Love Bite.

Chapter 11

So don't be alarmed
If he takes you by the arm
I won't let him win
I'm a sucker for his charm

- Lenka

"Should we go back in?" Sakura asked, as the couple strolled around outside, holding hands.

He gave a low groan and replied with a childishly whiny tone, "Do we really have to? Let's just have a nice talk out here and enjoy the night." He slid an arm around her waist as to persuade her and she reacted by snuggling closer to him.

"I would love that as much as you, but I think a lot of people would be asking where you are…" Sakura looked up at him through her eyelashes – she was smug at the knowledge that she was shorter than him, as to scientific stats (or something very similar), when the girl was shorter than the guy, there was a 70% higher chance of them succeeding as a couple than if the guy were to be shorter than the girl. And she also knew that 88% of statistics are made up on the spot…

"I just don't want to talk to the family…" he muttered stubbornly.

"You're such a pussy, Sasuke. If I'm there to hold your hand, will it make you feel better?" Sakura asked in her mocking maternal voice.

He pouted immaturely, but nonetheless he nodded his head lightly and replied, "I think my dad will like you better than he likes his own son…"

Although Sakura was sensitive to the lack of love that Papa Uchiha showed Baby Uchiha, she couldn't help but to curiously ask, "Really?"

"Of course!" Sasuke enthusiastically said. He wasn't mad, but instead proud of the perfect girlfriend he had. "Look at you – you're beautiful, smart and charming," he smiled at her and she rewarded him with a hug at the very complimentary speech. However, he turned into a buzz kill straight after he had just climbed in Sakura's good books, as he continued to inquisitively ask, "So… do I have to, er, hand you over to Itachi when we get back in?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, yeah," she stated sarcastically. "Because then you two can both leave with who you entered with, which means you get to exit with those two bimbos." She smugly concluded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Touché," he commented, "but those 'two bimbos' were girls that Naruto picked to hang off my arms during the evening, to just... you know, annoy my dad."

"And Itachi," Sakura continued from where Sasuke ended, "was just my escort for the night. He invited me to this thing, which you should be glad for, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now… together."

Sasuke nodded understandingly. "So I was just overeating a bit, wasn't I?"

She winced slightly before replying with good humor, "Just a little bit…"

"I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. He didn't want to have that obsessive, overprotective boyfriend streak in him all the time.

"I'm sorry too," she apologized, mainly for starting the whole skeptical debate with him. "Now let's go back inside. And this time round, you can introduce me to your parents as your date, not your brother's." She smiled at him, and they walked back in at a steady rate.

When they entered back into the ballroom, the party looked just as dull as it had when they had left.

But before Sasuke and Sakura could make it towards his parents, Itachi had interjected in between their path and held out a hand for his brother to shake.

"Sasuke, it's been a while, what with me at college and all that," Itachi smoothly said, finding it very hard to keep a mocking tone out of his voice. He always had this very slight temptation to just ridicule Sasuke and pull his strings, mainly because Itachi knew that Sasuke hated him, probably a consequence of Itachi being much freer in the Uchiha household. His father doted more on Itachi than on his little brother and the word 'dream' was a more prominent word in Itachi's vocabulary, just like how 'sex' or 'drugs' was in Sasuke's.

Sasuke grimaced internally, but took Itachi's hand nonetheless. He shook it with a firm masculinity, and replied back with an equally smooth, yet cold voice, "Itachi, it's good to see you." Obviously he was lying.

Sakura observed the tense interaction between them, whilst nervously biting her nail, until Itachi finally took notice of her.

"And Sakura, I don't appreciate it when my date runs out on me," he smiled at her, but then leaned into her ear, much to the annoyance of Sasuke. "I see that everything went well with my little brother," he whispered breathily, directing a rather obvious gaze to their adjoined hands. He leaned back out to observe them from a more distant angle, and yes, he thought they looked cute, but something needed to be done about the male counterpart. Sasuke didn't deserve a girl like Sakura, now that he thought about it. Maybe, just maybe, she would be much happier with a more mature guy, with longer hair and a more rugged stature…

Sakura giggled nervously, directing an anxious gaze at Sasuke to see how he reacted to Itachi's 'playful banter'. "Yeah, Sasuke and I are going out now," she replied, smiling at him in gratitude, thanking him for escorting her to the ball.

