In denial because of You

Second chapter here! I'm so glad that so many people have been able to read my story! It's great to hear about what all of you think in the reviews, so thank you to everyone who did review! Also thank you to everyone who followed and favourite my story, it's so appreciated and it makes me motivated to update sooner! Any ways, here's chapter 2. I would love it if you all spread the word about this fanfic and got more people reading and reviewing! Thank you! This chapter has been inspired by Book Jumping to Confusions by Liz Rettig.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto nor do I own Book Jumping to Confusions. All rights are reserved for the original owners Masashi Kishimoto and Liz Rettig.

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Chapter 2: Meet Sasuke Uchiha

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We walked, still smiling broadly, into the living room. Karin quickly recovered from her previous humiliating act, and was soon back to her usual self-assured self, so I was really surprised when Sasuke didn't start drooling over her like most guys did. Still, it'd probably be a matter of minutes before he finally gave in to her 'charms' like most guys did. I could tell she was going to make sure that he did, due to the fact that she was acting completely strange around him. It was weird really, seeing her make such an effort with a guy since usually it was the other way around. All during dinner she was smiling constantly, her head tilted to the side towards him, her hair pushed away over one shoulder revealing the side of her long, slender neck. She tried to start a conversation multiple of times with him but to no avail as he merely answered with short, mumbled words or grunts. Even then, Karin pretended to be fascinated by his every comment and laughed enthusiastically when he (probably out of politeness) remarked on how excellent the Omurice tasted. I blushed at that comment and ended up looking down in order for my embarrassingly pink face to be hidden. He liked my cooking! I then stopped myself half-way through my almost fan girl thoughts and had to take a large, unmannerly gulp of the light alcoholic drink in my cup in order for me to regain composure, but instead ended up nearly choking on the beverage.

The whole table had turned to look at me, my family embarrassed, Mr and Mrs Uchiha concerned, and Sasuke…was that a smirk on his face? The nerve of that boy! And to think that about ten seconds ago I was fantasizing about how mature and sensible and amazingly gorgeous he was! I flushed even deeper in humiliation. Never had I felt so out of place in my life.

Mum swiftly tried to cover up the scene by moving on to a different subject, but it only caused more concern between everyone at the table. It was obvious that she was nervous, because she had drank quite a lot of wine, which is isn't like her at all (too many calories in alcohol), and started talking almost non-stop about everything and nothing. I knew that she was eager to please our guests, probably because this was really important for Dad's job, but I was beginning to resent the impression that she gave that they were somehow superior to us.

It was when she tried a different tactic and started boasting about how good looking Karin was that I really did cringe. Oh yes, Karin was beautiful wasn't she? The number of young admirer's she's had this year! She'd already broken some hearts, she could tell them. But you know she was so fussy - well, at least she could afford to be.

Mikoto Uchiha, Fugaku's wife, politely cut in and said "I think that both of your daughters are beautiful." She smiled at me wonderfully after that, and I took that as a hint that she liked me and was displeased with the way Mum kept on going on about Karin. I didn't know whether to be flattered or even more worried after that. So much for first impressions!

Mum took another swig of her wine and said, "Well Sakura is a darling, has such a great personality you know?" No mum, they did not know, but thanks for the compliment anyway. She might as well have said 'Sakura is the ugly one'.

Everyone seemed to be uncomfortable except for Mum, who continued on prattling oblivious to the awkward atmosphere in the air. "You know I think that she has great talent, especially for cooking. She made the Omurice and the curry for tonight!"

Everyone on the table turned to look at me and for the first time that night I really dreaded the fact that Mum had decided to compliment me. Sasuke's smirk widened even further as he looked at me out of the corner of his eye with a sense of humour and accomplishment. If I hadn't known better, I would have said that he had somehow linked the fact that I was blushing madly with his previous remark on how great my food tasted, but he's not that smart. At least I don't think he is…Oh my god Sasuke Uchiha is smart and now he probably thinks I like him or something and he's undoubtedly laughing at me on the inside because he thinks I'm a total desperate loser trying to compete with my much more beautiful sister for his attention. I had to look away, to distract myself, and unfortunately my gaze landed on his mother.

Mikoto Uchiha smiled deeply at me before saying "Well I think that you're extremely lucky to have such amazing talents in the family. Our Sasuke here doesn't even come near the stove!" Everyone except for Sasuke laughed at this, and I couldn't help but send a triumphant smirk of my own towards him. Hah! How does it feel to be humiliated now Sasuke? He merely replied to my smug smirk with a glare of his own that caused my laughter to immediately cease, though it went unnoticed by the adults and Karin. Geez, what was his problem?

After dinner was finally over, Karin and I cleared up while everyone moved outside to the garden lounge. It wasn't too cold and the garden lights illuminated the dark, making it perfect to sit out and have a calm, relaxing night.

Once we were in the kitchen, Karin turned around to me and asked if I would finish up while she 'rescued' Sasuke i.e. took him off into a quieter room to chat away from the adults. "Come one Sakura, do me this one favour. I'll let you borrow whatever you want of mine if you like."

I looked around at the kitchen. There wasn't a square centimetre not covered with piles of dishes, pots, pans or glasses. And our kitchen was pretty large in size.

Karin followed my gaze. "Okay I'll also pay you."

"How much?"

"Ten."

"Make it 20 and it's a deal."

Karin's jaw slightly dropped as she glared at me in disbelief. She pursed her lips shut and sighed. "Okay deal. The things I do for this boy!" She groaned out.

