Something More
Chapter Four: Of Questions and Answers

"Do you know why I've always had a problem with you going to college?"

Sakura heaved a sigh as she heard her best friend beginning to complain, once again, about her decision to continue her studies, and took a sip of her refreshing beverage in order to keep her mouth shut. Of course, the pinkette knew Ino wasn't actually bothered by the idea of her attending university—neither of them had ever enjoyed having other people involved in their personal lives, and their personal decisions, so they had learned not to do that to each other—but that didn't mean she didn't grab every opportunity to point out just how different their views over life were.

Typical Ino, always willing to get on her nerves.

"Why?" Bored, she decided to humor her. "Enlighten me."

The answer came immediately. "Well, because it takes up too much of your free time—time that you should spend with me."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Ino, the only reason why you're being annoying and whiny and why you even dared to cross the street and pick me up from my classes is because you want to hear everything that happened between Sasuke and I that night," she stated bluntly.

"And that morning!" the blonde supplied, not even making an effort to hide her true intentions. "I just—we didn't get to talk about it, and it's killing me! All I know is that you went to fuck him, and that he most probably liked what you did to him, because he insisted you stayed with him the next morning!"

"Ino, I believe you know perfectly well what happened," she stated. "You don't have to be a genius to figure it out."

"Sooo," she drew the word out, throwing her a look. "You fucked him."

"Ugh, of course I fucked him!" Sakura snapped, directing her most heated glare towards her friend. Although she could become quite violent when provoked, the pink-haired woman rarely lost her temper. Ino, however, was proving to be a bit too much with her questions and their obvious—not to mention embarrassing—answers. "That's why I went there, remember?"

"Geez, I know," the blonde replied, rolling her eyes. "I just want some details. Is that really too much to ask?"

"Details?" she stressed exasperatedly.

"Yes!" She shrugged. "Like, for example, how he treated you… Was he gentle? Did he pay attention to what you wanted—to what you needed? I just want to know if I was right to trust him." Deep inside, Ino knew she had been. Sasuke was a man of honor, so if he promised her that he'd take good care of the pinkette, however vague that promise might have been, then it was obvious he'd do exactly that, but he was also so cold and emotionless all the time, that she couldn't be sure what his conception of 'taking care of somebody' was.

Sakura sighed, taking a moment to calm down. Ino was simply looking after her—she couldn't be yelled at. "He was great, okay?" she finally relented with a slight roll of her eyes.

The blonde smirked. "And by 'great'… do you mean that he's taken care of you, or that he's an amazing sex-god?"

"Ino!" the pinkette hissed, keeping her voice as low as possible. "As much as you want to shut the world out at this moment, you have to remember that we are in a public place. Control yourself!"

"But I just want to know!" she whined. "Every girls that's been with Sasuke told me he's—"

"Ino!"

"—okay, okay, that he's, um… very good at what he does. Is that true?"

Sakura let out an exasperated—yet defeated—sigh. "It's true, okay? It's true. I mean…" She paused, frowning down at her chocolate smoothie. "It's not like I have much experience in this domain, but… I guess it's true. How come you don't know that? So help me God, Ino, if you're doing this just to fluster me, I—"

"No, no," she assured her immediately, putting her hands up in her defense. "I really had no way of knowing that."

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me the first and last person you've slept with is your actual boyfriend!" Sakura exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not," she answered. "But he is the first drug trafficker I slept with. I won't say the last, 'cause you never know, but he sure was my first."

At that moment, Sakura was unsure of whether to appreciate her sincerity or smack her over the head for it.

Ino paused, frowned, and looked at her. "Are you accusing me of having had sex with Sasuke?"

"God, Ino." The pinkette rolled her eyes at her choice of words. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I simply found it strange that you claimed not to know anything about Sasuke… in that domain, considering for how long you've been involved in this," she explained. "And what about Temari? Tenten? Don't you trust them?"

"I do trust them," she answered. "But they have no idea what to tell me."

Sakura frowned. "You mean that…?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "Neither of them slept with Sasuke, either."

"Then who the hell did Sasuke sleep with?" The words were out of her mouth before her brain could even register them, and even though it was hardly like her to be so straightforward, Sakura knew it was the only way she would get the answers she so desperately wanted.

"Sak, we are not the only ones involved in this business," Ino answered. "True, we are more special. We're… we're those girls they know they can trust, those girls they'll always call again, those girls they'll invite over even when they have no reason to celebrate. We're… their friends." She frowned at her own words. "Okay, that would be a stretch, but we're close. However, there are girls who only do this once, twice, because they need money, because they want to rebel and don't know how. You've been at the party, so you've seen it for yourself. Do you honestly think there are so many girls that do this all the time? Do you think these guys can afford to trust such a large number of people?"

