Dance with the Devil
Summary: In which trouble-attracting dancer Sakura Haruno (unsurprisingly) stumbles upon three, wayward orphans and unexpectedly takes them under her wing. "So you don't know who I am?" "Should we?" Cue the exasperated sigh that she should really get used to. {dance!AU / Sakura-centric}
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters beside my own.
Warning: Crude language, possible suggestive innuendos
Inner Sakura - SHANNARO!
Sakura talking in her mind - 'SHANNARO!'
~ { Sakura meets Chaos } ~
Sakura honestly should've considered the fact that three pubescent boys were in responsibility before she decided to just go with her less rational part of her mind.
This thought suddenly occurred to her as she stood in front of the trio of exasperatingly clumsy boys, who she discovered, often left chaos in their wake. Neatly stacking the towels onto the marble bathroom countertop, she said with a smile, "Break anything and I will break you."
Trying to hide three, boisterous boys without them breaking, let alone touching, anything would be a task that seemed impossible in hindsight - but if she could settle a class of whiny five year olds into performing pristine pirouettes, then perhaps she could saddle three whiny twelve year olds into thoroughly bathing themselves independently.
Yeah, haha, not happening.
Each boy paled considerably as Sakura continued sweetly, "The bath shall be filling up soon enough, so I trust that you won't cause as much of a dirty mess as I think you boys will." They nodded very seriously at the stern glint in Sakura's eyes. "Make sure to scrub thoroughly, wash any grime out of your hair, hands or - well, pretty much everywhere, don't be too loud and behave yourselves, okay?" Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself. They could handle themselves, surely? She tiredly scooped up her own towel and threw them a worn-out grin, "Just holler if you need anything."
As soon as she slipped out of the bathroom, she heard a scuffle then hushed, angry whispers breaking out, as if she couldn't hear them. Sighing exasperatedly, she headed up to Izanami's private bathroom; where her usually laid-back aunt 'strictly forbid' Sakura and any of the maids from going anywhere near there. Sakura normally kept to Izanami's few rules and was appropriately obedient, but right now, she was drenched in rainwater and she honestly couldn't give any type of shit.
She marched up resolutely, but as soon as she nudged the door, she almost regretted her decision. Wrinkling her nose as she passed wayward lingerie and pink underthings, she tiptoed past her aunt's sloppily made bed - surprised that she even bothered to make her bed - and made her way over to the elusive 'bathroom' that Sakura had never had the fortune of visiting. Upon arrival, Sakura was actually glad she never had to set her eyes upon the so-called 'bathroom' Izanami had taken her many 'boyfriends' up to. There was a littering of tabloids, a scattering of wax strips and spilt nail varnish, carelessly tossed lingerie, a variety of both male and female electric shavers, various hair treatments and oils and a sea of chords that led up to a multitude of hair dryers, flat-irons and curling irons.
She knew that Izanami rarely cleaned up after herself, as she usually left that up to either Sakura or the maid, but she not even allowed the maid to clean up after her - so, she supposed this kind of… disarrayed mess was to be expected. Sighing tiredly, Sakura got to work as she cleaned out the shower, made enough room for a path to the door and finally got to be rid of her soaked uniform. Without bothering with the endless collection of shampoos and conditioners Izanami had so helpfully supplied, Sakura rinsed out the residue of rainwater under the warm water with a blissful grin.
She hummed blissfully under the warm water - she finally got a break from the rather disastrous that occurred in the past hour or so. As she got ready to step out of the shower, a sudden assault of cold water shot down her back. A high-pitched shriek echoed in the large bathroom as Sakura hurried to get the hell out of the shower. Hopping out with a screech, she wildly grabbed for her towel, shivering.
Those boys really got you there, Inner commented snidely, cackling at her expense.
She pulled her pajamas on, her eyes furrowing in worry as she imagined the boys flooding the bath with hot water, surrounding themselves in a watery mess. 'What are they doing down there?' Sakura thought anxiously, the blissful ambiance ebbing away. Determinedly steering herself in the right direction, she suppressed a shiver as her bare feet made contact with the frigid hardwood floors. She banged her fist on the locked door to the bathroom, hollering, "What happened to all the hot water, idiots?!"
