Title: 101 Questions

Rating: PG 13

Genre: Humor/Romance/Friendship

Pairing: Sasuke/Sakura

Warnings: Language, Violence, Nudity

Summary: Sakura tugged at Sasuke's pants, and peered at him curiously. "Hey mister, what's an ass?" At the end of the day he'll be lucky if he wanted to restore his clan.

Disclaimer: I neither hold now ownership to Naruto nor am I affiliated with the anime,mangaormangaka of this series. The only thing I own is the plot and whatever made up characters of my own designs. Whatever lyrics used belong to their respectable owners as well.

Author's Note: This chapter isn't beta read, and is a tad longer. You guys are great with the wonderful feedback. I had real fun with this chapter. It's actually one of my favorites. If anyone would please inform me of Sai and Karin's personalities I would be estatic.


Chapter Four: Outing


Sakura discovered something today. Her father was a very boring man. After all, who'd read twelve foot long scrolls for fun? Hell, what person in their right minds would read without pictures?

Her attention span was limited, and with no one else her age to play with, she had to get Mr. Not-So-Fun to play a game with her. Thinking back to her one, and only interaction with Kakashi, and his book of wonders, she received an idea.

"Let's get married." Sakura said suddenly, and watched Sasuke in the loveseat lower the scroll slightly to peer at her with a raised eyebrow, and a frown.

"Aren't you a little young for that?"

"No, I'm not." She pouted, and folded her arms across her chest as he went back reading.

"Then I'm too old for games."

"You're not old. Kaka-sensei is old. He has silver hair. Besides, it's raining, and I'm bored."

"Then go play." Sasuke said as if it were the apparent answer to all their problems. Perhaps it was, but he should have known better that once she had an idea in her head, one might as well go with the flow. It was just a lot easier that way.

"But you're supposed to play with me. That's what Naruto said."

"Never take advice from an idiot especially one that can barely take care of himself."

"And if you don't play with me I'll…I'll…" Sakura scowled at the smirk she was sure was now forming on his lips. "I'll annoy you."

He merely raised an eyebrow once again with a small amused smirk that said 'oh really'. Sakura scowl deepened for even she knew that wasn't the world's best comebacks.

"Believe me, I don't get annoyed easily." It wasn't exactly a lie. He wasn't nearly as short tempered as Naruto, but he wasn't the mellowest individual either.

With a grunt Sakura sat across from Sasuke, and stared at him for several minutes. Other than his fingers occasionally twitching, he didn't appear annoyed. So she did something she knew annoyed him, she would use her mouth to talk, sing, hum, laugh. Yes, whatever it took to drive him insane. She knew she was being selfish, but he didn't have anything fun, and toys got boring quite fast when you were the only child around.

Left eyebrow twitching like crazy, Sasuke eventually lowered the scroll, and placed it onto the table. He would never get anything done at this rate. Even if he left the room, she'd find a new way to annoy him. Plus, from what he learned, happiness sped up her growth. The more pleased she was, no matter how embarrassing, or irritating it may be it had to be done. So in the end it was a rather continuous and annoying cycle in his opinion.

Sasuke was not one that liked wasting energy especially on the inevitable. But what he was going, he was doing quite often when it came to her. He gave in again. "Five minutes."

"Ten."

"Eight."

"Six."

"Seven."

"Fine."

Then she made him pinky swear.

This was ridiculous. No. This was hell. It was one thing for a girl to drag a boy her age into this mess, but he wasn't a little kid. In all his life he never once played dress up. Sure he dreamed of becoming part of the Uchiha police department like his father, but he didn't go as far as dressing for the part. Maybe it was a girl thing. Yes, girls did have a knack for doing a lot of crazy things especially Sakura from time to time.

Sasuke waited impatiently at the dresser with a fake rose taped onto the left side of his shirt as Sakura took her sweet time moving along with the soft melody of classical music from his radio. She had flowers from outside, still somewhat damp, and wore the table cloth as her veil, and a white party dress. Several stuffed animals were on the opposite side of the aisle acting as guests. When she finally arrived beside him, the rabbit began to speak. Or so Sakura said, because when Sasuke question this, she hushed him.

Out of the corner of her eye, as the would-be minister spoke, Sakura looked at her "beau", and blushed when he glanced briefly at her.

Thirty more seconds passed then, "I do." Another passed, and another, but Sasuke said nothing. She glanced at him. "Well?"

He scowled. "I do. Okay?"

"Now kiss the bride." Sakura said in a sing-along voice. He reluctantly leaned down to offer her a peck on the cheek. She grinned, and kissed him fully on the lips just like in the fairy tales.

Sasuke had little time to react before she tossed the bouquet towards the pile of dolls that represented her bridesmaids, grabbed his hand, and tugged him towards the bed. "Now that we're married we gotta start making babies!"

