Chapter by NikkiTheHyugaChick. Not mine. Just wait i'm almost there..

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"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"That!" Sasuke said through gritted teeth. This was just a normal conversation not an interrogation. So why was she acting as though he had her at gunpoint?

"Oh, that." Sakura said as soon as she noticed that her foot was tapping at a rapid pace. "Gomen." She shrugged guiltily.

It was quiet inside the restaurant, save for the background mumble of hushed voices. The place was very casual but served some of the best pasta Sasuke had ever eaten. He vaguely remembered going there with his parents, so when Sakura suggested that they ate there he heartily agreed. He didn't expect Sakura to be so nervous. It sounded like she was trying to communicate through Morse code.

"So," Sakura began, surprising the Uchiha "You wanted something?" she stirred the ice in her glass around lazily.

"I have questions."

"And I have answers." Her emerald eyes twinkled in amusement "But before we do any of that, can I at least eat my food?" she asked as their plates were placed in front of them. "I'm starving."

"Hn."

She giggled "Sill as talkative as ever."

Sasuke scowled at her. She was avoiding the topic at hand. He wondered why. What could possibly make her so uncomfortable? Her foot began tapping again. Frustrated he reached under the table and laid his hand on her knee, instantly stopping it.

Sakura turned bright red and quickly began eating her pasta. She made sure not to make eye contact with the stoic Uchiha.

He sighed. This was going to take a while.

"You said we were friends." He said, getting straight to the point.

Sakura stopped mid-noodle to stare at him in surprise. She placed her fork down, leaned against the back of the chair and sighed. It was difficult to look the other way, especially when Sasuke was looking at her so intently.

"We were." Her voice was no more than a whisper, but it reached Sasuke's ears.

He leaned forward "Then what was the problem?"

"Everything."

The tone which she said that with made Sasuke realize that this was more than just a petty argument. Whatever separated them had to be serious. "Tell me. I'm listening."

She sighed and stretched her hand out. It looked like she was going to touch him but at the last moment she drew her hand back and gripped her fork instead. Stirring the pasta around listlessly she looked back up at him. "We were more than friends. We were best friends."

Sasuke held his breath. Best friends?

"Our parents…they didn't approve. Your family and mine, we never got along." Her eyes saddened "So we become even closer. We became secret pals."

The dark haired boy clutched his head. Secret pals… His head began throbbing mercilessly.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Saku…ra…." Sasuke managed to murmur before everything turned black.

Flashback

Little Sakura ran to the pond with tears streaming down her small face. She collapsed at the trunk of a tree and began sobbing uncontrollably. It was unfair. Just because of a grudge she could no longer talk to Sasu-kun.

"Saku-chan?"

She gasped and looked up to see her friend standing over her with a strange look on his face. "Why…" he turned red as she wrapped her arms around his waist "Why are you crying?"

"I c-can't talk t-t-to you anymore!" she sniffled as she buried her face into his stomach. He looked around uncomfortably before patting her head.

"Who says?"

"Otousan. He-he says it's your f-family's fault that Okasan died!"

Sasuke's gaze softened as he seated himself beside her, his arm wrapped around her small shoulder. "But it's not true." He said earnestly.

"I k-know." She wiped away a few tears "B-but Otousan says I c-can never have an-anything to do w-with you again."

Sasuke felt himself grow angry. Why couldn't he play with his best friend anymore? It wasn't his family's fault that Mrs. Haruno died. She had choked to death; there was no way they could've planned that. Still Mr. Haruno insisted that it was their fault. He always blamed them. His anger grew since they didn't share their land with the family. There had always been hatred between the two families, especially regarding their businesses. Still, no one had any idea that it would get to be this bad.

The dark haired boy smiled sadly at his friend. She had finished crying and seemed to satisfy herself with squeezing the life out of him. She may have been small but she was strong! "I have an idea!" he said suddenly.

He watched as Sakura's eyes came to life "You do?" she wiped her nose.

"Uh huh. We both agree that our parents are being unfair, right?"

Sakura nodded mutely, still not understanding where the conversation was leading to. Sasuke grinned, "So let's become secret pals."

"Secret pals?" that sounded cool to the small girl. She never had a secret pal before.

"Yeah! We can write secret letters, and meet secretly. It'll be like a secret club, but it'll only be you and I. That way we can be best friends forever!"

"You mean it?" Sakura's eyes were filled with eagerness as she stared up at her best friend. He nodded his head in affirmation.

"Uh huh. We'll always be friends."

Sakura was suddenly back to smiling again. She hugged her friend once more, this time even tighter "Sasu-kun! You're the best!"

"Here." Sasuke held out his hand. Sakura peered at it curiously before accepting the object he held.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer. She lifted it up to see a ring. It was still too large for her fingers but she put it on anyway. It was silver a silver band with a little Uchiha crest carved in the underside of it. She glanced up at her friend, awaiting an explanation.

