Ch. 9: New Emotions, Thoughts and Feelings

"Just go for it." Sakura urged herself.

She was standing inside the Uchiha home, facing the front door.

"Yeah, c'mon!" Inner Sakura added.

Sakura lifted her hand to meet the door handle, hesitating.

"But maybe I should just stay…" she spoke aloud.

"What? Why? We've been cooped up in this boring place for two days now! As long as we're careful what's the worst that can happen?" Inner Sakura reasoned.

"The ANBU are probably still looking for me, or rather, that girl. It would be dangerous." Sakura spoke aloud again, this time dropping her hand back down to her side.

"Oh c'mon, just disguise yourself if you're so worried!" Inner Sakura shouted.

This time Sakura didn't say anything she just stood staring at the wood of the door.

An image of Uchiha Sasuke came to her mind. It was of that time, two days ago, when he had let that little emotion slip. She couldn't resist a smile. Maybe her being here was influencing him?

She shook her head. No way, how could she think that…He was still shut up in his bedroom. He hadn't left, not once. Well not that she knew of anyway... He was still his same old self, completely shutting out everyone and the rest of the world. Including her…

She had tried to get him to come out but as she had predicted it had only led to more arguments and frustrated emotions than was absolutely necessary.

"You're worried about him aren't you? Hell yeah!" Inner Sakura shouted as Sakura blushed immensely.

"No, that's not it!" Sakura shouted to the inanimate door in front of her.

"Sure, you might say you hate his guts but I'm you! I know everything!" Inner Sakura pointed out.

"Yea, then tell me exactly what I feel towards him then if you know everything!" Sakura rebutted against her inner self.

"Well, for starters, you think he's handsome!" Inner Sakura shouted.

"What!...Well…maybe…But that doesn't mean I can't hate him!" Sakura continued to speak out loud.

"Yea right!" Inner Sakura yelled.

"Fine I'm leaving! Just to prove I don't give a damn about that selfish jerk!" Sakura practically screamed. So what if Uchiha had told her to stay hidden? So what if ANBU were still looking for her? So what if Tsunade still hadn't come back? She was bored and she needed to get away from this place, even if it was just for a while.

She grabbed a dark jacket, put it on and lifted the hood up over her head, shielding her face from view.

"This is it," She spoke to herself again as she turned the door handle.

"Sakura…" came a voice from behind her. Sakura's heart stopped beating for a second, a look of total embarrassment washing over her shocked expression; she slowly turned to look at the person who had just called her name.

Sasuke stood close by, his head turned in her direction with a stoic expression on his face. Completely speechless, Sakura stood frozen to the spot. How long had he been standing there? She hadn't even noticed he had entered the room…

"I knew you were crazy, but talking to yourself? Even I have to admit that's psychiatrist worthy…" He spoke.

"Uh, I-I was just…" she started, her voice trembling. He had caught her red-handed, what could she say?

Then it dawned on her. He couldn't see what she was doing. As far as he knew she was just standing there. He couldn't see the jacket or her hand on the door handle. She was safe, as long as he didn't piece it together. Lost in thought, she didn't even notice that the Uchiha was walking away from her and back into his room.

All embarrassment and shock gone, anger soon filled her every bone.

"Wait!" She yelled after him as she threw the jacket off and followed him.

She was about to ask why he came out of his room after all this time, when she noticed the bathroom door was slightly ajar.

Sasuke, not listening to Sakura, kept on going and closed his bedroom door behind him.

She was just about to pound on the door, when an idea suddenly struck her full force. An evil grin appeared on the kunoichi's face.

Of course...He was only human after all, and like all humans he needed to use the washroom every so often. He must have come out other times too, but she didn't notice. Cursing herself for not thinking of it earlier, Sakura headed to the bathroom.

Once there, she entered the shower stall fully clothed. Here she would hide and wait for him to come out of his room. Then as he opens the bathroom door, she'll jump out and surprise him; this way he can't run back into his bedroom and shut himself up again.

Normally Sakura wasn't the type to do something like this, but her job was on the line, and she should act towards it as if it were a mission. No way would she fail. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as the old saying goes.

