The kiss was short and Sakura pulled away quickly. The look he gave her had sent a tiny pang of panic through her system. What if he just turned around and walked off? What if he realized that he had made a mistake kissing her that first time and now he didn't know what to do? What if he realized he didn't feel the same? There were so many 'what ifs' floating around in her mind, but the thing about them was, was that they were all negative.
She didn't even bother considering the other side of the consequences, the 'what ifs' that were bound to leave a smile on her face. No, instead, her heart was racing and she didn't have a clue what Sasuke would do next. She certainly didn't expect him to say her name and then kiss her again.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, his voice low and soft.
He took a step forward, closing the space between then and wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her even closer. She knew what was coming by the time his arms wrapped around her waist. He leaned down and kissed her, but this wasn't a short light kiss. It was longer and full of passion.
She wasn't caught off guard like the first time, instead, meeting him with the kiss. She didn't hold back as she tried to express her feelings through that kiss, nor did she ignore what he was trying to convey back. His kiss felt like he was trying to show her everything, what he felt about her, how he felt right now, so on and so forth. She was aware of her hands finding his neck and her fingers threading through his hair, but it was like she was on auto-pilot. So what if she had never kissed a guy, apparently her body knew what to do.
She pulled back slowly, resting her forehead against his as a large smile crossed her face as she tried to regain her breath and regulate her heartbeat again. She had just kissed Sasuke Uchiha, and what made it more farfetched was that he kissed her back. Hell, he initiated it! That was the one point she couldn't seem to get over.
Sakura slowly looked up at him, dropping her hands from his hair to his upper arms. She didn't say anything, hell, she didn't know what to say after that, so all she did was try and read his expression and get some inkling of what was going on in that head of his.
He closed his eyes for a moment, deactivating his sharingan as he did so. Sakura couldn't read his expression as much as she'd wanted.
"It's late," he said, finally breaking the silence between them.
His hands left her waist and he turned around and walked away from her, going over to his supplies. She couldn't help but just stare. She still couldn't believe what in the hell had happened today. It was like she had stepped into a parallel universe and she had become the mayor of backwardsville. She certainly had no qualms with it, but she had a feeling that any minute she'd wake up, or tomorrow everything would be back to the way it had been yesterday, when her only solid conclusion about him was that she knew that he thought she was annoying.
As she watched him pack up his things though, she couldn't get rid of the smile on her face that was probably making her look like an idiot. He gathered up the supplies, putting his weapons in his weapons pouch and putting away his bottle of water as well. Then he walked back to her and took her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers.
He looked calm as he spoke. "We should get going."
She forced the smile down a few notches to just a gentle curve of her lips. Sakura could feel her heart skip a beat when he reached down and laced his fingers with hers. His hands were calloused from his years and years of training, but she didn't care, in fact, she liked it, as if it gave his hand a signature. She was focusing so hard on keeping her blush down and trying to memorize what his hand felt like in hers, she nearly didn't hear what he said about them going.
"Yeah."
Sakura fell in step beside him. She still couldn't help wondering what was going to happen between them. So they kissed and he admitted to liking her. For anyone that wasn't that big a deal and it didn't really mean much besides stating that they were interested. For Sasuke though.. Well, for him to even give you the time of day was a big deal.
She wasn't sure if he would want to let anyone else know about it or just keep it all low-key. Honestly, she wouldn't mind gloating in the female population of the fire country that Sasuke had kissed her, sure she'd be hated for it, but she still wouldn't mind gloating. Then again, she wanted him happy, and if that meant not telling anyone about what did or was going to happen between them, even Naruto, than she wouldn't say a word.
"Oh, and by the way, in case you didn't get this: I like you, too," she said with a small giggle.
And she still loved him, but she'd keep that part to herself for now.
"I figured that out," he answered, looking a little amused.
He gave her hand a light squeeze in reassurance. "If someone asks me about what has happened between us I won't deny it."
In other words, she could tell Naruto and anyone else all about it and he would openly admit to it. But he probably wouldn't actually go around advertising it himself. He wasn't embarrassed; he just didn't feel the need to.
