..Chapter Eight..
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The wind rushed over her fluid form; it broke off her back and black and green of her jumpsuit. She felt the dirt grind and tug beneath the tires, beneath the wheels. All she could hear was the purr, the rumble of the other bikes around her as she jerked on the throttle and picked up more speed. She avoided doing any tricks as he bounced over the slopes. After all, this was a race. She wasn't being graded on her skills and as such there was no need to show off. Already a few drunken idiots who decided to get on their bikes anyway had crashed into the mess of hay early on for such foolishness.
She felt the surge of freedom as her bike rolled over the next hump and soared upward. For a brief moment she felt like a bird; wings expanded and catching the wind. The tug of gravity pulled her downward, notifying her the cruise to glory was over. She jerked under the thud and made sure to land just so. A few other cyclists crashed into the grass beyond the track. She couldn't help but wince behind the protection of her helmet. She'd been there and gotten the crummy T shirt. No really she had. Her mom thought it would be funny to buy her a shirt with 'I crashed!' written on it on year after she'd lost a race. It'd been funny. but almost cruel. Her mother always did have a demented sense of humor, god love her.
Her eyes trailed forward and she upped the speed to pass another rider around a corner. In the lead she could see a wiz of bright pink. That had to be Temari. She wasn't going to say she'd win. But, hell, it'd be nice to come in second to the blond bad ass with ovaries the size of nuggets.
She revved the engine further and soared past her competition, determined to beat her. It was fun. Fleeting glorious fun that could only be had while you rode on the edge of danger in a trail of mud and dirt.
She passed three more riders. Only one more left before she could have her slot in second. And then, just as she rode over another large hump in the trail? She rode right over the formerly second placing rider. She heard the cheers from the audience and glee assailed her system. Her blood was pumping like a river untamed. She hadn't even meant to do that.
And now she was right on her ass. That trail of pink was her final point in winning on this last lap. She could do it. She would. She revved the throttle a bit more and surged forward. She grit her teeth and the woman blocked her. She tried again and was once more denied. The finish line was only a few hundred yards ahead. It was now or never.
She fainted left and then surged right just as the girl tried to block her again. For a moment she stayed toe to toe with her. Her eyes darted over and she stared at her thought the green tint of her helmet. Temari turned to stare at her too. She smirked and turned her face forward again she revved the throttle up to it's peak, did a wheelie and sailed over the finish line.
Ok, maybe showing off a little didn't hurt... just a little.
She turned her bike to the left and stopped in a slanted position. Dirt flew upward in her wake and she pulled the helmet off. Air. Sweet clean air. It always felt good after she pulled the sweaty thing off her face.
She inhale sharply and grinned madly as Temari pulled up right next to her. She too was pulling off her helmet.
"Pretty good, pink stuff," she muttered with an odd expression.
Sakura arched a brow. Was she a sore loser? That would suck. Well, like they say, kill them with kindness, right? She flashed a grin again and held her gloved hand out to the woman. "That was fantastic. I've never felt so challenged in my life. You are a great rider."
Temari eyed her hand warily. She appeared more confused and paranoid than anything else. God, what did she expect from her? A slap in the face? A cruel comment or a snub? Ha! Sakura wasn't like that. She knew the feeling. She'd been called more names than one could think of for racing with the guys and kicking ass. This was something she could respect in the blond woman.
She laughed a little as she continued to stare at her hand. "I won't bite. I promise. Really, you did a great job. I almost didn't think I'd make it past you at the last moment."
And then... every so slowly a smirk slid across Temari's features and she took her hand tightly in her own. Sakura returned that hard grip and shook with a friendly vigor.
"You not so bad yourself. You got a name, pinkie?"
Pinkie was a name she'd loathed in school when she was much younger. But now? It was more endearing since it usually only came from her friends. "Vincent. And you're Temari."
She arched a brow and released her hand. "You've heard of me?"