Hours went by, and Haruno Sakura was nearing sleep. Waiting and waiting she slumped down to the bottom of the shower stall, completely bored, her eyes slowly fluttering shut.

Then, she heard the sound of his bedroom door opening, and his footsteps coming down the hall. Just as the bathroom door was being opened Sakura jumped up and revealed herself to him.

"Boo!" She yelled…She couldn't help it, really. It was mostly Naruto's fault though. Every day he was becoming a greater influence on her.

Sasuke jumped back in surprise, only now just sensing her blazing aura.

"Haruno, what the hell are you doing in here?" He asked, a hint of anger lacing his words.

Sakura quickly ran behind him and slammed the bathroom door shut. Then she positioned herself to stand in front of the only way out, blocking the Uchiha from leaving.

Sasuke, who had been following her movements with her aura, rounded on her.

"Leave." He said threateningly.

"Only if you promise not to shut yourself in your room anymore." Sakura said.

"It's my room, my house, my life. I can do what I want." Sasuke replied.

"Yes, but it's my job to make sure you stay out of your room, leave your house and live a better life." She stated.

"Like I said, it's my life. And the way I want it, doesn't have you in it." He said coldly.

Sakura stayed silent. It surprised her how much that sentence hurt her. Why did she feel this way? Why didn't she just feel anger? Or hatred like she always did?

Taking a deep breath she said defiantly, "You know what? I don't care. I don't care what you want or what the hell you think is best, because you know what? You're not always right like you think you think you are. This time, you're going to listen to what I have to say."

He approached her aura until his face was mere inches from hers, then he whispered, "Really? And who's going to make me listen?"

Then he pushed her out of they way with such force she nearly fell to the ground. The skin where his hands had touched her seemed to spark with an invisible force of lightning, sending a tingling feeling up and down her spine.

Opening the bathroom door, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Sakura stood there, stunned. What had just happened? What had he done to her? She looked at her bare arm, there were no marks. But if he didn't do anything, what was that? Why wasn't she as angry as she should be?

Inside her, there was a small area that held the answer. When had that place inside her been there? She had only just discovered it… But she was fearful of what she might find there. She didn't want to know why she had never truly stayed angry at him, or why she had just felt some unexplainable force. She was almost certain that this area, this place inside her, would go away with time.

Slowly she opened the bathroom door and walked down the hall. She stopped at the doorway to his bedroom. The door was wide open. No one was inside.

Then she heard voices coming from the front door. Had someone come to see them?

Her heart started pounding harder…What if it was the ANBU? What should she do?

She listened harder to what the voices were saying, and for the moment she forgot all about that small place inside her, and all the new emotions she was feeling.

"We're looking for someone named Yuri Juna. Two of your comrades told us that you had escorted a young girl home the other night. Is there any possibilities we may see her?" A voice spoke. There was silence.

Two comrades? Naruto and Kiba? What had they said? No, it wouldn't- couldn't have been them!

Sakura wondered what was going through Sasuke's mind as he stood listening to man at the door, whom Sakura unmistakably knew was an ANBU. She crept down the stairs slowly, trying not to make a sound, to get a better look. She reached the last step, and then peeked left, past the wall, to the front door. There stood an ANBU, and Sasuke looking straight ahead, his eyes focusing on a point somewhere over the ANBU's shoulder.

"I've never heard of anyone named Yuri Juna before in my life," Sasuke said slowly, convincingly.

The masked ANBU stood, towering over the blind boy, and Sakura couldn't help but notice how vulnerable Uchiha looked. She wanted to interject, say something to back him up, or even come out and tell them about their mistake. But really, would that man listen? He was ANBU after all. And even though she hated to admit it, she was scared; she never wanted to see ANBU as her enemies again…She was too scared…

"Is that so," the ANBU asked in his gruff voice. His masked face turned in the direction of the stairs and Sakura jumped back out of sight, her heart pounding heavily in her chest.

She was afraid he might hear it, or her breathing which had been fast and heavy. She quickly turned back up the stairs and ran. She stopped in the doorway to her room. What was she doing? She was running? Hiding? Like a coward? Her fists clenched. She hated people who ran…She turned on her heel and had half a mind going back down those stairs and revealing herself; even though her hands were shaking with fear…She had to do something, anything. She was slowly coming back down the stairs, when she heard the two talking again.

