Woo. Longer chapter! Enjoy.

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Sakura wasn't feeling so sure. …Like that's never happened before.

Sasuke wasn't feeling so sure. …That has never happened before. Ever.

Sakura looked despondently into a bowl of steaming ramen. The noodles held no answers for her, so she proceeded to eat them in a slow manner. The door to Ichiraku's creaked as it opened. Sakura closed her eyes as she kept eating, ignoring whoever it was that just came in. She felt a presence sit beside her on the empty stool.

"SAKURA!"

A loud, obnoxious presence.

Opening her eyes, Sakura's lips quirked into a grin.

"Naruto, how are you?" she asked, looking over at the blue-eyed ninja and ruffling his blonde locks with a free hand. The wannabe-Hokage had long since dropped his affections for Sakura, having found a new addiction to Hinata's white eyes and soft personality.

"Good! Hinata says hi by the way. How're you?" he said, not pausing for breathe the entire time.

"I'm fine…" Sakura's eyes dropped for a minute as the mental image of Sasuke flashed through her mind. "Just fine." She looked up into Naruto's doubtful eyes and grinned again, but rather fakely.

There was a pause, before Naruto bought it and started blabbing on about the latest news in the Hyuuga household. Sakura let out an imperceptible sigh and nodded and smiled as she listened. The familiar babbling of Naruta, the security of Ichiraku, and the warmth of the ramen brought old memories rushing back so fast it made her blink in surprise a few times.

She was so wrapped up in the memories that she didn't even notice that Naruto had stopped talking. She looked over at him in surprise, and followed his line of sight. She had to twist around to see whatever he was looking at, and when she saw what "it" was a pained expression crossed her face.

Sasuke was standing awkwardly behind her, his hands in pockets. He looked slightly hung-over and perhaps a little disheveled, as if he had been sleeping on the ground all night. But even through the small amount of dirt on his clothing, anyone that didn't know the ebony-haired nin would've said he looked like a besotted puppy. But of course, an Uchiha never looks like a besotted puppy… So perhaps lost puppy would be more fitting. Sakura felt bad about kneeing him in the groin the other night, because he stood there looking so vulnerable.

"Dead last, I need to talk to Sakura." The warm and sympathetic feelings vanished.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever teme. I'll move…" Naruta replied grumpily, getting up and shuffling down to sit at the very opposite end of the row of stools. Sasuke took Naruto's place, with Sakura eyeing him with disdain before she turned away. She continued to eat her ramen, ignoring the Uchiha until he cleared his throat. Ignored again. He cleared his throat a second time, louder now. He was getting agitated; she wasn't making this whole apologizing thing easy.

Sakura turned to Sasuke with a calculating stare.

"What." She said in a deadpan voice. It wasn't a question. It was a flat-out command.

"I think you took what I said last night the wrong way…" he started out. Sakura's glare hardened.

"Excuse me?" she said in a low, dangerous voice.

"I said," Sasuke gritted his teeth, "I think you took what I said last ni—"

"I know what you said." Sakura bristled, "You stupid boy. You are EXACTLY the same as you were ten years ago." Sasuke opened his mouth to justify himself. "Exactly." Sakura growled, emphasizing her point.

"Even though you should be fucking groveling to me right now, you try and pin that whole thing on me. Me! I wasn't the cold-hearted bastard with a stick up their ass!" Sakura whispered violently. "'How do you know I wasn't kidding?' What the hell? So you think I am a brat and a weakling? Is that it? How dare you. How fucking dare you." She said, her sea foam green eyes now sharp as ice and aimed at Sasuke.

Sasuke was reeling with shock at the spitting mad cherry blossom, but his stupid masculine pride refused to let him back down.

"I came here to apologize!" Sasuke whispered harshly back, his lip curling in anger as he sent a challenging glare at her. Wrong move. She glared back at him so cruelly that the Uchiha actually leaned back.

"Well then you damn well should've done it a couple minutes ago instead of being a prick and blaming me. Because I'm sure as hell not gonna forgive you now." Sakura hissed, throwing money on the counter for her unfinished ramen and stalking out of Ichiraku like an angry predator.

Sasuke watched in shock and fury as the pink-haired woman walked out of Ichiraku. He belatedly realized his mouth hung open every-so-slightly, and he hastily shut it, turning back on the stool to face the counter. He rested his elbows on the counter and propped his mouth up against his hands, letting his anger die down as he proceeded to brood. With a hissing sigh, he shut his eyes and his brow furrowed as he thought of what he should do. He opened his eyes wearily as he ordered a bowl of plain ramen. He wasn't really hungry. He just needed an excuse to give him time to think.

The clatter of a bowl hitting the counter and the presence of another person caused Sasuke to turn his head.

"Dead last." Sasuke greeted the blonde with a monotone and tired voice.

"Shut the hell up teme and quit being an ice cube." Naruto growled unexpectently, pausing to eat some of his ramen. Sasuke was surprised at harsh words coming from the usually cheery nin, and he turned to Naruta with a raised eyebrow. The blonde's face was stormy as he glared at the Uchiha.

"Do you ALWAYS have to make Sakura cry every time you see her?" Naruto challenged the Sharingan-user.

"But she wasn't crying when she left." Sasuke said, confused. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Teme, Sakura isn't a little naïve girl anymore. She's slightly more… Fierce." Naruto said decisively. "Dude, she practically spat fire just now. But that doesn't mean that she won't go home tonight and cry herself to sleep. She refuses to show weakness…" his last sentence was said softly. Sasuke stared at Naruto, unblinking. Since when had the blonde gotten so smart about… Sakura? Or for that matter, women in general?

"What am I supposed to do now?" Sasuke asked Naruto, dumbfounded. And then he blinked. He was having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that he just asked the ramen-addict for help. Whatever.

"Go find her, apologize, and don't be such a damn bastard." Naruto said like it was obvious. Which it was. But Sasuke wouldn't know nice if it bit him on the ass.

Both ninjas looked up as a bowl of ramen was placed in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke blinked before he realized he had ordered that. Placing some money on the counter, Sasuke stood with a weary sigh. "Naruto, you have it. It's on me." The Uchiha said, pushing the bowl to the blonde. Naruto smirked as Sasuke left.

"You're welcome teme." he said as he dug into the bowl of ramen.

Sasuke trudged along, lost in his thoughts about…

"SAKURA-CHAN!" frowning, Sasuke looked up. Not even two hundred yards away, the exuberant Rock Lee bounced up to Sakura. An aggravated sigh escaped the Uchiha's lips, and he turned to walk away.

"I would be honored if you would train with me to help our youth blossom like a flower in the spring time!" Sasuke kept walking. "And perhaps, my youthful flower, dinner?" Sasuke froze. His shoulders tensed up and he felt a wave of jealously overlap his anger. Even though it was only Rock Lee… Talking to Sakura… About a date…

"Oh Lee, that's so sweet… But I…"

"She's busy tonight. And all the nights for the rest of your life." Sakura gaped and turned around to see Sasuke towering behind her, his face hard as stone and jaw clenched.

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I'm going to go start the next chapter.