Late Revenge Chapter 10, a naruto fanfic

nightDREAMERms: Hello peeps!!!! Ok first of all I need to thank SpeedDemon315 for the idea with Zetsu, I was stuck on what to do for him. I won't be using your exact plan but… you'll see! And I wanted to add the information about Zetsu's "abilities" so it would make enough sense for Sakura to not automatically accept his mannerisms, although when she was younger she did because, when you're little you don't really know a lot of things and she didn't think much or long on the subject.

Random thingy about me:

Something that I love to do when I'm bored. FAKE SLEEP!!! It's hilarious (for me) and annoying (to others). Actually this takes a lot of practice to be able to do right. You got to control your breathing (deeper than normal and at a constant pace), not gulp(if you HAVE to you got to do it very discreetly), and not react to any loud sounds or random actions by your surroundings. At the same time you got to be able to detect the slightest movement of people around, detecting vibrations through the floor and such, and make sure your "sleep" is as close to normal as possible. No "I fell sound asleep in one minute crap." You can't even smirk at the others conversations around you, so much as a flinch of the eyelid will expose you. All these things also help you detect when other people are Fake sleeping as well. Another thing you gotta have is patience (which, I'll tell you now, I have little of; but will conjure some for a good cause), sometimes it can take more than hour for someone to finally notice you. But the best part is when your friends or random strangers try to wake you from your "deep slumber". Some of the stuff they did made me wanna end the prank right then and there just to LMAO. (Friend: OMFG! SHE WON'T WAKE UP!!!!! IS SHE DEAD??!; Or the more popular(and what happened last time to me), Friend: -slaps you- Yep, definitely out of it. You:-kicks back when he's turned away- Friend: WTF?!)All in all, it's really fun to do and somehow also helps you in controlling your emotions. So far only one thing has actually awoken me correctly from that is … something about someone…

Okay! It was when one of my brother's friends(the same one who gave me his stupid cold!) whispered in my ear, "Hot naked Itachi". I woke up because I HAD to laugh; it was so Random!!! But of course they all thought I woke up because, I wanted to see… so now they all think.. -YOU KNOW WHAT START THE STUPID STORY!

"talking"

'thinking'

'Inner Sakura'

'Zetsu's lighter side'

And of course the normal out-of-the-norm text will be capitalized, bolded, or italicized. (i.e. flashbacks, volume, sarcasm, emphasis, etc.)

Late Revenge: Chapter Ten

POP!

Slurp… slurp…

POP!

Sakura licker her lips as her hand traveled under her desk to crush itself against her groaning stomach. She had skipped breakfast, as always. And was now extremely hungry as she had been the day before… and the day before that…. And a few days before that… it was really really starting to add up now.

"You know you wanna give me some of that." she ordered, reaching her hand out.

Ino leaned back away from her pink -haired friend, twirling the apple green lollipop in her mouth.

Pop!

"Now, why would I wanna do that?" she asked in a sing-song voice, swinging the candy in front of her back and forth; taunting her.

Sakura's lime-colored eyes followed the tasty item eagerly. "'Cause I'm you're very best friend and totally deserve it?" she pleaded. Her stomach growled in protest and she tightened the hand against her abdomen.

Ino stuck the lollipop halfway in her mouth so that when she talked it was in a smushy language but still audible. "Deserve it, huh?" she repeated as if processing her words before giving the emerald candy a lick.

She pulled the stick off her lips and pointed it at Sakura, frowning, "While you were off working on your-whatever, I had to run from this classroom to the parking lot and back, carrying tons of class stuff, nine times, Sakura! Do you know how far that is? And of course my class-partner who was supposed to help me with these chores wasn't there! Showing up fifteen minutes before the period's over instead."

Sakura cringed at her berating tone. She had forgotten about chore-day; the day they ran errands for teachers during class, and were normally rewarded by teachers with candy(which they were allowed to eat in class). Well sorry she hadn't been really thinking about it when she was running away from a death-wanting Sakura. She had managed to make it to class with only a few scrapes and one painful bruise. Ironically, none of these injuries were directly inflicted by Kisame, rather she caused them when trying to run away. Kisame had stopped at the top of the stairs unable to continue due to his fits of laughter at seeing her trip halfway down, which caused the nasty bruise (which still hurt!).

