Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto. Actually, if I'm on Fan fiction dot net, why do I need a disclaimer? I doubt Kishimoto's a MadaSaku fan boy.
"Seriously?"
"What?"
"He's seven years older than you, Sakura!"
"I know."
"He's a hot piece of ass, Naruto."
'Don't talk about him that way!"
"Aww, Forehead's blushing."
"Shut up, Pig!"
"I still can't believe you let that old pervert kiss you!"
"He's not old, Naruto."
"He kissed you?"
"I've heard that older men often develop erectile dysfunction. Is that true?"
"SAI!"
"Uhhh…"
"You didn't have to hit him so hard, forehead."
……..
"But, you know, Sasori's going to be pissed. Did you see him during the party?"
"With Madara attached to my leg like a leech? The only place I was the entire night was in his lap."
"Real-really?"
"No, but practically."
"Henh, you should have been there in English! Kakashi –sensei was glaring at her the whole time. I thought he was going to kill her."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he assassinated you after school. You know he looks at you, Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke like his own kids after that incident in sixth grade."
"When they got lost in that art museum?"
"Yeah."
"Please don't tell the story, Ino-san."
"Fine….it's a juicy story though."
. "I don't really care if Kakashi-sensei doesn't like it. I don't need anyone's approval."
"You know, Kakashi-sensei wouldn't want you going out with anyone but Naruto, Sai, or Sasuke. And you said before that Sasuke's mom wants you to marry Sasuke or Itachi. If you wanted to please everyone, you would have to date Sasuke-kun. Just saying. Personally, I'm glad you finally got someone. After mooning after Zetsu-san for two years and going out with Neji for one, then not dating for months…"
"I dated Sasuke for a couple of weeks. And I wasn't mooning after Zetsu-san."
"Suuuuure. And you know how that worked out."
"Sakura?"
"Yeah?"
"Just a question. Why this sudden interest in Madara oji-san?"
"Hey-he didn't seduce me, if that's what your thinking, Sasuke-kun. Everything just added up, if that makes any sense.
"No."
"Well, we were listening to Akatsuki radio, and C0-"
"You me-mean Deidara-san?"
"Yeah, just call him by his name, forehead girl. Everyone knows."
"Deidara-kun and Sasori-kun were arguing."
"I heard that argument. Sasori commented on how you liked his puppets."
. "Yeah, then they asked for requests, and Madara, who is actually Tobi…"
"Madara is Tobi?"
"Say it, don't spray it, dickless."
"Anyway, Madara called in to request a song. You know how we would fall asleep on you guy's couch all the time after watching a movie when he broke his leg?"
"Hn."
"Well, we decided 'What Is Love' was our song, because we both loved that part in the Night at the Roxbury movie. He asked them to play that song, and he smiled at me…"
"He smiled at you?"
"It was like th-that with me and Shino-kun, too, Sakura-san."
Just a smile.
CHAPTER II:
Sakura trudged though the hallway, going fast enough so that she wasn't pushed along by the crowd, but slow enough so she wouldn't have to go home to her empty house soon. It was Friday, five days after her birthday, and for once she had nothing to do. Sasuke had 'work' to do, Naruto was going over to Kiba's, Shino and Hinata were doing couple stuff, and her grandmother, Tsunade, was probably at work at town hall. Deidara… well, Sasori was probably lurking around his house. She had taken pains to avoid him yesterday and didn't want to have a big confrontation soon. At least she didn't have homework. She could sit on her couch and watch medical dramas and anime and eat Cheetos. Or…well, actually…the hell with it. Sasori wasn't the confrontational type anyway. He would probably just poison Madara and be done with it.
She turned back and started pushing her way backwards, which was like going up a mushy and warm waterfall, heading to her locker where she kept anything and everything. Deidara had lent her a couple of volumes of Yotsuba&! a while ago and she needed to return them. With luck, Sasori wouldn't be over. She finally got to her locker as the cloud of people dispersed, twisted in the combination quickly, grabbed her CD case and the three manga volumes. The CD case had been a present from her friends. A ton of CDs made by each of them, from Hinata to Zetsu, from Ino's Foo Fighters and Sasuke's thrash to Sasori's classic and techno. The cover had a picture of Sakura and Itachi's friends, Pein, Madara, Konan, etc… at the Uchiha pool, and the back had her English classes yearbook photo, which was all of her friends that were the same age, Kakashi-sensei and his sub, Yamato, who was now her science teacher. They had somehow put the photo on the cloth at Office Max or something, and Sakura loved it. She had gone to bed last night listening to Sasori and Gaara's CDs, which were filled with soothing classical music. Well, mostly. Sakura had jumped fifteen feet when Mindless Self Indulgence blared from the stereo.
She closed the locker and swirled the lock around, stuffed the items in her backpack, and began running though the now empty hallway, waving to the swim team coach, Momochi-sensei (Who didn't give a damn about Kisame strangling Suigetsu two years ago over a soccer game, much less Sakura running though the hall) and Haku, who looked like he wanted to follow her. Was Momochi-sensei abusing him again? Past Karin, who was rummaging though Sasuke's locker, and finally the doors. She barged though and breathed. The scent of paper and many people bunched up together was gone, replaced with the smell of rain. Sakura smiled…until she noticed the rain hammering the sidewalk a few meters away from where she was standing safely under the shade. Sakura looked out at the small parking lot, where Sai and Naruto were still standing around, waiting for someone, probably Kiba's insane mother. Kiba was nowhere to be seen. They were soaking wet, but didn't seem to care. She saw Naruto jump when a blot of thunder cracked. It would have been pretty from behind a window.
I better get to Deidara's house quick.
She went around the campus, following the sidewalk to Ichiraku Street. On the side of the road was an ice cream truck, water dripping off the side like a waterfall. Sakura headed towards it, grabbing a five out of her pocket on the way. The brightly colored menu painted on the side, with it's assortment of stink bombs, ice cream sandwiches, and dreamsicles called to her. There was no line-the elementary school and middle school kids weren't out yet, and wouldn't be for two hours. The high schoolers who usually mobbed it were probably at home away from the rain.
"Hey, Kisame!"
The college student looked up at the sound of his name from the Icha Icha Tactics he had been reading, raising an eyebrow. Sakura inwardly giggled. Kisame looked cute in his white pants and shirt. Not that she would ever tell him that.
"What, pinky? You shouldn't be outside in this weather, you know."
She handed him her five. "Could you give me a chipwich?"
"Yeah. You going over to Deidara's?"
"Yup. It's closer than my house."
He turned his back to her, opening the huge fridge in the back of the truck. A breath of cool freezer air hit her face.
He turned around with a white package in his huge hand, and her change in another. Closing the door with his foot, he handed her the ice cream and change. "Here you go. Get out of the rain."
Sakura smiled. "Alright. Bye Kisame!"
"Bye." He gave her a shark toothed grin.
Sakura laughed and headed left, towards Deidara's place.
His house was closer than Sakura's was to the school, which wasn't saying much. The artist bunked with Sasori in a two story house on Tea Leaf Street. The garden was covered in scorch marks and chunks of hardened clay birdies and spiders, looking like a WWII recreation. Besides the puppets in the attic, you could barely tell Sasori lived there unless you looked in his room. He had just moved in, leaving his childhood home and Granny Chiyo behind.
Only a block away from Kisame's truck, Sakura shivered. The rain and cold was settling into her bones. The rain was unexpected. She was wearing a white t-shirt and plain jeans, more shine than rain wear. Her hoodie was in her gym locker and her rubbers/slicker in an old closet at Grandma Tsunade's house, or maybe Naruto's, from the time they went camping together in his backyard. It didn't rain, but it had rained the day before, and Sakura was a girl scout at heart. His dad had made smores on the stove because his mom wouldn't let them start a fire in the backyard, and burned them. Kakashi-sensei, before he was her sensei, had come over too and made edible ones. Kakashi-sensei's smores were the best thing since ramen and orange, as far as Naruto was concerned, and Sakura agreed.
Her face was numb from the rain hammering into it, and Dei's house was still pretty far. Maybe she better find somewhere else to go and warm up. Lee's house was a little ways back, but she really didn't know him very well and he was creepy.
Sakura heard a car's engine and glanced back instinctively. The rain made everything blurry, and she noted it was red, but not very interesting besides. She walked on, but became conscious of the car slowing down beside her. Was it one of those pervs Naruto and Sasuke were always warning her about? The ones who whisked pink haired girls away to become their onigiri making slave?
She started walking faster.
