Paparazzi

"What is this?"

Sakura heard the flutter of pages and a surprisingly weighty thump following the question. The textbook in her lap nearly lost its perch as she jumped in surprise. Not to mention that the line she'd been highlighting was a mess. Frowning at the tone of Sasuke's voice, her apple green gaze found the source of the sound almost instantly. He'd dropped something onto her already cluttered work desk.

The addition was starkly obvious against the dour backdrop of her academic papers. A brightly colored magazine's cover was still shivering in the slight wind its drop from the Uchiha's standing position had created. Well, that was one way to say hello after a nearly week absence overseas on a business venture.

Lips pursed, the strawberry blonde ticked her head to the side to better read the headline. International Sensation Finds New Femme? Sakura felt her eyebrows twitch downward in confusion. Of course Naruto was on the cover, after all his newest album had been released only last week and everyone and their auntie knew about his love of the fairer sex--

The medical student felt her brain screech to a halt when she finally allowed her eyes to alight on the picture accompanying the glaring speculation. She recognized that jumper and overcoat. Not to mention the adorable suede knee-high boots Ino had heckled her into. They did make her legs look longer, she noted with a little preen.

It was her. The picture must've been snapped when she and Naruto had shared a lunch the previous Friday afternoon between her night course and his scheduled appearance on a nighttime talk show. The snapshot had been framed to insinuate that the arm the blond had slung over her shoulder as he laughed heartily was more than friendly. Her hand, which had actually been covering her mouth in preparation for a sneeze, in the context of the magazine's cover looked decidedly coy.

She and Naruto? Right.

Rolling her eyes and refocusing on her scowling beau, Sakura quipped, "You know me. Just couldn't resist his Jrock image and womanizing charm."

Sasuke's frown only darkened. He obviously failed to see the humor in the entire situation.

Sakura felt a grin begin to tuck the corner of her mouth into a full blown smile. Shifting the heavy anatomy tome from her rapidly numbing lap and onto the floor with an enormous thud, the petite twenty-something unfurled herself from her seat. As she regained her balance and stretched luxuriously, her squinted jade gaze zeroed onto Sasuke's still stony one.

She just watched silently as he strode toward the back of the apartment without another glance. He was going to shower and brood a little until he decided exactly how he felt about the cover and story. Then he'd get dressed and think over exactly how he wanted to breach the subject with her again. The original presentation of the magazine had only been a gauge to test her reaction. That gave her around fifteen minutes or more to plan her own response, she calculated. And she knew Sasuke.

Sighing and dropping her arms from their impromptu stretch, she turned with a grace that was characteristic of someone with as much dance experience as she. A handful of moments later she had successfully rooted out the frame she was searching for from the bookshelf behind her desk. The photo she'd been searching for was a much older one.

A pair of eighteen year olds were framed within the shot, one with obviously dyed long, pink locks and the other...she felt the grin returning as she pirouetted and trotted toward their shared bedroom.

When she softly pressed the door open, Sakura found Sasuke seated in on the bed with lounge pants slung low at his waist. A pearly white towel was working its way through his medium length hair. The resulting half-damp spikes reminded her of the picture in her hand and distracted her from the gleam of his leanly muscled back in the low light. A slight tensing of his shoulders told her that he'd noticed her entrance.

Before he could react, she shoved the snapshot and a black felt-tip pen under his nose and tittered, "Oh, Sasuke! Can I have your autograph? Please? I just love your music! No one plays the guitar like-"

Her goofy monologue was cut short with a squeak on her part when Sasuke hooked her about the waist. With a half-hearted pull he had seated her half onto his lap as he plucked the photo from her shock-leadened fingers.

She watched silently as his sloe eyes scanned the snapshot. Although she knew the contents of the photo, she found herself glancing at it anyway. Her younger self was hugging an equally more youthful Sasuke and grinning at the camera. True to the time that the picture had been taken, she was dressed in the flashy costume of one of Naruto's backup dancers. Sasuke on the other hand had a deep black guitar slung over his shoulder and one hand reluctantly placed atop her bottle-pink haired head.

