S.H 

The Mangekyou Sharingan was the main reason why the Uchihas were so famous. Sakura had heard of it, long before she had even met Sasuke, and while she had seen many Sharingans while modelling, she had never seen one in person.

People say that the Mangekyou only activates out of pure fear or love. Looking at the situation at hand, Sakura was pretty sure is was both. And she wasn't sure whether to feel honoured or not about the Mangekyou activating for her.

"Sasuke!" gasped Sakura, sweat lining her forehead out of her previous fear of being killed right there and then. She approached Chloe's lifeless body carefully. "Oh my gosh, you didn't-"

"She's alive," Sasuke reassured her. "I didn't hit her that hard. But, Sakura- " he grabbed her hand and pulled her into a tight embrace with him, her pink hair muffling his voice. "-are you alright?"

"Shocked," she whispered into his chest, feeling her hands tremble. "But safe. And unharmed."

"Thank God," sighed Sasuke.

"Oi!" 

They both glanced up to see Naruto running towards them, shock and confusion written on his face. "What's going on here? Is that...is that a gun?"

"Naruto, I'll explain everything to you. We need to call the police too," Sasuke informed Naruto as Ino and Hinata ran up to them, panting. "But first, Sakura. You two, escort her back to the Eiffel Tower. Make sure Guren and Tsunade know about this, and then tell them to come over here immediately."

"Roger that!" Ino nodded firmly, wrapping Sakura in a hug and slowly started walking to the main area. "Come on, let's go back to the others and you can tell us everything that happened with some hot chocolate."

"I'll run ahead and tell everyone about the situation," Hinata decided, running off after the two nodded at her. 

"You okay?" Ino scanned Sakura's face. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm not," Sakura shook her head. "But if Sasuke hadn't been there, things would've ended very badly."

She shivered, trying not to think about what the outcome would've been. Ino hugged her again. "Oh, you poor thing."

Once they arrived back at the first floor of the Eiffel Tower (where the set was getting packed away), a crowd of worried and angry faces greeted them. 

"Hinata explain a little of the situation," Guren offered for Sakura to sit down on a bench, wrapping the pinkette in a warm blanket and providing her some croissants, butter and hot chocolate. "Don't worry, Tsunade and I will take charge of the situation."

"Agreed," Tsunade said determinedly, her nostrils flaring. "That Chloe girl always gave me a bad vibe. To think she was armed with a gun this whole time is ridiculous."

"We'll tidy this situation up," Guren nodded, and the two of them headed off with a couple of the lighting workers and bodyguards accompanying them.

Tenten squeezed Sakura's hand. "You know, it's okay if you don't want to tell us what happened."

"No, I will," she was surprised at how strong her voice sounded. "You all deserve to know."

She explained what had happened from the moment Chloe asked for her help to when Hinata and Ino brought her back, taking occasional sips from the warm drink that provided her solace.

When she finished her explanation, there was a flurry of remarks.

"That bitch," Temari clenched her jaw. 

Ino cracked her knuckles. "She's lucky she's going to jail, otherwise I would've sent her to the moon."

"Psycho," Sai shook his head. "Absolutely psycho."

"She did seem a bit different today," a stylist said grimly. "To think she was ready to commit murder."

"Over such a trivial thing, too," Hinata bit her lip. 

There was a silence as everyone tried to process what had just happened. Then Corrine broke the silence, her eyes miserable and downcast. "I'm so sorry for what happened."

"But it wasn't your fault," Shikamaru furrowed his brow. "You weren't the one holding the gun."

Corrine sighed, and Dylan wrapped an arm around her sympathetically and continued speaking for her. "We weren't the one holding the gun, but we knew that Chloe emotionally unstable. We knew that she wasn't being like her usual self-"

"Hold up," Neji held up his hand. "You knew she wasn't right in the mind and chose to keep this to yourselves?"

"We never thought that she should would try to kill somebody," Corrine said desperately. 

Naruto threw them a dirty look. "Well, you should've thought harder."

"Stop arguing," Sakura said firmly, and all attention went to her. "It's all in the past, arguing will get us nowhere. But Dylan, Corrine, I have a question for you two. She's been picking on me ever since I came here. It's nobody else, just me. And she kept on bringing up the fact that I had plastic surgery. Is there any reason why?"

"Well...you remember how I told you and Sasuke that Chloe and her ex recently broke up?" Dylan asked, and Sakura nodded. "I think that's where it all went downhill for Chloe."

"What do you mean?" 

"The breakup happened because her ex cheated on her with a model Chloe was styling at the time. You all know who Ashina is, don't you? Not the Uzumaki one, the one that films movies with Tomaru."

They all nodded. Ashina was in the generation of models below them, but even if she was seven years younger than them and didn't model for Senju, they had heard of her from her talent in acting. She was notorious for the surgery she had gotten on her face shape, breasts and ass.

"It was Chloe's twenty third birthday recently and her ex wanted to take her on a special date," began Dylan. "Let's call her ex 'Max'. He arrived at the set she was working on and happened to run into Ashina. Max was always a fan of Ashina, so of course he told her how great he thought she was.

