title: crossing lines
summary: because there's a thin line between love and hate, and she knows it best.
warning: I think I need to stop with the mood swings. and yes, it's unbelievably unoriginal that it makes me cringe, but I wanted my own version of this to make myself happy. at least it has a happy ending?
disclaimer: oh, puh-lease.

The first time she sees him in a long time, he is bloody and bruised and cut all over, and she thinks she hates him.

He walks into Konoha, shouldered by his best friend (who he had tried to kill more than once).

She meets them at the gates.

Naruto is just as bloody as he is, but she doesn't worry.

The blonde boy grins, his smile blinding and warm and full of so much of everything.

She smiles back, happy he is safe.

Then, she catches the gaze of the dark-haired man (who stole her heart away without realizing it) and gives him the dirtiest look she can possibly muster.

She walks up to him.

They don't say anything.

Then, she draws back her elbow and punches him in the face.

Hard.

He is sent flying backwards.

She turns to walk away and doesn't look back.

The next day, she sees him sporting a lovely purple on his cheek, and she can't help but smile at her accomplishment and pats herself on the back for a job well done.

The next time she sees him, it is at the supermarket.

She accidentally bumps into him and grimaces at how cliché it is.

She doesn't give him the satisfaction of apologizing and simply goes to the register.

But he grabs her wrist to stop her.

And again she rolls her eyes at the cliché-ness of it all.

But she refuses to speak first.

He started it, after all.

She didn't ask for this.

Normally, she would berate herself for being so childish, but none of that matters when it comes to him.

Because he deserves it.

Every last bit of her bitterness and anger and hatred.

"Sakura."

She forces down the fluttery feeling in her stomach as her name leaves his lips because she's not supposed to feel anything.

Nothing but bitterness and anger and hatred.

She, with a deep breath, turns around to meet his gaze.

She is thankful that she is a good actress.

"I'm sorry; do I know you?"

Then, using her strength, she pulls her wrist away from his tight hold.

She runs because she doesn't want to be around him longer than she has to because he makes her feel things she doesn't want to feel, and she wants to keep their distance for as long as possible until he breaks and comes after her with anger, but she hopes that day will never come.

So for now, she runs as fast as she can away from the supermarket, away from him.

She sees him again at the hospital.

She doesn't see the patient's name on the file as she walks into the sanitized room with a warm greeting and a smile before she stops herself.

The moment her eyes lay on his marred body, she pivots and walks right back out.

She asks a nurse, one who is very fond of the traitor, to go treat him because she is busy and cannot tend to his wounds.

She knows he will be angry, but she doesn't care.

She doesn't care what he thinks.

She sees him again.

And this time, she is angry – no, furious – with Naruto.

He had set her up.

He had invited her to eat lunch at Ichiraku, and she agreed because she loved making him happy.

When she gets there, she orders her ramen, and afterward, she notices the broody man next to her.

She knows that Naruto only wants them to be a team again, so she forgives him this once just to make him happy.

But then, he says he forgot he had a date with Hinata-chan, tells them he'll catch up with them later, and all forgiveness is gone.

Naruto knows she's not rude enough to leave when she has already ordered her bowl of ramen, and she can't believe how cunning he's gotten but then tells herself it's not a good thing.

So she stays, just this once, in this uncomfortable silence with the man on her right (who she can't – won't – forgive because he ruined her life and did everything possibly wrong).

She viciously eats her ramen, pays the bill, and storms out of the small shop.

She doesn't turn around to see him staring at her back.

She doesn't expect to see him this time around, but she does and regrets it but doesn't.

She really doesn't like being woken up early on her day off.

So when someone knocks on her door, she is cranky and beyond irritated.

She whips the door open and stares at a broad chest in a black shirt.

She rubs her eyes as she tilts her head up, and her eyes narrow.

Close the door in his face.

So she does.

She slams the door as hard as she can, but it only bounces back, and thanks to her ninja skills, she's able to avoid the ricocheting door.

She looks down to see his shoe blocking the doorway.

He had anticipated her move.

Her irritation with him increases tenfold.

Slam the door on his foot until he moves it.

So she does.

She takes the handle of the door, adds her monstrous strength, and repeatedly tries to close the door.