The car stopped, and a door opened. Sakura tried her hardest no to look back, or to start running. She could beat almost anyone in a fight, but she didn't want to be taken by surprise. She listened for footsteps and heard none. She stopped.
And felt breath on her neck.
She jerked forward and stumbled, but a strong arm held her up. "Let me go!" Sakura reached up and pulled the man's arm off of her, twisting it sharply. He (she supposed it was a he, judging by his smell and arm size) let go, surprised. She twirled around and got ready to hit or run, and…
Oh, Madara.
Oops.
Well, this was a twist.
"Oh…sorry…"
He looked up at her with a pained expression, his hair falling into his eyes. "You're very abusive, you know."
"It's your fault. You don't sneak up on people like that. Let me see."
He held his arm out to her reluctantly. She examined it closely, and satisfied, kissed is cheek.
"No breaks, but it will ache for a while."
"Thanks, Dr. Sakura." He smirked. "Do I get a lolipop?"
"No." She smiled. "Ice cream?" She held up the chipwich in her hands, still frozen.
He rolled his eyes. "You stopped for ice cream in the rain?"
"Yep. Kisame's around the corner. Not literally." She added, as he turned his head.
"Why didn't you ask him to drive you home?"
"I'm going to Dei-kun's."
He snorted. "You have a while to go, and you're soaking wet. Let me drive you home."
"I don't want to go home."
He shrugged. "Then we'll go over to my place. Whatever."
Sakura considered. She had never been to Madara's house. When he had banged himself up he stayed at the Uchiha's main house, and his live in brother, Izuna, had stayed with them as well. Izuna was blind and was alot like Sasuke, without the angst.
"Okay. I haven't seen Izuna in a while."
He smiled happily. Sakura almost reconsidered. Why did her coming over to his house make him happy? It was probably like Naruto's room was, with a sea of dirty underwear and dirtier magazines stashed under the mattress Well, maybe not underwear. Madara wore boxers, or did most of the time. And no, you don't want to know how she knew that….. Well, actually, it wasn't that terrible. She had to help him change his clothes regularly last summer, because of his broken limb. Izuna couldn't do it, because he was blind, Sasuke disappeared suddenly when the phrase 'Sasuke, help your uncle out of his pants' was said. Sakura tried it once, a few months ago, and out of habit he had vanished from the lunch table so Ino and Sakura could freely gush about Neji's kissing skills and Itachi's abs.
Anyway, she was not going to be his cleaning lady.
She glanced down at him. He was wearing a black business suit. It looked good on him, she admited.
What's wrong with you?
What do you mean?
He's your boyfriend now. You can gush over how good he looks in a suit as much as you want. Hell, you can gush about how good he looks out of it.
Sakura blushed at this comment, her pale face lighting up like a Christmas tree.
"What?"
Sakura began pushing him towards the car. "Idiot, you're going to ruin that suit. Get in the car."
He dutifully opened the car door and got in, sitting on a towel already placed on the driver's seat. Sakura went around and paused. She didn't want to get his lovely car wet, but... oh.
She began to shrug out of her jeans, not noticing Madara's shocked and then slightly disappointed expression as he caught sight of the shorts underneath. Then the shirt was removed, revealing a white undershirt. She straightened them out and pulled them to her waist quickly, as not to give Madara an eyeful.
She opened the door slightly to keep the rain out, threw her backpack on the ground, and settled into the leather seat with her wet clothes on her lap. Sakura closed the door and put her seat belt on while Madara gaped at her.
"What?"
He shook his head and the car started moving.
Silence for a while, the radio playing some R and B song by Lady Lala or whatever. Sakura didn't like it much.
"Can I put a CD in?"
"Go ahead."
Sakura rummaged in her pack, found her CD case and put in the CD she had been listening to earlier this morning. It was silver with 'Deidara' written in orange ink around the hole in the middle.
The intro of the first song played immediately, making Madara jump.
"Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me do it in my van every Sunday."
"She says she's in church but she doesn't go-"
Sakura pressed the skip button.
"I liked that song."
"I bet you did."
Madara reached over and pressed the back button.
"Scotty doesn't-
Sakura pressed the button again.
Madara tugged on the edge of her shorts with his free hand. "Stop that."
"I want to listen to something else."
"It's my car."
"So?"
He pulled on her shorts again and Sakura raised her hand threateningly. "Stop that."
He retracted his hand quickly. "Pleeease?"
