Genjutsu

She yawned and rubbed the sleep off of her eyes and continued playing with her priestess in Ragnarok. She's been hooked onto this game ever since her buddies introduced her to this. Although it was pretty boring to play on your own – her playmates weren't done with their homework while she was finish with hers ages ago. "I think I'll go to bed now…" she mumbled to herself, turning off the computer and about to hit the sack when a knock on her door prevented her from doing so.

Sighing, she trudged towards it, muttering to herself the pros and cons of having no dorm mate.

Pros:

More space
No fighting over who gets the bed near the window or the one near the door
No need to worry about the mess the roommate will leave
No disturbance or distractions
No one to share your pocky sticks with

Cons:

You have to get up to answer the phone or door
No one to talk to on those lonely days
Boring
Cleaning the mess on your own when a small party occurs in your room
No one to order around to buy you things
No one to take your anger out on
No one to help you on your worse subject: Cryptogram

She stopped herself from answering the door. "Wow, never knew there were more cons…" She shrugged that off and turned the knob, pulled the door open and was about to open her mouth to greet her visitor but she ended up having to gape.

"Took you long enough." He muttered.

"What're you doing here Uchiha?!"

Chapter 2: Pranks

She stared, long and hard as he fixed his clothes in the spare drawers and closets. She could not believe that she was going to have him as a roommate. It was unlikely to happen! But still, the principal, or Hokage, has made sure that the pairs in every room would be of different sexes. Heck, he picked the partners himself to ensure safety and no early pregnancy to happen. Another reason he gave was so that the soon-to-be ninjas would be comfortable in doing daring missions which requires the female to be seductive to the male victim for luring, or the male to be able to charm the female victim to get information. It was a pretty good plan, but Sakura was sure not liking this idea now.

"Will you stop staring and just go to sleep?"

The jounin nearly jumped when he suddenly spoke yet still continued unpacking and organizing his things. She was pretty thankful that he was a neat and decent kind of guy, seeing how he had his shirts and shorts folded neatly, his uniform ironed and hung – most probably hand-washed too, seeing as there's not even a speck of dirt or any traces of stains left. Of course, she refused to peek at how he kept his underwear.

"Geez, stop that, it's annoying me."

Sakura looked at him to see the ANBU slightly glaring at her with an annoyed expression. Apparently, she did not get the hint that what she was doing was irritating him. He hated being stared at when he was doing something.

Without answering or saying anything, she sat up crossed-leg and hugged a pillow, still staring at her new companion.

"Um… you… you're really staying here..?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair which she concluded was a habit of his, seeing as how he did that most of the time during the day.

"Duh." He replied, going back to what he was doing.

"Yeah…" she murmured. "…why here?"

Sasuke finished unpacking and stood up with a towel hanging on one shoulder, one hand carrying his sleep clothes plus toothbrush before answering her.

"Sarutobi-san said that you were the only person left without a roommate. The only guy I know who's willing to trade places with me, in case I don't like my partner, is Lee-san, which in your case, would be bad, seeing as how he seems to be obsessed with you."

He noted her shudder at the mention of the boy's name and he couldn't help but smirk, even slightly.

"In any way, whether you're my roommate or not, I still wouldn't trade places with him, since I don't like his roommate."

"Namely..?"

She noticed him flinch and cringe as he twitched and turned his head to another direction. "…Karin."

"Oh, the other student who came here with you..?"

"Hn." He then made his way to the bathroom. "My sources tell me that she once said to herself that she wanted to ravage me in my sleep…" he added before closing the bathroom door behind him, missing the shocked look of the pink-haired Jounin.

"Oh my god, I would so understand why Karin thought of that!" her inner exclaimed, licking her lips seductively. Sakura shook her head a few times to get a naughty image of Sasuke out of her mind. When Ino said she was lucky about having an inner, she thought otherwise."Gah! I need to occupy my mind with something else!" she looked at the scroll on her desk that she literally dived to it and opened the contents. "Cryptogram, save me now!" she said to herself, reading the instructions and data written on the scroll.

