The Bet
"Sakura, can I talk to you?"
"Sure Sasuke-kun!" I waited to hear what he had to say.
"Alone." What would he want to tell me that would require us to be alone?
"Uh... sure." we started to walk into the forest and away from the training grounds, after we went about 1 ½ miles, I stopped and turned to face him. "Okay..so what did you-" His lips were suddenly attached to mine. It took me about 2-3 seconds before I responded back. I brought my hand to the back of his neck, to hold him where he was. And he brought his hands to my lower back, then pushed me up against him. Sadly... we had to part for air. He leaned his forehead against mine. "What was that for?" I was somewhat out of breath.
"I can't say this without it sounding ridiculous... I did it cause I love you." somewhat hesitantly, I smiled.
"Hmm."
"That's it? No screaming, no jumping up and down?" he had an eyebrow raised.
"Would that help anything?" I asked
"No, not really." he smirked.
"Didn't think so." I smiled again. And he then parted from me, and turned around, then started to walk.
"Well, you can go find Ino, while I go to the dobe."
"Naruto?" he seemed to hesitate for about 3 seconds, before he turned around, smirking.
"So I can tell him not to come near you... with certain circumstances in mind. And so that you can tell Ino the same."
"Oh." I laughed and ran off to the flower shop, missing the sigh of relief, and the smirk of triumph. As I came in the shop, my eyes immediately caught the white roses, and I walked up to them, looking at each and every beautiful one. White roses were my favorite, they are so beautiful... not that red roses are bad, I just think they are boring, old, overused, and unoriginal. I mean, they are very beautiful too, but it all depends on personal perspective... and mine is that I like white roses the best...
"What are you doing?" I heard a voice speak to me.
"Looking at the roses Ino."
"Okay, and why are you looking at the roses, and why the white ones?"
"The white roses are my favorite flower, and I'm looking at them cause I want to... is that a crime?"
"No... but it's not a usual thing for you to come in here and look at roses..." she had a contemplative look on her face before she gasped. "Something happened with Sasuke-kun..." she concluded. "What happened?"
"Nothing." I winced, that was a terrible lie.
"Sakura..." she warned.
"I don't want to tell you because we just started patching up our friendship, and I don't want him to mess it up again."
"He wont... so what happened." I sighed.
"He kissed me and told me he loved me."
"What?!" I winced again, and she seemed to calm down a bit. "Ahem... uh... hmm... I'm," she looked like she was at a loss for words. "Happy for you." My eyebrows rose.
"What?"
"Yeah, I mean, you and I both know that I only liked him, cause you liked him... that, and the fact that he is fine!" we both laughed. But then I stopped abruptly.
"What happened to you, you're being... nice." she got a firm look on her face.
"We are going to the movies, I have nothing to do, and I'm not going to sit here and be bored."
"There is the, do as I say, no questions asked, girl I know."
"Shut up." I laughed, and we then went on our way to the theater.
"So, what do you want to see?"
"Well, there is that one movie that just came out, I think it's called, When in Rome." we both looked at each other, scrunched up our faces and shook our heads 'no'. We looked at what is showing in about 5 minutes, looked at each other, smiled and nodded. Once we had our tickets, we went to watch what we hoped was a good movie.
"That was awesome!" Ino exclaimed.
"Seriously!! I love how when he transformed his fingers looked deformed, and that was just... ah! That was great!"
"I was talking about the men." Ino stated seriously. We looked at each other, blinked a few times, then burst out laughing. "Yeah, you're right, that was great, it was definitely worth watching Wolfman insteadof When in Rome...Well, I'm hungry, let's go get dinner." I nodded.
"Where do you want to eat?"
"Let's just look around till we find somewhere to eat." I nodded again. We ended up walking two hours before we decided to just go to the next restaurant we saw. As we walked in, we had about 5 minutes to look at the menu before a waiter walked up.
"What would you two fine ladies like?" We looked up at the waiter who just spoke, and our eyes couldn't help but travel. This man had somewhat long, spiky brown hair, with a red ribbon across his forehead, he had a perfectly pointed nose and was wearing a smirk on his face. He wasn't wearing a shirt (Is he allowed to do that on his job?) so he showed his well defined muscles that were worth drooling over, and he was wearing pure white pants... he looked awfully familiar.