The only forgiving factor about the whole incident was that after he got his mirth under control (she had glared at him the entire way from the second floor platform) he Did offer to help her back up, but she had declined, hoping to regain what was left of her dignity.

Ino took a long slurp of her lollipop before continuing, "You're just lucky that Karin was here to help me."

At the name, Sakura adverted her gaze away from the delicious junk-food and across the room. Her eyes spotted a red-haired girl sucking on a lollipop as well,. Her inner lips were notably stained purple. The girl felt the stare and turned her head directly at her, startling Sakura, a smile spread across her face before she performed her signature ring-twinkling hand-wave.

Sakura stuck her tongue out.

Ino grimaced at the display, "Stop acting so childish, Sakura! Karin helped when it wasn't her day nor responsibility to." she voiced in a serious tone before turning around in her seat and feigning undivided attention to Yume-sensei.

Sakura responded in another raspberry before stubbornly crossing her arms. She wasn't childish! Karin was just evil! Just look at the way she… she… ok she hadn't done anything recently but she was still… KARIN! And that automatically made her evil… right?

Sakura's gaze drifted over to the glasses-bearing girl again. She was innocently copying notes from the board (something Sakura should've of been doing, but wasn't) into her binder with one hand and eating her grape lollipop with the other.

She looked like the normal non-diabolical student.

Sakura inwardly sighed, Karin really hadn't done anything to provoke her or hadn't been rude to her in anyway for a while now. Contrary to that, she had been nothing but welcoming ever since she arrived at Konoha High, however fake it might've been. Though then again, Inner Sakura was known to corrupt her visage (as in the Itachi mission) with emotions. Maybe… she had been just imagining Karin's snide and sarcastic looks…. Maybe… Sasuke had just been two-timing both of them and she was a victim as well! But… didn't have enough self-confidence to break it off with him. She certainly was clingy enough for that… She though back to the first day of school at the end of the day near the gym, the girl had been positively glowing then. Then that would also explain her constant need to be in the limelight.

Although unable to really comprehend the confidence problem Sakura could easily and almost nostalgically understand the intense need for acceptance that had plagued her once before.

Her eyes softened as the girl flicked off the cap of a blue marker. She ignored Inner Sakura's raging disagreements to her speculations. It didn't seem like Karin had any other real friends in her year and only hung around Sakura's group. On top of that she had not entered into the group on the best terms, being the new girlfriend of a boy whose ex was in, and well loved by, said group. Sucky situation.

If that was all true then she had most likely been wrong about Karin all alo-

A quick fwip of paper to her left caught her attention. She allowed her gaze to follow it. There, being held up was a picture:

A large bubble like face, labeled 'Sakura' (along with some other profanic words that will not be recited) with two 'X's for eyes and a squiggly line for a mouth. Above that was a much more nicely drawn girl, giving the peace sign with a smile on her face. In deep blue marker, written diagonally across, was the word 'PWNED!'

Sakura's face faulted and she glanced around the room to see if anyone else had seen what she did, but everyone was preoccupied with their own notions (listening or texting).

Karin smiled (fake) sweetly again and slipped the picture effortlessly into her notebook.

'B-atch it is so on!'Inner Sakura spat.

Forget that previous ramble, Karin was evil incarnate.

Period.

No way.

No freakin' way.

Sakura glared at her blank Akatsuki ring; it was vibrating wildly.

She had JUST finished a task a few hours ago, surely they couldn't want her to perform another one NOW?

Sakura stopped walking and turned around on the spot and glanced on automatic reflex over to the "Akatsuki-Task" hallway. Yep, there was definitely a red and black cloak hidden almost imperceptibly by the shadow that loomed over it.

The Akatsuki must enjoy her pain very much. She let out a frustrated sigh, which earned her attention from her two companions who had been caught up discussing something about Neji and a hat; Tenten was for it, Hinata was against it, and Sakura had been enjoying the two arguing (she especially liked when Hinata had retorted to Tenten's "He'd look good." with "He'd look like a woman!" )

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Tenten questioned, "Why'd you stop?"

