Hugging Lessons

The Summary: Sakura tries to get Sasuke to give her a hug (well that’ll be quite a challenge…)! A sasusaku one-shot! Reviews will be greatly appreciated!

This was a random little idea that I had in my head… I liked it so I hope you do too!

Oh yeah, please no flames! Thanks and enjoy!

Declaimer: I don’t own any of the Naruto characters, but this plot is rightfully mine.

Rejection after rejection after rejection. That was how Sakura’s life worked.

At the first glance, Sakura was a shy, innocent and intelligent student. While she was within ear-shot of her elders and those of a higher-rank, she would resemble one of those well-mannered girls who were always willing to fulfill their bidding.

While she was with those of a similar rank to her, she immediately demanded respect.

Whether wordlessly or verbally.

But verbally seemed to work a little better.

Sakura Haruno had her mind set. She knew what she wanted. And she was darn right going to get it.

Ever since she was a young girl, she had planned out her life. Of course she was prepared to “expect the unexpected”, because, after all, that’s what you get for being a ninja. But on top of that, she had a few… er, well; maybe I should say one tiny, little goal. Just one. That’s it, that’s all. One goal for an entire life-time. One goal that took an eternity to accomplish.

To melt a heart of ice. That was her goal.

But how exactly? She hadn’t the slightest idea. But it would be done. And she was the one who was going to do it. Sakura Haruno. No one else. She was going to win over all of the pain and devastation of his past, and turn it into a bright future. She was going to win the heart of Sasuke Uchiha.

Again, the whole “how?” factor comes into play. Oh, she knew that it wouldn’t be easy. He was cold, cruel… and quite unfortunately in Sakura’s case, several other girls took interest in these qualities, giving her more than enough competition. Heck, she was competing with over half of the girls in the academy! It would be impossible to win!

No. Sakura would never give up.

She was going to be the fire to melt the ice, even if she was momentarily incapable of making a crack.

Rejection after rejection after rejection. That was how Sakura’s life worked.

It was about time she did something about that.

Sakura quickened her pace and stifled her yawn with her hand. She was currently brusquely walking through Konoha towards the bridge in which she met her team before training. In normal circumstances, she would arrive just before Naruto (which was usually right on time). But today would be different. Today she was going to be there before everyone else. Before Sasuke. She would lean against the bridge’s rail, strike up a cool pose, and when Sasuke asked her why she was so early… she’d… she’d say something really cool. And then he’d fall in love with her.

Sakura stopped walking, earning herself a couple of glances from passers-by. It didn’t sound right anymore. She had planned it all out last night, but it seemed to make more sense at the time. Now she was having trouble backing up her decision. Maybe she should just go home, go to bed and come back at a decent hour? If she didn’t retreat now, she would end up stuttering, blushing, and running away screaming. Perhaps she should keep it safe…

No. Part of achieving goals included a little bit of risk-taking. She wasn’t going to give up now. This was serious. This was her life-goal, after all.

So, although her mind was screaming for her to stop, Sakura stuck her nose in the air and onwards she strode.

She reached the bridge and collapsed in a heap. Her nerves had certainly gotten to her and she had been stressing all the way there. She had absolutely no idea what she was going to do or say. She would just have to wing it and hope for the best.

She stood up and scanned the rest of the bridge. No one was there. Perfect. This gave her an opportunity to formulate another plan. She leaned against the side of the bridge and stared out towards the rising sun. When Sasuke came, she wouldn’t say anything. He was always telling her that she was annoying anyways, so she might as well give him what he wanted (for once). But then what? Would they just stand there and wait for Naruto and Kakashi like normal people?

Definitely not. She wouldn’t achieve anything if she didn’t do anything. It was then that she made the decision that she was going to do something. But what?

“Hi.”

Sakura’s head jerked up. “What?” she gasped, nearly falling over. Assuming that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her, Sasuke Uchiha, no The Sasuke Uchiha had just said “Hi” to her, which meant that he had acknowledged her presence! Sure it didn’t sound like much, but it was definitely a start.

It was then she realized that she had been gapping. She immediately closed her mouth, blinked a few times and she too said, “Hi,” leaning against the bridge-rail once again. Sasuke was standing a couple of metres away but then he took a step forwards.

And then another step. And another. Four steps. Five, six, seven… Her heart beat about seventy times for each step and was just about ready to burst. Then he stopped. For a moment, she thought her heart would stop too, but instead, its beating-rate only increased.

He leaned against the rail of the bridge, not even bothering to spare her another glance.

