Day 3: Misunderstandings and Confessions

In which Sasuke tries to confess his feelings and Sakura avoids Sasuke because she thinks he hates her and Naruto… plays cupid?


Considering the campus wasn't that big and they spent six hours a day here, there were only so many places she could be hiding in on an average school day. And Sasuke had checked all of them in his quest to finally talk to Sakura. Every single one.

After he'd stuck his head into his classroom for the third time that afternoon, Yamanaka, who must have been on cleaning duty, called out to him, "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing?"

He ignored her.

She rolled her eyes at him, then said, "By the way, Sakura's looking for you. I think she's in the equipment shed." Before she'd even finished the sentence, Sasuke had already left.

The equipment shed. Maybe there was one place in school he hadn't checked yet.

He didn't even stop to wonder what she was doing in the darkest, dankest, smelliest corner of the school. Nor did he see the conspiratorial grin that Yamanaka flashed to the other girls in their class, or the little green flag they waved out the window, or Naruto, who quickly found a hiding place on the far side of the little shed behind the doors at that signal.


"What the hell was Ino-pig doing in this shack in the first place?" Sakura muttered to herself as she tried to move gym mats calcified in one corner, all in search of her best friend's locket. The place hadn't been organized in decades; things had just been piled in there higgledy piggledy. Someone could probably do an archeological excavation on the debris and date each layer.

She'd only been doing Ino this favour since Ino had offered to take over her cleaning duty in return. She didn't want to risk finishing at the same time the football team conditioning was ending and bumping into Sasuke-kun on the way home. That would be mortifying now that she knew he…

Her heart clenched sharply at the thought. No, not yet. She didn't want to face it yet. She'd been avoiding Sasuke-kun since the field trip because she wasn't ready for him to tell her… something. That their friendship was over, or that he was tired of her, or just…

Or just ignore her again.

Sakura would rather Sasuke just tell her she's annoying, like he had when they were in grade school. Shannaro, I guess I've liked him for that long.

She must have been thinking too hard about him because she even imagined his voice calling out to her, "Sakura?"

It took her a moment to realize that she hadn't really imagined it, that Sasuke was really there, and he was looking for… her?

Her heart started hammering at her ribcage, dread twisting her stomach into knots. What was he here for? Luckily, since she was in the back corner, and he was illuminated by the open doordoor, she could see him but he couldn't see her. All she had to do was extricate herself slowly, sneak around behind him, and -

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving them both in complete darkness.

She could hear Sasuke swear, shuffle around, and fumble with the door knob. When that didn't work, he started banging on the door. The whole flimsy structure began to shake with the force of the blows, even in the obscure corner where she was hiding. Sasuke-kun hit so hard that clouds of dust bloomed in the thin slats of sunlight pouring in from the cracks that he opened in the ceiling. Sakura gaped.

"Shit Sasuke, stop trying to break down school equipment! You'll have to pay for it." The voice outside was exasperatingly familiar, and Sakura almost yelled at it herself.

"Naruto, you asshole," Sasuke growled, "Let me out."

"You'll thank me later," Sakura could just see the smugness on that idiot's face. He was so going to pay for this when she got out.

"Not likely." Sasuke's next blow to the door widened the cracks in the ceiling.

"Wait! You dumbass, Sakura-chan's in there with you!" Naruto's response was much less smug. "What if you hurt her by bringing the roof down on both of you?"

That finally got Sasuke to stop, and with the sunlight from the cracks in the roof, Sakura knew she couldn't hide any longer. Sasuke's head whipped around and narrowed in on her with laser focus. She looked away, unwilling to face the disgust or annoyance in his eyes just yet.

"You guys have been weird for weeks. Fix it already," Naruto called. "Someone will be back to let you out in an hour!"

"You better scram, because if you're still there when I get out, I'm going to beat you to a pulp, Naruto!" Sakura threatened, since she was no longer trying to hide from Sasuke beating down the door. Her only answer was his leaving footsteps and the fading laughter.

She felt stupid crouched in the corner like that, but she continued to do anything besides look at Sasuke-kun. So she started looking for Ino's necklace again. I bet there never was a locket, and that pig was in on everything, too. Wait till I get my hands on her

"Sakura," The voice came from right behind her. She'd been so busy pretending to be busy that she hadn't noticed him move. All of a sudden, this cavernous, dingy shed felt like it was closing around her, trapping the two of them in together. He was too close to avoid looking at him, and she was too scared to look up.

"Sakura, please." That made Sakura look up. Sasuke-kun never said please.

Sakura started babbling,"Sasuke-kun, what is it? I was just looking for Ino-pig's wallet, she told me that she'd lost it here for some reason or other, and I-"

If Sasuke-kun didn't get a chance to tell her they should stop being friends, maybe he would forget about it for another day.

"I'm sorry."

"I- you- What?" Her brain crashed. Sasuke-kun also never apologized.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you for the past couple of weeks, before the field trip."

"O-Oh," Her heart slowly began to unclench, and she slowly relaxed. "Th-that's okay, I-"

"I didn't know how to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"That I like you."

"That you- WHAT?!"

"I like you."

"Oh…," He couldn't possibly mean like… like that, right? This is Sasuke-kun we're talking about. No, pull it together Haruno. Don't make this awkward, "I like you too, Sasuke-kun. You're one of my best friends."

"No!" She was startled by the sharp exclamation that burst out of Sasuke.

"We're not best friends?" Sakura asked in a small voice, bewildered and hurt. "Well I suppose you and Naruto-"

"No, Sakura, I mean yes," Sasuke interrupted her, then fumbled, then took a deep breath. "I like you. Like… like-like." He huffed, exasperated, "This is stupid."

Sakura flinched, "You've made your point, Uchiha. We're just friends."

"No! Dammit!" For the first time, he showed some agitation, shoving his hair back with one hand as he clenched the other. "Look, don't move, okay?"

Sakura obeyed silently, staring at him with wide eyes.

"And close your eyes."

She obeyed again. She heard the soft rustling, could feel him come a little closer in the way the air shifted in front of her, then felt hands roughened by years of sports cup her face. Before she could wonder too much about what he was doing though, she felt the barest, lightest, gentlest of touches on her lips. First as delicate as a butterfly wing, then a little longer, a little more lingering, then she could taste his minty gum as she gasped slightly. Her lips tingled from the electricity that sparked against their tongues touching.

"I like you like that," Sasuke muttered gruffly. "You can slap me now."

Sakura stared at him. She didn't want to slap him. So she did the thing she wanted to do instead and threw her arms around his neck to do it again.

Many, many, many agains later, long after someone had unlocked the door without either of them noticing or leaving, after many tears had been kissed away and many words left unsaid had been said, Sasuke and Sakura emerged from that dingy equipment shed, hand in hand.

It was the start of their high school romance.