In An Alternative Universe

Sasuke was twenty years old when he met the woman he would spend the rest of his life with.

He met her at his brother's promotion to CEO of Uchiha Industries. It was a meeting he would never forget.

She was danger in high heels.

The moment that Sasuke Uchiha laid his eyes on the statuesque blonde standing by the buffet table five feet away from him, he somehow knew she'd screw him up, one way or another, even if they'd never met before.

Or maybe he was paranoid. Having Itachi Uchiha as a brother did that to you.

Nevertheless, he still stared (while trying not to get caught). Who was she and what was her relation with Itachi?

"Hey Sasuke!" A hand settled on his shoulder, startling him for a moment. He turned to his right and came face to face with Sakura Haruno.

"Hey." His pink-haired best friend was smiling, green eyes lit up with mischief. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. When she looked like that, it never bode well for anyone.

"What?" He asked, trying not to roll his eyes because aside from being his best friend, she could break every bone in his body if she wanted to.

"Nothing," Sakura chimed. She let go of his shoulder and turned to look at the front of the large ballroom, where Itachi was talking to various business associates. "Tell Itachi congrats for me."

"Why won't you do it yourself?" Sasuke retorted, knowing full well why she wouldn't. The girl had a thing for his brother ever since they met some years ago. Unfortunately for her, Itachi was already taken.

"I have no desire to embarrass myself in front of him. And anyway, shouldn't you be with him? Mingling with stuffy men and bragging about your wealth?" Sakura said smoothly, steering the topic away from herself.

"Meh, I don't want to. That's his job. I'm here to look bad-ass." Sakura smiled at Sasuke's attempt at a joke.

"I think the way you're staring at Ino Yamanaka isn't helping with the bad-ass image. You look like a perv."

Sasuke's glare could melt a glacier. The pink-haired girl raised her hands in surrender.

"Jeez, that was a joke! Naruto says even worse things about your masculinity and you don't glare at him like that." When Sasuke's glare didn't die down, Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to her." She pulled his hand and led him towards the gorgeous woman, with Sasuke trying vainly to pull his hand away.

"Let go of me!" He whispered to Sakura, who complied. My god, that girl had a grip of steel. Where was Naruto when he needed him?

"Ino!" Sakura called to the blonde, who was facing away from them, talking to Deidara Yamanaka, a renowned sculptor and one of Itachi's friends. Wait, they were both Yamanakas, they were both blonde, and they both had the same hairstyle. Siblings?

The blonde girl turned. She had big blue eyes, a killer figure emphasized by the purple cocktail dress she was wearing, and a smile that could brighten up a room.

She was way prettier close up. Then she smiled and Sasuke felt his heart speed up.

If he wasn't Sasuke Uchiha he would probably be gaping like a fish. As it was, he tried to look cool, collected and extremely indifferent.

"Hi Sakura!" The girl, Ino, chimed. Sasuke realized she had a voice that matched the way she looked.

The two of them air-kissed while Sasuke tried not to look out of place, trying for a smirk at Deidara. Deidara raised his eyebrows in greeting. The blonde man didn't smile either, but Sasuke wasn't perturbed. Deidara was actually wearing a suit, which was a huge difference from the band shirts he liked wearing the few times Sasuke saw him.

"Sasuke, this is Ino Yamanaka and her brother Deidara." Sasuke blinked at the sound of Sakura's voice. Ino was holding out a hand to him, smiling. Sasuke shook her hand.

"So you're Itachi's brother huh?" She asked, grinning. A full-fledged grin was enough to make most men melt in their shoes.

Ew, sappy thoughts.

"Yeah. I never knew Deidara had a sister." Sasuke said in return, keeping his voice carefully neutral.

Ino rolled her eyes. "I think my brother's ashamed of me or something. He never introduces me to his friends."

"I can't think why." The words were out of Sasuke's mouth before he could stop himself. He had to fight a blush at the insinuation of his words. He tried to ignore Sakura who smothered a giggle and the amused glint in Ino's eyes.

Deidara mirrored the eye rolling his sister did a moment earlier. "You're so dramatic, un. Hey, have you seen Kisame?" Deidara said, turning to Sasuke.

He nodded. "Yeah, I saw him talking to Chouji Akimichi ten minutes ago."

Deidara smirked then turned to his sister. "Ino, hun. I'm going to find the other Akatsuki. Go and mingle, but don't leave the building. Dad wants us back home before midnight." Ino made a shooing gesture at him which the blonde-haired boy took as his cue to leave. He raised his hand as farewell to Sasuke and Sakura.

"You two have the same hairstyle." Sakura commented, trying to fill the now-awkward silence.

"Yeah, it's a... Yamanaka thing." Ino replies, smiling. She's looking straight at Sasuke, extremely amused at his obvious awkwardness.

"Oh. So, I'll leave you two alone 'cause I think I see Kiba over there..." Sakura says as she edges away from Sasuke and Ino, gleefully ignoring Sasuke's vicious glare. "Toodles!"

Sasuke's calling Sakura every foul name known to man in his head. Some best friend.

"I don't bite, you know." Sasuke stops glaring at Sakura and turns to face the blonde, who is daintily sipping her champagne. Sasuke bites back the extremely inappropriate retort that pops into his head (Oh, but I like it when a girl bites) because he doesn't want to be slapped in front of all these people.

"Ah, sorry. I just spaced out for a moment there." Sasuke half-smiles in apology.

"I noticed. Do you have the hots for Sakura or something?" Ino asks warily, and Sasuke's smile widens when he detects a hint of jealousy in her voice. Then his smile quickly gets wiped off when he realizes what Ino just said.

"No. She's incorrigible." Sasuke snorts. Ino grins at his reply. And Sasuke grins back.

Her smiling's infectious, damn it.

"Hey, little brother." And then Itachi's right beside Sasuke and it takes all Sasuke's infamous willpower not to go and kick his brother away, because Itachi's smirking and he has that gleam in his eye which means,

"Good evening, Miss Yamanaka. I'm sorry if my brother seems shy. He's not. He just becomes like this when he's around girls that he likes. Have a great night!"

And his stupid older brother disappears before Sasuke can slug him. He's staring at his feet in shame, and it takes Ino's laugh to make him look up.

It's funny, but Ino doesn't have a bell-like, chiming laugh. Which sounds nice, because she has a loud laugh which Sasuke knows is genuine.

"I'm flattered." Ino says with a devilish smirk. "So you're a shy boy around women he likes, huh?"

Sasuke's competitive nature comes surging back. He gets back his usual cocky smirk and regains his voice.

"Let me show you some stuff I'm not so shy about." The double entendre isn't lost on her.

Her seductive smile is answer enough.

A/N: I'm back! From now on, I'll do my best to upload on time. Yikes. Read and review please. Thanks!