"Okay, so to unlock the code, I'll need to assign each of these text with a letter and-" she cut herself off and twitched. "Argh! Why is this so freakin' harder than math?!"

Sasuke blinked and looked at the closed door of the bathroom when he heard Sakura scream in frustration. He sighed and finished brushing his teeth before stepping out of the room at the same time put on his shirt. Of course, Sakura noted this and caught a glimpse of his abs. "Shit." She hissed, blushing as she glared at the piece of parchment in her hands, her inner self replaying the way Sasuke got his clothes on.

"What're you doing?" he asked, standing behind her while he leaned forward to take a peek on what she held, his right palm pressed against her table's surface as he eyed the code written on the scroll. "C-Cryptogram." She stuttered, her face still beet red as she only realized now how close he was. "Crap, I didn't even feel his chakra!"

"Hn." He smirked. "This one's easy," he closed his eyes and turned around to get some sleep. "A really frustrating message for the student who finally gets the hang of it," He added, shaking his head a bit. "'Congratulations on decoding the message. You have now mastered Cryptogram.'"

Sakura stared, gaping at him as he sat on his own bed and turned to her when she felt her eyes on him.

"What?" he asked.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Decode the message with just a brief glance?!"

He smirked again, and she twitched. "I learned Cryptogram when I was still in elementary at Oto. A simple code like that only takes seconds for me to answer." He could tell that she couldn't believe what he said, so he sighed and lay down on his bed, closing his eyes. "Don't attempt to learn that tonight, especially if you really can't get it. It takes a lot more than forcing yourself to learn it."

"He's right…" she thought, closing the scroll and stretching her arms before heading for bed. "Hey, do you think you can…" she trailed off when she noted his even breathing, meaning that he had already fallen asleep."Well, at least he doesn't snore." She thought, shrugging, and climbed onto bed. Before she closed her eyes though, a thought came to her mind, and she couldn't help but grin at the idea.

Yawning, he got out of bed and rubbed one of his eyes. Without making much noise he took out his uniform and headed for the bathroom when he noted that Sakura was still asleep. As soon as he closed the door behind him, Sakura sat up and snickered a bit, taking out what looked like a digital camera. Next, she put on her socks and left, leaving a note in case Sasuke begins to suspect why she suddenly disappeared when she was still asleep when he woke up. She then sprinted towards the school's library and smiled at the librarian who returned the gesture.

She was fond of Sakura, especially since the girl borrowed books everyday and would make it a point to visit at least once a day.

"What can I do or you Sakura-chan?"

"Can you print me a thousand copies of this?" she showed the picture with an innocent smile as the librarian took the camera with a questioning look. Sakura only grinned. "It's a special task Kakashi-sensei assigned me in stalking. I'll need the extra credit to maintain my place in the honor roll since he gives low scores."

The woman understood her situation and quickly did as she was told, missing the evil look Sakura had on her face as she started imagining of what the outcome would be.

"Dear, may I ask how you're going to carry all of these?" the librarian asked behind her thick glasses.

"Oh, I have a bag for that." Sakura said, taking the bundle of papers and neatly placing them inside her messenger bag. "Thanks!" she paid for the amount and left, giggling all the while as she stopped in the middle of the front yard of the school, glad that majority of the students were already awake and doing their own thing. She was even happier at the fact that most of them were girls. With her hair tied up in a messy bun and forehead protector around her neck, she cupped her mouth with her hands and yelled in a really loud voice: "ANBU pictures for sale: Only 135 yen per copy!!"