"W-What?" He paused, making her stop in her tracks.

Sakura peered up at the teenager, looking at him as if he possessed four new heads or was just plain stupid. "That's what was in Kaka's book. It said when the man, and woman get married they do this dance thing to call the stork to bring the baby. It began with an 's' or something."

"Forget it." Sasuke scoffed, and turned his head to the side to hide the faint blush.

Screw the law. He was really going to kill Kakashi for this. That man, intentionally or not, was spreading his perverseness to innocent people. More importantly did Sakura know what she was saying? Hell, had he when he listed his ambitions at twelve? Clearly not.

Sure, Sasuke knew the mechanics regarding sex such as what went where, and what happened inside the womb. As Fuguka's son he could not be ignorant, and he enjoyed reading all sorts of materials from a young age to appease his father with the vast knowledge he obtained. But when he had been a genin, he truthfully never gave it much thought back then.

And at this age Sakura obviously had no inkling to what that "dance" was. And he sure as hell wasn't going to educate her either. With his luck, and her curious mind, she'd likely try it at any given time. The stork story stayed.

She pouted. "But why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

Oh why hadn't he seen that one coming? "Because I said so."

"You can't just-that doesn't make sense. I wanna have a baby. Stop being stingy!"

"Stingy?" Did she want him to get arrested or something? That dance was taboo between them. Hell, he hardly even thought about the act itself in comparison to most of his gender.

"What?" Sakura jiggled her stuff rabbit with a somber expression, nodded, and glanced back at her slightly inquisitive looking 'husband' with a pout. "Okay. I forgive you only because you're cute. But we're doing that dance later, okay?"

He scoffed. Like hell.

She took that as an agreement, and smiled at him. "We'll call the stork later. It's lunch time."

"Fine. I'm cooking." Discarding the table cloth back onto the living room table, he entered the kitchen steering clear of the bright pink apron she left on the counter.

Sakura ran after him with her rabbit, and exclaimed happily, "But I wanna cook for you."

The thought of runny eggs, burnt bacon made Sasuke's stomach churn. That would probably be his first and only desire to try westernized food. Thank the gods for ripe tomatoes, and rice balls.

II.

"Hum…" Naruto stared at the orange fox, and then at the red fox on the third shelf of the local toy store. He just couldn't decide which he wanted to purchase. They were both cute, furry, and the same price. But which would better suit Sakura?

"Sir, is there something that I can help you with?" Kai, a middle-aged red-haired woman dressed in a blue business suit and matching shoes, tried to wait patiently by his side.

"Hum…" He tapped his chin thoughtfully as if he were ordering ramen instead.

"Uh, sir?" She glanced at the ninja who was still looking quite focused upon his decision, and didn't seem to hear her.

He reached forward to the orange fox, and then moved his hand away like if he had been burned. "Ah…no, no. Hum…"

"Is that a "no" then?" Kai was slowly, but surely starting to get a bit annoyed, but her manager was nearby, and she wasn't about to lose her standings in the company because of a mere customer. Especially a customer that was likely to purchase something from their store.

III.

Rice balls. Tomatoes. Sushi rolls. Salmon. Lettuce. Pickles. Apples.

Sasuke plopped these items into the cart as they made their way down the next aisle. Surprisingly no fan girls, or nosey busybodies were around. It must be the apocalypse.

Sakura rolled her eyes while watching the many silver pots, and pans go by. As predicted, Sasuke wasn't picking up anything sweet. He hadn't been kidding about his dislike for sugary substances. How utterly boring was that especially for a child with a major sweet tooth?

"Pocky." She added, and plopped the item into the small handheld grocery basket.

Sasuke looked at her for a second, but said nothing. All children had a sweet tooth; even he had enjoyed the joys of sugary sweets. That is until sweets became a mark of a dreary past. He also knew this would be a small price to pay for being another step closer to having the real Sakura back.

Once everything was paid for, the two exited the small grocery store without incident. This was when they came upon Neji who appeared to have been waiting for them, leaning casually against the building looking intimidating, yet unperturbed.

"Hyuuga."

"Uchiha."

"Sakura." She smiled, and drew the attention of the older prodigy who merely raised an eyebrow.

"I see." Neji murmured, with a small smile. "So what I heard from Gai-sensei is true. A pint-sized medic. How interesting."

"How annoying" would've been Sasuke's choice of wording, but he didn't voice this.

"It's nice to see you again, Sakura." He was as polite, and charming in his own way, similarly to Sasuke, but different since the two had their own style on how they carried themselves.

"It would be nice too if I knew who you were, Mr. Hyuuga." She replied with a smile.

"Yes. Yes, it would I suppose." Neji offered her another small smile then turned his attention back to Sasuke. "May I have a word with you?"

The Uchiha gave a quick, but curt nod in response.

