Explanations: Because I know I owe my followers and the followers of this story an explanation. First off, yes, I did delete this story and now am uploading it again. This is because of my desire to revise and completely (-ish) alter the flow of the story. I'm starting anew, not just with my works, but with my life (hahaha) as well. I hope you'll still find it in your hearts to understand, love and enjoy this story. Thank you.

Mornings in Blurb were hectic and the employees could attest to that the best. Donut here, coffee there and miss where's my sugar? everywhere. Then again, busy mornings were the lifeblood of a café, next to college crammers who seemed to need coffee every three hours. Sakura sighed and quickly faked a smile at the sound of a new customer arriving.

"One caramel macchiato, please" A man wearing a business suit ordered across the counter. Sakura nodded, some of her pink hair escaping her bun. The man across her was a regular. Every morning, he orders the same thing, at the exact same time and sits at the same exact couch. Sometimes Sakura wonders if there was a permanent indention of the man's butt on one of their couches. In the 20 year old cashier's mind, he was Routine Man.

"That would be $5.00, sir. Enjoy your day." Sakura handed Routine Man his coffee and reached over for the payment. Breathing in the scent of coffee and pastries and hearing the ringing of the entrance bells, Sakura prepared herself for the onslaught.

"I hate mornings. Especially Monday mornings." Ino complained as she took a long drag of her cigarette. Exhaling smoke slowly, Ino rolled her eyes at her friend's coughing fit beside her.

"How many times have I told you to stop smoking?" The pinkette asked, waving her hand in an attempt to chase away the smoke. Honestly, she had already forgotten how many times she had asked her blonde best friend.

Ino grinned and flicked her cancer stick, "As many times as I've said 'no.'"

Sakura made a sound at the back of her throat, "Tsk, the habits you got from your boyfriend—"

"Fuck buddy."

The pinkette raised an eyebrow, "Uh-huh, so you've said." Letting the subject go, Sakura leaned back, with her elbows supporting her wait against the cement stairs of the coffee shop's back entrance. "If you hate mornings so much, maybe you shouldn't be working in a café."

Ino shrugged and fished another cigarette stick from her breast pocket. Sakura attempted to reach for it and throw it but Ino, using her long limbs, kept it out of her reach. The green eyed woman rolled her eyes and peeked at her friend, "Is it because he's working here?"

Shikamaru, Ino's ex-boyfriend/ex-fuck buddy, was one of their coffee shop's baristas. Amazingly, for a guy who sleeps half his life away he makes damn good coffee. The two had gone out for a year, if Sakura remembered correctly, and it was the happiest Sakura saw Ino after Chouji's untimely death. However, one night, Ino just arrived at Sakura's apartment, crying and sobbing and Sakura hadn't asked.

"Tsk, it's just a coincidence." The blonde shrugged and puffed out another cluster of smoke. Sakura shrugged, not in the slightest convinced, "If you say so."

Unlike Ino, Sakura worked at the café not for a guy –even if Ino vehemently denied it- or the convenience of it… Okay, maybe a bit for the convenience of it, combined with a relatively high salary. Sakura had been able to buy a bicycle and keep a stable job that wasn't too far from her university but it weren't just that. This job gave Sakura the opportunity to observe people in a safe distance (behind the counter) without coming off as too strange and being a Psychology major in the University of Konoha, the pinkette was bound to take it at first glance. Given that it wasn't the only summer job that offered Sakura the opportunity to observe people, it was one of the best and the most comfortable. Who the hell wants to fry under the unforgiving sun, handing out leaflets that nobody ever reads? Not Sakura, that's for sure.

Besides, free coffee from their really nice (and really rich) boss helps keep Sakura awake at night for last-minute reviews and for waiting up for her brother's calls. The pinkette's ears twitched at the sound of the bells jingling and looked up at the newly arrived customer, only to roll her eyes.

Great, of course he was here again.

And as scheduled, he was here with Monday.

For a month that Sakura had been working in Blurb, she had known several –if not all- of the café's regulars. Some of which were Routine Man, the hormonal couple and the three hipsters and of course, Mr. I-date-a-different-girl-everyday or as Sakura would like to call him in her mind; Man whore and the girl he was with was Monday. Sakura almost felt bad about defining the woman in relation to the man she was with (Gender Studies, bitches) however, Sakura never really heard anything from the woman and so, Monday. Out of the five Man whore brings to the shop, Monday was the only one with blonde hair and short stature. Tuesday had brown hair, blue eyes and a very strong accent. Wednesday was quite, black haired and with glasses. Thursday was an array of colors in her hair and beads and feathers as accessories. She was all gesticulations and toppled coffee cups that Sakura had to clean up and lastly, Friday. Friday was a little order than Man whore, with smile lines around her lips and her hair tied in a tight bun behind her head. Out of all the five, Sakura had to like Friday the best… what can she say? The woman tips well.

