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Chapter One: Unexpected Meeting Place

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I stood awkwardly in the corner, my back pressed against the wall, hands holding my bag tightly to my chest. Viridian eyes scanned the many faces in the room.

Why did I even agree to go to this party with Ino?

A guy who was clearly intoxicated slants past me, his steps a little wobbly, back bent a little too far back to be natural. He had a twisted smile on his face; eyes looked droopy and far away. In his left hand was a beer bottle that appeared half full and in his right hand, he held some girl's underwear.

I almost gag.

As he slanted passed me, he turned his head, doing a double take. I wish he would ignore me like everyone else was. He didn't. He leaned against the wall, staring at me and smiling.

"Haay…"

Glowering, I take a step to the left. Undeterred, he leans forward and takes a strand of my pink hair and twists it around his fingers. The underwear had been ditched onto the floor. I quickly turn my head.

He opens his mouth to say something, but I already knew what he was going to ask, so I answered his unspoken question with a brisk and firm "No. It's not dyed."

He opens his mouth again. "No." I say, just as forceful as the first time.

His blue orbs sparkle with determination. "C'mon, bebeh, you know you wanna."

"I said no."

I move passed him and walk quickly towards the back door. Pushing it open I step out, cold air assaulting my lungs. My stomach instantly calms.

Just as I get my bearing's back, a firm, steady hand lands on my shoulder. Instead of being a normal person, I swing my elbow into my attacker's firm stomach. I turn.

Instead of seeing a man with a gun, a young man stood. A well-fitted black t-shirt covered his chest. He wore black jeans and a pair of navy blue Chucks. He was tall, towering over me, with messy black hair that stuck up at the back and bangs that framed his face; coming down to just below his chin, covering his forehead. Dark obsidian eyes with light specks of gray and red in them looked cold and hard down at me.

"I am so sorry!" I shout. "I thought you were trying to attack me!"

"Do you always greet people that way?"

"Well no..." I can feel my face blush red in embarrassment.

A tense silence passes between us.

"Why'd you rushed out of the party so fast?"

"Oh. My friend — who I came here with — ditched me and this guy was way too intoxicated and he was trying to hit on me and made me feel really uncomfortable." I pause, wringing my hands together, a habit I've had since I was seven. "Plus the smell of alcohol, sweat and smoke was messing with my head. Why are you out here?"

He watches me for a moment, eyes roaming over me. He lingered on my hair for a moment before he returns his gaze to my eyes. "Parties aren't really my thing." He spoke with a shrug, broad shoulder lifting up slightly.

"Then why are you at one?" I ask.

He had this uncanny familiarity that freaked me out; I've seen him before.

"The same reason as you."

I nod in understanding.

I walk over to the wall near the door and lean back on the cold stone before sliding down to the ground and hugging my knees to my chest.

The familiar stranger glances at me, and then at the door, his arms folded over his chest. "Aren't you worried your friend will leave you here?"

"It wouldn't be the first time..." I mumble, viridian eyes trailing over to look at him. He has a dark frown on his face.

"It's not safe to be out by yourself."

"You're telling me."

He walks over and slid down next to me. His right leg was stretched out, hand resting on his thigh, while his left leg was bent, his arm resting on it. He looked so casual and calm and collected as he sat next to me, his body heat and dominance radiating off him in waves that sent me reeling. All I wanted to do was lean my head against his shoulder and wrap my arms around him.

Shaking my head, I clear the thought out of my mind, feeling my cheeks burn a light red.

Wanting to break the awkward silence, I speak my thoughts. "You look awfully familiar, do I know you?"

"I'm a senior at Konoha High? I'm on the swim team? Captain of the track team?" He said. His voice was so smooth and rustic. His answers were more like questions; like he was trying to jog my memory.

I thought about it. TenTen kept up with all the sports teams at school; I think she's mentioned once or twice the name of the captain of the track team... if only I could remember the name...

"You're Uchiha Sasuke?" I asked, shock, fascination and giddiness evident in my voice as those three words left my lips.

The corner of his mouth twitched up slightly. "So you do know me." A hint of cockiness showed in his otherwise monotone voice.

"Yeah, my friend, TenTen, has a thing for keeping up with all the sports teams at school, we all know it's only because she has a thing for Hyuuga Neji." I said, smiling softly at the thought of my flustered brown haired friend as she talked animatedly about the Hyuuga.

Sasuke smirks next to me. "Are you going to tell me your name?" he asks, his voice demanding but he tried to make it sound like a question at the last second.

"Haruno Sakura." I whisper, pulling my knees closer to my chest.

"Sakura..." my name rolled off his tongue like it was made for him to say; it sent a shiver down my spine, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and my stomach contracted, flipping with obvious butterflies.

His phone buzzed and he reached into his back pocket to get it. He looked down, telling me he had gotten a text. "Shit." He mumbles under his breath, tapping at his phone for a minute, he stood up quickly and put his hand out in front of me. I stare at his hand for a long minute, stupidly wondering why he was doing so.

"The cops are on the way." he says seriously. "Do you want to get caught?" I shook my head, "Then come with me, I can take you home."

Unsure, I stared at his hand again, biting my lip hard.

Sasuke sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Look, my friend has the car keys, I'll walk you home." He spoke, a frustrated edge to his voice.

I nod my head in a silent okay before reaching up and taking his hand. When his skin touches mine, I feel that clichéd spark of electricity run up my arm, and I knew the same thing happened with Sasuke, because he quickly pulled his hand away from mine once I was up on my feet.

I turn around to face the door when it slams open, a horde of people rushing out all at once. I feel Sasuke wrap his hand around my arm and pull me out of the way before the crowd could crush me. I yelped loudly when he pulled me forward, my legs barely able to keep up with his brisk walking.

"Hey, hey, slowdown will you! I can't keep up!" I screech, pulling my arm out of his grasp.

"Sorry," he mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck as we round the corner.

I sigh, looking left then right. "My house is that way." I say and I tilt my head to the right, my feet starting to walk at an even and comfortable pace.

Sasuke shoves his hands in his pockets and walks slowly after me, catching up with me in four long strides. We walked together in silence for a good four blocks and it was comfortable. I was slightly nervous. This was Uchiha Sasuke who was walking me home; it's not every day a girl can say that.

I want to say something to him. Anything. Just to have some kind of conversation. But everything that comes to my head sounds stupid. Throwing caution to the wind, I say the first thing that came into my head.

"What's it like being a senior?"

I wanted to slap myself.

Sasuke's lips lift up at the corner. Suddenly, it felt like he could read my mind.

"Nothing really special about it. Why?"

It was my turn to shrug.

We went back into a comfortable silence. I felt his arm brush against mine a few times, and every time it did, that same clichéd spark ran through my body, making me feel warm and fuzzy and electrified. Did he feel the same thing? I didn't bother asking.

We stayed in silence for another good twenty minutes before a thought struck me.

"Wait a minute," I stop in my even walking. "Aren't your parents apart of the police force?"

"Yeah." Sasuke said simply.

"Wouldn't you be able to get out of getting arrested, then?"

Sasuke shrugged, and continued walking. I followed after him, taking my place at his side once again; I looked at him, waiting for an answer, only to receive a sideways look and a small smirk.

I nodded my head dejectedly, "I bet you would have gotten out of it and let me get arrested." I say jokingly.

"Probably."

"Well, why didn't you?"

He shrugs again, choosing not to reply.

My heart fluttered at that, not sure if I should take his silence as he wouldn't have left me to get arrested, or he would, in fact leave me to the police. Why was the guy such an enigma, like, seriously?

When we come to my street, I sigh in relief. It was about two thirty and I was cold and tired and my feet hurt like I had just run a marathon in high heels.

"This is me." I announced to Sasuke as I stopped out the front of my house. "Thanks for walking me home."

He nodded and followed me up to my door. My parents weren't home, they were hardly ever home, and when they were, I wouldn't see much of them because they'd either be sleeping or fighting, and those rare moments where we could actually sit down and have a meal with each other, it was always silent. I tried plenty of times to start a conversation, but it didn't last any longer than five minutes. I love my parents, but I don't really know them as well as I should. Especially my mother.

"No problem, Sakura." His tongue rolled the 'r' in my name, making my insides melt and my skin flush a hot red.

I turn towards my door and unlock it. When I turned around to say goodbye, he wasn't there.

"Huh?" I breathe, spinning around on the spot. I used the illumination of the patio light to try and see him through the dark, but he had totally disappeared, leaving nothing but a small breeze behind him.