Black Coffee

Hey, it's me again :)

Hope you didn't have to wait too long for this...

I'm really surprised how many good feedbacks and encouragement I received! You should've seen it: I had a huge smile plastered onto my face while reading the reviews...THANKS SO MUCH!

Disclaimer: still don't own Naruto... or else Sasuke and Sakura would have married and had children already. :)

Well...hope you like it!

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I...I SPILT COFFE ON (and got saved by, but mostly spilt coffe on) AN UCHIHA! GAHH!

"AHHH!" I woke up screaming.

Frantically, I looked around, and was relieved that nothing had changed in my small bedroom. That didn't last, however, as I noticed the pretty necklace on the night-stand. My nightmare had returned, only this time, it was real.

Oh no, what was I going to do? Of course I was going to return it, but...he's an UCHIHA! Like the guy wasn't intimidating enough to talk to without that last name! I felt like crying, and that's when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

"Sakura! Get up and get ready, geez." My roommate called, "don't you have to work double-shift today?"

"AH! I FORGOT!" In the frenzy, I fell off the bed. "Ow..."

The door opened, and she walked in time to see me wincing on the floor.

"Tenten! What happened to your hair?" I asked, noticing that it was only shoulder-length.

"I cut it." when she said that, I heard a trace of sadness and anger.

"Why? You love putting it up in buns!"

"No!" she suddenly raised her voice, "he liked it when I did that. So no more! I'm moving on."

"Ohh..." I couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment, the subject of Tenten's ex is a delicate one.

"Sorry about that, got worked up over nothing." she muttered after a moment, calming down.

"That's ok." I comforted, and then, "Oh no! Work! I'm gonna be late!"

Never bothering to eat breakfast, I changed in a haste, carelessly grabbing the necklace off my night stand, and ran out.

"I might go visit you, okay?" Tenten called after me when I was half-way down the hall, frantically running.

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Anxiously, I felt the necklace in my pocket again, waiting for him to walk in. I knew I had to give it back, but I was so scared, and I wasn't even sure why. It might not even be his; he is an Uchiha, but he didn't have to be Sasuke Uchiha. Still, the thought of starting an actual conversation with him was unnerving. So unnerving, that when he walked in at around six, looking like an artist's masterpiece coming to life, I forgot to breathe.

Okay, Sakura, I told myself, you can do this. Just breathe, in and out...get that heart started first.

Today, though, instead of indifferent, he seemed irritated at something, as his brows were furrowed, and the frown on his lips deepened.

Well, here goes, I thought as I approached his table, maybe he won't shoot laser beams out of his eyes at me...

"Uh..."

"What?" he snapped, turning to me from his book.

As soon as he did that, all the words I was going to say left me. Traitors, the bunch of them.

"I-it's still...still the usual, r-right?" I managed to choke out in my nervousness.

"Hn." I took the grunt as a yes, and fled.

Gee, how brave I am. I thought bitterly as I poured coffee.

However, I still needed to ask, no matter how many chills run down my neck when I see him glaring behind a new pair of sunglasses. Okay, again, then. I just needed to get things over with, that shouldn't be too hard. Just...don't look at his face.

Coffee mug in hand, I took a deep breath and half-stumbled over to his table. After setting down the hot liquid, I took a deep breath, reached for the necklace, and took it out of my pocket to show him. Surprise flashed through his eyes if not for an instant as he eyed the piece of jewellery.

"I-is it...yours?" I asked nervously.

"Yes." he answered flatly as he snatched the necklace out of my hand.

"So, you're..."

"SASUKE-TEME! THERE YOU ARE!" A booming voice came from the entrance.

"Shit." I heard him grumble.

When I looked at the source of the loud voice, there stood a young man, he didn't look a year older than me. His light blond hair was spiked, his eyes a bright, sparkling blue. He wasn't bad looking, kind of cute, but nothing compared to the Uchiha sitting down. With a smile that took almost half his face, he ran over to us, stopped in front of the table, and turned to me.

"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm Sasuke's best friend!" he said proudly, and very noisily, while the other man snorted.

"Err...hey." I responded.

"What's your name?" the blond asked, not the least bit shy.

"Sakura." but it wasn't me who answered.

"EHH?! Teme knows her name?" the one named Naruto asked incredulously.

Sasuke Uchiha rolled his eyes, "It's on her name tag. Now go away, dobe."

The command was ignored as the man sat down at the table with his friend. I just stood there, knowing I should probably leave, but not really wanting to.

"I was wondering, when I found the place, why you've been hiding over here for almost two months," the boy-ish one started, "now I know...CUTE WAITRESSES EVERYWHERE!"

Naruto turned to me then, "Especially the you, Sakura!"

I gave him a questioning look, as in, are you kidding me?

"You're the cutest gi— OW!" a spoon was thrown at his face, but that didn't stop him, "Teme probably really likes y— OWWW!" this time, it was a book that struck his head. Both objects courtesy of his dark-haired friend.

"Stop harassing people, and how did you find me?" he demanded

"I followed you, teme!" he said brightly, then looked at me again, "Could I have a chocolate-chip cookie?"

"S-Sure...anything else?" I suddenly remembered I was a waitress.

"No, thanks."

"Alright."

I walked back to the counter in a daze, a little confused at what had happened. Absentmindedly, I grabbed a cookie, put it on a plate, and walked over to them.

"Thank you!" Naruto grinned widely at me, then turned back to his friend, "I brought some people with me, too!"

The other man just rolled his eyes again, as the blond continued, "they're finding parking space, and should be here any minute."