"Oh nothing!" Sakura replied, unconsciously moving her hands, which were holding both a textbook and a binder(the same charred one), behind her. "I've just gotta go to the bathroom, I'll meet you guys outside the gym!" she exhaled out in one breath before trotting quite briskly the opposite way.

Hinata's eyes followed her, clouded in confusion, "But isn't the bathroom this w-"

Tenten cut her off with a hand stop sign, the other resting on the tip of her forehead's pressure point, "Yeah, but let's not question her, at least this time she told us she'd be back." she said with a sigh.

Hinata nodded a silent confirmation, before walking ahead. "Ok, also, it doesn't matter what way he wears it, he'll still look like a girl."

Tenten blinked, before figuring out what she was talking about and running after her yelling her dissent.

Sakura glared up at the figure in the darkness, though now close up she could see the dual tone of his skin. Light green and Dark green.

Deciding not to wait for orders, she interrupted him before he could get a word out of his mouth. "I'm not doing anything today. I just finished with Kisame's mission! I can't go on another one, I'm still sore, I'm only human: I need a break. I need to do my classwork. I need to talk to my friends. I NEED TO EAT!" she ended in a rather loud whine, a lot different form the original, unwavering commanding tone she had planned.

The male sent her a blank look, almost as if she hadn't spoken at all. "I wasn't going to say you needed to do anything today. But, frankly, I don't give a- It's okay! Just meet me outside the back entrance of the gymnasium, tomorrow morning!" his tone changed dramatically in mid-sentence, going from dark and uncaring to cheery and upbeat.

The man looked disgruntled at his own reply and left in silent pop.

Sakura was left staring at the space that he had just occupied.

What just happened?

Sakura happily scooped up another spoonful of scrambled eggs. Yum! She had finally decided to eat breakfast…. Actually her mom forced her after noticing that she had been skipping a lot of her meals. Her father had passed away a few months after she was born, so she had grown up only knowingly a mother, but it was okay, they pulled through the rough times. Despite that, her mom had done an amazing job as a single parent. Though she had trouble juggling work and home (she was an attorney) she had always done her best and normally home on weekends, unlike some of her more wealthy friends who almost always had the house to themselves.

Sakura swallowed the food with a gulp of orange juice. "Hey mom, what's MPD?" she asked; in the middle of homework curiosity took over her and she typed in a few words on google that she described Zetsu's odd behavior. MPD was the number one result in relevance.

The brunette woman paused her efforts, looking up as if trying to find the answer, "M..P..D… isn't that the multiple personality disorder?"

"Mmm-hmm…?" Sakura though she saw that underneath the title.

"That's not the actual name of it, but it's the most common, in simple terms it's when a person has one or more split personalities, normally caused to from through a traumatic experience." Her mom had morphed into teacher mode. "Although normally a disorder, in certain areas, such as high-class governmental employees and such are required to develop a version of this disorder to help keep their secrets confidential. You see, if under torture, threat or interrogation, the victim can transfer all the data to their other personality and efficiently keep the information safe. The most major difference between the two is that some of those with the disorder do not know of their alter egos but the developed version allow the person to hear and see what their other-self is doing but not control them. Some clans have been said to have first inspired this but nothing's official." As has been made pretty obvious, Sakura' mom had been working on her medical degree when she had decided to change professions.

"Oh, ok thanks." Sakura replied, picking up a delicious looking strip of crispy bacon, her mother had told her all she had wanted to know and more. Because of the fact that Zetsu could seemingly hear his other self And was part of a secret organization that was renown not just in the school system but throughout the entire city she assumed that he developed it himself.

'That would really suck, having to answer to someone else's actions that lived inside of your head!'

'I can sympathize with that pain."

'… was that a subtle insulttowards me?'

'Huh? What are you talking about? I said nothing.'

"By the way Sakura. I found whatever-this-is in your jeans while doing the laundry."

Sakura's eye's widened as she saw item her mother was holding up. She stood up, snatched it from her hand, and stuffed it in the small front pocket of her book bag in a record three seconds. "Nothing! Nothing at all!" she invoiced, moving backward. "See you later!" she called once she reached the doorway and escaped before her mother could utter another word.

Sakura sighed on her way to the bus stop and correctly zipped up the pocket, making sure beforehand the item had not snagged on the zipper. After concluding that there was no damage she dropped the bag so it hung to her side.

That stupid mask was gonna get her into trouble one day.

"So, last night Bret voted off that girl -shoot! What's her name!- you know the one who-"

"OH CRAP!"

Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, Ino (the Golden Four)… and Karin, were at the front entrance door of the high school they were all assigned to attend, for or against their will. Sakura being a rather apathetic member of the latter group. True, she had just finished enjoying a nice warm breakfast, but the morning air was cool and made her just want to crawl back under her sheets. The added fact that Tenten forced her to keep the window (that brought even more chilly air) open, again, sent her into her current moody state. She had been giving Ten, the main propellant of her misery, the cold shoulder (though it wasn't working very well, because of the fact that she had three other girls to chat with) when her hand connected with the unnaturally warm metal handle. Something seemed to trigger her memory causing her to cry out, unintentionally (or intentionally) interrupting the brunette.

'Zetsu… how the heck did I forget!'

'In a span of about fifteen minutes at that!'

'Not helping.'

"Sakura!" All three other girls with morals (Karin obviously un-included) shouted simultaneously. No doubt, they had been calling her for a while now.

'You zone out too much.'

'Oh really? I wonder whose fault is that!'

Zoning back into her surroundings, Sakura's eyes widened and her hand shot up to stop the palm from connecting with her cheek. "Hey!"

Ino dusted her hand as a grin spread across her face, "Told ya girls. Always works." she explained cheekily.

Sakura was about to tell her off when who-else but Karin decided to cut in with her silky-fake voice.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" she asked. Sakura was surprised she didn't bat her eyelashes too.

"I'm fine." she replied, forcing back a sarcastic reply by gritting her teeth. She turned her attention to the rest of the girls. "I just remembered, I have to…"

See, this is why she needed to remember things, at least five minutes before they happened, so she could come up with a plausible excuse. Coming up with some random event wasn't going to be very believable. Especially, when she had the chance to tell them (or if she was acting really well; whine) about it. Oh well, let's stick with the science project excuse.

"It must've slipped my mind! I have to talk to Kurenai-sensei about my project."

Hinata frowned, "You seem to be very forgetful this year, Sakura-san."

"Yeah, Forehead! What happened to 'Organization is the key'-Sakura?" Ino scoffed.

'I blame the Akatsuki. Bad influences.' Inner Sakura chided and Sakura inwardly rolled her eyes at her other-self's blatant hypocrisy.

"Nothing happened. I must've just got a little sloppy over the summer." Sakura replied with a (nervous) chuckle. "But really, I gotta go." she ended edging away from the door and front entrance. (The east entrance was closest to the science hall.)

Ino sighed and shook her head. "This better be some flipping amazing project, Billboard Brow." she told her before opening the door fully and allowing the rest of the girls to enter. Sakura thought she saw Tenten, the last to enter, send her a knowing look. But figured she was just imagining. Really, what could she know anyways?

'Minder to self: Make a science project'

Of course Sakura didn't really go to the science hall, but instead walked around the entire campus to get to the back side, where the football field, baseball field, and back entrance to the gym was located. It was a long way to walk and suddenly she understood Ino's unhappiness at having to deliver packages to and from the parking lot. But she had prepared herself for this walk and showed up only slightly out of breath to meet Zetsu. However, she wasn't prepared for his "task".

"Y-you want… Shino's bugs?" she asked in a worried tone.

Zetsu standing to the right of the air-conditioning unit nodded stiffly.

Sakura visibly deflated and she hugged the Task-Planner to her chest.
"But he loves them…" she muttered to herself. Shino was always the quietest person (Hinata reigning on close second when near certain people) in the group, even when they were younger and had never done anything (directly, at least) that made her dislike him. For that reason, stealing or pranking him wasn't as appealing as it would be for the other group members. "Can't I just get you…. some bugs from the science lab?" she asked hopefully.

