Chapter 2

Sakura was flabbergasted. Did he seriously say what she thought he said?

"Ex… excuse me?" she stuttered out, looking at him wide eyed. Her expression must have been priceless, because Sasuke widened his smirk.

"I said: what exactly did you have in mind?" She sat there gaping at him like a cod fish for a few seconds before she finally got the words out of her throat.

"Are you out of your mind? You're not crazy, are you?" She set her palms against the table, leaning on them for support and balance. It was probably just her, but the whole room seemed to tilt, making her dizzy. The whole world tilted.

"I thought this was what you wanted?" Sasuke's deep voice questioned her, bringing her out of her trance.

"Yes, but… who in their right mind would agree to something like this?" Now Sakura thought she saw a vein on his forehead pop out, but other than that he appeared to be stoic, as still and unable to be moved as a statue.

"Who in their right mind would propose something like this?" He had a point. The bell rang twice, signaling the end of their time together. Sasuke, however, stayed seated. "Sakura, I have my own reasons for agreeing to talk about this lunacy with you, and possibly agreeing to it. Meet me after this thing's done and we'll figure something out. Deal?" He said nonchalantly, sticking his hand out for her to shake.

"…deal." She hesitantly reached out, shook his hand and looked him in the eye, her next words tinged with warning. "You better not be messing with me."

"I wouldn't dream of it." And then he was gone, sitting at the next table. The bell rang, and another round started. Another man now sat across from her, Herbert something. But Sakura wasn't paying attention to him, and kept glancing at the next table over, at her mysterious Sasuke, who somehow had the guts to say yes to her crazy plan - well, at least to agree to discuss it. She wondered if there was something wrong with him, but decided to forget about it because it would be like the pot calling the kettle black.

He must have his own reasons, she concluded, just as she had her own. Her curiosity had been jump started, and she found it impossible not to try and figure out the enigma surrounding him –at any means possible. Therefore, she watched.

He looked bored, uninterested. He had appeared indifferent when talking to her, but Sasuke didn't seem to be enjoying the conversation he was currently having one bit. Unlike the rest of the men Sakura had talked to that night, Sasuke stared at his shoes while the new woman across from him rambled on and on. Everyone else had acted like that girl was a shining pearl compared to the freak they had just met, but not Sasuke. And when he'd barely respond, the pearl brought up a new topic.

"That woman you were talking to, the gal with the pink hair?" She leaned in, as if she was sharing a secret. "What's her problem? I mean, all the guys who pass through here talk about her as if she lost her marbles." The pearl laughed flirtatiously.

Sasuke looked up, finally giving the person across from him some of the attention that they had been fishing for. Saying that he seemed annoyed was an understatement at the moment.

"She doesn't have a problem. And if she's lost it, I'm just as crazy as her." That shut her up. Sasuke glanced back to his left, spotting Sakura watching him. Frazzled that she got caught, she quickly turned back to the man across the table from her, pretending as though her attention was focused there the whole time. In doing so, she missed Sasuke's smirk that said it all – he was just as intrigued as she was and couldn't wait until the night ended. They had business to discuss.


When all the rounds were done, Sakura found herself wandering around by the coat rack, trying to avoid the people she had met that night almost as much as they tried to avoid her. She hoped Sasuke would be able to find her easily and that he wouldn't change his mind.

She also hoped he wouldn't play her for the fool. Sakura already felt so insecure about her predicament, she didn't need someone else mocking her because of it. Some of the guys she'd met at speed-dating already had done enough of that.

"Sakura," She turned around as he called her name. He made his way over to her, hands in his pockets and using long, steady strides to cover the distance over the dark wood flooring. Well, he had found her. Now what?

"Sakura!" The coordinator for the night smiled, coming quickly towards her with many tiny steps – courtesy of her pencil skirt and heels. "So, how did it go? Find anyone this time?" She asked excitedly, giving Sakura one of her signature grins.

Sakura felt her cheeks flame and eyes widen, and she sneaked a look behind the woman at Sasuke, who was smirking like there was no tomorrow. How embarrassing; now he would think she came here all the time. She was such a desperate woman that the coordinator knew her by name!

…Well, maybe that was the truth, but she had good reasons.