It made sense, that could not be denied. After all, their business was anything but legal. The police—and not only the police—were after them, and if they weren't careful, prison cells were awaiting them. There was no way they were not aware of that, so there was no doubt—Ino was right.

"Sasuke sleeps with those girls. That's just his style, he never sleeps with a girl twice."

Sakura frowned, and sent a questioning look in the direction of her friend, which she soon saw, and hastened to explain.

"It's not like we go there and sleep with them randomly, Sakura," she said. "That would be… plain weird. For example, that man I told you about, Neji, has been sleeping with TenTen for a while now, and no one's dared to even flirt with her in the meantime. It's some kind of… I don't know how to say this—unwritten, unspoken, unmentioned rule. You can realize that, this way, it's inevitable for a relationship to form between us—meaning, between one of us and that particular man. My assumption is that that's exactly what Sasuke doesn't want: a relationship."

"A relationship with one of us," Sakura corrected softly as realization dawned on her.

"Huh?"

"Maybe he does want a relationship, maybe he does want a girlfriend," she explained. "But not with one of us. He has high standards, and that's understandable," she concluded with a shrug, looking down as her hands played with the hem of her dress.

"Maybe," the blonde answered, her voice soft. "Does this… does this bother you, Sakura?" Although she had, more than once, attempted to encourage her friend by telling her that she had all the chances of becoming his girlfriend, both of them were perfectly aware of the fact that that was all it had been—encouragement. Ino would never give her false hopes or push her towards something that could hurt her; and Sasuke could—Sasuke could break her.

Upon hearing that, her head snapped up, and she immediately denied, "No, of course not. It's his life. Besides, I have my standards, too." She did, for everything in her life, and Sasuke's profession certainly didn't reach them. Despite that, however, Ino's words seemed to have had an impact on her, an impact that was much more significant than she would have wanted and than she was even ready to admit.

"That's just his style, he never sleeps with a girl twice."

They continued to ring inside her head even as they stood up from the bench they had been occupying and began their journey through the park, towards the pinkette's apartment. Truth to be told, it was hard for her to justify the uneasiness she felt towards what Ino had told her. There was no denying the fact that she felt attracted to Sasuke, and there was no denying the fact that what had happened between them that night had been wonderful; she would never forget him, but he was already part of her past.

She was definitely part of his past. She doubted he had even once thought about her after she had left that morning, and although he had crossed her mind a million times during the last couple of days… that was normal, right? It was normal for him to mean more to her than she would ever even dream of meaning to him. Sakura had never expected to be any different from all the women that did this, and even if it still hurt to have Ino tell her she had been nothing more than a one-night-stand, she knew the pain would soon pass; she was the one who chose this path, circumstances be let aside, and she would go through with her decision.

"Anyway, what happened afterwards?" the blonde asked, her anxious tone snapping her out of her thoughts.

Sakura frowned, confused. "After what?"

"After we left," she clarified. "What did you do?"

"Well…" She paused and breathed in deeply before continuing, "We talked for a while. Then he gave me a credit card and—"

"A credit card?" Ino interrupted her, coming to an abrupt stop with an incredulous expression plastered on her face.

The pink-haired woman frowned and halted her movements, gazing behind her at her friend. "Yes, a credit card," she answered, slowly, hesitantly, unsure of what to make out of her reaction.

A long moment passed before Ino recovered and resumed walking. "Okaaay," she drew out the word, frowning. "That's weird."

"Weird how?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Well, that's not the way it's done," the blonde answered. "I mean, we have credit cards, but that's because we've been into thing for a long time and because they trust us." She paused for a moment, before she corrected herself, "Well, that goes only for Tenten and Temari, 'cause my situation is a little more… special."

Sakura nearly rolled her eyes. Leave it to Ino to consider having a relationship with a drug trafficker as special; in her opinion, illegal would have fitted better.

"He saw me with you, Ino," she said, shrugging. "And you talked to him. Besides, I told him… I mean, I somehow let him know that I have no intention of stopping anytime soon—or rather, no option. I guess he made connections."

Skepticism remained etched on her features despite her logical conclusion. Ino knew perfectly well how paranoid her boyfriend and his colleagues were when it came to their safety and the safety of their business. They never took chances; they were incredibly selective when it came to the people they chose to trust, and they only chose them when they had proved their worth through and through. The fact that the Uchiha—him, of all the people—had decided that he could trust her after a simple night spent together, meant more than the pinkette realized, more than Ino herself could possibly comprehend. And it meant that there was a possibility that he could want her back, want to see her again.