She let out a chuckle. Of course she knew that he wasn't blind to her feelings, she knew he knew that as well, as confusing as that was. She had never been the one to hide how she felt about him, but she felt like she had toned it down dramatically. Instead of telling the world she was holding the hand of the man she'd had a crush on since she was seven, she really wanted to only tell two people. Naruto and Ino. After the beans were spilt though, it was bound the entire fire country would know within an hour.
She looked up at him, her expression changing to a blank stare. Sakura knew Sasuke wasn't lying, he wouldn't of brought it up if he was, but she still found a hard time believing it. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was actually interested in someone, her of all people.
For some reason, that comment alone had struck something in her and she knew that this, whatever it was between them, was not something she wanted to mess up. A blush had already crept onto her cheeks as she looked ahead, a smile on her face before she leaned against him for a brief moment, hugging his arm in that time.
"Thank you, Sasuke. I think I'll refrain from telling anyone just yet. You still need some time to get settled and I'd rather Tsunade not start you off with the worst missions in the world to 'test' you. Cause she would."
Sakura laughed as she looked up ahead, the place in the path where they usually went different ways approaching. She wasn't going to make him walk her home or anything of the sorts, he was probably exhausted. Then again, she wasn't ready to say 'bye' just yet either.
They saw the spot where they usually said their goodbyes up ahead and Sasuke looked over at her for a moment.
"I'll walk you home," he said.
Sakura probably should of started acting surprised when Sasuke started doing normal things. For instance, when she hugged his arm, usually he would of pushed her right off, but now, nothing. He was holding her hand, apparently kissing her now amongst other things, so on and so forth.
So far she could do whatever she wanted and he didn't seem like he would push her away. Of course she wouldn't do anything in front of people, at least not now. Not when she had decided to stay low-key for a short while.
"Sasuke, you've been busy all day, you don't have to. If anything, I'll walk you home."
Sakura glanced over her shoulder at the direction of his apartment, a pang of guilt rushing through her. He had been physically doing things all day. She on the other hand, have been sleeping and here he was taking her home. She knew arguing with him would get her nowhere though.
A sigh escaped her as her thoughts traveled to other things. For instance, what were she and Sasuke. He was willing to admit they kissed, that he liked her, and he was letting her hug him and the like. He'd probably get pissed if he saw her with another guy, for instance the man from her a last mission who had gave her and her team a tour around the village. It made her feel special, and that was all she could ask for from him, at least right now.
Sasuke frowned. "I don't need to be walked home. You're the one that's chakra depleted," he said stubbornly.
She shook her head at his defensive tone, chuckling quietly to herself as they got to the split in the road, turning in the direction of her home.
"Sasuke, the only reason I said that was because I slept all day. I'm not that tired."
She hadn't even thought about how he would take that. It was a safe guess that Sasuke had probably never dated a girl, well, it was more than a safe guess. She was absolutely positive that Sasuke had never dated a girl. She could tell though, that he was probably going to be traditional, very into his role as the 'man.' She didn't have a problem with it, in fact, she was still laughing to herself about it all.
She looked up at him, noting how he seemed to be thinking about something, staring up at the sky. She knew he had a lot going on right now, and she had a hunch she was probably a few notches down on his priority list. She was okay with that, because frankly, she couldn't see their routine changing all that much.
She'd be working in the day a lot and have missions while he'd be busy working on the district. Sakura would go see him when he was training and catch up on her case studies until he finished and then they'd go from there. Anything else they'd just have to figure out when the best time was. The last thing Sakura wanted to do was add pressure onto him.
"You know, I still can't believe what happened. I can practically feel the new found hatred that half the girls in Konoha have towards me now."
"They don't hate you yet. They don't know anything to hate you about," he responded before shrugging. "And I'm sure you can handle them anyways."
She let out a light scoff as she looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Clearly, she wasn't buying it.
"Are you kidding me? They have a, I don't know, Sasuke-alarm or something. They may not know who they're hating yet, but they know to hate someone."
