Chapter Two: Ai no Yuurei

Most breakfasts weren't particularly dreadful, but this morning, Sasuke found himself facing the guy his nightmares were mostly made of. Fugaku Uchiha. His father. He was the leader of the Uchiha family and practically owns every yard of land that's signed under the Uchiha name. Basically, he was a man of utmost power, but this was not why Sasuke feared him. To put it simply…Fugaku was a strict father. Rather he has hardly been a father. To Sasuke, he was just a man with a strange jaw and an ever frowning face, looking down at him with the most disapproving and stern expression, telling him that it wasn't enough. That what he was capable of wasn't enough.

Sasuke hated the way his own father looked down on him. And he hated him even more at times that Fugaku compares him to Itachi Uchiha. His older brother. Like what he's doing now.

"Itachi learned how to do that at age six," Fugaku spoke, not bothering to look at his son who was busy glaring angrily at his plate of fresh peaches. "I am quite disappointed, Sasuke," he droned on. "I was expecting more from you. You're easily one of….the ungifted members of the Uchiha,"

"As if you're any better," Sasuke grumbled under his breath.

"Sasuke," Mikoto said, giving him a stern look. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his onyx eyes. Even his mother was agreeing to Fugaku. They both thought his was ungifted. This angered him more, and so he started picking at his plate of peaches, leaving small holes here and there.

"I will teach Sasuke," Itachi spoke up for the first time. "He's just a bit behind because the instructors nowadays aren't doing too well with their teaching. Back in my days, the instructors were extremely talented. Maybe that's why Sasuke is lagging behind a bit."

Sasuke shot his brother a pleased look. Always the life saver."Thanks, Ni-san,"

Itachi smiled, nodded, and went back to his breakfast. Fugaku eyed the two, and also turned his attention back to his meal. Mikoto smiled briefly before reaching out to pinch Itachi's cheeks. The eldest Uchiha sibling looked up, surprised.

Mikoto laughed, "Don't look so surprised. I always used to do that when you were a kid,"

Sasuke smirked, "I'm sure that littleItachi likes it,"

Mikoto laughed and reached out to do the same to Sasuke. "Don't you think that you're getting away from this,"

Itachi laughed lightly, "You're forgetting that you're the real kid here, Sasuke,"

"I'm seventeen," Sasuke frowned.

"And soon you're going to have a family of your own and you will leave me here with your monotonous and dreadfully boring dad," Mikoto feigned sadness, trying to stifle her laughter at the sight of Fugaku's annoyed face. "I dread that moment, Sasuke,"

"You'll manage," Sasuke smirked.

This was how he wanted his usual mornings to be. Light hearted and enjoyable…but that won't be much of a possibility with his dad around. He agreed completely that Itachi was the better son, but he still hated it when Fugaku compares them both. Partly because it was annoying, and partly because he knew it was true and nothing else could make him feel so bad. Fugaku broke the silence with a single sentence.

"Sasuke, I heard from someone that you were walking around with a young woman last night," He said calmly not bothering to look up as he spoke up.

Sasuke nodded slightly, "Yes, that's true. I waswith a girl last night,"

Mikoto looked unbothered, "Who was it, dear?"

"Her name is Sakura," Sasuke replied smoothly. "I just met her last night,"

"A new friend?" Itachi asked, not really curious.

"Not really," Sasuke shrugged indifferently, "I just met her and I don't think we'll be seeing each other again, anyway. So no, she's not my friend, but it was nice meeting her,"

"Oh, don't talk that way," Mikoto admonished lightly, "I'm sure that she was a nice young lady."

"She's a Geisha," Sasuke finally said.

The silence that followed was abnormally long. Fugaku stopped eating and simply looked down at his meal. Mikoto was staring at him, eyes wide with hands still clutching her chopsticks. Itachi was staring at him calmly but with a hint of surprise in his eyes. Sasuke spoke up quickly before the silence went on, "She was being harassed by some of our fellow nobles," he informed them. "I had to help her, as a man from the Uchiha would. Surely you understand,"

Fugaku cleared his throat, "Well, yes, that was quite a nice thing to do." Then he went back to his fresh peaches without saying another word.

"Oh…" Mikoto trailed off and then laughed lightly, "That's my Sasuke. Always a gentleman,"

"What was she like?" Itachi asked, and this time, he actually sounded like he wanted to know.

Sasuke replied almost immediately, "She was nice…and probably smart, too, if she wasn't so annoying,"

"She sounds like a fun person," Itachi smiled gently. "If I were you, I'd find a way to meet her again."