I rolled my eyes at her childish behaviour. Honestly, sometimes Karin was just so…senseless it was hard to believe. Still, the fact that it was also slightly amusing couldn't be denied, especially since for the first time ever, it's Karin who's making the effort with the boy.

"Mmmm, he is gorgeous though, isn't he?" Karin pondered aloud.

Yes, I suppose that even I couldn't deny the fact that Sasuke was extremely hot- the sort of boy who was totally out of my league. But not out of Karin's, of course. Watching her now hum to herself dreamily, it was hard for me to not be a little jealous of her. I don't know why, but when I looked at Sasuke, and then at Karin, I couldn't help but feel this unknown, uncontrollable emotion surge through me. But I knew one thing for sure, and that was that I shouldn't be feeling like this, not when I had someone like Sasori in my life. And Sasori was so mature, intelligent and sensitive. Far better than any schoolboy, no matter how good looking they were.

After Karin had left me alone in the kitchen to clear up, I had just started washing up when a call on my mobile phone from Ino had interrupted me.

"So how tall is he?"

"Hmm, tall enough to pass the high-heel test, Ino, but I think that Karin has probably beaten us to him. I think she's really keen on him."

Ino groaned. "Karin doesn't need another boyfriend! She's already got one! It's so unfair. Honestly, there should be a law against this sort of thing." She paused for a moment, then, seeming to accept inevitable defeat, continued, "Oh God! He must be something to interest Karin. Tell me all!"

With the phone pressed between the intense grip of my shoulder and ear, I moved towards the sink and turned on the tap to soak the pots as I filled her in. "God yeah! Ino he's gorgeous. So hot he sizzles. Everything about screams sex god, from his hair to his eyes to his jaw line, just everything! And his body is so toned that his muscles stick out from under his shirt, but he's slim and tall and oh god his looks are just perfect! But don't feel too jealous, he probably has some character defect."

"Oh yeah? What could be wrong about someone so fucking perfect?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe he has a nose picking addiction. Or maybe he chews gum while he snogs, wears Stars and Stripes boxers and sings "God Bless America" while shagging."

Ino laughed. "It's more likely he's gay. They say all good-looking guys are gay."

I giggled, and with the phone still between my shoulder and ear, turned around and came face to face with Sasuke. Shit.

I blushed furiously as he stood by the doorway of the kitchen, a smirk plastered on his face.

Too surprised and mortified to say anything, I just hung up quickly and gawped at him like an idiot. How long had he been there? Oh god, how much had he heard?

After what was probably a few moments but felt like a year, I still hadn't said anything, and Sasuke shifted from one foot to the other. He looked up at me, a smirk still on his face and his expression even more amused, as he said "I thought I'd come through and see what you were up to, since Karin has gone upstairs to get some holiday snaps."

I stared at him, and when I still hadn't replied, he said "You know Sakura, I don't pick my nose. Neither do I own any Stars and Stripes boxers. And while I sometimes chew gums, I've never done it while 'snogging'. I'm guessing that's the same as kissing."

He said nothing about the 'God bless America' bit. Maybe he didn't know what shagging was either. God I hoped not. At least he hadn't heard what Ino had said about him being gay. I was so embarrassed that I didn't know what on earth to say to him afterwards. It seemed like whenever I was near Sasuke Uchiha, I was prone to humiliating myself. Deciding that attack was the best form of defence, I said, 'Well there was no need for you to come and check up on me you know, thanks all the same, but, erm, have you never heard of knocking before entering a room?"

He wasn't smirking any more, but the amusement in his eyes didn't seem to have left as he raised one dark delicate eyebrow and said "Knock before entering a kitchen? When the door is wide open? No I hadn't thought about it, I apologize."

If there was a Nobel Prize award for the world's biggest and most humiliating loser ever, then I think I would have been the top nominee all the time. Why couldn't the ground just crack open and swallow me up and whole right there and then?

He walked over to fridge, pulled the door open, and peered into it. I blinked. Okay so maybe that was not expected at all. "Um, what are you doing?" I asked quizzically. Call me stupid, but I didn't think that it was normal or usual for a stranger to just start randomly rummaging through someone's fridge without actually having permission. So much for top notch manners.

He never answered my question, but instead pulled his head out of the fridge and almost rudely, if he hadn't done it so gracefully, pushed me away from the sink, before he turned the tap on and started washing…wait, was that a tomato?

I blinked again, just to make sure that what I was seeing things correctly, and when it really did turn out to be a tomato, I couldn't help but stare at his face in a way that made what was running through my head clear; 'Are you serious?'.

"You know it's rude to stare, although it's not like this is the first time you've stared at me." He said, gaze still focused on the tomato that he was washing.

I swear that my eyes must have just popped out of my sockets and rolled away somewhere, probably under the fridge, as my jaw dropped down so quickly that I'm sure it's been dislocated. He tilted his head to stare at me, an indifferent look on his face, as he lifted the tomato up to his lips and took a bite out of it. Then he walked off, but not before making sure that I was able to see clearly the way the corner of his mouth tilted upwards at one side.

I was sure that Sasuke had heard me talk about how good looking he was. Oh God, maybe he thought I fancied him or something and now I was intending to get off with him. I blushed uncontrollably again. How degrading. I must make it clear to him that there is no way I'm competing with my sister for his attention. Not if I wanted to humiliate myself even further.

By the time that I had finished completely in the kitchen, I felt quite tired and just wanted to curl up in a small, insignificant ball on my bed and sleep away the embarrassment of the evening, but Mum had worked hard for tonight and she had made sure to warn both me and Karin to make ourselves 'sociable' around our guests, not that Karin seemed to be doing anything but. She had said that I wasn't a kid anymore who could just ignore the fact that we had guests; I had to do my bit to entertain. I was pretty sure that Karin- and Sasuke come to that- wanted my company right now as much as people wanted a verruca in a swimming pool, but I would have to join them.

