Song mentioned: swing life away - Rise Against

Chapter 14 – Grab her by the collar

Sasuke had just finished work for the day and was currently making his way to Sakura's music room. He knew for a fact that ever since Sakura had heard about the deadline for the Band, she'd been working late. So that meant that he could catch her alone, they'd have no unwanted visitors and Sasuke could speak more freely.

He had prepared everything he was planning to say to her, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Sasuke wasn't going to tell her he loved her, well not yet at least, but he was planning on giving her an ear full. Plus Sasuke had to see her; it was almost like a dying need to catch a small glimpse of her pink hair or emerald green eyes. Sasuke didn't know whether to be happy or scared about the whole thing.

Sasuke came up to the door that led to Emerald eye's music room, he took a couple of deep breaths, calming down the nerves he didn't think he possessed and opened the door. Sasuke was greeted with the sound of Sakura's acoustic guitar and the sound of her singing. Sasuke nearly gasped at the sound of it, he hadn't heard her perform in far to long, it was nice to just stand there and listen to her sing. Which is what he did.

Sasuke closed the door silently behind him and walked over to the recording area where she was practicing. Sakura was perched on a stool with a small table next to her that had a few music sheets flung over the top. Sakura's eyes were planted on the microphone at her mouth as she preformed and Sasuke couldn't help it when his heart literally skipped a beat. He stood at the doorway and leaned against the frame, simply listening to her sing, it probably wouldn't be long until she noticed him anyway.

Sakura's eye's snapped towards the doorway when she caught the scent of expensive after-shave and vanilla, there was only one man in the world who she knew smelt like that. She suppressed a groan and took in the sight of the one man she'd been avoiding for the past fork-night. Sasuke stood there in all his business suited glory, watching her with contented eyes, something she wasn't sure if she should be worried about or not.

At first they both simply stared at each other, one looking a lot more shell shocked than the other. Sakura literally couldn't move, her eyes were locked with Sasuke's and she didn't know what to do, it was like she couldn't look away. It seemed like an eternity since her green emeralds had clashed with his dark coal.

She'd missed him, Sakura realised, as mad as that sounded. The way he lazily leaned on the doorframe or how his cool gaze felt so suffocating and the way his lips were ever so slightly parted and moist looking, always looking ever so tempting.

Sakura took a thick gulp before opening her mouth, only nothing came out, what could she say? There was nothing she could think of to tell the Uchiha right now except to bugger off, only she couldn't bring her self to allow the words to pass her paralysed lips. The heavy silence continued between the two and Sakura still couldn't bring herself to say anything to the man by the door, her only exit.

"Sakura, we need to talk." Sasuke finally broke the silence between them, breaking the frozen state Sakura was in. She blinked a few times, gulping again before answering in a quiet voice, but it still held the smallest amount of acid in it's tone, whether it was intentionally or otherwise.

"There's nothing to talk about." She stated in a monotone that made Sasuke flinch ever so slightly. He hadn't expected her to be so cold with him; it was only a kiss after all, right? But even he couldn't deny that it was more than simple lips brushing lips. She did kiss back after all.

"Yes we do. You know as well as I do that you avoiding me will only cause more problems." He replied, ignoring Sakura's tone of voice for the moment. He noticed Sakura process what he had just said and tried to predict how she would react to his words. Her eyebrows were knitted together as she stared him down, her arm draped over the body of her beloved guitar, the one thing she refused to part with.

"How exactly will it cause more problems? You're my boss, its better for me to keep my distance anyway." Sakura snapped, her eyes showing her obvious rage that she'd been bottling up for the past two weeks. She gently placed her guitar around her back with the new strap Kiba had given her and attempted to walk out the door with her head held high, only that didn't happen.

Sasuke's hand slammed across the doorway, blocking her only exit from the small recording room. Sasuke was actually rather insulted that she wished to distance their relationship, although the insult probably upset him more than anything. He didn't want to stay away from the woman he loved, sure she was five years younger than him and he was technically her boss, but he didn't care. Sasuke wanted to be with her, even if it was just a place by her side. He didn't want to be asked to stay away.

