Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you everyone so much for the reviews! They're what keeps me writing! Have fun with this chapter!

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"Do you have any idea how much I missed you!" Sakura lunged at the blonde girl, wrapping her in a hug.

The three fan girls, shocked by the suddenness of the action, muttered their goodbyes to Sasuke and quietly slipped away.

Sasuke himself was also in a quite a bit of shock, though he didn't show it on his face.

He never expected that the president of his fan club and his guest to know each other…not to mention they seemed like old friends!

"You're soiling my new clothes, forehead girl," Her words were snotty, but her tone was affectionate. "I haven't seen you in three years."

Sakura pulled away. "You've grown fatter Ino-pig," she laughed at Ino's mock gasp.

Sasuke watched the exchange silently. Were they supposed to be insulting each other? Because it really wasn't that effective.

"I'm surprised, forehead girl, your forehead doesn't seem so wide anymore," Ino laughed at Sakura's scowl.

"Yeah, well I've got the beauty to match my brains, of course," Sakura noticed Sasuke still sitting there. "Oh, Sasuke this is Yamanaka Ino. Ino, this is—"

"Uchiha Sasuke, I know," Sakura watched in fascination as her friend turned to mush when Sasuke turned to face her.

"You need to go shopping," his statement was directed at Sakura.

"Oh!" She smacked a hand to her forehead. "I'm really sorry, Ino, but I have to go clothes shopping."

"I'll accompany you!" Ino's sudden perkiness startled Sakura.

She was sure that her old friend wanted to spend time catching up, but she was pretty suspicious that the majority of the reason why Ino wanted to tag along was because Sasuke was also there. She shrugged to herself. It didn't matter to her either way.

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"Sasuke-kun, doesn't this top look so cute on Sakura!"

Sasuke, who was sitting on a chair just outside the fitting room, briefly glanced up to see a smiling Ino and blushing Sakura standing in front of him. "It all looks the same. Just hurry up."

Ino pouted, before dragging Sakura back into the dressing room.

"Ino, what were you thinking!" the still embarrassed girl got out of Ino's grip.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be living with Uchiha Sasuke?" Ino whispered in reply, looking around to make sure no other girls were listening.

Sakura stared blankly at her friend. "So what does dragging me out have to do with that?"

Ino sighed. "Sakura, a girl like me who knows everything about Sasuke-kun knows that you need to approach a guy like him subtly. If he looks at you, he'll also be looking at me, and slowly my image will be stuck in his mind. Understand?"

Sakura sweat dropped. Eh…not really.

"Now hurry up and put one these jeans so we can go show Sasuke-kun!"

Outside, Sasuke found himself tapping his foot impatiently. He knew from the start that allowing the blonde to come would be a bad idea.

At first, when they had just entered the store, Sakura had gone over to the plain looking shirts.

When that Ino had saw what her former best friend was considering to buy, she had made an over-exaggerated gasp before dragging Sakura over to the more elaborately designed tops.

Didn't that girl know that they were wasting his time?

He could feel the girls in the store staring as they came out of fitting room. And in his opinion, it was quite disturbing to have a thirty year old woman stare at him like she wanted to take him home.

It was hours later that the three finally emerged from the store, and Sasuke stood by silently while the two best friends exchanged cell phone numbers. When Ino came to hug him goodbye, he moved away, and Ino just laughed weakly. After all, she was familiar with his non-existent interest in woman contact.

"I promise I'll pay you back," Sakura told him the moment Ino was out of sight.

"Don't bother," he muttered, knowing that if his mother heard of what happened, she would never allow the girl to give him back his money. After all, like his mother would say, he was just treating the guest. He glanced down at his watch. He had wasted four hours wandering around pointlessly and it was all that dumb blonde's fault. "Che, annoying."

Sakura heard him. "Annoying?" Her eyes saddened. Did I make him annoyed again?

Sasuke took her bags from her and dumped them all in the back seat. "The blonde. She butted in on things that weren't her concern."

Sakura stared at him, automatically coming to Ino's defense. "Now that's unfair Sasuke-kun. All Ino was doing was helping me."

"I didn't ask for your opinion."

"Sasuke-kun, I don't care if you didn't ask for it! Ino is my friend and I'm going to defend her!" She turned to look outside the window. "You don't know what she has done for me. Without her, I wouldn't be—"

"I don't need to hear your sob story." he cut her off briskly.

She clenched her fists. She had had it with his cold and arrogant attitude. "What about you! You act so cold towards everyone, but secretly; you're probably enjoying all the attention! I've met guys like you before. You reject all those girls in front of everyone, but you probably secretly have three to four different girls all hanging off your arm!"

The car swerved so suddenly that Sakura banged her head against window. "What did you just say?" His voice was cold, really cold.

"Ow…" Sakura rubbed her head.

He came to an abrupt halt, and Sakura realized that they had returned. She stepped out of the car, to see Sasuke was already at the front door with her bags by his side.

She wasn't done yet. Ino was an important person to her. The blonde was her savior in her cold and lonely childhood days. No one was going to get away with insulting her best friend. "I'm not done yet! Don't run away!"

The front door was opened, and Sasuke slammed the door shut before she could step inside.

She blinked a few times; surprised at herself on how she suddenly lost control.

