Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: I'm in a general state of bliss (except for that nagging voice in the back of my mind saying: study, study for your exam!), so I thought I might as well update. I though I was done with making Sasuke-kun jealous, but it seems I wasn't. As such, today I offer romance, humor, and the slightest hint of crack (aka, crazed Sasuke-kun).
Denial
10.02.2007
I don't know why but somehow that man's proximity to her made the wheels in my head to begin turning. What everyone perceived as a gentle touch was far off from being a friendly gesture in my mind. He was all over her. He was unashamedly ogling her and she wasn't even doing anything about it. I wanted him to tear his hands away from her and then proceed to rip him to tiny, tiny shreds.
Yes, yes… tiny shreds…
But then again…
But then again, I couldn't.
I wouldn't!
I was her teammate and no more; I'm barely sure if we could be called friends at the time, old acquaintances perhaps. And then, there was the fact that it wasn't supposed to be of my concern; it wasn't like I cared about her or anything either. What she did and with whom was her business only. Ultimately, I had no right to meddle in. I had no right to kill that bastard and take Sakura away.
My mind was in an uproar. Who was he? How did he know Sakura? When did they meet? Was it when I was gone? Why was he acting so familiar with her? Something inside my head was simply telling me to throw everything away, my pride, my ego, and my stubbornness, and go there and hit that guy's face. It would look bad, but I could say I was pissed off and wanted to vent my anger, which was mostly true. Sakura would surely have something to say about it, but I could pay no heed to her and she'd have to live with it.
"Oh, Sasuke-kun!" She finally turned towards me, after a lifetime of ignoring me and letting me stand there and watch. "This is Kei-kun…" she paused, and corrected herself, "Tachikawa Keiji, my colleague from the hospital. He's been out of Konoha on a mission for a while now."
'Kei…kun?' I couldn't help but arch a brow at the newcomer. I was beginning to really dislike this guy already.
"Hn…"
Scratch that. I hated the guy.
"Kei-kun," her attention was once again on the brown-haired 'supposedly' medic-nin. "This is Uchiha Sasuke, my old friend and teammate. I've told you about him before."
'Take that, bastard.' I smirked without even noticing; but then, the smirk transformed into a grimace when I realized it. It wouldn't be good if she noticed. Still… for some reason I felt slightly pleased. So we were friends, after all?
"Yes, Sakura-san," he replied, then turning towards me. The Kei guy smiled and bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Uchiha-san. Sakura indeed has told me a lot about you. There is not a day, in fact, when your name doesn't come up in our conversations." He was still smiling when he rose up from the bow and Sakura had turned pink.
"Kei-kun! Stop it," she scolded, though a humorous tone was laced about her voice. She only used that tone with Naruto, whom, speaking of, I hadn't seen around all morning. "What will Sasuke think?"
Yeah, what would Sasuke think…
"Hn…"
"Well, Sakura-san," he said, once again his filthy hand stopping at her shoulder, he glanced at me and, nodding, said, "Uchiha-san. I'm afraid it's time we should part, I must meet Godaime in less than an hour and I have yet to check on my team."
"Oh! I'll go with you. I'd like to see Shishou too! There's something I need to ask her about the new poison I'm creating for my jutsu." She told him, to which he agreed with a nod. She waved at me a goodbye and smiled good-naturedly. "Sasuke-kun, I'll see you later!"
My hand instantly shot to her arm, stopping her from moving any further. There was no way she was getting away, and with that guy, no less.
"Sasuke-kun?" She looked at me with those bright green eyes curiously. I forced myself to blink to be able to tear my gaze away from hers. It must have been the sun doing weird things.
"Naruto," I blurted. Even to my ears it had sounded like a brash and stupid answer to her unsaid question, but I was clearly not about to let go.
"Huh?" She looked down at my fingers still wrapped around her forearms and seemed a bit dazed, that much I could tell. Was it really surprising that I'd reach out?
"Naruto is expecting us both, remember?" I told her impatiently, my fingers prying off from her arm, "He said he has something important to show us."
"Oh, oh… Um, okay." She fidgeted a bit. When she was finally free from my grip, she turned to Kei, who'd been watching the exchange with observant eyes, and bowed slightly. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun is right. I almost forgot," she looked apologetic, as though it was really a shame not being able to accompany him.
Che.
If it was so damn troublesome, she could have ditched me… and Naruto instead. (Not like Naruto was actually waiting for us, but whatever.) I didn't want her to be whining later because she couldn't chit-chat with her boy friend. Because he was definitely just a boy who was her friend, only, right?
Right.
"That's okay, Sakura-san." The way he spoke her name was unnerving. He was being too familiar to her for my liking, but Sakura didn't seem to be bothered. "We'll meet another day, alright? There are still a lot of things we need to talk about."
She nodded vehemently; apparently she'd been in a rather good mood that day. "Alright, Kei-kun."
And just with that, at last, the intruder left us alone. Sakura smiled over at the rooftop where her "colleague" medic-nin had jumped onto and disappeared from.
"Sasuke-kun…" She began. I certainly didn't expect the sudden stern tone.
"What?" I sounded annoyed. I felt annoyed.
Sakura turned to me, a pleasant smile on her lips. "When did Naruto ever say something like that?"
I flinched almost imperceptibly. I hadn't precisely thought about that, I just knew I had to stop her. Ah, whatever.
"Hn…"
"Sasuke-kun…" There was a warning note in her voice this once, but as if that would make me cower.
No sir.
So maybe that wasn't the best answer ever and her eye had twitched slightly, but that had never worried me in the least.
I looked away and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling indignant. What should she be mad, anyway? She'd been the one shamelessly flirting in front of everyone…
Though I did understand what she was trying to imply. Why had I acted like that? Why had I lied?
Why did I, indeed?
I had no real reason to even bring Naruto into this whole thing. It had been an automatic response to watching her leave with some other random guy, which, again, had nothing to do with me. So why had I, Uchiha Sasuke, even resorted to lying to keep her here?
I didn't want to dwell on that because it was a waste of my time. I could very well spend it training rather than trying to find a decent reason for my actions when it came to Sakura. And so, I avoided thinking about it at all.
"Sasuke-kun!" she tried again, eyebrow raised in expectancy, but I stayed unresponsive. She sighed tiredly and stared at the floor, giving up. "Alright, alright… I won't keep bothering you about it. But in exchange, you'll buy me dinner tonight, okay?"
"Hn."
I turned to look at her and our gazes met for a moment. There was something in her eyes that told me that somehow, she knew something. What something, I did not know, but I wasn't about to let her go thinking weird theories…
I nodded, and couldn't stop myself smirking slightly as she gave out a pleased laugh. "Agreed."
¤¤¤
"Sasuke-kun?" she asked him later that night at the small restaurant. There was a smile in her face and her eyes twinkled when Sasuke looked up from his plate of ramen.
"Hn?"
"I was thinking… Could you not look like your about to kill Kei-kun next time we meet him? His boyfriend will probably be mad if Kei-kun has nightmares with you."
She had to pat his back several times then, for Sasuke was positively choking on his ramen.