Snapping out of her reverie, Sakura tuned her attention to Man whore as he recited his order as Monday looked around the café for a seat; "I'd like to order one dry cappuccino, a caramel frappe and a slice of blueberry pie, un."

"That'll be $32.00, Man wh- I mean, sir." Sakura quickly slipped on a strained smile and mentally beat up herself for letting her private thoughts sneak out of her mouth. This habit of hers had landed her in trouble in more than a few occasions.

Deidara smirked, but shrugged off the comment. After placing his payment, the blonde moved at the other end of the counter to wait for his order. While waiting, he snuck a look at the pinkette cashier and grinned to himself. Somehow, he'd felt earlier on that she would be the one to pick up on his routine over her other co-worker. Still, she was still rather interesting, observant and what-not.

"You guys need a ride?" Shikamaru asked, leaning against the doorframe of the female employee's locker room. Pre-occupied with tying up her hair, it took a while before Sakura answered.

"Nah, Sasuke's picking me up, besides, it's my turn to close up shop right?" The pinkette asked rhetorically, slipping into her gray shoes. "But thanks for the offer, Shika." She grinned.

The barista shrugged and puffed out a puff of smoke, "I see… Ino?" He asked, inclining his head to the blonde. Ino looked at Shikamaru through the mirror as she applied her lipstick and grinned. The blonde looked like she was out for a girl's night, wearing a purple one shouldered top, jean skirt and boots that Sakura could swear that belonged to their other crazy friend, Karin.

"You don't mind do you? Just drop me off Night Life, I'm meeting with my chikas." The blonde grinned and looped her arm with Shikamaru's and proceeded to drag him out. Sakura wondered if it was really over.

After double checking everything, Sakura locked the front door of the café and proceeded to drag down the screen to double lock it. After the pinkette accomplished this, she fished out for her phone and flipped it open.

"8:05." She read. Sasuke was supposed to pick her up at 8 pm sharp and although it wasn't a big deal to her, she knew that the youngest Uchiha – at least the one she knew of- wasn't the type of guy to be late to anything. Maybe except anything involving Naruto, their childhood friend and maybe anything involving his cousins as well.

Worried and curious, Sakura decided to call Sasuke and after a few beeps, the Uchiha answered.

"Hey, Sasuke, where are you?" Sakura asked, as she walked towards the part of the street that was illuminated by a street lamp.

"My car crashed –"

"Are you okay?" Sakura inquired immediately, because no matter what people said about the perfection that was her ex-boyfriend, Sasuke was still an awful driver.

"-without me in it." Sakura heard an exasperated sigh at the other end of the line. Trust Sasuke to be bothered with concern. "I'll still be picking you up – Otouto, say hello to Sakura for me- but I'll be with my brother." The younger Uchiha sighed yet again as if being with his brother was a chore and knowing Sasuke, it probably was.

"Oh. That's okay, say hi to Itachi for me though." Sakura grinned at the sound of grumbling at the other end of the line before it went dead. Deciding to wait, Sakura sat down on a bench just underneath the street light. She fished out her earphones and plugged it to her cellphone, she was scrolling through her playlist when a voice spoke.

"So you finally checked out, un."

The pinkette looked up and saw Man whore standing at the other side of the road, wearing the same clothes he was wearing earlier.

Deidara looked at both sides of the road before crossing. Soon, he was at Sakura's side of the road and meters away from her. Well aware of stranger danger, Sakura stood up and wrapped her earphones around her cell phone, in case that she needed to run from the strange man.

"So?" Sakura challenged, appraising her potential harasser.

The blonde grinned, it looked like his wait of three hours at the bar across the café would be worth it. "I see the way you look at me, un." Deidara grinned at his double-edged comment and at the pinkette's quick pick-up of the less innocent implication.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "One, you're weird so get away from me. Two, from what I saw, I think you're a man whore and three, I'm a Psych student so back off."

"Psychology, huh. Are you sure you're not some stalker, un?" The blonde grinned as he saw the pinkette rise to the bait. He was not at all offended at the pinkette's diagnosis of him, it was quite refreshing, finally hearing her talk aside from "Thank you sir etc."

The pinkette was half tempted to just let it go, and thankfully that half won out as she decided to just ignore the man and silently will Itachi to drive faster, driver's etiquette be damned.

"They're my clients, by the way, un." Deidara stated, moving an inch towards Sakura.

Sakura was starting to become uncomfortable and fervently will Itachi to drive the hell faster or else she might have to resort to her ninja moves and go all ninja to the blonde man. It was going to be a waste of time and pretty face, not to mention dangerous.

"So, what? You're a gigolo? Classy morning-after date, though." Sakura asked, slightly curious but very, very sarcastic.