"Actually… maybe I think I… kind of…" Sakura tried to answer, but it was impossible as her attention was drawn to the dark haired man watching the conversation as though it were a scene from a comedy. She was not sure of what to say with Sasuke standing right there.

"Sakura," He said her name again, smirking and earning both of the women's attention. He, apparently, thought the situation was very amusing. Sakura wished she could sink in the shadows and disappear.

"Who's this guy… oh!" The coordinator smiled, finally putting the pieces together. She was a nice person to be sure, Sakura thought, but just a little slow. "I see…" she winked at them. "Well, you two love birds have fun! We're closing now, so you'll have to leave in a minute. Sorry!"

Never before was Sakura so relieved to see someone leave. She looked up sheepishly at Sasuke before deciding that her shoes were oh so interesting and needed further inspection. And then, for the third time that evening, Sasuke called her name in an attempt to get her attention.

"Sakura…"

"Yes, Sasuke?" Anything he had to say now she would accept with open arms.

"I really do want to talk to you about this more, but this place is closing and I doubt you want to leave at night in the company of a stranger..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "I've actually have somewhere to be as well. So if you'd exchange numbers with me so I could contact you?"

Sakura nodded, taking out her own phone. "Yeah, yeah, sure thing."

"Hn." They exchanged numbers and grabbed their coats. Saying a quick goodbye they went their separate directions. Sakura reached her car, buckled herself in, started the ignition and smiled. Maybe the world wasn't so bad after all.


"So let me get this straight… you finally found a man who would agree to this crazy scheme of yours and he happens to be drop dead gorgeous." Ino, Sakura's closest friend - even if they didn't always get along - asked on their lunch break. They were in the staff room of the hospital, and if Ino didn't lower her voice Sakura swore that all of the other nurses would get into her business. And that was a big no-no.

"Ino, be quiet!" Sakura said in a hushed, urgent tone, looking around for any eavesdroppers. "And he didn't say he would agree, he just said he was interested in talking about it."

"Sak, that's as close to an agreement I think you'll ever get from anybody. I mean, you're practically asking random strangers to marry you!" She turned back to her salad and stabbed it with a fork. "Do you even know who this guy is? He could be some rapist or pimp who takes vulnerable women and…"

"Ino, I am not vulnerable. And he said his name was Sasuke." She knew her friend was just being, well, a good friend, but Sakura was positive that Sasuke was not a pimp, rapist, or con-artist. For one, the agency she used for speed-dating did a mandatory background check on everyone who signed up. You had to supply them with information, but you didn't necessarily have to share it with the people you met while speed-dating. So if anything was that bad with Sasuke, she wouldn't have met him there at all.

Or he was just an exceptional con-artist.

"Darling, if you are asking strangers to marry you, believe me – you're vulnerable. By the way, what is Sasuke's last name?"

"…he didn't say." She gave Sakura an 'I told you so' look and finished her bite of salad.

"Exactly. Look, Sak, I'm not saying dump him. I'm saying be careful and find out more about this guy before you commit to anything or get in too deep. There are some dangerous creeps in a city this big." She had a point; New York was full of many people, and not every one of them was nice and dandy.

"Relax, Ino. I'll take precautions, be smart about it. In fact, I'm gonna call him to schedule something up so that we can meet. If you want, you can listen in on the phone call and tell me what you think. Sound good?" She said, hoping to appease her friend.

Ino grinned. "Aw, I thought you'd never ask. Man, I haven't screened guys for you since high school. What fun memories…"

"Okay, here. Listen close and don't make a sound." I dialed the number Sasuke had given me and held the phone between our heads, so both Ino and I could hear.

"Hello?" A deep voice came from the other line, picking up after three rings had already sounded.

"Sasuke? Hi, it's Sakura… Is now a good time to plan something? I'd really like to talk to you in person about these kind of things, so would you mind making an arrangement to meet with me somewhere?" She winced at how rushed her words came out.

"Now's fine. I have a flexible work schedule, so you can pick the time and place."

"Alright…" Sakura searched through her mind, trying to remember if she had anything important to do in the next few days. "How does tomorrow at five sound? There's this restaurant, Ichiraku's. You know it? We can meet there. That would give us enough time to sort through some of the… rough details."

