A/N-Hey! Thanks for the reviews last chapter….iamNOTafangirl3221, puppy444219, Bobalu, Loku, and Seyann. Read and Review!
Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto!
Chapter 9
"Well, now that we're underway, all you officers can just take off." Captain Kakashi waved a hand and Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji and Gaara were all dismissed. Two things happened simultaneously. Ino grabbed Sasuke by the elbow and dragged him aside while Gaara slipped Sakura into an arm lock and walked her to the railing.
"So Sasuke…" said Ino slyly. "I've seen how you look at her…you've never looked at anyone like that. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"You're seeing things," was his flat reply. Ino arched her eyebrow and snorted. "Liar. Even when the other guys had a girl that their attentions were focused on…other than their wives of course…you didn't dance with a soul…and now?"
"You are obviously imagining things." "Oh really?" said Ino in a relatively ticked off voice. "You're lying. I've known you for too long Sasuke; you should've known this by now. I can tell when you're lying."
"Hn." "Can I take that 'hn' and translate it into what I think it means?" Sasuke shrugged and he leaned back against the wall of the bridge. "Do what you will." "Okay. That 'hn' means that you are, in fact, starting to become quite crazy about our little pink haired friend…that is, about Sakura even though you haven't known her for that long. What you're waiting for is the opportune moment to do something." Sasuke opened one of his eyes, having closed both of them during Ino's speech.
"Will you help me?"
"No." Sasuke grunted. "Figures." He pushed off from the whitewashed wall and brushed invisible dust off of his already pristine uniform. "I'll just get my own help."
"I can't help you because Shika made me promise to not interfere with any more shipboard romances." She flushed dully, thinking about the last shipboard romance she had engineered…well, she didn't want to think about it. "But what I can do is tell you that it looks like Gaara's going to ask her to dinner tonight…look over there."
She nodded her blonde head towards the railing. An obviously attentive Gaara stood at Sakura's elbow as the pink haired girl looked out over the water. Ino watched with satisfaction as Sasuke's face darkened and he straightened up, walking over to where the two stood.
Ino was actually quite glad that (if she had anything to say about it) her newfound friend wouldn't be with Gaara…
Their hair clashed horribly.
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"…And so, what I want to say is I want you to go to supper tonight." Sakura looked up from the ocean, startled. She had been tuning him out, distracted by how pretty the ocean was, speeding by the ship-to hear him say those words was slightly startling.
"Officer Gaara…" "Drop the officer." "Okay, Gaara, I…" She was having a lot of trouble finding the correct polite wording to decline him…before she realized that there was no polite word to refuse a dinner invite. She was just going to have to come out and say it…
Until a deep voice from behind her interrupted her train of thought.
"Can I not leave you alone for five minutes," asked the voice in a semi-arrogant tone. "Without you giving away my dinners?"
Sasuke came up and slipped his uniformed arm into Sakura's elbow as an arm lock. "What do you want Uchiha?" "Didn't I just say that? I don't want her giving away my supper dates."
Gaara growled at the pair-but more at the guy than at the girl- before stalking off.
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The pair circled the deck for a few minutes in complete silence before Sakura finally spoke up. "Thank you." When he didn't answer or even acknowledge her, she turned to look at him. "You know, for getting me out of that situation…I really didn't want to have to go to dinner with him again…we had absolutely nothing to talk about."
When he still didn't acknowledge her, she continued to look at him, this time more annoyed. "You don't have to think that you have to take me now, just the fact that you got me out of that situation is enough. I'm going back to my cabin."
"Wait." 'Was all I had to do threaten to leave for him to open up?' she wondered as she turned to face the black haired officer. "Yes Officer Sasuke?"
"Forget the officer." She snorted mentally. Those two were so alike when it came to her, it wasn't even funny. "Fine. What do you want to say Sasuke?"
"I didn't say that I don't want to take you to supper." "Oh, so you just assumed I'd want to go to supper with you?" she asked, slightly angry that he was just assuming that one charming chivalrous move and she'd fall mesmerized into his arms.
However that was just an assumption.
"In fact," he continued, looking out over the ocean. "Picking an argument with Sabaku no Gaara isn't always the wisest thing to do and I wouldn't had even gone there if I didn't think you were worth it."
Sakura turned pink. Really, she should've been smarter than this, to just fall for the first guy who said sweet words to her. However…
"You can stop by my suite at around 7:30 PM tonight…" she said, blushing.
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"You're kidding. He actually did that?" asked Destiny as she pulled out Sakura's white dress for that night's dinner. "He did. Smooth as can be, walked forward and slipped his arm into mine and managed to drive away Gaara." The silk of the white gown flowed over her head and the simply cut dress fitted to her form nicely.
"So…what are you guys doing tonight?" "Fate you sound just like my mother. Honestly," Sakura rolled her green eyes, looking at Fate's brown ones. "You should really have kids. You'd make a good mother." Fate gave her a Look. "We're going to the Parisian Café. And he's not coming here, we're meeting there…propriety."
Suddenly, a knock came at the door. "That's odd…Destiny can you get that please?"
When the door was opened, Sakura heard Gaara's voice. "Please ensure that Miss. Sakura gets this. It's from officer Uchiha." "Yes Sir" responded Destiny in her 'I'm nothing more than a maid' voice.
Almost as soon as the door closed, Sakura was holding out her hand in the gesture of a woman of the time. Imperious and impatient. The room was silent save for the crinkling of the paper as Sakura unfolded the note and slumped onto her trunk.
"Read it."
Miss. Haruno.
I shall not be able to meet tonight's dinner plans, as someone else... I mean something else has come up.
Officer Uchiha Sasuke.
"I don't believe it. He stood me up. That arrogant bastard." Sakura clenched the note firmly between her hands, crumpling it into a tiny ball. "Well, I know one girl he will never have lunch with again." She stood up. "Fate, please go inform a steward that I want supper here tonight."
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He sat in the Parisian Café for two hours-from 7:20 until 10 minutes before his next shift started and she never showed. "I don't believe it…I should've known. She was just using me to get Gaara away from her."
He watched the officer finally get up and leave the café, having given up.
Honestly, sometimes he was too brilliant.
A/N-BLEH! THERE YOU GO! Enjoy and don't forget to read and review! Also, read and review Kyuubi92's story 'Escape of the Kyuubi' and 'Behind the Scenes' (the two are linked) as they are exceptionally good!
