Chapter Ten.

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There May Be Something There That Wasn't There Before

Naruto is undeniably bad at a lot of things such as chemistry and vocabulary; but he's definitely good at the more important things in life i.e. phone sex (Hyuuga Hiashi reluctantly attests to this) and friendship.

And that is why even though three weeks have passed, this little whiskered saint is still trying to rebuild the bridge between his best friends Sasuke and Sakura—a task that is proving to be more difficult than he expected. Apparently, Sasuke did not just burn the bridge with Sakura the moment he called her slut. Sasuke also stomped on the charred remains and scattered the ashes of that bridge on a running river when he ran and "apologized" to Sakura by telling her to stop overreacting. What a schmuck. It's a good thing Naruto has the patience and stamina to swim after those ashes. Soon all this drama will be water under the rebuilt bridge a.k.a. The Naruto Bridge. But for now, he has to keep swimming.

Naruto stood in front of Sasuke's door and recalled the conversation he just had with Sakura.

"Heading out to Sasuke's after this?" Sakura asked.

"Yep. He won't admit it but he wants me there."

Silence followed and Naruto decided to risk asking. "Care to join me?"

Sakura scoffed and remained silent until it was time for him to go.

"Hey, Naruto-kun."

"Yes?"

"Here." She handed him a plate of lasagna. "You can give this to Sasuke. You know, 'cause he's a dog and dogs deserve leftovers."

Naruto looked at the very carefully plated pasta. Leftovers. Yeah right. The blonde pulled out his spare key and stormed into Sasuke's apartment.

"Hey, schmuck! Sakura-chan asked me to give you this."

Sasuke's bolted from his slouch on the couch until he realized how excited he looked. So he immediately said, "Damn cockroaches are everywhere!" before pretending to swat at the non-existent insects. For good measure he even added, "What the fuck are you doing here?" as if he did not just hear him mention Sakura.

"Sakura sent over some lasagna. You like it, right?"

"Hn." Sasuke grabbed the plate and headed to the kitchen.

"What? You said it was delicious."

"Of course it's delicious. She's exceptionally good with her cauldron, that witch."

Naruto sighed. His friends are imbeciles. That's enough swimming for today.

The next day, Sakura found a familiar plate on her doorstep. It was washed, dried, and zip-locked. Her inner Martha Stewart approved. The guy might be rude but at least he has perfect hygiene. She picked up the plate and when she looked up, she found a familiar pair of dark eyes looking at her. He looked away quickly and she knew immediately what he was trying to do. The shmuck was trying to hide his surprise/annoyance/discomfiture at seeing her by pretending not to notice her existence!

"Interesting." She observed out loud.

"Hn." He replied.

"Your eyes are as dark as your soul."

"I don't have a soul." He turned the knob to make sure it's locked. Sakura smiled when she remembered how this conversation panned out the first time it happened. How time flies.

"I know." She said to herself, trying to hide the tinge of sadness from her voice. She was about to enter her apartment when somebody pushed the door before she could close it.

"Please talk to me."

Sakura immediately looked down and pressed her lips together. She indulgently lets Sasuke's daily snide remarks slide because she understands that's just how he expresses himself. But malicious accusations because of a grave misjudgment of her character? She would not let those slide. Sasuke needs to own up to what he did and apologize.

"Sakura, please."

Her eyes watered the second she turned to face him. "You hurt me, Sasuke-kun."

"I...I know." Sasuke looked queasy. "I'm…I'm…"

Disappointed, Sakura moved to close the door. Sasuke pushed back.

"Sakura, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"You know what."

"Do you?"

"I'm sorry for snapping at you and calling you…that."

"And?"

"And what?"

Sakura pushed the door again. Sasuke pushed back.

"Please tell me."

Sakura took a deep breath. "Sasuke-kun, I don't appreciate being accused of being a third party. If I'd known Sai was involved with anyone, especially you, I wouldn't have agreed to date him. I'm not that kind of person. And as I've told you, believe it or not, I would never intentionally hurt you. For you to think that I would hurts even more than being called an attention-starved slut."

"Okay…I'm sorry for that." Sasuke looked like he just had his pride shoved down his throat. He looked like he's about to puke.

Sakura sighed. She supposed that's the best Sasuke could do. At least he apologized without any excuse.

"Also, Sakura, the creepy architect dude and I are not…involved."

"You said he's in love with you."

"He told me two months ago. I told him I'm not interested."

"You said he's handsome."

"Anyone whose face resembles even my fingernail is handsome. His face happens to resemble my face."

"That's mighty narcissistic of you."

"Just stating facts."

"Alright. But why did you react so violently?"

"I'm not sure."

Sakura shook her head. "You should go now or you'll be late for work."

"Sakura," He said before she could close the door. "I'm…new at this."

"What?"

"With Naruto, I never had to care about tact or the impact of my actions. Tell me if anything I do hurts you."

"Okay."

"I'm sorry I can't promise I'll never hurt you in the future. But I can promise you it will never be intentional from my part again."

Sakura felt her heart warm at that promise. She opened the door a little and kissed Sasuke's cheek. "Thank you for saying that, Sasuke-kun."

It was a good thing she closed the door right after or she would've seen Sasuke's face take the color of his favorite fruit.

Maybe I know why I reacted so violently.

And as he mulled at the implications of this new realization, he tripped and fell down the stairs. Kami, I forgot to take the elevator.

Sasuke could count in one hand the number of times he felt truly happy while in the office. The first was when one major client insisted Sasuke should head their twin high-rise project instead of Itachi. The second was…okay, there was no second. At least, none until around three that afternoon.

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Got your number from the landlord. Brisket sound good? – Sakura

P.S. Save my new number.

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To which he happily replied "Yes" before angrily writing the most scathing text to the landlord about hypocrisy and data privacy. He distinctly remembered asking the landlord for Sakura's work address a few weeks ago and getting turned down because "it's confidential".

He barely had time to relish castigating the landlord when Sakura replied.

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Ok. Dinner's at seven. :*

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Then the gates of heaven opened and angels flew to his cubicle to sing the most beautiful melody of victory. Sasuke didn't even think about thwacking the noisy angels away. He was too busy staring at the asterisk. That's a kissy-face right there!

It was definitely the second time he felt truly happy while in the office. And now that peace has been restored and everything's back to normal with Sakura, he doubts it will be the last.

TBC

Author's note: And so it begins!
That part about the plate already happened in Chapter 3. Reviews are highly appreciated. Happy New Year!