Suddenly, she felt someone behind her, and she turned around to see the older Uchiha standing there. Apparently, he had just returned from wherever he had gone that morning.

"Did I over do it?" she asked him, biting her lip.

"Sasuke has never had a girlfriend before," Itachi stepped up to her. "And he probably never will. My foolish little brother has no interest in women at all. He doesn't like people drawing false conclusions about him."

He pushed open the door. "You should be cautious around him. He has a bad temper."

Sakura moved in to follow him, but the door was slammed shut once again.

HOW RUDE! Inner Sakura didn't believe she had made a mistake in yelling at the younger Uchiha.

Logical Sakura sighed.

Did I really make a mistake?

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Dinner that night was tense.

Fugaku had another meeting and Itachi had wandered off to somewhere again.

Mikoto seemed unaware of what was going on, since she was still her cheerful self.

Sakura hardly had an appetite. She bit her lip, wanting to break the awkwardness, but at the same time afraid that she would say the wrong thing again.

Sasuke didn't even look in her direction, even though they were sitting right next to each other.

"Excuse me," Sakura mumbled, suddenly feeling depressed. "I don't feel too well." She quickly hurried back to her room.

"Sasuke!" Sasuke looked up at his mother's voice. "I don't know what's going on, but you better apologize!"

So his mother wasn't as unaware as he had thought.

He narrowed his eyes. Why is it that my mother automatically assumes I'm the one at fault here?

His mother continued to look expectedly at him, and he scoffed, before scooting out of his chair and walking upstairs. There was no way he was apologizing to anyone. Uchiha Sasuke never apologized.

Mikoto watched her son go, and heaved out a sigh. It's only been a day and he's already mad at her.

She smiled.

Things are becoming more interesting.

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Uchiha Sasuke lay on his bed, wide awake and very unhappy.

He had locked himself in his bedroom, and waited for the timid pink-haired girl to come walking in to apologize…except, that she never did.

At least an hour had passed, but there was still no presence of her.

Who does she think she is? His brows creased. Does she think she can live in this house and act above me?

He swung the door open, stepping out. He was definitely going to get an apology out of her. If there was one thing Uchiha Sasuke had a natural talent at…it was verbal assault.

He swung open her bedroom door, only to be greeted by no one.

He stepped out, having no idea where she went. The blow dryer was suddenly heard, and he realized she was in the bathroom. He knocked, but when no one answered, he gently pushed the door open.

There she was, her back faced to him, already in her pajamas and drying her hair. Her eyes were closed and a small smile was on her face while she hummed some unfamiliar tune.

He reached out, and put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention and…

"KYAA! PERVERT!" her scream put him off-guard, and a well aimed punch to his cheek sent him staggering backwards.

What the--! Even someone as cold as Sasuke allowed three seconds of complete and utter shock to show on his face. And he had called her timid?

Sakura opened her eyes, and she gasped. "S-Sasuke!"

He opened his mouth to speak, but the girl cut him off.

"I'm so so so so so sorry for hitting you! I didn't know it was you! I'm so sorry! I wasn't even thinking! I'm so sorry!"

He waited for her to stop, but she continued on.

"And I'm sorry for saying what I said earlier! I'm sorry for making you mad! I'm sorry that I drew false conclusions! And I'm sorry—"

"Shut up," He knew that he had come in on her with the intention for her to apologize, but now he was just sick of it.

Gingerly, he brought a hand to his cheek, and inwardly winced.

"Does it hurt?" Her voice was laced with concern, guilt, and regret.

"No." Damn, it stung, but Sasuke would never admit it aloud. "Where did you learn to punch like that?"

"I—"she blushed as though recalling an embarrassing event. "My father taught me. A girl has to be strong to survive, you know?"

Sasuke made a mental note to have a talk with her father. Well, his purpose was achieved. He had no more reason to stay. He turned around.

"Wait!" her voice stopped him. "I'm sorry. Really."

"Hn." He walked out.

"Does that mean I'm forgiven!" she called after him.

There was no reply.

She turned back towards the mirror, and continued on with drying her hair.

SHANNARO! HE DIDN'T APOLOGIZE ABOUT INO! Inner Sakura was not happy.

Sakura sighed. Maybe another time.

The small smile found itself back onto her lips.

I'm glad…that things are alright again.

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Uchiha Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom, to see his mother walking away.

His eyes narrowed.

Had she been listening!

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Mikoto smiled to herself.

Things had turned out differently than she imagined, but at least the problems were resolved in the end.

Poor thing, she thought about her youngest son. I just hope it won't bruise tomorrow.

She continued along her way.

Yes…Things will be interesting indeed.

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Take that, Sasuke! xD I thank Shadow-Ninja-Fay for giving me this idea. Originally, she was going to hit Naruto...but Sasuke ended up being the poor victim. And some may realize this, but I am using quotes from the anime/manga (ex. girls need to be strong to survive.)

Ehh...so it was only a one chapter fight, but of course, more drama will come later. xD

And if nobody understood the Sakura/Ino story, it was basically Ino was Sakura's best friend until she moved three years ago. Okay?

Hope you enjoyed!

Next Chapter:
SCHOOL STARTS! CHAOS! xD

Please Review!