"Ashina loves attention, so she sucked up to Max and they ended up hooking up in the heat of things. Chloe caught them in the middle of it, and dumped Max right there on the spot. Ever since then, I guess she's thought that people with surgery are fake and without morals. Hence, that's why she targeted Sakura.

"It also doesn't help that Max had black hair and black eyes just like Sasuke. Max is actually distantly related to the Uchihas too. Seeing Sasuke with Sakura must've triggered something inside her, something uncontrollable."

Corrine hastily added, "We're not trying to give an excuse for Chloe or anything. What she did is wrong and dangerous. We just wanted you to know that, at heart, Chloe isn't the psychotic maniac like she was today."

There was silence in the group as the news sunk in. It was broken by the sound of feet walking on the stairs as Sasuke and Naruto arrived on the first floor with Tsunade trailing behind them.

Immediately, Sasuke went to Sakura and wrapped his arms around her, peppering her forehead with kisses. 

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered into his chest, before clinging onto the warmth it provided. "Thank you."

He leaned back with a smile on his face. "I don't need to be thanked. I just did what anybody would do. Well, except for that psychotic blonde. The police think that Chloe could be facing up to ten years in prison. Of course, you make the final call."

"I..." Sakura trailed off, looking down at the ground. "I don't think I want that for her."

"What?" Sasuke demanded, and all attention turned to them. "You don't want Chloe in jail?"

Sakura was met with angry faces and remarks from her friends, especially Sasuke and Ino. She held a hand up. "I never said that I didn't want Chloe in jail. I still think she deserves to go to jail, but not just for that long. I would rather she spend her time recovering a healthy mental state than rotting in a cell with hours of boredom. I want her to get out of an unhealthy mindset, and I think that this is the best option."

"Sakura," Tsunade rushed over, gripping Sakura's shoulders and shaking them slightly. "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely."

Tsunade sighed before leaving. "I guess I'll have to inform the police then."

"I hope you're not mad," Sakura turned to Sasuke as soon as Tsunade had gone. She laced her fingers with his. "It must've been pretty scary for you too."

"I'm not mad," Sasuke eventually said. "I just hope that one day, the kindness you have won't lead you to danger."

"It won't," Sakura grinned. "Besides, if it did, you'll be my side again, right? And then we'll fight together."

"I would like that," Sasuke said, his lips lifting up into another smile. "I would like to be by your side."

"That reminds me of something," she stood up, dragging Sasuke over to another flight of stairs before beckoning towards it. "I need to talk to you about something."

Sasuke nodded, and the two climbed up the stairs to the next floor of the Eiffel Tower. They walked in silence as something Chloe said niggled onto Sakura.

You guys aren't even dating.

Sakura took a deep breath and took the final step onto the second floor. It was completely empty and silent, just barely catching the wails of the police cars. 

The scenery drew her in, and she walked until she was leaning on a railing that overlooked Paris. It was about seven thirty at night by now, any evidence of the sun completely gone.

Paris was beautiful, bright lights standing out against dark buildings that varied in size. The wind was light, carrying with it different saccharine aromas.

Sakura had seen Paris at night before, but there was something different about seeing Paris from up here. She could see the whole bustling city at night in a place completely devoid of action.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Sasuke asked her without looking, his eyes glued to the city.

"I just want to know...what exactly we are."

"What do you mean?"

Men can be so clueless sometimes, Sakura noted to herself. "Chloe said something."

"Oh my gosh, if this is about you being ugly because of plastic surgery, I just want you to know that you are beautiful-"

"It's not that. But thank you, though," she smiled. "She said that the two of us shouldn't even be here. 'You guys aren't even dating', she said. I hate to admit it, but in a way, she's right. We're in like this weird stage between friends and dating. We're the outsiders compared to the rest of the group."

Sasuke squeezed her hand. "Would you like to take it to the next level?"

"I..." Sakura released the breath that she didn't even know she had been holding. She grinned brightly. "I would love to."

"Good," Sasuke smiled and pulled her closer towards him as they kissed. "Because I want to call you mine."

Sakura's cheeks lit up. "Sasuke, you're such a flirt."

"But you aren't complaining, are you?" chuckled Sasuke.

"Caught me," Sakura laughed too. Suddenly, a flock of birds flew above them. To be specific, they were, "Doves?"

The couple's eyes met, and then the talk about their future in middle school flashed between them. Sakura began to lean in for another, longer kiss when Sasuke interrupted, "Not yet, Sakura."

"Huh?" she blinked, straightening up.

He smirked. "We'll save that kiss for the honeymoon."

"Yeah," she felt dazed. "Yeah, that's right."

Sasuke offered his hand. "I know for sure Ino and Naruto are dying to know what happened between us. Let's go?"

"Of course," Sakura accepted his hand. And then they walked down the stairs to meet their squealing friends, the two of them no longer enemies or friends, but rather dating now. 

She smiled. She didn't know whether it was the fact they were in Paris, or the atmosphere of happiness she had after Sasuke's affection, but she felt that love was certainly in the air.

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word count: 2010