"That's so we have something to represent the promise." He explained, "If anyone asks say it's your engagement ring."

Sakura felt her cheeks turn pink in spite of herself "E-engagement…ring?"

"Yeah." Sasuke folded his arms behind his head. He wondered why she was getting so flushed about it. It seemed like a good idea to him "That way, once we're free of our parents we can be together again and they can't say nothing about it. I don't think we'll fall in love, but that'll be between us. See, we could still be best friends. We'll get to hang out together and no one could stop us because we'll be married."

Sakura nodded. Anything that meant a free pass to hang out with her best friend all the time sounded like a good idea to her. "Okay. Here. I'll give you something too." She said, suddenly feeling left out.

She searched herself but found she had no jewelry to give. Her eyes watered. "I don't have anything!" she cried in frustration.

Sasuke gave a little smile and reached up to the top of her head. She felt a small tugging and looked down in surprise. He was holding her favorite hair ribbon. "There. Now you do."

She smiled at him. "Can we have a secret meeting tomorrow?"

He nodded "You bet."

End Flashback

When Sasuke woke up, the first thing he noticed was that it was dark. The second was that he was in his bedroom. Wait, his bedroom? He sat up suddenly only to be greeted by another wave of nausea.

"Sasuke-kun, you really shouldn't make any sudden movements. You could pass out again."

He closed his eyes. "Hn."

Sakura smiled down at him as she placed a glass of water on his nightstand. "Aren't you going to wonder how you got here?"

"No."

"Well," she seated herself at the foot of his bed "I called Naruto-kun who freaked out and dragged you here himself. It seems that he has the spare key to your house. He left only fifteen minutes ago. He said to 'tell teme that he'd better be careful' Isn't he such a good friend?"

"Hn."

She shook her head ruefully "I see your vocabulary hasn't improved much…." She gave a dramatic sigh "and just when I thought I was getting to know you."

Sasuke glared at her "You already knew me. But you never told me. Why?"

Sakura ignored his question "You really should drink up."

"Why?"

She raised an eyebrow "Because water is always good for your body."

Sasuke gave her another one of his famous glares "Why did you act like you didn't know me?"

"I never did that." She said softly, her eyes fixated on his window "I wanted you to figure things out for yourself. Sometimes it's better that way. Besides, we haven't really talked in years."

The Uchiha carefully seated himself upright so that he could see her more clearly "Why? What stopped us from talking? You'd better tell me."

"Are you threatening me?" she asked melodramatically.

"Sakura." His voice was full of irritation. He had a right to be, she was avoiding all of his questions.

Sakura shrugged slowly "We just grew apart. My family moved to England for a few years. We returned two years ago and you didn't recognize me, no matter how many signals I gave you."

"Signals?"

"Yeah, like knowing your name. I even showed you my ring once, although very discreetly." She played with the ring which was still on her left hand ring finger. "It was the perfect ruse. I pretended that it fell on your desk. You just picked it up and handed it to me without another word. I was heartbroken." Her voice cracked on heartbroken. She quickly cleared her throat.

Sasuke stared at her uncertainly. Was he really that big of a jerk? Why didn't he remember anything? Oh yeah, the accident. What triggered the accident anyway?

"That was a long time ago." Sakura said quickly. She accidentally interpreted his gaze as something else and made sure to cover up any remorse "I mean, how could I expect you to recognize me after all those years?" she laughed.

The Uchiha shook his head slowly. "What about the accident? How did that happen?"

"I really don't know." She answered sincerely. Her eyes were still fixed on the window. She was scared to look at him and he knew it.

"Sakura…"

Sakura glanced down at her watch "Oh my god, I have to go! I'm sorry Sasuke but can we talk later? Make sure you drink water and don't move too quickly!" With that she was gone.

Sasuke continued to stare at the doorway even after he heard the sound of her slamming the front door shut. He leaned back on his pillow and shut his eyes. Things sure weren't getting any easier. He hoped that tomorrow would go better. Maybe he could talk to Hinata or Naruto. They seemed like they might know something.

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Hinata sighed dreamily. It was that time of day again. Anatomy class. She loved the class. No not the class, the seating arrangements. Anatomy was so darned awkward. Especially when the teacher would ask embarrassing questions that she would rather not answer. The seating arrangements were what had her hooked. She was seated in the back row behind some girl. It wasn't the girl she wanted to see, but who was beside the girl. "Uzumaki Naruto." She whispered to herself.

Sure it was stalker-ish but she didn't mind. He had been her crush since 7th grade when he had introduced himself to her. One look in his eyes and she knew she was in love. If only she could work up the courage.

It was difficult though. She always sat in the back and was a very quiet girl. Besides her excellent grades, the only thing that made her stand out was her skills as a goalie. Even then she knew she could never truly impress her crush as much as she wanted to. So instead she satisfied herself with staring at him during Anatomy. Sure she didn't get much of a view but she would take what she could get.

