Chapter Nine: Confrontation Time

Sakura had barely woken up when her phone went off, informing her that someone was calling her. She blinked the sleepiness out of her eyes before grabbing her phone. She unlocked it and answered, yawning loudly.

" 'Ello?" She asked, her voice colored heavily with sleep. The person on the other end chuckled deeply; she knew that laugh, it had quickly become one of her favorites. "Shark boy?"

"G'mornin', bubblegum," Kisame greeted, making her roll her eyes at the nickname. Ever since the first meeting he had refused to change his name for her. He said it represented her "bubbly personality and quickness to snap", or some stupid bullshit like that. She grinned to herself, curious as to why her senior was calling her on this particular Wednesday morning.

"Not that I don't like hearing your voice first thing in the morning," she began, completely unaware of the effect she had on the big guy (he was eternally grateful that he hadn't chosen to facetime her, he didn't want her seeing his red hot face), "But may I inquire as to why you called me at-" she glanced at her clock, it was 6:30 a.m, "Jesus fuck! Kisame, why the fuck did you wake me up so damn early?!" She shouted at him, her forehead forming a tick. Her alarm didn't go off for another15 minutes, and even that was too early.

"Easy there, kitten, I was going to be nice and offer you a ride to school, but if you're so upset-" she cut him off quickly, throwing her covers off and sitting up.

"Whoa there, who said I was upset?" She asked, putting her phone on speaker as she stood up to stretch her muscles. Last night's derby practice had been hard and she was starting to feel the effects already.

"Now that I think about it, it would be funny to see you drenched," Kisame was chuckling to himself at the idea of seeing Sakura soaking wet as she walked to school in the torrential downpour that he was driving in, she would probably resemble a wet kitten, all angry and hissing.

"Aww, Kisame, is that your way of saying you want to see me wet?" Sakura shot back, her tone turning flirtatious and sultry. She heard Kisame choke, his laughter quickly replaced with him coughing and trying to get air back in his lungs. A second passed by before she was laughing, clutching her stomach as a few tears slipped out. A few minutes passed by before Sakura was able to quiet her laughter, knowing that Kisame was fuming on the other end.

"You know what, you can fuckin' walk." Kisame growled out, hoping she would believe that he was angry with her. His hopes were shout down when he heard her snort in amusement at him. He rolled his eyes before rolling his window down, feeling like it was getting a bit stuffy in his car. He tugged at the collar of his grey t-shirt, cursing his luck of being easily aroused by the pink-haired demon he had befriened all those weeks ago. If he had known she would be this intriguing and infuriating at the same time, he wouldn't have helped her on her packet. Would've saved him in the long run.

"Oh fuck off, you know you love me." Sakura snapped back at her phone, walking into her closet so she could get ready for the day. She happened a glance back at her window, seeing the absolute tidal wave of raining pouring down and quickly decided on wearing something warm, but still light enough so she wouldn't die from the humidity later. That was another thing she missed about her old home; it was always cold right after a good rain, no humidity to suffocate you the minute you stepped outside. "Besides, if you were truly angry with me, you would've hung up by now."

Well shit, Kisame thought, she ain't wrong.

"Shut up, bubblegum, and just give me your fuckin' address or you're walkin'." Sakura nodded before remembering that he couldn't see her. She grabbed her phone and texted him the address, before tossing it back onto her bed so she could get dress. While she got dressed, they chatted for a little longer before he told her that he would be there in 20 and hung up. She chuckled to herself, wondering how the hell they ended up friends. Going off solely appearances, they looked like they shouldn't even be in the same social circles, let alone the same classes. He looked like a scary giant that could crush you without even trying, and she looked like an innocent little fairy who would turn to dust in blew hard enough. But, that was appearances, and those held no basis with her. In the short time they'd been friends, she had learned quickly that Kisame was similar to Juugo in many ways. Both were gentle giants at heart, both had a fondness for small, furry animals (Kisame would deny it to his death, but that man absolutely melted whenever he saw photos of her big dog), and they were both incredibly smart.

Sakura wasn't dumb, she heard the rumors that surrounded her friend. People said he belonged to a dangerous street gang, with many of their members having violent tendencies. People also said he was nothing but muscle, too stupid to go to college. When she had first heard them, she immediately went to Kisame and asked him if there was any validity to the first one (she knew the second was untrue, as he was in many of her advance classes) and he hadn't wanted to talk to her. But she kept at him for a week, until he finally snapped one day after school.