She couldn't help it as she started laughing at herself. She knew it sounded crazy, but she knew the feeling. Honestly, she didn't really care if some girl hated her over it all, because like Sasuke said, she could handle it, but it was still going to be aggravating.
"So this Sasuke-alarm, do you have one of those?" he asked, only halfway serious.
She laughed, looking up at him with a smile. She had only been messing around with him, and she was sure he knew that, but she could hear the curiosity in his voice about it all.
Sure noone knew about this now, but she had a feeling that the second someone saw him, they'd at least know something was up. Sakura didn't see a difference in him, but there was already a few girls that hated her just by the mere fact she was on a talking-status with him. She simply side-stepped his question.
She smiled. "You're lucky. No guy is going to hate you over this, and if for some reason they did, they'd be too intimidated to say anything."
As her house came into view, Sakura felt something sink within her. Sure, her body was screaming at her to sit or lie down, but her mind was racing. Hell, she hadn't stopped completely blushing since Sasuke started just holding her hand. She knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight, not with this on her mind.
"Something wrong?" he asked, catching her expression.
"No, nothing's wrong. Like I said, I'm not really that tired. I know it's silly to say this, but I have a feeling I'm not going to get any sleep tonight. Not after today."
Kissing Sasuke had been one of her childhood goals. After she got older, she had accepted the fact it would probably never happen, but now that it had, she still couldn't get over it.
Sasuke frowned, looking over at Sakura. "If you don't sleep you'll have a hard time getting your chakra back."
"Trust me, I'd like to sleep." She rolled her eyes at him..
That was one thing they were night and day about. He was always so precise, focused while she only really concentrated on being a ninja when she was outside Konoha, training, or working. It wasn't something she could bring herself to think about twenty-four/seven. Not even if she wanted to.
"It's not my fault I've wanted to kiss you since I was seven." She muttered that last part to herself, though she knew he could hear.
He scoffed, clearly having her the soft comment. "It's not my fault either."
"No it's your fault. Everything is your fault. I blame you for not sleeping one hundred percent," she teased.
Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow as he looked at Sakura.
"Oh forgive me. I feel so guilty. I'll never kiss you again so that you'll be able to sleep," he said sarcastically.
She just frowned at him, crossing her arms as she did so. Two could play at that game, but she had a feeling that being stubborn with Sasuke would get her nowhere.
She needed a new strategy and fast. Sakura knew Sasuke wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what to threaten her with, but she needed a way to make it seem like she wasn't all that upset about it. Even if the entire situation was just a crock. So, she decided to brush it aside.
"It could be a challenge. But we'll cross that bridge if we ever come to it. I don't plan on moving a pebble tomorrow so I highly doubt you'll have to worry about fighting with me over it."
Her frown disappeared and was replaced with a mischievous smile. Sasuke was the type of guy who liked contests. Or rather, he liked winning and proving himself. All in all though, he was still a guy. So at his last question, her smile seemed to widen as the wheels in her mind started turning. She was horrible with flirting, but she could give it a shot.
Sakura smiled at him. "So I'm not working tomorrow, Shizune actually told me to take the rest of the week off to rest. Would you mind if I came to the Uchiha district?"
She knew he said he didn't want help with it, and she wouldn't help him. She could do just as she did when he was training, sit and study on medical books.
She kept her gaze on him, still trying to read him even though she rarely could. "If you don't want me to, it's not going to hurt my feelings, you can just tell me. All I'll be doing is reading anyways."
Sasuke paused to think for a minute. "You can come, but no helping."
"I promise, the only help I'll be doing is bringing you water if you ask for it. There's plenty of books and case studies I need to read anyways, so I'll be able to keep busy and resist the urdge to do hard labor."
"Water would be alright," Sasuke agreed with a small nod.
There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone at that last part. Sure she had offered to help, and really, she wouldn't mind in any aspect of it. Construction of any kind really wasn't on her favorite things to do on her days off list though.