The icy coldness of the shower water fresh on her mind, she banged harder. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted with a grin. He was shirtless, with only the towel she had provided them hanging loosely around his his waist, and she tried to suppress the blush that had blossomed on her cheeks. "N-Naruto!" she chided, forcing herself to look up at the blonde's grinning face. "What do you boys do with all the hot water?" He wasn't shivering anymore, which she supposed was a good thing, but she hoped he would at least put on the shirt she had given him.
Naruto's tanned face screwed up in indignation as he protested loudly, "It was all that bastard's fault! Teme demanded to go first, so we uh, kind of… pushed him in." A sheepish look grew over his face, "Then water, uh, spilt everywhere and there was this huge splash! Then there was only a bit of water, so we had to, like, fill in some more, but then Sai wanted to bathe next, then Teme was all possessive and demanded to properly bathe and then they both fell in and I didn't want to be left out, so I uh, jumped in as well and then there was this bigger splash and then we had to fill in even more water, and then it kinda… ran out."
By the time Naruto had finished his rant, Sakura's cheeks were flushed with anger. She nudged the door wider to find water splashed all over the pristine tiles and the rug she carefully had laid out for them. Sai and Sasuke were occupied stuck in an intense argument that consisted of Sai's soft-spoken insults and Sasuke's scathing retorts, both struggling to pull on their oversized clothes.
Naruto couldn't help but try to appease Sakura. Stumbling in after her, he spun excuses and apologies with an embarrassed grin on his. She had, after all, took them into her home with little to no knowledge of who any of them were. They couldn't help but respect both her kindness and her young naivety that they found themselves losing early in their life. They all unknowingly found themselves developing a crush on the petite girl, monstrous anger and all.
Sighing exasperatedly, she pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "Honestly, you three." They continued to surprise her with the utter incredulity of the situation.
"Wait in the kitchen," she dismissed them with a shoo, shoving their change of clothes into Sai's arms. She intended to find some peace and quiet as she busied herself cleaning this unfortunately expected mess up. They filed out, whispering angry mutterings at each other under their breaths and nudging each other in the ribs. After shoving their damp, strange-smelling clothes in the laundry hamper, mopping up the watery mess on the floor, draining the murky water inside the tub and tidying up whatever mess was left, Sakura felt oddly accomplished as she rinsed the grime off her hands.
Wandering out to the kitchen, what she did not in fact expect to find was Naruto stirring what looked to be some kind of exotic stir fry at the stove, Sai setting out the dining table somewhat appropriately whilst Sasuke held polite conversation with her quite intoxicated, scantily dressed aunt as she slurred in a drunken haze at the raven haired boy.
The abandoned trio of boys she had found were full of unexpected surprises, weren't they?
"Wha-what happened?" Sakura sputtered in shock whilst Naruto hid a sly grin as he continued to stir whatever was in that pan, with only Sai flashing her a small smile and Sasuke acknowledging her with a nod. "These gentlemen are just cooking up some dinner, sweetheart," Izanami grinned, a slur to her words as she swung the stilettos in her hand about.
"How-how are you - what are you even… how long was I in there?" Sakura demanded, her fists tightening until they were white. Naruto only shrugged as he added some kind of salt into the pan, "Only about half an hour, Sakura-chan!"
"Half an hour." she repeated, trying to comprehend the fact that Sasuke was actually listening to the spew Izanami was saying and that Naruto could actually cook. Sai's knowledge of where to set the salad fork didn't help. Other than the incredulity that was ensuing, Sakura idly wondered where Inner was.
I have no words, Inner abruptly announced and for once, Sakura wished that her inner personality would offer her opinion on this situation.
But Sakura could wholeheartedly agree that there no words to fully express this situation.
Pulling on her calmest façade, she ventured coolly, "When did Izanami arrive?" "Ah!" Naruto said brightly, waving a wooden spoon about, "She arrived only ten minutes ago!" Upon revelation of what he was actually doing, he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. "Ah, I hope you don't mind me using your food, Sakura-chan! It's just that there was so much ingredients that I…" Instead of choosing to listen to Naruto's nonsensical cooking ramblings, she simply took a seat at the kitchen island and made an an attempt to cool off. She squeezed her eyes, trying to not from storming out of the kitchen in a fit of frustration.
"So," she began, breathing in and out deeply, "When will dinner be served?" Naruto grinned as he attended to another dish and responded with an enthusiastic, "Soon!"
