A Place We Call Home

Disclaimer: No Naruto for me.

Chapter Ten: Real

Sakura grasped the notes she just photocopied with shaking hands. Ever since that incident with Sasuke's locker she dared not to try and leave the notes for him there; but such a choice would have to force her into walking up to him. Ever since that field trip event she wanted to keep her distance away from the lad—she felt that he was utterly annoyed and disgusted with her presence, it made her feel pathetic. Perhaps if she kept away from him she would feel better… and so would he.

Sakura slid open the door to her classroom and went straight to her seat. Kurenai-sensei was not yet there. Sakura licked her lips and dutifully took out her algebra book to try and answer some exercises. Math and numbers would definitely take her mind off her worries. She was halfway though the problem when she registered a presence took the seat beside her. "Ohayou Hina—"she spoke, for all she knew, the presence was Hinata's, but was mistaken. Onyx eyes were not Hinata.

"Do I look like a girl or something?" The Uchiha belted out in a voice that made his question seem more of a statement. His eyes were directed at the girl beside him and saw her flinch. Sakura shook her head and handed him the copy of her notes he asked for without uttering a word; and Sasuke took it. Sasuke was not the type to study, but he needed to this time, for if he didn't, he will not graduate. After all, the ceremony was scheduled within that month and the final exam was in two week's time. He rolled up the wad of paper before he stood up and wordlessly walked past Sakura to his seat.

"Arigatou." He said to the air the moment he sat down.

Sasuke contemplated as he lay sprawled on his bed. Since that field trip, he noticed that he felt unnaturally comfortable and at peace whenever he neared the presence of Sakura. Perhaps he was amused by the girl's personality. She was charming, yes, and he had to admit that. Somehow, he felt weak and tangible whenever his skin brushed past hers, and when he leaned on her in the bus, he felt real—the hollow feeling that was always inside him vanished at her touch and was replaced with the feeling of warmth and he felt that he was alive. That feeling of warmth…he wanted to experience it again. He blinked and closed his eyes to sleep, only to dream of something pink.

Neji put on his helmet and got on his motorcycle. He was in Yamanaka district with Kazuhiko. He was going to race that night against an opponent who was new to their district. He stared with his pallid eyes at the person before he let out a smirk behind his helmet. He was certain to win. He kicked on the starter pedal which started his motor and waited for the race marshal's signal to start.

3

2

1

Go!

Neji pulled on the twist throttle on his handlebars and accelerated onto the road. He smirked as he expertly tilted to the left while maintaining his balance. This is going to be a piece of cake. He leaned closer to the bike to make it go faster and pulled the throttle once more for even more speed. He glanced at his bike's mirror for want to see his opponent in a distance from him, but was shocked to see that the opponent was just at his tail. "Shit." He muttered from inside his helmet and let go of the lever, which released his brakes. It made him zoom away from the contender in a distance of about two meters. His adversary, on the other hand, noticed that Neji finally became aware that she was someone who mustn't be underestimated, leaned closer to the bike and released the brakes. The opponent's bike quickly accelerated and was now almost side to side with Neji's.

The crowd erupted in cheer as they saw the two racers struggle to gain a lead from the other. It was truly exhilarating; they didn't know who would win. The only remaining decisive point in this race was the last curve on the road before they hit the finish line.

Neji concentrated on the road ahead of him—the final curve of the road will be his only means of winning. He tilted his handlebars to the right to gain the more advantageous position of the curve. He looked at his side and saw his opponent doing the same as though they were thinking alike. The Hyuuga twitched his eyebrows. He never knew that this newbie racer was so good; he mustn't have underestimated the person. Not wanting to lose, Neji leaned dangerously to his right, his body mere inches from the street, but he still maintained his perfect balance. He took the curve and shifted his weight on his other side to get his bike into an upright position. He could see the finish line—but he could also see his opponent at his side. In a final attempt to gain a lead, Neji leaned even closer to his bike that his helmet was in contact with it. It gave him a slight speed boost before he crossed the finish line along with the opponent.

The crowd howled as soon the race was over. They haven't seen such a race since "Kamikaze" Kazuhiko's time. Whoever the newbie was, that person was sure to be among the ranks of the "Speeding Devil" Uchiha and "Whirlwind" Hyuuga.

Kazuhiko ran to Neji with an idiotic smile plastered on his face. "Neji, that was such a good race." He said joyfully after giving Neji a pat on the back. "Your move on the last curve, when you were practically inches from the ground, it reminded me of my good old racing days! Haha! I used to do those all the time! Death-defying moves! You won, but just by an inch though."

Neji pulled the helmet off his head and stared at his opponent who was just stepping off from the bike. Whoever it was, he's good. He looked at the person as he took off his helmet. Who could he be?

The helmet came off the adversary's head and light from the street lamps illuminated the person's form. Brown hair styled into two buns on both sides of the head and brown eyes which shone of determination. It was not a he. It was a she.

"Shit." She cursed as she brushed away a few strands of her auburn her from her eyes and looked at the man who beat her.

Tsuzuku…

A/n: Hi everyone. Chap 10 up! Not much of a SasuSaku interaction here because I just have to put Neji's race in the story. Wee! Tenten's here! I've been much of a NejiTen fan lately so my inner self is just screaming "Put here in the story!" so here it is. Don't worry though; this will still be mainly SasuSaku with NejiTen every now and then. Now let's just wait for a bit for NaruHina.

Responses for the reviews:

emeraldoni: Thanks for the review! I'll do my best in relevance to that! Hope you liked this chap!

UchihaSakura87: Thanks! It's nice that they're still in character, but I kinda have a hard time making romance with Sasuke in character… So I guess this would be quite a long fic because I don't want to make Sasuke so nice all of a sudden.

bloodyfeetwall: Thanks! Hope you like this chap too!

heartless soul: Thanks! Hope you like the update

TriGemini: Thanks for the review. The answer is quite in this chap but not that quite. Wai! Sorry if that doesn't make sense.

Ur2tRoUbLeSoMe90: thank you! Hope you love this chap!

EvilFaerie17: Thanks for the review! Yields, I mean the harvest of rice.

Skyward: thank you! Yep, I'm updating again! The plot bunny loves me again!

complexity66: Thank you!

pinkLaLa-o3: Ayos lang! Magtagalugan tayo! Salamat nga pala sa review! Wow, UPLB! Gandang ganda ako dun kasi madaming fields! Magka-skul tayo! Well, sort of. UPD po ako.

Okay, I just have to express my feelings here. I noticed that the recent chapters received very little reviews compared to the others, so I'm thinking, do the recent chapters (8 and 9) suck? I don't know, but I did my best when I wrote those. Or maybe the readers are mad at me for not updating for such a long time. I'm really, really sorry for the late update, and I'm trying to make up to those by making fast updates. So, please tell me what you think. I welcome everything from friendly reviews to flames. I know I'm moping, ugh, but I really have to get this off my chest. breathes I feel better now.

Hope you liked this chapter. I'm going to think now of the next one. I'd love to hear from you. Review!

- a teary-eyed Withering Princess