A/N: So, I kinda just vomited this out. Please be gentle, it's my first fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it!

Cuddles?

It was a well known fact among everyone in the village of Konoha that Uchiha Sasuke abhorred physical contact. Perhaps it was childhood trauma from fangirls jumping his ass or a certain pedophile wanting his body at the age of twelve. They will never know.

The only person who knew the truth was none other than Haruno Sakura. Some might say that it was because of her that he hated physical contact. During their childhood, she was constantly clinging on to him like a life line. But since then, her fangirl tendencies have faded away into nothing but platonic affection for the raven. That's what she said anyways. Everyone knew that the two were hiding something. There was way too much sexual tension between them for there not to be something as Kiba would say.

It was a Sunday morning. The kunoichi of Rookie 12 sat in the living room of Ino's having their ritualistic weekly girl talk. Their topic this time? Physical affection, otherwise known as cuddling.

"I wish Shika-kun would show more affection. It's so stupid!" Ino vented, taking a sip of her tea, "His sex drive is next to nothing, ugh!" Tenten nodded in agreement.

"Tell me about it! All Neji does is want to train. Don't get me wrong I love training, but we never have time to do anything romantic together." The weapon's specialist sighed.

"At least there's potential for you two to do it, if the spar gets heated or something. God, that's sounds so hot…sex on the training grounds." The blonde gushed, "Have you two done it?"

Tenten blushed heavily, "N-no! That's disgusting!" Ino squealed loudly.

"Tell us everything!" Sakura rolled her eyes and cupped her tea in her hands, but she didn't say anything. Instead she sat and looked out the window. She didn't have anything to contribute to this conversation. Sakura was the only kunoichi who was single. The pinkette was also the only one taking active missions unlike the other kunoichi who chose to stay in the village. She was too busy with missions to have a boyfriend much less date. Except for Sasuke… Her mind reminded her of the man she's been in love with her whole life and she blushed.

Yesterday Sakura had come back from a week long ANBU solo mission late at night. She was surprised to see Sasuke waiting for her at the gates, hands stuffed in his pockets. On the outside the usually emotionless man looked the same, but growing up with him, she saw the glimmer of relief in his onyx eyes when he saw the pinkette approaching. Sakura remembered telling Team 7 she was going on a mission so she wouldn't be able to come to their weekly team dinner, but she didn't think much of it.

She raised a hand in greeting and lifted her ANBU mask, sliding it to the side of her head. Sakura didn't bother removing the mask that covered the lower half of her face, similar to Kakashi's. Her long pastel hair was pulled into a messy ponytail at the top of her head and dark circles were obvious under her eyes. Sakura admitted, she did not look her best.

"Hey," she greeted him softly.

"Hey," he replied coolly, but his eyes narrowed when he saw the blood stains on her armor and face.

An elegant eyebrow raised, "It's not mine." She raised her hands in defense and winced when her fingers moved. And his eyes narrowed even further. Grabbing her wrists, he brought her dainty hands to his handsome face to inspect them.

The knuckles were split and her fingers bruised in a mottled yellow purple hue. They looked horrifying. "What happened?" He growled.

Her bottle green eyes widened then she chuckled sheepishly, "Um…my gloves were set on fire," she rolled her eyes at her stupid mistake when she performed a fire jutsu and her gloves set on fire on accident. Yeah, that was a long day. She paused, "And then I ran into some nukenin coming back here so I had to fight without them and I'm kinda really low on chakra and…yeah."

"Stupid, always getting into trouble. What am I going to do with you?" Sasuke grumbled lowly, before taking her wrist and dragging her towards his apartment where he would wrap her hands after making her shower and dress in his clothes. And the next thing Sakura knows, she's nodding off to sleep on his shoulder while he's wrapping her hands. Sakura blushed just thinking about it. The only thing she remembers was that she was so tired and he smelled so good and… Her thoughts were interrupted by Hinata.

"Ino-chan, stop teasing Tenten-chan!" She chided softly. Tenten sighed in relief. Sakura continued to nurse her cup of warm tea.

"Fine, but someday I'll get the details of out you!" Ino proclaimed while taking a bite of a biscuit, "What about you Hinata? How's Naruto?"

