Fighting Lovers

Sasuke considered all the factors.
He always considered the factors before acting, no matter what the situation.
Kakashi and Sakura were arguing.
Rude words were flying back and forth between them, and it seemed like the thick string that had been firmly wrapped around their love had finally snapped.  Where tender affection and gentle flames had once lurked, now there was only ashes and hatred.
Kakashi and Sakura had started dating shortly after Sakura's nineteenth birthday.  
Sasuke secretly thought their relationship was annoying.
Some lovers were just so.......dedicated.
Dedicated.
A good description, but still vague enough to only lightly touch the surface of the mind before being comprehended.
They were always holding hands or staring deeply into each others' eyes.  To Sasuke, it seemed like every time he turned around they were kissing.  Kakashi would whisper things into Sakura's ear that made her blush and giggle.  Perverted things, Sasuke suspected.  But Sakura was too close to Kakashi to mind his perverted comments.  And sometimes Kakashi didn't whisper.  He ANNOUNCED.
"Sakura, you have the most beautiful body I've ever seen," he said once.
If Kakashi had been anyone besides Sakura's boyfriend, she probably would have punched his lights out.
But she just smiled, blushed, and patted his arm.
It seemed like the love they had couldn't be broken apart.
Until now.
Sasuke weighed all the factors again.
Then he decided to do something he was always reluctant to do.
Something he didn't like and tried to avoid as much as possible.
But sometimes.....
Sasuke sighed.
He had to.
He had to meddle.
"Perverted bastard!"  Sakura cried angrily, her face red.
Kakashi opened his mouth to say something back, but Sasuke quickly jumped in.
"Alright, you two," he said sternly.  "What's going on?"
He couldn't help smiling a bit.
Usually he wanted Kakashi and Sakura to keep the details of their relationship to themselves, especially the sexual ones.  It wasn't because he was jealous.  He simply didn't want to know.
But things had changed, quicker than Sasuke could have expected.
He hated to admit it, but he cared a lot about Kakashi and Sakura and didn't want their relationship to crumble to dust.
"It's his fault!"  Sakura cried, pointing out Kakashi.  "Him and that stupid book!"
Sasuke's mouth dropped open.
"A book?"  he said in shock.  "All this fuss over a stupid BOOK?  Sakura, if you objected to his choice of reading material, you shouldn't have started dating him..."
"You don't understand!"  Sakura interrupted.  "He reads it all the time!"  She looked close to tears.  "He cares more about that book than he does about me," she said.  "I do not," Kakashi objected.
Sakura uttered a bitter laugh.  "Oh really?"  she said.  "Remember our last date?  You didn't even talk to me!  You just read your stupid book and paid no attention to me at all!  And remember a few days before that, when I came over to your house?  We talked for about five minutes, then I left to go to the bathroom.  I was only gone for two minutes and when I came back you were reading that book!  And you practically forgot I existed!  Did you even notice when I left?"
Tears began to stream down Sakura's face.
"You don't love me," she accused.  "All you love is that book!  You don't love me at all!"
The words hit Kakashi like a slap in the face.
He stood staring at Sakura, speechless.
"I knew that book was evil," Sasuke muttered.

"So, who's winning?"
"What?"
Sasuke turned and stared at Naruto, looking puzzled.
It was five days later.
Sasuke was sitting on a bench, thinking hard.
He hadn't even realized that Naruto had sat down beside him, until he spoke.
"Who's winning?"  Naruto repeated.  "Kakashi and Sakura are fighting.  Who's winning?"
"Naruto, this isn't a compe--"
"Do you mind if I sit here?"
Naruto jumped at the sound of Kakashi's voice.
Sasuke didn't.
Kakashi had been slinking around like a ghost lately, appearing when Sasuke least expected him.
And he certainly LOOKED a lot like a ghost.
He was pale and looked as if he hadn't slept in a while.
He's just like a ghost, Sasuke thought.
An empty shell.
The thought made him shudder a little.
Kakashi sat down without waiting for an answer.
"I need to get Sakura back," he said simply.
"Yes, we can see that," Sasuke sighed.
"I gave her a bouquet of flowers."
"What did she do?"
"She shoved them down my pants and stormed off."
Naruto quickly covered his mouth with his hand to hide the huge grin on his face.
"So how do I get her back?"  Kakashi asked.
Sasuke shrugged.  He really didn't know much about romance.
"Show her you care about her."
"How?"
"How should I know?  You know her better than me.  Give her everything she likes.  Get down on your knees and beg, if you think that will help."
Naruto choked down a laugh.
Sasuke glared at him, but Kakashi didn't seem to notice.
"I suppose I'll have to," he said quietly.  "I'll have to show her I care."

"Sakura."
"Go away."
Sakura didn't even turn around to see who had spoken her name.  She knew it was Kakashi.
"Sakura, I have something for you."
"Something for me to strangle you with?"
"Yesterday, I......"
"I couldn't care less about what happened to you yesterday."
"Please stop being angry at me.  It......hurts."
Sakura turned around.
Kakashi was standing there looking sad.
In his hands he held several cherry blossoms, strung together to make something that resembled a necklace.
"Is that for me?"  Sakura asked quietly.
Kakashi nodded and gently slipped the cherry blossom necklace over her head and around her neck.
"It took me hours to make," he told her.  "It's almost as beautiful as you."
Sakura blushed.
"And about my books......"
Sakura scowled.
"What about them?"  she asked sharply.
"I.....I got rid of them."
Sakura was stunned.
"G-Got rid of the-them?"  she stammered, her eyes wide with shock.
She had never considered, even for a second, that Kakashi would ever get rid of his perverted books.
"Oh, Kakashi!"  Sakura cried.  "You didn't have to get rid of them just for me!  You can still read them, as long as you don't read them so obsessively......"
Kakashi kissed her gently on the lips.
"But you mean more to me than they do," he told her.  "I don't need those books, as long as I have you."
"But your books......"
"I'll survive without them.  Trust me, Sakura."
Sakura thought about the flower necklace, his kind words, the way he didn't seem to mind how bitchy she had been, his rekindled love for her that he had expressed so sincerely, the sacrifice he had made......
Sakura smiled.
"You're the sweetest man I've ever met," she told him.
She kissed him.

Sasuke and Naruto stood several feet away, hidden behind a large tree.
Sasuke smiled as he watched the two lovers kiss.
"Well, looks like things are back to the way they should be," he observed.
"How long before Kakashi starts reading those perverted books again?"  Naruto asked.  "It has to happen sometime."
Sasuke shrugged.  "Maybe, maybe not," he said.  "Maybe he only read those books because he was lonely.  He might have continued reading them after he started dating Sakura, but maybe it was only because habits like that are simply hard to break.  Maybe all he really needed......was her."
Sasuke smiled again.
These were only "maybes" and nothing more.
Just "maybes".
But somewhere, behind the uncertainty, Sasuke could detect a subtle ring of truth.