Author's Note: Even without the semester coming to an official end, I am already in full-vacation mode and thus in high fanfiction-writing spirits! As promised in my last fic, I have a new one for all you die-hard SasuSaku fans. It's been a while since I've written a story that spans for more than one chapter, so I've decided to make just that! :D Enjoy reading! ;)

Disclaimer: Naruto and all related characters rightfully belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Warning(s): AU.

Guy Best Friend

Chapter One

By Zagoorian Athena

A lot of girls say that having guy best friends equals less drama. I beg to disagree.

I'm Haruno Sakura and my best friends are these two guys named Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

Now, you'd think that being friends with someone as dense as Naruto and someone as emotionless as Sasuke would make my friendship with them the least of my worries. But the fact is that I like Sasuke. A lot. And when you have feelings for one of your best friends, you can expect a ton of drama.

Needless to say, the more I talk about this to my girl friends, the more I realize that maybe I should have hung out with people of the same sex more. That way, I wouldn't be crying myself to sleep almost every night when I think about how Sasuke would never see me the way I see him.

-oOo0oOo-

"He's just so perfect, you know?" I tell Ino while having lunch at the mall for some well-deserved girl bonding.

"Yes, you've told me that hundreds of times before, Forehead. If you explain to me one more time why you love that asshole so much, I think I'm gonna start falling for him too," she tells me mockingly while taking a bite from her rabbit food.

I just pout in reply and eat my burger in peace while trying hard to think of something else, but a picture of Sasuke's face keeps popping up in my head and I don't even pay attention to Ino's recap of her date with Shikamaru.

A couple of hours and a hundred or so stores later, I arrive at home and go up to my room to turn on my laptop and check my mail. The most recent unread message came from Naruto and I can't help feeling bothered that he actually e-mailed me instead of waiting to tell me personally at school tomorrow.

"SAKURA-CHAN!1!111" it reads. "URGENT NEWS! THE TEME! HE… HE… HE WAS ON A DATE TODAY! WITH THAT READHEAD STALKER FROM MATH CLASS!"

What the—?

I think my head's spinning. My vision's starting to get blurry now. I hold on to the desk for support and clutch my chest which feels like it could burst at any moment.

Did you hear that? I think that was the sound of my heart shattering into a million pieces.

-oOo0oOo-

I drag my feet down the stairs as my mom calls out for breakfast. It's Monday and I'm already running late but I couldn't even care less. The words from Naruto's e-mail keeps recurring in my head and each time Sasuke's name comes up, there's this simultaneous ache in the part where my heart's supposed to be. I sigh—It's gonna be a long week.

Everywhere I go, everywhere I turn to, I see Karin and Sasuke together as if they're purposely putting themselves in front of me just to remind me of my heartbreak. And just so that I wouldn't have to go through any more of that for the entire week, I avoid Sasuke like the plague.

On the bright side (as bright as falling into a deep pit of teenage love-induced angst may be), Naruto's with me on the whole avoiding-Sasuke thing. He tells me that he can't stand being near 'the bitch that's always clinging to Sasuke like a leech', as Naruto refers to her. I'm thankful that Naruto's by my side and all, but I can't get over the fact that even with both his best friends avoiding him, Sasuke can't even be man enough to ask us why we're keeping our distance.

The week thus turns into months and Naruto and I realize that we may have lost Sasuke for good.

-oOo0oOo-

Naruto's birthday is coming up and Hinata, his girlfriend, and I have decided to throw him a surprise birthday party at my place.

"Why don't we invite Sasuke-san to the party?" Hinata innocently asks me as we shop for the things we need for the party.

I stop halfway from reaching out to grab something off the shelf upon hearing his name. It's been months since I've heard that name; Naruto and I silently agreed to never mention him when we were together and my other friends were good enough to do so around me as well. But it seems like in contrast to me, Naruto actually talked about Sasuke when he was alone with Hinata—he must really miss him.

"I don't know…" I reply hesitantly as I placed a bag of flour into the shopping cart. "It's been months since we last talked to him; who knows if he still sees us as his best friends or if he even wants to be acquainted to us at all," I continue with a slight bitterness to my tone.

"But I think it would make Naruto-kun really happy if he would come," she explains with hope in her voice.

Man, this girl loves her boyfriend so much.

"Okay then," I said so that she would drop the topic. "I'll see what I can do."

Hinata just gives me a warm smile as a thank you and we venture forth into the grocery store on our quest for more party goods.

Now I know that it's going to be difficult to even approach Sasuke, what with Karin being around him 24/7, but a promise is a promise. Which is why I am currently pacing around my bedroom right now, with thoughts on what to say to him, until I decide that I'm just gonna give him a call.

I grab my phone from its place on my bed and proceed to dialing his number. A few rings later, he picks up.

"What?" he says in a way as if I've just interrupted him doing something important. But then again, it's Sasuke—he always talks like this.

"Listen," I courageously answer him. "I know we haven't hung out since forever, but Naruto's birthday is coming up and we were planning to throw him a surprise party. It would be really awesome if you could come… you know, for old times' sake."

"Hn," he curtly replies. Is that a yes?

I sigh, frustrated at his no-good response. "Sheesh, Sasuke, you haven't changed one bit. I won't even bother asking you if that was a yes. But if it was, then be here at my place on Saturday, 3PM."

I angrily press the End button and hurl my cellphone across my bed. Tears are falling from my eyes again—it seems that after all this time, he still holds the same effect on me as he did many months ago. I realize that I'm always going to love him no matter how many times I try to convince myself to move on. The all-too-familiar ache in my chest is back and I fall back onto my bed as I let all the pain I kept bottled up wash over me.

The day of Naruto's birthday party arrives and everything's going according to plan so far—Hinata was with him while I was finishing up with the decorations and when he got here, it was evident on his face that he was completely shocked. However, Sasuke still hasn't shown up and I don't think he has any plans of coming.

Over the loud chatter of the guests' mingling and the blast of the music coming from the stereo, I hear the doorbell ring and I excuse myself from my conversation with Tenten and Temari to answer it.

It must be Ino with the pizza,I think to myself. Much to my surprise, however, it isn't Ino's bubbly aura that greets me but Sasuke's brooding demeanor, and I just have to rub my eyes to make sure that what I'm seeing isn't merely an illusion or something.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Did you like it? Did you hate it? TELL ME! Reviews are much appreciated. :3