Sasukes POV

Asking her out was a mistake.

Only now that I realize it, she deserves better. Not me, definitely not me. Maybe Lee can take her, hes a nice guy, sort of annoying, but he means well, but I know for a fact no matter what I say, She wont listen.

So how am I gonna get rid of her you may wonder.

Easy.

No one likes someone who cheats.

It was genius, But I need to have a plan for Sakura to purposely catch me cheating. Its not what I want to do, but shes left me no choice, if anyone is the bad guy, its her.

I grabbed my phone and opened up the internet.

"How..to..catch..a..cheater." I said outloud as I typed it in on the searchbar. A few websites popped up but one that really caught my eye was the one in bold letters that said:

HOW TO CATCH A CHEATER IN 3 EASY STEPS!

Bingo.

I was home alone, eating a bowl of ceral and scrolling through the website. School doesn't start now so I have a lot of time before I leave.

Step 1: Has he been distant lately? Distracted? Not paying attention to you? Well thats definitely a sign that he has another woman in his life, and you arent the only one anymore! Check in on him with that.

Step 1...Ignore Sakura completely.

Step 2: Is step one relatable to? Well then lets put it into action. Have a friend talk to him and see if he flirts with her, if he doesn't, dont even think about moving onto step 3, hes probably not cheating on you, but if he does flirt, Time for step 3...

Step 2...Flirt with other woman

Step 3: Catch him! Now that you know hes a cheater, the best thing to do is catch him in the act of cheating! Whether its kissing, holding hands, or doing "the deed" with another woman, You must confront him and end that horrible relationship with that Idiot!

Step 3...make Sakura catch me on purpose.

That has to be the hardest part of the whole steps. Just imagining Sakuras betrayed eyes looking at me with another girl breaks my heart, but it'll break my heart even more if she still decides to love me after it all.

It'll be hard, but if Sakura can forget about me, then thats what I want, then I can go to Iruka and not make her my partner for this stupid project.

This project is literally hell.

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It was time for school and I already gotten dressed. I walked through the wide gates of the school and was confronted by 3 people. They were like my other group of people that I hang out with when I dont feel like hanging out with that dobe.

"Sasuke!" Jugo, Suigetsu, and karin all lunged at me and hugged me. It was weird, but I couldn't help but smile.

Jugo was a big guy, but hes very peaceful, as long as you leave him alone. If you piss him off, he literally turns into the hulk. Hes also popular because hes known for his temper and he has a nickname of "The animal whisperer".

Suigetsu is annoying. He reminds me a little of naruto, but not that much. Hes waterboy for the Fireballs and the katon (our baseball team). Hes looks wimpy but hes strong, ive seen him lift Jugo off the ground...but for 3 seconds before he got squished.

And Karin is pretty self explanatory. Sure shes annoying and Im not very fond of her, but I still hang out with her, even if she is an annoying fangirl. Shes not that bad of a person either, she doesnt show it but she loves to help people, she hides it with her popular, stuck up attitude though. Shes been losing attention though ever since the fight.

"We haven't seen you in awhile, what have you been up to?" Suigetsu asked me. I shrugged, not caring in giving him a response.

"Of course he doesnt want to awnser to you Suigetsu, show some respect to the man." Karin smacked him in the back of his head.

"You should hang out with us more. We arent like who we use to be last year. Weve...changed." Jugo said peacefully as he looked away at the trees blossoming.

Last year we were troublemakers, and I would love to join them in on it, but our last prank took it too far, so I decided to hang out with them less. They set the library on fire, but thankfully it didnt go far. It just burnt a few bookshelves, but if it went on for longer, the gods know what would of happened.

"Yeah Sasuke, we arent like last year, were new, independent people who respect things. Oh how naïve of us." Karin clunge onto my arm. That's when it hit me. Karin! What a perfect target. I mean not a target, shes still a human. Id never consider dating Karin, but if It meant Sakura would leave me alone, why not?

"You guys are right. Maybe I should hang out with you guys." I looked at Karin, and karin looked back at me with passion.

"All right!" Suigetsu cheered. Jugo smiled and nodded. I quickly wrapped my other arm around Karin and gave her a hug, a small hug.

As Suigetsu kept shouting, I saw 5 faces looking at me, all of sakuras friends, including herself were staring. I didnt make it obvious tha I was looking back, but I saw. Tenten and temari both had a bored look on their face, Ino and Hinata were in shock, and Sakuras eyes just shouted betrayal. Her usually bright green eyes were still green, but not as bright anymore.