Sakura looked over at him with an irritated huff, she really didn't want to be here, in fact, she much rather be at home, deep in a bubble bath, whilst watching her toes and finger tips wrinkle. Sakura sent a glare Sasuke's way, and he sent one right back, the tension building up between their angry glares. Sakura took a deep, controlled breath before snapping one word at him.

"Move."

"No." Sasuke stated in a low, threatening voice. He refused to let her go, he was stubborn enough to do so too, then again Sakura was just as stubborn as he was.

Sakura's glare increased as she heard Sasuke's response, she really didn't want to deal with this, she wasn't prepared to deal with this! Why couldn't he just leave her alone! Sakura didn't want to remember the 'hospital incident', in fact, she'd much rather erase it from Sasuke's memory, but he probably wouldn't let her get close enough to do so, plus it would take to long to flip through all of the memories he'd had up till now.

"I'm stronger than you, I could easily get past." Sakura threatened, but not making a move to get past. Sasuke only smirked down at her, she wasn't getting away with a simple threat, he was made of tougher stuff than that.

"By breaking my arm? I don't doubt that you are capable of that, but I don't think you will." Sasuke stated, smirking ever so slightly when he saw Sakura's eyes widen ever so slightly, she knew he'd caught her bluff.

With an irritated huff Sakura gave in, sure she was as stubborn as the cockatoo head, but he had more patience than her, it was only a matter of time before she gave up and chose to just simply listen. Sakura sat down on her stool with deep aggression and folded her hands firmly across her chest, a scowl firmly on her face as she regarded the annoying Uchiha. Sasuke simply smirked before walking in and closing the door behind them. He walked with confidence that seemed to almost ooze from him at all times over to the small table next to Sakura and picked up one of the sheets on the top, reading quickly, more out of curiosity rather than stalling.

"'If love is a labour I'll slave to the end'? This doesn't sound like something you'd right. What's it called?" Sasuke asked, it was only a single sentence but it surprised him that it cropped up, Sakura wasn't the sort of person to right about love, even if it was a single sentence. Sakura on the other hand just huffed and gave him a dirty look before answering.

"It's called 'Swing Life Away'. And that line was Tenten's idea." Sakura stated simply. Tenten had said that apparently Sakura wasn't right in the head because she didn't like writing love songs, this was the only thing she could do to make the woman shut up. Sasuke simply nodded and set the sheet down again, he turned to face Sakura now that his curiosity had been settled.

"I want to talk about that kiss, we can't just keep avoiding each other, people are starting to notice." Sasuke said, remembering that Naruto had asked him about it the other day. Sakura simply stared into the corner of the room with a frown buried deep in her brow.

"Can't we just pretend it never happened? It would probably be for the best, it wouldn't be the best idea if Karin found out." She said. Her gaze was still firmly locked on the corner. Sasuke felt slightly hurt at her comment, his heart was giving a slight pained leap as it felt to the ground. He didn't want to just forget, that kiss had been something real, something that he'd never experienced until now. And she was asking him to forget it!

"I'm not going to forget it Sakura." Sasuke almost growled. Sakura's face whipped around at the comment as she stood up, he was being so frustrating!

"And why the hell not! It's simple enough!" Sakura yelled, a low inhuman growl made its up her throat from deep in her chest as she felt her fangs begging for a release she wouldn't give. Her short fuse had completely burned up by now, why couldn't he just accept that it was only a kiss, simple lips touching lips! Heck, there wasn't even any tongue! She found it hard to believe that the Sasuke Uchiha would refuse to forget about such a simple thing!

"It's not 'simple enough', god damn it! Sakura, can't you see that I-" Sasuke cut him self off mid shout, he was about to tell her he loved her! He was actually going to do it! Thank god I managed to catch myself, He thought. Sasuke stood frozen in the spot, he literally couldn't move. His almost confession had put him flat on his back, stunned that he was even leading there. He wasn't ready to tell Sakura just yet.