She slipped off the polished marble island and led out a protesting Izanami to her room to get her ready for bed. "Sakura-chaaaaan! Don't be such a gooody twoooo shoooes! Let your Izanami-obaaaa-san have some fuuun!" her aunt whined sleepily, leaning all her weight onto her niece. Sakura struggled up the stairs, wrestling with the urge to just drop Izanami on the spot.
Her right eye twitched as the sudden dip of weight on her shoulder - Izanami had passed out in a dead sleep as soon as Sakura pushed the door open. "You are so lucky to have me, Izanami." she muttered and helped her aunt out of her cocktail dress and into more appropriate attire.
When Sakura finally made it down the stairs, the three greeted her with warm dish of food as light hearted banter filled the atmosphere. She covered her mouth as she yawned tiredly, slipping into her seat at the dining table and flashed them a grateful smile.
The three boys she had met at the deserted street in the pouring rain looked very different to the trio was all dressed in warm, weather-appropriate clothes and clean faces. Sakura felt incredibly tired after a day of training, trudging through a downpour of rain and then cleaning up after three pubescent boys; so she was glad when she could finally rest.
"Itadakimasu," she murmured as her eyelids drooped and she landed in a dead faint right on the dining table.
Sakura-chan!" Naruto's harried voice was the first thing her senses were greeted to as she made it back to consciousness.
"Naruto?" she slurred blurrily, her voice still thick with sleep, "Wha-what happened?"
Sai toned in pleasantly, "You fell face first into the table because you so tired, Ugly." For once, Sakura could be slightly grateful for Sai's blunt remarks, but that didn't stop her from swatting his arm.
She was tucked in her bed, her hair in a mass of pink fluff and an embarrassing dribble of dried drool on her chin. The three surrounded her bed, tucked in various positions around her - Naruto was bouncing eagerly on the vacant space on her right, Sai sat with a smile on her left, looking marginally less pale now that he was surrounded with warmth and stuffed with nutritious (or what she hoped to be healthy) food whilst Sasuke leaned against the wooden column of her four poster bed, nodding to acknowledge her.
The three boys all had differentiating quirks and personalities, not one similar to the other, but they all somehow fit together like a complete jigsaw puzzle. They weren't brothers per say, but they might as well be - brothers in all but blood, as they say. The trio had yet to open up to her as to why they were wandering children in the usually friendly town of Konoha and why had they been so sick, but she should patiently wait.
Brought to the topic once again, she straightened up in her bed to observe the three to check how healthy there were. Compared to the state she found them in, Sakura deduced that they were much healthier, but deemed that perhaps a day of rest would do them good.
"We made breakfast for you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, explaining the western meal the trio had made 'together' in thorough detail - eggs, bacon and grilled tomatoes certainly sounded appetizing to her right that moment.
She climbed out of bed to join the boys down for breakfast. When she passed Izanami's room, she took a peek into the dimmed room. Her aunt was still knocked out, but at least she was sleeping peacefully and not spewing out her guts out into the toilet. In remembrance of the rather… projectile memory, she shivered in disgust and she shut the door close as to not wake her aunt. Even when Izanami had to puke, she ran to the toilet outside instead of simply vomiting in her own personal toilet. The woman would forever remain an enigma to Sakura.
As she slipped into her seat at the dining table once again, she idly wondered why the trio of boys were more… civilized, for lack of better word, than the street rats that hid in the depths of downtown. Instead of ravishing every meal that was offered to them, they ate at a measured pace (well, perhaps not Naruto) like an average human being. The meal that was spread out to her looked delightfully balanced, with both greasy meat and an even amount of greens. It was packed to the brim with sausages, eggs, toast and whatever was left in the cabinets from their grocer.
Izanami more often than not forgot to do simple household chores, from buying groceries to washing her clothes, so she spent a hefty amount of her inheritance paying for grocers, maids, gardeners and such. Sakura had grown used to seeing Kaori-sempai packing ingredients into the pantry and Mariko-obaa-san bustle around the house carrying laundry hampers to and fro.
Izanami had decided to pay for people to do her work for her as soon as Sakura began to go to dance lessons, and was consequently not there to do everyday household chores and cook dinner.
It was unusual to find a male to cook her meals, because although Izanami was a… man-eater, for lack of better word, she prefered the precise work of females over the company of men around her house - so finding Naruto carrying in platters of food onto the table was highly strange, but oddly empowering.