Everyone turned their heads to her when she mentioned that she had ANBU pictures, so they hurriedly went to her to see the images that she had on her digital camera. "Sorry to say that I only have one model for this picture, however, I got a shot on his ANBU gears! And here they are!" she took out her laptop from its bag and connected the USB cable of the digital camera to the computer. "Here we have Uchiha Sasuke's weapons, all organized and thoroughly polished, see how shiny they are? Yep." Three guys paid for one picture each, and she handed the copies to them. "Next, we have…"

As he walked down the corridors of the school, he couldn't help but feel annoyed when the people he passed by stopped to look at him, some laughing, some staring in awe, and some having the look of envy or longing to be like him. Sasuke, having had enough of all this, turned his head to a genin who froze and sweat dropped, not knowing what to do when the ANBU narrowed his eyes on him. "Why is everyone giving me weird looks?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"I-I don't know!" the genin said.

"Don't you dare lie to me, I can tell when someone is telling the truth or not." Sasuke took a step closer to the genin who backed up against the wall, eyes seeking for help as Sasuke calmly glared at the younger ninja. "Now answer the question." He leaned closer to the boy, intimidating him further when the genin shook. "What's with all these looks they're giving?"

"H-Haruno-sempai…" he answered, looking down as Sasuke twitched and in a blink of an eye, jumped out of the window behind him. Hell, he was on the fourth floor!

The genin quickly looked outside and saw him dashing towards Sakura at the speed of what looked like a cheetah's, or possibly faster.

"Haruno!" he yelled.

Sakura saw him and smiled, waving enthusiastically. "Good morning Sa-su-ke-kuuuuuuuun!" she beamed.

He twitched and glared at her when he heard her giggling. "What the hell is the meaning of this Sakura?!" she only laughed louder as more girls squealed and looked at Sasuke then back at the pictures they were looking. "He's so cute when he's sleeping! I wish he was my room mate!" He marched towards Sakura and dragged her to somewhere private. She only laughed, even when he slammed her against the wall, trapping her there as he activated his sharingan. "What did you do..?" he asked in a low and dangerous voice. She grinned. "I took a picture of you while you were sleeping and sold it to the girls here in Konoha for money."

…

"YOU WHAT?!"

Kakashi looked at Sakura, then back at Sasuke as the two exchanged glares. Well, at least, one was glaring, the other was just grinning innocently.

"Are you two done with your seatwork?" he asked.

Sasuke and Sakura nodded without breaking eye contact. Apparently, Sasuke did not like what Sakura did.

"In that case, carry on." And he started to read the orange book that was tucked inside his vest's pocket, still aware if his students were cheating, sleeping or working on the problem he gave to them.

"For an ANBU from Oto, you sure are easy to catch." Sakura said with a smile.

Sasuke's brows furrowed even more. "Thanks for ruining my trust in you."

She blinked and tilted her head. "Trust?" and then grinned. "Thanks to your trust I became richer!"

She didn't seem to take note of how Sasuke got pissed, and she just continued babbling, in a soft voice of course, how she was victorious against him, how easy it was to take some shots of his gears and of himself – which was a best seller since the girls all bought the copies she had left, and even had some orders for tomorrow.

"…You're annoying."

Sakura stopped and looked at him.

He was no longer glaring at her, but had his head lowered, bangs covering his eyes as he remained silent afterwards, arms folded on top of his desk as he hunched forward, not in the mood to talk to anyone, but she sure had a guess that he wanted to have a spar right now to vent whatever he was feeling out. Oh well, who cares? As long as she got what she needed, it won't bother her.

Or so, she thinks…

"Come on Sasuke, smile for the camera!!"

He just ignored her and continued reading the thick book and the two scrolls on his bed, focusing on the task at hand instead of Sakura's voice.

"If you smile, I'll split the money! But of course, you'll only get ten percent since I really need it." She grinned. "Come on, flash those pearly whites! I know your teeth are white!"

…

"…I can sell these pictures to Karin so that she won't have to chase after you or stalk you just to ogle at you."

…

"I'll stop teasing you about being an ANBU if you smile!"

…

"I won't throw this pillow at you if you look at the camera and give a small grin."