"No." She flipped though the songs to the next to last one…which was…an Avenue Q song.
Sakura sighed and pressed the back button.
"……………………….."
"I'm thirsty." Madara said suddenly.
"Go to Sonic then."
"To what?"
Sakura eyed him incredulously. "You have never been to Sonic?"
"To what?"
She sighed dramatically. Rich bastards.
"Turn left on Green Hill Street."
Madara obeyed.
"Then right again after you pass KFC."
"What?"
"Gaaah!"
So on and so on til they reached the drive in.
Madara carefully and slowly drove the car into the parking place, taking care not to run over the menu or the innocent employees whizzing around on roller skates, despite the rain. He watched, fascinated, a teenager with a purple mohawk and studs set into his face zoom around with a ice cream cone in one hand and a banana split in the other.
"Now what?" He asked Sakura.
"I'll do it." Sakura took off her seat belt, but Madara put a hand on her shoulder.
"I want to do it." He said stubbornly.
She sighed and sat down. In the process, Madara glimpsed words on the edge of her shorts, written in marker.
"What's that say?"
"What?"
He pointed at her shorts. "On the white rectangle."
"Oh." She flattened it out for him to examine. It said 'Sakura' in red letters and under in, in black, 'Itachi'.
"Why is Itachi's name on your shorts?"
She shrugged. "When he became a senior and didn't take gym anymore I asked for his gym clothes. I thought it was stupid to pay twenty dollars for a shirt and pair of shorts I would only wear once a day."
He frowned. "You could just have asked him for twenty dollars."
She shrugged. "He already bought the clothes. And weren't we doing something?"
He frowned harder but nodded. "How do you order?"
"Push the red button."
"On the menu?"
"Yeah."
He gingerly pushed in the red circle, seemingly afraid of an electric shock or a trap door opening.
"Hello, welcome to Sonic. How may I help you?" A garbled, carebear perky voice said.
He glanced at Sakura and spoke confidently. "I would like two cokes and a-"!" Dr. Pepper please."
"A route 64 comes with a free order of fries."
He glanced at Sakura, who shook her head. "Medium."
"Medium, please."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Ok…"
The woman said some numbers, Madara watched Sakura play with her hair, and they waited.
Sakura took out Deidara's CD and put in the one Hinata had made for her.
Madara waited.
Sakura moved her hips along to Caramelldansen.
Madara liked waiting.
Finally, a girl with dreadlocks and orange beads zoomed up to them with a tray.
Smiling perkily, she handed Madara his drinks in a cardboard container and his receipt, took his money and zoomed off, her long hair splashing water into his face. He hurriedly closed the window and slooowly and carefully backed out of the parking space, into the street and zoomed off towards his place.
Sakura fought the urge to smile.
Finally the duo arrived at Madara's house, and we use the term house loosely. A house, by Sakura's standards, was a 1 to 4 room living space, with a kitchen and a bathroom or two. This was like Deidara blew up a couple of houses and Naruto had krazy-glued the remains together, slapped on some paint, dug a small ocean in the backyard, and as an after thought dumped a green house on the front lawn. The pool was gated, so Izuna wouldn't fall in, Sakura supposed, and she could tell that the manicured lawn was done by Zetsu-it had that sense of being wild without being ugly, like a jungle without the disorganization and aardvarks. It was nice, all in all, only slightly smaller than the main house, as everyone called it. But Sakura would never be used to mansions, no matter how many times she studied with Hinata or ate dinner at Sasuke's. She thought mansions, unless you had fifty kids and twice as many cats, were wastes of space. Beautiful, but useless, like flower arrangements and dresses. Bleh.
After he changed out of his suit, stuck her clothes in the washer, and her chipwich in the freezer, Madara led her through the evil lair/house, not exactly showing off but looking for approval. She constantly reassured him that, yes, it was a beautiful house, but…
"Honestly, I don't you should have such a large house unless you plan on having a lot of kids." She said, as they reclined on a couch in one of the many living rooms, sipping her Dr. Pepper slowly.
"Who says I don't'?
Sakura blushed. "Ohh…"
"Do you want kids, Sakura?' He asks, holding in a hopeful look.
"Yeah, course. I mean, not until I finish med school and at least three years of actually working…"
"But what if you didn't need to work?" Hint hint.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I would anyway. I like helping people, and being a doctor just calls to me. Actually, you know, you helped me realize that."
