-Dreaming of Petals-
By: Applesofwrath
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: Naruto is property belonging to Masashi Kishimoto. Neither am I claiming any of Naruto's content nor writing a fanfic for profit. Please don't sue me and support the actual release.
"Say cheese!"
Hyuuga Hanabi clicked the button on her digital camera at the group of St. Arabella's students all gathered in the back garden of the Uchiha mansion. They stood in a line across the garden—all eight couples. The men stood in their tuxedos behind their date, with their arms around their date's waist. The women all placed their hands over their dates, secure in an intimate and picture-perfect pose. They had their bodies slanted towards the view of the camera, to capture the group in pictures, but enough to show their heels, dress color and style, hairstyles, and corsages.
Once the group gave the camera's flash their best smile, they talked amongst themselves, suggesting individual pictures of each couple. Uchiha Sasuke still held onto Sakura's hand, that had a lovely violet orchid corsage on the wrist. Sasuke brought Sakura's hand to his lips, and kissed them gently.
"You look flawless," Sasuke complimented, holding his girlfriend close. Sakura just starred up into Sasuke's dark eyes and smiled,
"Thank you. You look quite handsome, yourself," Sakura returned.
Its been almost a month since the two have been dating. It was how the typical new, exciting stage of relationship went—long hours spent constantly with one another, constant kissing, constant holding hands, etc. Popular heartthrob Uchiha Sasuke dating salutatorian, nerd Haruno Sakura was quite the surprise of the year for St. Arabella's students. And as Ino predicted, Matsui Karin never failed to give Sakura the jealous and bitter glare when passing each other in the hall and the never rending bashing of the pink haired beauty. But Sakura didn't care—she was falling fast for Sasuke and could care less what the psycho bitch thought.
The parents stood across from the students, with the mothers holding their cameras trying to capture pictures of their own children. They too, would talk amongst themselves, the usual small talk about how life was going, how their business was going, etc.
Haruno Tsubaki and Nadeshiko then made their way through the crowd of parents and kids over to their daughter, the sore thumb among the crowd with her pink hair. Sakura turned to her parents, and a smile spread over her face. Her dress was a lovely, vibrant tint of turquoise that was single-strapped and reached her mid-thighs that showed off her long slender, fair legs. She wore pale gray pumps that had a three inch heel. She wore no necklace, but she had gray pearl earrings and a matching pearl ring on her right ring finger. The look was finished with a low, sophisticated bun.
"Mom! Dad!" Sakura called, as she walked over to them. Sasuke followed after her and stood close behind her.
Nadeshiko held her daughter's hands in glee, "my darling daughter, you look so beautiful!" Tsubaki just nodded and Sakura laughed, "thanks mom." The harunos then turned to Sasuke, who stood there, waiting for his chance to talk to Sakura's parents. Tsubaki held out a hand which Sasuke shook firmly,
"Ah Sasuke!" Tsubaki greeted warmly, "looking sharp," he complimented. Sasuke nodded, "Thank you, sir." Tsubaki then commented,
"Make sure this girl doesn't drink too much," Tsubaki joked, which caused Sakura to groan, "Daaaaadddd!" Sasuke just nodded and grinned, "Will do, sir." Sakura then joined in their conversation,
"Dad, you know I don't drink," Sakura pointed out with a pouty face.
"Pahh... Right," Tsubaki teased, "I swear, kids these days are so wild." Nadeshiko, who stood and listened then clung to her husband's arm,
"Dear, you were quite the hoodlum back when you were Sakura's age," Nadeshiko pointed out. At this, Sakura just starred at her dad, with Sasuke, listening in on the interesting turn of conversation.
Nadeshiko continued, "Remember the old days when you and I would sneak into Inuzuka Tsume's backyard and skinny dip in her pool?" At this Tsubaki just laughed and sighed at his wife, "good times..." They turned to face Sakura and Sasuke who looked with shock on their faces and looking completely grossed out. Nadeshiko couldn't resist,
"... It gets better too, when Tsume caught you," Nadeshiko taunted. Tsubaki decided to explain himself,
"I was standing on the diving board, ready to jump in but Tsume stepped outside and saw me, like some deer in the headlights with my hands trying to hide-" An 'ewww' from the two horrified high school students stopped Tsubaki, who just roared in laughter at his kid's reaction. It registered to the two younger kids before Haruno Tsubaki could finish. Sakura just held her ears and Sasuke just had his jaws on the ground. The adults just laughed at their successful attempt to gross out the kids. Tsubaki turned to his wife,
"...And you. You grabbed your clothes and jumped the fence then ran away. And I got all the blame," he accused. Nadeshiko just teehee'd and gave her husband a quick kiss on the lips.
Their bonding time came to an end, when Uchiha Fugaku, clad in his expensive gray giorgio armani suit, with his hands in his pockets, approached Haruno Tsubaki.
"Its been a long time, Haruno-san," Fugaku held out a hand, with Tsubaki quickly took with a large smile.
"Fugaku! How have you been? Business going well?" Tsubaki greeted happily. Sasuke, just couldn't help but ask,
"You two know each other?" Sasuke inquired. Sakura just looked as if she wanted to ask the same thing. Tsubaki just smiled at his junior,
"Yes, Fugaku and I go way back in college. We were in a frat together." It was Sakura's turn to ask,
"Dad... You were in a frat?" Tsubaki just nodded, and stood next to Fugaku, who didn't seemed to like being close to Tsubaki but didn't pull away.