"Itadakimasu," they said in unison, appreciatively digging into their meal. Sakura was unexpectedly impressed - she had only eaten such high quality food from males when Izanami dragged her to a 'high-class' restaurant when her aunt's birthday rolled around. Not to be sexist, she chided herself, but it was true when the last time she had eaten food from a guy, Lee-kun had made the curry way too spicy for it to be edible. Not exactly a pleasurable experience, per say.
"It's delicious," she praised, dimpling a smile at them as she finished off her meal. The trio of boys felt their cheeks redden at Sakura's praise. "As to be expected of us," Sai said with a somewhat genuine smile as Sasuke nodded in agreement. Naruto's response was much more boisterous, "I knew you would love it, Sakura-chan!" Naruto claimed, grinning widely.
"Anything cooked from the heart is worthy of praise," she murmured, eyes fixated on something in the distance. A sense of déjà vu flashed in her mind, a passing image of a smiling blonde haired woman whispering familiar words, before it extinguished like a gust of wind. Sakura blinked back into reality and delicately laid her cutlery next to her plate.
"Thank you for the meal," Sakura smiled, excusing herself to prepare her aunt's favoured peppermint tea and whatever breakfast she could salvage. While she busied herself, the boys began to pack the plates and such into the dishwasher.
With a plate of bacon and some grilled tomatoes along with a cup of steaming peppermint tea, Sakura nudged her aunt's door open slowly to place her breakfast down on her bedside table. Usually their cook (who had called in sick the week previous and had yet to return) and Sakura would prepare breakfast and tea for Izanami, then a maid would bring it up to her aunt when she left for school. But recently, Izanami would appear at ungodly times in the morning, so Sakura rarely bothered to make her breakfast.
Sakura suspected that there was her aunt was still emotionally unstable and considered sending her for therapy - she seriously found her aunt bawling at odd hours in the morning about a man with a name that began with a 'k'. Sakura would never begin to try and comprehend her aunt. Setting her breakfast down on the bedside table, Izanami look unusually blissful muttering under her breath in her sleep, because Sakura found that her face was always contorted in some kind of expression when she awake.
Tiptoeing out, she barely made it to the last step of the stairs before Naruto hollered from inside the kitchen, "What's the verdict for the day, Sakura-chan?" That boy had epic hearing skills.
"Clothes." she said very seriously, appearing in the entrance of the question, "Because, frankly, you three look like little boys playing dress up."
It was the honest truth; they were outfitted in decidedly warm but oversized jumpers and pants that were folded to their ankles, which seemed interestingly adorable to Sakura when she looked at them in more detail. Sai looked at Sasuke, who looked down at his own embarrassingly oversized sweatshirt and asked Naruto, "Clothes?" Naruto, in turn, tried not to burst into laughter as he observed Sai's tightly buckled pants (to keep them from falling) and promptly agreed.
"Clothes." they consented in unison.
Sasuke and Sai simultaneously refused to go out in public wearing clothing ten times bigger than an appropriate size - claiming it to be too 'impractical' (but Sakura noticed that Sasuke was a little more than 'a bit' vain).
Naruto was forced to stay at the house as well, even though he loudly protested that he should accompany Sakura, she firmly put her foot down. Though Sakura honestly wouldn't mind his company, she didn't need people asking unnecessary questions. Another reason that boys dearly hoped Sakura would forget was the fact that they were still (even a little bit) sick. She forced them into bed rest in order for them to revitalize their energy and ordered Kaori-sempai, whom arrived soon after breakfast, to make sure they participate in anything strenuous. Kaori fondly ruffled Sakura's pink head and advised her that the boys would get too used to her 'mothering' soon enough. In response, Sakura promptly swatted her arm.
After a few minutes of what seemed like an interrogation, Sakura had been swiftly informed of all of their sizes. Sakura was accompanied with their maid, Mariko-obaa-san, to the mall and was equipped with her aunt's bank card and a list of preferred clothing and footwear.
After two hours of dodging Ino-pig and any and all of her classmates before she could be caught in boys' clothing stores, Sakura and Mariko finally achieved their goal of buying appropriate clothes for the three boys. Mariko, whom was the elderly mother of five boys had been a great decision maker in practical choices of clothing, but she was particularly old-fashioned in terms of fashionable clothes. After what felt like hours to Sakura, she would honestly confess that she had never been more confused in her life.
