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Pucker Up
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READ THIS PLEASE! Okay, so I know I forgot to put Kakashi on the list, but he's supposed to be #2, below Shikamaru. Fanfiction is being difficult and won't let me fix it :( But now that you know that, I've gotta tell you that I'm not doing the kisses in order. So if Naruto was #1, that does not mean he'll be the first person Sakura kisses. Thanks for plowing through all that :) And I'm fairly sure that, besides forgetting to add in Kakashi, the list was accurate.
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Wednesday
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Sakura sighed loudly, getting the attention of several other customers that sat waiting patiently for their ramen. She scowled at them, today was not her day.
First off, she bumped into Sai and he told her she looked 'even uglier than usual!' today. The way he said it insinuated he thought it was a complement, but she still beat the shit out of him. The rest of her day didn't go much better.
She traveled to Hidden Mist with team Gai to collect a few scrolls for safekeeping, and almost lost them in a fight with a few missing Mist nin on the way back to Konoha. Sakura had come home soaking wet and freezing, and of course Kiba just had to make a dirty comment when she walked by him.
Right now, all she wanted was her ramen, a hot shower, and a warm bed to sleep in.
But nooo, Tsunade said to be in her office after dinner, because she was no doubt drunk and needed her sixteen year old apprentice to sort her paperwork for her.
The Hokage was such a bitch sometimes. When she wasn't, you know, running the village and stuff.
"Sakura-chan!" A cheery voice called. A second later, Naruto plopped down in the empty seat at Ichiraku's next to her. He grinned, "Guess who just broke Sasuke's record for fastest ninja in Konoha?"
"Lee?" She guessed, upset that he had interrupted her. Don't get confused, Sakura loved Naruto, but sometimes, like now, she just wanted to beat him into ramen-flavored dust. He was just so...exhausting.
"No!" He looked offended, "ME! BELIEVE IT!"
"Here's your ramen, Sakura. Naruto, I suppose you'd like some too." The chef came out and slid a steaming bowl in front of Sakura. She inhaled deeply; it was the first time she had gotten to eat since breakfast.
"You bet, old man! Gimme an extra large, I gotta keep my strength up, you know." Naruto smiled smugly, and about two minutes later the grinning chef slid him a bowl as well. Sakura wondered why he got his food so much faster, but decided she was too famished to ask and shoved half the bowl of ramen into her mouth.
"Geez, Sakura-chan. Slow down or you'll choke!"
"I'm hungry!" She said through a mouthful of noodles. She didn't even chew before swallowing.
Naruto rolled his eyes, and then did the same thing that Sakura had done; only he just grabbed the bowl and gulped down all of it. "I'll take another bowl, old man!"
No wonder he got his ramen so quickly, Sakura thought wryly. She ate the rest of her food and fished around in her pocket for some money.
"I'll pay for it, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, momentarily surprising her.
"You have money?"
"I have coupons."
Sakura snorted at his cheesy smile, "Of course you do. Thanks, Naruto-kun, 'night!" She started walking away.
Naruto scrambled to swallow his food and call her back, "Sakura! Wait! Did you just call me Naruto-kun?"
Sakura stopped but didn't turn around. She put a finger on her chin, "Huh, I guess I did," She shrugged. "You don't mind, right-" Grin, "Naruto-kun."
He sat frozen for a second, ramen noodles dangling out of his mouth. Then:
"OF COURSE NOT SAKURA-CHAN!" Her grin was returned full force, and Naruto pretty much jumped out of his seat to offer to walk her home. Sakura giggled and said yes.
You shouldn't have done that...Inner Sakura told her.
Why not? He's just trying to be nice!
And then she remembered the bet. Of course, Sakura thought, leave it to Ino to ruin my day even though she wasn't in it.
They walked in silence for a while as Sakura argued with herself. Naruto watched the different emotions cross her face, thinking how cute all of them were. He'd never tell her this, but Sakura was an open book. Every little thing she felt he could see on her beautiful face.
I bet the teme really regrets leaving now, He grinned smugly. While he was gone, the dependent little kunoichi they had known had grown into a beautiful young woman. Sakura was probably stronger than Naruto and Sasuke now. She had, after all, beaten the puppet master Sasori.