She smirked and turned her bike about so she could head back to the party and let the other riders go back to having fun. "Only from your brother. He thinks rather highly of you. Said you'd give me a run for my money. I have to say I was not disappointed. You'll have to show me sometime how to make those tight turns without slowing down so much."
She was grinned back at the pink haired male. It was oddly refreshing to find a guy outside of her family who was in the motocross business and didn't look badly on her. "Ah, that's simple. It's the tires. German grade and bullet proof. I can give you the website."
"Sweet." She parked her bike next to Temari's.
"Vincent!"
Sakura turned sharply to see Naruto running towards her. He didn't look breathless but he did look worried. She frowned. "Something wrong?" She spoke once he reached her.
He nodded. "Sasuke." He pointed in the direction of the house. "Some guy looks seriously ready to kick his ass over some chick. I was hoping you might help defuse the situation." He sighed. "I'm not good with that usually. And Kiba's gonna be pissed if a fight breaks out in his house."
She was frowning still. A fight? Why in the hell would Sasuke get roped into something like that? Then again it didn't sound completely out of place. Girls were fawning all over him like he was the next Brad Pitt. She supposed it was only natural some guys would get pissed eventually. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
Lovely.
"Hey, Vince. I'll let you go." She placed a card in her hand. "My number's on the card. Give me a call sometime. I need to meet with my brother for a while. I think we're heading home soon." She gave her a wink and walked off.
Sakura arched a brow at her 'wink'. "Do you know if she's always like that?"
"Not really. But if I was to hazard a guess I'd say she was flirting with you."
Sakura frowned. "Man it's bad enough I've got Haku on my ass. And now this? Eash. How do you men do it?"
Naruto barked out some laughter as he tugged her along. "Oh, you get use to it. Plus, you had to know you were going to get more of it now. All the girls practically swooned when you won the race. And I think I saw two chicks fighting over the prospect of fucking you tonight."
She groaned. "Perfect. This race was a bad idea. Now they won't leave me alone anymore than they will Sasuke."
He snickered. "Who knew you'd ever have fan girls."
"Yeah," she muttered, "why couldn't I have ever had fan boys?"
He snickered again and led her into the house. But he wasn't snickering for long. Already a huge crowd of people were surrounding what he knew to be Sasuke, the random dude and 'random dude's' girlfriend. He could here people talking loudly all over so it was hard to gauge were the fight-to-be was at so far. He grumbled and just started pushing people aside for Sakura so they could get in the middle of this mess. Some people bitched about him pushing through the crowd but he just gave them a glare and told them to shut the fuck up. Thankfully, they were too drunk and scared of his 'rawr face' to do much. Why was he thankful?
Because Kiba was gonna be pissed if a fight broke out.
When he finally made it to the center with Sakura. Sasuke barely gave them a glance. He arched a brow but nothing more before he turned back to the large male with a bald head still wearing his motocross gear. The girl? Yeah, she was just to the side of him.
Sakura recognized her as Angela from earlier. Now she knew this wasn't Sasuke's fault. That bitch had been all over him like a fly on honey and he'd wanted nothing to do with it.
Greeeeeeeeat.
"Hey, little shit, I was talking to you." Random Dude said. "It'd bad enough every cunt in this joint fawns all over you like your some god. So if you don't want your face pounded into the floor leave my girl alone, eh?"
Sasuke, Kami love him, just scoffed. His face was one of disgust. "I didn't bother 'your girl'. She bothered me. So why don't you do myself and everyone else a favor and tell her to keep her hands off of me."
Random Dude's face turned into one of pure furry. Like he really couldn't register the fact that his precious Angela was a scank. Sakura wanted to barf.
Random Dude was growling now. He looked ready to pounce. So, Sakura, trying to be the peacemaker that she was, stepped forward. "Hey, easy man. Why don't we just calm down, ok? How about you let me get you a drink? Yeah?"
The guy looked to be thinking it over.. But then something else seemed to register and he looked mad all over again. "Hey! You're that little bitch that forced me off the race and into the grass!"
Sakura arched a brow. This was not good. Was this guy always this pissed? Angela may be a skank, but seriously, as one girl to another, what the fuck did she see in him? "I didn't force you off the road. You crashed on your own without my help."
The guy took a step closer to the motorist. "Fuck you, man! I would have won that race if it hadn't been for your bitch ass!"
Now she was getting angry. Who the hell did he think he was. If she hadn't won Temari would have. Everyone saw that. "Whatever, dude. Temari was in the lead the whole race until I passed her. You didn't have a cold day's chance in hell." By now her voice was starting to raise and her hands were on her hips in an aggressive fashion.
People were murmuring and talking all around them and somehow the crowd had gotten bigger. Where the fuck was Kiba? Naruto had to wonder. Probably fucking some chick upstairs if he knew him well enough. This was not what he had in mind when he'd asked Sakura to defuse the situation.
Now Random Dude was poking her in the chest. She didn't budge from her position as he closed in on her. She really didn't like him touching her though. Her eyes narrowed.
"So, you like that little dike huh?" He snickered.
"What did you call her?" Her voice raised to a deadly tone.
"A dike." He grinned, happy to have finally got under the guy's skin. "It's what she is. The only reason that little carpet muncher comes to these parties is because she's in good with Kiba's uncle. Otherwise no one would care about her lesbian ass."
Ok, that was it. She'd had enough. He could insult her all he wanted to. But talking shit about Temari when she wasn't here really struck a chord. She was a good racer. She proved herself on the track. And Sakura could respect that. She had guts going out there with the other guys.
"Just because she can roast your ass on the dirt any day of the week doesn't make her a dike." She smirked. "And if she is, I'm sure she'd a much better lay than you, shit head."
Apparently that was the last straw in the little talk. Because Random Dude was roaring and reaching out with his fist balled to punch Sakura.
Ah crap, her mind reeled.
She barely managed to pull herself out of the way at the last moment. As she did he turned back towards her and people shouted out. Sakura wasted no time and turning, balling her fist, and hitting him square across the jaw. That's when everything got bad, really bad. Seems the idiot had friends. Friends who, of course, didn't take kindly to her beating the fuck out of their buddy. Thankfully, Sasuke and Naruto were taking care of them as she rubbed her hand and winced.
It wasn't the first punch she'd ever thrown. But, man had it hurt.
"Duck!" Naruto called and the fight turned into an all out brawl. She did when a chair sailed over her head.
Sasuke was punched the fuck out of some guy as her and Naruto continued to lay into a few more and inadvertently edged closer to him back to back.
"God damnit, Sasuke," Naruto yelled over the fight. "This is not my idea of a good evening."
Sasuke grunted. Not because he wanted to, but because some jackass caught him over the head with a beer bottle.
Sakura winced, kicked the guy she was dealing with away and landed a solid blow to the one Sasuke had fallen pray to. "Shit, Uchiha, watch it."
"Whatever," he growled and went back at it as some guy tried to hit him with another chair.
Whoo... Sakura thought. They were fighting dirty. So be it. She grabbed a helmet off the ground that must have been one of the racers' and swung it around to hit another idiot with a beer bottle this time aimed for Naruto's back. He fell to the floor in a pile.
"Thanks, Vince." He gave her a grin. But you could tell by the look in his eyes he was worried. He hadn't wanted her to get involved in a fight. Not with a bunch of men. He'd kill himself if anything happened to her. But he couldn't just reveal who she was and try to pull her out of the fight. And so far, she was doing fine on her own.
"No problem. Keep and eye on your ass," she called out next to him before hitting some guy in the face, gut, and when he doubled over she interlaced both hands together and pounded downward into his back so he fell into a pile on the floor.
"Duck!" This time from Sasuke.
All three did to avoid the empty keg that sailed over their heads.
Sakura was taking the moment to rub her hand again. She had to be hitting wrong.
"Quit hitting like a bitch or you'll break your wrist," Sasuke yelled at Vince. As if to enforce his point he grabbed the next guy to come at him by the collar and laid one good into his nose. "That," he said while dropping the guy and showing him how to make a fist, "is how you do it."
She grinned and stood back up. "Righto, boss." And then they were back at it.
It would have been nice to say Sakura had come out of this unscathed. It would have been nice to say all three of them had come out of it without an injury. But, that wasn't the case at all. After dealing with a very angry Kiba who kicked everyone out or had people haul others out who were passed out while yelling the whole time they'd just left. Naruto had offered to take Ino home while Sakura limped with Sasuke back to her truck after putting her bike back on the trailer and getting her clothes.
So far, between the two, Sakura had a broken nose that was still bleeding, a sore jaw from some drunken lout punching her, a bruised ankle she was sure from ducking all those random items thrown at them and her wrist was killing her. Sasuke wasn't doing too much better. His eye was going to probably be dark and ugly as her jaw come tomorrow. There was a lump on the back of his head with some dried blood where he'd been hit with the beer bottle earlier.
She groaned as they both got into the truck. It was late. She was tired, worn out and all levels of hurt. Honestly, if her father hadn't taken to boxing when she was middle school and opted to drag her along she doubted she would have stood a chance in the mess.
She started the truck and pulled away from the driveway. It was then she heard laughing. From Sasuke. Had he finally cracked? What the hell?
"You alright, man?"
He nodded and reached for a tissue from the middle of her cab. "Yeah, here, you look like a clown with your nose like that." He half smiled and reached over to sob up the mess under his nose.
"Ah," she smiled and took the tissue. It was ripped in two pieces and she stuffed them up each nostril to quell the bleeding. "I'd almost forgot about that."
He nodded, still smirking at least. Either that or half smiling. "You look like hell."
She frowned. "Hey now, I only look this way because you have the audacity to be such a pretty boy." She was joking of course. He had to know that by her mocking tone.
He played along. Why she couldn't fathom. "I didn't ask to be this good looking." He mock pouted. "I blame god."
"Why?" She chuckled.
"Why not? Everyone else does." He smirked and gazed out at the open road. "Well, I blame god and idiotic chicks with boyfriends the size of king kong."
She shifted gears in the truck and made a turn onto a long three lane road. The streets were unbelievably quiet tonight. She'd have to check how late it was when she got back to her room. "I take it this isn't the first time you've been in a drunken brawl?"
He shook his head and winced when he realized it hadn't been such a good idea. Now pain was shooting up the back of his skull from the wound he been given. "Nah, hardly. Guys are always accusing me of stealing their dates. Yet another reason why I hate fan girls."
She scoffed. "That chick wasn't a fan girl. She was a cheating whore. At least most fan girls aren't taken already."
Another smirk danced on his features. "True enough..."
"I swear if I see that guy on the track again I'm gonna blow his doors off." She grumbled.
Sasuke arched a brow. He was leaning against the door with his elbow on the edge of the window. His hand was halfway across his forehead and some fingers were into his hair. His thumb rested on his high cheekbone as he looked at Vincent with a questioning gaze. "Blow what off?" He'd never heard the expression before and found it amusing.
She grinned and stared ahead out the window. "It's an old expression. Something my dad use to tell me before each race. It basically means beat them so bad their doors fly off." Her eyes lit up at the memory. "Mostly it's used in street car racing."
He chuckled softly and closed his eyes. "Hm.." He felt oddly comfortable in his presence. It was a unique change from the incident earlier. It wasn't to say something wasn't still rushing through his blood. But he was going to chalk it up to something else for now. Perhaps it was possible that what he was starting to build with Vincent was much stronger than what he had with Naruto. Maybe, so much stronger still that it bordered on something more. But he didn't want more. It was enough just to be friends and chill out with him.
They could laugh together. Share jokes and pass stories back and forth. He might even be willing to one day tell him about the bleakness of his life. After all, once you'd been through a brawl with a guy you'd pretty much been through everything. And he'd stood up for him. If that didn't say something about how much Vincent valued his companionship he didn't know what did.
He wasn't gay.