I took my phone with me and, after knocking (in case they'd already taken their relationship up a stage), walked in to find Karin and Sasuke sat on our black leather sofa looking at an album of Holiday snaps of when we had went to Suna last year. Oh God, I hoped she wouldn't be showing him any of me in my bikini with a body of a twelve year old.

I smiled at them, although I was cringing on the inside, as I walked further into our newly furnished house lounge and curled in the arm chair with my phone, ignoring them. Or tried to anyways, but Sasuke kept on looking up from the album to talk to me. Oh so now he wanted to make a conversation?

At first I had answered politely to most of his questions- he was a guest after all- but then the questions started turning slightly more personal and I didn't know if he was doing it on purpose to just annoy me. Yeah, pink hair really was unusual. Oh it was natural? How strange!

Annoyed by the scene in the kitchen and also sensing Karin's slight impatience at his failure to drool over her photos, I told him abruptly "Yes, it's not every day a pink haired baby is born. Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to read a book."

He scowled but instantly replaced it with an indifferent look again as he immediately apologized for interrupting me, which of course made me feel guilty. After that, he stopped speaking to me completely. The truth was, I was the one being rude and his apology just seemed to underline that. If he had thought that I was a humiliating idiot before, he now probably thought that I was a rude, humiliating idiot. Oh God no. What if this ruined the chances of my dad and his boss's relationship becoming better? Mum would kill me!

I found myself unable to concentrate on my book after all. Unlike my sister, I wasn't widely popular with boys, but I'd always been able to better them in any argument and few took me on any more (the ones who did usually ended up in hospital for x-rays). Yet this arrogant, self-centred guy seemed to have put me in the wrong without having openly criticized or confronted me at all.

I was relieved when Mum eventually came to tell Sasuke that his parents were leaving.

After she had left the room Karin turned to Sasuke and said, "So Sasuke, tonight has been really fun. Maybe we can meet up sometime without our parents around to check up on us. Is there anything you like to do in particular?"

Sasuke eyed Karin uninterestedly as he replied, "I'm going to be busy these days with the whole move and helping my Father with the company."

I scowled. Karin was trying so hard and he seemed to be playing hard to get. What was wrong with him?

"Well I'm sure that you can get a day off if we just ask your parents." I cut in, smugly. I hid my face with my phone when he gave me a look that clearly told me to 'stay out' of it.

Karin, oblivious to the tension in the air between me and Sasuke, squealed in delight before she cried "That's a great idea!". She dragged Sasuke out the room and to his parents, while I followed behind them begrudgingly.

By the time Karin had asked permission from Mr and Mrs Uchiha, everyone was already by the door saying their goodbyes. Mr and Mrs Uchiha gladly agreed, and I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from bursting out into fits of laughter, because Sasuke looked like he had just been slapped in the face.

"So how about tennis then? I'm a member of a club just ten minutes from here and I know that a couple of people have cancelled bookings. I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to get a court."

Well, Karin wasn't wasting any time. I had to admire her choice too. She looks fantastic in her short white tennis skirt and has always said that it was probably one of her best pulling outfit.

However, instead of agreeing straight away, Sasuke turned to me, and with a hint of something along the lines of mischief and revenge in his eyes asked "Do you play, Sakura?"

"No, not my thing." I instantly replied, a bit too quickly.

"Well how about we do something we can all enjoy."

Oh no, he was going to be one of those well-mannered types that Karin attracts sometimes. The ones who feel they ought to pay some attention to the plain sister too. Personally I prefer the straight-forward ones who ignore me. It's more honest and doesn't waste everyone's time.

There was also a large chance that he was doing this on purpose to get on my nerves and try and get me involved in something he so clearly knew that I did not want to be a part of. Well, I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing me lose.

I said, "Look, it's totally fine . You and Karin just go on ahead without me.

But Sasuke was adamant I be included and nothing would shift him, or the hard glare he was giving me out of the corner of his eye.

Eventually Karin suggested that I come along to the tennis club just to watch, not to play. The thought of acting like a chaperone on Karin's date had about as much appeal as having a tooth drilled without anaesthetic but Karin pleaded with me. "Oh come on Sakura. You know how much you enjoy the atmosphere at the club- you often come to watch people play."

I inwardly scoffed. Yeah right, like as much Ino watched football. I can think of a million better ways to spend an afternoon- it wasn't exactly rocket science. Still, Karin was like my sister and I hadn't seen her this keen on anyone. Speaking of Ino, maybe I can actually get her to come along too, so I wouldn't feel like I was in the way. Reluctantly, I agreed.

We all piled by the door again to say good bye. Mum was carefully trying to conceal her relief that her ordeal was over without any major mishap. Sasuke's Mum and Dad appeared to have really enjoyed themselves and said that they must have us over to their place sometime soon. Sasuke thanked us for the night too and everything was fine until he turned around at the last minute, smirking at me before he concealed it with another uninterested look as he said "Oh and by the way Sakura, before I forgot-what does shagging mean?"

I did a double take as my stomach lurched and I felt my cheeks go a colour that put Karin's hair to shame. But worse followed Sasuke's Mum, who answered for him and said "Don't be silly Sasuke, you know perfectly well what shagging is. Your aunt and uncle used to do it all the time. Do you shag Sakura? Back home its usually older people who enjoy shagging. Fugaku and I used to know a couple of people who were very keen on it and won several competitions. But I've never known any young enthusiast."