"And I know that if I tried to move even a rock my Sasuke-alarm would be screaming 'Danger, danger,'" Sakura teased.
She had a feeling that sarcasm of any kind would be her best friend when it came to Sasuke. He seemed to communicate best to it.
"Hn. And your mouth would be screaming 'Put me down. Don't make me stay with Naruto all day,'" he retorted, implying that he would forcefully carry her and leave her under Naruto's supervision for a full day if she did anything even remotely close to trying to help with his cleaning of the Uchiha district.
She immediately dropped the smile she had as she gave him a sharp look.
"That's just low, Sasuke. I love him and all, but c'mon. That's just mean."
Sasuke smirked triumphantly. "Then stick to your reading while you're at the Uchiha district."
"Oh trust me, I will. I'd hate for you to get mad at me when we would get in a fight over that and you'd lose," she responded.
"You should be more careful. That almost sounded like a challenge."
She grinned at him, pushing the thought of how long she'd known him aside. It really wasn't all that important. Sure she hadn't really known him for nine years, she didn't really start getting to know him until she was twelve and they were on the same team together.
Those were the years she found out about what he wanted out of life, how he planned to get it, what his favorite foods were and what he hated. Those small pieces of information were what made her fall in love with him, even if she had only been around thirteen at the time and desperately trying to win his affection.
Sakura laughed then as they finally got to the front of her house. As she slowed to a stop, she gently squeezed his hand before letting go, turning to where she stood in front of him.
"Do you want me to bring you anything tomorrow before I head over to the compound?" she asked.
He paused for a moment, thinking. "No, I have everything that I need already." But then he stopped, thinking of something. "It wouldn't be bad if you brought lunch."
"I can maybe bring lunch. What will I get?"
She raised an eyebrow at him, fighting a smile to try and keep up her persona that she was actually trying to negotiate a trade with him. She probably would of brought him lunch even if he didn't ask, she knew he wasn't the best at making himself rest.
That was one of the main reasons she wanted to go see him tomorrow. He was probably killing himself with everything he was doing from working all day and training half the night. The least he could do was sit down every once in a while and let his body catch up.
"What do you want for it?" Sasuke asked, looking curious.
She took a step towards him, playing with his shirt as she put on an innocent face and looked up at him.
"Well, a kiss would of sufficed, but seeing as how you took that off the table, I guess you'll just have to come up with something creative, and better."
A shrug was the last thing she gave him before she took a step back and started to turn towards her house. She was still going to bring him lunch, even if he didn't stop her, but Kami knew she was praying for the latter.
He was actually stunned into silence for a moment, as he paused for a moment, looking thoughtful and just a bit devious.
When he seemed to have made his decision, he took a step forward, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. She had thought she won. But then he leaned down as if he was going to kiss her, and then changed direction to instead whisper in her ear, very quietly. "That wasn't good enough flirting. You'll have to try harder than that if you want me to kiss you."
It was safe to say she was a little peeved and even more determined. Sasuke wasn't going to let up, but this was one contest she wasn't going to lose with him. She wasn't great with flirting, but for some reason that jerk was. The feel of his breath against her ear caused her to blush tenfold, her mind going blank. Sasuke had that effect on her, to where he made her so frazzled she couldn't put a sentence together let alone a plan to get back at him. What made her the most frustrated with it all was that he knew it, too.
She wasn't going to lose though. Not this time.
When it was safe to say her blush had died down, she leaned back, just far enough so that she could see his face, raising an eyebrow at him before she raised her arms to rest on his shoulders, her fingers lacing their way through his hair as she played with the dark strands. Biting her lip she looked away from him, clearly thinking. The only technique she could think of was to play with his hair, but honestly, now she had nothing. Sure she could feed his ego, but that was a bit obvious. He knew what to expect and he was probably already thinking three steps ahead. That was just Sasuke.
"Sasuke..."
Sakura really was drawing a blank on how exactly to go about this challenge of theirs. She didn't want to lose, but she had a feeling she was going to. She could only keep her hands occupied with his hair for so long. Damn it all.
