Title: you are what I never knew I needed
Summary: He didn't expect her to have stayed exactly the same, but he expected some things to never change.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Prompt: Outgrown
Rating: K
Warning(s): None.
Comments: I believe something like this could actually happen in canon-verse (I don't believe Kishi would put this in, though).

It wasn't until Sasuke had truly come back to the village that he realized just how much Sakura had changed.

Of course, he'd witnessed her immense prowess in battle from the moment she'd pummeled those Juubi clones in the War, and he'd even smirked in pride at the major improvement, but he hadn't really had the time to notice just how much she had changed personality and behavior-wise until he officially came back and started hanging around them again nearly every day.

For example, she didn't ask him out anymore, something she used to do incredibly often, prior to his departure. He didn't expect to have her try every day she saw him, but he expected she would let it slip, every once in a while—especially with the way she was constantly blushing and smiling around him. She still acted shy and nervous in his presence, and she still stole discreet little glances in his direction when she thought he wasn't looking… but there were no more proposals of late night dinners or moonlit walks.

Instead, Sakura was seemingly content simply being at his side as nothing more than a supporting friend and comrade. She never bothered to hide her feelings for him—and he was honestly flabbergasted how open she was about it—but she never pushed them unto him either, which surprised Sasuke a lot, initially. Didn't she want to be with him? Didn't she desire to pursue him? Wasn't love bland, without the chase? Why wasn't she trying to enrapture him? Why wasn't she trying to make herself seem as a genuine love interest in his eyes, instead choosing to have proper conversations and interactions with him? Why was she simply aiming to be his friend, his support—someone he could turn to when things went bad?

It was all too baffling.

And when he confronted her about it months later, when he became fed up with not knowing, she simply smiled and told him that it was because she knew he did not feel the same, and that even if he did, he did not need this kind of thing right now. He had more complicated things to deal with—working things out with the Kages, getting Itachi recognized as a hero, changing the system, and restoring the honor and good name of his Clan being some of them—and she didn't want to add to all the pressure.

"You don't have time for love," she said. "But you need me and Naruto and Kakashi to be there if you fall—you need us to be compassionate and caring and strong. We're your family, and I can't ruin that with a silly little thing called unrequited feelings." Her smile was a little pained, but it was understanding and kind.

"You need my love, Sasuke-kun," she said. "But you don't need it forced onto you."

He was speechless.

Sakura had evidently far outgrown her weak, shallow fangirl days, and he was exceedingly not used to it.

He couldn't believe that she was so mature, attentive and understanding with his situation; couldn't believe that she was still putting him first, after all the pain and tears and disappointment that he made her feel for the past few years; couldn't believe she wasn't looking for a little compensation.

It would take a while, he realized, to get adapted to this new Sakura.

And he also realized how it would be so very, very easy to fall for her now.

A/N: This will be my last 'official' prompt submitted to the sasusaku month. I'm unable to legitimately submit the other prompts since the month is ended… but no worries, I will post my drabbles of the other prompts anyway. They just can't be submitted to the official page. Also, if I do end up not being able to use one of the remaining prompts to continue the series of 'Flood' and 'Accidents Happen' don't fret! I will continue that series and close it up. ^^ I'm planning on doing the SasuSaku 2012 challenge sets and some prompts will no doubt pop up for continuity of those two :)

Shortest prompt yet, but I thought it was nice just like that.

DeepPoeticGirl