…

"Oh for- I'll stop rummaging through your stuff if you just let me take a picture!"

…

"Just look here, damn it, and I won't force you to smile!"

…

"Fine, Ill take candid-"

She nearly yelped when he glared at her with sharingan eyes and threw a kunai at her, managing to knock the camera from her grip but not injuring her at the process. For a few seconds, she stared in awe at what he did with a mixture of shock and confusion. He only gave her one last glare before going back to his work. It was only then did she realize that her camera's lens cracked upon hitting the floor.

"Oh my god! You destroyed my camera!" she yelled, standing up. "Do you have any idea how much that costs?! My dad saved money to give me that on the day I became a genin!"

"Oh gee, I feel sorry for you." He said sarcastically, not even looking up to see the damage.

Sakura clenched her fists and yelled, jumping on him as she pulled her hand back, ready to punch. He countered by quickly flipping her, reversing their positions as he held her wrists above her head with one hand, the other having a kunai near her neck.

As much as she hated to admit it, he was fast, and she didn't even expect that he already had a kunai. The holster wasn't anywhere near him, and there weren't even pockets on his pants and shirt. She glared at him, seeing her image being reflected in his red eyes. He leaned down to her ear and whispered in a dangerous tone: "Attack me like that one more time and I won't hesitate to slash this," he pressed the kunai against her neck, making sure it didn't go any deeper so that she won't get a cut or a gash. "Across your throat to slit it and end your life." He then got off of her and grabbed a jacket, putting it on as he stepped out, not bothering to say where he was going.

She sat up after a few moments and tried to recover from the shock. Even though it seemed like he threatened her, she couldn't prevent the shiver that ran up her spine when he whispered in her ear. His breath just gave her goose bumps, and whether she she'd say it out loud or not, she liked the feeling of being under him. But his eyes…

"…Why did it… look like that?" she thought, recalling how he glared at her. It wasn't a murderous look, nor was it out of anger, but more on… disappointment perhaps? Or sorrow?

Shaking her head, she quickly stood up and grabbed her coat, locking the door behind her as she ran after the faint trail of chakra Sasuke had. It wasn't that hard to do, since for some strange reason, he didn't bother to hide it.

The stars seemed to be a lot brighter than usual that night, and he sighed as he closed his eyes and leaned the back of his head on the wall behind him, his back pressed against the cold stone wall, his right leg pulled up where his right arm rested, his left leg folded on the floor as his left hand rested on the ground where he sat on. He heard the door to the rooftop open, and he knew, from the chakra's signature, that it was Sakura. With that, he masked his own energy and opened his eyes when she stopped upon reaching his side.

"…I had a feeling you'd run after me." He muttered, not looking up.

Sakura didn't wait for him to invite her to sit down, so she just dropped to the floor next to him and hugged her knees together, remaining silent as they both didn't speak.

She glanced at him discreetly from the corner of her eyes, lowering her arms to her sides, her right hand just a few centimeters away from his left hand, wondering if there'll be a chance for their fingers to brush against each other, even if it would only be for a few seconds. "God, I'm acting like a stupid fangirl!" she thought, inwardly shaking her head as she forced down the blush that was about to come out.

"Um…" she began, turning her head slightly to him as he stared at the stars. "I'm sorry if… you feel…" she trailed off. "Well, whatever it is you're feeling. I just didn't think it would piss you off like that."

Sasuke closed his eyes first before replying. "Hn."

Deciding not to push her luck into forcing him to say something more, she continued. "I'm really sorry; I never knew you trusted me that much already." She forced a weak smile and looked at him, causing him to glance at her. "Sorry if you feel like I betrayed you or something."

Those eyes…

Whenever he looks into those orbs, he feels the anger, hatred and depression inside of him fleeting. He didn't know what this jounin had that made him feel so human, that made him seem so vulnerable. It pissed him off, at the same time, attracted him to her. Not in the romantic way of course, but he often finds himself wanting to just sit with her, in silence or not, since she seemed to be fond of talking, as long as it was her company that he shared.