Now she was sure that her heart had stopped. Then, her Inner Self decided that it was about time that she shared her wisdom. How dare he?! Inner Sakura hollered. You’ve been waiting for this moment! Don’t you dare let him take it away from you! Don’t let him ignore you! Let your presence be known!

Sakura nodded, and out of determination and the pressure building up inside her, and before she realized what she was saying, she yelled, “SASUKE!”

Sasuke jumped a few inches into the air and nearly toppled off the bridge at her sudden outburst. Immediately assuming the worst, he drew a kunai-knife from his weapons pouch and held it before him, ready to attack the enemy. “What is i-,” he started, but Sakura interrupted him.

“Sasuke, I was wondering… can I have a hug?”

She froze and came back to her senses. Whoops. Did I really just say that?! Oh my goodness, I am such an idiot! Not only that, Sasuke’s going to think I’m an idiot! Way to go! Sakura covered her face with her hands so as to not see Sasuke’s dumbfounded expression. Between her fingers, she saw him lower the knife. He opened his mouth to say something.

Aw man, I’m going to get rejected again and Sasuke will think that I’m a total loser! No! This can’t be happening! Inner Sakura shrieked.

“Why?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest and raising and eyebrow.

O.O

Sakura’s head nearly collided with the rail of the bridge. She certainly hadn’t seen that coming. “Why?” she repeated, her mind racking for something to say that didn’t sound totally stupid. “Well… you see, it’s just… if you… I mean… you see… um…,” she murmured, fighting the urge to stutter. What do I say? What do I SAY?! Sasuke hated girls who stalked him (like she did), so she decided to act un-fan-girl-ish.

“It’s what friends do to comfort each other,” she said, also folding her arms and trying to look serious. “And family too.”

At the word “family”, his eyes widened. He didn’t have a family…

“Why do you think I would need comforting?” he asked with a frown, facing her with his trademark Uchiha glare.

She was about to say something about his family, but she thought better (she was afraid that he would be insulted), so instead she said, “Everyone could use it once and awhile, I guess.”

He slowly turned away, lost in thought. Sakura’s heart started pounding again. Was she supposed to say something? Was she supposed to defend her theory? Instead, she stood there with her mouth shut tight…

“Alright,” he finally said.

“Alright what?”

“Alright!” he repeated, growing angry, his face tainted pink. “Go ahead! You can… you can…,” but he didn’t finish because Sakura was starting to get the picture.

“You mean… I can hug you?” she asked, flabbergasted.

The colour on his face darkened. “Whatever. Go ahead.”

He unfolded his arms and stood there. She didn’t know what to do. She just stared at him. He was actually giving her permission to hug him? This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! But it still seemed kind of awkward. He was just standing there…

“I’m not going to you,” he said quietly. Her face was blank and unmoving. Then, ever so slowly, she took a step forwards (she felt like she was going to die), and then she hugged him. Just like that.

They stood in this position for a few long moments before Sakura whispered, “Sasuke, it’s not working.”

“Isn’t it?” was his reply.

“No it’s not!” she said from somewhere over his shoulder. “I don’t feel comforted!”

“Why not?”

She sighed. Was he really so dense? “You aren’t hugging me back!” she whispered, trying her hardest not to raise her voice any more.

“Oh,” he said. He didn’t move for a few seconds. Then he returned the hug. Just like that.

They stood in this position for a few long moments before Sasuke whispered, “When is it over?”

Sakura’s eyes widened slightly. He wanted it to end? She closed her eyes. How could she have ever thought that he would want to hug her? He was probably hugging her to get her to shut up and leave him alone! She sighed. “When you get sick of it, I guess. It’s up to you. All you have to do is let go.”

“Ok,” he said. He didn’t move. A minute passed by.

“You’re right, Sakura. It’s quite nice.”

O.O

Sakura slipped out of his arms and landed on the ground at his feet. Her head had had enough. She couldn’t take it anymore. There was too much information to be processed into her head. Her eyes were opened wide and she was twitching slightly.

Sasuke was about to say something again, but was interrupted by a wolf-whistle. The two of them spun around.

Naruto, Kakashi, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Asuma, Hinata, Kiba, Shino and Kureni were standing there with dropped jaws. “You-!” Naruto started, pointing at Sasuke, but he was lost for words so he didn’t continue. Kakashi dropped his book.

“We were going to be sparing with the rest of the Rookie 9,” Kakashi said, picking up his book and looking back at them.

Sasuke and Sakura’s heads were redder than tomatoes.

They fainted, banged their heads on the railing and spent the rest of the day in the hospital.

Hey, who ever said that achieving your goals was going to be easy?

The End.

So that’s it! I hope to see your reviews!

-wolf08