Based on a random event in my life melded with something I'd like to see and a few (okay, many) other creative liberties. If you want the full story, feel free to ask me. Sasuke and Sakura's background story is based on real events. And really, I wrote this very late at night, so if it doesn't make sense to you, you're not the only one.

Standard disclaimer applied.

I dedicate this to my former crush, without who I would've never known love or my love of writing. And if you actually are reading this (which I highly doubt), I apologize for what you are about to read, but the fact that I'm writing this should show my good faith. I also apologize for the amount of creative license I took with the background, but it's hard trying to fit it with the characters/ the Japanese school system. Just remember everything I write is with love (and maybe a hint of bitterness because you won't talk to me anymore).

It was a balmy starlit night at Konoha High. From the small courtyard where he sat, he could hear the loud music trickling in from the gym. The clock tower on the opposite side of the school struck 9.

'Only two more hours to go,' Uchiha Sasuke thought dismally to himself as he flicked a pine needle from his tuxedo. The reason for his bad mood: prom.

It had all started roughly a month ago. First, his mother's cousin went on a second honeymoon retreat with his wife, leaving his second cousin three times removed, Karin, alone. This wasn't a problem since Karin was the same age as him, but though she was perfectly capable of staying home alone for a few weeks, she begged her parents to let her stay with his family and to his dismay, his mother agreed.

Now it wasn't that he didn't like relatives staying with them—had it been any other relative, he would've opened his heart and home to them as best as his personality would allow—but Karin wasn't any other relative—oh no! She was the relative who had an insane crush on him and at only five years old, threatened him with a steak knife to promise to marry her. Luckily, his mother had stopped her before he could've replied. If he had, the situation could've been much, much worse.

And though he had begged and pleaded with his mother—he had even offered to wear those horrible Christmas sweaters his grandmother gave him at the next family reunion—she could not be swayed. It wasn't her fault though. Karin was the only child to her parents and, being their precious baby, was incredibly spoiled; and his aunt was renowned in their family for being a pushy, stubborn, high-maintenance harpy who only became worse when it involved her daughter.

So when she was dropped off the next day, it was safe to assume that life for the next few weeks would be hell…which it was. She hogged the bathroom, complained about her room and the food, and tried to seduce him every chance she had (if by seducing, you meant throwing yourself at someone and swooning while smothering them in your cleavage). Though she normally had a sickeningly sweet façade to show the adults, it had failed to last the first five hours after her arrival (which was something he had to applaud her for. When they were kids, she'd only last until they left, which was usually five minutes). That being said, her behavior caused his father to cower behind his paper when she was in the room; his mother to cry; and his brother to crash at his girlfriend's place and refuse to come home until she left. As for him, he got the brunt of her affection, but he told himself he could endure it as long as his female best friend Haruka was with him, which leads us to problem two.

Umehara Haruka: 18 years old, birthday January 24th. Standing at 5'6", she was an invaluable part of the school's track team, which was how they met in freshman year. Despite being in the same homeroom, they had had little contact outside of track during freshman year, but the field was enough for them to form a friendship together and in their second year of high school, they had three classes together and their friendship became closer.

He didn't know when her long brown hair became a thing of beauty or fascination for him, but he knew that day in sophomore year when she accidentally spiked a volleyball into his face during P.E. that it was love. It only took a bloody nose and a slight concussion to figure it out.

Since then, he would sneak furtive glances at her desk, let his hand stray at her shoulder, stand closer than necessary when they walked in the halls, and stare with a far-off look on his face as he watched her run with the wind flying through her hair, a smile on her face. Secretly, he would imagine life with her as boyfriend-girlfriend, college—marriage. It made his heart glow to see her smile and he silently resolved himself that when the time came, he would ask her to prom, which leads us to problem three.

Problem three started two weeks ago. Haruka was just coming out from the locker room after changing into her school uniform from her track uniform. Since the sun was setting, he offered to walk her home. As they strolled down the silent blocks of her neighborhood, he felt his heart thudding painfully loud. Could she hear it? Why were his hands so sweaty? It was just a question, so man up Uchiha, and ask!

So he did, stopping just in front of her gate to ask "do you want to go to prom with me?"

Her answer? "Thanks, but no."

Soon afterwards, she began listing the reasons why—she didn't feel the same way as him, he was like a brother to her, she already had a date—but Sasuke was too busy reeling from the fact she had said no to hear anything she had said. And when he went to bed that night with a lead feeling in his chest, he realized that this was probably what it felt like to have a broken heart.

By the next morning, Sasuke had resolved to himself that he wasn't going to prom. But with one Uzumaki Naruto as your best friend, that was impossible. He didn't know how Naruto managed to convince him, but he did and a few days later, he asked his mother where he could rent a tux. Unfortunately, while convincing Sasuke to go to prom, his mother had overheard their conversation and his room. Insert problem four.

When Sasuke was walking down the stairs, he was expecting a lot of things. He was expecting his mother to kiss him goodbye and tell him to have fun. He was expecting his father to grunt and tell him a short "goodbye"—maybe even a "make sure to come home before three." But what he didn't expect was for his red-headed cousin to be waiting at the bottom of the stairs in a horrendous poofy pink dress covered in ribbons and sashes, waving at him to hurry up while screaming, "This is so great. I can't believe I'm going to prom with Sasuke-kun!" before throwing her arms around his stunned self.

Hold on a second. What?

Quickly, he went through a list of culprits. His father was out, seeing how he was deathly afraid of being anywhere near his psycho cousin. Itachi was too because even though he was mean, he wasn't this mean, leaving the only other person in the house who was currently under his withering glare.

"Mother…" he said through gritted teeth. She ran behind the safety of the doorframe and sent him a stare that could only be described as the 'I-am-so-sorry-but-take-pity-on-your-poor-mother-and-let-her-have-a-moment's-peace-and-I-will-grovel-at-your-feet-and-feed-you-all-your-favorite-foods-and-lavish-you-with-presents-for-a-month-after-this-is-all-over' look. So the shoe was on the other foot, huh?

Now, he could've just refused to go with Karin and left the house for his parents to deal with her, but he loved his parents. Not only that, that would expose his mother's lie that he had asked her to be his date, meaning that Karin would take out her ire on his poor mother who looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.

And so with a sigh, he maneuvered Karin so she was no longer plastered to his front and steered her towards the door, but not before mouthing a quick 'you owe me' to his mother who smiled haggardly and gave a grateful 'thank you.'

You'd think his problems were over now, right? I mean, he had a date for prom now and Karin got what she wanted so it couldn't be that bad. Wrong.

Once they got to the school and into the gym, Karin wouldn't stop clinging to his arm. What was worse was the fact she keep screeching at the top of her lungs how happy she was that her precious Sasuke-kun invited her to go to prom with him and she felt sooooo sorry for everyone else that wasn't her. Even more worse was the fact that Haruka was staring at him like he was the most pitiful, pathetic person on the face of the earth for inviting her, and it took all his willpower not to detach from the girl at his side and crawl into a hole and hide.

Luckily for him, his date got sick later that night and had to be taken home by his brother. Itachi had offered to bring him home as well, but he refused. He had already destroyed his image and his pride by bringing Karin here; he wasn't about to retreat and destroy what was left by retreating and going back home.

So he declined and stayed, but after that disastrous little episode, the damage had been done. Upon returning to the gymnasium, the crowd stared and silenced to a murmur; and Haruka, who he thought would've at least asked who was that person, did not look at him and when she did, it was a mix of scorn, confusion, hurt, and pity.

Finding it too suffocating to stay in the gym after that, he escaped to the courtyard terrace outside where he had been all night, regretting his decision not to go home. It had only been two hours since he left the gym and already, he was bored and miserable. Bored because he had nothing to do but stare at the stars and into the gym windows and doors, and miserable because Haruka was with her own date and would never look at him the same again. Falling onto his back on the floor, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. How had Cinderella lasted staying at a ball until midnight when he could barely stand the thought of being here another second?

Agonizing over whether to leave or stay, he failed to hear the shuffle of fabric over the cement terrace; his decision was made for him.

"Can I sit here?"

At the sound, he looked up to see a pink-haired girl with beryl-green eyes in a pale pink dress staring down at him. He knew that pink hair…

"Sakura?"

Haruno Sakura was possibly one of the most interesting people he ever had the pleasure to meet. They first met in 6th grade. Since their school was K-6, like all other schools in Japan, it was strange to have someone new enter their school this late, but her father had a job transfer, forcing them to move to Konoha from Tokyo.

Sakura's seat was assigned at the front of the classroom near his and like everyone else in the class, he was staring at her. This was the first time that they had seen someone with pink hair and immediately, they wondered if it was dyed. Of course, she was initially picked on and teased for having pink hair until she proved it was real by producing a baby picture of herself with pink hair, but it seemed even before she showed the photo that she was used to the teasing—that or she didn't care. Maybe that was why she became friends with him while others avoided him?