"Karin" I said. I caught her attention and she looked up at me, "Let me take you out, later today."

Her eyes went from a dull red color, to a beautiful crimson color of hope.

"Y-yes of course!"

I smiled at her and kept her in my arms. Time for step 3.

Sakuras POV

You know that feeling in your stomach when youre really anxious? It feels like someone punched you below your belly button? Thats exactly what I feel, but 100 times worse. It feels like a donkey kicked me in my stomach.

"Its probably just a friendly hug, Its not like the hugs he gives you." Ino said.

"He never gives me hugs..." I muttered.

"The way he looks her in the eyes is like the way I look at Lee, Obviously annoyed." Tenten improvised but failing.

"He looks at me like that...Does that mean Im annoying to him?" I pondered.

"No, no way, then why would he be dating you?" Hinata said.

"I dont know"

"Then have trust in him of course!" Hinata smiled cheerfully. I guess she was right, Sasuke deserves a chance to explain himself.

"Alright I should trust him." I smiled and turned away from the horrible sight of Sasuke and Karin.

"So what are we all doing today after school?" I asked everyone, I was free today so I was hoping maybe instead of sitting around I could go somewhere with someone.

"Binge watching on Netflix." Tenten moped.

"Im going to the park with shikamaru later." Temari said.

"N-Naruto invited me to his favorite restaurant today." Hinata giggled from the thought. Who would be excited to see naruro slurp ramen the whole time?

"Im raising money to buy our costumes for the Halloween party, which is just a couple of days away." Ino reminded us. I completely forgot. Im dressing in a green jumpsuit like what choji said. It'll teach lee to stay away from me. "We should all clear our schedules for tomorrow so we can all get our costumes together!" Ino continued.

"Ill see if I can." Tenten responded with.

The rest of us just nodded our head in agreement with Tenten. Tomorrow was Saturday after all and we all just loved to stay in on a Saturday after a brutal week.

"Well if youre going to the party you know you have to have to dress up, thats the rules." Ino shrugged, acting as if she didnt care but truthfully, she probably did.

A crisp, cold fall wind blew through our hair and clothes, causing all of us to shiver. Im not much a fall person, or winter. I love summer very much, but everyone else just loves fall.

"I should of wore a jacket today." Ino muttered while she covered herself with her arms.

"Its common sense not to wear crop tops in cold weather season Ino..." Temari rolled her eyes.

"B-but its fashionable." Ino shivered.

I was cold as well but I didnt want to complain or make it obvious, even though the goosebumps on my arms really did make it obvious.

A warm jacket was wrapped around me. I didnt even look twice at who it was to know who. Sasuke naturally smelled like a very strong musk scent, so I snuggled it in my arms, cherishing its warmth.

"It is a bit chilly." Sasuke joined our conversation. All my friends gave him a dirty eye for earlier and nodded their head.

"Yeah youre right, I should start wearing more again." I turned to him so we could have our own conversation.

"Are you free tonight?" He asked me. A ray of sunshine shined on his face, I hope for seeing him with me, and not with Karin.

"Y-Yeah of course!" I stuttered as I leaped into him. He stood their awkwardly, not giving me a hug back, but a small pat on the back.

"Cool, Ill pick you up at around, lets say 7?"

"Alright."

"Bye Sakura."

I didnt respond back to his bye... He called me Sakura! Not cherry blossom! My whole world is crumbling apart, does he still even like me?

Tenten huffed, "You honestly are so gullible..."

"Whatever, I still love him, even if hes becoming a bit more distant."

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"Sakura you look good, its almost 7, just put in your earrings and go!" Ino yelled through the phone. We were all face timing each other. Temari was at the park sitting on a bench with shikamaru who was half asleep, Ino was in her room organizing her dresser, Tenten was chilling on the couch with half of her face stuffed with popcorn and a movie going on in the background, and Hinata was in her room, playing with her hair while she eavesdropped on our conversations.

"I have to look perfect, Im sure Sasuke did the same." I told her.

"He should be on his way so you should wrap it up on your outfit, you look absolutely stunning." Tenten said. I blushed.

"Thanks dude."

"No problem." She flashed a peace sign at the camera and went back to watching her movie.

