A/N: Hello again. I thought I wouldn't be posting for a pretty long time. But I was bombarded with ideas so here it is, the finished product. Haha. Just one review eh. Sigh. I guess I'll wait until I finish chapter 4 to decide if I should continue this or not. I'm having a bit of a problem regarding the characters. Sigh. It's fine for me, I guess, but for you guys, I don't think you'll agree to an OOC Sasuke. So, if I don't figure out how to write him properly, I'll have to quit. Don't worry, I'll give you 4 chapters until I decide. ^_^
A.J - I quite like Ayaka too. Thanks! You're the first to review! ^_^ Review very much appreciated. :D
Here you go. 2nd chapter. ^_^
Disclaimer: you know the drill.
Choice # 2: Accidental Meeting
It had been a day since the talk between Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura was pacing the room, thinking hard about what happened. She looked around the room, sighed and began pacing again. Naruto and Ayaka went out to buy some stuff and she was left alone inside the house.
'I don't know what to do. What am I going to do?' She thought, still pacing. Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Sakura's eyes were filled with delight. She ran to open the door and a pair of white, lavender eyes met hers.
"Hinata." Sakura sighed; glad that Hinata finally arrived. Hinata entered the house in a very quiet and graceful manner. She turned around and smiled sweetly.
"You called?" Hinata said in her well-mannered tone. Sakura suddenly burst as she ran to her and hugged her tight.
"HELP MEEE!" Sakura pleaded; her usual self gone and her old, unpredictable self emerging. Hinata sighed as she patted Sakura's back.
"I suppose it's really something bad. You don't usually call me with that urgent voice." Hinata replied with a quiet laugh. Sakura nodded and dragged her off to the living room. Hinata, however, looked around, as if trying to find something, or rather, someone.
"They went out." Sakura said, knowing that Hinata was looking for Naruto. Hinata nodded and Sakura instantly felt bad. "I'm sorry." She said quietly. Hinata just smiled sweetly at her.
"Again with the apologizing." Hinata smiled, "It's been a year Sakura, let it go." She added. It has been a year since Sakura and Naruto got married.
Of course Sakura couldn't let it go. She agreed to marry Naruto even though she knew that Hinata loved him deeply. She can never forget that or even forgive herself for what she did. Hinata knew that she did it for her daughter but deep inside, Sakura knew that Hinata felt bad and probably angry as well, so she never stopped apologizing to her everytime they see each other.
"So, what is it that you want my help about?" Hinata asked, sitting down on the couch and looking at the picture placed on the side table. She grabbed it and stared at the picture of Naruto and Ayaka who were happily laughing.
"Hinata! Something ridiculous happened yesterday. It was.." Sakura started, but she stopped. She thought hard, 'Am I really supposed to be telling her this?' Then, another voice inside her head answered her.
'You know she'll get angry since she still loves Naruto.'
'Inner? Why are you out? Anyway, should I tell her that I'm confused?' Sakura asked her inner self and in her mind, inner Sakura started slapping the lights out of her.
'Of course not, you idiot! That'll be a big problem. Oh yeah, I still haven't forgiven you for shutting me down for 6 years.'
Her eyes widened and it's not because she was back to being insane again, but it's because Inner Sakura was right, Hinata will be angry at her but won't show it since she always wore that calm and timid expression on her face. 'I think I better not tell her.' Sakura decided. She noticed Hinata smiling.
"Uchiha-san is back and you acting like that is because of him." Hinata said simply. She looked at Sakura with her serene expression. "You're confused." She ended.
"Uhm. You don't have to say it like that." Sakura said quietly. 'Damn, I forgot she's so smart. How did she even figure that out?' She thought, cursing herself for not being able to decide earlier. "I'm not really confused, just, you know, surprised." She defended herself. Hinata sighed and Sakura sat down beside her.
"You don't have to hide from me Sakura, I'm your best friend. I've only seen you act like yourself- yes, you're acting like your real self." Hinata said when Sakura gave her an unbelieving look, "whenever Uchiha-san is involved." Hinata ended. Sakura snorted. "So, what exactly happened?" Hinata asked, now looking intently at Sakura.
"Well, I saw him with Aya, apparently, Ayaka took a liking to him and approached him herself." She narrated. "It was definitely weird, seeing them together like that, I never even dreamt of it." It was true, in all her dreams, Ayaka would always say that his papa is never coming back. "Then he just recognized me and he realized that Aya looked like him and he started asking questions which is so not like him at all. You know him, he's a quiet guy and he's not usually interested in anything but himself. Do you think I should've just ignored him?" Sakura asked, her eyes begging for answers. She saw Hinata thinking deeply and she remembered that it was the reason she wanted to tell her, because Hinata thinks first before doing or saying anything, unlike her who mostly does everything on an impulse.
"I think it was all right for you to answer his questions, seeing as it is bound to happen soon. And you're right, it's weird for him to talk a lot." Hinata replied conversationally. "But let me tell you this, you can't expect that this is the last time you'll be seeing him." Hinata added.
Inside Sakura's head, 'Inner' started to hit her with a boulder the size of a grown bear. She was thinking of that, of course, that Sasuke was not going to look for them again, but Hinata went all out and said it straight to the point that he will be coming back. Noticing Sakura's twitching face, Hinata just raised her eyebrow at her.
"You didn't actually think that this will be the last of him, right?" Hinata asked, but knowing what the answer was, she sighed. "It's his daughter, it's normal that he'll seek her out." She said in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice. "But you, what will you do?" Hinata asked. Sakura crumbled to the ground, losing all her strength. "Seeing you crumble like that, I doubt you can handle this." Hinata said, disappointed.
"What will I do? WHAT?" Sakura panicked. She started pacing again, thinking deeply of what possible and impossible things that might happen. Hinata just watched her. "I can't do this, I never imagined him knowing! I was happily living a normal life until yesterday!" Sakura said and she just cracked and collapsed on the couch.
"How can you have two different personalities in you?" Hinata asked Sakura. "You're very gentle towards everything when Aya-chan is there, but you're like on crack when she's gone. Crazy." She commented. Sakura sighed.
"It's not easy. I've never released this old beast inside of me since I had Aya. I don't know how to control it." Sakura said, sounding like there are really two persons inside her that's controlling her.
Sasuke was lying down on his bed, looking straight up at the ceiling and was thinking deeply. He became unfocused since yesterday's encounter with Sakura. He never expected to see her on the day that he comes back, never in his life. The door opened and it revealed his brother, he sighed.
"If you're not getting up, I swear I'll drag you out of this room by foot." Itachi threatened. Sasuke just shrugged, ignoring his brother. His brother is the only reason why he's here anyway. "If you don't get Haruno out of your head, Ino's going to get mad." Itachi pointed out.
"Hn." Sasuke simply said. He stood up, Itachi was right, there's still Ino that he needs to think about; she'll get hurt when she finds out though he always does hurt her accidentally or on purpose. He walked towards the door and stopped beside his brother. "Be thankful that I thought about Ino's feelings, jerk." He said coldly. He hated his brother a lot.
He went out of the room and walked towards the yard where Ino was sitting on a bench. The Yamanaka family really had a big house, not to mention a big lot. He tapped Ino's head and sat beside her.
"Hey." He said in his uncaring tone. 'Why am I doing this anyway? I'm not even trying hard.' He thought to himself. He saw Ino smile at him.
"Hey. I wondered when I'll see you; you seem to love our room, don't you?" Ino said in her sweet voice. Sasuke knew that Ino was trying hard to please him; he avoided to shrug so as to not make her feel bad.
"Quite." He said coolly. He never loses his cool on anyone, 'Except for that pink-haired girl.' He thought as he remembered her hair, then his thoughts were filled with her face, her eyes, her lips and her body. He lost focus again and then shrugged.
"Are you okay?" Ino asked, noticing that Sasuke just looked unfocused. "By the way, even though we just came back, Dad says that he wants you to work, so you'll be working tomorrow." Ino said. Sasuke stared at her.
"Work?" Sasuke asked. It was fine for him to work, if it means being busy and occupying himself, rather than be stuck in..
I'm his wife.
It came back again. Sakura's words entered his mind again unknowingly. He was getting pissed off at it. Work is much better than having to hear those words over and over again inside the big, quiet house they live in.
"It's in our company. I don't know what position you're in, but Dad just wants you to be there. He believes that you're clever enough to do almost anything." Ino said, quite proud that her Dad believes in her husband.
"Really." Sasuke replied nonchalantly.
"One liners again huh." Ino noticed talking about Sasuke's replies. This made Ino feel bad, it seems that Sasuke does not care at all. Sasuke noticed this and sighed. 'Pain in the ass, this is.' He thought glumly.
"Let's go out." Sasuke offered, hoping that this will take her mind off his monosyllabic answers.
"Shopping?" Ino asked, now her eyes are full of excitement. Sasuke just nodded in reply and was immediately hugged by Ino, blushing. "I love you." She whispered.
"Hn." He replied. 'I don't even have a better comeback to that. Disappointing.' He thought, but Ino seemed fine, so he let it go. Ino stood up and seeing that they were both dressed already, she grabbed Sasuke's hand and practically dragged him to the car.
"Open the doors, we're going shopping." Ino said enthusiastically. The driver opened the door and drove them to the nearest shopping place. Ino noticed that Sasuke was quiet all throughout the ride, 'Well, he's never been much of a talker after all. Patience, Ino.' She told herself.
After a relatively short ride, they arrived in Shibuya. Ino's eyes shone brightly as she saw the usual crowd that she has not seen for 5 years. The two of them alighted the car with Ino shoving her bodyguard away so she can have some time along with Sasuke. She clung onto Sasuke's arm and dragged him inside the most famous shopping spot in Shibuya, the Shibuya 109.
"Stop dragging me." Sasuke coldly said, annoyed and then pulling his hand away from her arms. Ino pouted, but Sasuke did not find it cute at all.
"Fine, okay. You'll shop with me though, right?" Ino smiled radiantly. Sasuke nodded, his eyes exploring the place as they walked. Ino squealed happily.
They went into every shop Ino could think of, or rather, they went to any open shop at that place. Sasuke was carrying a lot of shopping bags and Ino was carrying a lot as well. Imagine how many that is. Just then, Ino stopped, Sasuke looked at the shop she was staring at. It was a jewelry shop.
'Figured.' He thought. He looked at Ino and she was now staring at him with hopeful eyes. Sasuke just looked at her with his bored eyes. "What?" He said, not really asking. Ino clung onto his arm again, blushing.
"Buy me something sweet." Ino said, her blush creeping up to her forehead. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her and smirked, he started walking which made Ino look at him, confused but was walking along with him. "Where are we going?" She asked.
"Ice cream." Sasuke said simply. Ino's eyes widened and he pulled his arm so forcefully that it made him stop. Sasuke looked at her with the smirk plastered on his face. "What?" He said for the second time.
"I did not mean that literally! I was talking about jewelry!" Ino shouted, attracting attention from other shoppers. Sasuke sighed as he was pulled inside the jewelry shop.
Inside, Ino was looking at all the jewelry they were offering; from necklaces to anklets to earrings and rings. She was constantly tugging at Sasuke's arm when she sees something she likes but will be quickly turned down with a cold 'No' from him.
"You really have a handsome boyfriend miss." The saleslady said. All of the salesladies inside the shop were practically drooling over him from the time they entered. Ino rolled her eyes.
"He's not my boyfriend." Ino said. Suddenly, the girls started to say flirt lines to which Ino replied, "He's my husband." She said. All the girls cried out in despair, but Sasuke wasn't paying attention anymore.
He was looking at something, something outside the shop's windows. Surprisingly, what he was staring at came inside the shop with a big, radiant smile. Sasuke suddenly felt warm and happy, which he doesn't usually feel, as he heard the familiar voice.
"Mama will surely like this.." Ayaka squealed as she saw a pretty earring and was jumping up and down while pointing at it. "..Na-chan." She ended.
Sasuke failed to notice that Ayaka was with someone else. He tore his eyes away from the girl and onto her companion. He saw a familiar blonde haired guy who suddenly squatted down to see what Ayaka was pointing at.
"Do you really think so Aya-chan?" Naruto told Aya, eyeing the same earring. Ayaka nodded; then she held Naruto's hand that made him look at her.
"Will you buy it?" Ayaka asked sweetly, looking into Naruto's eyes. Naruto saw her onyx puppy dog eyes, but he couldn't help thinking about something.
'She looks exactly like Sasuke that it's weird to see her making that face.' Naruto thought, a shudder went through him, but was gone quickly too. "I don't think Mama will like us buying stuff that we don't need Aya-chan." Naruto said with an apologetic smile. "Maybe next time." He ended.
"I'll buy it for you." Sasuke interrupted, his hands free from Ino's grasp as she was brought to the other part of the room where there are more jewelries to choose from. Naruto and Ayaka looked up and Naruto saw the same onyx eyes staring at them.
"Sasuke." Naruto said simply, standing up and offering a hand to him. "Long time no see." He said.
"Naruto." Sasuke replied nonchalantly, taking his hand and shaking it to be polite. 'I believe we just saw each other yesterday.' He thought. He looked down at Ayaka and saw her with a huge smile on her face. Sasuke squatted down low for her and gave her his most sincere smile. "Ayaka." He simply said. Ayaka squealed much louder than before.
"Steak-san!" Ayaka screamed, lunging forward and hugging Sasuke tightly, this surprised Naruto. He never thought that Ayaka would be this approaching to someone she only met once. He remembered that he had to have a week with her before she became friendly towards him. "Steak-san! Steak-san!" Ayaka repeated over and over again. Sasuke gave a quiet laugh that only Ayaka heard.