He raised a sleek eyebrow, and internally thought that he wouldn't have invited Sakura if he knew that she was going to progress so much with her relationship with Sasuke. "Little brother," he addressed sardonically, "Can I talk to you for a second?" He led the way to a desolate corner of the room and looked his sibling in the eye gravely.

"Are you serious about Sakura, Sasuke?" he asked, all mockery off of his face.

Sasuke buried his hands in his pockets, before looking his older brother straight in the eye. "I love Sakura," he said simply, but with the most feeling Itachi had ever heard from him.

Itachi somberly nodded his head in understanding and put a hand upon Sasuke's shoulder in an almost fatherly way. "So you're not just playing with her feelings like all those other girls that you bring home?"

"No!" Sasuke said, frustrated, shrugging off Itachi's hand. "I don't know if you've noticed, Itachi," he bitterly spat out, "But Sakura is different; she makes me a better man. And although we've only been going out for an hour or so, I have a really good feeling about her."

"That feeling you talk about… it's not lingering in your loins, is it?" Itachi jokingly countered, knowing that it would hit Sasuke where it hurt.

Sasuke didn't think that Itachi could ever become so immature about something like this. He simply scoffed and walked away back to Sakura, muttering a small, but audible, 'jerk'.

Itachi had successfully managed to piss Sasuke off, and he smiled arrogantly. But he was far from over, he thought, as he picked up a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, downed it, and then placed it neatly back on the waiter's tray. With a little bit more confidence, he walked over to his parents, who were at the far end of the ballroom, and stated with a calmness that branded him an Uchiha, "Have you heard, mother," he said, instantly grabbing the attention of his gossip-queen-of-a-mum. "Sasuke stole my date…"

His mother looked slightly confused for a few seconds before she took a cautious glance around the room to find her youngest son, and pin pointed him slow dancing in the centre of the room with the pretty pink-haired companion Itachi had initially been with.

She furrowed her brows before turning to Itachi again. "Is he-"

"-In love?" Itachi quickly interrupted. "I think he is, mother, or so he says."

Mama Uchiha's eyes widened with surprise, and then they welled up, on the verge of tears. She put a sentimental hand to her heart, as she let her motherly pride get the better of her. "Itachi," she gripped his arm, as if she was going to faint from the happiness.

Meanwhile, Itachi looked pretty annoyed at the concept of his mother leaning on him for support.

"But how did she end up with Sasuke?" his mum asked, looking more confused than before. But then a revelation hit her, and she added with stupendous vigor, "I wonder if that's the reason he's been acting so off as of late… He really is in love, isn't he, and has been for so long! Why didn't I notice sooner? I'm a terrible mum, Itachi, aren't I?" Now she had reached that level where all panic was evident on her botoxed face.

Itachi shook his head tirelessly to reassure his mother. "Why don't you talk to the happy couple? Take dad with you," he softly spoke, urging her on with a light push on her back. She nodded joyously, before dragging her husband to where Sakura and Sasuke were now getting drinks.

Itachi couldn't deny that he had something planned, because whilst his parents were talking to Sasuke about his new girlfriend, they had coincidentally managed to leave Sakura on her own, to which Itachi swooped in and chivalrously asked her to dance. She blushed prettily and warned him that she really wasn't a very good dancer, but accepted nonetheless. She wasn't going to bare another minute at a lifeless party on her own.

They twirled around the room like what they had seen at the Swan Lake ballet, but as they were absorbed into a romantic's world, they were being watched by a seething younger Uchiha. His parents were watching too but as a passive audience who really weren't taking it personally. Sasuke stalked over to the dancing couple, and with the most politeness he could muster, tapped on Itachi's shoulder and asked boyishly for permission to take his place.

There was a slow nod and then it was Sasuke's turn to twirl around the room with Sakura.

"He's trying to get into my head…" Sasuke uttered into Sakura's ear as they were dancing.

She pulled back slightly and gave him a confused look.

"He's dancing with you to make me jealous," he seethed with gritted teeth and a cautious look at his brother behind one shoulder.

"Aren't you just over-reacting a bit, Sasuke?" she asked, smiling at him piteously. She took a quick glance over at Itachi and saw him calmly sipping at another flute of bubbly with a (suspiciously fake) smile that was directed at the couple. "See?" Sakura said, ignorant to what Itachi was really thinking.

However, although Sasuke wasn't great at reading his older brother, at this moment in time, Itachi's thoughts were practically transparent.

