away from the group, leaving them jaw dropped and shocked from her such bold actions.

Sasuke didn't take Karin's words seriously when she said she would see him tomorrow. But he should had known how serious she was; because there she was, sitting on the corner of his desk.

He was filling in some paperwork when she barged into the police station and sat there without his permission, preventing him from continuing his work. Her legs were crossed and she was leaning on her right arm as she fiddled with her hair.

"Sasuke-kun." he didn't say anything. He didn't like the way she pronounced his name like that. Sakura was the only one he'd allow to call him with that affectionate suffix. He folded his arms on his chest in annoyance.

"Busy?"

"Hn."

"Don't you want to take a break from all this?"

"No." Maybe if he was being curt enough, she would leave sooner.

"Aww c'mon Sasuke-kun." She was pouting, as if that would convince Sasuke to go out with her. Besides he had other plans with Sakura.

He was expecting Sakura to come in anytime and eat lunch with him. But instead, he was greeted by the red head.

"No."

"Hmm.. You look a bit tense." she gripped his shoulder which he quickly swatted out of the way. He was getting more and more impatient with her.

Doesn't she know that I belong to Sakura? What game is she trying to play? He thought to himself.

"Go away Karin. Leave me alone."

"Hmph. Fine." She finally yielded and proceeded to leave the police station. He could finally relax and continue to his work.

He slumped in his chair as he stared at the clock.

She should be here soon.

A minute soon turned into fifteen and soon turned into an hour. He kept waiting but by the time the clock showed it was three in the afternoon and still no presence of Sakura, he was utterly disappointed.

He just wanted the day to be over soon so he could visit her at the hospital. But his plans soon crumbled when he received a theft case. With a heavy sigh, he didn't have any choice but to continue his work until late at night.

.

.

The next day, he had just prepared to head out when he heard a knock on his door. It was around the same time Sakura would show up. His smile grew at that thought. But when he sensed another type of chakra, his smile soon fell.

"I know you're in there Sasuke-kun." leave it to the sensory nin to point him out.

He twisted the doorknob and opened the door just to let her see half of his face. But then she pushed the door, let herself in, and tackled him.

"I have a preposition for you." This was not gonna sound good.

She was standing closer to him, her hands resting on his chest a bit uncomfortably for his taste, and her finger was starting to trace lazy circles. The next thing that came out of her mouth was even more unbelievable.

"Why don't you leave Sakura and go out with me? She's useless to you. She has no special ability, she's not a sensory-nin, she doesn't even belong to a high clan. Sure, she's a medic-nin but I'm a medic too." Just then he saw a movement at the door frame from the corner of his eyes. A flash of pink.

His blood went cold at the thought of Sakura standing there, seeing Karin with him. He pried himself away from her dashed to the door to find Sakura. But she was nowhere in sight.

He didn't realized his sharingan had been activated and was spinning wildly in response to his anger when he turned around to face Karin.

"Leave now! Don't you dare talk about her like that. I never want to see you anywhere near me." She was terrified all right. His voice was stern and sharp, making her tense. She didn't dare to defy him as she turned on her heels and stormed out of his apartment.

He stood there for a moment, trying to register what had happened just now, what he needed to do, how to confront Sakura and tell her about his side of the story.

Would it be a wise decision for him to march up to her right away? Would that make things worse, especially with her emotion still blazing?

He closed his door and walked to the police station to continue with his work. He'll be sure to visit her the following day

.

.

He knew it was Sakura's day off. He was already on his way to her apartment. He really needed to set things right. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea, when in reality she might already have.

He knocked on her door gently but just loud enough to be audible. No answer. He could clearly tell her chakra signature inside.

Was she just refusing to meet him?

"Sakura." He could hear her pitter patter approaching the door.

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you." After a moment or two, she finally opened the door to greet him. He stepped inside and they both stood there in the hallway.

He examined her face for any sort of emotions.

"You're angry." he finally said. It wasn't a question, rather a statement.

"Yes. Thank you for the hint." he scanned her face one more time before coming to a conclusion.

"Is this about Karin?"

"I don't know. Shouldn't you be going out with her or something?" Sasuke was clearly unamused by her response. He couldn't believe she was jealous and that she had thought he was cheating on her. But if he had to be in Sakura's shoes, he had to understand that her point of view was understandable.

Sasuke sighed.

"You're my girlfriend Sakura. I won't prefer to be with anyone else other than you." her expression remained steady, unchanged. He knew he had to elaborate. "Yeah Karin had asked me out but I declined. She knows I belong to you but she's just like that." Her face remained unchanged.

"But I don't see you turning away from her."

That's not true. Sasuke internally screamed. He did push her away and snapped at her inappropriate behavior.

"I saw her flirt with you in the police station the other day."

"She asked me out, but I said I had plans with you. Remember? But you didn't show up." He could no longer hide his disappointed when Sakura didn't visit him that day.

"I was just… Frustrated." Sakura spoke. "What about yesterday?"

"She asked me to leave you." There was no other way for him to sugarcoat what Karin had said about her. He really hated anyone who dared to think of Sakura as a low leveled kunoichi.

"She said despicable things about… You and your strength as a kunoichi." Her face had changed, he noticed. He noted the chilly atmosphere around her, but it wasn't directed at him.

"I knew you were there that day." Sasuke added. Sakura was trying to regulate her breathing, just to dissipate her anger.

"That's when I snapped and told her to stay away from me. That I only belong to you." He noticed he was saying something right, because her gaze had softened, and her fists unclenched.

Sasuke took a step towards her. Then another, until they were an arm's length away.

Sakura looked straight into his eyes and she could see his determination. Sasuke would never lie to her or betray her.

He closed the gap between them and brushed his lips over hers. Her hand crawled up to wrap around his shoulder.

When they pulled apart, he asked her.

"Does that convince you?" she giggled and nodded, pressing back her lips to his.