MisoHime

Author's Note:

Original Note:
I figured I should upload this chapter now, since I will be starting school in September, which is only a few days away.
A million thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter!

- Angelic101: Thanks for reading and submitting your feedback. I'm also glad you liked my one shot and the previous chapter. I'm not going to lie, it was quite a challenge to try and express everything exactly in words.

- DarkAngelRakell: Thank you for reviewing, I'm grateful you took the time to tell me what you thought.

- HinatasHelper: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, I'm glad you like the plot!

- river of the sand: Thank you for reviewing and reading! Do let me know what you think of this chapter too.

- Girlalicious: I'm so glad you like the story. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Updated 2016 Note:

This chapter was read and reviewed on: 25th June 2016.

Writing 'momentous kiss scenes' (or any other important emotional scene, really) is really tough when such scenes are so monumental that even words tend to fail you.

The first time I wrote this chapter - five years ago - it was sloppy, unconvincing and quite embarrassing to have to re-read.
... I just hope I did better this time around.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and the inspired book for this story isn't mine either.

◊▫ 星の十字 ▫◊

Hoshina no Kurosu

Hachi

キッス

Kissu

Three weeks passed by for Sakura with a blur.

To her, it had felt as though no time had moved at all, and yet here she was, standing at the massive double doors to the main hall of the auditorium once again.

The nerve endings on the back of her spine tingled from anticipation. Today was set to be their first non-scripted rehearsal of the play. For the past twenty-one days, most of their rehearsals were spent on character study and run throughs. It was expected, of course - Kurenai was adamant on having everyone understand the play in incredible detail before breaking up into specific scenes.

Sakura had not minded, but with every rehearsal that went by without any sign of anything more exciting than discussing the meaning of Shakespearean language, she had grown restless and somewhat agitated. She was no amateur in 'Romeo & Juliet'; she had spent many of her childhood days reading and re-reading the play in every published edition. It just frustrated her that she was unable to move past the precedent studies and get into the actual performance.

Fortunately, there had been some opportunities along the way. They were few and far between, and while Kurenai never focused on any of main scenes, Sakura had been thrilled to be able to stretch her metaphorical acting legs. She lived for those moments when she disappeared into Juliet and could reenact her character's emotions in a world that wasn't her own. It reminded her so much on why she had always been interested in the performing arts in the first place.

And today it had been announced that there would finally be an actual scene involved - no read-longs or analytical breakdowns. No character studies or practice ques. Today was the first time Kurenai actually planned for a main scene to take place.

With a happy smile on her face, Sakura pressed the doors open and moved down into the theatrical hall she had been coming to every evening for the past month.

As always, the smell of old paper and candles brought images of bright lights and loud applause to the back of her mind. Since the rehearsals for the play began, the auditorium was looking more and more alive. Every evening she stepped in, and the walls seemed to be a deeper red, the carpet more plush and the gold decals more enchanting. Life was slowly being breathed back into the decadent space.

A few voices called from the stage, where Sakura could make out some familiar faces. Scattered among them were a few of her good friends and a few others whom she had befriended throughout their rehearsals. She graced them a bright smile and a wave, bounding down the steps to join them. By the time displayed on the clock, she knew she was a bit earlier than usual today - having been too excited to wait until the rest of the cast and crew to arrive.

"Sakura-san! You are looking most beautiful today!" Lee greeted her, his bubbly voice matching his exuberant expression.

Smiling in thanks, Sakura passed her greeting around to her circle of friends and settled down by the floor of the stage next to Ino and Hinata.

"Forehead! You're just in time!"

The pinkette stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned back onto her elbows, her body beginning to relax while she waited for the minutes to tick by. The conversation that had been going around seemed to have everyone around her engrossed in conversation. Curiously, Sakura looked at the blonde bombshell beside her for answers.

"We were just discussing what we thought today's scene would be."

