OMG. Ok. There's been no excuse for my ridiculously long hiatus - well except for high school - but ahem - no excuses at all. And I'm so so so so so sorry. But my New Years resolution is pretty much to finish this story so...wish me luck! Enjoy!
Chapter 11~I'll be there
Sakura awoke to the boisterous clanging of the dishes downstairs. Blinking tiredly, she sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes and yawning lazily. Sluggishly, she pulled herself out of her warm cocoon of a bed forced herself to get ready for school.
Shrugging on a pair of white washed jeans and a mint green V-neck before throwing, Sakura then threw hair into a messy up-do. Grabbing a cardigan and giving her appearance one final, analytic glance in the mirror, she headed down the stairs where she was greeted by the unexpected sight of her parents having what seemed like a heated discussion with her brother across the kitchen counter. Her eyes darted suspiciously between the members of her family and the dirty dishes still soaking in the sink.
"Shousaki? Mum? Dad? You're back already?"
The three turned to look at her.
Her father looked outraged at something or other, lips pressed firmly together in a grim line. Her mother looked decidedly worried as a slight frown marred her aging face while her brother wore a grave look on his.
"What's going on? I thought you guys were only coming back Monday."
Her question was met with disregard as her father spoke, "We heard about this boy who came to visit you yesterday."
Sakura glared at her brother. Tattletale.
"Dad, it was no big deal. We just had to work on a school project, that's all. You didn't have to cut your business trip short over something silly like this!"
Shousaki scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "He likes you."
Sakura rolled her jade green eyes, "Sasuke does not like me, Shou."
Shousaki snorted in disbelief and looked away sullenly, saying nothing.
Her mother stepped in, "Sakura, your father and I are very concerned about this boy. I mean we don't know what his intentions are and-"
"Mebuki." Sakura's father stopped her. "Haruno Sakura! I don't want boys coming around here without my permission and my approval."
"Oh my God, Dad..." Sakura groaned slapping a hand across her face in frustration.
"Don't take that tone with us young lady," Mebuki rebuked her daughter.
"He's just a friend! Seriously! We had a project we needed to work on and so we decided to do it at our house! "
"Good thing too," Shousaki mumbled.
"Well anyway, we have decided to invite this 'Sasuke' over to our house for dinner tonight," her father interjected.
Sakura's jaw dropped and the panic began to set in as her heart began to hammer wildly in her chest, "What? Why?"
"Because," Shousaki said.
"We need to know what his intentions are with our daughter," Mebuki nodded sagely.
"Sasuke has no 'intentions'! He is my friend! You don't have to make it such a big deal over nothing!" Suddenly her face felt like it was burning and Sakura briefly wondered if there was sweat beading at her forehead.
"He obviously fancies you," Shousaki shook his head.
"What! NO!" Sakura resisted the urge to strangle her brother.
"Sakura!" Mebuki reprimanded her daughter. "Kizashi!" She elbowed her husband.
"It's already settled Sakura. Shousaki will come round to your school in the afternoon and personally invite him to dinner today," Kizashi said with a tone of finality.
Sakura nearly screamed. Invite him to dinner?! More like coercing him into entering the lion's den.
"Dad! Shousaki! Why do you guys always get so worked up about my guy friends? Mom?" She pleaded. But her mother shook her head, for once siding with her father instead. And she was supposed to be the sane one in this family! Sakura was ready to grovel.
Sakura looked from her mother to her father to her brother then back to her mother again and she groaned. Knowing that it was hopeless and that she was completely, wholly and utterly defeated. She buried her face into her hands.
Oh Kami. My family is deranged and hell-bent on torturing me in the most excruciating way possible. Kill me now.
As Sakura walked into school, her eyes darted around frantically in search of a certain Uchiha.
"Oi! Sakura!"
Sakura turned on her heel at the sound of her name and was pleasantly surprised when she came face to face with Temari. "Hey Tema! Have you seen Sasuke by any chance?"
Temari snickered suggestively, "As a matter of fact I have. He's down at the parking lot."
Sakura felta sigh of relief, "Thanks Tem."
"Hey Sakura! Remember! Tonight we're hanging out with the guys!"
Sakura slapped a hand against her forehead, resisting the urge to tear out her hair. Her eyes grew wide with fright.
