The party was buzzing and Ino had just made the announcement a while back, clearing up any confusion about Sakura being pregnant. Naruto was on his fifth shot and was louder than his usual self if that was possible.

"I assure you I can still beat you, even if am drunk." he whined.

Gaara smirked at the blonde and just moved away.

"Hey!" Naruto was almost offended by the lack of reaction when Hinata pulled him away while Temari chuckled next to the couple.

Ino and Sakura sat in a corner sipping their drinks. Sakura could feel the buzz in her head now and was slowly loosening up, while Ino next to her kept grumbling about how she was now forced to have juice.

Slowly Sakura stood up and looked around the room; no glimpse of onyx hair and Sharingan wielding onyx eyes.

'He might not even bother turning up.' she thought to herself as she moved over to the makeshift dance floor to join the others. Tenten grabbed Sakura to the middle and called for Ino to join them. Soon they were all swinging with no care for anything in the world. Ino had pulled in an awkward Sai to join her while Choji danced around them with a bowl of chips in his hands.

Gradually all the guys joined them, but everyone constantly had to stay wary of Naruto's bursts of excitement, lest he hit someone with his flailing arms and legs.

Sakura soon found herself giggling at Naruto's antics with Gaara who danced next to her. He motioned for her to join him in a very uncertain manner, but Sakura had made up her mind about finding new choices so she almost immediately said yes. By the time the song changed, the duo was dancing away happily.

Sasuke had just entered a while back and after congratulating the couple had gone to stand in a corner and pretend to brood like usual, until he noticed Sakura in her navy dress. The colour of the dress reminded him of the night sky when everything in the forest is pitch black yet the stars bedazzle the night. Her skin looked even more creamy and radiant despite its paleness and her blush pink tresses stood starkly against the deep blue. Everything about her tonight was exceptional. She looked sexy, stunning and beautiful. Sasuke would never admit it to anyone, even himself, that he was checking her out. But there were some things he couldn't help when it came to his former teammate.

The next thing that caught his eye immediately put him in a sour mood. Gaara.

Gaara was dancing too close to Sakura, he noticed. While Sasuke stood there giving them a death glare, Gaara said something to Sakura that made her giggle while she sipped her drink.
Sasuke did not like this one bit. He did not like how Gaara stood so close to her, almost touching her. Nor did he like how happy she looked with him.

'She should be like that only with me, Goddamit.' he thought and immediately flinched at his sudden chain of thoughts. He was alien to the notion of jealousy. All his life he had never been jealous of anyone, he simply resented them for having what he didn't, family and love. But now he may have finally understood what it meant to feel jealous of another.

He made his way towards the makeshift bar and poured himself a neat shot of whiskey. He would need something to keep his temper in check if he were to survive the night.

"Sasuke-kun you came!" Sakura exclaimed happily from behind him. Her excited tone put him at ease, but just as he turned he saw that Gaara stood next to her, holding her hand securely in his.

Gaara greeted him with a curt nod and Sasuke returned the same before making a move to leave when suddenly, out of nowhere, Sakura stood in front of him.

"Wouldn't you ask me to dance Sasuke-kun?" Sakura's tone gave away the fact that the blunt question took a clear amount of liquid courage on her part.

Sasuke looked at her but before he could say anything, Gaara came and stood next to her as if staking a claim.

"Sasuke-kun you never bother with anything!"

"Hn." was all he said.

"Fine." said a pissed Sakura as she turned on her heel and left, dragging a surprised Gaara back to the dance floor with her.

Ino saw the entire exchange but chose to stay mum. This wasn't the time to go speak with the fuming Uchiha, clearly. But that didn't mean she couldn't meddle with things. Right?

Soon she changed the song to a raunchy number and waited for the drama to unfurl.

"Hey Forehead! I bet you can't do any sexy moves on a guy on this song or the next!" Ino said to the pinkette who looked at her with a confused face.

"Of course I can you Pig!"