"Uh..." I tried to think of what I had seen on the menu a minute before. "Hm... surprise me."
"Yeah, me too." Ino said, yet I had a feeling she wasn't just talking about her food. He nodded, smiled, and turned to give out orders to the cook. "Wow... he could rival Sasuke for his looks."
"Sadly... I have to agree with that." I laughed a little, then we proceeded to wait for our food.
"Okay, so you have the-"
"No, don't tell me, I said I wanted it to be a surprise, and there are a few things on the menu that don't sound appetizing, if you had chosen one of them, I don't think I'd end up eating it, so don't tell me." he chuckled.
"Okay, well, here you girls are." he set the food down on the table.
"Thank you." Ino said, I would have said it too, but with the way she said thank you, seemed like enough. I looked down at my food, it looked okay to eat. I sniffed a little... it smelled okay... I took a bite and... wow! this is delicious! Whatever it is. I finished my food within 10 minutes. "Well, it must be really good..." Ino trailed off.
"Oh, it is." I smiled. She looked suspicious and started to eat her own food, her eyebrows shot up.
"You're right!!" she then started to chow down.
"Well, it must be really good." I mocked her.
"Shut up." she grumbled, I just laughed.
"Having a good time?" The waiter from before asked.
"Yes, thanks." I smiled at him.
"Ugh!" Ino, the waiter, and I looked two tables across from us, and our eyebrows rose as we looked to each other.
"What are Sasuke and Naruto doing here?" she asked.
"Well... Sasuke did say something about having to talk to Naruto..." I told her.
"I wonder what it is he's saying."
"No Ino, that's called eavesdropping, that's rude."
"Oh, it won't hurt anything to eavesdrop! Besides, you never know what you could find out..."
"But Ino-"
"Sh!"
"Ino-"
"Shhh!!!" I rolled my eyes and tried not to let my curious ears listen to the conversation... but it was inevitable...
"But Sasuke-teme..." Naruto complained.
"I won the bet dobe. You can either give up on ramen for a week, or you can pay up."
"I can't believe Sakura wasn't suspicious..." my eyebrows scrunched, and I looked over at them... what are they talking about?
"She was, when I said I was coming to meet you, but I made up an excuse, but that doesn't matter, you lost the bet, what do you choose?" I didn't like the sound of the word 'bet'.
"So she actually believed you, when you said you loved her? After all the times you rejected her, she believed that you would all of a sudden love her?"
"She is more gullible than both of us expected, obviously." tears filled my eyes, and I lowered my head.
"Fine," Naruto grumbled. "I'll pay." I stood up slowly, and both Ino and the waiter looked at me.
"Sakura..." Ino said cautiously.
"Wait... you're Sakura?" the guy said. I didn't say anything, I just got my wallet and was about to pay, when one of the mans hands came to stop mine. "That's okay, it's on me." I wanted to tell him not to do that, just cause he pities me. But I just nodded and left. I got home precisely at 6:30. I didn't bother to change, take a shower, or to even take off my shoes. I just flopped down on my bed, and let the silent tears roll off my face as I fell asleep.
When I got up, I saw that it was 6:07 and I groaned, I'm not supposed to be there till 8:00, but there is no point in going back to sleep now. I got out of bed, got a copy of the same dress I wear everyday (man, my life is so dull...) out of my closet, stripped off the same dress I had just chosen, that I had worn yesterday, and I was just about to put the new dress on, when I remembered I didn't bother to shower last night. I groaned again, and went to the bathroom attached to my bedroom. Once I was finished, then I put on the same red dress, grabbed my weapon pouch, and headed out the door.
As I got there, I saw that I was even earlier than Sasuke-ku- ahem... lets just say that I was way earlier than normal.
"Please!! I lost a lot of money yesterday!! Please!!" I heard Naruto's voice beg someone, I looked over and saw Naruto and Sasuke-k- "Oh... uh... hey Sakura-chan!" I turned my back on both of them and sat my elbows on the railing of the bridge. I wasn't just sad and angry at Sasuke, but at Naruto too.... and I'm pretty sure it's not hard to tell why... "What's wrong Sakura-chan?" I didn't answer. "Sakura-chan...?" I still didn't answer. "Sakura-chan..." Just ignore them, and they'll go away... "Sakura-chan." I closed my eyes... he was getting really annoying, and I was having a hard time not to act upon my annoyance at him, and my anger that is increasingly growing. "Sakura-chan." shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!! "Sakura-chan!!... Sakura-chan!!!... SAKURA-CHAN!!!"
