A friend of mine was ranting on her OTP (KakaIru) and demanded to know what I thought about what she called 'the sacrilage of pairing Orochimaru with Kakashi' and it almost killed her when I told her that it could be hot if it was well done. She completely spazzed on me and asked why it didn't bother me since she knows that I hate Orochimaru and adore Kakashi. I just shrugged and told her that I'd write my very first DA journal on my opinion of pairings and she told me to compare SasuSaku to SasuNaru so here it is.

I'm a very open mindedperson when it comes to pairings. I'll read or view art of anyone paired with whomever as long as it's good work but I will admit to having favorite pairings, of both yaoi and het, and there are pairings that while I dont dislike them, I just can't see them working. One of those is SasuSaku. I just don't see it.

Before Sakura grew up I couldn't see Sasuke even looking at her a anything other than a friend and occasional annoyance. Now that she's become more mature I can't see her putting up with Sasuke's attitude. I think she'd beat him to a pulp. Every way I look at the pairing of Sasuke and Sakura all I see is Sakura giving everything she has to Sasuke and him never giving anything back and her just putting up with it. And no matter how mature and tough Sakura gets she's not capable of getting Sasuke stirred up because she doesn't truly understand where he's coming from.

SasuNaru is a different story. I know dang good and well that Naruto would be just as giving as Sakura but he would not stand for Sasuke just taking and not giving. He'd poke and prod at Sasuke until the avenger exploded and they'd fight their differences out then make up. Naruto has always been able to get a rise or response out of Sasuke from the moment they first met. Naruto knows how it feels to be alone and so can relate to Sasuke far better than Sakura.

I'm not saying that SasuSaku is impossible, it could work if Sakura knew what utter loneliness felt like or if Sasuke became less of a selfish, icy, jerk, but it is very improbable from my point of view.

And there you have it. My opinion on pairings in general and SasuSaku and SasuNaru in specific.