"Yeah, I guess," she answered, deciding against voicing her opinion out loud. Her friend was hardly accustomed to the environment she had thrust herself into, and not only that, but she had seen clearly how much it had bothered her to hear that Sasuke used women the way he did; the last thing Ino wanted was to lead her into believing that she might be different, that she might be special, when there was no way for her—or for anybody else, for that matter—to tell what the Uchiha had his mind set on. And the blonde would not take such a risk, not when it came to her best friend. Besides, as little as she knew of him, she believed it was enough to be right in her assumptions that he would never change—that he would never want to change.

"So," she started after a minute of silence, in a much more cheerful tone, changing the subject, "Did you go shopping?"

Sakura smiled, shaking her head at the excitement clearly displayed in her blue eyes. "Yes, I went shopping. He told one of his guards to take me to a mall."

"No way!" the blonde gasped, mouth nearly dropping open in disbelief.

"Yes way," she laughed. "He asked me if I wanted to go, and I said yes, obviously. So, he told one of his guards to accompany me and then drive me home."

"Oh my God!" Ino exclaimed, her hands coming up to cover her gaping mouth. "You went shopping! Without me! Did you buy heaps and heaps of clothes? Did you? How many did you buy? Is this new?" she asked question after question without even giving her a chance to answer, one of her hands reaching out to pull on the material of her orange dress.

"Stop it!" Sakura laughed, swatting her hand away. "Yes, it is. And yes, I went shopping without you; we've already established that. And yes, I bought heaps of clothes." She rolled her eyes before barking out a laugh and covering her face with her hands. "It was terrible! I swear, I felt as if I was you—like, obsessed!"

"I am not obsessed!" the blonde exclaimed, joining her in laughter. "I just happen to enjoy shopping! Like every other normal woman does, for that matter."

"I know," she answered. "And I, who thought I was the exception."

At that, Ino rolled her eyes. "There is no exception, honey," she said, grinning. "But oh, we have to celebrate this!"

"Celebrate what?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "The day when I finally realized that I'm no different from any other woman?"

"Exactly!"

"Go away," she laughed, shaking her head.

"No, really, I was thinking about dropping by their house, anyway," Ino said, her tone turning serious. At her friend's questioning look, she explained, "You've seen their pool, right? Well, I wanted to go there and have a little swim, soak up a bit of sun… you know, relax. But now you can come with me and we'll celebrate!"

Sakura frowned. "I… see your point. I do. But… why there?" Being a medical student had not had the effect that Ino claimed it had on her social life; save for the times when she had exams, Sakura was always willing to spend time with her friends. Now, she saw no reason whatsoever to refuse her offer to celebrate. But she was in no way comfortable with returning to that mansion so soon, and that was that.

A part of her screamed at her to accept, reminding her that, in spite of all the lies she tried to feed herself, she wanted to see him again. Another part, though, the more rational, and admittedly, the more cowardly one, told her to refuse. It told her to never return if she could avoid that. But Sakura knew that option didn't lie within her hands—not at this point in her life.

"The pool, Sakura," Ino reminded her and mumbled something about not being paid enough attention.

"You have the entire ocean, Ino. You don't need their pool."

"But I want their pool!" she whined, a step away from stomping her foot down like a spoiled child. "Come on, no one will be there, in any case. These guys are always gone during the week, doing… you know, business."

"Then who will let us in? And how do you know they want you to use their pool, in the first place?"

"I already told you, woman," she said, rolling her eyes. "They trust us. They don't care if we use their pool, because they know it won't harm them in any way."

For a moment, she was silent, contemplating, weighing her options. "I don't know, Ino," she eventually said, insecure. "Maybe it's best for you to go by yourself, satisfy your craving of that pool, and we'll celebrate some other time."

"Sakura, what exactly is with you and that house?" the blonde demanded, raising a curious eyebrow. Surely, Sakura was aware of the fact that, one day, sooner rather than later, she would have to return there. "Are you trying to avoid a certain somebody?"

Sakura didn't miss the implication of her words.

So, later, she would tell herself she accepted because she wanted to prove her wrong, and not because she wanted to see him again, at least one more time.

For some reason or another, Sasuke had not expected to see the mysterious pink-haired woman again. Granted, she had told him it was necessary for her to do what she had done, which was a reassurance in itself that she would be back, because she had no other option, but even so, his mind remained unable to make the needed connections.