Temari snorted and twirled one of her handheld fans around in her hand. She was stretched out on the floor a few paces in front of Sakura, her back resting against a set of stage blocks that were temporarily used as their backdrop a few rehearsals before. The large shape was nothing more than boxes made out of acrylic and wood, but they were sturdy enough to take any weight, and became an essential prop when it came to set-building.

"I bet Kurenai's got her mind set on doing one of those useless introductory scenes again." The Sand-native commented.

Lying belly down on the stage block was Tenten, whose usual two-bun hairstyle was oddly omitted for the day. She looked down at all of them from her higher vantage point.

"Nah! She did say that it would be a main scene today."

"Please!" Ino's loud voice chimed in, "I just hope it has something to do with my character this time."

"It would be most exciting to see everyone's youthfulness be expressed today!"

With one hand propping her chin up, Tenten flung a crumpled ball of scrap paper at Lee, "No way! I have no interest in enduring another one of those!"

Laughter tickled Sakura's insides as she recalled the exact situation Tenten was talking about. During one of their actual scene rehearsals, Kurenai had suggested that they practice the main introductions. Seeing as the number of characters involved in the play was near massive, it resulted in a very crowded stage. Even the minors whom played very brief scenes had been shoved on stage. While it had been enlightening to be able to give everyone a chance in the spotlight, it had been extremely uncomfortable and overcrowded. She had ended up rubbing shoulders with her cast mates due to the lack of space. At some point, Sakura herself had felt as though they were a bunch of survivors on the last remaining plot of land surrounded by some sort of disaster or mayhem that forbade them from stepping off the stage.

Tenten - whom hated to be trapped and was very particular about her personal space, had found the experience traumatic. It was the last time Kurenai had attempted to have every single cast member on stage all at once. While their space was considered large, it still would not be able to handle so many of them without somebody fainting from the claustrophobia.

"W-what do you t-think it will be, Sakura-chan..?" A soft voice asked beside her.

Turning to face Hinata, sitting beside her, Sakura rolled the thought over in her mind. Seeing as she was unable to pick up on any of Kurenai's patterns when it came to choosing their scenes, she didn't know what to expect.

They had only worked on scenes that involved mass crowds, like the Montague and Capulet families, but those did not call for any of the main cast to be so involved. None of the dramatic action scenes had been selected either, so there could be a chance that today would be the day.

Although Sakura's own character was not involved in any swordplay, she found herself anticipating the possibility of it. It would have been interesting to see how they planned to act out the actual fight scenes for their play.

With a smile, the Haruno's shoulders shrugged, "Maybe one of the fight scenes? That would be something."

"Ugh, I hope not!" Ino flipped a mane of blonde hair over her shoulder, "the boys would end up doing nothing but show off."

A round of laughter rose up as they all entertained the thought. It was strange, yet comforting, how quickly they were falling into such easy friendship. Sakura had spent a good portion of her life keeping to only herself or Sai. She had maintained nothing but mild friendliness with those whom surrounded her now, yet the past month had managed to bring them all closer together.

"What if it's a love scene?" Temari's to eat turned sly. She stretched out further from her position against the hard surface of the prop box and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Sakura.

Immediately, Ino and Tenten latched on. A chorus of teasing and suggestive sounds followed in suit. Ever since the afternoon in the lunch room, the two of them had began to "ship" the impossible couple together. Seeing as neither Sakura or Sai had explained what had really occurred in the Art Studios all those weeks ago, they had obviously ended up cooking up their own reasons. All of which involved Sakura, Sasuke and a heated exchange of the romantic nature.

The very thought was downright uncomfortable to her. She could begin to feel her joyous environment began to wink out as fast as their change in topic and her relaxed position began to stiffen as her discomfort climbed. She fought to cover her grimace as the females - save for quiet Hinata - began discussing animatedly. The playful smirks and giggles that passed between them causing a off-putting sensation to creep over her skin.