*Ding-dong*

Everyone looked at the phone and squealed in excitement. Shikamaru woke up looking around for whatever Temari was screaming at, then he looked down at her phone and frowned, "What a drag..." he muttered.

"Oh shush...Good luck Sakura!" Temari said while hanging up.

"I hope you guys have a good date." Tenten winked and hung up too.

It was just me, Ino and Hinata. Ino was dancing in the background and Hinata was chewing on her hair. She does that whenever shes excited.

"Okay guys Im going, bye." I pressed the hang up button and ran out of my room, down the stairs and right at the front door I stopped. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Sasuke had a black tuxedo on with his hair done up instead of down. He had a box of chocolate in one hand, and roses in the other.

"Hi Sakura."

"Did you get these for me?" I asked while taking the presents from his hands.

"No theyre for your dad."

An awkward silence past through us until Sasuke broke it with a harsh tone.

"Yes theyre for you, Lets go now."

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We arrived at a fancy restaurant, it was an Italian one. Thats when you know its gonna be really romantic. He'll order spaghetti and we'll both "accidentally" take the same noodle and kiss each other. How romantic of him!

"Table for 2 please." Sasuke asked the waiter as we walked in.

"Yes, yes of course, Please follow me." The waiter grabbed two menus and had us walk over to the outside area of the restaurant. Flowers hung from the outdoor walls and vines hung along with them.

"How romantic" I admired the beautiful decorations.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded.

"Heres your table, Ill be back to take your orders." The waiter put the menus on the table and bowed to us as he went back into the restaurant.

"This is so kind of you Sasuke." I pulled up my own seat. Sasuke stayed standing.

"I have...to use the bathroom. Admire the beautiful roses while Im gone okay?" He weirdly chuckled and walked off before I could ask him why.

I stayed quiet in the chair, looking around and admiring the beautiful decorations and such. Only a few people were outside while the rest were inside. I dont get how people wanted to stay inside instead of be outside where its so much more pretty.

It got a little boring looking at the same thing over and over again so I pulled out my phone to check up on everyone.

*ON THE PHONE*

Sakura: Hi

Ino: hey, hows the date going?

Sakura: Amazing, were outside and its absolutely gorgeous.

Sakura: Hes in the bathroom right now but Who knows how long he'll take lol

Tenten: lolololol probably forever.

Tenten: how long has it been since he went?

Sakura: 2 minutes

Tenten: Hes probably having tummy issues.

Hinata: HAHAHA

Ino: What kind of guy takes 2 minutes to piss?

Tenten: A guy who needs to do more then take a piss...

Ino: Oh right...

Sakura: Enough about me

Sakura: How was your date w/ Naruto hinata?

Hinata: It was amazing!

Hinata: maybe not as fancy as yours but it was probably just as great.

Hinata: Who knew ramen was so good? Especially with fishcakes!

Ino: aw you guys are so cute!

Tenten: Both of you guys make me jealous of my own relationship.

Tenten: He wont even take me out for ice cream

Ino: thats not as bad as going out with a man who has no filter.

Ino: I couldnt introduce him to you guys without having some sort of problem.

Sakura: Well Ino, if it makes it any better, I dont hate sai anymore

Sakura: I just really really REALLY dislike him.

Ino: Gee thanks -_-
_______________________________________

"Sorry about that." Sasuke grunted while sitting down.

I put my phone away and smiled at him, "No worries."

"So have you chosen what you want?" He said while picking up his menu.

"Yeah, how about you?"

"The spaghetti looks good."

Haha! Success!

"I know right, lets both share it so we can save on money." I suggested eagerly.

"But what about what you wanted to order?" He looked at me questionably, I shook my head and put on a smile.

"No please I insist."

He gave me a raised eyebrow look, then shook it off. We both sat in silence till the waiter came around.

He clicked his pen, twirled it in his hand a few times, and asked us what we wanted to eat.

Sasuke told him we both wanted a plate of spaghetti, and some water for us both as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silence was our topic, and it was very awkward...

I could only thank the gods when our waiter came with food. He set it in the middle of the table, he also handed our drinks to us. I didnt want water but It seems that sasuke couldnt afford anything else. Which I am quite alright with as long as we start talking, or else Im going to lose my mind.

I neatly grabbed my fork and got ready to chow down when Sasuke grabbed a huge chunk of spaghetti with his hands and chucked it in his mouth. His beautiful black and white tuxedo was painted with tomato sauce now, and his face looked like a disaster.

