"Sasuke, what are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Like hell, nothing. Come on, let me see!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No, Tenten."

"Come on, I'll love you forever if you show me."

He rolled his black eyes and resolved to ignore me, continuing to type away at his laptop. I sat back on his bed and huffed loudly, folding my arms, but he barely spared a glance; ever the moody type, as usual.

"You're no fun," I complained, tossing a pillow at him.

He gave me a bland stare. "You're just now realizing this?"

I scowled at him as he lowered his eyes back to the screen. Every once in awhile he would pause in his typing, brow furrowing in thought, before picking back up again. I cupped my chin in my hand and watched him until he raised his eyes once more.

"You just gonna stare at me?" he asked, arching one slender brow.

I bobbed my head with a cheerful smile. "Yep."

"Creep." He continued working, shaking his head.

The room was silent for a few minutes, save for the clacking of Sasuke's fingers against the keyboard. "So," I spoke up. "How're things with Sakura?"

He pushed the computer away and gave me a look of intense displeasure.

"Not good, then," I said, holding my hands up.

He sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "Sorry," he muttered.

I softened a bit and walked over to stand behind his chair, linking my arms around his shoulders. He leaned back to look up at me. "Tell me what's going on?" I asked, tapping my fingers gently against his sternum.

For a moment he was quiet. "She thinks that we're too close," he said finally. He closed eyes with a long, heavy sigh.

"Oh." I chewed on my lower lip. "I guess that's a...reasonable concern for a girl to have."

"It's annoying," Sasuke muttered. He shook his head a bit, his raven hair brushing against the skin of my arms.

"But hey, you love her, right?"

He shrugged my arms off and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the desk. I moved around to his side; even for Sasuke, this behavior didn't strike me as normal. I looked down at him, furrowing my brow with concern, and put a hand on his shoulder. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and moved his folded hands away from his lips.

"Sasuke, what is it? Talk to me."

He didn't look at me. "Lately, I'm not so sure."

"About loving her?"

"About her in general. About us." He pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"Well, what happened?" I put an arm around his shoulders and leaned against him. "Come on, spit it out. I'm here for you, you know that."

He rubbed at his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. "I told you. She doesn't like he fact that we're so close."

I blinked a few times. Then the realization hit. "Wait a second. She doesn't think there's...something between us, does she?"

He gave a small half-smile at the shock in my voice, but it was one of bitterness. "She won't openly say it, but I know that's what she suspects."

"You've got to be kidding." I looked down at myself, my ripped jeans and over-sized T-shirt and Chuck Taylors so worn it was a wonder how they held together. Physically I posed no threat to Sakura, a girl so beautiful it was no surprise she had dozens of admirers pining for her. But it was true that Sasuke was my best friend, and I couldn't blame the girl for being just a little concerned. Or a lot, it seemed; Sasuke wasn't lightly bothered, and he seemed more than a bit stressed.

"I don't get it, either." He massaged his temples with two fingers. "No matter how many times I tell her, she won't listen. She'll get this...look on her face, you know?"

I nodded. "Mhm. Well, it's not entirely crazy for her to think so. We've been friends for a long time, and sometimes stuff like that happens."

Sasuke only shook his head, letting out a long breath through his nose. For a moment we simply stood there, my arm around him and his head bowed forward, long black bangs hiding his face.

"I think," he said hesitantly, after a pregnant pause, "that it'd be best if I kept my distance from you, at least for a little while."

My stomach dropped. Did I hear him right? I moved away from him, folding my arms around myself. I tried to shake the hurt off as I replied, doing my best to keep my tone even, "Yeah, that might be a good idea for you both." But not for me, and he knew it.

He wouldn't look at me. "Yeah," was all he said. He ran his fingers along the edge of his laptop, black eyes far away. Part of me wondered if he thought I was going to put up more of a fight. I wanted to, but the smarter side of me knew better. If Sasuke wanted to preserve his relationship with Sakura, who was I to stop him?

His best friend. I pushed the thought back. It didn't matter. I was going to support him, even if I didn't like it. Or resented it.

I took a deep breath and forced a cheerful smile. "Well, I guess I'd better get going." I grabbed my backpack from his bed and slung it over my shoulder, suddenly anxious to escape. "I'll see you later."

He only nodded, and I left his room without another word. I was halfway down the stairs, lost in thought, when I nearly rammed into Itachi. He blinked at me a few times, as though trying to register that I was actually there. In all honesty, Sasuke's elder brother always intimidated me; then again, pretty much everyone was a little awed by him.

"Oh, sorry," I said, pressing myself into the wall to allow him to pass. He inclined his head with a small smile and continued on his way. I followed suit, bidding a brief farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha, and left the house. For once, I was glad for it.

The air was growing increasingly chilly as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon; fall was on its way. Even now the trees were beginning to show tinges of color as I walked beneath them, leaves swaying gently in the evening breeze.

"I think that it'd be best if I kept my distance from you." Had that really just happened? The pain in my chest was answer enough. How long would this last? Did this mean, for now, that we weren't friends anymore? No, that would never be the case. Sasuke and I loved each other in our own way, almost like we were siblings. Eventually Sakura would understand, though I would be lying if I said I didn't resent her, if just a little bit, for this. She had no idea how much I needed him in my life. Sure, I had other friends, really close ones like Naruto and Shikamaru, but Sasuke was different.

As my house came into view, my stomach took on a new feeling of dread. I mounted the front steps and slowly opened the door. Please, just let me slip by unnoticed this time.

"Tenten! You better get your ass in here right now!"

No luck, again. I sighed and trudged into the living room, where my father sat in his old armchair with his customary bottle of sake. Drunk as the man was, his hearing had yet to diminish like the rest of him had. Brainless, alcohol-riddled top, thick in the middle, skinny below. I could barely recall what he used to look like.

"What, Dad?" I struggled to keep my tone light and casual, knowing that he would try his best to accuse me of smart-mouthing or whatever else if I spoke too loudly, or too slowly. Too anything, really.

"Where have you been?" he demanded.

Part of me wondered why he even bothered to ask. It wasn't like he cared. But he was in the mood to fight, so I had no choice but to try to placate him. "At the library," I lied.

He stared at me, or tried to at least; his eyes were unfocused and red at the corners, as though he'd been crying. "Are you sure you weren't running around with that Uchiha boy again?" he said in dangerous tones.

I swallowed hard, trying to keep the fear from entering my voice. "No, Dad," I said. "I was doing my homework."

"Why can't you do your homework here, huh?" He stood up, still keeping a firm grip on his bottle. "This house not good enough for you?"

"I, uh...I didn't want to bother you, in case you were busy." I could tell this was going south in a hurry. I tightened my hand around the strap of my bag.

"Stop lying!" he yelled. He lurched forward a bit, stumbling and spilling a bit of the sake on the already stained carpet. This only enraged him further. He launched the bottle at me, but I skirted out of the way and it crashed against the wall instead, splashing the foul liquid in all directions. That was my cue. I bolted for the stairs, mounting them two at a time. His footsteps were close behind, but I sprinted to my room and quickly slammed the door shut, twisting the lock.

"You open this door right now!" he shouted, hitting it with his fists sporadically. "Don't you run away from me when I'm talking to you, you ungrateful little shit! Open the goddamn door!"

Through the loud banging and name-calling, a soft meow came from beneath my bed. I quickly leaned down and scooped Kohaku into my arms, willing him to be quiet. The last thing my father needed was to find a cat that I wasn't even supposed to have.

"Shh, it'll be over soon," I whispered, scratching his chin. A few moments later the noise subsided, and I heard the sound of his heavy footfalls receding down the hall to the stairs. Thud. Thud. Thud. I held Kohaku close to my chest as I pressed my ear to the door. I heard the loud clinking of bottles, followed by the volume of the television cranking up.

I let out a sigh and set Kohaku down. "I bet you're hungry, aren't you?"

He pushed himself against my legs, purring. I found myself smiling as I rummaged around in my closet for the bag of cat food. Once he was eating contentedly, I sat on my bed and let my hair down from my buns. For a few moments I only twisted the pins around in my fingers, staring out the window at the gathering night, and thought again of Sasuke. More than anything I wanted to just run back downstairs and out the door, back to his house, to safety. He didn't know what happened inside these walls; no one did. His parents didn't questioned why I was over there so much. We were best friends, and that was the end of it. Whether I liked it or not, my father was the only person left to provide for me. And I did still love him, through all the layers of rage and hurt and pain within us both, because I remembered the way he used to be. But that was before the bottle claimed him, before my mom left.

I grabbed my brush off the nightstand and began working the knots from my hair. Kohaku finished his meal and pounced onto the bed; he curled up beside me, his familiar purring rumbling against my thigh. With my free hand I scratched behind his silky black ears. It had only been a few months since I found him in the bushes outside my house, no collar or tags and looking half-starved. In Sasuke's absence, he was my companion through all of my father's episodes, so long as I was careful to keep him hidden. It was no life for a cat and I knew it, but part of me argued that sending him away would be the death of him. After all, he seemed to enjoy being with me.

"We'll get out of here soon enough, little man," I murmured to him. He only blinked his large blue eyes at me, lashing his tail slowly back and forth. I set the brush aside and curled around him, staring at the ceiling until his warm purrs drifted me off to sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, it was one in the morning. My stomach rumbled its discontent. I crept to the door and slowly opened it. I no longer heard the TV, and as I tiptoed toward the stairs I heard my father's snores from beyond his bedroom door. Relieved, I made my way down to the kitchen, fixed myself a sandwich, and snagged a bottled water from the pantry before scurrying back to my room.

"Shh," I said quietly when Kohaku meowed his greeting. I fed him small pieces of the sandwich crust by the light of the moon shining through my window, his eyes glinting in the dark. I eyed the clock on my dresser again: 1:12, a little less than six hours before I had to wake up for school. I sighed and took a sip of water. They couldn't pass soon enough.

A/N: Hey, everyone! I know this chapter is short, but I'm just getting started. Longer ones in the future, promise! Let me know if you guys like it! ~Rachel