Had it been anyone other than Uchiha Sasuke and Sakura would have begun to feel embarrassed for her lack of control over her emotions at the thought of a romantic scene, but three weeks had passed without any sign of her ability to quell the queasy feeling stomach improving. It was a romantic tragedy - Sakura knew what she was getting into from the very beginning, and while logically, she could accept that the world of performing always had situations like hers, it was another matter to her heart. No amount of logic and reasoning would be able to settle her anxiety over their inevitable 'love scenes'.

She secretly feared that she would never be able to get over her anxiety of the romantic scenes with the condescending Uchiha brother, or that if Kurenai found their chemistry unbelievable, she would recast. Sakura knew she was a good actress - but could she still be a good one when she was supposed to pretend she didn't want to stab Sasuke through the stomach with one of the blunt practice swords?

Over the span of their previous rehearsals, they had yet to have a major scenes play out between the two of them. It was still too early to jump straight into the deeper relationship that Romeo and Juliet shared, but there had been a few minor scenes that involved them testing their ability to portray the instant love connection between their two characters.

The memory brought a feeling similar to pop rocks bubbling in her tummy.

Part of the reason why Sakura silently feared the big romantic scenes was because of the odd occurrences that seemed to bloom during those brief ones they had gone through recently. Compared to the remaining three quarters of the play they had yet to touch, their scenes had been nothing short of innocent. A mere brush of fingers or a few glances during Romeo & Juliet's meetings. The most dramatic moment yet had been the first meeting, whereby both character's would feel the spark of a blossoming love.

It freaked Sakura out that every single one of those shared moments between Romeo and Juliet brought out a spark of something between her and Sasuke.

She had brushed off the first time - when they acted out the fleeting first glance - as nothing more than nerves or discomfort at having to act with her arch nemesis. The second and third time, Sakura assumed she was coming down with a mild virus. However, as the instances grew, she began to feel apprehensive and agitated. Her heartbeat would flutter and falter in time to her breathing, and her skin would begin to feel sweaty every time they made eye contact. A warm tingle would simmer on the skin at the back or her neck and ears; making her nerves stand on the edge, whenever their bodies brushed by.

It unsettled her deeply. She usually felt nothing more for Sasuke other than a burning hate and desire to punch him in his perfectly sculpted face. The unusual reactions she had begun to feel were definitely mild, but so vastly different from what Sakura was used to that even the slightest change sent her panic soaring.

When she had confided in Sai after the fourth time, her stoic friend had merely laughed and teased that perhaps she had begun to feel a far different kind of emotion for the male.

Sakura rejected the possibility immediately. Sai's suggestion was as ridiculous as the possibility of Naruto being stoic, or Hinata being rowdy.

It was inconceivable. Absolutely impossible.

Kurenai, on the other hand, seemed to think that the awkwardness Sakura felt during those scenes to be the "perfect portrayal of a young maiden's first love". Their director had given them nothing but praises, seemingly growing more and more pleased with her two leads. It baffled her how the older woman could have possibly been reading her maladroit emotions as "perfect".

Sakura also contemplated if Sasuke had felt whatever oddness was going on between them. He had not seemed any different during their rehearsals, but then again, he almost never fell out of character when they were acting. If he had felt any sort of discomfort, he clearly did a good job masking it.

There had been one or two rare cases during the past month when Sasuke had surprised her by not being a complete douche bag. It unsettled her how civil he had been during those instances - so much so that had it not been the boy she grew up detesting, the pinkette could have almost classified his attitude as "tolerable".

Of course, that was until he did something that made Sakura wish he would just jump off a cliff and die.

While it had been true that there had yet to be any furious outbreaks of their fued, Sasuke did not fail to dissapoint in constantly being as annoying as possible. The insufferable man would purposely do things that bugged her, like standing directly behind her during one of her speeches and standing so close that every time he exhaled, Sakura would have been able to feel the tickle of his warmth breath on her neck. He was trying to goad her; trying to make her snap and bite back at him with a bard that would have brought Kurenai's attention to them.

Though she had managed to exercise incredible restraint in telling him to "fuck off", his petty actions were beginning to build feelings of vengeance within her.