He nods. Last summer's little adventure. "We weren't exactly friends before that, but I think that that summer helped both of us."
"How?" She asks, surprised. It helped her realize her dream, but…
"
"You dated Sasuke for a bit in July. I realized then, that…I liked you being my nurse, not just because…
(I'm a huge perv who's been physically attracted to you since you were barely a teenager)
I realized that…"
Madara blushed.
Uchiha Madara blushed.
Woow…
It must have been something either utterly embarrassing or juicy, seeing as how he can give a detailed summary of Icha Icha Paradise's plot to a fifteen year-old girl without flinching.
"What?"
"I…."
"Hi, Sakura-chan, Madara onii-san." A voice called. Sakura turned her head. Izuna was standing in the doorway, his white cane with it's red tip snaking across the floor.
"Hi, Izuna-san." They said in unison.
He went around the couch with a practiced ease. Sliding his hand across Sakura's legs-"Sorry, Sakura-chan."- and across the empty space beside her. He sat down, crossing his legs.
"Izuna, we got you a coke. You want it now?"
Izuna nodded, and Madara handed him the soda, (He had absentmindedly carried it around when showing Sakura the house.)
"How are you, Sakura-chan?"
"Good, Izuna-san."
"He smiled at her slightly. "We've known each other for a long time, Sakura-chan. And, as your future brother in law-
"Wait, what?"
"As your boyfriend's brother, I think you could drop the –san."
'Okay…Izuna-kun, I'm good. You?"
"Yeah, I'm good." Izuna closed his eyes, hiding the empty pits in his face. Izuna didn't have a problem with his eyes, he had no eyes. He refused to wear sun glasses or a glass eye, proud of his missing organs. A long time ago, when Madara and Izuna were kids, Izuna was very sickly. Madara was strong, but he was going blind. Izuna, then fifteen, decided he thought he was going to die anyway, and gave Madara his eyes. Izuna's eyes were the one's who looked at her this moment; their black depths filled with amusement and…affection? Izuna and Madara we very close, it was understandable. Heck, just being in the room with Izuna had made that soft look get on his face. Sakura had always wanted a brother or sister. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai had filled that hole a long time ago. . But…no one had ever looked at her with warmth like that before besides in a brotherly way, as far as she knew. (Rock Lee didn't count.) Asking Madara out and declaring him to be her boyfriend at the party were spur of the moment decisions. Like Idate, who had pursued her since middle school, Madara would probably celebrate for a while, grow tired of her, and dump her. He was sweet and kind, and undeniably good looking. After all, Nothing lasts, art is a bang, etc.
"I'm sorry I couldn't come to your party." He said suddenly.
"It's all right, Izuna-kun." She smiled at him. Izuna felt around on the couch and grabbed her hand from her lap and squeezed it. Izuna was very touchy-feely. Literally.
"I wanted to, but I didn't feel like moving around…and being around all that noise."
"You don't need to explain yourself. I know you had a good reason."
Madara was watching them strangely. It wasn't jealousy, but…
He squeezed again. "I feel bad though."
"Don't."
He shook his head and idly played with her pinky finger. "What happened to your clothes?"
"They're in the washer."
"The rain?"
"Yeah."
"You could borrow some of mine." He offered. "I would be closer to your size than Madara would be."
She smiled gratefully at him. Madara kept staring at her legs and licking his lips, and Sakura was getting nervous. "Thank you."
He trailed a hand up her arm and Sakura fidgeted. Izuna stopped.
"Sorry." He retracted the hand.
"It's all right." She assured him. "I'm just not used to people touching me, unless it 's Naruto or Madara."
"Your parents aren't the hugging type?"
She shrugged. He could feel it because he had placed his hand on her arm again. "My parents aren't around much…I've forgotten what they even look like, really."
Izuna nodded sympathetically. "Our parents weren't either."
"They didn't really care about Fugaku, Izuna and I, as long as we got straight A's and come home before eleven. They weren't away all the time, like yours, just distant."
Sakura had never heard Madara talk like that before. The words made her mouth feel bitter.
He continues. "Izuna and I were close, but Fugaku followed our father and mother's way and isolated himself. If it wasn't for Mikoto, he wouldn't be a very pleasant man."
" I believe you." Sakura frowned slightly.
Madara winced. He didn't like that. "Are you guys' hungry?" He asked quickly.