"Me and brother, Fugaku were quite the party animals in college," Tsubaki admitted as if it was nothing and all in the past, but Fugaku just cleared his throat, trying to keep a serious and professional demeanor. His intimidating front threatened. Tsubaki then continued, unaware that Fugaku wasn't liking the current topic of conversation,
"Fugaku, you were quite a character when drunk. You did some pretty funny shit when wasted," Tsubaki commented. At this, Fugaku just cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. Sasuke snorted, which earned him a glare from his father. Wanting to torture his father, Sasuke kept pressing the topic,
"So... What kinda stuff did my dad do?" Sasuke asked in a fake and innocent, but curious voice. Finally, Fugaku spoke up before Tsubaki could answer and go into horrifying detail,
"It was good seeing you again, Haruno-san. Goodbye," Fugaku abruptly said, and then excused himself from the crowd, not willing to stay in a spot where he will have to hear what Tsubaki could tell them. Sasuke just chuckled, and Sakura smiled at her date.
Ino stood at the step ladder to the hummer limo and yelled at her group members, "Guys! Let's go! We have an appointment at Bellucci's Little Italy in thirty minutes!" At this, the rest of the group gathered to enter the hummer. Sai turned to his girlfriend, "shall we go in?" Ino just nodded and Sai followed her in.
The parents waved goodbye to their children as the limo began to carry them out of the Uchiha driveway. Once the limo was out of the neighborhood, the parents stood outside the mansion, wondering what to do next. Uchiha Mikoto whistled at everyone for attention,
"Let's have our own party!" Mikoto clapped her hands to together in enthusiasm. The parents of the eight couples cheered in agreement and ran into the mansion, leaving Mikoto, her husband, and a maid outside in the dust. Mikoto turned to a nearby maid,
"Aneko, make sure our guest have full access to our wine cellar the basement along with any alcohol in the house," Mikoto instructed, handing her maid some keys. The maid nodded and scuttled inside. Once alone, Mikoto wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and starred up at him.
"Honeybear, Sasuke won't be home tonight..." Mikoto flirted suggestively. Fugaku looked sternly at his wife, "I have some work to do in my office." At this, Mikoto pouted, but then grinned,
"What a great suggestion," Mikoto said with a evil smile, "Let's get started on that paperwork!" She grabbed her husband's hand and quickly lead him inside their home, with Fugaku dragged behind her.
"I think we are far away enough," Matsuri carefully pulled her head back into the limo, without messing up her hair, closed the window, and turned to Ino. Everyone in the limo watched for what their blond queen bee would do next. The group sat on a long, circular leather seat that surrounded the inner walls of the limo, sitting with their date.
Ino opened a nearby cooler and pulled out some glasses and a bottle of chardonnay. Bottles were passed around and soon, everyone felt their bodies relax and constant conversation went on. Naruto toasted loudly with a smiling Hinata. Neji and Tenten just sat awkwardly next to each other, but Tenten grabbed a glass and started chugging it out of nervousness. Matsuri was flirting shamelessly with Gaara who didn't seem to mind her. Temari layed her head on Shikamaru's shoulder, looking at peace. Ayumi and Kiba were having good laughs, since they were just going as friends. Hideo had a hard time keeping his hands off Karin, who just hissed at him to piss off. Ino and Sai were already making out in the back.
Naruto groaned at the two going at it, "Can't you two wait until we get to the hotel?" Ino and Sai stopped what they were doing and turned to the annoyed blond. Ino retorted back at the grossed out Naruto,
"Uzumaki, I paid for this limo. I'll do what I want on these chairs," with that, the two returned to what they were doing.
Sasuke and Sakura who passed on the drinks, just held hands and enjoyed a quiet, intimate moment together, anticipating the dance. Sasuke whispered into Sakura's ear,
"Let's have fun tonight, okay?" Sakura just nodded in agreement.
Dinner at Bellucci's Little Italy was delicious. It was Sakura's first time dinning at the exquisite restaurant that stood on top of a high building overlooking the downtown area. The view was a wonderful feature to the restaurant's environment along with the dim lights and and vines covering the columns of the restaurant. A good choice of dinning indeed.
The limo was almost at it's main destination, St. Arabella's alumni hall. When the group entered the room, they gazed at the well-done decoration: lavender wildflowers surrounded the columns and walls of the room with plum colored ribbons. There was a table of chocolate fondu, fruit, desserts, fruit punch and other drinks (which always ended up spiked by the seniors. The school committee just turn a blind eye each time). There were round tables decorated with white tablecloths for those who are done slow dancing and need a rest or those who wanted to eat and relax. The group all went their own ways, but agreed to meet up at the end of the formal to crash at a hotel in downtown. Sasuke and Sakura stood there in the hallway, remaining.
Sasuke turned to Sakura, "C'mon, let's dance," he simply said. Sakura looked puzzled at him,
"What's wrong?"
"Ahh... Nothing, I just don't know how to ballroom dance," Sakura admitted. Sasuke took her hand,
"You'll be fine. I'll teach you," Sasuke pulled a non-resisting Sakura toward the dance floor, "what's the worst that could happen?" Sasuke joked, "You're going to step on my foot?" Sakura gave him a sly look,
"Okay, but I'm not responsible for your injuries..."