It was a good thing Sakura was affluent in her acting skills, too, because once she decided that Sasuke was not the only person who could play that game, she managed to 'accidentally' swing her hand back in a dramatic gesture during one of their read-alongs, smacking him across the face quite viciously. He had ended up with a minor nosebleed, and had she not been so 'apologetic' and bashful as she offered him a handkerchief, She had no doubt Kurenai would have sent her off with a suspension for battery had she not shown such 'concern' over his injury.

Sasuke, on the other hand, clearly had not bought her innocent act. He retaliated not long after by 'incidentally' knocking her over during one of the boy's exercise regimes. The force of his blow sent her tumbling and skidding across the floor, effectively skinning her knees.

It had taken a few days for the bruises to fade and another week before the scrapes scabbed over enough to stop the cuts from reopening.

"A-are you okay, Sakura-chan..?" A soft voice interrupted Sakura's thoughts.

She blinked and realised that Hinata had posed a question. The other girl's pale eyes were focused on the way Sakura's hands were fisted against the hardwood floor.

Around them, the girls continued to howl with laughter over yet another imaginary hypothesis they had cooked up while Sakura was busy reminiscing. She shook her head at their antics and sighed, tilting her head back to see the dark ceiling, strung with wires, cables, lighting equipment that criss-crossed overhead like shadow limbs.

It took Sakura a visible effort to ease the mild scowl that had appeared on her face when she had been self-absorbed in memory. Hinata seemed to understand without the Haruno having to explain her frustration, silently offering her support with a gentle hand to her shoulder.

The heavy double doors of the room opened with a loud bang, scaring all of them out of their conversations.

Loud, boisterous and completely uncontrollable, Naruto's distinct blonde head bobbed into the massive hall, greeting everyone with his jolly personality. A crowd of people followed behind, most of which were the remaining cast and crew. A few spectators had come to watch, but would soon be chased out once they were discovered by the stage staff.

Hinata's pale skin slowly burned into a faint red, causing Sakura to smile bemusedly. She gently bumped her shoulder against the shy Hyuuga and watched as her cheeks lit up like two ripe apples.

"I see you're as excited as ever, Naruto-kun!" Kurenai's loud comment rivaled the ruckus that the Uzumaki had brought along with him, "Let's see if you can maintain it for the rest of the production! With some restraint, of course."

There was a brief moment of activity as the room shifted with people whom were settling into place. Sai joined Sakura by the stage, smudges of paint still caught in his hands from his art class.

With the hall crowded with people once again, the space seemed much more busy. It was quickly becoming a routine whenever they started their rehearsals. Kurenai always started their sessions with her objective lists before delegating those immediately involved in the first set onto the main stage, while those uninvolved were tasked with other exercises. This would be the first time they went through a major scene, meaning that most of them would probably end up being spectators for today.

With her signature red-painted lips twisted into a self-satisfied smile, their director ruffled around the piles of paper on her downstage desk to pull out two stapled sets of papers.

Apprehension began to tremble in her gut. There were few scenes that only involved two people, and nearly all of them were guaranteed to be the main leads.

"Everyone but Sakura and Sasuke on the main stage, please."

A knot tightened in her gut - the feeling of discomfort that beginning to rattle her innards. Those whom occupied the space around her on the stage clamored off the stage and took seats by the rows of chairs closest to the stage while Kurenai - with the binded papers in her hands - ascended the side steps to meet Sakura in the middle.

The pinkette slowly brought herself up to her feet. In her peripherals, she could see Sasuke melt away from the shadows of the stage wings. It could have been considered creepy, how she had not even noticed that he had arrived.

His swagger was cocky and uncaring, stopping a few paces away from her.

For the nth time, she became acutely aware of his presence, whereas he seemed as if he didn't notice her at all. Her teeth grinded slowly together at the insult of his complete disregard for her when they were expected to act with one another in just a few minutes. Sakura turned to ignore him just as well.