She on the other hand was rather confused, they were in the middle of a heated argument and he goes all ice-sculpture on her! What the hell? Sakura looked at him like he'd grown two heads, Sasuke was just standing there, completely frozen, eyes wide and mouth agape, his hands still balled at his sides. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost actually, and had simply frozen in fear. Sakura frowned at him, rather annoyed now that he didn't have the common curtsy to finish his sentence.

"Can't see that your… What?" She prodded, sarcasm deep in her tone, her mood never lifting from the pissed off cloud that was encircling her emotions. Sasuke straightened up and gave her his best blank look, it might have worked too if it wasn't for the slight surprise in his eyes for his small slip. Sasuke looked over her and noticed that she was still in a pretty bad mood. Why did she have to be so awkward? He's wanted to talk to her, to sort this all out but he wasn't prepared to do it when she was in one of her little moods. The last time she'd been in one was when he failed to tell her that she had some food on her mouth and she'd walked home with it. Although it was rather amusing to watch her fume, this was no laughing matter; he couldn't have her avoiding this. But Sasuke didn't want to answer her questions; it would give away too much.

"That your annoying." Sasuke's tone was dry and toneless, where as Sakura gave a fierce growl that clearly wasn't human, her cheeks blushing with anger. Sasuke felt relieved, it looked like he'd just dodged that missile, but her small fit of anger was getting bigger, it was one missile he wouldn't be able to dodge this time. He just hoped that Sakura wouldn't get physical; he might just end up through a wall if she did.

Sakura wanted to kick Sasuke's head in, preferably until she could pour his brains out of his ear into a glass. How was it so simple for him to simply forget it ever happened! All he needed to do was act like nothing happened; it was simple, yet effective. But no, he had to be his usual bastard self. Naruto was right, he really is a teme. Sakura was fed up, why was he even here, he said that he wanted to talk but not a lot of talking was actually getting done, they were only arguing, like they always do…

Nothing would ever change between them. She knew that.

As Sakura sat on the stool she huffed and tried to settle herself down, if she didn't then Sasuke would never leave, she had work to do after all. So with another angry huff she glared at him through the bangs that now covered her face and addressed him as she saw fit.

"Bastard, just tell me what's got your thong twisted so you can leave already, I have work to do." Sakura growled. Her arms firmly folded over her chest and eyes ablaze with green fire. Sasuke raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her word choice; did she seriously think that saying things like that would get her answers? Sasuke merely sighed; she could be so rude sometimes. Yet that was one of the many things he loved about her…

"Your not going to get anywhere with language like that." Sasuke commented, his blank eyes never leaving Sakura's glare. She just glared harder, not allowing him to change him from the topic.

"Sasuke…" She threatened in a low growl; Sasuke got the message and gave a small sigh and his head a small shake before looking over at Sakura.

"We can't keep avoiding each other, you may think that it'll be better, but I know it won't. Your work will be affected as well as are private lives." Sasuke stated, folding his arms in an intimidating manner. Sakura let out the smallest of huffs and instead glared at the corner of the room, she refused to be swayed by his words, she still wanted to avoid him. Thing's were less stressful and not so complicated.

"Sakura, your release date is coming up next month, I need to work closely with the band starting next week, you avoiding me is the last thing I need. You hold important roles in the band that I need to verify, like every other band out there. Stop being childish." Sasuke sounded like a teacher scolding a child, Sakura's cheeks burned brighter with anger and embarrassment at his manner and words, she was not a little kid anymore, she'd grown up a long time ago, well before most people her age. He shouldn't be telling her off, he may be older, but she had more experience than him. Sakura's arms unfolded and she gripped the sides of her stool with both hands, trying to keep her anger and humiliation hidden.

"Sakura, are you even listening to me?" Sasuke questioned in an annoyed voice, her head snapped up at the comment and her frown deepened on her face. Sakura hmphed and looked at Sasuke's black tie, refusing to meet his gaze. It was at times like this that made her feel so small and pathetic.