He has such pretty hair…I wish my hair was that long. He looks nice, but not as pretty as daddy. I wonder what they're talking about. Sakura watched the two men converse in hush tones, and kept herself occupied by her thoughts. It was then she heard the whispered taunting of the boys beside her.

"Wow, your forehead is huge! Can you land a plane on it?" Kyo, an eight year old, redheaded boy, laughed. He then began to move his hand through the air, mimicking an aircraft.

"It probably needs its own room with how big it is." Karou snickered, and gave his two brothers both a high-five.

"Don't be mean guys. She probably doesn't have any friends. No surprise there." Kaiba, his twin, made a gag sound. "I could never be friends with a girl whose forehead is as big as yours."

I won't cry. I won't cry. Sakura wanted to run, she wanted so damn well to cry, but remained rooted to the ground. Why did those words have to hurt? Why did she have to care so much?

"No one could like someone like her. Look at her hair! Like a skinny cotton candy."

"God, you're so lame." Kaiba punched Karou in the head, and he punched him right back.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Unknown to the four bullies, Sasuke's left eye turned to look in their direction as they continued their childish taunting.

Yuki chuckled, leaned against the brick building behind him, and nibbled upon a new piece of pocky. "Oh man, she's crying. This is hilarious."

"Crybaby. Crybaby. What cha gonna do crybaby?" His three younger brothers sang, laughing at the tears flowing down her cheeks as she tried desperately not to cry.

"Did you say something?" The chilly voice made Sakura's tear-filled eyes slightly widen.

"Yeah. Got a pro-" The words died in their throats as if they saw the angel of death itself.

Kyo stiffened, and upon looking up the boy appeared ready to soil himself as he pointed at the tall teenager before them. "I-it's him."

"U-Uchiha." Karou swallowed nervously, and nodded his head.

"I heard h-he can k-kill a hundred guys j-just by l-looking at him."

One would have to wonder if the puddle beneath Kaiba's feet was caused by perspiration or something else. "I heard he's so dangerous even the hokage's a bit afraid of him."

"All I know is he's scary." He was the guy parents told kids about to make sure they came home before the streetlights came on.

Yuki scoffed. His dark eyes glanced at the silent prodigy. Maybe he too was frightened, but his pride, power, and ego were all he valued. "That's all a load of bull. I bet pretty boy here is all talk."

"Are you crazy?" The three younger boys whispered, frightened for their lives unlike their brother. They looked up to see the further narrowing of the Uchiha's eyes, and the movement of his hand coming from his pocket. But no one expected what happened next.

Seeing the sniffling girl glaring up at him, he scowled. "What do you want?"

"Don't talk about Sasuke like that!" Sakura exclaimed, and punched the boy right in the nose. He went flying several blocks, over villagers' heads until a building, and a bush stopped him. An impressively large crater lay beneath his unmoving form while many people just gawked.

"My store!"

"Did you see that?"

"Fucking awesome!"

"Is he all right?"

"Damn. I hope that man was insured."

"Now that's what I call a punch!"

"But she's only a child!"

"I told you we should've brought the camera. But no, you wanted to bring the cat."

The conversations of bystanders were pretty much the same. A few people eventually got over the shock, and went to assist the boy or just went on their merry little way. Yuki's younger brothers had long fled after successfully soiling themselves as they screamed in a great panic down the street. It seemed they will not be patronizing anyone again.

Looking at the damage and the commotion the medic caused, Sasuke muttered a curse. Tsunade was not going to like this.

"Oh hell yeah! Did you see that? Sakura's got a punch better than both your boys combined." Tsunade pointed to the three different sized craters and then smiled smugly. "But after all, she did learn from the best."

Clearly someone either didn't know "modesty" or refused to acknowledge it.

Regardless, Jiraiya wisely kept his mouth shut. Not only was she the hokage, but she was Tsunade. Nuff said.

He sighed. Or maybe she would.

IV.

"Hum…" Naruto reached for the orange fox, but withdrew his hand. He never knew toy shopping could be so hard. But then again, he never really shopped.

Ever since team seven had been formed most of the shopping had been done by Sakura. Hell, she was the reason why he had to trash his old ninja uniform - though he does have it stored safely in the mess place he called a "closet".

To Sasuke and him, she was a mother and a sister all in one. As a mother she would kiss, or rather heal the booboos, help clean their apartments - really applied to Kakashi, and Naruto since Sasuke was quite the "neat freak", cooked - rice cakes, tomatoes, or ramen weren't exactly part of a balance meal, and worried over them.

As a sister she was just there for them, and did everything a typical sister did which included bickering. Three years ago no one in their right mind would have ever thought she'd bicker with, let alone punch, Sasuke, but she had done so on more than one occasion outside of training.

