blackheart01: Konnichiwa minna-san! How are you guys doing?
Sasuke: Hn.
Sakura: Great!
blackheart01: (sweatdrops) Well, it's already the holidays! How do you plan on spending it?
Sasuke: In peace.
Sakura: With Sasuke-kun! (insert an Uchiha blushing)
Sasuke: I was not blushing, baka!
blackheart01: Whatever you say Sasuke-kun! Disclaimer please?
Sakura: blackheart01 does not own Naruto.
Musician 10: His Other Side
" If being a nice guy doesn't work on you, maybe my other side would..."
A tickling sensation passed over her face. It was feather-light so she didn't bother to check what it was at first, but then it continued. It kept on brushing her cheeks and her nose which is starting to irritate her now. She scrunched up her nose slightly and then she faintly heard someone chuckle. Finally giving up- since the ministrations wouldn't seem to stop- she let out a sigh and cracked an eye open, followed by the other one. The first blurry sight that greeted her was something pink, which only took her a second to realize that it was her own hair. She saw it being moved by a pale hand and was being tucked behind her ear. Looking up, she saw the owner of the hand staring back at her, a small smile playing on his lips, as onyx orbs met emerald ones.
"'Morning" he greeted in a husky tone.
Sakura frowned lightly and her eyes suddenly went wide when realization hit her. She found her upper body practically resting on the side of Sasuke's bed. She hastily sat up straight, away from the boy when she felt something damp in her hand. Her gaze fell on it for a second and saw a white face towel.
Did this mean that I...? she trailed of inwardly.
Sasuke seemed to have read her mind as he said, "Thanks for staying"
Her face turned a pretty shade of pink before she can even look away from him.
"Because I like you, Sakura..."
She cleared her throat, trying to shake out the memories of last night before replying. "I-I wasn't planning to. I-I just fell asleep a-and-"
"Whatever the reason is, I'm still grateful" he stated, not taking away his eyes from the girl.
Sakura nodded her head slowly. She stared back at him, taking note of his almost healthy complexion. Without any second thoughts, she leaned down on the bed, surprising him a little when she touched his forehead to check out his temperature.
"Your fever's gone down. How are you feeling?" she inquired.
"Hn. Much better" he simply replied, fully aware of their proximity.
"That's good to know" she said in a relieved voice. She eyed the window and a small smile graced her lips. "It seems the storm has stopped" she said standing from her spot again.
"Aa" his voice hinted disappointment, when it occurred to him the meaning behind her observation. Sakura's emerald eyes turned back to him, a pink eyebrow raised in question. He answered her with a shake of his head.
The girl just shrugged it off before saying, "I guess I could go home now. Aunt Tsunade might be worried sick by now since I forgot to even call her last night"
To Sakura's surprise, the boy got off from his bed and made his way towards the bathroom. Before she could even ask what he's doing, he was half-way at the bathroom door when he looked back at her from his shoulder and said, "I'll be bringing you home so I could explain to your aunt about what happened. Just stay there and wait for me. I promise I'll be quick"
She actually planned to protest but since he already closed the bathroom door and the shower started, she gave up and sat on his bed to wait.
Oh well, it's a free ride anyway...
Sakura didn't know how Sasuke actually got away with her Aunt Tsunade's wrath. One minute, she was actually about to pounce at the boy for his first blunt statement of 'kidnapping' her and bringing her to the hotel. And then the next, she was actually grinning from ear to ear when he stated his honest intention of doing all those plots for her to go out on a date with him.
"I'm not going to apologize for what I did since it gave me the opportunity to get to know her. The only thing I'm sorry about is that in the process, I got her sick... so I'm sorry about that" Sasuke said sincerely, despite his monotonous tone. All of them were currently having tea in their living room.
Sakura pouted from her seat next to Tsunade at his statement, and pouted even more at Tsunade's reply.
"It's fine. This girl's prone to sickness so I've actually expected her to be coming home sick since yesterday. But since she's already recovered, I guess I don't have to worry anymore" Tsunade replied ruffling Sakura's hair as the pinkette flushed at her godmother's statement.
"Hey! It's not my fault I was born that way" Sakura said in defensively. "Anyway, aren't you going home yet? Your parents might get worried you know"
"Hn"
"Sakura, is that your way of treating a guest?" Tsunade chided, but the smile on her face, tells other wise. The woman knew how polite her goddaughter is, so she figures that there might be something going on between the two of them.
"It's fine. I'll be going now anyway-" he says standing up.
"Yeah, because you still need to take a rest" Sakura automatically said before she could stop herself. "I-I...I mean, I still need to take a rest" she mumbled, staring down at the suddenly interesting floor, missing Tsunade's smirk and Sasuke's disbelieving look.
"Sure" the raven-haired boy gave a nod at Tsunade, who nodded back and turned to the pinkette.
"Why don't you accompany him to the door Sakura? I have to get back to the library to finish my paperwork. See you soon, Uchiha Sasuke" Tsunade was already walking as she spoke, not giving Sakura the time to refuse.
Sakura let out a small groan and looked back up to Sasuke- who was waiting for her expactantly-, gesturing for him to follow her. "Come on. Let's go"
They were already outside the main door and Sakura was about to get back inside the house when Sasuke called her. "Yes?"
"Listen, Sakura. I need to ask you a favor" he says hesitantly.
Sakura blinked in puzzlement. "A favor?" He nods. "What is it?"
"This may actually sound weird but...the Sasuke you were with yesterday... isn't exactly the Sasuke everyone knows at school or even at home..." he muttered under his voice but it was enough for her to hear it.
The girl simply frowned at this statement, as if unable to comprehend it. "What are you talking about Uchiha?"
"I'm not usually the kind of person who takes care of someone who's sick, nor am I the one who acts like a gentleman to girls. I don't even care about other people's business as long as they don't mess with mine. Hell, I barely speak to anyone..." he sighed, combing a hand through his ebony locks, when he realized that he was probably rambling nonsense. "Just...Just don't inform anyone of what happened at my house, specially of me taking care of you, okay?"
Sakura just gave him a blank stare, then a smirk suddenly crept up her lips. "So it's true then" she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"What is?" Sasuke frowned, puzzled.
"You finally admitted that you were my little nurse when I got sick!" she laughed lightly, making the Uchiha's stomach flip unexpectedly.
An almost unnoticeable blush graced Sasuke's cheek at his slip-up. "I-I uh..." he stumbled on his words.
"Admit it or not, I know what I've heard, Uchiha" she grinned at the satisfaction she felt as she watch Sasuke getting uncomfortable under her gaze. He shook his head as if ridding himself off of his discomfort.
"Whatever. Just...just don't tell them...please?" he added the last part for good measure.
Sakura stared at him and shrugged,"Okay", Sasuke heaved out a sigh of relief, but the girl spoke again "But only on one condition"
"Condition?" he repeated.
"Yeah" she nodded in confirmation "You need to stop acting weird around me. I want to know the normal Sasuke that everyone else knows, who your friends know, bad or worse, I don't care. You're actually a good guy and I'd like to be friends with you. Plus, I want you to stop flirting with me" she narrowed her eyes at him at the last statement.
Sasuke seemed to contemplate on this before speaking slowly as if making sure, "You want me to act like my normal self to you and treat you like my friend? Are you sure?"
"Positive"
Sasuke stared at her for another minute. "Alright. Be prepared, though"
Sakura ignored his last sentence or even the unusual undertone. She smiled at him and held out her hand for a handshake. "Good! Let's start over then. I'm Haruno Sakura, musician, nice to meet you!"
"Hn" Sasuke rolled his eyes, his lips curving a little into a smile, before extending his hand out and shook hers "Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha heir, same here"
"So, Sakura, how was your date with Sasuke?" Ino said not bothering to greet the girl who just arrived and currently dropping off her belongings on her desk.
"Good morning to you too, Ino" Sakura replied dryly and greeted the other girls that surrounded her desk. "By the way, where did you hear that from?"
Tenten was the one who answered. "It's hard not to know. Sasuke's fangirls kept babbling about you being 'claimed by the Prince' last Friday"
"Being claimed and being taken against your will are two different things" Sakura pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Still, everyone thinks you're a couple now" Ino grinned slyly at her. The pinkette simply gave her a blank stare as if she was speaking in an foreign language.
"A couple?" she raised an eyebrow at the loud female blonde. "What kind of rumor are they spreading to make you think that way?"
The two girls including Hinata looked at each other then focused their gaze at the clueless pinkette, sweat dropping.
"S-Sakura-chan..." Hinata trailed off.
"SAKURA-CHAAAN!" a very familiar male's voice boomed from the hallways, and even before said person entered their room, the girls already knew it was Naruto. He went inside panting heavily, his blue eyes scanning the room before locating their target. In an instant Naruto was in front of them hovering over Sakura's desk, eyes wide as he stared at her. "Is it true?! Are they telling the truth?!"
"I guess I should expect this kind of greeting in the morning from you guys huh?" she muttered.
"Well...?" Naruto prodded, catching Sakura's attention.
"Well...what? I don't even know what you're talking about Naruto" Sakura answered.
"I heard Teme's fan girls saying that you're his girlfriend already! How did that happen?" Naruto elaborated.
Sakura blinked clueless at what he was saying as if her mind was slowly processing the information. "Oh! That one. Don't worry Naruto, it's not true" she grinned at the blonde ramen-lover.
"Let them believe it" a deep voice said from behind her. The pinkette turned and saw the Uchiha leaning on the window, his dark eyes trained outside, his hands inside his pant's pocket.
"Good Morning" Sakura greeted testing if someone would greet her normally.
"Hn"
Guess not, Sakura thought inwardly, so she opted to ask him a question instead. "So, you want your fan girls to believe we're a couple?"
"Aa"
"I don't even know what that word means" she mumbled, frowning a little. "Why?" she asked again.
"Less problem" he simply replied.
"Finally! Normal words I could find in the dictionary!" Sakura exclaimed rolling her eyes at him. The other girls and Naruto, chuckled at the background, slightly wondering why Sasuke seemed to stop his flirting with the musician.
"Ah, I see. You're gonna let the rumors spread so that when you're fan girls are aware that you're committed, they'll finally get off your back and not bother you anymore" Ino concluded, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Aa"
"Great idea, but you're being selfish, Teme! You're getting Sakura-chan into trouble because of that!" Naruto yelled at him even though he was just a few feet away from the boy.
"Shut up, Dobe" Sasuke muttered, but turned to Sakura. "Just go with it" It was a request but it sounded more like an order.
There was a short pause before Sakura shrugged and replied, "Okay"
"WHAT?!" Naruto, Ino and Ten Ten shouted in unison.
"S-Sakura-chan..." Hinata mumbled again. "A-Are you sure?"
"Yeah" the pinkette answered, to Sasuke's relief, though it was short-lived. "But it would only be temporary, once I've decided I want out, I'll end it quickly" The girl gave him a serious look which made him nod his head once.
"Neh, neh Sakura-chan! Why are you helping Teme? I thought you said you don't like him the way his fan girls does?" Naruto asked, confusion written all over his face, and the music genius didn't need to check the others' faces to confirm that their expressions were asking the same thing.
"Because I consider him my friend now" was her simple answer. "And friends help each other"
Everyone save Sasuke looked incredulously at the girl, though Ino was the first one to recover. "How is that possible? I've never seen Sasuke befriend a female before!" the blonde girl stated as she pointed a manicured finger at Sasuke which made him scowl. "I mean, sure we're his friends but it's only because we know the guys" she added, meaning the other boys included on their circle of friends.
"Oh, I didn't know that" Sakura said, then tilted her head towards Sasuke's direction. "I only asked him to be my friend last weekend and he agreed. 'Right Sasuke?"
"Hn" he nodded.
"Wow! This day just got weird" Ten Ten commented yo Hinata in the background, who nodded her head meekly in return.
All of a sudden, fan girls appeared like mushrooms popping out of nowhere. "SASUKE-KUUUN! SAKURA-CHAN!" the all yelled in greeting at the surprised 'couple'. Girls in different year levels and might even be from different schools gathered at the people who own those names, eyes teary with animated hearts filling them. A familiar red-headed girl in the front, wiped her eyes dramatically with a handkerchief.
"On behalf of all the Sasuke-kun's fans clubs gathered here today, we wish you a happy love life! No matter how much it hurts that we're not selected by Sasuke -kun" insert sniffling, whines and cries "We're still glad and proud that a member of the fans club was chosen by Sasuke-kun to be his girlfriend! Isn't that right girls?"
"HAI!" they yelled through brave tears. Making Naruto and company sweat drop on the sidelines, and Sasuke to twitch an eyebrow at their loudness. He glanced at Sakura and he saw her blank stare. He was surprised though when she stood up and converged towards the teary-eyed Karin, then...
"GOMEN NASAI!"
All the people present in the room's eyes widened in shock when they saw Sakura crying as well, tears cascading down on her cheeks, sympathy reflecting on her eyes as she held Karin's hands. "I'm sorry for what happened! I didn't mean to do it!"
The red-haired girl shook her head dramatically, "I know! It's hard not to fall for our Sasuke-kun, we understand that. Just always make sure to make him happy. Also..." she trailed of looking at the other fan girls first before leaning into Sakura's ear to whisper something. Sakura kept on nodding her head as if to reply on Karin's whispered words and grinning slightly for a few times.
"I'll do my best" Sakura said finally, beaming widely at the girls around them and glancing at Sasuke for a moment. The Uchiha could've sworn that he saw her eyes glint in mischief, but dismissed the thought as she went back to Karin. "By the way Karin, I'm curious about something..."
"Yeah?" Karin asked.
"For our rule, when you gave Sasuke permission about having me, wasn't there a 'souvenir' that he's supposed to give the other members for compensation according on the rule book?" Sakura questioned.
All of the fan girls had nosebleeds and were red, and surprisingly that includes the raven-haired boy.
"Why yes, Sakura-chan! It's the best souvenir that we were able to get personally given by Sasuke-kun!" Karin answered, red faced and also fanning her face.
"So, what is it?" she asked curiously.
"Well, it's actually a-"
Suddenly, a pair of warm hands blocked Sakura's ears before she was able to hear Karin's words. Sakura was a bit startled and she automatically lifted her hands up to hold the owner of said hands on her ears, wondering who it was. The pair was larger than hers. Warm, calloused and firm.
"Sasuke-kun?" Karin stated which answered Sakura's unspoken question.
Everyone was shocked to see that it was the Uchiha who covered Sakura's ears to avoid hearing the answer. But the commotion was short-lived when the school bell rang to indicate the start of classes.
"Hn. Go back to your classes now" Sasuke told them all, with a deep scowl on his face.
"Hey, Sasuke. What was that all about?" Sakura asked the boy during lunch break.
"Hn?" the boy looked up from his lunch to look at the pink-haired girl. All of their friends were with them and chatting with each other. Some of the guys were also aware of the events that they've missed that morning since Naruto and Ino filled them up with the details almost in sync. The quiet ones just nodded their heads, with Shikamaru muttering "Troublesome", the loud guys like Kiba kept on giving Sasuke wide grins and a pat on the back as if in approval, while Lee, sulked in the corner saying things like "My youthful cherry blossom had chosen Sasuke-san", "I was too late!", and "Forgive me Gai-sensei!", but he soon brightened up and started congratulating them, with a thumbs up and a sparkling grin-which their friends called the 'Nice-Gai' pose. Sakura somehow wondered why Lee wasn't aware of her charade with Sasuke and no one bothered to correct him. According to Naruto, it would be better if he doesn't know because he might let out their secret accidentally.
"What was the souvenir?" Sakura leaned forward because the boy was seated across her.
Sasuke almost choked on the onigiri he was munching on when he heard the music genius' query. Heat slowly crept up his cheeks and he scanned the table before getting back his composure. Luckily, their friends were too caught up with either their chattering, their food or their naps- as he saw Shikamaru dozing off on his plate of pasta.
"It's a secret" he hissed under his breath to avoid being overheard by the others.
The girl pouted, "A secret? Now you made me more curious" she said as she crossed her arms, on the table.
"Curiosity kills the cat" he retorted with a shrug.
"Sakura-chan's actually a very curious cat" someone said from their side.
The 'couple' turned to the newcomer's voice and saw Sasori, smiling boyishly at them. What surprised them the most was his appearance. His clothes were almost torn to shreds plus he was missing a shoe, his hair was in a mess, and he had kiss marks on his face with different shades of lipstick coloring it.
"Whoa! What happened to you man?" Naruto exclaimed as the whole gang noticed the boy's presence.
"Fan girls?" Sasuke and Sakura almost asked at the same time, earning an amused look from the red-head.
"Fan girls" Sasori repeated in conformation.
"Wow. They're pretty quick to track you down" Sakura commented, sipping on the can of coffee for a moment. "I guess that's the reason why you missed almost half of our classes today"
Sasori slipped next to the pinkette and draped an arm around her, while resting his head on her shoulder. "Yeah. The moment I stepped out on the street, people started recognizing me despite my disguise earlier. I think it might be because of the paparazzi following me around. Next thing I know, I was caught in the mob" he sighed tiredly, as he snuggled his forehead on top of Sakura's shoulders while groaning in pain as he rubbed his stomach. "Ugh, I think someone elbowed me in the gut!", he mumbled.
"Aw, poor baby" she patted him on his head, laughing lightly. "That's what you get for not heeding my advice. Didn't I tell you to always bring your bodyguards with you when your going out in public?" she scolded him like a mother hen.
Sasori whined, "But that would make me more noticeable!"
"I didn't say they you have to walk side by side, idiot" she sighed.
"Oh"
"Oi Sasuke! You're making a mess!" Naruto's loud voice caught everyone's attention. True enough, Sasuke's hand was squeezing the onigiri he was eating so fondly earlier to death. Pieces of white, sticky rice fell on top of the table, and overflowing from his tightly clenched hand. The raven-haired Uchiha was also startled when he looked down to examine the damage.
Damn it..., he cursed inwardly.
"Are you okay Sasuke?" Sakura asked with her innocent tone.
"Aa" he replied, half-heartedly, as he grabbed a couple of napkins to clean up himself and his table.
One word circulated inside the gang's heads, save for Sasuke, Sakura and Sasori.
...Jealous.
blackheart01: I'll be stopping for now. I know it's a bit hurried but I just wanted to post something before the year ends. I hope I can add up more though... -_-'
Sasuke: Hey! I'm not jealous!
blackheart01: Okaaay...
Sasuke: I'm serious!
blackheart01: Do you think he's serious Sakura-chan?
Sakura: Are you Sasuke-kun?
Sasuke: I-...uh...Hn (poofs out Kakashi style)
blackheart01: Bye for now, minna-san! Merry Christmas in advance! (Just in case...)