She didn't belong there. That was clear to him. She was too pure, too innocent; she had too many dreams, and such an environment would only shred them to pieces. He knew that perfectly well, from experience, even, and something told him she was also well-aware of it. But she seemed to have chosen her priorities a long time ago, and was ready to do anything and everything in order to achieve all of her goals, as well as stand the consequences of her actions. That to be told, at this point, he had all the faith in the world that she would succeed.

She had told him she wanted to become a medic, and believe it or not, he actually thought that suited her perfectly. Sasuke had known this woman for a total of five days, had spent less then twenty-four hours in her presence, and already their lives seemed so thoroughly interlaced… It was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

She was constantly on his mind, and the few things he knew about her were relentlessly used to form theory after theory; never-ending questions haunted his days, while her green eyes and pink hair haunted his nights. He had paid more attention to her every gesture than he had to any other woman per total. Because she was… different. In his world, people like her barely existed. Which only reinforced his belief that she had absolutely nothing to do there.

And yet, he found himself now, on the balcony, leaning with his arms over the railing—and watching her.

She was currently fighting—if it could even be classified as such, since they were both smiling—with Ino, with the two other women of their group laughing in the background. Although he was close enough to hear what they were saying, Sasuke found himself uninterested in that; she was more important. So, he dedicated himself to trying to find out exactly what was so special about her, exactly what made him feel so… so drawn to her.

She was beautiful, that much was obvious, but she was far from perfect, and she certainly wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The only special aspect about her that he could think of was most likely her hair, which suited her better than he would have ever imagined possible. She was a change of scenery, there was no denying that, and she did represent a breakout from his usual day-to-day life. Sasuke wasn't sure what he wanted from her, but he was certain that he wanted her again.

Which was far from a conclusion and strange in itself, because he had never felt something akin to it before. Even though he was an open-minded man, not one who believed life was too short to sleep with the same woman twice, he had never actually done that. For him, women meant sexual relief and nothing more. He had never felt the need to change that. He had never wanted a relationship. He had never even wanted to know more than a woman's first name.

But this one… this one was different, and as much as it terrified him, he had to admit that if someone could make him break his own rules, could make him knock down the some of the walls he had built around him, that someone would be her. Maybe she simply had a way with people that enabled her to unsettle them like she had unsettled him?

A loud squeal brought him back from his thoughts, and his attention immediately turned to the girls below him. It seemed as though Sakura had finally had enough, because Ino was now in the pool, looking both shocked and angered, and fixing her with a death-glare. In a rush of sudden movements, she grabbed her hand—because she stood, quite foolishly, too close to the edge of the pool—and pulled her into the water with her, earning a scream of surprise. When the pinkette resurfaced, she looked every bit as shocked as her friend had, and directed a death-glare of her own.

"Ino!" she hissed, sounding more annoyed than angered. "I told you not to do that! What about my make-up now?"

Sasuke very nearly chuckled at that. He did allow, however, his lips to stretch into a small smirk. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her make-up.

"It's not my fault you're stupid," the blonde replied with a laugh, to which Sakura rolled her eyes and swam to the edge of the pool. "It's called waterproof mascara. Heard of it?"

"Shut up, pig," he heard her mutter, and his smirk widened. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Enter the house and you'll find it for sure."

Sasuke could have sworn he had no idea what he was doing as he turned around and stormed towards the staircase. All he knew was that something was pulling him in her direction and there was nothing he could do to resist it.

Although the mansion was large, it took him no longer than two minutes to find her, standing in front of the mirror in one of the many bathrooms, the door left wide open. Her hair was up, twisted on the top of her head, with only a few rebel strands falling around her face. Her hands were working behind her neck, readjusting the top of her black bikini.

She didn't seem to have noticed him, not even when he stepped inside the room, so he used the element of surprise to his advantage, quietly slipping his arms around her waist as soon as he had reached her and pulling her flush to his chest. He buried his face into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply, her sweet, unique scent immediately invading his senses and clouding his mind.

The pinkette gasped, having obviously not expected that, and quickly turned her head to look at him, being unable to see him in the mirror due to the angle he had moved them to.

"Sasuke?" she asked in a soft, almost incredulous tone, as her hands fell from around her neck to where his arms were wrapped around her. As he gave a grunt in response, her body relaxed in an instant, and she turned so that she was facing him, her hands now coming to rest on his chest. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, frowning slightly in confusion.

She never received an answer.

All he did was gaze deep into her eyes for a moment, before bending his head and pressing his lips to hers.

It was only a matter of seconds before she realized that she could even care less about that answer. He was there, period. The rest were details.