Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its characters, its storyline, or any related trademark.

Warnings: Possible spoilers throughout
Author's Note: I'm supposed to be updating my SSM 2012 Anthology, I know, but I'm having a very hard time with that. So I decided to post this.

First Kiss
by: theevilmuffin

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They were on a mission in Amegakure when it happened.

Team Kakashi (minus Kakashi, plus Sasuke) was sharing a hole-in-the-wall hotel room and the adjoined bathroom. The room was complete chaos: ninja gear was strewn about and there were strange, colourful patches on the wall and ceiling where Naruto had fixed the leaks with Sakura's medical tape.

Sai was sitting on Naruto's pack, shaving his face with a kunai and using his short sword as a mirror to help him judge his work.

Naruto snored loudly, sprawled along the hardwood floor, several feet from where he had set his bedding.

Sasuke had just stripped down to his sleeping clothes and was waiting to use the bathroom that Sakura was still occupying.

He knocked. "Are you done in there?" he asked.

He hoped she didn't offer to share the bathroom with him, because he really didn't want to share any room with Sakura at the moment. Lately, he'd been doing nothing but embarrassing himself around her. Sasuke fiddled with the clear plastic case in his hand. He didn't know why it mattered, but what Sakura thought of him was important. It was already embarrassing enough for him to need a mouthguard to keep from grinding his teeth at night – he didn't want to share that embarrassment.

Also, Sasuke understood that having an "embarrassing situation" in a bathroom with a girl could be taken greatly out of context.

"I don't mind sharing," Sakura called through the door.

Sasuke sighed and tried not to let his shoulders slump while he was still in Sai's view. Great, he thought.

He opened the door with a grunt. One of the hinges on the stupid thing was all rusted and the door frame was warped from water damage, causing the door to stick. It required a fair amount of force to get the door in and out of the door frame. Sakura had almost torn the thing clean off when she had been faced with it earlier.

Sakura was inside, fiddling with a small plastic case in her hands. Her eyebrows were scrunched up in concentration and there was a frustrated scowl on her face.

Sasuke stared.

The door banged against the inside wall of the bathroom and Sakura jumped. The plastic case escaped her hands and flew up in to the air between them.

They reached for it simultaneously and ended up crashing into each other, taking each other down. Sasuke lost his grip on the plastic case in his hand and it tumbled down to rest next to hers on the cheap linoleum floor.

"…Oh," Sakura said, but she didn't expand upon her thoughts.

Sasuke was having trouble sorting out his own thoughts at the moment, simply due to proximity. He was on his ass on the floor and she was kneeling in front of him, so close that he could smell her shampoo.

She was so close that he could see her eyelashes were just as pink as her hair.

So close that he could see down the front of her tank top.

She looked up at him. "You grind your teeth at night, too?"

He was so close he could see how pink her lips were.

He kissed her before he realized what he was doing.

She made a strange noise when his lips pressed against hers and it startled him. He pulled back, scared and angry that he may have fucked up and somehow her forehead crashed into his nose.

Sakura quickly backed away from him and her whole face turned red. Sasuke was just thankful that she wasn't screaming, because the door was still open and the last thing he needed was an audience to his spectacular failure. He gingerly checked his nose, mildly relieved to find that no actual damage had been done to it.

"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered.

Her head was bowed, but Sasuke could see that her eyes were damp. Her hands were fisted in the hem of her tank top. He took the apology for what it really was – rejection. He should've known. Who was he to make her wait so long and then just waltz in like he owned the place?

He'd made a mistake and now Sakura had to suffer the consequences. How typical, he thought, and he could feel the self-loathing rise in his heart.

"So, you grind your teeth at night?" he asked awkwardly.

"…Yeah," she replied. Her eyes wouldn't leave the floor, but he could tell she was grateful for the change of subject. "It's because I get so stressed out from work and… stuff."

"I do, too," he whispered.

Sakura stood, snatching her mouthguard, and strode out of the bathroom.

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TO BE CONTINUED