Her lips widened into a grin. "Really?"

Nods. "She failed." An affirmation.

Laughter. Innocent laughter. Giggles, almost.

Skipping, twirling.

"Go get the ice cream. It's time to celebrate."

Nod. Smile.

"Chocolate? Or vanilla?" Another asked.

She shook her head. "Strawberry."

Pink was in season, after all.

Sakura shot up from her relaxed position, panicking, as she read over the rest of the exam report quickly.

There will be no retakes.

She wanted to slap herself. What had she done wrong? It wasn't like she hadn't accounted for the skewed information they would be expecting. She fangirl-ified her answers well enough, she had thought. She had properly exaggerated and deleted information, and regardless of the words of confidence that she had spoken to Sasuke earlier about not needing to study, she had gone over the book.

Well, she skimmed it.

But it was enough, wasn't it?

Sure, a lot of it was free answer, but…

Her fingers sought the exam booklet where she had, quite confidently, bubbled in all her answers. It seemed, though, as she fingered through the pages, that the multiple choice wasn't where she had messed up.

It was the open ended responses.

A long line of cross marks scattered the page, graded in red ink. A few notes were littered in overly girly, bubbly handwriting, but for the most part, it was devoid of commentary.

She read over her own response, and the question:

On a scale of one to ten, one being the lowest and ten being the highest, rate Uchiha Sasuke's skill in his field of work as a shinobi and explain why you think it is so.

She recalled, even before she looked at what she had written, how overly dramatized it was. How terribly shallow.

Sasuke is, most definitely, a ten. With his good looks and skill and completely devoted way of life, he is sure to be nothing else but a ten. His fire attacks make his face illuminate and he looks so fierce when he performs them. He can beat anyone because of his raw power and skill and is better than everyone.

He is, surely, the elite of the elite, and no one can bring him down.

.x.

The Fan Club
of learning and observing

(written by seleneswan)

…

"Because he's invincible."

(awed smile)

.x.

Sakura had, while being disgusted at herself for coming up with such filth as a response, thought that it was what they were looking for. Apparently not, as that particular response was the one with comments written by it.

Proof? Looks alone do not make someone a ten. The only thing you mention are his fire attacks, but you fail to explain the connection between the power of them and his skill as a shinobi. You do not seem to have an adept grasp of what makes a shinobi great.

"I don't…have an adept grasp of the way of life that I lead?" she whispered in shock to herself, fingers clenching over the paper, wrinkling it.

And then she felt it—the sheet of paper just behind the one she was fisting venomously. She ever so slowly pulled it, reading over it as she did.

To Whom It May Concern:

If you have received this letter, this means that you have failed Part One of three parts to determine your readiness to join the Sasuke Uchiha Fan Club. As it reads on the test copy that has been returned to you, there are no retakes for single parts of any test.

However, if you have received this letter, this indicates that you have not failed nearly badly enough to completely disqualify you from the application process, and will be admitted for Parts Two and Three.

Below are the dates for the briefings for the exam schedule. You have the option of going to one of the two because we have come up with two times for the convenience of our members.

Today at 4:00pm sharp outside the examination building

Tomorrow at 2:00pm sharp outside the examination building

Be sure to bring a sheet of paper and some sort of writing utensil to assist you in taking notes of the coming task.

The best of luck to you.

Cordially,

The Management

It was then that Sakura knew—knew as surely as she knew that the grass was green and that the sky was blue—that this Fan Club certainly was not as dim-witted as she had originally thought. She had underestimated their capacity to see beyond the surface, of Sasuke or otherwise, and that had been her downfall: that she believed them to be all about looks and appearances, but certainly, judging from the criticism she received, this was not the case.

And she knew that she had absolutely had to ace the next couple of exams. She could only hope that there were no more written portions, and that the rest would be practical instead.

But one thing still plagued her mind as she stared at the letter without really seeing it. She had absolutely no idea how to tell Sasuke, her client, that she had failed.

"I don't know what to do!" Sakura exclaimed, talking to Miho. She was becoming rather fond of the girl. "I thought I did well, but I haven't ever failed a written test before!"

She pushed the test across the counter to her, and Miho flipped through it. "We're not…" she paused. "I guess I'm not part of that 'we' anymore, but they're not quite as airheaded as you seem to think." There was a certain bite to her words, as if she was a bit offended—which she probably was.

Sakura tugged on her hair a little, frustrated. "I don't mean to offend, but having a club dedicated to a person just seems…stupid. But I guess I know better, now. I just wish I hadn't failed. Scoring low would have been okay, but failing…"

Miho twirled her straw around in her drink. "There's a first time for everything, I guess. But it's okay! You still have the second and third parts. The second part's not too difficult, you just observe, but the third—that was the one that I messed up on." She sighed, gloomy.

Sakura turned around stirring the pot; she was making herself and Miho dinner.

