a/n: Happy New Year! Best wishes for all the days to come. :)
nine.
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Four months into their so-called friendship, Sasuke had decided that Sakura was all kinds of weird.
First of all, she had this weird fashion sense that was just really… unique, for the lack of a better word, and while it bugged him endlessly at the beginning, he realized that the colours she chose rather complemented the colour of her hair. And her eyes, although this one he'd rather die than admit.
Secondly, she had really weird quirks. Like drinking tea only on weekends and needing one cup of coffee every morning to get her through the day—although the latter wasn't weird, admittedly. It was just that he was starting to get used to always buying her coffee-to-go every morning, from Starbucks—white chocolate mocha, two cubes of sugar, stirred well—and that was definitely Weird with a capital W.
Thirdly, she could come up with the weirdest, most unexpected of statements during the weirdest, most unexpected of times. Like today, for example.
"Sasuke? I think you're hot."
For his part, Sasuke almost, almost spluttered on his coffee, if only he hadn't years and years of practice of being in Naruto's company and receiving his almost equally weird, unexpected statements. With that and some practice of hearing his attractiveness spoken aloud, Sasuke had it all under control. Well, under control-ish.
"Just—what did you say?"
"Hot," Sakura replied dismissively, simple and plain, nodding wisely at him as she sipped her coffee. "You're hot."
He continued staring at her.
"Oh, look at you! So taken aback by such a simple statement," she chuckled, "Don't be so shy."
"I'm not shy."
"Of course not," she agreed soothingly. "You're just modest."
She was being sarcastic, he was sure of it.
"Anyway," she smiled brightly. "I just want you to know that I realise you're hot."
Sasuke frowned and arched his eyebrows, staring her down. If there was one thing he knew she would break under, it was his unwavering gaze.
Sakura looked into her coffee cup and pretended to be unaffected. When she looked up, her smile was nonchalant. "So Naruto called me last night."
"And of course Naruto's call was absolutely inspiring and thought-provoking," Sasuke's voice was dry and sarcastic.
In all honesty, he had been expecting Naruto to call Sakura from the start of their relationship. That idiot always, always meddled with his affair no matter who or what it involved, anyway, and although it was annoying, Sasuke was too used to it to be overly bothered. Naruto was like the male version of Ino, always trying to help Sasuke in little ways, although sometimes Sasuke was sure they defined 'help' differently to each other. What was it this time? Disapproval? Naruto seemed to have taken a liking to Sakura when they first met, and Sasuke knew it wasn't just a façade, but with their, um, situation, he wasn't sure if Naruto still felt the same way.
"As a matter of fact, it was. He opened my eyes about… certain things, shall we say."
Oh, he couldn't believe it. She was baiting him and he was actually buying it. "Such as?"
"Such as the fact that you've never really been in a relationship before," Sakura replied. "I mean, not really. You have flings, but that's about it."
Of course. Of course, out of all the things Naruto could worry for—like Sakura being a gold digger, an STD-infected prostitute, an imaginary friend, of course Naruto would have to worry about his lack of romantic relationships. And really, it wasn't that he was uninterested and inexperienced—coincidentally, he was actually neither, and he was most especially not inexperienced. He just had different things in mind.
Sasuke looked at the woman sitting across him wearily. "You know, as my special friend, you're very calm about this."
That made some sense. Although special wasn't really the word he would have used if it wasn't so early in the morning. Needless to say, it seemed to get the point across all the same.
"Why should I be worried?" she asked, grinning mischievously, "You just told me I'm special."
"I would have used air quotes if they weren't so…" he paused, "undignified."
Sakura ignored him wisely and continued grinning.
Sasuke sighed, pride be damned. "So what are you getting at?"
Her smile subdued at once. "I have a proposition for you." She paused. "Well, for us."
"What is it?"
"There's this party I have to attend this Saturday and I need you to attend it with me." She was surprisingly calm, but the way her eyes slightly shook told him differently. He knew it—she never did like asking for help. She added, "As my partner."
Sasuke knew what that implied, what that meant. Taking their relationship to a higher level, except not exactly in the romantic sense. He did own the Uchiha company, so it would only be expected if his private relationships interested other people. Appearing in public at an official function would mean starting public scrutiny, gossip, the like, about him. And a little bit of her. No bad publicity was bad publicity, he believed, but some publicity could be excessively and unnecessarily annoying. If it wasn't important, though, she wouldn't have asked for it. And it was somewhat true—they were partners, in a sense, and they had a relationship, for the lack of a better word, although their definition of one wouldn't be so similar to other people's.
Their relationship consisted of many, many things, actually: midnight phone calls, drinks, dinners, lunches, late night coffee runs and sometimes Tenten's morning waffles at her apartment because Sakura apparently couldn't really cook to save her life. Her best bet was her almond cookies, and even that didn't turn out so well. Spending two days in his house, nursed by the very woman who was the exact reason why he was lying sick, bedridden, wasn't something he took a liking to.
Despite that, Sasuke was sure that he didn't like Sakura that way.
And despite that, he was very sure that she didn't look at him that way, either.
Their constant, blunt discussions made enough proof. What they had was based on their instinctive trust, on their mutual need for company and their mutual discovery that the other fit the bill just about nicely. It wasn't like he needed her to survive, it wasn't like he missed her if she went one day without trying to contact him, and it wasn't any of those life-changing, earth-shattering kind of relationship.
So Sasuke looked up. "What's it to you?"
"Nothing you should concern yourself with," Sakura replied immediately, and then just waved dismissively when he quirked an eyebrow at her. "Besides, if you agree, you'll see for yourself."
The eyebrow rose higher. "And if I don't?"
"Then I'll look for someone else," she shrugged easily, stirring her coffee, "You're not my only male friend, you know—just… preferable."
He fought the urge to snicker at that. "What's it to me, then?"
"An eye for an eye," Sakura grinned charmingly. "One favour for one favour. Plus, I'll dress as prettily as possible and wear that gown you gave me last weekend."
"You're being awfully sure of yourself." He smirked. He liked that. "The gown's from Ino, by the way. She sent it over from Paris two weeks ago. I left you a note."
"I never got it," Sakura frowned. "Well, never mind that. I should thank her, then, the gown's gorgeous." Punching in a message in her Blackberry, she chuckled at him. "I should've known you wouldn't have any idea what gown I'd like."
Sasuke wisely ignored that. "So what makes you think I want to see you dress up?"
"Like I said, the gown is gorgeous." A teasing smile flitted across her face. "Secondly, you'll realize that you do when you actually do."
Her smile was smart and triumphant and he knew, just knew, that she was going to be right: one, that he was going to come with her to the function, and two, that he was going to want to see her all dressed up.
So Sasuke wisely chose to ignore that and returned it with a charming smirk of his own. Two could play at this game. "What time should I pick you up?"
"Six thirty." A winsome smile blossomed on her lips. "I promise you won't be disappointed."
xx
They ended up going at thirteen minutes past seven.
Sakura had spent more time in her bedroom, finalising her make up, her dress, her everything, and during the time she was busy, Sasuke was forced to sit down in front of the TV and watch How I Met Your Mother reruns with Tenten, who was actually a really good conversationalist. She was just more often than not on the phone, and Sasuke was far too anxious, far too impatient to even care.
When Sakura finally came out of her room, all Sasuke wanted to do was to strangle her for taking so long, but then he saw her and all thoughts just disappeared from his mind.
So had his speaking ability, apparently.
"Cat got your tongue?" Sakura smirked.
It wasn't the dress, all swirls and twirls of golden thread combined into one absolutely breathtaking gown. It wasn't the make up, since she wasn't even heavily done. It wasn't even the—
Heck, he didn't know what it was, but she just looked… different.
Like good different.
Like really, really good different.
He could hear Tenten softly chuckling behind his back and glared at her. How extremely degrading. The bun-haired woman simply covered her mouth and turned around, her back facing Sakura and Sasuke, the latter feeling as if he might die on the spot and rather thankful that he hid it well under his composure.
When he finally found his voice, he said, "Ready to go?"
"What do you think?" Instead of answering, Sakura twirled around him, the golden ends of her gown dancing. "Good enough for Uchiha Sasuke?"
He cleared his throat. "Only very nearly."
"Bastard," she punched him playfully, "I tried for you."
"Charmed," he told her calmly, taking her hand in his. When she blushed red, oh so red, he brought it to his lips and smirked, his mouth moving against the back of her hand as he whispered, "Let's go."
xx
Somewhere not very far away, Uchiha Itachi was sipping his wine slowly.
He was used to having admirers—female admirers, for the most part, and the occasional male ones, oddly enough. It was the result of being an Uchiha and being an Uchiha who, as they said in magazines, 'rebelled'.
Still, it didn't mean that he enjoyed having to deal with them all the time. They were incessantly annoying, sometimes, this one particularly so.
"No," he said for the nth time as someone—a woman, around thirty, brown eyes, yellow hair—asked him if he wanted to dance. He shook his head when she persisted, keeping his lips pressed thinly, his face devoid of any kind of emotion. Really, he wouldn't even come to this launching party if he had a choice—but Kisame was one of his closest friends, and that man wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he opted out.
Not that Itachi cared, actually. Kisame was nowhere as strong as he was. He just thought that he might get into the mood while he was at it.
Itachi picked up a glass of mineral water and sipped, his watchful eyes wandering around the room. He knew most of the people—he was Uchiha Itachi, after all, and he took pride in being the life of every party in his earlier years.
Years that was long gone, actually, since he leaped at the first chance to escape. Being a pianist was hardly a stable career choice nor was it his dream job, but at that time, even that was way more preferable than what bearing the Uchiha name had to offer him.
Not that it was offered. He was rather forced to fight tooth and nail for it, and if he hadn't forced his way out himself, he would still be stuck in that black hole.
"Itachi."
Itachi looked to his side and raised his eyebrows when he was Hatake Kakashi—very brilliant, a little bit of a pervert; they took the same management courses back in university—standing beside him.
"Kakashi," he returned politely.
"I saw your brother just now," Kakashi informed, raising his wine glass and clinking it with Itachi's.
Itachi didn't flinch, but he rose his eyebrows. "My brother?"
Kakashi smirked. "Yeah. With a girl down the bar. Pretty little thing." Ignoring the hooded look in Itachi's eyes, he added casually, "Maybe you should go say hello?"
"Maybe I should," Itachi agreed. "See you around, Kakashi."
"Later," Kakashi waved his hand.
Itachi walked in the direction of the bar, his steps leisurely but confident. After he moved out nearly a year ago, his little brother refused to talk or even so much look his direction unless he really, really, really had to. Now would be the time to make amends, especially since he had a pretty girl with him—Ino, supposedly; no one else could handle the Uchiha brothers as well as she did—and Sasuke would never completely snap in front of Ino.
To his surprise and slight amusement, however, it wasn't Ino that he saw when he finally caught sight of Sasuke. It was another girl—pink hair, pretty although not quite stunningly beautiful the way Ino was, wide smile… and she actually got his little brother to loosen up. Sasuke was actually relaxed. His fists weren't clenched, his face wasn't taut, and he was actually sitting down by the bar instead of always standing up because he couldn't wait to get it over with and had no intention of hiding it.
What an incredibly rare feat.
Itachi made his way down to the bar.
xx
Much like his brother, Sasuke was used to this kind of functions. What he wasn't used to, however, was having Sakura with him in this kind of functions. She didn't look the type that would get invited to parties like this, parties people like Hoshigaki Kisame hosted because she just… didn't really seem the type. If she were the daughter of someone whose name was widely known in the business world, he wouldn't be surprised. Introductions that led to engagements weren't very rare in his world—women who didn't have that prestigious a name but still got invited, however, did make him question.
"Sakura."
"Yes?" She looked up from her glass.
Sasuke looked at her and tried to remember if he had known anyone named Haruno. He picked up his glass and sipped. "How well do you know Kisame?"
"Hoshigaki-san?" she tilted her head, her smile mysterious, "I don't personally know him."
Her answer, of course, didn't make Sasuke feel any more convinced. "Then how do you know him? You don't even work in the same industry."