As if on cue, two more young men walked in, and I suddenly had the urge to ask if Sasuke Uchiha had a "Gorgeous Men's Club". One of them was laid back, with half-lidded black eyes, and raven hair tied up in a high ponytail, the other stood with a proud air around him, long dark brown hair was tied in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck, his unusual, pale lavender eyes scanned the room.

"Hyuuga, Nara." Sasuke greeted them as they approached.

"Uchiha." the one with strange eyes replied, and the slouching one nodded idly. Oh, how vibrant and rich their vocabularies were.

They sat down as well, the table for four now fully occupied.

"Ha! Are you surprised, teme? They wanted to see you!" the loud-mouth exclaimed.

"Troublesome..." the lazy one muttered, while the other stranger just grunted, which looked to me as if they've been dragged along against their wills.

"Ahh..." I started, feeling like an intruder, when all four men looked at me, "Would...would you like anything?"

"No, thank you." the brown haired one answered politely, and nobody else said a thing.

I vague wondered how they could all be friends, I mean, the only one who didn't have a three-word limit on his sentences was Naruto.

I watched the Uchiha as he (barely) talked with his friends, not being able to help himself. He was just so enigmatic and gorgeous, I wondered if he was even human sometimes. At the table, Naruto seemed to have said something to him, and he turned his head to look straight at me. Realizing I've been caught staring, my cheeks burned a shade of red as I tore my eyes away from him, only to look back a few moments later.

Okay...I thought to myself, time to admit I got a little tiny crush on that guy.

"Hey, Sakura," Tenten greeted me, popping out of nowhere.

"OH! Hi...and stop doing that."

"What? It's not my fault you're too busy staring at something," she stated matter-of-factly, following my gaze, "what, is there a hot— whoa."

"You were saying...?" I raised on eyebrow.

"W-O-W," she turned back to me and mouthed, exaggerating the word.

I laughed lightly at her reaction, suddenly remembering that Ino would kill to see this, and laughed harder.

"What is this," Tenten asked, "pretty boy central?"

"Hah." I snorted, and then noticing my friend's attention was focussed on only one person— it was the man with light-coloured eyes, and a quiet sigh escaped her.

"Uh...Tenten?"

"Yes?!" she nearly jumped a foot.

I eyed her suspiciously, "You like him, don't you?"

"N-noo...I don't like Neji, wh-why would I?" she stuttered. Stuttered. Tenten, the tough girl, just stuttered.

"You know his name?" I asked, and she froze.

"Uhh...well...you see..."

"SAKURA! COME HERE PLEASE!" Naruto called, and I wondered how old he really was.

"This isn't over..." I warned Tenten as I left, but she looked relieved nonetheless.

When I arrived at the table, all four of them stood, Sasuke took out a twenty-dollar bill and left it there.

"Keep the change, we're leaving." he said, emotionless.

Before I could answer, they walked past me and out of the café, attracting much of the females' open stares. They ignored it all, but it never escaped my noticed that the one called Neji briefly glanced at an oblivious Tenten, who was staring off into space.

There's definitely a story there, I thought, making a note to interrogate her later.

"Hey." the velvety voice snapped me out my thoughts.

I looked up, and came face to face with Sasuke Uchiha. Didn't he just leave? Not that I'm complaining.

"Y-Yes?" I answered, hating how much I stuttered around him, "Did you forget something?"

"No." he dead-panned.

"Then...What is it?"

He didn't answer right away.

"About the necklace..." he breathed after a moment, letting a trace of emotion slip, and took a step toward me.

"A-Aahhaaa...?" every single thought left my head.

"Thanks." he murmured, seeming embarrassed about having to thank someone.

"Uhh...no problem." I smiled then he obviously meant what he said.

"TEME! LET'S GO ALREADY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the yelling came from outside the building, yet it was still so loud.

"Dobe." he muttered.

Without even a goodbye, he left, but I didn't care...my head was still floating up in the clouds somewhere...

"Sakura!" a voice snapped me out of it.

"What? Where? How?"

"So," I found Tenten in front of me, "He seems to like you."

"Oh! No, he doesn't. Trust me. Why would he?" Right, of course he didn't, he'd have to be crazy to like someone who spilt coffee on him.

"But you wish he would, don't you?" she teased.

"What?! No way! I so do not wish— yeah...I kinda do." I finally admitted defeat.

"Ha!" a triumphant smirk crossed her face.

I pouted, she'll get hers someday.

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"So..." I commenced the interrogation once we got back to our apartment, "How did you meet this Neji?"

"Uh," she twitched nervously, "Well, that its..."

"C'mon, you can trust me..."

"I can't tell you right now," she faked a cough, "I'm sick, I have to get to bed, bye!"

She ran to her bedroom, and shut the door.

"This isn't over!" I shouted.

"Sleeping!" she yelled from her bedroom, voice muffled probably by pillows.

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What a confusing day. I thought wearily to as I climbed into the comfortable bed and easily fell asleep. However, it wasn't a dreamless sleep.

That night was the first of many, the night I dreamt of Sasuke Uchiha.

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To be continued...

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Soo...Did ya like it??

Hope it wasn't boring...not too much happened between Sakura and Sasuke this chapter. But...I promise it'll get better!

And again...Sasuke wasn't too OOC, was he? Ha, sorry, I'll probably ask this every time...

Please tell me any opinions and suggestions you have, I'd love to hear them!

And I'll try to update every week, but when school starts...I don't know if I can... :(

Anyways, TTFN :)