"WHAT?!?!?!" I whipped around and yelled at him even louder and angrier than ever. He seemed to shrink back.
"I just wanted to know what's wrong." I glared at him, it wont take him very long to get the idea that I don't want him to talk to me. I turned back around and instead of trying to ignore him speaking, I attempted to ignore his presence.
"Sakura." This time it was a different voice, my hands gripped the railing in a vice grip, I heard a little sound that sounded like the splitting of wood, and I knew that I was starting to break the railing, but my hands wouldn't let go of their grasp around the wood. "Sakura." He said a little bit louder. I turned around and looked at both Naruto and Sasuke.
"Both of you, shut up! And leave me alone! Especially you!!" I pointed at Sasuke and his surprised face, before I turned back around.
"Uh... Are you feeling alright Sakura?" I heard Naruto question... that's it... if either one of them speaks one more word to me, so help me, I will- "Sakura? Is something bothering you?"
"Ugh! That's it! I'm switching teams!" I heard a poof behind me signaling Kakashi-sensei was here, but nobody paid attention to his lateness for once.
"No! Sakura! What are you doing! What's wrong?!" I heard Naruto yell to me.
"What's going on?" Kakashi-sensei asked.
"Sakura said she's quitting the team!" Naruto yelled.
"Wh.... Sakura? Is this true?" he didn't seem sad or disappointed, just curious.
"Yes." I answered stonily.
"Why?"
"Because."
"..." he was waiting for the reason, I sighed as I continued stomping towards the Hokage's building, and listened as the boys traveled behind me.
"Because of those two, stupid, jerks!!" I wasn't just answering Kakashi-sensei's question, but I was also yelling at Naruto and Sasuke, when I name-called.
"What did they do?"
"Ask them, I'm sure they'd be able to give you a perfect summery!!"
"Boys?"
"We don't know what she's talking about." Naruto stated, I scoffed and stomped harder, creating little dents in the ground as I walked. Next thing I know, a pair of arms wrap around my waist, and I was transported along with that person to some random training field, as soon as we appeared, I pushed myself out of his arms and turned around, and found that it was Kakashi-sensei.
"Hey!!" I yelled at him.
"Okay... before you make any actions you might come to regret later, why don't you tell me about this conflict." I crossed my arms, and puckered my lips in thought, then started to describe to him the problem, he didn't interrupt once, though it looked like a lot of the times he appeared to be deep in thought. "Okay... let me talk to the boys first, before you decide to quit."
"Humph! Whatever." I sat down cross-legged as I watched him disappear. Not twenty minutes later, he appeared with Naruto, who ran up to me as soon as he saw me, and hugged me. I tried to get him off of me, but he wouldn't let go.
"Iamsosorry,Ididn'tmeananyharm,pleasedon'tleavethegroup,pleaseforgiveme,I'msorry!!" It took me a minute or two to decipher his words, but when I did, I noticed his desperation, and how sorry he actually was... and well, I couldn't stay mad at him forever. I wound my arms around his waist.
"By the way Naruto, don't think that the next time you make a bet like this, you'll get away with it."
"I know, and I won't make bets like this ever again."
"And for future reference, don't think you will get hugs like this often, actually, I wouldn't even expect them at all." he laughed a little and nodded. We soon let go. "... Where is Sasuke." I asked somewhat hesitantly.
"Uh.. well he uh... he-"
"It's okay, I understand." I smiled a little.
"Please don't leave, I-"
"It's okay... I wont." he smiled.
"Good!" I looked at my watch and my eyes widened, it's 8:05 p.m!! Wasn't it just 6:07 A.M?!?!
"Well, I got to get home! Bye!!" First though, I'm gonna go to the restaurant I went to yesterday, and get something to eat. I walked through the door, ignored the bell ringing, and sat down at a table.