Ordinarily Hinata would curse her fate, but she enjoyed being invisible. It was less humiliating that way. Therefore, when her invisibility was instantly shattered she was very much surprised.

"Is anyone sitting here?"

She stared up in shock. Uchiha Sasuke was standing beside her desk asking to sit by her. So much for invisibility. Now every female in the room, including Ino (the devil herself) was glaring at her as if she were a piece of slime. She was starting to feel pretty slimy.

"H-huh?" she stammered.

Instead of rolling his eyes like he used to, Sasuke just gave her a somewhat kindly smirk. "Is anyone sitting here?" he repeated, indicating towards the vacant chair beside her.

"N-no…"

"Good." He plopped down beside her and slouched comfortably in his chair. Most people look stupid when they slouched, but Sasuke was making slouching look good. Hinata couldn't help but stare at him. Sure he knew her from History and soccer, but why on earth would he sit by her? Especially when he could sit by the demonic yet better looking Ino? Besides, wasn't Ino like his girlfriend or something? This was just too confusing…

"Sasuke-san?" she whispered, even though everyone could hear her. The teacher was late…again.

He turned to her with an amused look on his face "Yes?"

"I-I t-think everyone I-is glaring at m-me…" she poked her fingers together.

Sasuke smirked "I know."

"I-it's making m-me uncomfortable."

His smirk widened "Just flip them off if they're bothering you. It's not your fault that I'd rather sit with you than them."

Hinata turned pink in embarrassment. She felt like hiding under her hood. She was seriously starting to consider that "B-but…"

"Look Hinata," he said staring her directly in the eye "don't worry about what other people think. From what I heard you're a very nice person. I don't think anyone like you should have to sit alone. Besides, I have a favor to ask of you."

She looked curious "A f-favor?"

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"Sasuke-kun…" Ino purred dangerously. Her blue eyes were filled with jealousy as she stalked towards where Sasuke and Hinata stood talking. "What a surprise! I missed you yesterday." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. She learned from experience that he didn't want her kissing him on the lips.

"Hn."

"And you are?" her voice changed from sickeningly sweet to dangerous. She sounded like she was ready to rip the poor Hyuga's hair out.

The dark haired female played with her fingers furiously. Ino was even scarier in person! "I-I-I'm H-hyuga H-h-Hinata."

Ino rolled her eyes as she snapped her gum. Who was this nobody? What right did she think she had to sit by Sasuke so? Especially since Sasuke was obviously taken! "Oh right, the weird goalie chick."

Hinata blushed a little and turned her head to the side. This was so awkward "Y-yeah…I gu-guess."

They stood in an uncomfortable silence for five minutes. Ino was glaring, Hinata was blushing, and Sasuke was wishing he and Hinata were somewhere else. How could he get the favor out of the girl when his stalker of a girlfriend was stalking him! He was getting really irritated with the annoying blonde. She noticed his gaze and blew a large pink bubble. The bubble snapped. Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Listen Ino," he said causing the blonde's eyes to light up "I need to talk to Hinata…alone. I'll sit with you later or whatever. Can you please just give us some space?"

Ino seemed thrilled with the thought that Sasuke said more than one word to her today. It was progress. She eyed Hinata carefully but nodded anyway "Okay sweetheart!" she chirped "I'll see you at lunch! Bye bye!" she waved with fake cheerfulness as she hurried off to meet with her friends.

"Thank goodness…" Sasuke sighed.

Hinata couldn't help but agree. Ino wasn't anyone she'd like to be caught alone with. The blonde looked ready to scratch her eyes out. "What w-was the f-favor?"

"Straight to the point." Sasuke smirked his approval and leaned his shoulder against a locker. "I need you to tell me everything about me. How did my family die? When did they die? When was the accident? What was I like before that…everything."

Her pale eyes widened "W-what?"

"I need to know this." He said, his dark eyes more serious than they had ever been. The sincerity of his gaze caused her to turn her head.

"I-I s-see…" she whispered, "I-it will b-be difficult though."

He ran his fingers through his bangs. Hinata suddenly giggled. He frowned "What's so funny?"

She shook her head quickly "N-nothing. It's just th-that, you al-always did th-that when y-you grew impatient."

"Did what?"

She made a motion similar to the one you he just did "T-that. You did I-it a lot on th-the soccer field. E-especially wh-when someone made a mi-mistake."

He smirked down at the smiling female. He could easily see how she became Sakura's best friend "I see. I also need you to trap Sakura for me."

"T-trap her? What for?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

His smirk broadened "She knows more than she lets on. I need to talk to her somewhere where no one will find us and where she can't run off on me."

"She ran off?"

He nodded.

"Okay," Hinata poked her fingers together and smiled shyly "I-I'll do wh-what I can."

Sasuke gave a triumphant smirk. Finally, he was getting somewhere

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