"Fuckin' hell, why the fuck do you care so much, huh? So what if I am, huh? Whacha gonna do 'bout it?!" He shouted at her, his anger and frustration rolling off of him in violent waves. He was sure she was gonna cower in fear at his outburst and leave him in the dust, after all, every other girl he had even remotely talked to did. It didn't matter if he would never, ever lay a hand on them. The minute they saw him angry, they left and ran crying wolf to whoever would listen to them. He figured Sakura would be the same, and he wouldn't admit it, but it hurt to think she was like the others. When he turned around to her, he got something unexpected. Sakura was sitting on the table he had jumped from, staring at him with a bored look. Like she was unimpressed with his display of aggression. She patted the spot next to her and he quietly sat back down. Once he did, she flicked his ear. "What the fuck," he murmured.

"Quit pouting, shark boy, you're too handsome to be making that face." She said, not looking at him. If he had been paying attention, he would've noticed that light dusting of pink on her cheeks. But he hadn't, he had been too thrown off.

"Wha?" Was his intelligent reply. She snorted, earning another look of confusion from him.

"You're not the first person to explode in anger in front of me, ya know? One of my best friends, Juugo, he does the same thing from time to time. Something will just set him off and he'll go in this blind rage." She said softly, wondering why the hell she was telling him this shit. "When he gets like that, me and the others have learned to keep our distance and let him get it outta his system. He doesn't hurt anyone, just kinda tears things to shreds." She smiled a little, remembering the last time Juugo had been set off. He had seen some asshole kick a random dog and Juugo blew up, calling that man every name under the sun while waving his arms around. The poor bastard had pissed himself and tried to apologize, but Juugo wouldn't have it. He continued on for a good 10 minutes before he picked the dog up and stalked off. Juugo then adopted that dog and showered it with love and affection. "So don't look at me like you expect me to be scared of you, that's never gonna happen." She finished, patting his hand before hopping off and walking off. Kisame had sat there for a little while longer before he smiled to himself. Then he got up and left as well, already late for swim practice.

Ever since that day, Sakura had noticed that Kisame seemed to smile more around her, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, or something.

She shook her head and finshed getting ready. She checked her outfit in her mirror, liking what she saw. She had chosen to wear a long, black A line skirt, with a slit on the right side that showed off her tat (it went up past her fingertips, which was fine with her); a long sleeved, cropped, maroon shirt; thigh high, black stockings; and black ankle boots. Sakura grinned, thinking she looked hot. She snapped a picture and sent it to Karin, not expecting a reply for awhile as Karin was not an early riser, no matter what. Satisfied, Sakura walked to her vanity and decided that since her outfit was on the vampy side, she would have her makeup match that. She went a little dramatic on her winged eyeliner, making it sharp enough to kill her enemies, and swiped on her favorite maroon lipstick to match her top. Her eyeshadow was a blended, smokey masterpiece, giving her that otherworldly look. To finish it all up, she swiped on some highlighter on her cheekbones before blowing herself a kiss.

She grabbed her black preacher hat as she walked out of her room, making sure to swipe her phone and bag before she headed downstairs. She passed by Mochi and gave his ear some scratche, which earned her a few lazy tail thumps, before going down the stairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed a mango protein smoothie while scrolling through her phone as she waited for Kisame to pull up.

A loud knock on the front door startled her. She finished her breakfast before grabbing her stuff and headed to the front door. She had an inkling it was Kisame, but was a little surprised that he actually walked up to her door instead of just honking for her.

Kisame waited patiently for Sakura to open the door, and when she did, he had to remind himself that it was rude to openly stare at someone. Sakura said something to him, to which he nodded to, before turning around to grab her bag, keys, and called out a goodbye to her parents before stepping out to shut the door. Kisame had enough sense of mind to step back so she could, otherwise it would've been hella awkward for them. As she locked the door, Kisame quickly did a once over of her outfit, and was stunned. He never knew Sakura had multiple tats, he always assumed the one on her wrist was her only one. Hell, he was even more surprised by the diamond tattoo on her forehead. And here he thought his gill tats were shocking.