I just stared at her, red-faced and horrified. She'd seemed quite normal and nice at dinner but this woman was seriously weird. Maybe all foreigners are weirder than I thought. What on earth could I say?

Dad frowned at me, before saying slowly, "It's a type of dance, Sakura, which is especially popular in the south-east of America." He turned to Sasuke's Mum. "And no, Sakura doesn't enjoy, erm, shagging as much. She's more into modern dance. Sasuke must have misheard."

Karin put her hands over her mouth to stop herself from laughing but Mum was glaring at me. I just stayed completely still and tried to look normal. Then I saw Sasuke smirking widely at me, the closest thing I have seen him do to a smile, and I realised immediately that he knew exactly what shagging meant here. He'd deliberately said it to wound me up. I decided right there and then that after tomorrow I would have as little to do with Sasuke as possible.

After they had left, I expected my parents, especially my Mum, to have a go at me about the whole shagging thing, but thankfully they said nothing. I overheard them arguing though about it later. Mum was saying that obviously I'd used disgusting, common language in front of one of our most important guests- it was completely unacceptable and they should have words with me about it.

But Dad just said, "Leave it alone, for God's sake, Mebuki. Let's face it, with two teenaged daughters living in this house, there's no point in going looking for trouble. The incident's not even that important. And besides, I'm too fucked up to be arsed talking to Sakura about her bad language." Thank God Dad's a bit more laid back about how we speak than Mum.

Once Karin and I had cleared up the coffee cups and the wine glasses I wanted to go straight to bed but had to listen to Karin going on about Sasuke. Wasn't he gorgeous! And she just loved his accent. What did I think?

I nodded my head in agreement at everything she had said, before I finally managed to slip away and escape to my room. I took the photograph of Sasori and me from the drawer of my bedside table out and gazed at it fondly. When I say Sasori and me, I actually mean Sasori and the whole of our class out in a festival, but he's standing right next to me and, I swear, looking at me rather than camera. I gazed at it for a moment then sighed. I wish I had a bigger photo of him that I could kiss, as my lips being larger than his whole head doesn't seem right somehow, but I couldn't ask for one without people getting suspicious. Not that I even kiss his face in the first place, because that just would be…strange.

~...~

Ino couldn't come to the tennis club because she had to go shopping with her mum. Her mum was in a good mood and Ino was sure that she could persuade her to buy this new skirt from Zara that she's had her eye on other than the usual school stuff that they were supposed to be getting. You had to strike when the iron was hot, as Ino liked to say.

I called up some other besties but everyone was busy. Hinata had a social behaviour tutoring class arranged by her father that she had to attend, Tenten was in her Karate lessons preparing for her next match and Temari was currently out of town. Luckily aunt Kushina came over to find out how the dinner had gone and Naruto came along with her. As well as being like a cousin to me, Naruto was also one of my closest friends so I managed to persuade him to go with me.

Naruto has just turned seventeen, although he is only a couple of months older than me, and attends the same school as me. He had just come back from a two-week camping holiday in Greece, and his sun-kissed skin seemed to be even tanner, making his blue eyes and freshly cut, golden blonde hair radiate brightly against his complexion. I wondered if Hinata would like it. Naruto wasn't the smartest off boys, but he looked fantastic and he had a good body- very fit and muscular- so quite a lot of girls fancied him (until they found out about his ramen obsession). It was obvious to everyone that Hinata loved him, except to maybe him, which is why I say that Naruto isn't the smartest of boys. You would think that after five years of being around a girl who blushed madly at the sight of you would drop a few hints, but nothing seemed to get past Naruto's very thick skull. It was a pity really because she was dead keen on him and he had mentioned to me earlier that he found her very attractive, but none of them were brave enough to make the first move.

Mum asked me to make her and Aunt Kushina some tea. Naruto came in to help me while Karin went upstairs to get ready for her tennis date. As soon as we were alone Naruto turned to me and grinned. "So, Sakura, how have you been? Been anywhere with your friends lately?"

I studied him sceptically. "You look and sound awfully interested in my social life Naruto. Something up?"

He laughed a little too nervously for my liking as he placed his hand behind his head. "What, so I can't ask about how my favourite girl has been?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking about me or Hinata? Because recently you've been acting a little strange when you're around her."

Naruto, although was tanned, blushed brightly and ended up having to cough to cover up his embarrassment. I inwardly grinned. Seems like I've hit the target.

"Just forget I asked." He mumbled, and I genuinely felt sorry for the guy. Maybe Naruto, the most outgoing, sociable guy that I had ever met, was actually feeling shy when it came to Hinata. Maybe he had finally realised that Hinata had a massive crush on him!

He groaned before I was even able to speak, instantly changing the subject. "What is it with some girls? They're so picky and difficult to please! Like Karin, for instance."

"Watch it, that's my sister you're talking about."

"Yeah, well I don't see the need for all that make-up she slobbers on her face anyway. People aren't daft; they know make-up when they see it…unlike some people I could mention."

Dad, who had been working on his laptop all day, came in to get coffee so I made one for him.

"Thanks sweetheart, I needed this," he said, taking the cup away from me.

"Dad, it's Sunday," I said, looking at his tired face. "You need a rest. Do you really have to work every weekend?"

"Just another half-hour or so to do. I'm fine. Honestly."

He turned to Naruto. "So, I hear you're going along with my girls to meet this young lad?"

"Yeah, Sakura asked me."

"He seems nice enough but you never know," Dad said, his voice mock serious. "Some of the boys these days can be smooth-talking charmers when they want to be. You'll take care of my girls for me, won't you? Especially Sakura. I think he might have taken a bit of a shine to her."

Naruto made a sweeping bow. "I'll defend our women's honour with my life."

"You idiot." I laughed, and then smiled at Dad. "Honestly, I'll be perfectly safe. Sasuke was just being polite last night." I winced at the way the word polite seemed to sound strained out of my mouth.

My dad is really nice. Unlike my Mum, who I'm sure doesn't do it on purpose, Dad seems to think that I am just as pretty as Karin. Mental, I know, but I suppose it's like what people say, "Love is blind," and I must admit it's nice to have one parent who doesn't see me as the plain daughter.

Aunt Kushina let Naruto borrow the car so that he could drive us to the tennis court- she would get a lift home from Mum. Since Naruto has only just passed his driver's licence, his Mum lets him drive the car almost as much as Dad gets free weekends; hardly ever. But because she hates driving, she sometimes lets him drive the car, provided he also chauffeurs her about. Today was a special occasion.

It was past time to go so Naruto was getting annoyed by the time Karin came down the stairs looking at her watch to time our departure. Karin's policy is to be at least ten minutes late for a date, often more. She looked particularly good today in her white tennis gear, her hair up in a neat swingy ponytail and wearing just a hint of foundation, eye-liner, mascara and blusher. Her lips were glossed up in a pale pink colour. I sighed. While it was so hard not to be jealous of her, I was also oddly proud of her too. Yes, one of the best looking girls in the whole year was in fact my sister. I was sure that Sasuke hadn't dated anyone prettier than her before. She would be a credit to him.

Naruto and I hurried out to the car while Karin strolled along behind us. When he ushered me into the front seat, however, Karin jogged up to complain about being relegated to the back.

"I get car sick at the back, you know I do."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Quit moaning," he said. "It's only a ten-minute drive. You'll be fine."

Karin got into the back, scowling.

Like Ino, Naruto wasn't too fond of Karin either. It was weird actually, because she was more biologically related to him than she was to me. You see, the thing is, Karin and Naruto's families are actually not that distant from each other, which means that I may have slightly lied when I said that we were the only family Karin had. During the time of the accident, it was actually Naruto's parents, Kushina and Minato, that were asked to take Karin in, but they were unable to because they were on a business trip around the world. Coming back would mean that their whole career would be ruined, so they had asked for my parents to take her in, seeing as they were the next in line, until they came back from the business trip.

But by the time they had come back, Mum, Dad and I had already grown too fond of her and Mum, in order to keep Karin, said that it would be unfair to put a small child through so much stress in her life by making her move houses and families so much. And because she was so adamant, Karin stayed with us in the end.

It was also through Karin that we met with Auntie Kushina and Uncle Minato, and of course, Naruto. We all went to the same school ever since we were five, and Aunt Kushina and Uncle Minato insisted that they come over and visit Karin after school almost every day and most times on weekends. It had happened so often that we considered ourselves a family.

This however, did not mean that Naruto liked her. We had a fight over it once when he said that Karin was a selfish cow who was so up herself it wasn't true. We fell out after that for nearly a month, until he eventually apologized and promised to never insult her again. At least to my face. I wasn't happy with the last bit but put up with it. After all, Karin couldn't be bothered with Naruto either and usually decides to ignore him in a way that made it seem like he didn't exist.

Sasuke was waiting for us outside of the clubhouse, by an expensive looking motorcycle, looking relaxed and composed as ever. He was wearing tennis gear that fit him perfectly in all the right places, giving him a slim yet muscular figure. I was sure that under that shirt were well toned, perfect abs. Hmmm…abs. I shook myself out of my trance. No, I wouldn't be fooled by his looks! Plus, he was Karin's, so there was no way that I would even dare think about him in that way. I couldn't help but think what a good-looking couple they would make. Maybe this would be the guy who succeeded in dating my sister for more than six weeks; her record up until now.

He spotted Karin and me first, because we were the first ones out of the car, and frowned slightly. Probably annoyed by the fact that I had to come as well, but then again he was the one to suggest the idea in the first place, so shame on him. Naruto went to go and find a place to park the car in, so it was just me, Karin and Sasuke. Karin was beaming at him and instantly started talking about how great he looked, but he seemed uninterested and instead decided to gaze at me throughout the whole talk, making it unbearably awkward and uncomfortable. I couldn't wait until Naruto came, at least then I wouldn't feel like I was the third wheel in this…relationship or something. Naruto was sociable, he would be able to befriend Sasuke in no time, and maybe also help him get rid of that nasty attitude of his as well.

I couldn't think of a time where I was happier at the sight of Naruto then right now. He came jogging up to us, the light reflecting off him making it look like as if he sun had just arrived (or maybe that was in my eyes only, but still).

"Sorry about that, I had to fight for a place to park the car in. You would think that an innocent, old lady would be intimidated by the sight of a teenager, but this one just ended up shouting at me!"

I laughed none the less, probably a bit too exaggeratedly, and then introduced Naruto to Sasuke. But unlike what I had first expected from Naruto, which was a boisterous greeting and a hand shake, he instead surprised me by staring at Sasuke as if he was some sort of ghost. Then he glared.

"Teme…?" He hissed in suspicion, and I gazed at him, mortified by the insult that Naruto had just thrown at my Dad's boss's son. Was he trying to make my Dad lose his job!?

"Naruto!" Karin cried. If Karin had an inch of respect left for Naruto before, it was probably all gone now. "Apologize to Sasuke right away!"