He removed one hand from her waist and placed it just under her chin, very gently moving her face back so that he could look her in the eyes.
"It's very cute how pathetic your attempts are." His smirk was mocking her. "And the blushing. That's cute too."
Sakura could only frown at him. The attempts weren't pathetic, it would of worked on most guys. Sasuke was just stone cold. Her dead panned expression was short lived though at his second comment about her blushing. She felt the heat rush to her face before she could do anything as she gave him a surprised look.
She was suddenly very aware of his hands, the one at her waist and the other brushing the hair away from her face. It wasn't fair. He was making her weak in the knees just by standing close to her while she was apparently having no effect on him what-so-ever.
She slowly moved her hands from his hair to his neck, then to his shoulders and finally to his upper arms. She was going to have to get Ino to teach her a thing or two about flirting because if anything, Sasuke was just going to get better at it over time. He was always looking to improve any skill.
"Obviously not cute enough. I can't even get the guy who admitted to liking me to kiss me."
You were the one complaining that you won't be able to sleep because I kissed you," he said stubbornly.
She let out a sigh as she trailed her fingers from his arm down his chest to his abdomen, once again playing with his shirt. She looked up then, smiling gently before shrugging. "Like I said, I would have traded a kiss for lunch tomorrow, but since my attempts at flirting with you are pathetic..."
Sliding her arms around his waist she leaned against him, looking up with a raised eyebrow as she traced circles on his back with her fingertips.
"What do I get then?" she asked.
The Uchiha smirked, reaching a decision and starting to speak. "But it doesn't make any difference to me whether you sleep or not."
He leaned down and actually kissed her this time, one arm still around her waist and the other finding its way to the back of her neck.
His lips were touching hers and all she could do was rely on instinct to react. She was aware of his hands placed on her neck and waist and all she could do was lean into him, wrapping her arms around him in the process. Sasuke was like a vortex to her. Anytime he wanted to pull her in, even if it were completely against her will, he could do it without so much as a single problem.
It was a gentle kiss, but not short. Before too long he pulled away without a word, though he still kept an arm around her waist, not allowing her to escape his grasp just yet. She leaned back only far enough to look up at him, raising an eyebrow with a small smirk on her features.
Sure, maybe he had mocked her a million times over and won the mental battle, but he was still the one to kiss her first. Maybe it was a compromise, but Sakura would still take it as a win on her part. She was stubborn, and even though she could take a lose here and there, she still didn't like it. She had a feeling bringing the whole compromising win thing to Sasuke though wasn't amongst the best of ideas though. He really didn't like losing.
"Thanks for that. Hah, I can't believe you called me cute. Twice. I can't believe I heard you use the word 'cute.'"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I never said that," he said amused, a smirk on his face.
"I'll have to start bringing a tape recorder if you're gonna be like that."
She chuckled to herself before she hugged him, resting her head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. The thought that such contact could be uncomfortable for him entered her mind, but she knew Sasuke. He wouldn't be there if he wasn't okay with it all.
"I guess you get lunch now. A good one, too," Sakura teased.
She smiled to herself as she paid more attention to the rise and fall of his chest more than anything else. It was so peaceful standing like this with him, she just didn't want to move. In fact, she didn't really give a damn if anyone saw them.
"You should go inside and go to bed," he commented, looking at her house.
By Sasuke's comment of suggesting she go in and get some sleep, she had a feeling that he was the one who needed sleep.
"Alright, I think I lied to you when I said I wouldn't sleep."
A yawn passed her lips before she looked up at him, bringing her hands up to his shoulders as she leaned up to kiss him. The kiss was soft and she kept it short, using every ounce of will power to do so.
"Good night, Sasuke. I'll see you tomorrow. With lunch." She laughed before pulling away from him and heading into her house.
When she got to her room she resorted to just collapsing on her bed, staring out the window with the taste of him on her lips. She almost believed she could still feel his touch on her neck, or the sound of his breath against her ear. He was going to drive her insane if she kept thinking like that.