Deidara blanched and lost his cool aura, "Of course not!" The attractive male – Sakura suddenly realized (after being around the Uchiha family so much, being gorgeous began to be just normal so-) breathed through his nose to calm down and decided to straighten his ties and walk towards her in a brisk pace, nearly closing the distance between them.

At this distance, Sakura could already smell his cologne and see clearly the gloss of his hair. If any would pass by, the pair would've made a pretty picture. Sakura, nearly leaning on the street light pole with her light blue top and dark jeans and Deidara, leaning over her, wearing a white long sleeve and dark blue tie, paired with black slacks.

While Sakura was pre-occupied with Deidara's outfit, the blonde was pre-occupied with her colors. At this distance, he could already see the different shades of green in the pinkette's eyes as well as the different colors of her hair. Aside from pink, there was red, magenta and almost whites hidden in the throngs of pink hair. Her face was small and not completely flawless as he had thought. A scar marred her slight large forehead and another one on her jaw. She was pale for a Konoha citizen in summer, the blonde noticed, probably from all the work indoors, he shrugged and grinned inwardly, no matter, she was still absolutely adorable.

Deidara laughed to himself in delight and grinned when the subject of his scrutiny shoved him away.

Absolutely full of expression as well.

Not one to be daunted when he saw something beautiful, Deidara didn't budge and decided to close the distance between them, this time, all of it.

Before Sakura could comprehend what was happening, the blonde stranger was already kissing her. Mouth firm and warm against hers, Sakura almost forgot to struggle, but when he sucked her lower lip, a jolt of reality struck her and in turn, struck him in form of her knee hitting his gut.

Torn between coughing and laughing, Deidara looked up to an indignant cashier, red in the face and shouting; "You fucking pervert!"

The blonde grinned at the effect of his kiss, "Eh, it was fine, would've been better if you responded though, un."

Fist shaking beside her, Sakura growled; "What made you think I'd respond in anyway except my knee meeting you gut?"

Sakura's anger almost dissipated into nothing when Deidara casually stepped closer, the light hitting his eyes, exposing the near-crazed look he was giving Sakura; "Because you and I? We're hot for each other, un."

And with that, he was gone.

Itachi and Sasuke arrived just seconds after Man whore left and Sakura had never been happier to see Itachi's overprized car. She promptly opened the back door and threw herself in, grace be damned. She glared at Sasuke through Itachi's rearview mirror, well aware of the elder's eyebrow rising.

"Do not be late ever again"

After ignoring and surviving the combined prying of the Uchiha brothers – Sakura was surprised that Itachi could actually pry- Sakura finally arrived at her apartment. Quickly deciding to take a bath, the pinkette quickly entered her bathroom to wash away the coffee smell, because as fragrant as it was, Sakura preferred smelling like herself, please.

"Ah… that was great." Sakura moaned as she stepped out of the bath room, with her bath robe secured around her waist and a towel on top of her head. Lazily, she began picking up the clothes she tossed off earlier. Before shooting them into her laundry basket, the pinkette decided to check for stray money and what-not in the pockets of her pants. Surprisingly, she pulled out a card.

"When did he—oh." Sakura blushed, knowing how the card got to her pocket. Deidara was written on the card and nothing else, just a name. 'What kind of card is this?' Sakura thought. It definitely wasn't a business card, because all it had was a name and no contact details – not that she wanted to contact him or anything. Frowning, the pinkette crumpled the card and tossed it to the trash can just beside her laundry basket, followed by her clothes closely.

'Some nights I stay up-' Towelling her hair off, Sakura flipped open her phone and slid her thumb across the screen to accept the call, knowing who it was immediately.

"Sasuke." Sakura sighed, inwardly rolling her eyes.

"Sakura, what happened back there?" The Uchiha quickly got to the point. Sakura scrunched up her nose. It was so unfair how some people's voices sound exactly the same in phone conversations while Sakura's sound like a cockroach's.

"Nothing. You worry too much." The pinkette rolled her eyes and placed the call on loudspeaker just so they could talk while she dressed.

"You're a bad liar. I thought we covered that already."

Sakura had to admit to that, well, fuck him, she didn't need to lie so frequently!

"Yeah, well you suck." Sakura childishly retorted as she picked out a pj to wear. She chose her blue pair, littered with cookies from her friend Gaara from the art workshop she took in Suna. "Anyway, aren't you going to warn me about what your mother's up to for my birthday?"