They both faced Kurenai, whose deep wine-coloured eyes were appraising them with a calculation look, one well-groomed eyebrow raised.

"Getting along, are we?"

Neither of them bothered to answer. The stiff silence just added to the tense aura that radiated between Sakura and Sasuke.

Kurenai passed each of them one set of papers. The nearly printed words on the white sheet pushed Sakura's suspicions into heavy dread.

"Today you two will be enacting the 'Ballroom Scene'," Kurenai explained, "which is one of the most iconic moments in the entire play."

Sakura could feel the watchful eyes of her cast mates drilling into her slowly warming face. By some cruel act of God, it seemed that her friend's predictions were right: she would be doing a love scene with Sasuke today.

And not just any love scene.

The "first kiss" scene.

Something akin to nausea rose like a tidal wave in her belly. She was going to have to kiss Sasuke. In front to everyone. Whilst pretending as if she wanted to.

Sakura wouldn't be surprised if her face was beginning to turn green at the thought.

In the background, whispers circulated around the room. Though everyone had known beforehand there were to be intimate scenes between the two most famous enemies of campus, it seemed nobody had expected to really see it in person so soon.

Least of all Sakura.

Sasuke didn't seem to be faring any better. His script was clutched tightly in his hands, the paper crumpling like a weed in his brutal grip. His tall, muscled frame was tense and rigid, which spoke volumes on how much excitement he felt about today's schedule.

The tips of Sakura's ears felt hot and tingly. For the first time in her life, she felt the desire to run from the stage and away from the spotlight.

Like a soldier suiting up for battle, Sakura watched like a wary cat as Sasuke straightened himself with determination and turn towards her. His face was a twisted look of utter dread, which she couldn't blame him for. This was the true test of their declarations weeks before.

Could either of them make it through such a intimate scene when they clearly didn't want to?

Sakura steeled herself in response. She would remain professional. There was no reason to be skittish. It wasn't as if this was a real, voluntary kiss. It was a requirement - a job. She would treat it as such.

Both her and Sasuke stood in front of one another, a glaring unpleasant distance between them.

Things could not have been more awkward.

"Something wrong?" Kurenai questioned from her seat. Behind her, a sea of curious eyes watched the two leads.

The pinkette swallowed a hard lump and shook her head. She avoided direct eye contact with Sasuke in favour of looking down towards her script. It disguised her need to buy time while she internally suppressed the churning of her emotions.

"Okay! Let's begin, shall we?" The voluptuous brunette said, "Sasuke, if you'd start from: 'If I profane with my unworthiest hand' - and I want to feel the passion, so don't skip out on the kiss!"

A small pinch of panic began to rumble somewhere within her. She could feel it growing ever so slightly. It frustrated her that for all she said about her ability to act, Sakura was beginning to feel the stage fright now out of all times.

'It's just a kiss!' she berated herself mentally.

Once she fell into character, Sakura wasn't even supposed to feel as though she was the one who was doing the kissing; yet no matter how hard she tried, her legs felt deadened and her jaw refused to unclench. The words she skimmed over were words she had condemned to memory weeks ago, yet resembled foreign hieroglyphics now.

Could she really do this?

"Snap out of it, Haruno. I'm not carrying dead weight."

Her instant reflex was to look up into Sasuke's eyes. He was glaring at her with a familiar look of condescension and annoyance, but somewhere with it was a hint of nervousness and pure determination. They carried a challenge she was meant to meet.

It startled her for a moment, to see him so in control of his emotions. She assumed Sasuke would have been even more thrown than her about the actual reality of a kiss, but he looked like he was ready to charge straight through without an ounce of fear.

Without straying his eyes from her's, Sasuke inhaled a deep breath, causing the fabric of his shirt to stretch with the increase mass of his torso. She felt, more than saw, the air around him change as he slipped into his character.

