never.
des monstres.

disclaimer: Not yet . . . and not ever. Sad. ):

You know that type of shit just don't work on me
Whistlin' and tryin' to flirt with me
Don't take it personally
'Cause we were never in love

It doesn't really matter who you say you are
Singing out the window of your car
Find another girl across the bar
'Cause L-O-V-E's not what this was

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent
Without leaving my fingerprints out

Now L-O-V-E's just another word I never learned to pronounce
How do I say I'm sorry 'cause the word is never gonna come out
Now L-O-V-E's just another world I never learned to pronounce

Sakura was shimmying her jeans back on and pulling her ribbed white tank over her head. She turned to the large leather hobo that had been carelessly thrown to the floor a couple hours ago and shrugged it onto her shoulder. Sasuke was carefully watching her from his seat on his bed silently and with no intention of leaving the comfortable confines of his pillows and sheets. She, then, took a small mirror out of her bag and ruffled her hair with her hand to fix it up a bit before closing it and throwing it back into the abyss of her bag while making her way out the bedroom door.

"You're leaving."

The kunoichi stopped and looked back over her shoulder.

"I need to take a shower before attending a meeting with the Hokage. Plus, I'm in civilian clothing."

She knew that wasn't the answer he was looking for, but what he wanted no longer mattered to her. She had stopped caring long before this whole agreement began.

"You're leaving," he repeated as if he hadn't heard her, " . . . again."

Her body fully turned around to make looking at him easier. Sasuke was met with a blank, slightly confused stare. She didn't get it. He never spoke to her. Especially when it didn't deal with shinobi business. Especially right after they'd just had sex.

"I always leave," she replied with slight caution.

When he still hadn't said anything after a minute of tense silence, she took it as her cue to leave and turned back around.

"Stay."

She froze.

That one word, that one request, was breaking their agreement. They were never alone together unless it was for sex. Emotional attachment was unacceptable and not to be tolerated (a part of the agreement he thought she would fail to keep, but much to his surprise, had not been broken). Candlelit dinners and walks in the park or any romantic action of the sort were out of the question.

Whenever they wanted to have sex, she would go over his place (she always went over to his since she was sharing an apartment with Ino, whereas he lived alone in his gargantuan mansion) and leave right after. There was no cuddling or morning-after or breakfast together. She was to never stay after their needs were satiated.

And he was breaking the rules by saying that one-syllable, seemingly insignificant verb.

What the hell was he thinking?

"What are you trying to do, asking me to 'stay' of all things?" she said with a bite to her words.

He kept his gaze steady against her challenging, smoldering eyes.

"Exactly what it means. Stay," he said easily.

"You realize you're breaking the rules to our agreement by doing so? The rules that you came up with and approached me with," she said.

"I know."

They stared at each other for a long time.

"Why?" she eventually asked. "What's the point if I stay? There's no benefit to either of us. What are you trying to get out of this?"

He narrowed his eyes at her in annoyance.

"Will you stop examining one word I said as if there's some hidden meaning, some secret intention behind me doing so? It was a harmless inquiry."

"I can't help but question your motives, Sasuke. In my experiences with you, you've been anything but trustworthy."

If he had been anyone else, he would've flinched at her accusations, but he remained a calm exterior.

"This isn't a difficult concept to grasp, Sakura. Will you stay or not?"

Sakura watched his face with calculating eyes before making her way over to him. She crouched down to his eye level at the edge of his bed and smiled. There was humor in her grin but nothing malicious. He could've sworn that he saw a flash of sadness cross her eyes, but without his Sharingan, he couldn't be absolutely sure. She held one side of his face as she held his gaze and leaned in to kiss him. His heart lifted. She was going to stay.

And then,

"No, thanks," she rejected unexpectedly as she pulled away.

He blinked.

"Consider this an end to our contract."

With one last look over her shoulder, she encouraged, "Don't take it personally. It's not like I'm really leaving you since we weren't together to begin with."

She beamed one last smile.

"'Cause we were never in love."

I forgot I had this. Hope you enjoyed it. Your reviews make my heart swell. (: