############ THE PLACES WE MEET ##################
PROLOGUE
Vancouver, CANADA
The atmosphere of the room was crazy. Sakura was tired. Ino, her best friend had told her that she would meet her at the party. Unfortunately, her flight from America was cancelled due to bad weather conditions and so she couldn't make it to the party.
Sakura drank a shot and continued to gaze around. She wondered the reason for accepting Ino's decision in the first place. It always turned out to be a mess. Parties were not her preference. There was no one sitting beside her on the couch. Little did she know that someone was watching her. "Come on, Sasuke. It'll be fun." said a blonde girl wrapping her arms around the boy's neck. Sasuke was irritated and was lazy to snap her out. Instead he kept his cool and watched a girl with pink hair sitting on the couch. The girl was more than the average height, with pink hair an inch more than her shoulders. He noticed that she was one of the few girls in the place to not dress up in a beach wear. (Not that he cared, it was just an observation)
The blonde girl went towards the pool utterly dismayed, after conversing with the Uchiha which was more of a monologue. "You just made her leave." said Naruto to blame his friend.
"I don't care. They don't interest me" replied the Uchiha bluntly.
"Fine, then. I don't want to be a bore around here." said Naruto and went to play a game of poker.
Sasuke was annoyed and bored. According to him, most of the parties resulted in chaos and exhaustion. He viewed the couch absent mindedly and found the pink haired girl to be still present. 'Hey, would you like to spend a night with me?" asked a guy with brown ruffled hair to Sakura as he played with her hair. "No, thanks for the offer. I've other preferences tonight" responded Sakura and made her way out. Sasuke was observing the incident, but soon, went around getting a drink to quench his thirst.
Sasuke looked at his watch, it was around midnight and decided it was time to leave. Also Naruto wouldn't stop him now. Most of them around him were drunk or zoned out. "Shall we leave, Master?" asked his driver. "Hn" and continued" don't call me master again, Bascombe. I prefer Sasuke instead." replied the dark haired guy to his middle aged driver who was appointed two weeks ago.
Bascombe thought that the boy sitting in the back seat of the Jaguar was a humble person. But he knew his observations failed some times, he had seen the Uchiha also being arrogant and stubborn in the last two weeks. He found it crazy that human nature was a paradox, at times. It would take them an hour to reach his residence. Sasuke noticed a silhouette standing near the bridge and on a closer examination realized that it was the pink haired girl.
"I should have taken my car. How could I be this stupid!" thought Sakura as she noticed the interference of waves beneath the bridge. She had taken a taxi to come to the party instead of the car given to her for her stay at the country and there was no taxi, bus or any mode of transportation available at this part of the city, added especially at midnight.
Sakura heard the sound of an approaching car, but didn't care to raise her hand to ask for a ride. She turned around when the car stopped. She saw a guy around her age with dark black hair wearing a plain white collared shirt and black jeans sitting in it. "Do you need a ride?" asked Sasuke, quite taken away by his own action of stopping the car to give a ride. Sakura looked at the road that lay ahead and regained her senses when she noted the pelts of water falling on the ground. She sighed looking towards the night sky and said "yes" and added in a small tone "thanks". She seated herself beside Sasuke in the comfortable interior of the car.
"Where do you live?" questioned the boy sitting beside her.
"I am staying at the hotel Le panache for a week."
"The one facing the Lake Fraser?" asked Bascombe.
"Hmm" she nodded in response.
It was quiet inside the car and so, the Uchiha's driver started a conversation to break the silence and also it was not every time he noticed Sasuke bringing someone along. "I'm Bascombe"
"Sounds Richie Rich"
"Well, I'm Sakura Haruno."
"Suits you well" replied the driver.
They gave out a short laugh. Sasuke was noticing that Sakura was much lively than when she was in the party. Sakura turned her head towards Sasuke expecting him to tell his name. He understood her gesture and replied in a male baritone "Uchiha, Sasuke". Bascombe was listening to a French song on the radio and wasn't paying much attention to the girl or the boy sitting behind him.
"Uchiha, Sasuke?", she repeated the name twice .She made the owner of the name seem like a famous celebrity. Sasuke was rich , good looking but not famous. Sakura felt the name to be familiar, but soon gave up thinking seeing that her destination had arrived.
"Thanks, once again"
"No problem" replied Sasuke in a bored but meaningful tone.
"Bye, then" said Sakura and hurried towards the hotel lobby not wanting to get wet because of the rain. Sasuke sighed at the girl from the window. He felt an unexplainable but comfortable feeling, but soon shook it off and fell asleep realizing that he had to ride back to Switzerland tomorrow.
Author's note
Long journey lays ahead. So, buckle up your seat belts, pack your backpack and carry a bar of chocolate. (Nobody feels homesick with chocolates around, exception being Sasuke)