Instantly, Sakura could see the difference. Standing in front of her was no longer the arrogant, brash and churlish male she always fought with. Everything from the way his legs relaxed into a comfortable stance, to the proud posture in his spine, suggested that the person who now carried Sasuke's face was Romeo.

Had she not been scrambling to fall into character herself, Sakura would have been unwittingly astonished and impressed at Sasuke's ability.

She followed his lead and calmed her own mind, ignoring the feeling of eyes watching her every move or the uncomfortable foreboding that nearly swallowed her before. Amidst her recollection, she found that bond she had forged with Juliet after so many years of studying her, and slipped into her mindset like a glove.

When she re-opened her green eyes to face him, she held no trace of Haruno Sakura any longer.

The atmosphere around them changed, and like the first streaks of sunrise across a dark sky, Sasuke's words guided the scene into motion.

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this;

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand-"

The deep timbre of his voice lulled the whispers of the sent a light tingle dancing over Sakura's spine.

"-To smooth all that rough touch with a tender kiss"

With Romeo's gentle words floating in the space around them, she began to funnel the emotions Juliet would have - had Sakura really been her.

"Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,

Which mannerly devotion shows in this;"

With strength that gave no sign of her earlier timorousness, her body began to move with the Capulet princess' actions. She walked closer, towards Sasuke, with her voice whispery and soft in response to his husky one.

"For faints have hands that pilgrims' hand do touch,

And palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss."

Their close proximity sent an invisible tangle of electricity humming in the air. The hairs on Sakura's arms raised and a feeling of tightness wound around her chest. It was an odd feeling which she gave complete control over as the scenario played out with unstoppable momentum.

The dark haired Uchiha brought a hand up and Sakura followed in suit. Their eyes remained locked while their hands hovered over each other's like mirrored image. The sensation of anticipation webbed between them.

With the presence of their onlookers completely forgotten, Sakura's breaths shallowed and deepened. Closer and closer, they moved into one another. The pinkette saw nothing save for the deep colour of black night eyes and pale, perfect skin. They seemed to beckon at her like a vortex.

"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too,"

The deep rumble of his last few lines brushed over her like whispered secrets and she breathed back in kind.

"Ah, pilgrim, lips that they much use in prayer."

Without any control over herself, Sakura's eyelids lowered into a hazy, dreamy look. Her face fell back as her body leaned into the arms that slowly wound around her. She had to fight off the shiver when his head angled down to match her shorter height. The smell of his cologne flooding her senses.

The tight feeling in her chest gave a painful squeeze.

"Saint's do not move, though grant for prayer's sake."

Sakura wasn't even paying attention to Sasuke's last words. Something in her heart took flight like a butterfly.

"Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take."

With his hand cradling the smooth surface of her cheek, Sakura's eyes slipped into barely open slits. The distance between them shrank until she could feel the warmth of his lips hovering over her's.

'Kiss me, please' she thought, hypnotized.

Unexpectedly, a cough interrupted the building silence and as fragile as the moment came, something inside Sakura jerked. Her link with Juliet dissipated like fog, causing the fragile string of their connection to snap.

Simultaneously, the pair jerked away from one another - stumbling back away as fast as they could.

The broken suspense sent Kurenai to her feet.

"What in Kami was that?" Her voice shrill with incredulity, "The kiss was the most important part!"

A wave of embarrassment ran through the Haruno. She had never fallen out of scene before. It usually took her effort to let go of her embodiment. Startling out of Juliet like that was foreign and completely unlike her.

She shifted her weight from foot to foot, one clammy hand nervously wiping against the coarse material of her jeans. Standing a few paces away, Sasuke's palm rubbed at the back of neck, a habit she had never seen him display before.

"Sorry, Kurenai-sensei, it's just… everyone's… uh… watching and I-I… uhh…" Sakura trailed off, stumbling on her words.

To her shock, Sasuke joined in her half-baked excuse.

"Yeah, can we... practice somewhere else?"

Not even bothering to hide her disappointment, the maroon-eyed woman rubbed her temples, but complied none the less.