Realizing that he had been staring for too long, he slapped himself in his mind, cursing as he quickly looked away, a faint blush on his cheeks, which he hid with his long bangs.

"Forget it." He said. "I just reacted too negatively."

"Well, even though you shouldn't have gone too far with destroying my camera," she sighed. "I guess you had the right to act like that, I was pushing your buttons after all." She smiled. "So, truce?" she offered him a hand to shake, which he slowly took, not even saying anything in return as they shook on it, Sakura beaming. "Come on, it's getting late." She said, standing up. Sasuke stayed still for a while before following her lead.

This was the last straw.

She grinned at him, even when he glared at her. The girls in their class all giggled, staring at the photos they had in their hands, glancing at Sasuke from time to time and squealing with glee.

"What?" she asked innocently.

Sasuke just remained silent and threw his bag on the floor before sitting down. Sakura shrugged and began counting her money. Seeing as Kakashi had not yet arrived, she stood up.

"Alright! 150 yen for these!" She yelled, bringing up at least three photos in which Sasuke was changing his shirt, another wherein he just got out of the bathroom topless, and the last one was of him kneeling down on one knee to get a shirt from his drawers, his boxers slightly showing since his pants lowered a bit.

"Oh my god! He's so hot!" a girl yelled as she and her friends began squealing.

Sakura continued selling, her business booming that she did not note how her victim had broken the pen he was holding due to the force he applied.

The photo selling went on for a week, and she was happily counting how much she earned out of it. "This will be enough to cover for it for another three months…" she said to herself, taking a backpack where she put the money in. She then got up and walked out the door, bumping into Sasuke at the process. "Oh, I was just on my way out, you want anything?" she asked with a smile. He just ignored her and stepped inside the room, slamming the door behind him. She sighed and looked down. "Sorry, Sasuke... but… I really need the money…" she felt bad for having to use him, but she really needed it now, or else…

Shaking her head, she quickly dashed out of school, unknown to her, Sasuke was tailing after her with great stealth and agility.

"What are you up to?" he asked her in his mind, watching from a tree branch as she entered a hospital. His eyes narrowed a bit in confusion before he bit his thumb, drawing out blood and did a few hand seals, summoning a falcon. He let it perch on his right shoulder as he closed his eyes and opened them to activate the sharingan. His eyes began to see through the walls of the building, seeing so many chakra patterns. He quickly searched for Sakura's, and when he found her, he sent the falcon to the floor she was headed to.

"This is going to take a lot of chakra…" he then did more complicated hand seals. As soon as the falcon had itself perch on a higher tree branch wherein it was able to see Sakura through a patient's window, the bird's eyes turned to the sharingan, enabling Sasuke to see through the winged creature's point of view. Next, he evenly distributed chakra to his and the falcon's ears, giving him the ability to hear what Sakura and the doctor were talking about.

This jutsu was a hidden technique that only selected ANBU members from Oto, or so he heard, learn and master. He was one of the rare prodigies that showed potential to master the skill, and so, Orochimaru personally trained him.

"How is she doctor?" Sakura asked, her eyes looking solemn as she looked at the woman who had the same shade of hair as her, lying on the bed, comatose. The man clad in all white gave a sad look at Sakura before tearing his gaze away from the Jounin. "Good news is we can keep her alive longer, but she still won't show any signs of waking up." He sighed at this. "That accident she took was greater than I thought."

"I see…" Sakura murmured, taking a chair and dragging it beside the bed of the patient before she sat on it. The doctor, seeing as the teen no longer had anymore questions, took his leave.