Sasuke took her reaction as a yes, she was in fact listening, he didn't know what he'd been expecting but he didn't think she would be listening. She was stubborn enough to just ignore every word that came out of his mouth. Both Sasuke and Sakura were aware of how stubborn they could both be.

"Fine." Sakura mumbled, a pout clear on her lips. Sasuke blinked a few times at her sudden response, feeling slightly confused at what she might have meant.

"Fine… As in?..." Sasuke drawled, causing Sakura to give him a dirty look. He ignored it however and waited for her answer.

"Fine, as in I'll do as you say." Sakura huffed, her cheeks puffed out like a moody child's might and Sasuke couldn't help the snort that ripped its way out of his throat. Sakura's face once again whipped around to face him in a split second, shock and annoyance deep in her expression.

"Did you just snort you ass!" Sakura yelled, her voice getting high pitched in some places from the shock of it all. Sakura was under the impression the Sasuke Uchiha couldn't laugh, let alone snort! Sasuke quickly composed himself and hid the smirk that had made its way onto his face, he knew for a fact that he was walking on thin ice as it was without the snort added onto it.

"I have a cough. Now that you've agreed I guess we can move on from this little incident now. I'd like to get my work done." Sasuke replied. Sakura raised an eyebrow at his obviously bad lie, but said nothing; instead she took this as a sign to hightail it out of there. Sasuke didn't stop her; instead he watched her retreating back with her precious guitar strapped to it. He'd never admit it out loud but the sight of her back moving away from him was the worse feeling in the world.

…!...

Sakura and Itachi both scrambled around on the muddy floor the next day with the air of annoyance and irritation flying high over their heads. Sakura was seriously starting to regret agreeing to help Itachi in his little investigation. She thought they were just going to be walking around shady bars again, not crawling around on the muddy floor of the fecking crime scene!

"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" Sakura whined over at Itachi who was at the other end of the clearing digging through some bushes. From any other situation, the sight might have been rather amusing to Sakura, but since she was joining in, it was anything but. It wasn't the whole getting dirty part that she minded, after all, Sakura had spent seven years of her life sleeping and living in the stuff. It was the fact that she didn't know what she was looking for.

"Stop your moaning and look. I don't want to be here either but we need to find some sort of evidence left behind by your attackers." Itachi replied from his hands and knees underneath the bush. A string of colourful language left his lips shortly after as his long ponytail once again got tangled in the branches. That was the fifth time, Sakura noted, that Itachi's hair had gotten caught in the bushes. His hair was slowly turning into a frizz ball the longer he looked and Sakura was sure he'd resemble a member of the circus if he took his hair tie out.

They'd been hunting around in the dirt for a little over an hour now and had come up empty, by the looks of things Sakura's attackers had taken everything with them when they'd woken up. She heard Itachi finally move out of the bushes with a few pained grunts as his still tangled hair pulled in rebellion. Itachi sat on the damp ground and stretched his arms and legs', hearing little satisfying pops as he did so. He was sure that his hair was infested with leaves and twigs but ignored it for the moment, he was more interested in what he was doing. With a sign he turned around onto his knees and began to rummage through the leaf litter that coated the ground like a second skin.

"Hey, why isn't Sasuke here again?" Sakura asked, the last time she'd seen him was yesterday afternoon when he paid the band a little visit. She wasn't all that comfortable being around him just yet, but she'd just have to get used to it. The entire time he'd been there Sakura had only said a few short sentences, but that wasn't her fault, the whole time he was there Sakura couldn't help but feel his eyes on her back whenever she turned around. It was rather creepy in her opinion, then again he had kissed her, so obviously he'd be staring, or at least that's what she thought.

"He skipped out, saying something about going out with Karin, which if you ask me is a lode of bull." Itachi huffed. Sakura's eyebrows pulled together at his comment, was it weird for them to both go out? They were engaged, it should be normal to go out, Sakura thought with deep confusion.

"I don't see what's so surprising about that." Sakura commented casually back, causing Itachi to snort. Once again Sakura's head whipped around like a shot, what was with Uchiha's and fecking snorting!