He just felt strong connection with him because he saw something in his personality that edged on more. It wasn't his face or the way he dressed. He wasn't even remotely attracted to the way his figure. No, it wasn't that. What Sasuke found drawing about Vince was his personality.
It was how he talked and presented himself. It was the way he laughed and smiled when Naruto said something amusing. What Sasuke wanted from Vincent was friendship. A close knit bond that went beyond the binds of just best friends. He was willing to do it too. He hadn't been felt the need to be so close with someone ever in his life. At least close enough that he could see himself breaking the normal lines of male bonding.
Sasuke wouldn't just share a beer with Vincent. He wouldn't just talk about chicks, although that was going to be fun regardless. He wasn't just going to pass tips around about how to make a girls squirm in between the sheets or under the spray of a shower.
Vincent was going to end up being the sort of friend he wouldn't mind hugging in public even with the fan girls screaming in his ears about being a yaoi boy. Vince was going to be the kind of friend he wouldn't think twice about letting him steal a scrap of food off his plate--something he never let Naruto do.
And the humorous part about this realization?
He didn't mind it one bit.
"You seem pretty deep in thought."
His eyes flashed open and he looked over at the man he'd been thinking about. "Just pondering."
"Oh?" He looked curious.
Sasuke nodded and sat up. "I'm thinking I wouldn't mind if you came over for Thanksgiving during fall break."
Sakura smiled. She was glad the moment they'd shared earlier hadn't completely scared him off. Perhaps he'd forgotten about it? It's not like she had experience with sort of thing. Sure she could hit on a guy as a girl. But as a man? With Sasuke Ubhiha? Now she understood why Ino didn't mind giving her such a huge hand. She had to know just how hard it was going to be.
"I'd love to. My parents are always out of town and I usually eat alone or at a friend's house."
He nodded and shifted positions as she turned down another dark road. "Bring that girl Ino if you like."
Sakura blinked a few times. "You mean the girl I brought to the party?"
"Yeah, aren't you seeing her?"
She chuckled a few times. "Oh, no, I'm not. I just brought her for fun."
Sasuke looked at her like he didn't believe him. "She just a fling then?"
If it was possible he laughed harder. "Oh, definitely not. Just a friend. Choji would kill me if I stole his girl."
Now he was blinking in a confused manner. "You normally kiss someone's girl?"
She grinned now that she realized what he was going on about. "Ah, no. I didn't really kiss her. We have before. And Kami knows he wouldn't mind if it kept the guys off of her." She shook her head. "No, I just gave her a friendly peck on the corner of her mouth to make people think we were and item. Then I left her in good hands for the rest of the night."
Now he was smirking. "He has to be one hell of a guy to let someone else mack on his girlfriend and not worry about her cheating."
She nodded. "He is. Choji knows she's a flirt. But he loves her and he trusts me to keep her safe." She turned into the parking lot of the school and stopped. "I'll let you get out here."
"You not coming with?"
She shook her head. "I need to drop my gear off first. You go on ahead. I'll see in class tomorrow."
He nodded and started to open the door. Sakura waited for him to get out, but, he just sat there. Half in the truck and half out. She wanted to ask why. He beat her to it as he turned to lock his eyes with hers and speak.
"About earlier. On the roof."
She felt something tighten in her chest. He hadn't forgotten. He was going to talk about it. She wasn't sure if she was ready for it.
Sasuke sighed. "I don't want to you to leave tonight thinking I was trying to make a move on you." His eyes appeared to soften. "It was an accident. But one that made me realize something."
This... wasn't how she thought it was going to go. Was he going to tell her he was gay? Oh, this could end badly for her. He could just tell her he didn't want to see her anymore. And that was just as bad for her 'game'. What he said wasn't either and not something she exatly expected.
"I've been best friends with Naruto for a few years now. It's easy to say we're close. Like brothers." He smiled slightly, smirked partly. "I've never met anyone else who I thought I could be as close with, if not closer, besides him. That is until tonight." He gauged his reaction. But Vincent's expression was unreadable. "There was an expression my mother use to say. I never thought much about it until this moment. 'More than friends, but less than lovers'. That's how I feel about you, Vincent."
