Love Bite.

Chapter 10:

And if you leave here
You leave me broken, shattered I lie
I'm just a crosshair
I'm just a shot then we can die

- Franz Ferdinand

Contrary to popular belief, where the heroine feels slightly sick in the stomach with the amount of nervous butterflies in her stomach before an event such as the one the Uchiha's were hosting, Sakura wasn't at all fazed. Actually, scratch that… it wasn't that she was undisturbed with the situation of seeing Sasuke and his family, it was more that she couldn't feel anything.

Her brain was numb and she had lost all feeling in her fingers, legs and somewhere to the left side of her chest.

Yes, it was the night of the Uchiha family's 'thing' – aka, their annual ball in honor of the children's hospice. It was a great cause, but just another lame excuse to get a little Cognac down and pretend that you're drunk enough to start dancing on the tables…

Itachi was going to be picking her up at around 8, but not only was she already ready by 7, but she had also time to be sipping a glass of orange juice, reading a little bit of Jane Eyre and reapply her make-up about 3 times. It was called 'keeping busy'. Sasuke and Sakura hadn't talked since then; had she gotten over him? Maybe, perhaps, possibly, erm, no. Was she ever going to admit to herself that she hadn't gotten over him? Never.

She reasoned that she was a strong, independent woman, much like Beyonce, but she just couldn't find it within her to stop caring and thinking about him.

The door knocked at exactly 8pm, plus or minus 1 minute. But the point is, Itachi was here. Sakura pranced to get the door, slamming her Jane Eyre hard-back shut.

"Hi," she said smoothly, greeting Itachi with a breathtaking smile. He stood at the door with a handsome black tuxedo and held out a bouquet of pink peonies with a small smirk that graced his flawless, nigh on godly features. After her comment at the theatre, she was surprised that he had still decided to take her to the ball. He really was understanding and oh-so-handsome.

"Aww, you're sweet," she said with a small amused smile, taking the bouquet and placing it neatly in a vase by the door - her parents had predicted the flowers, thus placed their favorite Wedgewood vase ready with water and flower fertilizer conveniently on a table. Peonies were secretly her favorite flower, but she thought it would be too cliché for her to mention it…

"You look stunning, Sakura," Itachi commented, flicking his eyes over her form. She went all out with her outfit: her dress was vintage Oscar de la Renta from her doting mother, and yes, she would be killed if she ruined it in any way. It was a sheer white shift dress, with three-quarter length sleeves and a gorgeous, simple floral pattern. Her hair was in an intricate up-do that would suit the formalities well, and on her feet were a pair of glass slippers – well, okay, kidding. They were not quite Cinderella, but very close: a pair of Jimmy Choo's that she yet again, borrowed from her mother. Her parents were absolutely thrilled that she had been invited to the Uchiha's annual ball, which is the reason why Sakura kicked her parents out of the house so they wouldn't make a fuss when Itachi Uchiha showed up at their door.

Itachi held out his hand and escorted her to a chauffeur-driven car, in which she gracefully slid in. The car journey was awkwardly silent, with the occasional small talk here and there.

But then Itachi asked a question she didn't really want to answer: "Are you ready to talk to Sasuke?"

Sakura swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. Earlier she had felt nothing, but now that the reality had hit her, a wave of anxiety attacked her body. "I thought I was… but now I'm only just realizing how much it hurts." She looked up at him in embarrassment; admitting to something like that was hard.

He gave her a sympathetic look, but it didn't last long until the car smoothly stopped and the car door was opened by the chauffeur. "We're here, Sir," the chauffeur politely said in an upper-class English accent, dipping his hat low in respect.

"Thank you, Jenkins," Itachi replied, addressing the old driver by his last name. As Sakura got out as well, Itachi curled her arm around his and walked into the grand hall looking like glamorous A-listers.

The ballroom was situated in a large mansion that the Uchiha's had rented out for the evening and early morning. It was spacious and elegant, with a high ceiling, water-color paintings and flowers dotted everywhere. Only half an hour in, and there were already couples twirling round the room to Mozart being played by the small group of violinists.

Sakura, however, was dragged by Itachi to 'meet the parents'. On the first date – not so cool… Well, if you could call it a 'date'.

"Mother, Father, this is Sakura Haruno," Itachi introduced with a friendly, slightly unfamiliar, smile to his parents.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," his father said, in a rather stiff, business-like tone.

However, his mother was much more open, and put on a caring, maternal smile. "When Itachi told us he was bringing someone tonight, we hadn't expected a girl so pretty such as yourself," she complimented, to which Sakura cringed slightly in modesty. "Such a beautiful date you have, Itachi."

But Sakura had to stop her right there. "Oh! We're not-"

And that's where Itachi came back into the equation. "Yes, she is quite beautiful, isn't she, Mother?" He looked at her with his eyebrows raised, and gave her a deep knowing look, that said something along the lines of 'go along with it'.

Sakura silently gritted her teeth. She didn't want any misunderstandings, but Itachi was sure making that hard for her…

His parents excused themselves to talk to other guests, before Itachi turned to face her with a sincere look on his face. "I know what you're thinking – we're not here as dates, but my parents wouldn't have accepted anything le-…"

His voice trailed off suddenly, and his eyes weren't so focused on her anymore, but something behind her instead. She looked around in confusion, until her breath hitched and she whipped back round again, as if her eyes had been burnt.