Zetsu's face remained as blank as always, "Thought about that and No - sweety, I need these bugs for my garden."

His voice changed in mid-sentence and it weirded Sakura out a little but she did not comment. Now that she knew what it was, and that you had to be an exceptionally strong person in both physical and mental capabilities to complete the mutation, she wanted to be sure to stay on the right side with him. He could, like, eat her or something!

But the last word of his reply caught her attention, "You have a garden?"

Sakura found herself in a place she was sure did not exist in Konoha High. It was covered in hundreds upon hundreds of flowers. Blues, reds, purples and yellows, hibiscus, lillies, carnations, sunflowers, daisies, tulips! Every flower you could imagine was there. And on the other side she could begin make out some fruits and vegetables growing. There were also trees, oaks, pines, apple, even a willow here and there.

"This place is Huge!" Sakura voiced loudly, spreading her arms wide to express her point. When Zetsu had said he had a garden he was expecting something smaller, that grew next to a wall, not this remake of the Garden of Eden. Her smile, faltered a bit when she noticed the cherry blossom tree placed to her left.

'Lord, they're everywhere.'

But she brightened it up to turn to Zetsu who had the same neutral expression, but this time she could see the hints of pride behind his eyes. "It's so beautiful." she whispered softly, and then kicked it up a notch, "And you say, this is all a part of campus, that no one knows about, except for the Akatsuki? And the school board allows you?"

He nodded once more, "Why else do you think there are two fences surrounding the parking lot instead of just one between the bus lot and it?"

Sakura's mind reeled back to the day when Deidara blew up a part of the fence as a distraction. It was indeed set off to destroy the left side (that connected to where the buses were) and not the right (where Zetsu's secret garden was) when a dual explosion would've most likely made their job easier by providing more time while the others checked the damage from both areas.

She took a second look around the well-cared for garden and a thought donned on her, "It's autumn. Won't most of these plants, you-know Die in a few months?"

The two-toned man stared at her for a moment, as if trying to calculate what she could possibly use the information for. In the end he looked out into the distance. "No. The garden runs solely on my chakra." He spoke in an almost robotic tone.

"All of this? Only your chakra!" she repeated, honestly astounded, as she took a second glance at the garden with even more respect. "Wow, now if the other men on the planet were even half as-

"Oh god. Not another sensitivity talk. Look are you going to get me the bugs or not? Pretty, pretty, please!" That was about the first time, Zetsu(his real side) willingly showed an emotion to her, even though it was annoyance it was still something and calmed her nerves down a bit.

'Well, it's not like I really have a choice.' she answered sarcastically to his question.

"Why do you need them, anyways? I thought bugs were bad for crops." she tried again to persuade him into a different task.

"Which is why I need those bugs." he replied, observing his work once more, "They have already been proved submissible to human contact and orders. A quick jutsu will put them under my command, and my army will be able to kill off all other organisms that try to disturb my garden."

Sakura could practically feel the sweat-building at the back of her head.

Only Akatsuki could turn gardening into a War.

'I can't believe I agreed to do this.'

'You were going to have to get Shino sometime in the pranks. Just think of this as a… earlier revenge. '

'Yeah… but still…-'

'No but's! Concentrate on the mission! Step One:…'

'(sigh), Invite everyone over to my house for a weekend sleepover tonight.'

'Good. Step Two:…'

'Sneak away from the group, after Shino has shedded all bugs from his person for the night.'

'Mmhmm. Step Three:…'

'Steal the bugs and hide them in my clothing pack.'

'Yes!- And looks like it's time for Step One already!'

Sakura's head snapped up, after berating herself for a moment for not paying attention where she was going, she scanned the crowd in front of her and presently found a familiar blonde head.

"Naruto!" Yes, perfect. Naruto would be happy to come to her sleepover and nag anyone else, if they didn't already want to, into coming as well.

"Naruto!!" she called a bit louder and ran to catch up with him, seeing as that he didn't seem to hear her before. Still no response.