Yes, the all-popular Uchiha Sasuke was the kid people avoided in elementary. Why was he avoided? Because when he was angry, his eyes would change from black to red. It wasn't something he did on purpose. It was just that he came from a line of ninja whose kekkei genkai involved their eyes changing color when angered, therefore something beyond his control, but little kids didn't quite understand genetics yet so it was an unstated rule that you were to avoid him. Of course, there were exceptions to the rule like the dobe Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru who were friends with him anyway, and pretty soon, that group came to include Sakura, who actually thought his ability was cool and nothing to be ashamed of. (After all, she'd have no right to talk having naturally pink hair.)

Now it was no surprise that some semblance of a relationship would form, especially since they were in the same work group in class. As friends, they found common ground in baseball cards, how boring class was, and a love of Far Side comics and other funny things. She didn't mind his eyes and he didn't mind her pink hair and other quirks, and somewhere in the menagerie of group work, note copying, and field trips, they started to like each other in the only way that awkward, pubescent teens know how. Each would hang out and laugh with each other; each would smile. They had inside jokes, little smiles, mutual teasing, and a mutual special place in each other's hearts, even if they never acted on it for fear of the other not sharing their sentiments and making an absolute fool out of themselves.

Then seventh grade came. Though they got into the same school, they got into different classes and different groups of friends. They hung out with each other in the morning, but even that began to wane with time. Even when they managed to be in the same homeroom in eighth grade, they didn't talk much; and pretty soon, those days were forgotten…or at least, he thought they were.

So when Haruno Sakura confessed to him in the middle of eighth grade, to say he was surprised was an understatement. Of course, he was flattered—anyone would be when they find out someone likes them—but it seemed odd. Why would she like him? And if she did, why did she act like she didn't and wait all this time?

So he did the only thing a confused 13-yr-old boy could do in this situation: ignore it. It would solve itself somehow, and if not, this time to think would let him figure things out and how to react. In a way, both happened. She didn't act, and he didn't; and if it wasn't for the attempts she made to speak with him towards the end of the year, they probably never would've spoken again.

Ninth grade was full of awkwardness, both unsure of how to act around each other now that they had a summer to change, and tenth grade was full of its own hurdles. Now at a new school with another summer to change, he made up his mind to risk it and talk to her once more, but by the time he had made up his mind, she was hugging another guy and his hopes were dashed. Soon after that, things began to cool off between him and Sakura. Now in their senior year, they were pretty much distant strangers, only hearing about each other's lives through the words of others. How had she been since eighth grade?

Seeing she was still patiently staring at him, he realized he still hadn't answered her question and scooted over on the curb he was sitting on and watched as she flopped down in her dress beside him and he took this time to look at her.

Her legs were in an M-shape, creating a bowl with the fabric that she rested her arms in. Raising her hands, she began the task of prying off her gloves and stripping her feet of her heels—she had always been a bit of a tomboy. It was a wonder she was wearing a dress or had even come at all—before sighing and letting her head fall back, the ends of her messily-tied bun brushing against her shoulders. Following the small trails of hair, he realized that unlike Karin's pink dress, her dress didn't clash with her hair at all. She looked nice.

Done relaxing in the newfound freedom of her limbs, she turned her head and smiled good-naturedly. "So what is the almighty jock Uchiha Sasuke doing alone on prom night?"

Her tone was teasing, showing her good faith for their school's star athlete in basketball and track, and former-crush. At her question, he stared in shock.

"You mean you didn't see?" he asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Tenten, Hinata, and I all arrived late. Ino-pig takes forever to get ready," she replied rolling her eyes, causing an unexpected chuckle to escape his mouth before his smile fell. He rubbed his neck awkwardly as he figured out what to say.

"Well, I've…kind of been having a bad night…"

"Naruto's in the punch bowl, Ino is close to flinging her top off—how she'll do that with a dress is beyond me—Neji looks about ready to burst a blood vessel, and I'm stuck in a pink dress. You honestly think you're the only one having a bad night?" she asked pointing a finger at the chaos ensuing within the gymnasium doors, a brow raised.

Sasuke sweat-dropped. "Good point," he deadpanned, "but anyway…I wanted to ask Haruka to prom, but she refused saying she didn't feel the same way as me, and that she already had a date."

"Ouch."

"It gets better. I wasn't going to go after that, but Naruto convinced me and just as I was about to leave, my mom shoved my crazy cousin who's visiting on me, telling me to go with her."

"Double ouch. Wait, is she the one who threatened you with a steak knife when you were little?"