Sakura could feel Sasuke's biceps tensing in aggravation, and she immediately stopped the dancing. They stood static in the middle of the floor, as Sakura pecked him lightly on the lips. "You trust me, right?" she asked, making sure to hold his gaze.

"Of course," he replied, "It's him I don't trust…"

"He's your brother, Sasuke."

"Precisely," Sasuke spat out.

Sakura shook her head hopelessly. "Well, if you trust me, you know I wouldn't possibly do anything that would mislead your trust. So just calm it, okay?" she concluded with a frustrated tone.

He held up his hands defensively, before apologizing lightly and swooping in for another longer kiss. However, Sakura pulled away from his hold and unwrapped his firm arms that were previously on her waist. "You know what, I'm going to, erm, get some air…" she stated, not making eye contact with her boyfriend. She was mad at him for even implying that he thought she was going to do something with Itachi that would compromise their relationship.

She walked away, but a sudden bout of déjà vu hit her, as Sasuke grabbed her wrist to stop her from going anywhere, just like a few hours ago when they were on the front steps to the mansion. "I'll come with you," he offered, trying to make peace; he knew that Sakura wasn't too happy, but just didn't want to make a scene at the party.

She pulled her arm away and declined coldly.

He let her go out on the isolated balcony, whilst he furiously made his way over to his smug older brother, who was sipping on his sixth glass of Moët.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Sasuke furiously asked.

Unaffected, Itachi simply looked through Sasuke with his smile still in place. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he stated obliviously.

"Like hell you don't," Sasuke replied crudely. "I can't even distinguish if you're doing this for me or for Sakura."

Now Sasuke had his attention, and Itachi turned to him with an indecipherable look in his eye. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly whilst narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"I mean," Sasuke repeated, "that just because you invited Sakura tonight and just because she was your 'date' at the start of the evening, does not mean you have to ruin our real relationship that we have going on now. It's like you have something for her – my girlfriend!"

Itachi looked offended for a second before laughing it off good-humouredly. "Your 'girlfriend' is frigid," he raised an arrogant eyebrow at Sasuke. "She can get to first base but it'll take at least 6 months until she's ready to go further… I pick mine more carefully."

He chuckled and then walked away, leaving an extremely insulted little brother behind. He offended Sakura and that enraged Sasuke more than anything. He frowned, before it slowly eased out into a more confused expression and then the realization began to dawn on Sasuke. A relationship with Sakura meant no sex or touching for at least 6 months!

He had never realized how much commitment it took to make a relationship work and he didn't know if he was just going passionately insane right now, but although he knew that he couldn't live without sex, he also knew that he couldn't live without Sakura.

So, in the end, it was sex or Sakura, and Sasuke decided like an adult that he would keep his girlfriend before anything. Itachi wasn't going to get the better of him; his attempt at trying to throw Sasuke off failed and Sasuke walked out after Sakura onto the balcony with a smug grin thrown behind his shoulder at Itachi, who inwardly gritted his teeth, defeated and dejected.

Sasuke sneaked up behind Sakura, who was standing holding onto the balcony rails looking up at the stars that were gradually appearing one by one. He wrapped both of his strong arms around her petite waist and kissed her affectionately behind her ear and whispered, "I love you, Sakura."

She smiled lightly and turned around to face him. "Sasuke, I can trust you, can't I?"

Obviously she had been consumed in her thoughts whilst alone for the very first time that evening. She didn't exactly know why she asked this, when she could clearly tell that he was devoted to their relationship. She guessed it was because she knew all about his flirtatious past. After their first semi-argument, she needed to make sure that they had the right trust foundations to build a stronger bond between them.

Although Sasuke hated to admit it, he knew exactly what Sakura was talking about. "Of course you can trust me, Sakura." He held her hands in both of his, and kissed her passionately on the lips; a seal of his loyalty. He meant every word. He wouldn't dare cheat on Sakura. Now that he had found his goddess, Aphrodite, he wasn't letting go so easily.

She smiled, and for the second time that evening, she said with an easy confidence, "I love you, Sasuke." And this time, she was very, very, very sure, and no Itachi would get in the way.

Yuck, what's with the overrated romance? I'm kidding, I'm a sucker for a good cliche.

If i have time, i'm thinking about a christmas one shot, but you really can't write anything original when everything remotely festive has already been taken...

Also: Thank you to kagomes heart, who inspired me with her fun plot suggestion :)