"Uh...about that...sorry Tem I don't think I can make it tonight." And Sasuke probably can't either.
"What? Why?!" A miffed and disgruntled Temari yelled down the hallway at her pink haired friend, garnering queer looks from schoolmates.
"Uh...something came up! I'm sorry!" Sakura turned around hurriedly and smiled in apology before descending the flight of stairs that led to the school parking lot.
Temari grumbled, "First Hinata, then Tenten, now Sakura. Who's next? Ino?"
Unfortunately for our dear Sakura, she didn't lay her eyes on Sasuke at all that day until it was already lunchtime and the cafeteria was hot and stuffy as the students milled about. Sasuke was sitting near the cafeteria exit next to Naruto who was chatting animatedly into his ear about something or other. Across from him sat Neji and Sai who were conversing over a book, and Shikamaru was looking down at his phone having abandoned his lunch.
Sakura let out a breath. A mixture of relief and dread, having finally found Sasuke but having to talk to him about something she'd much prefer not to.
Temari jumped and looked up at Sakura who had stood up abruptly from the table. Tenten raised her eyebrows in question whilst Hinata and Ino blinked up at her. "Sakura? You okay?"
Sakura didn't spare them a glance, "Fine. Fine…just fine…oh – oh my GOD! Ino! TALK ME OUTTA THIS!"
"What?" A bewildered Ino stared at Sakura like she was insane.
Temari held a hand over her heart, Sakura's green eyes were wild and desperate as she gripped the table in one hand and clung to Ino with her other.
Tenten frowned at her, "Sakura are you okay? Please tell me you are because I'm just about ready to whip out my phone right now and call for the men in white coats."
"S-sakura-san! What is it?"
Hinata was pretty sure Sakura was about to have a panic attack, and having experienced a few herself, Hinata knew exactly what to do.
Sitting her pink haired friend down on one of the cafeteria seats, Hinata handed her a bottle of water and started fanning her with some scraps of paper. Ino rubbed her back soothingly.
Tenten squatted in front of Sakura, staring at her intently, "You sure you're okay?"
Temari swatted at her, "Of course she's not."
Sakura breathed in deeply before exhaling heavily, "MyparentsaresendingmybrothertoinviteSasuketoourhousefordinnerbecausetheywanttoknowhathis'intentions'arewiththeirdaughter." Sakura said all in one breath before reaching for a long gulp of water that she swallowed without hesitation, causing her to go into a coughing fit and for Tenten to wince.
"I – cough – have to – cough cough – warn Sa – cough – su – cough – ke!"
"Did no one notice that that sounded a lot like Sa-so-gay?"
"Shut – cough – up – cough – pig!"
"Uh-oh."
Hinata looked up at Temari who was looking in the direction of the cafeteria exit.
"Oh shit," Tenten's eyes widened.
"What?" Ino asked as she turned to see what all the commotion was about.
Sasuke was blatantly ignoring Naruto's incessant chatter until he heard the words "dating" and "Hinata" and "Neji" and "approval." And promptly began to choke on his tomato juice.
"What the hell? Hyuga? You're letting this dobe date your cousin?"
Neji momentarily broke away from his discussion with Sai to throw Sasuke a "hn."
"No shitting way…" Sasuke murmured as he went back to drinking his juice.
"What's Haruno Shousaki doing here?" Sai spoke up suddenly.
Sasuke's head shot up, "What?"
Neji raised his eyebrows at Sasuke before nodding at the cafeteria doors.
Sasuke turned just in time to see Shizune-sensei smile at the older of the Haruno siblings before departing.
Shikamaru whistled lowly, "Last I heard he went to Konoha U."
Shousaki's eyes roamed across the cafeteria.
"OI! SHOUSAKI-SAN!" Naruto called out cheerfully.
Sasuke's eyes widened as the older boy approached them, or more specifically, him.
As he came up to them, he threw the other boys a nod of greeting, then said, "Oi, you."
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow, "Me?"
Shousaki barely glanced at him before he turned away, "Come with me."
Sasuke stared after the blonde's retreating figure.
Sai blinked, "Sasuke, you know him?"
Sasuke nodded absentmindedly as he stood to follow the older boy, leaving behind his group of friends who were completely befuddled.