"Alright, alright. There's an empty classroom in the back wing that can offer more privacy while the others go over another scene." She sighed, "Go practice there until I send someone to call you out. And you better not be fighting."

Fighting the urge to run immediately into their assigned classroom, Sakura nodded quickly and moved into the direction of the backstage. She caught Sai's concerned gaze with a light-hearted nod and ignored the heat of her cheeks that burned from the attention she was getting from her cast mates.

Just as Kurenai said, the empty classroom was deserted. The room had not been used in a while, with most of the chairs having been pushed into the back wall. Old cloth drapes strung over a stack of boxes to keep the objects within free of dust.

Sakura didn't bother to switch on the lights as she entered, much preferring the dark. Her shaking hands were still damp from sweat and the skittish feeling from moments ago had yet to evaporate. Confusion twisted her thoughts in an endless cycle.

'What just happened? Do I like him? I can't like him! It's Sasuke! Sasuke! I hate him…. I-I…'

There was a soft sound of the door closing.

She turned around from where she had been pacing to see Sasuke's shadowed figure standing by the closed entryway. The room was dark, shielding most of his body and face from view, but the small window in the door sent a beam of light piercing through, highlighting the solid line of his jaw and nose.

The tight feeling that had wrapped itself around her erratically beating heart refused to leave, squeezing with a painful beat as she stared at Sasuke by the door.

His dark hair and clothes made him look like he belonged to the shadows. The frail steam of light that passed into their room brought out the softness to his features. It seemed as if lately, all Sakura couldn't help but notice was Sasuke's incandescent beauty.

She couldn't read the emotion in his eyes. They remained standing there, looking at one another, neither speaking.

Something in the way his eyes observed her brought the feeling of anticipation. A bud of tension bloomed into full-blown suspense; some form of oncoming action cresting. There was a mysterious gleam in his eyes, full of something unexplainable and undefined.

Sakura's heartbeat began to thunder, louder than it had on stage - partially because back then she had been seeing Romeo, but in the dark, without any prying eyes, all she saw was Sasuke.

As if he couldn't stand the strain any longer, the Uchiha moved.

Sakura did not have even a moment to prepare herself before he was by her side, one him reaching to tangle at the hair behind her head as he cupped her neck and tilted her head back.

His lips bent down onto her's in the dark, soft and fleeting with some sort of urgency.

Sakura melted into his kiss immediately.

She had been kissed before, but this was the first time her stomach was sent flipping. An invisible fist gripped her heart and her throat felt dry. Blood roared in her ears and covered the sound of her quickened breaths.

They were blanketed by shadows, but she still knew it was Sasuke. What was even more unexpected was that Sakura didn't care.

She didn't care that it was Sasuke.

It didn't bother her at all that she was kissing him.

If anything - it felt good.

Wonderment and some strong emotion soared within her. Tingles ran from her hair follicles to the roots of her toes. She loved the feeling of his lips moving with her's, his hands wrapped around her waist and neck with a possessive grip, his eyelashes tickling her lids.

Her hands moved on their own accord - running over his wide shoulders, shivering from the feeling of the muscles beneath flexing at her touch. Her breathing began to turn uneven, the need to be closer became something Sakura wanted more than anything.

'Yes,' she subconsciously thought.

She pressed herself closer to him, stretching up onto the tips of her toes. Her roaming hands traveled everywhere - over the sturdy structure of his shoulders, up the slope of his neck, weaving into the shorter strands of his hair and sweeping over the texture of his skin. She was consumed with the need to be closer, still. It was not enough. She wanted to meld into him until she could no longer tell where he began and where she end.

'More, kiss me more'

Sakura pressed her lips more firmly into his, her lips teasing the skin of his own. Her brave actions were so unlike her, but she couldn't help herself. A sigh whispered out of her, covered up by the fast beat of her heart hammering away.