"Steak-san? You still don't know my name but you're hugging me." Sasuke said, pinching Ayaka's nose at which she giggled cutely. 'Sakura didn't tell her at all.' He thought.
"Ayaka knows that Steak-san is nice." Ayaka said with a big grin. Then, she stared at Sasuke's face for a long time, putting her hands on his cheeks as if inspecting it. "Steak-san really looks like Ayaka." She said very quietly, marveling at Sasuke's face. Sasuke just smiled.
"Yes. You said that before. Ayaka, you can call me Sasuke." Sasuke said gently. Ayaka nodded. They were completely ignoring Naruto on the side until he interrupted.
"Ayaka, be polite. You'll call him Uchiha-san." Naruto objected, not really fond of the idea that Ayaka will be on first name basis with Sasuke. 'This close is good enough.' He thought. Ayaka looked at Naruto and crossed her arms on her chest.
"Hn." She said. Naruto and Sasuke were surprised. 'Whoa. That was weird, felt like I saw myself for a second.' Sasuke thought.
'That is her first time doing that.' Naruto looked at Sasuke who was still looking at Ayaka. 'This guy is contagious.' He thought. Ayaka glanced back at Naruto, pouting.
"Na-chan, Sasuke-kun told me it was okay to call him Sasuke-kun." Ayaka told Naruto. Again, Sasuke was surprised at this little girl. 'Just now, she sounded like Sakura when she said my name. Extraordinary.' He thought. Naruto just sighed in defeat.
"Okay." Naruto said which earned him a hug from Ayaka. Sasuke stood up and faced Naruto, his eyes cold and uncaring. "What?" Naruto asked.
"She calls you Na-chan." Sasuke said in a low voice. Ayaka was back in staring mode at the earrings she saw earlier. Naruto gulped.
"It's her…term of endearment." Naruto said, roughly making his way out at Sasuke's words. Sasuke just smirked and Naruto knew that he was thinking about why Ayaka doesn't call him Papa. Ayaka tugged on Sasuke's pants.
"Sasuke-kun, you said you were going to buy that." Ayaka told him, pointing at the earring. Sasuke nodded, but Naruto protested.
"We're not buying it, thank you for you offer though." Naruto said with a pouting Ayaka hitting him on the side. Sasuke stared at him.
"The girl wants it." Sasuke said simply, approaching the counter. It was Naruto's turn to give out a knowing smile.
"She didn't raise her like that." Naruto said. Sasuke stopped walking, wanting to strangle Naruto into oblivion.
'Of course, he had to rub it in.' Sasuke thought. Naruto was bragging about how he knows what Sakura wanted for Ayaka and how he was there to watch her and to know what's the right thing to do. 'She doesn't want to spoil her, I guess.' Sasuke thought. "Fine." He said.
Ayaka looked at the two guys, confused at how they're acting. She tugged on Sasuke's pants again. "It's okay Sasuke-kun. Mama will get angry anyway if we buy that." She said.
"I'm sorry Aya-chan." Sasuke patted her head. He knew that Ayaka was quite mature for her age, or just clever. 'Probably got it from me.' He thought.
"Sasuke-kun. Do you want to come over to our house? Mama is there!" Ayaka invited which made Naruto's eyes widen. Sasuke just smirked at Naruto's reaction, but refrained from trying to piss him off further as Ino would probably be out soon.
"Maybe next time Ayaka." Sasuke said, earning a relieved sigh from Naruto. He saw Naruto grab Ayaka's hand, who is currently pouting because Sasuke declined her offer.
"Say goodbye now Aya-chan. Mama's making dinner at home." Naruto said. Ayaka reluctantly nodded. She turned to Sasuke and gave a perfect bow and Sasuke bowed back, amused.
"Goodbye Steak-san, Sasuke-kun." Ayaka smiled and waved as they walked out of the shop, leaving Sasuke alone, well, not really.
He turned around and saw Ino staring at him like he's been cheating. She was tapping her feet to the ground and her arms are over her chest. Sasuke just calmly went to her.
"What?" He said again for the third time that day. He was back to his cold and nonchalant self once more. He started to walk out of the shop with Ino following closely behind him.
"Care to explain that? Was that Naruto you were talking to just now?" Ino asked, trying to keep up with Sasuke's pace. Sasuke just nodded. "So? Why were you talking to him? I haven't seen him in years, who's the little girl?" Ino asked.
'You wouldn't want to know.' He thought. "Friend." He said simply. Ino was annoyed to the point that she ran in front of him to stop him from walking.