Izuna considered. "Yes, slightly."
"Yeah, I haven't eaten since eleven, and it's like, five now."
Madara glanced at his shiny, probably expensive watch. "Yeah, it's four forty. What should we have?" He glanced at Sakura. "How about I make something while you get Sakura some clothes?"
"Sure." Izuna stood up. "Come on, Sakura."
She obediently followed the blind man out of the living room towards the front of the house. They went past several doors, the soft carpet muffling their feet. It was a dark blue color, which matched the light blue wall with it's white trim. They trekked though a short hallway off another sitting room and Izuna opened a door to the left, revealing a medium sized bedroom. A bed with a black and white quilt was pushed against the far wall, with a few book cases and a chest of drawers on the opposite wall near the door. Izuna immediately headed towards this area, his cane forgotten in his hand.
After pulling one open, Izuna shuffled though his drawers, looking for a warm enough shirt that wasn't too large. Sakura let him 'check' what size she was (he knew he was abusing his 'I'm blind' privileges, but even if he liked it, it was for a good cause.) which was about... five times smaller than even he was. He shut the drawer with a bang and stood up from his kneeling position.
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Nothing?"
"No. Let's see if Madara has anything."
He exited the room and headed purposely towards the next door on the right. He opened it, revealing a room with a large bed and a rug with a maze like design on it. Madara's room. It smelled like him. Izuna used his cane this time, dodging the occasional shirt and book on the ground like a pro. This time he opened a door that led to a large closet like her father's mother used for her spare purses and hats. Sakura held in a laugh at the picture of him in a flowered sundress and a large hat, handing out butterscotch hard candies from his clutch bag.
"Aha." Izuna mumbled. He turned to her with a pleased expression, holding a plain black sweater. "He got it for his birthday from Mikoto a long time ago, I think." He scratched the back of his head. "It will be baggy on you, but…"
"Doesn't matter, Izuna-kun." He shrugged and handed her the sweater and a pair of black sweatpants. "I'll be outside when you're done."
He flicked the light on and left, closing the door behind him.
Sakura sighed and raised the sweater to her face. A earthy, tangy smell.. Maybe he spilled his Panda Express.
She slipped her under shirt off and pulled on the sweater, dropping the white sleeveless to the ground. Then the sweatpants. She shook out her shorts and undershirt and departed the closet.
"Are they okay?" Izuna asked immediately. He was sitting on Madara's bed, twirling his cane.
"Yeah. Not too bad, but we're not going anywhere, right?"
"Nope. I think Madara should have finished boiling the ramen by now." He said wryly.
"How do you know he made ramen?"
"He can't cook." He headed out the door, Sakura following. They turned right, and they were in the kitchen. Magic.
"Ramen's almost ready." Madara announced as soon as they turned the corner. Sakura's stomach grumbled as the scent of chicken ramen hit her nose. It reminded her of Naruto.
"Baked chicken or just chicken?"
"Just chicken." He said cheerfully. "Wait-isn't that my shirt?"
"Yes. None of my clothes fit Sakura. They would swamp her."
"Yeah ,I think Mikoto got me that two times too small sweater for my fifteenth birthday. I have no idea what she was thinking-I started going to the gym when I was twelve, I was at least a foot taller than Fugaku even then."
Izuna nodded. "Fugaku was always small and lean, though. Like Itachi."
"Like a rat." Madara muttered, running his fingers though his hair. "I think the ramen is finished." He puttered over to the cabinet, grabbing three bowls with one hand, opening a drawer with the other and took a handful of chopsticks, which he threw in the stacked bowls and sat on the counter. Sakura hesitantly went over to the boiling pot and stirred, sniffed, then grabbed the pot and went over to the sink. Madara suddenly appeared with a strainer in his hand, which she accepted with a smile and dumped the contents of the pot in.
Mmm. Ramen. Steam wafted up, filling her nose with the beautiful smell, euphoric. She glanced back at Madara, who was watching her oddly again. "Sorry…" She blushed. "I thought I should help..."
Madara reached around her and she stepped back, bumping into his chest. Instead of taking the strainer he wrapped his arms around her. They were thick with muscle, but no too thick, she mused. Like Kakashi's arms. He buried his face in her hair for a moment and stepped away.
"What was that about?"
"What?" Izuna asked.
Madara just smiled, strangely silent.