Hinata blushed tomato red and her lavender eyes wouldn't meet Ino's. "E-eto, Naruto-kun's okay."

"He's just okay? Is he not affectionate? How is he in bed?" Ino asked eagerly as she crossed her legs.

"You would think Naruto would be the affectionate type." Tenten wondered out loud before tossing some nuts in her mouth.

Hinata's blush increased tenfold and she scrunched her eyes closed before blurting everything out, "Naruto-kun is never affectionate out in public! It's either making out or a decent amount of distance between us! It's always the extreme on opposite ends and I wish he cuddled with me more…" Hinata eeped before covering her mouth and blushing.

All the women in the room had their eyes wide opened. Ino was the first to snap out of it. She opened her mouth before closing it. Finally her baby blue eyes sparked in something that could only be recognized as pride. "Preach it, Hinata! It's about time that you vented out everything!" Fire sparked in her eyes. Sakura groaned, bringing attention to her.

"What about you, Forehead? How's Sasuke?" Her eyes widened before she glared at the blonde.

"What are you on about, Pig? You know I'm single." Sakura replied nonchalantly, ignoring the mentioning of Sasuke completely.

"Come on, Sakura. We all know you and Sasuke have something going on. It's so obvious!" Tenten said joining in.

"There's nothing going on. We're just friends." She grit out, fighting the blush that threatened to blossom on her face.

"Naruto-kun told me he saw you coming out of Sasuke-san's house this morning. Care to explain?" Hinata said, gaining the courage to push Sakura into admitting the two's relationship. Sakura wanted to scowl at the Hyuga. But she couldn't, not at Hinata.

Ino and Tenten giggled. "Fine, what if I stayed over?" Sakura admitted.

"You two totally did the dirty!" Ino's eyes widened dramatically at the revelation, "Is he really that good in bed as the rumors say?"

"NO! We didn't do anything! He waited at the gates for me last night after my mission. He saw some wounds that I couldn't heal and went all alpha mode and dragged me to his apartment so he could treat them. But not before making me shower, "she grumbled remembering what he said.

"You stink of blood. Go clean up. I'll find some clothes for you." He muttered before pushing her into the bathroom.

"And?" Ino prodded excitedly.

"And," Sakura glared at Ino, "I fell asleep while he was treating my wounds and he let me stay over. End of story." The pinkette announced.

"That's so sweet!" Both Ino and Tenten squealed. Hinata smiled softly and nodded.

"Then, did you two share a bed?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, so?" Sakura admitted.

All three girls nodded to themselves, "Yes, Sasuke definitely has the hots for you Sakura," Tenten said.

"Now tell us. Is Sasuke a cuddler?" Ino asked in a hushed tone. Sakura blushed heavily, which didn't go unnoticed by the other women and they smirked to themselves.

Sakura thought back to last night. She remembered whining to him that she was cold. He had sighed and pulled her close by her waist. Sakura had been left with her head tucked under his chin and their legs intertwining. He didn't move his hand from her waist.

And this morning... She had surprisingly woken up before Sasuke and had found that she had been pulled to be half lying on his chest and his cheek leaning on the crown of her head. She had wriggled to get free but his arm only tightened around her, desperate to hold on. Only when she had poked his cheek had he opened one eye and smirked at her. He released her from his hold and rolled over, completely silent.

When she had made it to the kitchen, and started breakfast, it was only then had he spoken to her. She was standing in front of the stove, waiting for the eggs to cook when she felt a warm chest press against her back and arms snaked around her waist. He propped his chin on her shoulder and spoke into her ear, "What are you doing, Sa-ku-ra?"

The pinkette had to admit. Sasuke and Sakura were something. But she didn't know what. Sasuke was always the cheekiest when they were alone. But acted like an extremely protective teammate when they were out.

When she finally gained the courage to speak again, Sakura looked at her friends before admitting, "Sasuke is a closet cuddle-whore, I swear." All their eyes widened. They were not expecting an answer an answer like that.

"You spill everything Forehead or so help me God I will wring your neck." Ino screamed.