I turned to Sasuke. "I'm so sorry about that Sasuke, Naruto probably didn't mean-"

Sasuke closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. He completely ignored me as he opened his eyes again ad said "Never thought I'd be seeing you again, Dobe."

My jaw dropped to the ground. Was I missing something? Had my annoying, loud mouth best friend Naruto met Sasuke before?

"Teme you sick asshole! What the fuck are you doing here?" Naruto cried, though it sounded anything but insulting, as he laughed happily and reached out to Sasuke for a manly hug. Said boy rolled his eyes but none the less lifted his hand up and patted Naruto on the back.

It was really brief, and when they had parted Naruto winked and said, "I know that you love dick and all, but please refrain from groping me next time!"

Sasuke glared, but quickly replaced the glare with an expressionless face and said, "Dobe, you're the same as ever; still dick-less."

"Excuse me could someone please explain to me what's going on!?" Karin shrieked, and I couldn't agree with her more.

~...~

The court that Karin had booked wouldn't be ready for another fifteen minutes so we ordered Coke from the club café and, as it was a warm sunny day, sat at the table outside where we could watch the tennis and chat. It was during that time that Naruto had explained everything to us. Turns out that Naruto and Sasuke had met abroad while both of their parents happened to be on the same business trip. The first time they were acquainted, they were both five years old and declared themselves as rivals. On the second business trip, Naruto and Sasuke were both 10, and Uncle Minato's and Mr Fugaku's companies were working together for some sort of sales agreement, and it was during then that their friendship grew into a brotherly rival. Ever since then, they had apparently been best friends, but as time had passed and both had to return back to their home places, they talked less and less to each other. And now, after six years, they had finally met again. It really is a small world.

To Karin's annoyance, Sasuke and Naruto were soon engrossed in a conversation about which one of the two was better and largely ignored us. I tried to divert Karin by talking about her plans for next week but she wasn't interested so I ended up tuning everyone out, sat back and sipped my coke while enjoying the sun shine on my face.

Eventually, fed up with being ignored, Karin interrupted Sasuke and Naruto. "So, Sasuke, is there anyone other than Naruto that you had met while you were abroad? Like a girlfriend maybe?"

"No one special."

"Me neither. I'm not seeing anyone special at the moment."

Naruto said, "I though you were seeing that guy from-"

"Not anymore," Karin snapped. "That finished a while ago."

Naruto rose an eyebrow sceptically. "Don't suppose you've bothered to tell him about it."

Karin scowled and was about to have a rant at him, but changed her mind. Instead, looking at Sasuke, she said, "We just kind of drifted apart."

Yeah, right. As soon as she set her eyes on Sasuke. More like an avalanche than a drift. I smiled at the thought.

Sasuke smirked back at me. "What about you Sakura? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Before I could answer Naruto butted in. "Nah, Sakura is still single. No one's been brave enough yet to get passed her ' Touch me and I'll smash you balls' signal that she posts up loud and clear." He looked at me. "Isn't that right Sakura? You don't date."

I laughed nervously. "Well, with all the idiot guys around, I don't think you can blame me."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and shrugged. "See what I mean? And this is when she likes you."

Sasuke, still smirking, said, "Oh is that true now? Aren't you interested in dating at all Sakura? Or maybe you're just waiting for the right person to come along?" I didn't like the way that his voice had a hint of mockery in it, but I decided to dismiss it when no one else seemed to notice. Maybe it was just me.

I thought of Sasori and smiled dreamily. "Mmmm, yeah, maybe I'm just waiting for the right person."

"Oh for God's sake," Karin interrupted. "Are we going to sit around here talking rubbish all day?" She looked over at Sasuke. "Our court has been available for over 5 minutes now, so are we gonna play or not?"

I was abit taken aback by Karin's rudeness, but I suspected that she was angry because Sasuke wasn't paying enough attention to her, and she wasn't used to guys ignoring her.

Sasuke frowned and I thought for a moment that he was going to tell her to 'fuck it', which really would have been a shock, but then he just pursed his lips in a thin line and then stood up, walking towards the tennis court. Karin ran after him, pleased that he had listened.

Karin was a good tennis player but it was soon obvious that she was totally outclassed by Sasuke. Except on TV, I'd never seen anyone play tennis like him. For the entire game he just seemed to stand casually in the middle of the court, lobbing balls easily at Karin over the net, sending her running about frantically all over the place after shots she was almost never able to return.

After just twenty minutes it was game, set and match, with Sasuke winning by a crushing six-love, so they returned back to the table. Karin's face was scarlet and dripping with sweat. That and her grumpy expression made her look as close to ugly as I'd ever seen her. She threw down her racket and gasped, saying that she was going off to the changing room to freshen up.

By contrast Sasuke was cool and relaxed; looked as though he had nothing more than a mere walk in the park. He remained standing at the table, twirling his racket expertly between his fingers. "So, anyone else up for a game?"

"I'd love to join you teme, but I'm afraid that tennis isn't really my game."

"What, you scared about losing to me?"

Naruto glared. "Yeah right, keep dreaming teme. Sakura used to play though."

I hated Naruto right there and then. It was true that I used to play when I was younger and I wasn't that bad at it, but that didn't mean that Naruto had to use me as the change of subject! Seeing Sasuke play like a professional earlier against my much more experienced sister gave me the perfect reason for not going up there. I decided that I wasn't going to be humiliated on court like my sister by some show-off. Aloud, I just said politely, "No thanks, it was a long time ago, so I think I'll just pass."

But Sasuke had taken me by the arm and not too gently actually, hauled me up from my chair. He passed me my sister's racket and said "C'mon Sakura, no sense in letting the court go to waste. If you're really worried about not being able to play, then how about I give you a refreshing lesson?"