"Did you just snort at me!" She asked with extreme irritation, she didn't enjoy being at the receiving end of one. Itachi just looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, asking if he should answer that.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed actually, you're probably the only one." He said back, amused that she of all people, the cause no less, didn't even know. Sakura just frowned and gave him a look to continue. With a low chuckle Itachi continued on with his little explanation.

"Sasuke's not that into Karin anymore, he's been avoiding her at all costs actually. He's been going into the office before she wakes up in the morning and been coming home when she's asleep. By the sounds of things he's finally realised how idiotic of a choice she was." Itachi left out the part of him loving her, instead replacing it with an equally believable explanation, Itachi wasn't going to go ahead and make things all the more awkward for the pair, however amusing it may be.

Sakura nodded with raised eyebrows at the comment, thinking over what Itachi had said. It sounded a little weird to her, considering that she was more or less 'Sasuke's type', according to Naruto anyway, and that the last time she'd seen them together they'd been pretty much playing the part.

But what if it was her fault? What if Sasuke felt guilty about kissing someone behind Karin's back? If so then it was Sakura's fault, or at least half of it was, after all it was Sasuke who kissed her, not the other way round. Of course if Karin found out it would all be her fault anyway, seeing as that stupid Sloth hated her guts.

Sakura was suddenly pulled out of her typhoon of thoughts and back into reality when her name was called. As she looked around she caught sight of Itachi holding a discarded penknife by the handle, like it was diseased. He studied it with seriousness before looking over at Sakura with a small frown.

"I found this in the leaf litter, it's got a lot of blood on it." He said in a grave tone. He was still looking at Sakura with that serious expression as she got up and walked over, hoping to get a better look at it.

The knife itself was pretty plain, it had a simple plastic grip with some letters scratched into it. The blade however was covered in crusted blood, showing it's dark past. As Sakura looked at it she caught a whiff of the sent that was slowly oozing off of it, to her surprise, it wasn't human, or not totally anyway. The sent was more or less halved between human and vampire, meaning that it was indeed her blood. Sakura looked over at Itachi to give him her analysis.

"It's got my blood on it. The guy that stabbed me must have dropped it at some point." Sakura summarised. Itachi looked surprised, he looked back at the knife for a moment before looking at Sakura again with raised eyebrows.

"You were stabbed?" He asked with surprise deep in his tone. Sakura just looked up to the treetops before answering.

"Yeah, but it healed up by the time I got back to the Mansion so I never bothered with mentioning it." Itachi gave a small 'oh' before studying the knife again, noticing how most if not all of the knife was coated in blood, he was surprised it hadn't hit anything vital.

"Wanna' see the battle scar?" Sakura asked with an evil glint in her eye and a cheeky grin. Itachi raised an eyebrow at her childishness but agreed anyway. Sakura stood up, turned around and lifted up her jacket so she could give him a clear view of the thin pink indent in the back of her right hip. Itachi looked at the scar in curiosity for a while, once again baffled by her the speed in which she could heal in, but didn't dwell on it, instead he just waited for her to settle down again with that impish grin of hers.

He studied the handle of the knife again, looking over the small scratched in letters. He knew those letters, they'd been spray painted all over the ruff end of Konoha. He looked over at Sakura with a rather irritated expression, one that Sakura noticed very easily.

"Do you know who it belongs to?" She asked cautiously. Itachi nodded his head before answering in an annoyed tone.

"It belongs to a member of a group of ned's*. They like to call themselves 'Konoha Young Team' hence why the letters KYT are scratched in. There just a group of wannabe's, a group of teens with nothing better to do with their time." Itachi answered in that annoyed voice. Sakura nodded her head, taking in the information before replying.

"So where do we find them?" She asked. Itachi looked over at her before shrugging his shoulders.

"The streets I guess." He stated simply before standing up, he refused to dig around the floor anymore than nessesory. Sakura looked up at him before standing up also, stretching her legs and arms as she did so.

"Are we going to look for them now?" Sakura asked absent mindly. She ignored Itachi's small chuckle of amusement, instead she just listened for his answer.