Sakura sighed as she exited the Hokage Tower. She had been summoned for another mission briefing while the girls were interrogating her. They had finally gotten it out of her that she and Sasuke were dating behind their backs, but weren't together. She wanted to spend more time relaxing at home or spending time with Sasuke, but looking back what her mentor said, she couldn't decline.

"Gomen Sakura, I know you just got back yesterday." Tsunade said sounding apologetic, "But this is a mission that cannot fail and I trust you."

How could Sakura decline when her mentor worded it like that? The pinkette had to leave as soon as possible, seeing as it was nearly noon and she wanted to get to her destination before nightfall. In a blink of an eye, she was gone, leaving a gust a leaves.

Sakura wanted to kick herself. She had changed into her ANBU armor and packed everything she needed for the mission, but realized she had forgotten something very important at Sasuke's apartment. Her mask. The porcelain mask that completed her ANBU identity of Panther was laying carelessly around Sasuke's apartment.

Goddammit Sakura, why can't you do anything right? She scolded herself. No big deal, I'll just drop by on my way out.

Sakura slung her pack over her shoulder and pulled up her face mask. Taking a short breath, she started a slow jog over to Sasuke's apartment. It was ridiculous how close he lived to her. Literally just a five minute walk and a two minute jog.

She stopped short in front of his door and knocked softly. The ANBU blushed heavily when Sasuke opened the door shirtless. Although it wasn't visible because of her mask. The stoic man raised an elegant eyebrow.

"I forgot my mask here yesterday." She said bluntly. He stepped aside to let her in.

"You just got back yesterday." He stated as she grabbed the painted mask off his coffee table.

"Duty calls." Was all she replied before slipping the mask over her face.

Sasuke didn't say anything for awhile, "Are you going alone?" Sakura nodded mutely. "Why aren't you taking your squad? It's safer that way."

"My squad's all retired," she replied thinking back to all the girls probably still sitting in Ino's living room, "Besides, it would be risky with such a big group."

"Then take Kakashi."

"Please! Kakashi-sensei's got a kid and another one along the way. Like he's going to take a mission with me. Besides, I can handle this myself." She countered.

He sighed and ran his hand through his dark hair, "I don't like the fact that you're in ANBU without us."

"I'm aware." She murmured.

Then Sakura tilted her head, "I'm the best soloist ANBU's got. Don't worry." Sasuke growled and pulled her to his chest. She brought her gloved hands to his chest and sighed.

"Let me go with you this time."

Sakura's melodic laugh bounced off the walls. "You know you can't, Sasuke. You and Naruto literally just passed the chunin exams." Even though she knew she was no match in power or wisdom as Naruto and Sasuke, she still loved to poke at their egos by making fun of their rank, "Besides, you and Naruto have always been the best team, so even if you go on to ANBU, you two will probably be placed on the same squad. I work alone. You should know that by now." Her laugh tinkled in his ear.

Sasuke quietly tightened his arms around her. "What's your mission?"

The room went silent before she answered, "You know I can't tell you that." Sakura reached up to brush his bangs away from his face, "I'll be back in two days tops if everything goes well. I'll see you soon, okay?" She murmured. He nodded sullenly, but didn't pull away. "Sasuke, I have to go." She giggled.

"Hn." She glared slightly at him before trying to pull away. "I'll walk you to the gates. Just wait." He pulled away and disappeared into his bedroom. Coming out in a dark blue shirt, he opened the door for her.

Sakura's breath hitched as his hand brushed against hers. And she completely stopped breathing when he did it again except he fully grabbed her hand in his. This was the first time he held her hand in public. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and could spot a slight tint of pink on his cheekbones.

As they saw the gates come into view, Sakura grinned from under her mask and squeezed his hand and blushed when he squeezed back. She turned to him and reached to give the Uchiha a hug. Pulling back slightly, she looked at him thoughtfully.

Dark eyes look back at her questionably. She finally made up her mind and pulled up her ANBU mask, pulled down the fabric one, and slanted her lips over his.

Sasuke's eyes widened before closing and pulling her closer automatically. Sakura pulled back slightly and brushed her nose against his. He was left staring at bottle green eyes as she murmured against his lips, "If it makes you feel better, I'll miss your cuddles while I'm gone."