"Well…" Sakura just continued to smile and waved her hand dismissively, "It's a long story, actually. I'd rather not tell you anything about it now," her smile turned teasing, "Why did you ask, Sasuke? Don't tell me you suddenly find me attractive and want to know everything there is to know about me."
"You wish. It would take me—"
His sentence was never finished, however, since someone had already cut in.
"Little brother."
Sasuke froze and his smile vanished from his lips, all signs of relaxation gone and replaced by wariness and a sense of anger.
"You."
"What a pleasant surprise," the man in front of them said mildly, "And who is this?"
"Haruno Sakura," Sakura smiled politely and gave a nod. She straightened up and folded her hands on her lap, looking up at the man—dark, dark eyes, very much like Sasuke's—and realizing that this person could very well be the reason why Sasuke was… why Sasuke was Sasuke.
"Uchiha Itachi. Nice to meet you, Haruno-san," the man told her pleasantly, and shook her hand. "Long time, Sasuke. How have you been?"
"It's none of your fucking business, so don't pretend like you care," Sasuke shot back heatedly.
Sakura's eyes opened wide, but she didn't say anything, staring into her glass. The ice was melting.
"My, aren't we ever so friendly?" Itachi commented, still smooth and his smile pleasant. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"And you think I did?" Sasuke retorted, suddenly standing up. He pushed his hands into his pocket and glared at Itachi. "Come on, Sakura, we're going."
"Eh? But—"
"We're going."
Quietly, she put down her glass and nodded hurriedly to Itachi, before taking large strides to catch up with Sasuke, who sauntered out of the ballroom and straight out of the hotel without even once looking back. They were in his car when she finally dared to break the silence.
"You didn't tell me your brother is in Japan."
Sasuke's fist clenched over the steering wheel, his lips pressed into a thin line and his face scarily taut and tense. When he spoke, his voice was cold. "He's not my brother."
"But he said—"
"He's not my brother."
"Okay," Sakura relented carefully, fiddling with her purse. She could be annoyed because she had spent much more time dressing up than enjoying what she had dressed up for, or she could be worried about him because he seemed to need that, even though he didn't even realize that himself. Softly, she asked, "Is that why you didn't want to talk to him?
"Sakura, shut up."
She didn't reply, quietly watching him as he started the car engine, his eyes focused to the front all the while, completely ignoring her. They were already in front of her apartment parking lot when Sakura dared to speak for the second time.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"Yes."
Slowly, she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Maybe next time, then," she said softly.
"Maybe never."
"Sasuke—"
"If you're about to launch into another speech of how you made a promise with Ino, save it, okay?" Sasuke glared at her. "I don't need one of those tonight."
She shut her mouth tightly, hurt, and looked away.
"Look," Sasuke closed his eyes and massaged his temple, before opening his eyes to look at her. "The man is trouble, all right? I don't want to associate with him in any way or form and I don't need you to associate with him in any way or form."
He looked so livid that Sakura decided against protesting, instead settling for a soft, calm, "Don't I get a say in this?"
"No."
She looked at him for a few seconds, and then threw up her hands. "Fine."
Now he looked surprised. "Fine?"
"Fine," she repeated, turning her back at him as she unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door handle, "I'll see you sometime. Maybe." She opened the door and climbed out. "Thanks for driving me home, I appreciate it."
Sasuke ran his hand over his hair and climbed out of the car as well. "Sakura, don't be like this."
"Don't be like what?" Sakura asked, giving him a long look. "I'm not being like anything at all." A few seconds of silence passed between them before she finally sighed. "I really don't mean you any harm, you know that, right?" I don't mean you any harm. And…" her face softened. "And I hope you can believe me."
When Sasuke didn't reply, she left.
.
.
.
tbc.
a/n: So sorry if it takes me weeks to reply to your messages/questions, I only open this site whenever I'm about to update, and often times I lose track of what I have replied to and what I haven't. That said, the quickest, easiest way to get to me will be through my Tumblr, and I'll be more than happy to talk to you there. Thanks a lot, and once again, have a happy new year! (:
