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I honestly started to like SasuSaku before I even got into Naruto, and I didn't even know it :/ I used to save fanart off websites all the time, and had a relatively good collection of SasuSaku fanart without even realizing they were Sasuke and Sakura, or were from Naruto. I just loved the art. So I saved it.
When I got into Naruto I was shocked to find out they were from that show. And so I went into the series, erasing all of my possible bias so that I could get a better understanding of the show and the characters with in it. I started out solely as a Team 7 tard. I LOVED TEAM 7. I still do. And as a Team 7 tard, I focused solely on the relationships within the team. While I did this, I discovered the potential for a romantic relationship between Sasuke and Sakura.
Sakura never once annoyed me throughout the series-- it was pretty obvious that she was going to be overshadowed by Sasuke and Naruto when it came to strength, but Kishimoto made sure to go through and show her strenghts too-- in areas that most people don't exactly consider "true strength", which is wrong. Each member of Team 7 held a different role as a character, each one filling in a hole that the others lacked.
Sasuke was the prodigy, the one with a dark past and a serious tone with everything he did. He was the perfectionist, and embodied human strength and power.
Naruto was the loud mouthed, funny one. He needed work hard to get what he had. He wasn't the smart one on the team. Naruto embodied dedication and hard work.
Sakura was the emotional, smart one. She was the one who cared about her teammates. She embodied human weakness as well as emotions and intelligence.
This is what created Team 7-- a dynamic that formed a bond between all three characters. And this bond is only connection completely by the friendships they all shared-- Naruto and Sasuke had a brother/friendly/rivalry sort of bond. Naruto and Sakura had a friendly/tolerance/caring bond. Sasuke and Sakura had a protective/caring/emotional bond. These three bonds are required for Team 7's existance.
The only difference I saw was that where everyone's bonds were slowly forming as they gained trust, teamwork, and tolerance for each other, Sasuke and Sakura's bond remained muted, but developed at a faster pace. It was a bond that seemed to grow in the background with Sasuke's overprotective instincts and Sakura's unwavering emotions. While she was opened up to the darker portions of his life, she never ONCE turned her back on him, even if she didn't agree with him. She supported him through and through, and he leaned on this support. And when she was in trouble, there was a trust that he would be there to take care of her. But one thing that both characters could do for each other that Naruto could never do for the other was POINT OUT FLAWS. To tell them they were wrong. To get through to each other WITH WORDS and not violence.
That was what make the SasuSaku bond stick out to me the most.
To compound it, I was completely blown away with the protectiveness Sasuke had over Sakura, and his ability to pick up on subtle difference in her emotions and actions-- and vice versa, for Sakura. It didn't just start out of the blue, either. Sasuke's protective streak with her was shown from the beginning of the manga during the bell test-- you don't worry about someone screaming because you don't care, and you don't lean over them after they pass out for no reason.
You don't try to protect someone from an oncoming enemy when they're already prepared to fight just because you feel like it-- and then get angry afterward becuase your teacher took the guy out instead of you. You don't get worried when you hear your teammate scream and then blame it on your teacher, whom you obviously think should be protecting her, just because you hear the scream.
You don't draw the strength to defeat something that has you scared stiff after seeing someone crying if you don't feel some sort of emotion that can stir you enough to overcome the fear and need to rescue both of you.
I could go on and on about the things that Sasuke did to show his protectiveness over Sakura. It just doesn't end. And the best part about it was that Sasuke was willing to tell her when she was wrong, and then admit he had been to harsh, notice her hiding the fact she was hurt, and consequently "apologize" by complimenting her on the strenghts she did have instead of condemning her for those she lacked. This is something Sasuke has never done, not once, for any other character in the series-- and, when you think about who egotisical he can be, this is just proof that he doesn't NEED the ego around Sakura. By admitting she had the best analytical and genjutsu skills, he was insinuating that his were second rate than his-- basically drawing a line that she was better than him at such things.
Where as, if you remember with Naruto, when Naruto would excel somewhere he didn't, it created animosity-- with Sakura, it created a respectful bond.
At the same time, Sakura was very willing to point out Sasuke's mistakes and give him the strength to keep moving, and to fight. One prime example happened during the forest of death.