"May I take your order?" A bored voice spoke. I looked up.
"Hey!!" I yelled, he jumped a little and looked at me, I giggled a little.
"You're the girl from yesterday."
"And you're the boy from yesterday! Who would have thought we'd see each other at the same exact restaurant that you work in, where we first met!!" I rolled my eyes. Seriously, it's not that surprising. He laughed a little.
"Sorry. Hey, you're my last table, can I sit with you afterwords?"
"Sure, I'm not with anybody."
"Great, so what do you want?"
"Uh... I really don't care, just make sure it's good please." I smiled at him.
"Okay." he then left to give my order to the cook. I then had to wait about a half an hour, and I was bored the whole time, every time I tried to think of something to keep my mind occupied, my mind would draw up a picture of blackness, nothing could come to mind, but luckily the waiter dude showed up with a plate that looked and smelled delicious. "I think you'll like this, it's my favorite food here."
"And you think I'll like it just cause you like it?"
"Exactly, cause we have to have similarities for us to like each other." I laughed.
"And you think I like you?"
"Of coarse! No one can resist this smile." he smiled widely for emphasis.
"Hmm... it's hard to resist, but I think I'll be fine... besides, how can I like you, if I don't even know your name?" his eyes widened.
"Oh, sorry, uh... my name is Akio Dai."
"You already know my name... but why do you look so familiar, and your name sounds familiar too..." he smiled.
"You might have seen me in a few movies, and a television series." my eyebrows scrunched, then my eyes widened.
"Akio Dai... know I remember, you played as Sagara Sanosuke!!" he smiled and chuckled a little.
"Yeah." my eyebrows scrunched again.
"What are you doing here?"
"It's part of a bet..."
"Ah... a bet..." I rolled my eyes and shook my head...
"Uh, sorry."
"That's alright." I started to eat my untouched food.
"Wanna play a game?" he asked.
"What kind of game?"
"Well, I'll pay for your meal again if you win, and if I win, I get a kiss... on the lips. The game is to see who has the best pick-up lines, the one who laughs first loses." my eyebrows shot up before I burst out laughing.
"Okay... sure, I'll play. You can go first." he looked to be concentrating.
"Okay... Are you religious?" he asked.
"Why?"
"Cause you just answered my prayers." I bit my lip to hold in my laugh, then I spoke.
"Are you a parking ticket?" I wandered aloud to him.
"What?"
"Cause you got 'fine' written all over you." he smiled, but didn't laugh.
"Baby, you must be a broom, cause you just swept me off my feet." I smiled. "Do you have the time?"I was confused, weren't we just playing a game? But none the less, I showed him the time on my watch. "No, the time to write down my number." I almost laughed, but I put a hand up to stop myself, when I knew I wasn't going to laugh, I put my hand down, but I was still smiling. "Did the sun come out or did you just smile at me?" he can't do that!! he can't say three pickup lines at once!! I sighed, and let it go.
"Do you know karate? 'Cause your body is really kickin'!" he narrowed his eyes at me, and went for another.
"Does your watch have a second hand? I want to know how long it took for me to fall in love with you." This time I narrowed my eyes. "You know, you dropped something back there." I looked around.
"Where?" I asked, just to humor him.
"Over there!"
"What did I drop?"
"My jaw!" I shook my head, and smiled.
"I think you have something in your eye." I leaned close to him. "Nope, it's just a sparkle." I think I'm losing... I'm running out of pick up lines!!
"You look like my third wife."
"Oh? And how many time have you been married?"
"Twice." I pursed my lips so as not to smile.
"Hey, I seem to have lost my phone number ... Can I have yours?" I asked.
"I'm feeling a little off today. Would you like to turn me on?" my breath left me all at once as I tried not to laugh, or even giggle.
"You must be a magician, because every time I look at you, everyone else disappears." I 'admitted'
"I just have that effect on people." he then looked like he was concentrating. "Is your dad a baker?"
"No. Why?"
"Cause you have some nice buns." my jaw dropped before I put my hand up to my mouth, trying to not let loose a laugh, once I calmed down, I spoke.
"If I bit my lip would you kiss it better?"
"I don't speak in tongues, but I kiss that way." uh oh... I've run out, he must have seen my face, cause he smiled. "I win."