He remembered the day after they had brought Sasuke back, the way his eyes had widened when he looked at Sakura. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists. Sasuke was like a brother to him, but he loved Sakura more than anyone else could.
"Naruto...we're at my house." They stopped walking, and Sakura gave him a smile that made his heart melt. Instead of turning around and slamming the door in his face, however, she pulled him onto the porch with her and sat down on one of the steps. Naruto mimicked her, and, for once in his life, waited patiently for someone else to talk.
"So..." Sakura started, unsure of how to explain this. Should she even explain it? How did one tell their best friend that they made a bet with the neighborhood psycho blond and had to kiss them? "I, um, made this bet with Ino...I'm not sure how to tell you, though." She admitted.
Naruto grinned encouragingly at her. "You can tell me anything, Sakura-chan!"
Dammit, Sakura thought, why does his grin have to be so contagious?
"I don't want you to be mad, but-" She took a nervous breath, "-ImadeabetwithIno,Hinata,!" She spat out as fast as she could.
Naruto blinked.
"Da fuck?"
"Naruto?"
"Yeah?"
"Just shut up."
And then she kissed him full on the lips, stayed like that for a good fifteen seconds, and jogged into her house with a casual "'Night, Naruto!" as if she hadn't just made his heart pound faster than Sasuke's did around Itachi.
"Are you insinuating something?" Said Uchiha asked, coming out from behind a Sasuke-shaped bush like a creeper.
"Shut up, bastard. Stop reading my mind!" Naruto fumed, angry that his moment had been cut short.
"I didn't read your mind, you said the part about me and Itachi out loud."
Naruto, for the second time that night, just blinked. "Da fuck?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, trying to seem casual, even though he was a second away from activating his Sharigan. "So, are you and Sakura together now?"
For a second, his best friend looked flustered. Then a smug little smile spread it's way across his face. "What, you couldn't hear us from your spot behind that bush? Obviously, you didn't pay attention in Creeper 101 while you were with Orochimaru."
Sasuke bristled. He let a little red seep into his sight. "You didn't answer my question."
Naruto's smiled turned into a full-blown grin. "Chill out, teme, green is not a good color for you,"
"I'm not jealous. Just curious." Sasuke ground out. He was clenching his knuckled almost to the point of them turning blue.
"I never said you were," Naruto shrugged, stood up, and slung an arm around his best friend's stiff shoulders. "Hey, let's go to Ichiraku's, the ramen there is really good tonight!"
"Naruto..." Sasuke warned.
"Sasuke," He beamed, "Chill out. I'll tell you the whole story after you buy me ramen."
"Idiot."
"Bastard."
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Thursday
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"Sai, what the hell are you reading now?" Sakura asked, snatching a thin yellow book from the pale nin's fingers and reading the cover out loud.
"'How To Win a Kunoichi's Heart'?" She gave him a questioning look.
"The man at the library check out counter told me it would be a good study of emotions," Sai explained, "Now give it back."
Sakura sighed and, instead of giving Sai back his book, dropped it into the lake they were dipping their feet in.
"I need to return that, Ugly."
"Sai, you can't study emotions. Well, you can, but learning how to use them requires, you know, actually feeling them." Sakura explained for what felt like the thousandth time.
Sai looked at her as if she had just confessed she was in love with Lee. "Are you feeling okay, Ugly?"
Sakura's forehead, meet Sakura's hand.
"I'm fine."
Sai shrugged, pulled out another book-Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari's Guide to her Heart-from seemingly nowhere and flipped it open. A vein popped in Sakura's (not to large) forehead.
"Sai."
"Hm?"
"Gimme da book."
"No."
"Don't make me beat the shit out of you. Remember what I did to Sasuke last time he refused to do what I asked?"
"But Traitor is kinky. He seemed to enjoy it."
Sakura blanched at the thought, "Disgusting, Sai. This is why you shouldn't read Jiraiya-san's books."
Sai shrugged and put Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari's Guide to her Heartback in his pocket. He looked at Sakura expectantly.
"What?"
"Aren't you going to help me?" He asked, as though it were obvious.
Sakura blinked, onigiri ball halfway to her lips.
"Help you what?"
"Feel emotions!"
Sakura sighed, gazing at her unfinished lunch sadly.
"Do you think 'hungry' is an emotion?"