"It's true that Naruto may be clumsy and stupid unlike you, but at least he's not a coward!"
While this is an attack at Sasuke-- calling him a coward-- it is also what Sasuke NEEDED to hear in order to start fighting. If it were Naruto who said such a think, he would have drawn out anger. If Sakura had said it to Naruto, he would have sulked. Sasuke used it to draw the courage to fight.
The FoD should have solidified any questions about the SasuSaku pairing-- we saw, REPEATEDLY, how dedicated they were to keeping each other alive. And on top of it, we saw how THEIR BOND was needed in order to keep the dynamic between Team 7 alive. There are things that a romantic relationship between Sasuke and Naruto or Naruto and Sakura would lack-- and most of it is genuine caring or the ability to precieve things that are wrong with the opposite party. I don't view this has a problem with Sasuke and Sakura.
When it comes down to a level of understanding of each other, Sasuke and Sakura ALSO excel at this when it comes to one another as opposed to Naruto when it comes to both of them. Naruto, even though I love him, has a tendency to generalize people by comparing them to himself, and that's what hinders his perceptive abilities when it comes to their emotions and intentions. He's been betrayed multiiple times throughout the series by people-- and the only character he's had a HUGE impact on is Gaara, who was just like him. He's impacted others-- but at the same time, this impact was only drawn out by other characters as well, such as with Neji.
Sasuke and Sakura never needed this. They always seemed to know how to point out the faults in each other, even if Sasuke's method is a bit mean, and get the other to focus on fixing these faults. When Sasuke wakes up in the FoD, for example, he immediately realizes that Sakura had been protecting them and that she had been fighting-- which should have been simple, but it's still something that Naruto didn't notice. Sasuke knew that her hair was cut because of the battle.
And, in a protective streak, he attacked blindly to defend her even though there were tons of other people around who were already fighting. He took the situation into his own hands and disposed of the people who had hurt her-- with a new found power he didn't have the ability to control. And it was SAKURA who got him to control this new found power-- which Shikamaru saw. This is why his comment at the gate before the retrival arc really hits me hard:
"Even YOU couldn't convince him, right?"
He saw how, even witht he malice that was radiating through Sasuke, she was able to draw the curse seal back into him and get rid of his killing intent and calm him.
When I got into Naruto I was shocked to find out they were from that show. And so I went into the series, erasing all of my possible bias so that I could get a better understanding of the show and the characters with in it. I started out solely as a Team 7 tard. I LOVED TEAM 7. I still do. And as a Team 7 tard, I focused solely on the relationships within the team. While I did this, I discovered the potential for a romantic relationship between Sasuke and Sakura.
Sakura never once annoyed me throughout the series-- it was pretty obvious that she was going to be overshadowed by Sasuke and Naruto when it came to strength, but Kishimoto made sure to go through and show her strenghts too-- in areas that most people don't exactly consider "true strength", which is wrong. Each member of Team 7 held a different role as a character, each one filling in a hole that the others lacked.
Sasuke was the prodigy, the one with a dark past and a serious tone with everything he did. He was the perfectionist, and embodied human strength and power.
Naruto was the loud mouthed, funny one. He needed work hard to get what he had. He wasn't the smart one on the team. Naruto embodied dedication and hard work.
Sakura was the emotional, smart one. She was the one who cared about her teammates. She embodied human weakness as well as emotions and intelligence.
This is what created Team 7-- a dynamic that formed a bond between all three characters. And this bond is only connection completely by the friendships they all shared-- Naruto and Sasuke had a brother/friendly/rivalry sort of bond. Naruto and Sakura had a friendly/tolerance/caring bond. Sasuke and Sakura had a protective/caring/emotional bond. These three bonds are required for Team 7's existance.
The only difference I saw was that where everyone's bonds were slowly forming as they gained trust, teamwork, and tolerance for each other, Sasuke and Sakura's bond remained muted, but developed at a faster pace. It was a bond that seemed to grow in the background with Sasuke's overprotective instincts and Sakura's unwavering emotions. While she was opened up to the darker portions of his life, she never ONCE turned her back on him, even if she didn't agree with him. She supported him through and through, and he leaned on this support. And when she was in trouble, there was a trust that he would be there to take care of her. But one thing that both characters could do for each other that Naruto could never do for the other was POINT OUT FLAWS. To tell them they were wrong. To get through to each other WITH WORDS and not violence.