"Hey mom…" Sakura whispered, a pained smile on her lips. "Sorry I haven't visited you for a month now, I've been busy trying to earn enough money to pay for your bills." She looked down. "I know you'll hate me for this, but I used someone to earn that much money in just a span of one week," she looked up at the woman. "But I really needed to, it was my last resort! Or they would…" she trailed off, shutting her eyes as tears began to spill. "…cut your life support that would lead to your death." She wiped the tears away. "I'm sure Sasuke would understand once I explain it to him, but now's not the right time. Even if he'll hate me some more, it's okay, I won't mind, right now, it's important that I keep you alive."

Another sigh. "I just hope the Hokage will give me a mission soon, I really need to get more money to fully cover your hospital bills until you wake up." She reached out to touch her mother's hand. "Dad's already gone because he protected us, while you protected me from that accident. I don't know what I'll do if… you…"

He ended the jutsu, unable to handle the rest as he shut his eyes tight and leaned his head against the bark of the tree. He gave a whistle, calling his falcon back, giving it a treat before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Sakura…"he thought, looking up at where the girl was. He then got up and began making his way back to the school.

She was surprised when he threw a scroll at her that she blinked when he pointed with his head at her desk. "Sit down so that we can get to work on that cryptogram skill of yours."

"Eh..?"

"You suck at it," he muttered. "So I have no choice but to teach you how to decode messages."

"But-"

"Just sit down before I change my mind."

Sakura did and she wondered what caused such a sudden change. "Listen carefully because I won't be repeating myself, okay?" she gave a nod, and as he spoke to her, explaining the rules and what not to do in decoding, she couldn't properly concentrate, because right now, she really felt relaxed as he taught her. The way he spoke clearly and how he explained in short details what to do. "Alright, let's see if you can get this message." He spread out a small scroll and she quickly got to work on the secret message.

He smirked in satisfaction when she solved it in only a few minutes. They continued to work on difficult problems, Sakura beginning to understand the lesson that she wondered what made it so hard in the first place.

"So now, you have to-"

"Why?" she asked, cutting him off as he looked down at her since he was standing behind her and just leaning down while she was seated. "Why the sudden change of mood..? I was using you to gain money, and yet…"

He couldn't tell her that he spied on her; that would mean he invaded her privacy. Besides, he wanted her to tell him for herself someday, so right now, he'll need to come up with an alibi. "It's better than having to ignore you during my stay here. Besides, I doubt you'll ever stop taking pictures of me." He shrugged nonchalantly. "And you're getting more annoying every night whenever you cry out in frustration for not getting it."

A small smile made its way to her lips, and she soon giggled and looked up at him while he looked down at her. "You're really a complicated person Sasuke, but thanks anyway."

He wasn't sure if it was the way her lips curved or the way her eyes twinkled that made him want to just stay there and stare at her like this, the feeling of just being content with what he was doing. He never knew such a feeling existed, because to him, he was never contented with what he did, he always strived to be the best, he always made sure to go beyond what he reached, but now, he just felt like staying put, because even if the photos she took of him started out as a prank to annoy him until it became a business for her, it only drew him closer to the female jounin.

"Sasuke..?" she called out, blinking.

His eyes softened as he continued to stare at her. "You really are… annoying…"

To be continued…

Next on Genjutsu: Chapter 3: Date

"Why would I want to show him around town?" she asked the principal with a scowl on her face. Sarutobi smiled in an amused way. "He is your roommate andpermanent partner for as long he stays here." Sakura twitched. "And besides," he added, leaning forward as his eyes showed a bit of mischief. "I know for a fact that you like him." Sakura opened her mouth to protest but found out that she couldn't. "You can consider this as a date if you want." They looked at the doorway to see Sasuke standing there, a cocky smirk on his face, his arms crossed and his posture straight yet leaning against the door frame of the principal's office, one leg crossed over the other. "When did you get here..?" Sakura asked, embarrassed at the fact that he heard what Sarutobi said. "Just now," he noted her sigh in relief. "Just in time to know that you like me..." And she felt like her world just crumbled.

A/N: This chapter's shorter than the last one. Oh well, I hope this would satisfy you for the time being.