"I told you she's not here. Leave." Sasuke said.

"You know what; I think I'll have a look around just to make sure." The ANBU said, as he took a step into the home.

The emotionless face of the blind Uchiha changed, just for a split second. He looked scared, or was it worry? Sakura couldn't tell, she hadn't been around him long enough to read anything besides anger off of him.

Sakura had enough, she was going to tell this ANBU the truth, and clear things up before the week was over.

She stepped down, into plain view. Sasuke turned in her direction; completely unbelieving he was sensing her there…She had just shown herself.

"Ah, there you are." The ANBU said, as he ran straight at her, doing a few hand signs. Sakura wasn't expecting this, a full attack on a prisoner they needed for information? How did that-?

But before she could even think one more thought, the ANBU was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared and there stood Naruto, laughing.

He was literally on the floor rolling around on the ground, clutching his stomach in laughter.

"Oh man, I got you guys good! You should have seen the look on Sasuke's face when I said I'd be searching the house! And then when you showed yourself Sakura-chan! Oh man priceless!" He bursted out in more laughter.

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled. She balled her hand into a fist, and punched Naruto clear to the other side of the room.

"That was not funny!" She screamed at him, "You're such an idiot!"

Sasuke just stood there, listening to the two bickering. How could he have been so…he hated to say it…blind? How come he couldn't sense it was Naruto? How come he couldn't tell?

He was about to storm off, and brood some more in the dark confines of his room when he heard more voices coming from the front door. What was this? An open house?

Sakura paused, just as she was about to give Naruto another black eye, and looked towards the door.

There stood everyone, laughing and talking.

Hinata, Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, TenTen, and Rock Lee.

They were all there, laughing; Ino spoke up:

"Sorry forehead girl, when Naruto told us about what happened, I couldn't help myself. I sort of planned this…" She said.

"Ahh, Ino-pig, I should've known Naruto wasn't smart enough for something like this on his own…But still…" She said, as she turned back Naruto and completed the punch that had been stalled. "You moron! You weren't supposed to say anything! What if a real ANBU heard you!" she yelled.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but we really did come here to get you. You know seeing as you've been stuck here for days, we figured you could use some time outside. We're all going to dinner." Naruto said.

"That's great! Hold on just let me go change and I'll be back in a few," She said as she turned to go upstairs.

Everyone who had been laughing and talking went silent, when they heard a loud coughing coming from the Uchiha. They all turned to look at him.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sasuke asked Sakura quietly.

"Um, I don't think so…" She replied.

Sasuke, who was forcing his anger down, calmly said, "The ANBU."

"What about them?" she asked.

Oh god was this girl that stupid? Sasuke asked himself.

"They're looking for you." He said aggravation clear in his voice.

"Hey! Sasuke-teme, you don't have to worry about your girl, she's safe with us! Besides we're going to some remote restaurant," Naruto said.

"Yeah, Sasuke, we won't let her be seen that easily. Who do you take us for?" Shikamaru replied. "Even though this whole ordeal is quite troublesome."

But Sasuke wasn't listening anymore. All thought had vanished to be replaced with anger after the words "your girl". Naruto had gone too far.

"You know what dobe?" Sasuke asked coldly, "I don't really care. Go, leave! I'm sure a bunch of mixed genin and chuunin are really a threat to the ANBU. Besides it would be a lot better around here if the annoying girl disappeared. No loss here." He shrugged then headed up the stairs past Sakura who stood still. Tears of anger brimmed in her eyes, everyone was silent, unmoving. The atmosphere was thick, and it was hard to breathe.

"The annoying girl has a name you know?" She shouted after him. He closed his door behind him, cutting him off once again from the world.

"Uh, we'll wait for you out side Sakura-san." Rock Lee said politely.

Everyone turned to leave save Ino. Naruto would have stayed too had Ino not given him the worst death glare in the world.

Sakura turned up the stairs and stormed into her room, followed by Ino.

"Hey, are you ok forehead girl? What's gotten into you?" Ino looked sincerely worried. Of course Ino had had a crush on Sasuke since the day she laid eyes on him, but she got the hint after years of him rejecting her. She had always thought Sakura had a thing for the Uchiha too, which was the initial cause for the name calling. But recently, she turned her sights on someone closer to her…

"I'm fine. Really I don't know why what he said bothers me so much. But I think I'll get over it." Sakura said as she pulled out a fresh pair of clothes, which Ino quickly picked back up and put back into the drawers.

"You're not going to wear that, you're going to look nicer. Different then you normally do so that you'll be less noticeable. Though I'm not sure what we're going to do about that pink hair of yours, you'll need to hide it." She said as she found black cargo pants and a nice tank top with no logo. Plain and simple, yet nicer than the clothes Sakura had pulled out.

Sakura then pulled out a baseball cap, and tried on everything. When she was done, Ino shook her head.

"No hat." She said simply, and then she pulled the hat off. Sakura's hair wasn't as long as it used to be but it wasn't as short as when she cut it either.

"But the hair?" Sakura asked.

"Do you have any others?" Ino asked, "I don't think baseball caps are appropriate for going out to dinner."

"Um, I think all I have is a bandana, but that's just as bad…"

"Well, it's better than the baseball cap. Put it on."

About ten minutes later, the two girls were about to leave the house when,

"Hold on Ino-pig." Sakura said, as she wore her black and white bandana, leaving a few strands of hair falling in front of her eyes. Ino had insisted that she put on jewelry and was about to make her put make up on too but that's where Sakura drew the line. She only put on a necklace and hoop earrings. No make up.

Sakura turned and knocked on the bedroom door of the Uchiha. She was crazy, yes, but she still had a job to do. Leaving and having fun, socializing on her own was not what she was here to do. She had to bring him too.

"You're not gone yet?" Came a quiet voice from the other side of the door.

"I'm not going to talk to a door. Open up." Sakura called.

He did. He opened the door.

That was fast…Sakura thought.

"What?" He asked.

"Um, we're going now. You ready?"

"I'm not coming." He replied.

"What? Why not?" She asked.

"Because I don't want to,"

"So? Just come. It'll be fun." She replied. Her nerves were getting shorter and shorter by the second. But her inner self was urging her on.

"No." He said.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Ino yelled, "That's it you're both coming whether you like it or not!" She grabbed on to the both of them and dragged them outside.

Sakura was scared. Ino could be scary when she got angry…

"Finally! What the heck were you doing in there? Sleeping?" Naruto yelled.

"Calm down Naruto, they're girls what did you expect?" Shikamaru replied.

"Eh, Sasuke's coming?" Choji questioned.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Sakura growled.

"Nah, but he's not getting any of my food." Choji replied.

No one noticed Sasuke turning and heading back to the house until,

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Sakura called as she grabbed onto his arm. He snatched it away from her.

"Nowhere with them." Sasuke muttered.

"Yes you are." She replied.

"Why? Why do I have to go?" Sasuke asked.

"Because….because…"

"That's what I thought." He turned and was about to disappear into the house again.

"Because whether you like to admit it or not, you want to go." She said.

"What?" He asked as he paused and turned to her, disbelief written on his face.

The rest of their friends started off down the street, walking to the restaurant.

"C'mon let's just go. They're already leaving." Sakura said.

"No thanks."

"Listen, if you do this for me just this one time I'll leave you alone for the rest of the week." Sakura bargained.

That was very intriguing. No Haruno bothering him for the rest of the week?

"Fine," He muttered.

Sakura smiled, she was getting through to him at last.

Half an hour later, after a long walk with many interesting events including Naruto falling flat on his face after tripping over a rock, Choji eating eight bags of potato chips, Tenten nearly killing a squirrel thinking it was "an enemy" and Sakura nearly dying from Rock Lee's attempts to gain her love, they arrived at the restaurant.

Unfortunately for Naruto it was not the Ichiraku, but a place called Sayuri's. They entered, and found themselves in a very regular restaurant; nothing fancy, but just enough for a bunch of teenagers. They all sat around a huge round table, decorated with slightly tacky floral dishware.

All night, everyone had an amazing time. Everyone save Sasuke that is. He hardly said a word. He just listened, pretending not to care. He soon got up and left to the washroom.

"Can I take your order?" A young waitress asked the group of kids not two minutes after Sasuke had left.

"Yea, I'll have the chicken and rice dinner with a side of French fries, a chocolate shake and a piece of cake." Choji ordered.

Everyone sweat dropped.

"Hey, wanna leave enough food for the rest of the people at this place?" Shikamaru joked. Choji gave him "the look" and Shikamaru looked away.

Naruto took about half an hour to decide what he wanted and made the waitress very aggravated. While thy were talking Ino leaned in to Sakura,

"Hey, what about Sasuke? He's not here, should we order for him?"

Sakura thought for a moment then nodded. May as well.

"Ok, uh, can we get a cheeseburger or something for our friend? He's just in the washroom; he'll be back in a minute." Ino asked the waitress, who was literally strangling Naruto for being such an idiot. Though Hinata was enjoying watching Naruto struggle…

"No, he doesn't like cheeseburgers; he's more of a stir-fry eater than anything." Sakura interjected not looking away from her own menu.

Everyone turned and looked at her.

Sakura blushed as she noticed everyone's eyes on her.

"What?" she asked.

"Hmm, seems like our little Sakura knows more about the Uchiha than she lets on…" Tenten broke the silence. She continued twirling the fork in her hand as she had been doing since they sat down. She was tempted to pick up the knife, but she didn't want to look like some psycho…

"Aww, Sakura-san why do you care about him? He has no spirit of youth!" Lee whined.

"What!" Sakura asked astonished. What was everyone implying?

"Oh c'mon Sakura it's written all over your face!" Ino chimed in.

"OK what the hell are you guys going on about?" Sakura asked exasperated.

"You've been acting differently since you started the job at the Uchiha house. Is something going on?" Ino asked.

"Like what?" Sakura asked.

"You know…You and him." Tenten pursued.

"Me and him what?" Sakura knew what was coming and hoped someone would pull her away from this awkward situation.

"Love each other." Ino murmured.

"Are you insane!" Sakura yelled, gaining the attention of some of the other customers.

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In the washroom:

Sasuke stood in front of the mirror in the restaurants bathroom, and anyone who didn't know him would have thought he was looking at his reflection. But there was nothing but black.

He felt around for the sink. He didn't need to go to the bathroom; he just needed to get away. He turned on the tap and let the cold water wash over his hands. He cupped his hands together and gathered some to splash on his face.

He reached around and grabbed some paper towels and dried the clear liquid from his face. He stood there, listening.

He could hear the sounds of people laughing and talking and eating in the dinning rooms.

What was he doing here?

He didn't belong here. No one cared that he was there. He was invisible to them.

Not that it mattered. He preferred solitude remember?

He didn't want to talk about ramen, or food, or how troublesome life is…He didn't want to talk about weapons, or dogs, or destiny, or about youth…He didn't want to talk about how he was or about shopping…He didn't fit in with the rest of them.

It didn't matter. He didn't need them.

But he couldn't ignore the little voice in the back of his head wondering that if it was true, why did he have to keep reassuring himself?

"I should just leave," he said stoically, "No one would notice."

Sakura would said the voice in the back of his mind.

He shrugged. Like he cared. He didn't give a damn about that annoying girl.

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Meanwhile, back at the table:

"I can see it in your eyes Sakura!" Ino laughed, "It's obvious."

"Yea and you can tell he doesn't mind her being around since he is letting her live there." Tenten said, "Maybe the cold boy is starting to warm up."

"Who knew that the two completely opposite people would end up together?" Ino said louder.

Rock Lee was sulking off in the corner, Naruto was only really paying attention to the food that had just been brought out, Hinata was watching Sakura being put under so much pressure and was praying to god they never did something like that to her especially not around Naruto, Choji was of course eating, Shikamaru was groaning inwardly at how women are so troublesome, Kiba was letting Akamaru eat some of his scraps and Neji had his arms crossed, one eye open watching a certain girl spinning a fork…

Sakura was getting a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Shut up! Both of you! You have no idea do you?" She screamed at the two of them, "I have to live with him! You already knew that! The hokage sent me there! And as far as "him and I" go…There was never a "him and I" ok? I hate his guts he's such a cold bastard, not to mention a jerk!"

By now all the attention of every person in the establishment was looking her way.

Including Uchiha.