"Oi Sasuke! You're just gonna go after him like that?" Shikamaru called after him.
Sasuke turned back, not to look at his friends, but to search for a certain pink haired girl.
"Oh my God…" Sakura whispered in horror as she watched Sasuke turn back to survey the cafeteria.
She leapt up, "Sasuke-kun!"
Unfortunately, Sasuke, having given up on finding Sakura, turned on his heel and left. Following the sound of his senior's footsteps that reverberated across the empty hallway, Sasuke trudged after Shousaki.
Sakura dashed up to the boy's table and asked in a panicky voice, "Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, Sai!" She slammed her fists on the table to punctuate her sentence and express the urgency of the situation. "Where the hell did Sasuke and my brother go?" Sakura's eyes were in a cross between determination, fear, and urgency, which to all the boys just made her look dangerously desperate.
Neji wordlessly gestured to the exit.
"I know they left dammit! In which direction?!" She roared.
Naruto timidly spoke up, "R-right."
And with that, Sakura sprinted down the hallway.
"Aw hell. What is it with Sasuke and that Haruno?" Shikamaru sighed before going back to taking a nap.
Sai shrugged and whipped out his new book, Man's guide to relationships by Jiraiya-The-Great-Sama, "According to Jiraiya-sama…" Sai frowned in concentration as he flipped through his book, "In the event when which a person of great significance to the female partner approaches the male with life-threatening, or otherwise unknown intent, this undoubtedly means that the male has knocked-up the female."
Neji's eyebrow began to twitch in irritation, whilst Shikamaru smacked the book out of Sai's hand and Naruto shouted with laughter.
Sakura hurried down the hallway till she spotted her brother and Sasuke…engaged in conversation?! HOLY SHIT! I'm too late, my life is ooovvveeerrrrr, Inner Sakura wailed.
When Sakura was about a meter away she could see a frown upon Sasuke's face.
"Shousaki! STOP TALKING THIS INSTANT!" Sakura shrieked.
Her brother looked up at her as did Sasuke when she came to a screeching halt and panted heavily for breath. "What – pant – the hell – pant – is wrong – pant – with – pant – you – pant – What – pant - were you guys – pant – talking – pant – about – pant - huh?!"
Sakura glared at her brother as she prodded his abdomen with her finger accusingly.
Shousaki didn't spare her a glance and turned back at Sasuke.
The Uchiha's dark eyes darted between the two siblings before resting on the elder. Sasuke dipped his head in acknowledgement, "I'll be there."
Sakura's jaw hit the ground and detached itself from her face. "Oh no no no no no. You're not going anywhere mister." Sakura glared at him, eyes flashing.
Sasuke's eyes flitted over her, "Hn."
Sakura spluttered and stammered.
"What time?" Sasuke asked steadily as he stared intently at the older boy.
Shousaki regarded him carefully, "6 o'clock sharp."
Sasuke grunted in acknowledgement, "I'll be there."
"YOU'LL WHAT? NO YOU WON"T-"
"Don't be late," Shousaki said as he began to saunter away.
"HE WON'T BE LATE BECAUSE HE'S NOT GOING!"
...
The doorbell chimed at exactly six o'clock in the evening and Sakura let out a colorful string of curses.
The house looked spotless…no, it looked pretty damn near perfect.
Her mother had systematically cleaned every inch of the house…even the upstairs rooms if by some random miracle Sasuke actually came (yes, Sakura was still very much in denial) and magically decided to spot check every nook and cranny in every frickin' room.
And well, if by some random act of God, Sasuke wanted to take a shower too I suppose that's okay because Mebuki made her daughter scrub the bathroom floors…yes, 'floors' as in plural.
The upstairs rooms had been tidied and arranged to perfection. The pictures on the walls were dusted and straightened. The living room was again, spotless. Old flowers had been thrown out and new ones ordered (from the very best, the Yamanaka's, yes, yes, Mr. Haruno saw to that) and placed in crystal glass vases that sparkled. Literally. The fireplace was cleaned up (because everybody needs a fireplace ready in the middle of September) and fresh firewood was placed in the furnace.
Sakura was pretty sure they had just invited the Hokage over for dinner.
Not wanting to be the one to do the honors, Sakura dashed into the bathroom the moment the doorbell rang.
She was breathing heavily as she pressed her body against the bathroom door, straining to hear bits of the conversation.
When Sasuke pulled Neji aside in the hallway after Language Arts, he wasn't expecting his frenemy to openly burst out laughing in his face.
Scowling, Sasuke sat down on the bench and Neji could have sworn that he saw him pout. "It's not funny."
Neji's face had returned to his customary blank stare, "Actually. It is. Why are you telling me this anyway?"
Sasuke gritted his teeth, "Because you're the only one of my," Sasuke cringed, "fr – fr – frie – frien – "
The corner of Neji's lips curled into a smirk, "yes?"
"Cough – people I know, who has any e – ex – expe – experi – " Sasuke gritted his teeth.
"Experience with girls?" Neji was silently relishing in this moment.
Sasuke glowered at him, "Not with 'girls,' with relationships."
Neji frowned, "But I've never been in a – "
Sasuke almost rolled his eyes, "Whatever. The point is that…what the hell am I supposed to do?"
Neji lifted his shoulders and gave a small shrug, "Be gentlemanly, be polite, offer to do the dishes, and help with the cleaning…just be the complete opposite of yourself."
Sasuke wanted to stab his fr – fr – fri – Neji.
He glared at him, "Hyuga."
Neji only replied with a simple, "Hn." He should film this.
"Just dress up nicely, cut your hair for god's sake – "
"Like yours is any better."
Scowl. "Be a gentleman. Make pleasant conversation, keep them interested in you, and make them feel like you're interested in them. If they get protective about Haruno, then just be honest and make your intentions known."
Sasuke knew he could count on him.
"Essentially, just don't be yourself."
…for anything but his self-esteem. Seriously, what did Tenten see in him? Was it the hair?
When Sasuke had first employed the help of his brother, it didn't seem like such a bad idea. Now, this was the biggest regret of his life.
Uchiha Itachi had the world's most extreme case of OCD.
It had its benefits, really, it did, but it was aggravating to have to have his older brother barge through his door unannounced to straighten out his room. And when Sasuke said 'straighten out his room' he meant that Itachi would bring scissors and tape and rulers and all sorts of weird architectural contraptions, and tape lines and boxes and rectangles and squares across the linoleum floor, which required him to remove the dusty carpet from the ground and throw it outside, passing Sasuke's stunned face in a flurry of haze and dust. And Sasuke had allergies. Not sneezing for a couple of days and a cough kind of allergies. It was the burning itch of a rash on his face for a week kind of allergies that had Naruto (and Neji – in secret. God forbid anyone saw him laugh) on laughing gas for months after.
So when Sasuke thought to ask his brother about a harmless little 'meet the family' dinner, he was not expecting to have half his hair shaven off.
When Itachi said 'trim' Sasuke had no idea that he really meant 'cut' which became 'shave' because Itachi thought one side was uneven. "Oh." Itachi simply said only after shaving off the one side, "It was just a trick of light." Then, much to Sasuke's horror, his brother promptly shaved off the other side of his hair, leaving him as bald as Gai-sensei would be without his shiny helmet-wig.
And it was like a mirror.
That, although Sasuke said it would be, was not the last time he went to his brother for help unfortunately. But that will all come in time.
So, armed with a beanie and a bouquet, Uchiha Sasuke, dressed in a pair of black slacks, and a casual button-up and blazer combo, knocked on the door of the Haruno Estate.
The Hyuga Mansion
"Naruto! Give that back!" Shikamaru yelled after the blonde haired idiot who just laughed and ran off with his phone.
"Immature ass," he muttered under his breath as he reluctantly, but determinedly chased after him.
The Uzumaki was strangely adept at being stealthy and by the time Shikamaru found the boy, the rest of his friends had surrounded him as they all peered down curiously at what looked suspiciously like his blackberry.
"Naruto," Shikamaru growled.
"Ooo," the blonde haired boy squealed, "Looky here, it seems like someone's got a thing for the Suna girl. 8 calls in one day." Naruto held up the phone triumphantly for the rest to see.
Neji raised his eyebrows, "I thought you were into Yamanaka."
Shikamaru stomped up to the trio and swiped the phone out of Naruto's hand, before glaring daggers at the Hyuga.