Id never thought Id say this, but no one looks as attractive as eating like a pig like Sasuke.

Even though his face and outfit were messy, who doesnt like a little messy? His ebony eyes really made things a hundred times better. I could watch Sasuke to this for hours.

"Pass the salt." Sasuke said with his mouth full of spaghetti.

I did as he told me and passed the salt, which he then poured almost half the little container of salt down his throat, causing him to gag and spit out the spaghetti. Some of the tomato sause landed on my face, which I didnt really care.

I laughed at him while he was coughing. He growled under his breath, I stopped and looked at him seriously, the same way he did.

"Oh sasuke.." I sighed under my breath while getting up out of my seat. I stood right next to him. He got up as well, but instead he gave me a dirty look. I wasnt very fond of it, but its better than him not looking at me at all.

"Thank you." I got on my tippy toes and kissed him on the nose. It was a simple woodpecker kiss to thank him for such a weird date, Im not complaining though.

As I got back down to my regular size, Sasuke looked at me in bewilderment, as if hes never seen me before in my life. I couldnt tell which emotion he was feeling, His eyes were wide with surprise...and tearing up? Ive never seen Sasuke cry. He wiped his eyes before I could though.

"Sakura."

"Sasuke."

"I love you, and I would never trade you for anything else," He grabbed both of my shoulders and hugged me, "Never forget that." He whispered.

I stood in his embrace for a second, trying to sort out what I just heard. It was so unexpected of Sasuke judging by his attitude this whole date. I wrapped my arms around him and stood in embrace with him. I didnt say anything but I think he knew what I meant.

I loved him back.

Sasukes POV

I didnt think such a simple kiss can make me remeber all the good times I had with Sakura, especially this year. From being chased by my brother,  going on a limo ride with the Akatsuki, Her confessing her love to me, me taking her to my old home, The game "incident", and now were here...

I simply cant get rid of Sakura. Shes been with me for so much. Not only this year, but we have other memories in the past. I remember in elementary she would always try to get my attention by doing unbelievable tasks.

In middle school, She got much closer to me, She would try to have conversations with me, but I would rudely push her away.

Then in high school, it was like she completely forgot I existed. Ill be honest, those 3 years of high school when I spent most of my time with my other friends, It was hell. We only just started talking again when Iruka assigned the project, My whole attitude changed as well. Whenever Im with other people I dont talk as much, but when Im with her, Its like Im a talkative machine just like her.

I cant believe I tried hurting her with such a cruddy plan.

Flashback

"I have...to use the bathroom. Admire the beautiful roses while Im gone okay?"

I ran away before I could see her reaction. I didnt really need to use the bathroom, I was gonna meet Karin outside the restaurant like we agreed in our text messages. She said she needed to tell me something as well.

I made sure Karin was waiting outside in Sakuras view.

"Hey Karin!" I waved at her while sprinting over to her.

"Oh hi Sasuke" She smiled at me, "Took you long enough."

"Yes I apologize. Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes, Sasuke I-"

"Thats great Karin, lets kiss." I grabbed the back of her head and passionately kissed her. I looked over to where Sakura was sitting, but she wasnt even looking at us! She was texting someone on her phone!

Karin pushed me away, I looked at her curiously. I didnt think Karin would be mad that I kissed her, I mean wouldnt she like me kissing her? I am her all time crush.

"Sasuke, I dont like you anymore."

I starred at her in amazement. How is that even possible?

"After the fight, It made me think, I dont deserve you, Sakura already has your heart and I should respect that..." She smiled, "Besides I kinda have a crush on someone else now, and its stupid."

"Who?!" I asked in anger. She was my only plan for getting Sakura off my back.

"Suigetsu. He really helped me through the whole fight thing. Dont tell him please!"

Suigetsu? How low does your standards have to be to like that idiot? Well I guess low enough to like me...

"I understand Karin... Lets not continue this date." I told her honestly. She didnt look mad like I thought she would.

"Bye Sasuke."

"Bye Karin."

End of flashback

"Sasuke are you okay?" Sakura asked me.

"Yes, Im fine. I just wanted to make sure you knew that cherry blossom." I caressed her cheek.

She dryly chuckled, "Alright, Its late and youre a mess. Lets go home."

I chuckled, "Alright, that sounds like a plan."

I wont ever change my mind, for it is set now. I promise myself, I promise Sakura, and I promise the whole universe, that Sakura is mine, and no one will change anything about that.