Title: Watching from Afar

Prompt: Watching

Summary: Just when she decided to stop watching him and start avoiding him, he decides to take action against her.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Rating: K+

When they were young, Sakura would always just watch him from afar. She admired his skill, admired his grace, admired his strength and admired him all from afar. She never made a move, never made a sound in his presence. And he didn't acknowledge her existence. And that was how things stayed.

Until Sakura discovered that Ino liked him as well. Ino, her best friend, loved the same guy she did. And she panicked. Because Ino was perfect. Ino was the popular, beautiful, perfect little girl. And who would choose her, poor little Sakura Haruno with an ugly forehead, over the perfect Ino Yamanaka?

So she stepped out of the shadows. She stopped watching. She declared Ino as her rival and tried her best to win Sasuke's heart. When they were placed on the same team, she was elated. It was fate, she decided. They were meant to be together! So she tried harder than ever to win him over, to get him to love her, and just when she thought she was succeeding…

He left.

And broke her heart.

The next time she saw him, a long time after, she saw a different man. She didn't see the Sasuke she fell in love with. No. She saw a heartless, cold man who would kill others to pursue his goal.

And she never felt so broken and helpless.

After that, she saw him standing over an innocent woman's body. Her heart wrenched and she wished for the Sasuke she had before. But he was gone now. So she prepared herself. She saw an opening, a chance. And…and…

She thought she had decided. She thought she could do it. She thought…she thought she could kill him.

But she couldn't. She had the kunai to his back, but she couldn't do the deed. In the end, she was still the same old weak Sakura who couldn't help the ones she loved. As Naruto rescued her, she inwardly shed tears as she thought of how strong he had to be to do what she couldn't, and how weak she was to have to place the burden on his shoulders.

They met again in the throes of war, as team 7 reunited once again. This time, she showed them her power as she released her White Strength Seal. Together, they defeated the enemy and won the war, and for once Sakura was not left behind by her teammates.

But once everyone had settled, once the war had ended and Sasuke returned to the Leaf Village, Sakura couldn't bring herself to love him anymore. She was tired of getting her heart split in two. So she stopped watching him and started avoiding him.

Except…things were different. He was different, and so was she. And he didn't ignore her. He didn't dismiss her existence. In fact, he did the opposite.

She continued to try. But…he made it hard. He addressed her and talked to her more and more, and it became harder and harder to stay away from him. And no matter how she tried to avoid him, no matter how she tried to escape him, he always seemed to turn up wherever she went.

Until finally, she snapped. She confronted him. She was tired of trying to elude him.

"Sasuke, what do you want?"

"I told you. Naruto wants training practice and–"

"That's not what I meant. What do you want from me? Everywhere I go, everywhere I run, you chase me and you find me. What do you want?"

"…I want things to go back to normal, Sakura."

"Normal? Normal?" She scoffed. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

"You're avoiding me."

"What do you want, Sasuke? I'll welcome you with open arms? I ask you if you want to go on a date with me? I'd secretly watch you from afar, my heart always in two because I know I'll never have you? Because I'm not the lovestruck twelve year old who'd do anything for you anymore, Sasuke. I've grown up now. I'm done watching you, and I'm done with having my heart broken. I'm done with you." And as she turned and walked away from him, hopefully for the last time, when…

"I'm sorry."

She whipped her head around in surprise. Sasuke Uchiha? Apologizing?

"I'm sorry for being a jerk, I'm sorry for being the way I was, and I'm sorry for taking you for granted. Ever since I came back, all I've been doing is watching you,and I don't want to anymore. I…I just want you back, Sakura."

And they stared at each other, her stare defiant and angry, his pleading and desperate.

Then she flung herself into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his own around her waist. She looked up at him and pressed her lips against his, their bodies fitting so perfectly with one another that it was astounding how they spent so much time apart.

That was the day that Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno stopped watching one another. That was the day they both took action, and said those three words.

"I love you."