When she was literally right behind him she grabbed his elbow and spun the surprised boy around to face her. "What are you, deaf?!" She exclaimed. Surely he must've heard her the third time. Not to mention the fourth and fifth.

Naruto blinked in that "I-have-no-idea-what-you-are-talking-about" way.

Sakura let out a silent sigh, and chose to disregard it. Naruto was Naruto afterall. "Nevermind. Anyhow, I'm thinking of having a sleepover tonight. Wanna come?"

Naruto's oblivious expression turned to one of guilt. Surprising Sakura and causing her to narrow her eyes in suspicion.

"Actually… Sakura. Karin-chan's having a party-sleepover-thing tonight that everyone's kinda going to." he started sheepishly. But when he caught Sakura's stormy eyes he quickly tried to explain himself. "B-but we would've invited you

To come too! If we thought you would come… but it seems like every time we invite you to come somewhere with Karin-chan you decline. But I'm sure you can come too!" he ended with a nervous smile, that was still tied to his face while he ran for dear life from the spot that held the pre-explosive pink-haired girl.

Sakura was pissed. That was true, but not for the reason Naruto thought. She was a little ticked about no being invited as well, (and even more mad that she didn't notice her friends hiding anything from her until that moment) but what irked her the most right now was what he subconsciously said.

He had un-channed her and -channed Karin.

That bastard.

Just because Sakura wasn't from a prestigious clan, did not mean she was ignorant to social rules. She knew that even though Naruto had told her she could come to the party. If she did not formally ask or be invited by the host she would be identified as the "party crasher" .

So, when Sakura took her customary seat next to Ino at the lunch table, those of which had gotten somewhat used to the animosity the rose-hair-colored girls shared, she forced a tight, fraud, almost over-bearing smile. Therefore, Ino winced when she turned to ask her for a napkin. She chose to use Kiba's instead.

As most could easily see, Sakura was not good at faking emotions… at least not for Karin.

'Come on girl smile, Smile! You gotta look like you actually like her- Now SMILE!!!'Inner Sakura coached.

'My face doesn't stretch that far!' even her thoughts sounded strained.

After trying for a couple of more moments Sakura just dropped the "friendly" expression altogether. Karin, as much as she hated to admit, wasn't stupid. She knew she was faking and she probably knew why.

But… it wasn't like she could turn her down without looking bad!… So… Wait. What if she played that whole, 'Sorry you asked too late, I don't have enough supplies' routine. No, she'd have to get Karin to invite her. However impossible that seemed to be.

In anyway, she couldn't just flat out ask about the party. She needed to guide the conversation into that direction.

-Oh Crap.-

She'd have to talk- civily even!- with her.

Hmm… how does one make small talk with thy mortal enemy?

Sakura switched her line of vision to Karin, who since the first of the week, had started sitting in her own seat (She totally did cut off his circulation!) .

Compliment her hair? No, it's the same as everyday.

Her hoochie-mama-short-shorts? She'd sound like she was hitting on her!

Her shoes?! Sakura took a quick peep underneath the table. Ugh, those expensive slipper-shoes that everyone has. Even she owned a pair… or two.

… Her ring?

…

Hell no.

Why was it so freakin' hard to start a conversation with this girl!

'Calm down. Relax. Forget who she is and talk to her like she didn't steal your boyfriend, diss you behind you back and in front of you, make your friends like her maybe more than you, not invite you to her-'

'OK! I Get it!' Sakura snapped.

Now trying to forget all of the things her inner mind had just reminded her of, she closed her eyes and took a long silent breath.

'Act Natural. Act Natural.'

She opened her eyes to see the red-head giving her that odd unwavering although uncomfortable look of hers, from across the table.

A thought popped into her head and she couldn't stop herself from blurting it out loudly, "Are you CONSTIPATED or something?!"

Hinata dropped her fork just as it was about to enter her mouth and it landed with and it landed with a heavy clank on the table top. Shika sort of choked on his water as did Tenten (though her choke sounded suspiciously like laughter-hidden-by-coughing). Lee cut himself off mid-sentence. Basically, all action at the table just came to a halt.

'Well, you certainly were "Natural" enough.'