"I just…" Sakura paused, pensive. "I mean, I know that I'll go on and hopefully do fine, but…"

Miho nodded. "Yeah, I get it." She paused, a grin stretching over her small features. "Hey! Do you know what I do when I get sad? I bake cookies."

Sakura blinked.

"We should bake cookies," Miho said, decisive. "Chocolate chip."

And Sakura slowly nodded. "Yeah…yeah, that sounds really good, actually."

And Sakura smiled.

When she, Sasuke, and Naruto were finished training together, sitting with their backs to a collection of trees, she decided to bring up her failure. Beyond then, the training ground was demolished. Trees were uprooted, the ground was broken, sharp cuts had been made everywhere, and other trees had simply burned and shattered from lightning.

"So I've been thinking about expanding my chakra reserves so that instead of just punching massive holes in the ground, I can brush against someone that I don't like and they'll go flying. Like, a body slam. But not."

Naruto looked positively horrified. "No! Sakura-chan, that's what fat sumo-wrestlers do! And you are neither fat nor…sumo! You are delicate and soft and you should have sneaky badass moves!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, repeating dubiously. "Sneaky badass moves."

"Yeah! Like…like…stealthy genjutsu!"

Sakura blinked. "That's actually not a bad idea. I could get Kurenai-sensei to help me."

Naruto nodded rapidly, happy with this decision. Sasuke butted in. "Or you could find out what your element is."

Sakura nodded slowly. "Well, I already know my element. I'm earth, which I guess is way too typical since I make dirt soar. And then I'm a secondary fire: also typical because I live in the Land of Fire. Oh, by the way, I failed the exam." She slipped in, hoping to be stealthy about it.

Sasuke stared at her for a long moment. "You failed the exam."

And then what she thought was impossible happened. Sasuke's lips quirked up into a smirk, almost a smile, and he seemed beyond amused. And somewhere, deep inside of him, a laugh was building up, but came out as a brief chuckle. There was, again.

Laughing once was unlikely. But twice within the same week was simply…ridiculous.

Sakura nodded then, trying her hardest to get the sound out of her head, tossing a kunai up and down as she did, agitated. "Yeah, the club exam. Turns out they're not quite as ridiculous as I thought they were! But no worries, I can still take the next part."

Sasuke snorted. "Try not to fail again."

And Naruto only looked confused. "What exam?"

Sakura rubbed the back of her head, unusually sheepish. "It doesn't concern you, Naruto. Go eat ramen or something."

Naruto grinned, easily distracted, standing up eagerly. "That's a great idea, Sakura! Let's go!" He held out a hand to her, offering to pull her up.

"You should ask Hinata," Sakura laughingly replied, amused. "She'd probably love to go watch you inhale food."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Eh? Really?"

Sakura laughed again. "Yes; she's probably in the Hyuuga compound right now. If you run, you can catch her before she has dinner with her family."

The next day, at 2:00pm, she lined herself up with at least twenty other girls. She stared at the horizon in the distance, keeping herself to her thoughts. Like she'd been instructed, she brought a sheet of paper and a pen, and even brought a binder so she didn't have to use the concrete as a hard surface to write on.

The same examiner from the resting room was there, walking to the center with an air of authority. "Attention." She said quietly, and every single one of the girls straightened up, focused. "If you'll remember, I'm Bara, the Communications Liaison. I'm here to tell you about the second part of your exam.

"You are to observe Sasuke Uchiha for a select number of hours. You will each be allotted different times, which I have with me," she waved the sheet in the air, "and you are to find the preceding applicant at this building, who will be waiting for you with his current location. All you have to is observe, and perhaps take notes. If you get caught, we will know.

"All you must do is observe. There will be no mindless squealing or approaching. If you do approach him for some reason, he is not to know that you have been following him. Do not get caught, and you succeed, moving on the next round. If you do get caught, but have noted something particularly interesting or worthwhile, you will be under consideration to be kept.

"I'm posting the list, right now," she stated, then, walking behind all of the applicants to attach it to the cork board. "Good luck." And then she walked back into the building.

And at once, everyone converged, eager to find their time. It was in random order it seemed, and interestingly enough, it was Sakura's name at the top of the paper for the first two hour slot, from noon to two o'clock the next day—the only two hour slot, she noted. The rest were all single hour spots.

Sakura glanced inside the building, speculative.

It seemed that they knew who she was.

A slow smile spread across her face. "Well, all the better," she murmured to herself. "I'll show them how to stalk like a pro."

A/N: You guys! I love you so much! You have no idea how fond I am of all of you; I dote on all of you so much. Your support and feedback and everything...oh, I just love you all. Credit to Sakura's Indecision for coming up with an amazing second task which I couldn't have even thought of myself.

Also, happy new year! 2011! :D

On another note, I've been getting some requests to make my chapters longer, and I'd love to, ideally, but then updates would be like 32798759340 times slower than they already are, which would suck, for both you and me.