That was what make the SasuSaku bond stick out to me the most.
To compound it, I was completely blown away with the protectiveness Sasuke had over Sakura, and his ability to pick up on subtle difference in her emotions and actions-- and vice versa, for Sakura. It didn't just start out of the blue, either. Sasuke's protective streak with her was shown from the beginning of the manga during the bell test-- you don't worry about someone screaming because you don't care, and you don't lean over them after they pass out for no reason.
You don't try to protect someone from an oncoming enemy when they're already prepared to fight just because you feel like it-- and then get angry afterward becuase your teacher took the guy out instead of you. You don't get worried when you hear your teammate scream and then blame it on your teacher, whom you obviously think should be protecting her, just because you hear the scream.
You don't draw the strength to defeat something that has you scared stiff after seeing someone crying if you don't feel some sort of emotion that can stir you enough to overcome the fear and need to rescue both of you.
I could go on and on about the things that Sasuke did to show his protectiveness over Sakura. It just doesn't end. And the best part about it was that Sasuke was willing to tell her when she was wrong, and then admit he had been to harsh, notice her hiding the fact she was hurt, and consequently "apologize" by complimenting her on the strenghts she did have instead of condemning her for those she lacked. This is something Sasuke has never done, not once, for any other character in the series-- and, when you think about who egotisical he can be, this is just proof that he doesn't NEED the ego around Sakura. By admitting she had the best analytical and genjutsu skills, he was insinuating that his were second rate than his-- basically drawing a line that she was better than him at such things.
Where as, if you remember with Naruto, when Naruto would excel somewhere he didn't, it created animosity-- with Sakura, it created a respectful bond.
At the same time, Sakura was very willing to point out Sasuke's mistakes and give him the strength to keep moving, and to fight. One prime example happened during the forest of death.
"It's true that Naruto may be clumsy and stupid unlike you, but at least he's not a coward!"
While this is an attack at Sasuke-- calling him a coward-- it is also what Sasuke NEEDED to hear in order to start fighting. If it were Naruto who said such a think, he would have drawn out anger. If Sakura had said it to Naruto, he would have sulked. Sasuke used it to draw the courage to fight.
The FoD should have solidified any questions about the SasuSaku pairing-- we saw, REPEATEDLY, how dedicated they were to keeping each other alive. And on top of it, we saw how THEIR BOND was needed in order to keep the dynamic between Team 7 alive. There are things that a romantic relationship between Sasuke and Naruto or Naruto and Sakura would lack-- and most of it is genuine caring or the ability to precieve things that are wrong with the opposite party. I don't view this has a problem with Sasuke and Sakura.
When it comes down to a level of understanding of each other, Sasuke and Sakura ALSO excel at this when it comes to one another as opposed to Naruto when it comes to both of them. Naruto, even though I love him, has a tendency to generalize people by comparing them to himself, and that's what hinders his perceptive abilities when it comes to their emotions and intentions. He's been betrayed multiiple times throughout the series by people-- and the only character he's had a HUGE impact on is Gaara, who was just like him. He's impacted others-- but at the same time, this impact was only drawn out by other characters as well, such as with Neji.
Sasuke and Sakura never needed this. They always seemed to know how to point out the faults in each other, even if Sasuke's method is a bit mean, and get the other to focus on fixing these faults. When Sasuke wakes up in the FoD, for example, he immediately realizes that Sakura had been protecting them and that she had been fighting-- which should have been simple, but it's still something that Naruto didn't notice. Sasuke knew that her hair was cut because of the battle.
And, in a protective streak, he attacked blindly to defend her even though there were tons of other people around who were already fighting. He took the situation into his own hands and disposed of the people who had hurt her-- with a new found power he didn't have the ability to control. And it was SAKURA who got him to control this new found power-- which Shikamaru saw. This is why his comment at the gate before the retrival arc really hits me hard:
"Even YOU couldn't convince him, right?"
He saw how, even witht he malice that was radiating through Sasuke, she was able to draw the curse seal back into him and get rid of his killing intent and calm him.