His family had nearly run themselves ragged keeping Sasuke's real last name from being publicized back then. He'd played lead guitar in the earliest incarnation of Naruto's band half out of his love for the music and half for the amusement of exasperating his elder brother. In the photo a younger Sasuke was fighting a smile and wearing some deliciously sized leather pants. It was easily one of Sakura's favorites.

At the time they'd been young adults in university doing their best (in Sakura's case) to pay the bills or (in Sasuke's case) make their families lives sufficiently eventful. Naruto had been the dreamer. The one with the indomitable will to be a star. It had worked out splendidly as well.

Naruto had rocketed to stardom almost instantly after he'd finished a four-year degree in music. Sasuke had eventually reconciled with his elder brother, dropped out of the band and finished his macroeconomics masters program in time to accept a seat on his family business' board. Sakura had been accepted into a prestigious medical school and was working her way into a promising position at one of the premier hospitals in the country.

Almost no one knew how the trio had met up, aside from their attending the same private undergraduate college. Speculation had flown, of course. The Uchiha Corporation's multi-billion dollar worth made newly appointed VP Sasuke almost as big of a celebrity as Naruto. Sakura herself had been sighted on countless occasions with each. It was unusual that a silly article would bother Sasuke the way that this one seemed to be.

Pressing a sedate kiss into the side of Sasuke's neck, Sakura rubbed his near shoulder as she fielded the question. "Is there something that you want to talk about?"

A scowl returned to the businessman's face. One of his long fingers worked over the glossy finish of the photo in his hand, tracing the curve of her image's face. "The Idiot," he began, calling Naruto by his favorite nickname for the enthusiastic blond, "made more than me this quarter."

Before she could stem the impulse, a belly-laugh shook from her body. Sakura waved her hands franticly as she tried to calm down in the face of Sasuke's thunderous expression. "I know..." she erupted into giggles again. "I know that-that, haha, you compete with Naruto but-"

She was cut short as Sasuke exploded into action. Arranging them until her still snickering form was pinned beneath his own, Sasuke replied with a growl. "It is not a humorous fact."

Finally composing herself, Sakura caught her long time love's face between her hands. "Sasuke. Be logical. He just released a new album. You've been out of the office working on a merger and unable to work the insane amounts of overtime you love to log. Of course his income is fluxing higher right now. It makes logical sen-"

Before she could finish, Sasuke swooped down to capture her lips with his own. Smiling into his kiss, Sakura allowed her hands to slide back into his still slightly wet locks. As she raked her trimmed nails over the spot behind his ear that made him shiver, she pulled back a bit to level her gaze with his own.

Bumping her nose playfully against his, she beamed up at her beau. "You know," she whispered conspiratorially, "I always liked you better."

Sasuke's well formed mouth flexed admirably as he fought a smirk and played along. Brushing his chin against her jaw and responding with a low grunt, he rewarded her favoritism with a trail of suctioned kisses along her milky neck. Laving the line of her collarbone like he knew she loved, his voice was an octave deeper than usual as he commented. "Is that so? He was the lead vocal and namesake of the band. Are you sure?" As soon as the last question left his lips, he have her earlobe a soft nip.

Sakura was sure her voice would fail her as he followed the little twinge of pleasure-pain with enough affection to make her squirm. Catching her lower lip between her teeth and forcing herself to focus, she muttered, "I'm your biggest fan, Sasuke." Her breathy confession earned her an amorous roll of his hips against the cradle of her own.

Arching her back and skimming one hand down to the silky waistband of his trousers, Sakura trailed her remaining hand under the intense stare that was piercing her. As she swept one reverent fingertip over the paper-fine skin beneath one cobalt orb, she murmured, "But I do miss the eyeliner a bit."

Her laugh trailed into a happy squeal as Sasuke set about reminding her just who was her favorite.

The following week the headlines read: Youngest Uchiha Heir Engaged to Med Student Previously Spotted with Idol and Rival Naruto. Could a Possible Love Triangle Be Brewing? Read Within!


Just a little thing that popped into my head while I was listening to 'Paparazzi' by Lady Gaga (whom I LOVE). Also seeing if I even CAN write make-out-ish scenes LOL

Thanks for reading!