He's been acting weird ever since we got here…
Sakura shrugged and lifted the slightly heavy strainer, quickly moving towards the other counter top. She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and dished the ramen out equally, being careful not to spill anything on the Uchiha's clean counter. Sticking the pair of chopsticks in the bowl she claimed as hers, she took one of the other bowls and set it on the table. Madara followed her with the last one, his chopsticks between his teeth.
"Izuna, yours is on the right." Madara mumbled, setting his meal down to the right of Sakura. Izuna carefully slid into the chair at the exactly same time as his brother, and raised his chopsticks to his lips almost immediately.
They ate cheerily, Izuna talking about his day at the university he was going to, Madara about his day at work. Sakura mentioned Sai and Naruto's comments on their relationship and Izuna snorted noodles. Madara made a perverted comment, and Sakura punched him.
They finished and lazed around on the couch for a bit, talking and watching TV, which Madara was totally uninformed about. Sakura made a mental note to educate him on Yu-gi-oh, Vampire Knight, and magical girls at a later date. It got very late. Or, actually, early. It was twelve when Sakura finally noticed the time.
"Shoot!" She cursed. "I need to get home!" She quickly stood up."Itotallyforgotbecauseofthepartylastweek!"
'What?" Madara asked.
"I have to go some where tomorrow at like, five, I'd packed and everything-"
"Where?"
"Sakura-con-"
"Sakura-con?"
"Isn't that for anime and video game fans?"" Izuna asked.
"Yeah! Me and some friends were going to cosplay together. We've already taken time off from school and everything. It's been planned since January."
"You wouldn't do that for me." Madara sounded hurt.
"I wanted to stay in California for at least two weeks. We'll be back by Friday, so we won't have too much work to do… And besides, do you want me to spend time with you or worry about homework?" She asked, hands on hips.
"That doesn't mean we have to wait til summer." He grumbled.
"Who are you going with?" Izuna cut in, used to his brother's whines, Sakura guessed.
"Sasori and Dei-kun."
"What? For some reason I thought you just said Sasori and Deidara." Madara said, chuckling.
"I did." The laughter stopped.
"Tell me you just said Naruto and Sai."
"Nooo…I said Deidara and-"
"Don't say the name!" Madara hissed, covering her mouth and looking around anxiously.
Sakura licked his hand. Madara removed his hand and licked it.
"Ew.." Sakura dodged behind Izuna. "Gross!"
"What?" Izuna asked.
"Nothing. Madara, could you drive me home? I don't know how to walk from here…"
He shook his head. "It's still raining, and the road is pretty slick."
"Damn…" Sakura muttered. Madara, who had successfully gotten around her Izuna shield, swatted the back of her head. "Don't say that. And I'll just drive you over tomorrow early to pick up your stuff. Actually…" He trailed off thoughtfully.
Sakura was suspicious. "What?"
"Why don't I go with you?"
"Uhh, because, A. You have no cosplay. B, you have no tickets. And C, no."
"You don't need a costume, do you? And, Sakura, honey, I'm rich. And why not?"
"Because I said so."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. Izuna just laughed.
"Seriously, Madara, if you go…"
"Why?'
"You don't even like anime!"
"I watched Higurashi: When They Cry with Itachi when he was your age."
"Did you like it?"
"No. I got bored."
Sakura stared at him incredulously.
And stared.
And stared.
"The hell?"
He wacked her head again. "Ladies' don't swear."
"So?"
……
"How about we talk about this in the morning?" Izuna asked hesitantly.
"Good idea." Madara said quickly. "Let's sleep on it."
"Nothing to sleep on." Sakura grumbled.
Madara smiled at her. "Of course there is. My mattress."
"Hell no."
This time, Madara got smacked.
A/N:
What should the group cosplay as? I was thinking Leon/Deidara, Ashley/Sakura, and..uhh…Sasori can be the Merchant from Resident Evil 4. Or Sakura/Eileen, Deidara/Walter, and Sasori/Henry from Silent Hill: The Room. Or a Blood+ or Vampire Knight group. I dunno. Help?
Anyway, yeah, Sasuke will be in the next chapter, and Itachi. ^-^ And the evil alter-ego.
A huge thank you to all my reviewers:
konohas white fang. Viv, BrittMarie, Yola, SasoLOVE111, and my first reviewer, Phantom Menace. I appreciate it.