So standing there undecided was probably the reason why she would always accompany them whenever it was time to give someone a present, because some men just couldn't shop alone - or shouldn't be allowed to.

"Hum…"

"Sir, I'll come back." Kai tersely replied after two hours had gone by, and tried not to storm away even though she was quite exasperated especially since being ignored wasn't normal for her.

He blinked, and a light bulb above his head went off. "Ah ha!"

V.

Sasuke stared in silence as Sakura lowered her fist, her eyes still narrowed at the unconscious boy. It seemed that even though she didn't have her memories, she sure as hell had her inhumane strength.

"Let's go." He murmured, and then proceeded to walk with the bag of groceries.

Sakura blinked a few times, and ran to catch up with Sasuke. The villagers moved out of their way whispering with wide eyes, and soft gasps. She silently peered at the Uchiha from the corner of her eye with a frown. Was he mad at her? Had she done a really bad thing by punching that boy?

"Are you mad at me, Sasuke?"

At least they had made progress. She had stopped calling him "daddy" and "Sasuke Daddy" and all other annoying pet name combinations - or at least he hoped so.

"About what?"

Now that Sakura was no longer a curious six year old there wouldn't be peanut butter into the VCR - or at least he hoped not, drawings over mission scrolls, mud pies in the oven, girly tea parities he was forced to endure, or makeovers with hair curling rollers, bright colored eye shadows, and flavored lip sticks galore - the true horror.

"That I punched that guy."

"No. You could've punched harder. But it's fine."

"Really?" Sakura smiled at him like a child in a candy store, pleased that he wasn't angry. However, the smile quickly turned mischievous as she pointed to the ice cream parlor up ahead. "Since I did such a good job we can get ice-cream, right?"

He scoffed. "Don't push your luck. Besides, I hate sweets."

"Everyone loves sweets, Sasuke. It's the law."

"Well I'm a rebel, deal with it."

"A rebel, huh."

Suddenly greeted by silence he looked at her. As always she was as easy to read. She looked upset, discouraged, and frustrated probably due to what the bumbling brothers had said.

Sighing, he actually broke the silence which was quite rare. "You shouldn't let other people's opinions upset you so easily."

"I-I don't." Sakura replied, her cheeks pink from embarrassment, and showed she was lying.

He smirked, now amused. "Your nose twitches whenever you lie."

It does? She gasped, and covered the betraying part of her. How had he known when she didn't? She stared up at him with confused green eyes, but said nothing. Was what Shizune said true? Did some people have eyes behind their heads?

"Don't bother covering it up, I already saw it." Sasuke smirked, and peered at the mini medic as she continued to clutch at her small nose. "Your forehead, it's not even all that noticeable. It's pointless worrying about something that you can't change, and will grow out of."

"I guess." Sakura murmured, sounding not entirely convinced. She peered up at him again now with her glossy green eyes, and asked, "Did anyone make fun of you when you were a kid, Sasuke?"

"No." Sure there had been rumors he might be "batting" for the other team, but no one dared make fun of him in his face other than his teammates, but that was typically good-nature fun.

No. No one made fun of him. They just constantly compared him to a murderer, to a missing nin that destroyed everything once precious to him without a single trace of remorse. They looked up to him like if he were a god, unable to make mistakes, yet with masked distain, and fear of what he could become. Sometimes he wondered if it would've been better to have been teased.

Frowning, Sasuke looked at her as she peered up at him curiously. She was so hopeless, and vulnerable unlike her other self. Seeing her this way made him feel guilty for being so crude to her in their genin years even if she had been annoying as hell.

Sakura stared down at her feet while her inner self was giving her a much needed pep talk. She had to become stronger. She shouldn't let every insult get to her like that. And Sasuke said it wasn't as big as everyone made it out to be. And he was smart, and never lied to her yet. So maybe someday she would grow out of it or something. But until then she had to accept the fact that her forehead was a bit oversize, not humongous. If only it were that simple.

"Here." The cone was practically shoved up her nose at the close distance.

"For me?" Sakura smiled happily, and took the offered cone, then while licking the vanilla swirl; she noticed he had one of his own. "But I thought you didn't like sweets, Sasuke."

"I don't." Yet he still ate it anyways. She didn't know why, he probably didn't know either, but they sat there beneath the oak tree eating in a blissful silence.

Things were starting to look up, one day at a time.


Upcoming Chapter: The Hormonal "Friend"


Naruto glanced to where the Uchiha's eyes had gone for a split second, freed himself from Kakashi's grip, and yelled, "Oh my god! You pervert!"

"A deal isadeal." Sakura aggressively grabbed Sasuke by the collar using her inhumane strength, her lips almost touching his, before old faithful came rushing out from her mouth, and all over his clothing.

"Ha ha! Now that's what I call a kiss!" Naruto fell off his stool, and landed on the floor while Sakura's head dropped onto the table.