"No! I... give me a minute." I then thought for about 2 minutes, I had finally come up with one, and a few others also. "Will you read my palm?" I gave him my hand.
"I don't see anything."
"I didn't expect you to, because love is blind." he smiled again.
"Can I have your picture?" he asked
"Why?"
"So I can show Santa what I want for Christmas!"
"Do you have a band-aid?" I asked
"Why?"
"I hurt my knee when I fell for you." I saw him bite his lip, I got him... but he didn't laugh, finally he turned to me again, smile still present and spoke.
"Lets make like fabric softener and Snuggle!" I bowed my head as my shoulder shook with silent laughter. "Ha! I win! You laughed!"
"Nu uh! You have to actually hear me laugh!!" he narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips.
"Okay, fine." It was my turn next, so I thought of which one I wanted to say.
"Do you believe in love at first sight or do I have to walk by again?" he smiled again, but it looked like he was smiling bigger than usual, trying to hold the laugh in.
"I lost my teddy bear, can I sleep with you?"
"If I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put U and I together."
"Can I borrow your library card?" he asked.
"Why?"
"Cause I'm checking you out."
"Nice." I commented. "Though your feet must be tired, because you've been running through my mind all day long." his shoulders shook for a brief second.
"Nice pants. Can I test the zipper?" my jaw dropped.
"Getting more perverted by the second." I shook my head. "You know what your remind me of?"
"What?"
"Lucky Charms, you want to know why?
"Why?"
"Because you're magically delicious!" I answered.
"Very good. But I can do better."
"Go right ahead." I encouraged.
"Do you have a quarter?"
"Why?"
"I told my girlfriend that I would call her when I found someone better." My jaw dropped again, that's terrible, but then... why was I smiling?
"Are you a light switch? Cause I want to turn you on!" his head fell backward as his shoulders shook, he then shook his head and looked at me, humor still showing in his eyes.
"I'm not feeling myself today, can I feel you?" I pursed my lips and thought of my pick-up line.
"Were you in Boy Scouts? Because you sure have tied my heart in a knot." he smiled.
"Okay, this next one will win." I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah."
"Okay..."
"Did it hurt?"
"Did what hurt?"
"When you fell from heaven?" my eyebrows shot up again, and I burst out laughing.
"That's a classic!!" I said while laughing.
"Told ya! Now I win!" I grumbled, crossed my arms, and pouted. "So, when are you going to give me my prize?"
"What prize?"
"My kiss." my eyebrows furrowed before I remembered and I blushed. I leaned over the table a kissed his cheek, then sat back down in my chair. "Nu uh, I said on the lips." My cheeks turned even more scarlet. I leaned over the table again and connected my lips to his, not really hearing the doorbell ring, nor did I hear the almost inaudible gasp. All that I could concentrate on, was his lips on mine, his hand on my neck... and the fact that something deep inside me was saying this is wrong, that his lips are the wrong ones... I soon parted form him, and he opened his eyes, then his eyes slid right beside my face, and he smiled slightly. "I feel like I'm not wanted here." he chuckled and got up out of his chair and went to the kitchen. My eyebrows furrowed, and I looked behind me, and I saw Sasuke standing there. I glared at him and turned back around, crossing my arms.
"Sakura."
"Go away Sasuke-" I had to stop myself from saying Sasuke-kun.
"Sakura."
"I said go away!"
"No." my mouth swung open.
"How dare you! You-" I stopped talking when he sat in the chair Akio had been in.
"I..." I looked at him suspiciously. "I'm s..." my eyebrows rose, is he trying to say what I think he's trying to say? "Look, you know I won't say it," I sighed and rolled my eyes, of coarse. "But I know you didn't deserve that, and I regret that I did it."
"I hope you got some good money from it, and I hope it was worth it... and I'm sorry I'm so gullible!" he winced slightly. I stood up and was about to pay and leave, but he grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down firmly but -surprisingly- gently.
"I gave the money back."
"W-Why?"
"I shouldn't have taken the bet, nor should I have taken the money."
"But why did you? Wait, don't tell me, he took a blow to your ego... or was it your pride?" he looked off to the side, seemingly embarrassed.
"A little bit of both."
"He bet that you couldn't convince me you loved me, didn't he?"
"Something along those lines."
"And you had to prove you could."
"... Yeah." he answered somewhat quietly, still not looking at me.
"Are you sorry?"
"I already told you I regret it."
"I want to hear you say sorry."
"Sakura-"
"No, I want to hear it." he sighed. "And look at me while you say it." he looked up into my eyes.
"I... I uh... ahem... well..." I tried not to smile at his attempts. "I... well, I didn't want to... uh..." But I was finding it hard not to. "I-"
"Think of how sad you are, how much you regret it, how you really hurt me, imagine how you would feel if that happened to you... that's if it is even possible for you to feel for someone." The last part I muttered so low, he wouldn't have heard me.
"I..." he sighed. "I'm sorry." I smiled.
"You're forgiven... just don't do it again... please." And so, Sasuke has just learned a very valuable lesson, the question is... will he always remember his lesson?...
"Hn... who was the guy from before?"
"His name was Akio Dai."
"The Actor?" I smiled.
"Yeah."
"Why'd you kiss him."
"He had won our game. We were playing a game to see who had the best pick-up lines, and if I lost -which I did- I had to kiss him... on the lips. If I won, he'd pay for my food. I tried to get away with a kiss on the cheek, but... he wasn't having it."
"Hm..."
"Well, I have to go home, it's already 11:00, and my curfew is 8:30 -except on missions- and my parents are going to assume a lot of things, then when they find out what I was actually doing, they'll kill me, bring me back, and ground me for making them worry over nothing." he smirked a little.
"I'll walk you there."
"No, that's okay, I-"
"It's 11:00, not exactly the time a girl, especially one in their teens, to go walking around at night."
"What does teens have to do with it?"
"13 through 25-30 are the most rape victims, and you are 14 going on 15."
"I don't believe it happens that much to 13 year olds, they would be too young... And how would you know?"
"I don't exactly have anything to do at night, it happened to be on the television one night. And haven't you ever heard the word Pedophile?" I sighed, I guess I couldn't argue with that.
"Fine." I stood up and got my wallet out, but a hand stopped mine, I looked at Sasuke as he put money down instead. "Why do people keep doing that for me?!" he smirked.
"Cause people want to do what they can for cute girls, just to impress them." he teased me, I blushed.
"I was being serious... I want to know."
"I was being serious." I blushed even more.
"Whatever." I muttered, then started to make my way to the door, but turned around and saw Akio cleaning the table up. "Bye Akio!" he looked up, smiled, and waved.
"Bye Sakura-chan." I turned back around and proceeded out the door. Once we were out the door, I felt an arm wind around my waist, and pull me to their side. I looked over at Sasuke.
"What are you doing?"
"Someone could sneak up on us, I'm just making sure you can't get taken." I narrowed my eyes, what a liar, but I didn't call him on it, I just smiled and looked back ahead. When we got to my door, I turned around to look at him.
"Thanks for making sure I'm not kidnapped by pedophiles." I giggled a bit.
"Hn."
"Night." I turned around and almost went in when he grabbed my arm and pulled me to his chest. He turned me around, and his lips caught mine. I didn't hear the door open, our the slightly enraged gasps, all I could concentrate on was that this felt so right, his hand on my neck, holding me there, and that these lips were the only ones that should touch mine. When we parted, he grazed a finger across my cheek.
"Goodnight... Sakura-chan." and suddenly he was gone. I then turned around, and prepared to face my fate.
"Hey Sakura-chan!!" Naruto shouted as I walked onto the bridge.
"Hey Naruto."
"So... You and Sasuke are a couple now?"
"What?... no..."
"What?!?! The plan was flawless!!"
"Wait... what?!" he didn't hear me, cause he continued to mumble.
"Okay, so first I got Sasuke to accept the bet, then Ino took her to the movies and came to the restaurant right on time. Sakura heard, and got mad. Her and Akio played a game, Akio told me Sasuke had definitely gotten jealous, and that he said sorry, then walked her home... what went wrong?" me and Sasuke looked at each other.
"You gonna kill him?" I asked.
"Be my guest." we both turned to glare at him, then ran after him to kill the little devil...