"Yup."

Sakura winced. "Yikes, but continue."

"Well, after that, she started bragging how she was my girlfriend and caused a scene, and then she got sick. My brother came to pick her up and offered to take me too, but I declined. I sat here for two hours, and then you came," he said.

"Why didn't you just go home? I saw your car in the school parking lot," Sakura asked.

"Didn't feel like it. Besides, if I did, I'd go back to that," he replied before turning to her. "So what about you? Any dates?" he asked.

Sakura huffed in annoyance. "No—not that anyone would want to date me in the first place—I didn't even want to come here," she admitted.

"Then why are you here?"

"Ino-pig dragged me. 'Prom is like the precursor to your wedding! This is where people find the love of their life and date and get married and be together forever! You have to go!'" she said, her hand moving mockingly to her words as he suppressed a quiet snicker. "Anyway, so I agree to go and they dress me up and everything, and I think we're going stag—just us girls, you know?—but as soon as we get here, they all go with their dates and ditch me! Can you believe it?!"

"I knew Ino would, but the others too?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah! I mean, I'm happy that Hinata finally got together with Naruto and Neji is cool about it and all, but I feel so bad for Shikamaru. He has no idea Ino has her sights on him to be her husband to spend the rest of her life with."

"Oh, I think he knows," he replied. Ino was about as subtle as a punch to the face.

Sakura nodded in agreement and stretched languidly, popping the kinks in her back before falling back to rest on her hands. "So…we're alone on prom night," she said contemplatively, "who would've thought this would happen?"

"Yeah." It was strange that they would both be alone on prom night. He'd heard around the school that she had a few guys who liked her, but maybe like Haruka, she didn't feel the same way.

'That sucks,' he thought, counting himself to that pity group. Those poor guys. But while a part of him cheered them on for trying, the bigger part of him knew how pathetic it was and stopped.

But still, it was nice to see Sakura and talk like in the old days after all these years, but it still didn't change the fact Haruka flat-out refused him for another guy and probably thought of him as the biggest prick ever for bringing Karin (even if it wasn't his fault). What would she say to him when school started on Monday? What would he say to her?

A punch to the shoulder roused him of his thoughts.

"Cheer up Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with a wide grin, "it could be worse."

Sasuke raised his brow skeptically. He knew she was just trying to cheer him up, but he severely doubted it could be worse.

As if reading his mind, she pointed out that he could still be stuck here with Karin and laughed as his skin blanched five shades.

"That's not funny," he muttered, but by the sounds of her howling laughter, apparently she felt otherwise.

"I'm sorry," she said as she tried to quiet her laughter and wiped the tears from her eyes, "but I had to show you that it could be worse. I'm like those weird fairies that show you alternate realities in Disney movies, and if they don't have those kinds of fairies in Disney movies, they should.

"And besides, at least you're alone at prom with someone you know. We'll be alone together like some fantastic duo of lonesomeness!" Her eyes were glittering as if she could see such a scene with the two of them. And while he didn't know quite how to take that, it was a comforting thought.

"Thank you, Sakura," he said with a small smile as he stared out at her from the side. In response, she smiled and nodded before slipping her shoes back on. Standing up, she dusted off her dress and grabbed his hand.

"Huh? Where are we going?" he asked.

Sakura turned back and smiled at him. "Back into the gym. We're dancing, Sasuke!" she shouted with resolute fire.

Surprised by her proclamation, he watched as she steered them towards the gym while telling him of their future grand adventures as the fantastic duo of lonesomeness—she really needed to stop hanging out with Lee so much—as he stared at the doors with abject horror. Was she serious? They were actually going back inside?

Looking down, he searched for a sign, a look—anything that would tell him that she was kidding as she prattled on about signing a pact between the two of them as an oath of loyalty to their merry band. Oh god, she was serious. They were actually going back inside.

From between the gaps of the fingers covering his face, he stole one last look at his executioner. Her face was bathed in moonlight, causing her dangling earrings to sparkle. Her beryl eyes were alight with the same childhood wonder and excitement he remembered and her smile beaming with joy and anticipation. Something within him stirred at this, and finding her smile as infectious as it had been years ago, he grabbed her hand and began leading her into the gym as he mentally signed his name on their pact to each other in his familiar ornate scrawl.

P.S.: Happy belated birthday to our one and only Haruno Sakura. May you continue to kick ass and may Kishimoto give you a bigger role than the pathetic sideline character who stares in awe of everything.

Also, I have an AMV contest posted on my profile. Anyone interested in joining?