"Oh really? Who will you show it on? Sasuke?"

"Yeah right. I don't want to waste my talent on a block of ice. Just look and learn Ino Pig."

With that, she chugged down her shot of tequila and swayed back to the dance floor, facing Gaara.

"Watch and learn." she shouted back to Ino as she started by putting her arms around Gaara's neck who stood there completely confused and dazed. As the song went on and the beats dropped to a sensuous pace, Gaara could practically feel himself harden as Sakura started grinding him. He knew she was oblivious to the effect that she was having on him, so he tried to put in some distance between them. But Sakura was having none of his gentlemanly ways and turned around to rub her back against his chest while her hands played with his hair and her ass moved along the apex of his legs.

Sasuke had been watching her and she was the sole reason he wanted to leave but hadn't left till now. He couldn't stomach her behaviour with Gaara, no matter how drunk she was. He could feel a strange need to drag her away from here and had been trying to chalk it up to his irrational drunk thoughts to keep his temper in check.

But the moment she started grinding her ass against him, Sasuke saw red. Literally.

Within a second, he stood in front of her with the Sharingan activated in his eyes. He grabbed her by her arm and dragged her away.

"What on earth do you think you are doing!?" She screamed at him as he managed to drag her outdoor to Ino and Sai's patio.

"I am making sure you stop doing obscene things."

"What do you mean by that Uchiha? I was just dancing." The use of his last name and her tone meant she was in a lethal mood now and would not be contradicted.

"You were grinding. Not dancing." he said looking away from her pointed gaze.

She moved around him to stare into his eyes. She was still a bit shorter than him in heels and had to look up to make eye contact.

"I wasn't obscenely grinding as you so put. Most people were doing the same thing. Stop all of them in that case. What's the hypocrisy?"

"At least they are all couples and not random ninja acquaintances."

That seemed to be the last straw. Suddenly her eyes flared up and all her alcohol induced high went away.

"So are Gaara and I for all you know Uchiha. Not like you give any fucks about who I am seeing or sleeping with." She spat out as she turned around to leave.

"So he is the one you wished would be the father of your phantom child."

That stopped her in her tracks.

"I wished for no such thing." She said in a much quieter yet stoic voice. Her tone of voice reminded him of his own; unfeeling and unyielding.

"Didn't seem like that. So are you seeing him now or was it him all this while behind our backs?" He had no idea where were the sudden bitter replies were coming from.

He made it sound like she had lied to all of them or backstabbed him. It was just one pathetic dance for the sake of Ino's bet and yet here she stood being accused of going behind everyone's back to date him. Then the thought that struck her made her increasingly uncomfortable. Sasuke sounded bitter and jealous.

"It was just a dance. I owe you no explanation but if I were to date a man like him, I would proudly tell the world. I don't believe in hiding things, unlike some people. And unlike some people, if I have a problem with my friend being with someone I don't approve of, I would talk to them before I accuse them. It's not like you have any right to ask me anything Uchiha. You cared for me while I recovered and for that am thankful, but you have made it plenty clear that you don't care for me more than a team mate so please, just respect that boundary and don't make it more difficult than it has to be."

Sasuke stood there stunned. He felt like someone had slashed him with a burst of Chidori through his heart.

"And stop trying to make it sound like Gaara is staking some sort of claim when you have none."

With that and a loud slam of the door, she walked back in.

Sasuke stood there feeling anger well up within him. Anger that stemmed from the knowledge that he knew she was right and the fact that he knew he had no claim on her and confusion about the fact that he wanted to be the only one to have any claim on his pinkette.

In his mind he had already claimed her, he realised. He had just called her his.

(A/N)

Extremely sorry for the delay but work is really getting to me and my health hasn't been that great either. Sigh

On a brighter note, I started publishing my writing on Instagram and for updates about any of my stories and to read my daily writings you can find me on Facebook on my page 'Mirthfully Morbid' and my Instagram handle

Do let me know what you think!

XOXO

MM