He was here! And he wasn't exactly alone. He walked into the grand hall with 2 other girls latched onto each of his arms, resembling a low-key pimp. His suit wasn't exactly purple with fur trimmings, but a simple D&G black tux, but the way in which he walked into the room was slightly overdramatized. Everybody sensed his strong presence and turned to see the infamous Uchiha in flesh. Sakura could see from the corner of her eye, his father rolling his eyes and looking positively fed up by his son's behavior.

However, Sasuke didn't let the intense moment get to him, as he let his eyes wonder around the room with one of his annoyingly arrogant, yet supremely handsome, smirks – that was until he spotted that familiar head of pink hair amongst the crowd. His gaze drifted towards her and her eyes instantly widened. They held their stares for a few seconds, but he was the first to break it. He turned his eyes to the floor, as an unknown, unfamiliar feeling washed over him.

She quickly diverted her gaze in embarrassment, as her cheeks flushed bright pink. Seeing Sasuke again brought her back to that mortifying moment of weakness on the school roof. The feeling was overwhelming and she already felt the tears coming back to her eyes. In the blurring of the moment, she could only faintly hear Itachi's soft voice, but nothing was processing except for 'get out of here now!'

In those few seconds, she experienced the inexplicable suffocation of forgetting how to breathe. Therefore, she hightailed out the room, with her dress partially flowing behind her and her make-up on the verge of slipping down her face. What a glamorous exit!

The doors out of the ballroom flew open but no one had their attention diverted to the girl that ran out. Instead it was on the guy who followed after her.

She had run out of the mansion altogether and now stood on the steps at the front entrance. Her legs could barely keep themselves up and her breathing was ragged with telltale signs of being on the edge of crying. She hadn't meant for things to get so emotional, and so theatrical, but when faced with Sasuke again, she just couldn't contain it. It was stupid of her to have even of come, and she found that out the hard way.

But as she was dwelling on her actions, she didn't hear the footsteps that were hurriedly coming closer. The person was running after her, and when he got near enough to touch her, he reached out a hand and pulled on her slender arm. She whipped around so fast that it took her a few good seconds for her to process that it was Sasuke Uchiha standing before her.

His hair was slightly disheveled from running, but despite that, he still looked as handsome as ever. But she hadn't mentally prepared herself for a face-to-face meeting so soon, which caused her to have a loss of speech and a slight internal panic attack.

"Y-You," Sasuke's voice shook with nerves at first, but he cleared his throat abruptly, closed his eyes for a second and tried again with more confidence, "You look beautiful, Sakura…"

Sakura didn't know what to say. So she decided to say nothing at all and instead took a deep breath in and back out, as to calm her growing nerves.

Under a dark moon-lit sky and amongst the fantasy fairy lights weaved around the building that they stood before, Sasuke had never been fully aware of the fact that 'what if Sakura didn't want to talk'. There was an awkward pause of silence, and Sasuke didn't know if he had said the right thing… But Sasuke knew that unless he could say those 3 small words, 8 syllables, starts with 'I', and ends with 'love you', Sasuke would always say the wrong thing.

Sakura couldn't tell what he was thinking but the number of different expressions that flit across his face was uncountable.

He went for the easiest way to express his feelings, albeit with a bit of stuttering… "Sakura… I'm so sorry. I mean, I really, really like you – no."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. He was still too chicken to say it. But, wait…

"No, actually, I really do think I love you…" His brows furrowed. It sounded right on his tongue, except for one teeny, tiny detail.

"Say it again, Sasuke…" Sakura asked, looking into his eyes for the truth.

He recited his line with more confidence. "I think I love you."

Sasuke didn't get what Sakura was getting out. So she repeated her requisition with a small, amused smile now adorning her dainty features. She cupped his cheeks lightly and stood on tip-toes to rise to his height. "You just 'think'…?" she hinted and raised her eyebrow with a light hilarity.

Ah, he caught on to her rather obvious hint. He smiled back at his own obliviousness and looked to the ground for a moment to find the right footing. "Okay, take three," he said, with amusement. "Sakura Haruno… I love you. So, erm… will you be my… girlfriend?" he asked, abashed and pink with embarrassment. He had never committed to a full-time relationship, and he knew that it was slightly out-of-the-blue, but he understood that a relationship with Sakura was going to be different.

Not only was saying the correct 3 words of affection spreading a huge grin across her face, the question to be Sasuke's girlfriend just sent her world spiraling into a world of joy.

She nodded her head as a sign to say 'yes', with a happiness that she hadn't felt in a while. He loved her! They were surely making history: the last time she checked, Uchiha's very rarely love.

He smiled at her and pecked her lightly on the nose. But as their foreheads were touching, he reached in for a breathtaking kiss on her supple lips that made her breath hitch.

Yes, under the moon, the stars and the gods, on the steps of the front porch of a fantasy mansion, with fairy lights glowering like fireflies, Sakura had one of her ultimate cliché stories become a reality. And boy, did she feel like the luckiest girl in the world, and him, the luckiest boy in the universe.

:/ Was it all a bit quick and hurried, or was it okay? I was trying to prolong them getting together for a little bit longer, but i knew readers would soon get a bit impatient...

My christmas wish: to find a suitable guy and to live a fairy tale... wishful thinking gets you nowhere though. Sigh, how depressing.