"You can do it yourself," Sasuke muttered, finally starting to eat the peaches that were reduced to one heap of mush on his plate because of all the poking he did.

"Maybe I will," Itachi replied with a slight smirk, "What's her last name?"

Sasuke looked up, "You can't be serious,"

"I am," Itachi replied coolly, "Now, where were we? Oh, what's her last name?"

Sasuke hesitated. Was it really okay to give away her information like this? Then he realized it wasn't much of his business after all. She wasn't even a friend, and she might even be grateful for having another customer to please. "Haruno," he finally said, "Her last name is Haruno,"

Sasuke left the house early that day, looking for someplace else to stay. With his father around, he doubted that he could ever keep his peace. He strolled around, passing by a river, he bent down to pick up a pebble and he tossed it into the clear water, watching it form ripples until it sank down to the river bed. He thought over what he said during breakfast. How he had simply revealed Sakura's personal information to his brother. How he used her job as a way of undermining his way out of trouble. How he rejected the idea of them being friends. A small lump started to form at the back of his throat.

Guilt. That's what it was. He always hated people who talked dirt about other people behind their backs. But what he was he doing just now? He was doing something directly synonymous to the word 'backstabbing'. And worse, he did it to someone he barely even knew, without even trying to get to know her. He felt just like his father. And that was one person he knew he never wanted to be like.

Right now, he wanted to cross the other side of the village and visit the only person who would ever understand him, and still have the guts to call him a jerk. A certain blond haired, blue eyed idiot who never knew when to stop talking…but he was still his bestfriend anyway.

"Uchiha-sama,"

He turned and seemed a little surprised when he saw the person standing a few meters behind him. Right beneath a large flowering cherry blossom tree was Sakura. She was wearing a much simpler kimono and obi than the one she wore last night. Her hair was tied up in a simple low ponytail without any adornment. Despite her simple clothes, her beauty was unscathed.

"Haruno-san," he nodded. "Nice meeting you again,"

Sakura scoffed, "Haruno-san sounds weird. Just call me Sakura,"

"Then do the same to me," Sasuke replied in an indifferent tone.

"You want me to call you Sakura?" Sakura asked playfully.

"You know what I mean," Sasuke narrowed his eyebrows, "Just call me Sasuke,"

"Alright, Sasuke-kun,"

"I said just call me Sasuke,"

"I heard you the first time, Sasuke-kun,"

Sasuke just sighed and turned to walk away. Sakura moved closer to him and farther away from the tree. She jogged a bit to catch up to him, "Hey, you know I was kidding!" she grinned and he looked over his shoulder to see her expression. There was a goofy smile on her face. He sighed and continued walking, "You're annoying,"

"Oh, I get that all the time!" she chirped happily, seemingly unaware of his growing annoyance, "In fact, I get it so often, I don't even care!"she continued then proceeded to laugh.

He didn't stop, and she continued on walking beside him, oblivious to his inner turmoil. She also continued talking, "You know, it's getting rather chilly these days. Spring is about to end but there seems to be no sign of summer at all. But that's a good thing too, cause if those heavy kimonos won't kill me, then the heat will,"

Sasuke continued on, trying to drown out her tinkling voice.

"You see, Sasuke-kun, I may not look like it, but I actually find those heavy kimonos annoying and hard to move around with. It's a good thing I get to wear these simple kimonos during the day. They're thin and lighter and they're really much easier to walk around with…and of course, without the heavy obi strapped around my back, I can probably run faster than you can!"

He spun around to face her, "Don't you ever get tired of talking?"

"Not really," she shrugged.

"Then find someone else to throw all your problems to," Sasuke sneered. "Because I don't care, and even if I did, I still wouldn't want to listen to them anyway, cause you're so annoying!"

He turned and left her without looking back. A few yards away, he noticed that he was no longer hearing her footsteps. A lump formed in his throat. She left. Sakura left. Because he shooed her away. And something inside him was telling him that she only needed someone to talk to. And he was probably one of the very few people she could consider a friend.

He turned back, "Sakura,wait, I—"

He blinked. Sakura was standing just a few yards away from him. She was walking beside him all along.

"You were…walking with me all along?"

Sakura nodded. "Well, yes, but you said you wanted some silence so I stopped talking. Why, is something the matter?"

I thought you were hurt because of what I said,He wanted to say, but he said something else instead. "I was just wondering why it became so quiet all of a sudden. I thought you left because you were no longer chattering beside me like some sort of magpie,"

Sakura frowned, "Hey! I prefer being compared to a talking canary,"

He turned away to hide a smirk and continued walking. Sakura was right beside him, and she started talking again. He made it a point to reply to her and make comments and remarks about what she was saying. He realized that half of what she was saying was actually interesting, and she reminded him of another chatterbox whom he had close ties to. Naruto Uzumaki was the living example of a person who couldn't ever shut up…and he was his bestfriend, so there was really no reason for him to not be friends with Sakura.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Sakura snapped him back to reality.

"Hn," he replied without much thought.

Sakura frowned, "Okay, fine, then it's your turn to start a topic!"

He didn't really know what to talk about. He has always been the silent type, and he often left all the talking to Naruto. Starting a conversation was quite new to him, so he asked her the first thing that came inside his mind.

"Who's your bestfriend?"

Sakura didn't need to think to know the answer. "Ino. Yamanaka Ino," she replied.

"Yamanaka Inoichi-san's daughter?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"Yeah…" Sakura nodded, "We've known each other since forever…"

"I see…"

"How about you?" Sakura inquired, "Who's your bestfriend?"

Sasuke smirked, finding it funny that he knew the answer almost immediately, "Naruto Uzumaki. You might not know him because he's not really someone special."

"But he must be special if he's your bestfriend," Sakura said, smiling brightly. She looked down at the dusty pavement and her eyes lit up, "I don't even need to think in order to know that she's my bestfriend. Ino's…someone very special to me. If it weren't for her...I don't know how I would have even got here…"

"Same here," Sasuke sighed, "I hate to admit it, but without that idiot, I'd really have my hands full. He's been helping me with everything, and even though he mostly gets it wrong, I'm still pretty much grateful,"

There was a long silence.

Finally, Sakura spoke up.

"How about a lover?" she asked casually, "Do you have one?"

"No," Sasuke replied, finding the question strange. "I don't have one…at least not yet. But I guess I have no interest in finding one. I mean, I'm bound to find someone since marrying is mandatory in my family, but I guess it's going to be someone my parents arrange for me,"

"Don't you feel that's just wrong?" Sakura asked, "Marriage is for two people who love each other. Such a sacred ceremony shouldn't be taken for granted,"

"I don't have a choice," Sasuke sighed, actually feeling sorry for himself.

The conversation went on, shifting from one topic to another. Sasuke found himself enjoying her company, and he actually found most of the stuff she talked about interesting. Unlike most women he knew, she actually talked about stuff that made sense, and not just some mindless chatter in order to impress him. It was like being with Naruto…only that he felt less enraged and more intrigued. The longer the time they spent together, the more he became aware that this girl might actually be intelligent right under her annoying exterior.

"We're near the okiya," Sakura told him. "I've got to go. The okiya mistress flips out whenever one of us brings back a boy,"

"Then I'll be leaving," Sasuke nodded, and turned to another direction. When he reached quite a distance, he turned and saw Sakura still waving, smiling brightly. He pretended not to see, but he turned away quickly before she could see the smile that was starting to form on his face.

Sakura looked at herself in the mirror. She was all made up in one of her best kimonos and she used her best hair ornaments to accentuate her hair. She spun around a few times, adjusting her kimono, smoothing it, and fixing her hair a couple of times before she was satisfied. She took a deep breath before crossing the other side of the room and retrieving her fans. She was going to use them to perform a special dance performance called "Ai no Yuurei" which was about a woman who's lover left, and she waited day in and day out on a small bench by the village entrance, and until she died, her lover never came back, so her spirit remained there and still kept on waiting for him.

Her bedroom door creaked open and another Geisha peeped in. "Hi, Sakura-san,"

"Tenten-san," Sakura nodded and signalled for her to enter.

The brunette did so and closed the door behind her. She walked towards Sakura and straightened the hair ornament on her pink hair. "Good luck later. You're going to perform in front of the Hyuga family, right?"

Sakura nodded. "I haven't met anyone from the Hyuga. It kinda worries me…"

Tenten smiled, "Well, it's the birthday of Hyuga Hiashi-sama's daughter. Maybe they invited other people…and you might know some of them."

"I hope so," Sakura sighed. She tucked the fans inside her obi and they walked out of the okiya and right into the cool pavement by the flowing river. Tenten couldn't help but smirk when she noticed Sakura spacing out, "There's something going on, isn't there?"

The pinkette was immediately on guard, "What do you mean?"

"You're nicer," Tenten grinned, "And you look prettier too,"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"When a girl is in love, she becomes nicer and prettier," Tenten told her, a smile never leaving her face. She looked over at Sakura who only seemed confused, "Are you in love, Sakura-san?"

Sakura laughed, "That's ridiculous. Why would I be in love, Tenten-san?"

Tenten shrugged, "I dunno…woman's intuition?"

"You're a woman?" Sakura retorted teasingly.

Tenten reddened and tried to smack Sakura's shoulder. "I'm not a tomboy anymore…don't bring up stuff from the past,"

Sakura laughed, and Tenten followed right after. When they reached a small teahouse where Tenten was going to be entertaining, they parted ways. Sakura walked alone, occasionally stooping down to pick up a pebble and tossing it on the river. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and pink petals fell slowly. By the time she reached the large teahouse where all of the Hyuga awaited, her hair was draped with cherry blossom petals, and they fell to her shoulders and clung on her kimono as she entered. She looked just like a cherry blossom in full bloom, springing to life right on the teahouse's doorstep.

It took quite a while before the host stopped gaping at her and decided to announce her to the customers, "Oh, and here comes Sakura-san from the Miyazaki okiya,"

A small and polite applause came from the Hyuga family. There were about eight of them, and they were probably the highest ranking members of the family. Aside from them there were about three more and they looked like they were from different families. One of them also looked awfully familiar….but she had no time to dwell on the fact because the host called her right over to the seat beside a young Hyuga lady. Presumably the one celebrating her birthday.

"Good evening, Hyuga-sama," Sakura said in a very polite but casual tone.

The girl nodded and smiled, "You too,"

The Hyuga girl was beautiful, with pearl white skin and light eyes that seemed to shimmer a light blue whenever the lights reflect off of them. She was wearing a moss green kimono with the seal of the Hyuga at the front of the skirt. Her hair was tied up in a bun with ringlets of dark hair flowing down to her back. There was a simple red rose on her bun, and the rest of her looked simple but elegant. That wasn't much of a surprise. Only Geisha dressed like overflowing Christmas trees. Most rich ladies dress simply but expensively.

"You can call me Hinata," The Hyuga girl said.

"Then just call me Sakura," Sakura replied, feeling pleased.

On the other end of the table, a certain dark haired man's eyes flickered towards Sakura's direction at the sound of her name. He dropped his glass of Sake carefully on the table and cleared his throat. The two ladies turned their attention to him.

"Is your last name Haruno…?"

Sakura was surprised, "Yes…how did you know?"

The man smiled charmingly, "I just heard from somewhere. You must be a talented Geisha, right?"

Sakura grinned and scratched her cheek informally, "Well, I'd like to think so…"

The man laughed. "In that case, it's great that you came here tonight."

"Thank you," Sakura replied sincerely. "I'm glad I came, too. This is quite a splendid party,"

"Yes, it is," He reached out to shake her hand, "By the way, my name is Itachi,"

"Nice to meet you," the pink haired girl replied, taking his hand.

She made small talk with the Hyuga Hinata and the young man named Itachi before she got called to stage by the host in order to entertain the crowd before her. She went up the stage, pulled out the fans from her obi, and then danced. She moved, slowly and elegantly, taking in the evening spring air, feeling the sorrow of the song. Ai no Yuurei…The Ghost of Love…one of the best strategies she had while dancing was to feel the emotions from the song and interpret them as if they were your own.

Right before her finale, a woman's voice rang out from the crowd, "Sasuke, you're late,"

At the sound of his name, Sakura lost control and dropped one of the fans to the ground. The crowd grew silent as they stared. Then from the crowd, Itachi's voice rang out, "Mother…you startled her…"

But Sakura wasn't listening. She was staring at the floor, cheeks burning. She didn't know what to do. This was so by far one of the most embarrassing feats she had ever done. Then all of a sudden, there was a brief noise of fabric rustling against wooden tables, and when she looked up, she saw Sasuke at the edge of the stage. In his hand was her gold and silver fan. He raised his hand and handed it to her. "You dropped your fan…Sakura,"

And from that moment on, everything started to change.

Okay….so I hope you guys like the second chapter.

And thank you for the wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter! I was only expecting about two or three, but then I saw more than ten! TEN! :D :D THANK YOU!

BTW the dance "Ai no Yuurei" was a figment of my imagination, and it was based on Sasuke and Sakura's story in the real anime.

Now…I will do my homework cause it's already nine in the evening and I haven't even touched a single notebook. :P Gotta Run!