I stared up at his face, looking for the sincerity in his eyes. He looked back down at me, and for a moment, it felt like we almost shared…something, like a connection. It lasted about less than a second and was broken when he removed his hand away from my arm and I looked away, a blush fighting its way to my cheeks. I coughed awkwardly, and when I looked back, he was gazing at me, one eyebrow lifted up neatly.

I found myself reluctantly agreeing to play. I didn't really have a choice, because he had walked off and was preparing the court for the new game. As it turned out though, I had a great time. Sasuke, knowing that I hadn't played in ages, was surprisingly nice to me for a change. We didn't play a proper game at first, but instead decided to practice. He lobbed very easy shots at me until I was eventually returning them constantly. Then he made them gradually harder, and I started missing a few. He taught me how to serve properly, firstly demonstrating a few times, and then guiding my arm and racket, showing me how to aim and swing. Afterwards I just practiced serves, which Sasuke stopped and then lobbed over for me to try again. Eventually I managed to smash one into the far corner of the court so that he missed it. I was so happy that I threw my racket in the air in triumph and Sasuke came to the net to high-five me.

Finally we played a set, which I lost six-love, but at least I managed to make it last a while. When our time was up on court I was actually disappointed. As we walked back Sasuke said, "Nice game Sakura, not bad at all. I think you've got a real flair to tennis. With some extra practice you could be really good."

"Do you really think so?" I said, flattered that someone as good as Sasuke at tennis thought that I had talent.

"Sure. But you need to work on your technique and fitness."

I was mortified and furious. He might as well have said 'fatness' and be done with it. He had no right to make comments like that to me; no one asked for his opinion. Sasuke had asked me to play on purpose just to make a fool of me, again. I should have known better than to let my guard down with someone like him and I silently vowed it would never happen again.

~...~

Sasuke said that he was going to go back home on his motorbike, but Naruto refused and insisted that Sasuke come with us; he wanted to show Sasuke around and catch up with him. So Sasuke called someone to come and take his motorbike, while we all piled into the car, Sasuke and Naruto at the front while Karin and I sat at the back. We were both in a bad mood, but, typical guys, Naruto and Sasuke didn't seem to notice as they had drifted off talking about something else, cars and driving probably.

I wasn't paying much attention until Sasuke mentioned his car and how much he missed it. I nudged Karin. "This is the one Karin. He even has a car! How great is that?"

"So what? I've been out with tons of guys who can drive. It's not something that big."

Since it was obvious that Karin was too annoyed to attempt any kind of conversation with me, I amused myself by daydreaming about Sasori. In this fantasy, he was confessing his undying love for me that he had suppressed all those years but was now finally able to make them known. We'd just elope today and face the consequences tomorrow.

I was interrupted in this very nice dream by Sasuke, who had twisted his neck around to look at me. "You look happy. What are you smiling about?"

I frowned at the interruption and was about to tell him 'Nothing really, hoping that he would go back to minding his own business when, Oh my God, I spotted him walking into Konoha mall and ended up screaming "Stop the car!"

I think that I must have gone slightly overboard because suddenly Naruto pulled in, jerking us all forward, before saying, "What the fuck! What's wrong?"

Quickly unbuckling my seatbelt, I said, "Erm, nothing, I just, er, remembered that it's my friend's birthday in two days and I really need to buy her a gift. Right now."

I opened the door and slid out. "See you all later! I'll make my own way home. Bye." Then I slammed the door shut and hurried off.

It was a massive mall but fortunately Sasori is quite tall and I spotted him easily going into a book store. I walked over to him, taking in a deep breath to steady myself, as I stood closely by him next to the magazine stand. I picked up a magazine and pretended to be engrossed in it, and to my joy he noticed me straight away and said "Hi Sakura."

I flushed with the pleasure of hearing his voice again. It was a lovely voice, smooth and rich, not harsh or strident like most teachers in our school. I turned to look at him and his warm caramel eyes that were gazing into mine. I said, "Hi, Mr Sasori."

He smiled at me then glanced down at my magazine. "I didn't know you were interested in knitting for babies."

I blushed. "Erm, no, I was just, er, browsing." I put down the magazine back in its place on the shelf and picked one from the stand opposite that had a picture of a woman as the cover. "This is more my thing," I told him.

I thought that it 'Vogue' or something, but, oh no, flicking through it open I could see that the photographs were much more explicit than what I had first thought. It was in fact a men's porn magazine. I threw it back, my face now probably as red as Karin's after the tennis game earlier. But instead of glaring at me, reprimanding me, or judging me, Mr Sasori merely smiled at me again and said "Your taste in in reading material is a bit more eclectic than I'd thought Sakura."

I found myself not embarrassed anymore, but smiling back and sharing his joke with him. He chatted with me for a while about mundane stuff like the weather and if I'd had a good holiday so far, but even an ordinary conversation with him seemed intimate and exciting. All too soon though, he excused himself, saying he was going to go now. I thought it would look a bit too obvious if I had followed him straight away, so I said that I would just finish looking around here and go through the book department before I also left. I gave it exactly ten minutes, and then decided to go out and look for him. It took me another ten minutes to actually find him, and when I did I found that he was actually inside a male-undergarments selling store.

I decided that it would look stalker-ish and strange if I entered the store as well, so I entered the shop right across it that was selling perfumes and all sorts of scented candles, body washes and bath bombs. I pretended that I was displeased with the aromas in front me, although they smelled amazing, as I looked at Mr Sasori through the window. The lady owning the store seemed to be slightly annoyed at the fact that I happened to be lingering in her store for no reason whatsoever, so I was thankful when I saw Mr Sasori leave the shop and decided to make my leave as well. I made it look like as if we had just happened to run into each other again.