He responded to her movements in kind. The hand wound around her slender waist tightened possessively, bringing her body fully flushed against his. Relief and ecstacy swept over her at the contact. She could feel his own strong heartbeat - thumping in time to her's. The hand that had been cradling her neck slid to her jaw, cupping it and angling her head so he could deepen the sweep of his mouth.

He controlled her completely, until she was unaware of everything but the feeling of him all around her. His hand moved again, sweeping over her scalp - blunt nails scraping over her scalp deliciously - then tangling into her pale locks and tugging the strands back so that her head angled backwards even further. A growl of satisfaction rumbled from his chest.

Sakura lost herself into the bliss that spread all over her. She would have gladly traded in anything for the promise of never having been torn from his embrace. The tight coil in her chest before loosened and blossomed into something unknown and frighteningly tempting.

When his tongue traced over the seam of her lips and his teeth lightly nipped at her mouth, she could feel herself releasing her grip - ready to surrender completely into that unknown.

But then the door opened.

"Hey guys!" a distinct female voice broke through, "Sensei told me to make sure you weren't-"

A strong shaft of light cut though the dark space around them and bathed them both in white. Karin stood by the open doorway, her eyes wide and mouth open from shock.

A thick blanket of silence seized them all.

Heat bloomed like a vicious mark on Sakura's cheeks. She and Sasuke remained locked in position, their limbs frozen around one another. Their heads were turned to the door - no doubt they made quite a scene: hair tousled, lips well-kissed, caught in a embrace that nobody in the entire Fire Country would have thought either would want to be in.

Karin's flabbergasted eyes were as round as saucers. Her mouth hung slack, closing and opening as words were lost between them.

Sakura's own shock threatened to claim her erratic heartbeat. She was flustered, embarrassed, shocked, winded and confused all at the same time. Each emotion crashed over one another clumsily, tearing her inside with confusion beyond words.

A heartbeat of stillness stretched out.

"You…?" Slowly, Karin's manicured finger raised to point at Sakura, "and… you?" then trailed to Sasuke, "together..?"

Sakura's heart dropped to the floor. Alarm and horror replaced the hazy, blissful feeling of kissing Sasuke had brought, and Sakura pushed him away with a quick shove.

He was unfazed from her push, moving back two steps without a word.

Not being able to bear whatever expression he wore, she turned to the stunned redhead and clawed through her mind for some way to explain, but one glance at Karin's growing grin told her that there would be no rectifying her mistake. The wheels in the redhead's mind were already turning. Half a second later, she was out the door - no doubt on her way to spread the word.

Trepidation became her whole world. It wasn't that she was afraid of what Karin would spread - being at constant war with Sasuke put her on the gossip dartboard for years. It was the lack of certitude over what just happened with said Uchiha that had her near hysteria.

'What have I done..?'

Sakura could feel an anxiety attack beginning to claw at her. It was worse than the fear that had blackened the edges of her vision when she had been cornered by Deidara had been. It was worse than anything. She could feel her eyes begin to water and her fingers turning numb.

'This is too much!'

Without another thought, Sakura snapped and sprinted out of the room. Her vision was cloudy from her building tears. It was a foolish, cowardly move, but she knew she could no longer stay any more than she wanted to turn back time. The thickness of the air would have pressed down on her until she could no longer breathe.

She had just passed the open door when she felt the warm brush of Sasuke's fingers on her wrist.

"Sakura – wait!"

But she didn't.

Sakura tore herself away and propelled onward without even looking back. Her footsteps made deafeningly loud thumps in the deserted halls of the back tunnels. Blindly, she ran down the twisting passage of the backstage and burst out of the rear entrance of the Performing Arts Building. She didn't stop, urging her legs to carry her further away from where Sasuke was.

Further away from her own confusion.

She ran as fast as she could, until the wind burned her cheeks and dried the streaking tears on her face.

She ran further and further, as if she could outrun her feelings.

End Note:

Updated 2016 Note:

You know what sucks? When you re-edit your file - even add in some really good parts - click save, only to find out that the dumb system says you need to 'relog in' and lose all your edited work.