Ever since they were kids, Sakura and Naruto had always been close to the Uchiha family. Sakura more so than Naruto because of the matriarch's desire to coddle a daughter. Since Sakura's parents travelled a lot –free souls- and her brother's art had taken him to different places ever since he was a child, Sakura had learned early in life how to fend for her own. However, as a child, she yearned for a family and she found this in Sasuke's. She was well-liked in the clan and was even a regular visitor –member, Mikoto insisted- in family reunions – accompanying Sasuke and avoiding the amorous suitors she had in the family (eg Sasuke's older cousins; Madara, Tobi and Shisui, and at some point, unknown to her, Itachi) and even the patriarch had a soft spot for her. They threw her parties throughout her younger years, from princess themed ones to ninja themed parties.

It even escalated when she and Sasuke started dating in senior high. They've been best friends since childhood, so it was a little awkward at first but Mikoto celebrated still, more than anyone, claiming that; "I'm finally going to have Sakura-chan as my daughter—officially!" They threw her a grand 16th birthday party. Four words: Dancing. Food. Lights & Ice.

Although Sasuke and Sakura's relationship was great, they just didn't feel as if they were in love with each other. Sure, they loved each other because Sasuke wouldn't bake his rare peanut butter cookies just for anyone and Sakura wouldn't have given up her slurpie addiction if it wasn't Sasuke who asked, but they just weren't in love with each other, and so they broke it off – Mikoto mourned while Madara, Tobi, Shisui and Itachi rejoiced.

At the other end of the line, Sasuke frowned; "You're changing the subject."

The pinkette sighed, no use lying to the human lie detector. "I think you're going to overreact."

Uchiha Sasuke, overreact? Unbelievable.

The other line went quiet so Sakura took it as a go signal and proceeded but no before making herself comfortable on her bed, with a magazine from Ino as some light reading.

"Okay, so remember the guy I told you about during our funscapade last week?" Sakura asked, smiling, as she remembered Sasuke's face when they rode the Belly Drop in Konoha Fun Land last week.

"Routine Man, Personal Rain Cloud Writer, Workaholic Bi, Walking Rainbow and Man whore, which one?" Sasuke recited without hitch.

Sakura blinked, "You actually remembered all of them."

"After years of deciphering your incoherent babbles, I can say that I'm an expert." The pinkette could practically see Sasuke's mocking smirk from the privacy of her own home.

"Hah. Did you get a degree for that? I'm talking about Man whore, he came again today -"

"With Monday?"

"Of course with Monday."Sakura rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he placed his order on me and uhh… I almost called him Man whore in his face." Beating around the bush seemed like a good idea, knowing that hse had no way to discern what Sasuke's would be reaction was.

"I told you to break your habit of thinking out loud. It'll get us in trouble again." Sasuke shuddered at the thought. The last time they had trouble with Sakura's habit was when she first met Madara. She frankly told him that he was in bad need of a haircut and hey, your eyes look like a lemur's… and aren't you old enough to be underground? At least that's what Sasuke told me.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Yeah well, maybe you should try not back stabbing your relatives, eh Sasuke? Anyway, so yeah, when I was waiting for you, he was there, uh… and we talked…" The pinkette began to mumble and at the other end of the line, Sasuke began becoming more suspicious.

"About what?" Although it wasn't obvious, the Uchiha was protective of his ex. Any boyfriend or potential boyfriend must pass his standards – he has to be the best- next to him of course.

"About who the women were –they're his clients, Sasuke! Clients! I think he's a gigolo- and why I observe him and yadi yada…"

"Sakura..." The said pinkette could hear the warning in her friend's voice, asking her to just get on with it.

"That's it!" Sakura shouted defensively, changing her mind from telling Sasuke the truth.

"Sakura" Sasuke growled, getting impatient.

"Okay, okay! Uh… he kissed me?" The pinkette bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for Sasuke's reaction, but instead, she was met with a cacophony of masculine voices shouting indignantly at Sasuke's end of the line.

"Damn it, Sasuke, did you put me on loud speaker again? With your cousins?" Sakura could hear Shisui shouting at the end of the line something along the lines of; "Time to get our shit on, Itachi; background check, Tobi; logistics, Madara; equipment – we are going to torture this motherfucker."

Knowing –or at least hoping- that the threats were not to be taken seriously (much) Sakura rolled her eyes, before Sasuke could even utter one word for his defence, Sakura promptly cut the call. "You guys suck, seriously. Talk to you later, Sasuke."

End notes: I really like bestfriend!Sasuke, like seriously. An attempt on a DeiSaku here, how do you like it? I tried to make Deidara as... what do you call this, as not-too-weird or clingy dude. Oh, and BTW, I'm thinking of writing a spin-off for Shikamaru and Ino's story. What do you think? (3)

Question: (I'd leave questions at the end of each chapter. :) ) (1) Do you guys want the UCHISAKU (Meaning Madara, Tobi, Shisui and Itachi plus Sasuke) to have a greater part in this story? (2) Do you want them to be serious or not? Half-half? Leave your answers and comments in your review!

Thank you for reading! I'll update soon!