"I'm not 'into' either one of them," Shikamaru sighed in exasperation just at the thought of the two troublesome women.
Naruto grinned, "Coulda fooled me."
Neji snorted, "Anything could fool you."
Naruto scowled at him.
Then Shikamaru looked around, confusedly, "Wait a minute, where are Ino and Temari?"
Naruto waved off-handedly, "Temari said she had to meet with Tsunade-sama because her little brother got into a fight."
"And Ino?" Shikamaru furrowed his eyebrows.
Sai spoke up for the first time that night, much to everyone's surprise, "She said her father need her help at the flower shop for a last minute order."
Neji blinked, what?
Naruto's jaw dropped, what in the…?
Shikamaru's dark eyes narrowed dangerously and Sai knew that he was under intense scrutiny but smiled his signature smile nonetheless.
"How did you – of all people, know that?" Shikamaru demanded.
It was no secret that the hotheaded Yamanaka clan heir was not on the best of terms with the pale-skinned, dark-haired, seemingly emotionless Sai.
He shrugged simply, "She told me."
Shikamaru was nearing the end of his patience, something was wrong with his friend and he was going to find out why. She would never go to Sai before him. It was all so bizarre.
Naruto cleared his throat uncomfortably, "So, uh Neji, is there anything in this house to eat?"
The Hyuga nodded wordlessly and stepped out of the living room to grab something to eat.
When he reentered the living room, his friends were sitting leisurely on the couches and the tension from before had dissipated. Setting down the food, he asked as casually as possible, "Sai, did you do as I asked and drop by Tenten's apartment?"
Sai nodded, "She said she was going to spend some time with her brother."
Oh. Neji supposed he should've figured that out earlier when Tenten hadn't texted him at all that day to say if she was coming or not.
Still, he couldn't help but feel just the slightest but jilted.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Neji. You can't keep taking advantage of the fact that Sai lives one floor above Tenten just to keep an eye on her."
Naruto moaned, "Can we please not talk about the girls? It's bad enough that Hinata-chan couldn't make it. Neji! You have to make sure her father doesn't work her too hard okay?" Naruto added the last part sternly just for good measure.
Neji turned his freezing glare onto him, "Naruto. I gave you permission to date my cousin. Not permission to order me around. I can take away the privilege of the former at anytime."
That shut Naruto up for a good five minutes.
Until it suddenly dawned on him, "Oi, where the hell is teme?" Naruto asked through a mouthful of chips and a sip of coke.
Neji snickered and his friends turned to him in surprise, "He's having dinner at the Haruno's."
Naruto spewed out the contents of his mouth.
Shikamaru chortled a little, "Already?"
Sai raised his eyebrows, "I wasn't aware that Sasuke had been courting Sakura-san."
It was Shikamaru's turn to spit out his drink and go into a coughing fit, "Courting?" He squeaked, "That is so medieval."
Naruto frowned, "What's courting?"
Neji continued unaffected, "A word I hope you never learn. Uchiha has had a thing for her since pre-school."
Naruto stood up on the sofa suddenly and roared in indignation, "WHAT? HOW THE HELL DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS? I'M HIS BEST FRIEND DAMMIT! I'VE KNOWN HIM SINCE WE WERE BABIES!"
Neji's lips curled into a smirk, "Don't feel bad. I found out completely by accident. He kind of let go of it in middle school but it came back this year."
Naruto was burning with rage, "WHAT! WHY DOES HE TELL YOU THESE THINGS AND NOT ME? HE HATES YOU!"
Neji shrugged, "He never told me anything. I'm simply observant."
Shikamaru snorted, Hyuga and his ego.
Sai spoke up, "Speaking of Sakura-san, just today she was telling me about how the girls had started a band for the talent show."
Shikamaru raised his eyebrows; Ino hadn't said a thing, well not like she had been telling him much of anything lately. She was so infuriatingly troublesome. He hated this. Being in dark. Even Sai seemed to be more informed about her than he did.
Naruto looked up from his bowl of chips, "Why? Are you thinking of doing anything for it? Could liven things up a bit, I guess."
Neji shrugged, Shikamaru sighed, and Sai simply smiled.
That answered Naruto's question just fine.
Sneak peak chapter 12:
The fine ladies of KHS' teaching staff have a little girl's night out.