He stopped when he saw me again and smiled. "Oh, hi again Sakura. Not found anything you liked in that book store?" He said when he noticed that I was empty handed. I silently cursed myself for being so careless, but was glad that he hadn't realised what was actually happening. I gazed at him and reddened. I definitely found something that I had liked in that book store, but it wasn't a book. It was him. If only we could talk openly about how we felt, instead of talking about books like we were right now.

"Ah, no not really. I thought that I'd have a look around the other stores to see if there was anything other than books that caught my eye, but I still haven't found anything." I looked down at the bags in his hand, trying to make it look like I did not know what their contents were. "But I see you've done some shopping. Did you find anything that you liked?"

He smiled lightly again and said, "Actually I found this wonderful book on string puppet mastery, and I think that it would be a great thing to teach you guys when we come back after the holidays. But this bag has nothing to do with books; it's more like my new boxers."

"I think that it's an excellent idea Mr Sasori! And I'll support you all the way. Oh and every one goes underwear shopping every now and then. What colour are they?"

I mentally slapped myself. What was I blabbering about! Going on about the colour of his boxers! God, he must really think that I was an idiot.

He laughed. "Well some are white and some are blue but most of them are black."

"Good choice; black is a really hard colour to get dirty." I flushed in mortification. What was I thinking!? I needed to sort this out! "Not that I'm saying you get your underwear dirty or anything, it's just that, what I mean is-"

Mr Sasori laughed again. "You really are a strange girl Sakura. I'm glad that you're able to talk to express your opinions to me so openly. It's a nice change from the rest of my students who decide to keep to themselves and act all tough and hard."

I paused for a minute. Did he really just say that he wanted to talk to me openly too and that he enjoyed my company? This was so exciting! Of course, I'd have to be really careful with my response. I must make it clear to him that I knew our conversations would have to be strictly platonic for a while since he was still my teacher- and totally secret because of the nasty rumours and gossip that would spread between people about our relationship.

I was still thinking about the wording of my reply when a call from my mobile phone interrupted. I ignored it at first but Mr Sasori probably assumed that I wanted to answer it, because he said "Well, see you later Sakura," then turned around and walked towards the exit of the mall.

Damn. I cursed who ever had called me and took out my phone, checking the caller ID, which was unknown. Whoever it was had just probably ruined the most important moment of the year and also my only chance with Mr Sasori. I punched the answer button, causing a surge of pain to travel through my thumb as it came in contact with the hard touch screen of my phone, and answered crossly, "Yeah, what is it?"

Sasuke said, "Hey, hope you don't mind but you left in a rush and I didn't have time to get your number so I asked Naruto." I was too annoyed to even bother answering to this, so after a long pause Sasuke said, "I'll take your silence to mean that it's okay. The thing is, I really enjoyed this afternoon, and I was wondering that maybe you'd like another tennis lesson? Or maybe you could come over and we could go out for a movie or something?"

I was stunned into silence. What was he saying? Was Sasuke…asking me out? The Sasuke Uchiha who seemed arrogant and did nothing but humiliate me? Asking me, instead of Karin? Could he be serious?

When I didn't reply he started talking again. "Look its fine. I'm not asking you out on a date or anything. It was actually something Naruto had brought up and he said that you would love the idea." He laughed slightly, though it sounded more like a chuckle. "Apparently you don't date right? So, Ok, I thought that maybe we can meet up some time, since I'd like to get to know a couple of people better. What do you say?"

I said suspiciously, "So, you want to teach me tennis, or meet up with me for a movie, because Naruto said so, but it's not a date and it's just you and me?"

"Well, yeah, but you know, I'd like to get to know a couple more people, so if it'd make you feel more comfortable, you can bring a couple of friends over , or your sister maybe. Naruto said that he would be there as well. Whatever, it's fine."

Ah ha! So that's what it is! He wasn't confident enough to ask Karin outright so he was using the 'pretend friendliness with the not-so-sexy sister' technique. Yeah right. It might not have been quite so bad at tennis, but like I'd really wanted another lesson on working on my 'fatness'. Sorry I meant fitness. And I wondered what the movie would be about. Probably some movie about a proud, rich stuck up guy who got all the girls he wanted and ended up with the hot blonde one in the end.

I didn't say this to him of course-my Mum would have had a fit if she's heard I'd been this rude to my Dad's boss's son, so instead I just had to content myself by replying, "Sorry, I'm busy this week and I'll probably be busy for quite a while actually. Call Karin, see what she says, she has more male friends than me any ways."

Then I hung up. I hoped that this would be the last I would be hearing from Sasuke.

I made this chapter longer than the first chapter because I think that the other one was too brief and not good enough to attract more readers. But to everyone that has stuck with this story so far and is reviewing, following/favouriting, a massive thank you goes to you! Im grateful for everyone's comments, whether they are anonymous or not.

Now some of you may be thinking that Sasuke is a little bit out of character-this is honestly because this is only the start of the story and I don't want him to look arrogant and moody at Sakura for no reason. Also, don't forget that Sasuke's parents are alive in this story, and Sasuke originally, before the death of his parents, was a very happy, energetic child. This, however, does not mean that Sasuke is going to be happy and energetic though, it just means that at times he wont seem all dark and moody.

As for Sakura and her slight obsession with Sasori...well you'll have to wait and see what happens! Lets pray for a quick and soon update from me (If I don't drown in mock GCSE exams that is)

Much love

Ash

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