Sakura frowned into the full length mirror, tugging down her skirt. Lately she had taken to wearing a bell sleeved turtle neck in black, her Jounin vest, and a short black skirt. She didn't look very different physically, or didn't think she did. Still flat as a wash board, gained only a little curve, and her hair had darkened maybe a shade or two. 'What dose he see in me now that he didn't see before?' She thought. Another bullet shot through her mind and she chuckled darkly. 'When I first became a genin, if Sasuke had tried to kiss me I would have died. About an hour ago I called him a bastard for exactly that.' She shook the thought from her head, dismissing his sudden interest as just that, interest, curiosity. He simply wanted to find out why she flew off the handle a little. Okay, she flew off the handle, through the room and hit the wall on the other side.
She paced back in forth in the main room of her apartment, hair pulled back in a pony tail, wearing an oversized tee and sweats. A scroll had been perched on her bed this morning, an invitation from Kakashi to train again as a group, for old time's sake. She battled it out in her head. 'No, absolutely not! Sasuke got an invite too!' Sasuke will never go to something like that! 'Well, yea…' So go. 'But what if he shows?' He won't, Sakura, you should go!
She finally decided and just as she turned to change, she said, "I'm not going to let Sasuke ruin this!" The scarcely used doorbell rang and she scurried over to look out the peep hole. It was him. 'Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.' "Go away!" She yelled through the door. He scowled and banged again, knocking the thick wood against her forehead.
She yanked open the door before he could try again. "Are you deft? I said go away!" Her sea foam eyes looked more like the eye of a tempest; you could sense the menacing ready to strike in them.
He put a hand on the door frame, "We need to talk." She was about to slam the door in his face, but he wedged his foot in the door and swung it open. "Quit being so childish, Sakura!"
"Don't you mean 'annoying', Sasuke? 'You really are annoying.'" She quoted him. It took him a minute to understand, that she had used his words. She crossed her arms and willed her bottom lip not to tremble. His face took on a sad look, then an apologetic one.
"Please tell me this isn't about the last time we spoke? At the gates?" She leaned back against the wall, trying to keep her emotions in check. A tear slid down her face without her noticing.
"Please, Sakura, don't cry…" She came all teeth and claws. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach and her cheeks were covered in salty tears, but not in sadness, but in anger.
"I'm not crying!" She screamed. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, a calming gesture. She shrugged him off roughly. "What's with the sudden interest anyway!?! Before you left you wouldn't give a damn about weather I hated you or not!!" He flinched at the word 'hate', remembering how freely he had used the word before. He never realized how much it stung.
"Things happen, Sakura. I've seen a lot of things I didn't want to see. And I've done a lot of things I didn't want to do." Her eyes were set down; she refused to look at him. A hand extended down to her, as she had at some point slumped to the floor. As she looked at his hand, she couldn't help but think of what that hand had done. How many had he killed, evil or not? A human life was a human life, regardless of rank or ill will.
She shook her head, didn't take the hand. "I'm sorry Sasuke, but I can't." His hand drew back as if he had been stung. At last she looked up at his face, and he wished she hadn't. Her features were knotted in…something. The Sakura he knew was easy to read. An open book in large bold print. This person was written in invisible ink. His hurt abruptly turned to anger.
He turned and swung open the door, slamming it on his way out. She winced at the loud noise, and stagger up to her room. She glanced in a vanity mirror. Eye liner was smeared across her face, and just above her eyes were puffy and red from tears. She expected to be sad for losing him, but was not. I had given up on him. I was foolish to expect him to be the same. But what confuses me is that he is better now. I'm the one who keeps screwing up.
Sasuke was in the old training field, hours before Kakashi's invitation had said to be here. He hit a tree in raw anger. How dare she reject me! After all those years of devotion, she gives up on me for one screw up! He hit the tree again, and it cracked up the middle. 'This wasn't the first time.' Another voice said in his head. He didn't answer it, but struck the tree with a fatal blow, splintering it from the base up. I'll show her, she'll be begging for me. He decided, a smug smile crossing his face. The other voice made the grin shatter. 'What if she found someone else?' His eyes flashed in anger, "If I can't have her, no one can." He growled aloud.