Karin, if anything, looked incredibly smug. "Pardon?" she asked, silkily. Yep, Sakura had probably played right into her "Make-me-look-good-and-her-bad" plan.

Part of her wanted to wipe the smirk off her face be replying, 'What are you deaf and dumb? I said you look constipated!' Unfortunately, that would not be the proper way of getting invited to a party.

So instead she gritted her teeth and strung a hand through her short locks, "I said, I like your necklace."

No, her rhyming skills had not improved in the last few weeks.

Karin's face smiled but her eyes laughed in malevolent glee. She fingered the sapphire-jewel encased in white-gold around her neck.

"Oh this? Just a gift from Sa-suke-kun! For our month-a-versary!" she ended this of course with a squeal and a quick (though it seemed pretty long to her) peck on the lips to said boy.

"Sasuke-kun's so sweet with all these expensive gifts- Oh, you know how he is, right, Sakura?" her red pupils were practically dancing.

"Yes." Her voice was hoarse and it was taking all of her will power not to jump the girl. She knew full well (thanks to Ino) that she had only received one item from her ex. The. stupid.- Phew! Calm down. Time for a subject change.

"So I hear you're having some kind of party this weekend…" she began after coughing her voice into a relatively casual tone.

If possible the tension in the air around the table doubled. 'Oh. Now you all remember me, huh?' Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Naruto fidgeting in his seat.

Karin must've decided to play the happy-hostess role. "So you heard?!" she exclaimed cheerfully, "Well it's not really a party. Trust me, sweetie. If it were a party all of Fire country would know! It's just me and a couple of others that are welcomed to stay overnight."

Her right eye wished to twitch so badly. Sweetie? Her fake cordialness was sickening. "Oh really." And she was making her work for it.

"Yep!" she hooked an arm delicately over Sasuke's. "And Sasuke-kun's been gracious enough to let me have it at his house!"

Something inside of her froze right then and there. The last time they had ever had done… well… anything at the Uchiha estate was the night that prompted the Revenge plan. He (and them, technically) had made it law, after figuring out why Itachi wasn't allowed to host overnight guests anymore, that no one besides was to enter the household. Well… no one besides her. She even used to joke about having the "Gold VIP card" to the rest of girls. Now it was like Karin was throwing it in her face that not only did she have the Uchiha-ground privileges but she also held the ability to allow others to enter as well.

Basically in her own slu- err… sneaky way she was dangling her upgraded Platinum in front of her.

"OH? Did you want to come?" Karin asked in her "surprised" voice.

She was dangling it closer, taunting and mocking; encouraging her to snatch and destroy it. Intentionally provoking her to lose her temper in front of the entire lunch room.

But would Sakura take the bait?

"I would've invited you. But you didn't seem to like me very much…" she continued in pity-me tone.

She was virtually giving her the scissors to defile the Platinum with. Her transparent hand grasped the handles lightly, causing imaginary-Karin to smirk.

"Now, what would make you think that, Karin? I'd love to go to your party."

Imaginary-Sakura tossed the tool back to the shocked-fuming Imaginary-Karin. She gave her a falsely sweet smile. Why would she destroy the card that could(and would) be easily replaced(and later get her in trouble for destroying it in the first place), when she had a chance to permanently knock her from the guest list?

Both imaginary girl's expressions mirrored their real counterparts for a split second.

Karin composed herself back into her innocent persona quickly, using a napkin to pat her mouth delicately as a cover-up for this change. Yet, Sakura could still detect the underlying annoyance in her voice, "The party starts at eight. Dress is casual." Before she went back, stiffly, to consuming her food as properly as a Princess.

'Heh. Step one complete. Sakura-1, Karin- '

Longest chappie yet! Actually, it would've been a lot longer if I had written the entire chapter but I had to split it in half, otherwise you wouldn't be getting it as soon as you are. The second part is the Party and the actual task! And I'm saying this now, no matter WHAT happens in the next chapter this isn't ItaSaku! If anything, they're just getting a bit closer. A BIT PEOPLE!

Oh, and the last part of this may have been a bit confusing and… it's supposed to be that way. Understand? No? Too bad.