"Looking like this? I think not, I'd rather wait until Sasuke's free too. The more of us there are the better." Itachi noted as he walked away, happy that he'd finally finished.

…!...

Sakura sat in front of a huge rose bush, thanking god that it was over…

Mikoto had demanded another family dinner that night, not excluding her or the two younger Uchiha's partners. Not that Sakura minded Taya, in fact, she was happy that she was there, it was Karin that she minded. That woman had done nothing but stare daggers at her all night. And to make matters worse it felt like Sasuke was staring at her too, not as hostile as Karin, but he was still staring.

Sakura buried her face in her knees and let out a huge irritated groan, letting it hit the high heavens before she ran out of breath. She peeked over her knees at the pretty rose bush in front of her and let her mind drift to her happy place. Not that she'd be getting to go there any time soon. Sakura was almost one hundred percent certain that Mikotot's 'guests' were staying over for the night, since it was a Sunday tomorrow and was only ten minutes away from midnight. Sakura knew that she'd have to go fed soon, but in all honesty couldn't be bothered, she was happy just sitting there all night.

The roses were beginning to die, Sakura noted, a sign that autumn was well on its way. The thought depressed her a little, and not just because her release date was next month. The flowers had been so pretty when she first came to the Uchiha Mansion, they'd been huge and glowing with what looked like red silk, and now most of them had dropped off in a dull brown mess. But Sakura still loved the flowerbed, it was still her spot, the only place where she claimed rights.

Sakura looked up at the star filled sky and smiled, she was surrounded by her favourite things, the flowerbed and the night sky, she couldn't be happier.

Sasuke walked around the corner of the huge garden, happy that he'd finally escaped Karin's clutches. That woman would always get so clingy when Sakura was within the area. But he'd gotten away fairly unharmed so all was good for the moment. He walked along the cobble-stoned path that led around the garden and kept his eyes on the ground, not in the mood for looking up.

He looked up however when he swore he heard someone sigh. With a quick glance around the garden his eyes landed on a flash of pink in front of one of the dying rose bushes. Sasuke's eyebrows rose up to his hairline when he caught sight of Sakura. He'd been wondering where she'd disappeared to after dinner, but even that had been a good while ago. So with quick, paced steps he walked over to Sakura where she had her back turned to him, not realising that he was no more than ten meters away and counting.

Sakura's head snapped up from where she'd been resting it on her knees when she heard the sound of feet on damp leaves. The sent of vanilla and aftershave hit her nose and Sakura resisted the urge to look round and check if her nose was deceiving her.

Sasuke plopped down on the grass next to her and looked at the rose bush, not announcing his presents. Sakura looked at him weirdly, like he'd grown sheep horns in fact. Sasuke looked around to meet her gaze with a raised eyebrow, he lent back and used his arm to prop his body up, while Sakura was still curled up with her knees under her chin.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura questioned in a low, cautious voice. Sasuke let out a single chuckle before shrugging, irritating Sakura ever so slightly.

"What sort of answer is that?" She hissed. Sasuke let out another few chuckles at her sudden mood change, surprisingly or not so surprisingly enough this was one of the other things that he loved about her. It was the fact that she was one of the few people who actually got mad at him, as weird as it may sound.

"I just felt like having a walk, then I saw you and thought I'd join you." Sasuke said with a smirk, not missing the popping blood vessel on Sakura's forehead.

"You could have just kept walked you know... Stupid cockatoo." Sakura muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

Sasuke gave her a look but decided to ignore it for now, instead choosing to stare up at the night sky. It was a clear night, for once, there was only a single shadowed cloud floating up in the sky that ruined the star dusted darkness but Sasuke ignored it for now. Sakura joined him as they both sat in silence, she was just glad that he'd decided to stay quiet and not tease or annoy her.

"Hey Sakura?" Damn, she spoke to soon. With a small huff she turned to face Sasuke and met his coal coloured eyes, now completely toneless from the lack of light.

"Yeah?" She replied in a bored tone.

"Have you fed yet?" He asked with mild curiosity lacing his voice and eyes. Sakura merely shrugged before giving him a simple 'not yet'. They both fell back into that silence they'd been enveloped in before, both of them staring up at the night sky. They both sat there for a few minutes before Sasuke finally couldn't take it, which was odd, he was usually the one who liked silence, but ignored it, he just gathered that things like love did that to people.

"So… Nice sky?" He asked awkwardly, not missing the annoyed look Sakura gave him.

"Yeah, it's real nice I guess." She replied in a bored voice. She was going to tell him to shut up but decided against it, it wouldn't be very nice and he wasn't being hostile after all.

"Do you come out here often?" He asked. Sakura looked at him for a moment before answering, wondering where he was going with this.

"Only when it's dry enough to sit out." She explained simply. Sasuke nodded his head slowly and looked at the rose bush in front of him, wondering what else he could say.

"You should see the roses in the spring, there always really huge and colourful, my mum goes crazy over them every year." He joked with a soft smirk, remembering all the times his mum had forced Itachi and himself to pose in front of the rose bed when they were younger. Sakura smiled at that point, a smile that literally had his heart speeding up, her entire face lit up with that simple curve of the mouth and Sasuke had to swallow hard to stop himself for claiming her lips again.

"I think I'd really, really like that." She stated with the small smile still playing on her lips. Sasuke could feel his cheeks heat up so he quickly turned his head around and covered his mouth with his hand in a futile attempt to tame the blush currently staining his cheeks. He could feel Sakura's curious gaze on his face and felt embarrassed at having been caught blushing of all things, after all, Uchiha's don't blush.

"Sasuke, you okay?" She asked with the slightest hint of amusement in her tone. The unexpected blush from a certain Uchiha had seen to that one. Sasuke scowled at the bush before him, not to happy that he'd been caught. With an agitated sigh he dropped his hand and rested the arm on his propped up leg before answering.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered simply. Sakura snorted at him and ignored the scowl sent her way, but she didn't care, it was pay back for snorting at her. Which reminded her, Sakura still hadn't talked to him about the day before, there was something that she really wanted to ask but had never really gotten the chance to, plus she was too pissed off at the time to ask. So with her hand nervously pulling on the grass with her eyes watching she asked her question, not knowing if Sasuke would answer honestly or not.

"Sasuke, why did you kiss me?" She kept it simple, not wanting to complicate things further by showing her unease about the subject. She could feel Sasuke stiffen next to her and looked up to meet his shocked eyes. She too froze by the sight of them, never before had she seen Sasuke look so panicked before. His eyes were wide and mouth agape, he was completely taken by surprise. Sakura felt the urge to take a picture, this was a once in a life time moment after all!

Sasuke's mouth slammed shut as he finally regained control of his body, his cheeks flamed crimson until it even met with his ears and stuttered a response.

"W-why do you want to know?" He all but squeaked. Sakura looked at him with a raised eyebrow, was she not aloud to know why someone kissed her? Sasuke got the message and turned around, not bothering to hide his burning blush anymore.

"I don't know. I just kind of… you know!" He moaned out as he raked his hand through his indigo locks, showing his frustration. Sakura huffed at the genius response from Professor Einstein next to her, all she wanted was a half decent answer! Was that really so difficult?

"I really don't, otherwise I wouldn't be asking." She stated, ignoring the pained groan coming from the grown man next to her.

"Why do you want to know?" He whined, not caring that he sounded like a five year old. Sakura just rolled her eyes at him before answering.

"Because I do, got a problem with that?"

"That answers no better than mine, you know that right?" He replied, ignoring the glare sent his way. Sakura huffed and puffed out her chest in defence, she was going to get a good answer out of him damn it!

"Just answer the damn question." She demanded, not caring if she sounded rude, she was too annoyed for that. Sasuke fidgeted a bit before settling down quickly before he looked at Sakura, her eyes showing her anticipation for an answer.

"Do I have to answer?" He asked, looking very put out. Sakura face-palmed, almost loosing the will to live with the aggravating man beside her. She was so close, close enough for it to be measured between her forefinger and thumb, to punching his lights out. Let's see what Karin thought about that one.

"You're the most stupidest, stupid person I have eve had the misfortune in talking to!" Sakura yelled out, pointing an accusing finger at him. Sasuke just looked at the finger like it had something weird on the end, completely blowing Sakura's already short fuse. She did not like being ignored!

"You know what, screw this! I hope you and Karin go ad have little mutant babies!" Sakura yelled, causing Sasuke to cringe at the very thought. But stopped when he saw Sakura stand up and march away from him, carrying the killing aura with her. He didn't want her to go just yet, he'd do anything to make her stay with him a little longer. She was just turning around the corner to head onto the path when Sasuke began to chase after her, he didn't want her to be mad at him.

He grabbed a hold of Sakura's arm and pulled her around to face him, they both now stood in the centre of the garden, the prettiest part, much to Sasuke pleasure, but didn't dwell much in his surroundings. Sakura was giving him a death glare that his father would be proud of, she clearly wasn't very happy with him and he wondered if she'd hit him if he didn't let go but it didn't matter.

"What the hell?" She snapped and whacked his hand away from her arm. She turned to leave again but Sasuke was having none of it, in a rush of the moment he grabbed her shoulder, flipped her around again, grabbed a hold of her collar and pulled her against his body. There lips smacked together in that same instant and Sakura went stiff, her entire body filled with that tingling feeling that Sasuke was also experiencing.

Sasuke's hands left her collar and moved to her waist were he hugged her close, loving the feel of her warmth, only increasing the electricity that was running through their bodies. Sakura snapped out of her shocked daze and slowly reacted, her hands came up to grab a hold of his jacket to weakly push him away, instead Sasuke released one of his arms that were wrapped around her waist and used it to untangle her fingers from his jacket, instead entangling their fingers.

It felt so right, even Sakura couldn't refuse it. Her lips slowly began to react like last time, slowly brushing over his again. Only this time Sasuke wanted more, he opened his mouth and used his jaw to force hers open before sliding his tongue inside. At first Sakura was surprised at the bold move and didn't know how to react, but as Sasuke moved his tongue against hers she copied his movement and just went with what felt natural.

Sasuke was in heaven, seriously. He was never much of a kissing person but then again he'd never kissed someone he was completely head over heals for either. They both fitted together perfectly, thanks to Sakura's height Sasuke didn't have to bend down to reach her lips, all he had to do was duck is head, and his arm fit snugly around her waist as well as his hand that was entangled with hers by there sides. There mouths moved together like it was the most normal thing in the world and he couldn't help but let out the smallest of moans, he wasn't even the one to moan at a kiss, but this just simply wasn't of this world.

They continued to kiss for a while, choosing to breath out of there nose's so they didn't have to part. But all good things have to come to an end, which happened as soon as Sakura felt the burning desire to taste the sweet liquid that flowed under Sasuke's pale skin. She pulled away faster than the speed of light, not even giving Sasuke a chance to realise it had ended. He looked through lust filled eyes and Sakura's downcast ones, her mouth was open as she panted for air and he could clearly see her fangs piercing her lip. He felt them when he'd kissed her and in all honesty he didn't mind them at all so he didn't know what the problem was.

"Sakura…" He simply stated, leaning his forehead against hers and stared into her green pools. She met his gaze with a more confused one before responding.

"What was that for?" She asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to break the silence.

"Because I love you…" Was his only response.

...!...

mwa ha ha ha haaaa ...hello... Well theres another chapter over and done with phew! That one was hard, but i think it worked out okay and it's the longest so far! its something like 7000...O.O... anyhoo thanks for reading! please review trust me reviews make me write faster! =]

* I realise that most of the people that read this story are from America and Canada so you might not know what a ned is, since its a scottish term, but it's short for a non educated delinquent. You might know them as chav's or something, they basically spend there time vandilising and harrasing people. Grrr my school infested with them