"Ow, Sakura. Stop it. That hurts."

She ignores the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach whenever he says her name.

And continues to slam the door on his foot.

Until he decides that he's had enough and rips the door down.

She stares at the doorknob still in her hand and then looks down at her front door in pieces on the ground.

She glares at the intruder.

"You broke my door, you asshole."

"You provoked me."

"You woke me up at an ungodly hour. You deserved it."

She's smug, and he knows it, and then she can't help but realize that this is the most she's spoken to him since he'd returned months ago.

She has an ominous thought that this just might be the day she had been trying to run away from.

And suddenly, she's afraid.

But she doesn't show it.

Not in front of him anyway.

"It's only nine a.m."

"On my day off."

He doesn't say anything.

So she takes the initiative (it's nothing new) and throws the doorknob at his head (she can't avoid him, so she might as well piss him off every chance she gets).

She doesn't see his piercing glare (even though she feels it) because she's already walking to the kitchen to make herself some coffee to soothe the throbbing headache (obviously caused by him) that was beginning to make itself known.

He stands in her kitchen, waiting for her as she pours the coffee into a mug.

He notices she likes her coffee black with a spoonful of raw sugar.

She takes a calming sip and sighs, smiling at the feel of the scalding liquid burning her throat as it makes its way down into the pits of her famished stomach.

It calms the butterflies.

She (because she is who she is) throws hospitality out the window and doesn't offer him a cup.

That would be being polite and nice, and he doesn't deserve either because she hates him with every fiber of her being.

"You owe me a new door," she says before taking another sip.

"You've been avoiding me," he says, ignoring her previous statement.

She looks him in the eye and quirks a brow.

"Do you want a cookie?" she asks mockingly.

She takes note of his clenching fists and the tightening of his lips and smiles to herself at her ability to tick him off as easily as she does.

"So what was so important that you had to break down my door?" she adds the end for color.

He glares at her.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh . . ." she says thoughtfully. "So does that mean you can leave now? I think you've talked to me enough to last me a good year or two."

Another glare.

"Stop doing that."

"Doing what?" she asks innocently.

"That," he growls.

"Then stop stalling and say what you have to stay."

He pauses.

She can tell he's nervous but doesn't say anything.

Nothing happens for a few minutes.

She grows impatient.

"Look, Sasuke. I don't know if you haven't noticed yet, but I hate you. Do you understand? I hate you so much that I could drown in it. I don't want to be near you because you, not I, are so annoying that it hurts my head. I hate you because you left because you thought we were not worth anything and because you tried to kill me and Naruto, not once, but multiple times, and you didn't even do so much as blink. And I absolutely hate it when you say my name because it makes my stomach flip. And I just wish you had never come back, but I could never tell that to anyone because Naruto would find out, and it would break his heart, and he doesn't deserve heartbreak unlike you who deserves every horrible thing imaginable."

He's quiet.

And as she tries to catch her breath, she feels all the pent-up frustration leaving her, and she feels lighter than ever, and she has to try hard not to smile because he's still here and that would just send out the wrong message, and she can't have that, now can she?

But then, unexpectedly, he reaches out his hand and holds the side of her face in his palm, and she has to try even harder this time to not lean into the gentle touch she didn't expect he could have.

And for some reason, she can't find the hate she held for him anymore.

She feels so empty all of a sudden, and she can't take it, so she cries silent tears as they cascade down her face.

She doesn't know what to think, and she's so lost and scared, and she thinks that this is the end of everything she knew and believed.

And she's terrified.

She can feel herself beginning to hyperventilate, but it all stops when she feels something warm touching her lips.

She freezes, and her eyes are wide.

But her eyelids suddenly feel heavy, and she feels like she's in a dream where everything's okay and everything is perfect, so she leans into the man who once took everything from her and is now giving back, and suddenly, everything's alright.

And Sakura can't help but think how utterly and how unbelievably cliché this all is.

But she doesn't care.

Naruto cheers from outside the window.

Yay for happy endings! Hip hip hooray!

Okay, yeah, you might kill me for being so disgustingly cliché, but I'm hoping you won't so . . . review, please?

smiles