When she arrived home, she promptly shoved all of the shopping bags into the three, bored-out-of-their-minds boys before they could welcome her back. Nodding in acceptance after a brief but thorough survey of their new wardrobe, the trio promptly changed into more suitable attire. Whilst bouncing around in his more suitable outfit, Naruto immediately asked Sakura - on behalf of the others as well, of course - to get out of the house.
"Bored out of your mind?" Sakura snickered at their expense. With a hearty lunch and hours spent lounging around, their fever had lowered considerably. The hollowness in Sasuke's face wasn't as apparent as they were before, Sai's face had grown a more healthier shade of tone and Naruto was packed into warm layers - the blonde seemed to have re-energized the quickest.
"Where do you want to go?" she asked curiously. Here, they drew a blank; "Uh… any suggestions, Sakura-chan?" Naruto laughed weakly. "Aren't you looking for your pet cat? What was it? A fox?" Sakura frowned in thought. A beat later, the trio of boys burst out in unison, "Kurama!" Sakura's eyes brightened, "Yeah, that was his name. Wanna go looking for him?" Sai responded with a close-eyed smile, "Why do you think we responded so heartily, Ugly? Did Naruto's presence cause a few of your brain cells to dissipate?" Sakura smiled sweetly and simply smacked an unforgiving hand up his head in response. Naruto, whom seemingly didn't hear Sai's absentminded remark whatsoever, was ineffectively trying to take a selfie with Sasuke using Sakura' stolen phone.
"So the hunt for Kurama. Wanna start at the park?" Sakura questioned, racking her brain for a place a where a freaking fox would hide. Naruto nodded eagerly and grinned in anticipation.
They decided to travel by foot to the park near the elementary school. They hadn't passed anyone Sakura knew yet, much to her relief, much she couldn't help but keep a close eye out. The park was very populous, so she wouldn't exactly surprised if she spotted anyone she knew there.
Upon their arrival, Sakura immediately recognized Tenten, an older, talented street performer that often frequented the park, and who was also a childhood friend of Lee. She remembered a scuffle involving a 'worried' citizen that had concerns about the girl's licence - it had ended in a nasty fine which consequently led to Tenten helping out at Sakura's dance studio to make up for the fine.
She noticed another a dancer from her studio, Ami, who was particularly nasty to anyone that wasn't her, making her way to Ten Ten. In concern, she gestured the boys to follow her as she made her way closer to where the brunette was performing. Sakura respected Tenten for both her dancing ability but also her diligence - she was a well-respected and for Ami to try a smack talk her would ward off any potential watchers. Ami was a naturally talented dancer that specialized in ballet and dabbled in contemporary - the complete opposite to both Tenten's style and dance. The brunette was extremely excelled in hip hop and had a more edgy, loose style, compared to Ami's graceful, textbook technique.
At least Ami had the decency to wait for Tenten's dance to finish, Sakura noticed wryly, as she stepped up to sneer at her. "Do you try to dance like a gorilla? I mean, you could've easily been mistaken for a guy." Ami flipped her glossy purple hair over shoulder as a wave of whispers rippled over the crowd. Tenten immediately stiffened, noticing a little girl flinch and turn away from dropping some money into her hat.
Although there was an undertone of masculinity in Tenten's style of dance, her movements were mostly feminine even to the strong beat of the song - Ami had no place whatsoever to comment on Tenten's style. "At least I don't look like one, Mitarashi." Tenten said coldly, firmly crossing her arms to meet Ami's glinting gaze.
Ami was petty for a twelve year old - aiming to try and hurt a girl much more skilled and experienced than her was just pathetically screaming jealousy. The purple haired girl's entourage gasped in affront and Ami's mouth twisted in anger. "Are girls usually this petty?" Naruto whispered to Sakura, watching the two swap insults with wide eyes. Sakura saw the question in both Sai and Sasuke's expressions, as well and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "No," she confirmed, her green eyes carefully observing the tense exchange, "It's just Ami."
They swapped a few more snide remarks before Tenten absentmindedly commented on Ami's talent connected to her pathetic verbal skills. A low blow on Tenten's part but she handled the consequences of a fuming pubescent girl rather well.
"I challenge you to a battle on neutral grounds." Ami's unwavering voice washed over the suddenly hushed crowd like a sea of cold fury. There was an instantaneous response to Ami's demand and the whispers became louder. There had been many results to a challenge like that - some resulting in a grudging respect for the victor but some more than others resulted in public humiliation for the defeated. Since both girls mainly only concentrated on one genre of dance, the variety of genres was widespread.