Sai pulled out another book and flipped to a certain page, checking something.
"No." He concluded.
Sakura rolled her eyes at his antics. "Whatever. How about this, you pick an emotion, and I'll help you feel it or give you an example."
Sai nodded, and flipped through the book again.
"How about this one," He pointed to a word on the page and Sakura leaned over to see.
"Bashful?" She read out loud. Sakura thought for a moment, and then told Sai "It's like being self-conscious and timid at the same time. Like if you're shy and you kissed someone you like then you might feel bashful if they don't reciprocate your feelings. Any questions?"
"One," Sai smiled shyly, "What is a 'kiss'?"
Sakura choked on a piece onigiri.
"Ugly? Are you sure you're okay?"
"How do you not know what a kiss is?" Sakura demanded, reaching for her canteen. She took a long drink from it, like how she saw Tsunade drink her sake one time. But she didn't sigh from relief afterwards.
Sai watched her curiously, as if she were a wild snorlax and could attack at any moment. "I just don't," He shrugged.
"It's like-" Sakura started, trying to think of the right way to describe it. Why not just demonstrate? The voice in her head asked. He is on the list...She thought, then shook her head. "When two people like each other, as more than friends, they...touch their lips together as a way of showing it."
"Ah," Sai nodded. "So do Naruto and Sasuke kiss?"
Sakura almost snorted her water out her nose.
"Let's hope not, Sai," She laughed. "This typically happens with a man and a woman, but there are exceptions. Not that there's anything wrong with that."
He seemed dumbfounded, but smiled all the same. "But what if the other person doesn't know if their feelings are reciprocated?" He asked.
"Well, then they just have to talk to each other I guess." Sakura shrugged, and took a bite of her lunch.
"Hmmmm," Sai seemed deep in thought, and they ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. It was short lived, though, due to Sai.
"Sakura?" He asked, casually leaning back on his palms, "Will you kiss me?"
For the second time that day, Sakura found herself almost killed by her onigiri.
"WHY?" She gasped out after another long drink from her canteen.
"I can't see why people would do that, so I figure I would get it if I felt the sensation." He explained, unfairly calm while Sakura heaved in breaths.
THIS IS PERFECT! YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE BET! CHA!
Sakura stopped, realizing her inner was right. She wiped her mouth off on a napkin and smiled sweetly at Sai, "I guess we could try it."
He seemed a bit thrown off by her sudden change of emotion. Sai wondered if all women were like this. Ino certainly didn't seem that way, but she wasn't as animate as Sakura. Watching all her expressions was usually great entertainment.
Especially the cute smile she had on now. Why couldn't he smile like that? She could always tell when his were fake.
"Okay, Ugly, you start."
The vein in Sakura's forehead returned, but she kept the smile. "Fine. So it sorta goes like this..."
She leaned her head to the right, and Sai tilted his to the left. She leaned in and let her eyes slide shut, hoping Sai did the same. This close to him, she could smell the scent of paint and clean soap on him.
And then, to her surprise, Sai closed the gap between them and pressed his lips firmly against hers. They stayed like that for a little while, lips moving against each others, until both of them heard Naruto's obnoxious voice holler "SAKURA-CHAN! SAI! KAKASHI SAYS TO GET OUT HERE CUZ WE GOTTA GET THIS MISSION ON THE MOVE!" from a little way off from the other side of the river.
They broke apart, and not a minute too soon. The next moment the blond dobe himself came bareling through a patch of forest and stepped into the side of the clearing opposite theirs.
He stared at them for a second, sensing something was off. But just shrugged and told them to stand up so they could get back to the inn.
For once in her life, Sakura was glad that Naruto was such a blithering idiot, and that Sai had enough sense not to mention their kiss on the way back to their hotel.
four down, She thought, only three to go.
Sakura grinned and thought about how great Ino would look in a green jumpsuit.
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R&R?
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Wow, I hadn't planned for this to be a 3 part story. It was originally supposed to be a oneshot O.o but I'm glad I decided to do this, I needed a break from all my other stories :) I need reviews to keep me going! AND IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR WANT ME TO PUT ANY SCENES IN THE PART 3 FINALE LEAVE THAT IN YOUR REVIEW! Please & Thanks you :D Now click that little button at the bottom of the page that says:
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