"Hn. Yeah, I know it. See you there."

"Great! See you then…" She nervously twisted a strand of her hair using her free hand.

"Yeah." And that was that. Sakura hung up the phone and slowly let out her held breath before turning to her friend.

"So… what did you think?"

"Wow, so apparently he looks AND sounds sexy…" Ino mused before getting serious. "He seems considerate, I mean, if he was going to kidnap you he'd probably set up the when and where himself, right? If you need me to, I could go there and pretend to be a customer nearby to make sure nothing strange happens."

Sakura shook her head. "No, but thanks anyways. I chose the meeting at Ichiraku's for a reason, and not just because of their good food. I think it will go fine, but if something does happen, Naruto will be there to get my back."


The next day Sakura had found herself seated at the bar in Ichiraku's, sipping on a glass of ice water and tapping the pen in her hand against the counter. In front of her she had a list, and if all went well with Sasuke, she would make sure to discuss every single item on that list, no matter how embarrassing it might seem to ask. For instance, how did he feel about kids? Sakura wanted the marriage to work, but she also wanted it to be real. But talking about kids, specifically having kids, was not typically something you talked about doing with someone you didn't know for more than a day. However, the situation wasn't typical.

"What's with the list? And why do you have 'kids' underlined and question marked?" Naruto, one of her closest, sweetest, most protective, trustworthy and somewhat annoying friend asked her from across the bar, leaning over and pouring more water into her glass. He smelled like tempura.

"This is nothing!" Sakura tried to take the list away and put it back into her purse, but Naruto had already grabbed it. Worse, he started reading it.

"Money, job schedules, kids, work, friends… sex?" He grimaced, giving Sakura a funky look. "Sakura, what is this?"

She sighed. She would have to tell him eventually. "So you know about my little… problem?"

"And your crazy scheme to get out of it? Yeah, Sakura, I think I remember telling you how crazy this was… wait. You didn't…" His face was hard and serious, unlike the carefree aura he usually held around him.

"Naruto, I met someone last night, and I think it could work out." She knew what he was going to say, so she cut him to the chase. He was only being a good friend, just like Ino. "We need to work out some stuff, we didn't really have time to discuss it, but that's why I asked him to meet me here. Plus…" I shrugged a bit, but looked up at him with pleading eyes. "I thought you might be able to check him out?"

He stood silent for a moment, but sure enough, his usual grin slowly made way to his face. Then he had to open his big, fat mouth. "Sakura, I don't check guys out. I just don't swing that way." Sakura bit back a sharp reply but was sure Naruto saw her angry expression. How did she know this? He started laughing louder.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'll keep an eye on him." He smiled and gave his pink haired friend a thumbs-up, his own way of sealing a deal, or in this case, making a promise. And Naruto never went back on his word, so Sakura knew she had nothing to worry about.

"Thanks, you don't know how much this means to me." She looked down at her watch. It was almost five o'clock, meaning Sasuke should arrive at any moment.

"Oh, and Naruto?" She added a last minute thought that came in her head. "Could you just pretend that you don't know me? I don't want it to seem like…"

"…like you're testing him. Got it." He happily went back to his work, ignoring her. Sakura took out her list again, hoping to pass the time by doing something useful. But it turned out there was no need; the door opened, and in walked the man of the hour - her mystery man.


I have mixed feelings about this chapter… some of it I like, parts of it I hate, but I just don't know how to change them without scrapping everything and starting over. :/ So let me know what you think and we'll see how people's thoughts line up.

One of the things that annoyed me was the way Sasuke is talking. He seems too… Itachi-like when he speaks. But I think I have a plan for all of that, and I think I can make it work. :3

I know a lot of you will want to know why Sasuke and Sakura are doing what they're doing, and all I have to say about that now is you will find out soon! So stay tuned, I think this next chapter will be written quickly because I know exactly what I want to happen.

And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank you all so so so much for reviewing, faving, and adding this story to your story alerts. I started replying to the reviews, but then I realized that there are many that I am unable to reply to. But just know that every single one made me so happy and gave me so much motivation to post this new chapter.

Also, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Iamkunoichi585 because that last review reminded me to go back and finish editing this baby, so thank you! :D See you next chapter, hope you'll be reading!