"Fine," Tenten's voice was strained - humiliation like this could run her reputation through the mud, but her voice was strong throughout, "Choose your judge." Ami's childish laughter filled the park, "Oh, really? You would give me the honour?" Highly amused, her cold, brown eyes surveyed the crowd. Finally, her eyes drilled into a single person. Sai. "You." her voice was soft but with a steely undertone to it.
I nearly burst out into laughter - Sai would find no amusement in watching pubescent girls battle a reputation war, but his dancing eyes told her otherwise. Judging from Tenten's performance earlier and Ami's choice of attire, he knew exactly what genres they specialized in. "Modern. I choose modern." A Cheshire cat grin grew over Ami's face - Sakura knew exactly what she was thinking; that ballet, known to be fluid and graceful would be fundamental in a genre of dance like modern - but what she didn't know was that Tenten's style of dance held more fluidity in it than Ami's did.
With a knowing grin on her face, Sakura watched on knowing exactly what the outcome would be.
By the time they flipped a coin to decide who dance first, Sakura had settled down, along with the boys and many others, to watch the ensuing battle.
One could say that the two girls were equals in terms of ability, but another who knew the girls' styles more in depth would disagree.
Ami would be going first it seemed. Allowing a confident smile to grace her lips, Ami sashayed to the middle of the area. The song burst from Tenten's music play and lit the atmosphere like a candle in the dead of the night. Ami's dance style had adjusted to more flexible movements, allowing Ami to spin and twirl freely but the strong, disciplined mark that ballet gave all its students was evident in Ami's seemingly fluid dance. The controlled turns and rhythmic leaps were plainly apparent, but her motions become looser as the song spurred on. Before Ami could truly take the form of her own customized version of modern dancing, the song ended and the crowded burst into applause. With an arrogant smirk, Ami purposefully nudged Tenten's shoulder as she marched past.
With a sudden intake of breath, Sakura hid a smile as Tenten's entire movement changed entirely when the song began. Her technique had lost the undercurrent of strong masculinity and strongly resembled the the spring breeze or fluid waves of water. Ami scowled, immediately seeing the crowd's awed 'ooh's and 'ah's as Tenten's ballot of victory. The song dwindled down into silence and there was a moment of silence before the marginally bigger crowd burst into raucous applause.
Sakura had never seen Sai scrutinize someone, or anything for that matter, with such intensity. His dark eyes followed every moment of both Ami and Tenten, surveying the crowd's reactions after each of the performances. Perhaps Sai has some dancing experience? Inner mused as Sakura glanced at the boy in the corner of her eye curiously.
After the chatter died down of Tenten's applause tapered into silence, Sai smiled with a tilt of his head and announced, "The winner is Tenten."
Sakura immediately jogged up to congratulate her friend along with the multitude of applauding onlookers. Money piled into Tenten's small looking hat until it couldn't hold anymore coins and notes. She locked the older brunette into a tight embrace with a hearty 'congratulations'.
Tenten whispered slyly to her kohai, "Those boys sure are cute, aren't they, Sa-ku-ra-chan?" and Sakura turned beet red in response. Tenten bubbled with laughter as Sakura swatted her sempai repeatedly, all the while hollering indignantly.
When Sakura joined the boys for the search of the elusive Kurama, Naruto asked curiously, "Ne, why're your cheeks so red, Sakura-chan? Are you tired?" The blonde's forehead creased in worry, and Sai and Sasuke looked on, concerned. "Nothing." Sakura said, slightly flustered, and held her palms to her cheeks in an attempt to cool them. "Let's just go look for your fox," Glancing back at Tenten was a mistake it seemed, because over the sea of people, the brunette winked at her mischievously and Sakura's cheeks reddened even more. Before the boys could fuss over her, she just marched forward and called, "C'mon, let's go!"
Author's Note: I am by no means an expert in the art of dance, but I have dabbled in the lingu and such. On another note, I decided to make Naruto a bit taller in this, just for my sake. This is an AU, so minor changes will be made, in fair warning. I am by no means saying that battles like this occur in real life, but I found the opportunity much too tempting - it also allowed some insight to Sakura's inner workings of her brain. This was more of a filler chapter, so character development and relationship building is fundamental in this part. Also, I know there are alternative way to spell 'sempai' but I know the rough meaning is elder.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter ;3
Review is love~