"You do?" Her voice was soft and her insides felt like they were flying a rapid pace.
He nodded. "I know it sounds..." He laughed slightly, "...weird in all truth. But it's how I feel." He smiled. "I guess what I'm trying to say, if you'll let me--let us--is that I'd like to be friends with you in that way. Not lovers. I'm not gay by a long shot. But, I'd like to be close with you."
And then she was grinning. It wasn't what he had expected and it wasn't where she was going with this relationship, but it was a start. and the idea of being close with Sasuke, like that, made her feel happier. She had a whole year to work on this. And the bet, for some reason, didn't matter at this moment. Because the idea of having such a close relationship with another man, Sasuke, made her smile. It was by far, dare she say it, better than maybe the prospect of sleeping with him.
"I'd like that."
Sasuke let out a long relieved breath. "That's good. Because honestly I didn't want you hitting me in the face because you did think I was trying to make a move on you. Especially after what happened with Haku."
She laughed, feeling the mood finally lighten. "Oh, no, I wouldn't do that. You;re face is messed up enough already. The girls are going to fawn all over you in public because their beloved Sasuke is injured." She mock pouted and batted her eyelashes while he grinned at her.
"Here's hoping not. Maybe I'll send a few of them your way."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't you dare. I don't need your leftovers. Send them to Naruto." She lightly shoved with with a final grin. "Get the hell out of here. It's getting late, you need sleep and I've still gotta drop all this shit off at the garage."
"Yeah, yeah," He waved and shut the door.
The rest of the night all Sakura could do....
...was smile.
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AN: I'm not going to reply to the other fabulous reviews I've gotten because I need to put all of my effort into replying to one particular review. To everyone else thank you. I'll respond to you in later chapters if I need to.
CrazyEyedChicken01 :: First off, let me say say this... Sasuke is not gay in this particular story of mine. I have a yaoi fiction of him and Naruto I'm still working on if you care to read it. That aside, let me get to the real issue.
This is a cross dressing story. If I wanted to write a normal story where Sasuke falls for Sakura as a girl than I would have wrote one. What's the point in making her a guy and having her get close to him if he starts to suspect too soon that she's not what she appears? That's boring and a waste of my time. She has to build relationships with not just Sasuke but other characters as well. It's one thing to say she's best buds with Naruto and Ino but you have to show it in the story. I'm not the type of writer who just says they've been pals all their lives. No, I'll show you. I want you to realize it's true by reading about it. Not but just having me tell you.
Now, another thing.... I happen to like yaoi fiction if it's written well. Because of that reason alone this story is gonna be like that. It's going to ride the hard edge of being yaoi. It's gonna be a little taboo. And at some point Sasuke is going to fall for her. Is he going to fall for Vince or Sakura? I'm not gonna tell you because it'll ruin the story for everyone else. But OF CORSE he's going to start having feelings for Vince. Like I said above, what's the point of me writing her in as a guy is he finds out too soon?
Lastly, I know you weren't flaming me. I appreciate every single review I get. Good or bad. I generally ignore flames. However, I've never gotten one. And I pat myself on the back for that one. I know it's not easy to go this long without at least one flame on this site.
I wasn't upset or offended, but? I did want to map things out for you by explaining myself. And do want to say if you don't want someone to think you're flaming them you might not want to put 'lol' in every sentence you write for a review when criticizing a writer's work. It didn't bother me, but it might sound condescending to other less-than-thick-skinned writers.
Now, if you don't like what I have in mind here and you'd rather not see Sasuke put in a position where he thinks he's gay, then don't read this. It might not be your cup of tea. Because in future chapters there will be a lot more 'boring' character development and a lot more 'gay' moments between 'Vince' and Sasuke.
Thank you for you time, reviews, favorites ect.,
Oh, and excuse my rant. If you read it, Kami bless you for your patience.
---Blade