"Why is it that when you're with me you always just say one word? I heard you talking to that little girl with so much energy and a LOT of words came out of that sexy mouth of yours." Ino said, ignoring the fact that she was arguing with him and still called him sexy. Sasuke stared at her.
"You're seriously jealous over that little girl?" Sasuke said, giving her a disbelieving and disappointed look that made her blush.
"I..wasn't. I was..just..just asking." Ino stammered. Sasuke started walking again. Ino followed behind.
"Good. Now, drop it." He said, hoping to close the subject about Ayaka and Naruto. Ino just sighed in defeat. Not long after that, they reached the car and were not talking all the way back to the house.
Back at Sakura's house, Naruto and Ayaka arrived with some shopping bags that have clothes for Ayaka herself. They entered the living room and saw Hinata and Sakura talking seriously. Ayaka did her trademark squeal, signaling that she's back.
"Hina oba-chan!" Ayaka screamed as she ran to hug Hinata. Hinata just welcomed Ayaka's hug, but she sighed from hearing the word 'Oba-chan'. She looked up and saw Naruto staring at her and Ayaka with a smile, Hinata blushed. She looked back at Ayaka and pinched her cheek.
"Aya-chan, I told you, don't call me Oba-chan. Onee-san is okay." Hinata corrected her, Ayaka just smiled cutely, muttering 'I forgot'. Hinata stood up to acknowledge Naruto's arrival. "Uhm..hey." She said, stammering a little. She was still shy around Naruto. Naruto just smiled at her and pulled her into a hug.
"Long time no see Hinata!" Naruto said enthusiastically. Hinata blushed a deep crimson red. Her vision became blurry and everything was circling around her. Sakura saw this and pulled Naruto away from Hinata, fearing that she was going to faint soon.
"Hi. What happened today?" Sakura asked, grabbing Hinata's shoulder and calming her down. Naruto just looked confused and his eyes asking 'what did I do?'. Sakura rolled her eyes at him.
"Mama. I saw steak-san, oh, Sasuke-kun today!" Ayaka told her in a very energetic and happy voice. It was Sakura's turn to have her vision becoming blurry. She got a hold of herself and threw daggers of looks at Naruto.
"It was accidental. We bumped into him when Ayaka entered a jewelry shop." Naruto explained, throwing his hands up as if trying to surrender. Sakura sighed, she looked at Hinata. She wasn't going to be much of a help now since Naruto came back; Hinata always malfunctions when Naruto is around. She sighed again and smiled at Ayaka.
"What happened honey?" Sakura asked, trying to hide her surprise and worry. Ayaka told her everything that happened. After Ayaka was done, Sakura relaxed. 'Good thing he didn't come with her.' was the only thing she thought. "Aya-chan, you had a great day." Sakura smiled. "Go and change your clothes so we can have dinner." She ended. Ayaka nodded.
"Relax." Naruto said, sitting down beside Sakura and running his hands up and down on her back, calming her down. Hinata went inside the bathroom to fix herself up after her embarrassing moment earlier. "It's not like you'll be seeing him again anytime soon." Naruto said.
"Yes. You're right. There will be work tomorrow." Sakura said. "Chances of seeing him are only on weekends when we go out." She ended. Naruto nodded.
"That's right. So loosen up, okay?" Naruto said, leaning in and kissing her lips gently. Sakura smiled and nodded.
'That's right. Stop constantly thinking about him, you have Naruto beside you.' She thought.
A/N: I tried to improve Sasuke in this chapter. Did it work? I hope ti did. Haha. I was chanting 'I hope it works, I hope it works' with my fingers crossed and my eyes closed everyday after I wrote this. hahahaha. LOL.
Oh, you probably noticed that Sakura's best friend here is Hinata. Just a whip of something fresh, 'coz I was told that Ino is usually her friend. I wanted to make things difficult some more for everybody involved. hahaha. I'm really bad, aren't I? Don't hate me. Hahaha.
We'll have SasuSaku moments next chapter people! Be prepared. LOL. [And I still don't know how to write them properly. I think I should be the one preparing. haha]
Oh, one last thing. Who want's a PERVERTED Sasuke? Well, if you've read my other fics, I'm quite fond of writing funny perverted stuff. hahahahahaha. LOL. T_T Just tell me, I'll gladly do it for you guys, and it's enjoyable for me too. LOL. :D
PLEASE REVIEW! [please? hahaha. *yuki-chan is desperate. Pathetic.* hahahahaha. :P
December 21, 2010 [Tuesday; 7:04 p.m.]
Philippines