"Ready?" She asked, pulling him out of his musings. He felt the back of his neck heat up before he nodded and motioned for her to follow him to his car. He half turned before he heard her gasp and turned to see what she was gawking at. He followed her line of sight and saw her openly staring (more like drooling) at his car. It was 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454, painted a dark iridescent blue, with white racing stripes over the hood. He chuckled and gently nudged her forward, letting out a few laughs as she raced forward to get a better look. He was glad her family had a covered driveway, otherwise the rain would've ruined her outfit (whoa, why did he suddenly care about that?), but then again, he was kinda curious about whether or not her outfit would cling to her if wet. The minute that thought crossed his mind, the heat returned to his neck and face, and he had to duck his head down before she caught a glimpse of it. He would never live it down.

As Sakura admired his car, he walked to the passenger side and opened the door for her. She threw him a smile in return, before gingerly getting in. He smirked at that, grateful that she was careful about the inside of his car. Most people would just hop in and throw their shit anywhere; that was the main reason why he hardly ever offered rides to people unless he knew they would be respectful.

"Your car is amazing!" Sakura gushed as he climbed in and got it started. He felt smug when his baby roared to life, startling Sakura. She laughed at herself before buckling in, and he pulled out of her driveway. He kept the radio down, not really caring for the morning show of the station he had flipped to, it was mostly just to fill the silence while they drove. Every couple seconds, he would glance at Sakura mostly to make sure she wasn't screwing around with anything (he would swear up and down it wasn't to check her out, nope, definitely not) and found that he couldn't shake the urge to put his arm behind her seat and pull her closer to him (he thanked the car gods that the seats were bench style) just so he could feel her against him. He mentally shook his head, wondering where the hell these thoughts were coming from, there was no way he was that attracted to her. (Kisame apparently loved to lie to himself, something about living in denial was too good for him.)

The ride to school was quiet the entire time, not because they had to nothing to talk about, but because they enjoyed just sitting with each other and being in their presence. Sakura crossed her legs at one point, drawing Kisame's attention to her tat. He got a better glimpse of it and was impressed by the details. Something about it told him that it held significance to her, and he was curious.

"What does it mean?" He asked softly, catching her attention. She looked down at what he was talking about and grinned when she saw her tat. She turned so he could get a better look, inadvertantly showing Kisame more leg than she intended. Suddenly, his throat felt very dry. He swallowed, and made sure to keep his eyes on the road so his mind wouldn't wander.

"I got it during summer break, right after I found out I was coming back here. I knew I wasn't going to never see my friends again, but something about the move felt like things would be different. So, after talking it over with my parents for weeks, they finally relented in letting me get this as a way to remember my friends." She explained, smiling to herself. Kisame liked it when she smiled like that, full of happiness and warmth. "The Koi represents Juugo, since he's nothing but a gentle giant. It's red to represent Karin, I made sure it was the same color as her hair, and the old school waves represent Suigetsu, since he's from the coast and practically lives in the water."

"And the cherry blossoms represent you," he finished for her, to which she nodded. He smirked, thinking that her friends were lucky to have her dedicate such an impressive tattoo to them. He hoped to meet them one day, especially this Juugo figure, since she said they were a lot a like.

Before they knew it, they were parking in the school parking lot and the downpour had calmed to a light drizzle. Sakura unbuckled and was about to get out, when Kisame grabbed her wrist. She stopped and turned to him, curious as to why he would do this. He just stared at where he was holding her wrist, just as curious as she was.

"Sorry," he muttered before letting go, and turned his car off. Sakura looked at him, taking notice of how his shirt practically hugged his biceps and chest. There was nothing left to the imagination, hell, she could even see the faint outline of his washboard abs. Suddenly she wanted to know if they felt as rock hard as they looked. Blushing, she quickly turned away from him. But unfortunately for her, he had noticed the way she had been staring at him and the sudden blush. He smirked and when he noticed her glancing at him from the corner of her eye, he flexed his arms and chucked a little at how she followed the movement. He decided to test how far he could go before she got annoyed.

He reached out and grabbed her wrist again, this time tugging on it so she would have to scoot over to him. Sakura glared daggers at him, hating how her blush was clearly giving her away. It wasn't her fault he was so damn handsome, nor was it her fault that he had the body of a Greek god! No, it was clearly not her fault that she was reacting to him the way a normal teenage girl would. He gave her a predatory smirk, making sure to show off his sharp canines.

"Kisame," the way she said his name caused his blood to rush in a not so unpleasant way. It was soft and breathy, so unlike how she normally said his name. It was in this moment, that Kisame finally, begrudingly, acknowledged his attraction to her (it only took him four and a half weeks).

AN: I'M BACK BITCHES!

Please let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas, please let me know!

Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger.