OO

I'm not sure why I'm even here in the daycare. I guess I did need the volunteer hours like Kakashi told me that I did, so I decided to do it somewhere, and the daycare was where they were accepting volunteers.

Then Itachi and Lisa also told me that I should do it.

"Of course you should! I can picture you with kids!" Itachi laughed when I told him about it. Lisa swatted him with her hand.

"Sasuke, I'm sure the children will love you," Lisa assured me.

The thing is, I don't think I work well with children. They're usually scared of me for some reason. And just thinking of children makes me think of my unborn nephew.

I enter the front desk of the daycare and am greeted by a man with a huge scar across his nose. "Hello. You must be the volunteer Sasuke Uchiha. I'm Iruka." He holds out his hand, and I shake it. "The kids here are great. All you have to do is just play with them or just watch over them."

He takes me to a small room, which looks like a classroom, with its small tables and chairs and those fake kitchens. In the back of the room is an open door, and I can see the playground outside.

"Thank you Sasuke- have fun!" Iruka abruptly leaved before I can even ask anything else. A million different things were going through my head, and all of a sudden I'm nervous. So far, there are no children in sight, but I do hear yelling outside.

I scan the room and see one girl with blonde hair sitting at a table, all alone. I walk to her and kneel next to her. "Hey, what are you doing?" I ask her, in a gentle voice.

She looks at me bashfully. "Mister Teapot."The girl motions to all the stuffed animals around the table.

"I'm Sasuke," I tell her.

"I'm Shirley," the little girl says.

"Can I play?" I ask her, looking nervously at the stuffed animals. Truth be told, I was always creeped with stuffed animals. Those and clowns.

"You can sit on that one, next to Mr. Freckles. He's the bear," she tells me. I don't think I can fit to these little chairs, but I sit on it anyways. Next to a stuffed animal named Freckles.

"What is the little pony called?" I ask her, pointing a blue horse.

"She's Chubly," the girl says, pouring an unknown liquid into my cup. "Drink it. It's actual tea."

I shrug, wondering that there would be no harm done, until I actually drink it. I choke on it. "W-what is this?"

"It's milk with water and some juice and I didn't have sugar so I used salt and it is all heated up.," the girl blinks at me innocently.

Man that was disgusting.

"It tastes…" I try to get the words out, "really good. Did you come up with that?" I'm sure she did not know what tea actually was.

"Yeah!" she exclaims happy. "You're the only one who played mister teapot with me. The girls just think I'm weird and the boys think I have this thing called coots."

"Coots?" I ask. I'm telling ya, kids these days have the weirdest phrases.

"Short for cooties," she crinkles her nose. "I don't have coots do I?"

"Nah, the boys probably like you," I say.

"You think so? Will they play mister teapot with me?" she asks me earnestly.

Probably not, but, "It won't hurt to ask them."

"They're too busy playing this game dinosaur. And dinosaurs scare me," she says.

"Why don't you play on the playground?" I motion at where the other kids are playing.

"They won't let me on," she frowns. "That's their house. But that's okay though. I don't mind playing with my teapot friends."

Little children can sure be mean. I remember there was this bully at school that was big and fat who picked on the weak. One day I got tired of his stupid antics, so I told him and I did end up getting punched in the face, getting a black eye, and being scolded all in the process but then the next day I just went up to him and socked him right in the jaw. That did not bode well with my mom. Itachi congratulated me and laughed at me, saying he was proud. Man, back then, I nearly worshipped him for being so cool.

"How about we go over there and you ride the slide?" I suggest to her, looking over to see other kids playing.

"You think they'll let me?" she asks.

"We'll just have to invade their house then," I shrug. I take out my hand to her, and she places her tiny hand in mine as we go outside and towards the small playground.

"Shirley!" a little boy with a strange hat says as he's standing on top of the playground. "What brings you here?"

"Konohamaru, I just want to ride the slide," Shirely says, her hand squeezing mine.

"Let her ride," I say, glaring at the small boy. The small boy crosses his arms.

"You'll have to fight me first!" the boy Konohamaru says.

Oh brother.

"Then come and fight me," I say, and I didn't even think he'd actually hop off the top of the playground and charge at me. With ten other little boys. I get in front of Shirley. "Shirley- stay behind me." I'm defenseless as they jump on me, hitting me and punching me. Where was the teacher?

"He's still standing!" one boy shouts.

"He can't be taken down!" another shouts.

They suddenly stop and I see a group of girls are watching us now.

"I have to applaud you," Konohamaru says. "You withstood our attack." He and the rest of the ten boys bow down. "We are your student and you are our master."

How did this even happen?

"Uh-"

"Wow! Did you see that? He was like a knight in shining armor!" I hear one girl squeal.

"He's so cool!"

"He's cute!"

"Can he be my boyfriend?"

I look back at Shirley who's looking at me with an open mouth. I nod at her. "She can go on the slide, right?" I ask the Konohamaru kid.

"Whatever you say, Master," Konohamaru says, and they make a way for Shirley to go on the slide.

"Okay and all of you, be nice to Shirley," I say to them.

"Yes, Master," the ten boys all say.

"O…kay," I say, I'm a little weirded out by all this. Here I thought children were wild and crazy. No, they just were very, very weird.

"Can you play some toy soldiers with us?" a boy with glasses asks.

A girl came up to me. "No, he's totally playing house with us."

"He's going to catch cooties!"

"House!"

"Toy soldiers!"

"No one wants to play that! And he's my boyfriend!"

"Well, what is this guys?" the teacher finally shows up.

"Iruka sensei, Konohamaru is trying to hog my future boyfriend," the girl says. Iruka looks up at me and raises an eyebrow.

"Long story," I say.

"Well I see Shirley finally is playing with some kids, this your doing?" Iruka asks.

"She just needed a little push," I answer.

"You should come more often, we have a few other volunteers that also come," Iruka says.

"I don't know," I say, scratching the back of my head. "I feel like I scare kids." But one girl is pulling my hand and another boy is pulling my other hand. I see Shirley riding the slide with Konohamaru.

"He's mine, back off," the girl says.

Iruka looks at me. "I think you're great with kids."

XX

Tuesday at school.

I'm in my dreaded class with Sasuke. I try to ignore him. I can feel his gaze on me, trying to get my attention and it literally takes every fiber in my body not to look at his smiling face and smile back at him.

Because I just can't do that. When class is over, I quickly grab Sai out of the classroom and make a run for it.

"Nice shirt," Sai comments on me.

"What's wrong with what I wear?" I huff.

"Oh, nothing, the baggy jeans you always wear is all the rage in Milan," Sai grins at me.

"Shut up," I stick my tongue at him.

"It does kill me, you know," Sai begins. "That I can't dress you up. Oh! Which totally reminds me that since we want Naruto to see Hinata in a new light, for her not to wear clothes like a grandmother- like someone we know-" I punch his arm- "we're going shopping. Isn't that great?"

"Not really," I admit. Sai looks at me, then looks past me and smirks.

"Bye, bye," Sai cocked his head at me, "sweety pie." Sai walks a couple of steps away from us, talking to where Hinata was.

I turn around to see what Sai was looking at, and my eyes rake over Sasuke Uchiha.

"That scrawny guy you're always with?" Sasuke asks me, walking next to me. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"What if he is?" I say, looking at Sasuke innocently.

Sasuke looks at me seriously. "Then break up with him," he says bluntly. "So that you can go out with me."

"What if he doesn't like that?" I ask, and my heart is racing. He wants to go out with me? I mean he basically just implied it. Right? Why was I so happy?

"Then I'll deal with the rest," he says. Then pauses. "Is Sai going to do something to you?" he glances back looking like he's out for blood, and I panic. No need for Sai getting jumped. Sai is my best friend, and I did not need him to think he was going to get jumped in an alley anytime soon. There was no way that Sai could ever beat Sasuke up. I mean, I love Sai and all, but he couldn't even lift a finger on Sasuke.

"No, he's not," I answer. "Don't do anything to him."

Sasuke's eyebrows furrow. He looks like he's about to say something, but stops. Then after another second, "I was just going to say that this Friday, you owe me a date." Oh yeah, the date. How could I forget? "I was going to ask you sooner, but I had a lot of things on my hands, but now I'm free." Sasuke looks at me up bashfully.

"Okay," I say, thinking just how hot Sasuke could get looking- for Pete's sake- shy! Shy of asking me if it was okay to go out. But…

Wait.

I was totally and completely stupid. Just because he looked ridiculously hot being shy, I had to remember one very, very important detail. I can't even believe I almost forgot.

"Don't you already have a girlfriend?" I ask, and I want to slap him. "Isn't that a little double standard?"

Sasuke looks at me like he doesn't know what I'm talking about.

"Girlfriend?" Sasuke asks me.

"Oh, you know who I'm talking about," I say to him, turning around.

"Hey- wait, no! I don't have a girlfriend!" Sasuke assures me, coming next to me, his hand on my elbow. I look up at him.

"Does the name Karin ring any bells?" I remind him.

"Karin?" Sasuke's whole face darkens.

"The girls you're going out with currently?" I remind him. Does he seriously think-

"No," Sasuke's eyebrow furrows a little. "She- I'm not- we're not going out anymore. I broke up with her a while back." This made my heart speed up. So what Karin told me was a lie.

"Are you sure?" I ask a little lamely. What was this hope that I wanted? I sounded a little jealous too.

"Yes, my number one fan, I am hundred percent positive that I'm not dating anyone, and that I'm having a hot date this Friday," Sasuke answers me, giving me his lopsided smile. He just called me hot. Karin's words: he's not interested in ugly girls like you, ring through my head. Was she just lying to me? She lied about two things already. I couldn't trust her. She obviously had a huge problem and a huge thing for Sasuke.

"Don't tell me my number one is jealous," Sasuke tilts his head back a little, giving me a sideway glance.

"I'm not," I don't have anything to be jealous about. I mean of course gorgeous girls like Karin and Ino would want Sasuke.

"Good. Because there's nothing to be jealous about, I only have eyes for you," Sasuke tells me. And I find myself wanting to know more about his relationship with Karin. They obviously were close still if she entered his room. I did once, but that was strictly professional business.

"So this Friday," I manage to say, nodding. Friday. My dad usually had one of his usual gatherings of his friends at our house, and I know I won't be missed. "Sounds good."

"Yeah, I can't wait," Sasuke tells me.

OO

"Yo! Sasuke!" Kiba calls out to me after I just talked to Sakura about the date. I turn around. He looks at me, a little menacingly. "Was that Sakura you were just talking to?"

"Yeah," I say, wondering why he was even interested.

"What were you guys talking about?" his tone rubbed me the wrong way.

"What's it to you?" I ask him, almost challengingly. I know he has history with Sakura, but I'm not going to let it affect me at all. A small part of me wonders, about Sakura and Kiba's relationship. How can someone be that stupid to dump her?

"Stay away from her, and we won't have a problem," Kiba says. I almost laugh.

"Stay away from her?" I ask him, looking at him like he had to be kidding me. "I'm sorry, I'm going on a date with her."

"Listen here, Uchiha. Sakura is off limits. She's mine."

"Weren't you the stupid one that broke up with her?" I ask him, feeling my blood boil. What was Kiba trying to say? Did he dictate Sakura's love life? The realization hit me. "Lee- he had those bruises…you did that to him." I frown.

"That's because he went out with Sakura," Kiba says, shrugging as if what he did wasn't a little over the top. "Look, as your friend, I'm just saying don't go on a date with her. She doesn't date anyone. Not if I'm around." Kiba looks at me like I'm going to agree because I'm scared of him or something.

He had another thing coming.

"Sorry, buddy, but I'm going on a date with her," I assure him. He had at least five other people with him looking ready to pounce at me. He always had people with him because the Akatsuki always went in groups in case of anything happening, and I know that he doesn't care if he has to fight at school. Well he's in bad luck because I don't care either.

"You forget, I have the Akatsuki," Kiba says.

"You forget I'm not afraid of them or you," I tell him. We glare at each other a bit longer before Kiba and his posse leaves. Naruto jogs towards me.

"Teme! You just gave Kiba a run for his money- that doesn't happen often," Naruto tells me.

"He's nothing to be scared of," I say, but I'm still heated. Who does Kiba think he is to do that to Sakura? I want to go up there, and demand for an answer. But this was school. Not the right place for a confrontation or a fight, which I feel coming if I see Kiba again or if he says those things again.

XX

Friday after school, I'm eating some weird sushi that Sai bought for me; Sai was helping me pick out something to wear for my date.

"You're going to get sick," Sai says. "Stop eating so much. You never know, it might be bad sushi."

"Shut up," I tell him.

I was thinking of not even dressing up for our date. But I did. Sai picked out the perfect strapless, white laced dress with a braided belt at the waist and kind of went all girly on me.

"He's going to die," Sai sighs.

"Of how hideous I look?" I ask, looking at myself. I never wore dresses. Ever. Like, never ever. Ever. I always wore a baggy t-shirt and jeans, and mostly sweats. I didn't like dressing up nor did I think I had a reason to.

"You look fab-ulous," Sai squeals. I go downstairs as Sai makes his way to the balcony of mine.

"One of these days, you're going to fall," I tell him as he hops on the tree.

"Tell me how your perfect date goes! And- woah! Okay, one of these days, I am going to fall if you keep saying that!"

When I go downstairs, Kate runs into me.

"We're hosting a party," Kate says, looking at me. "Are you going to wear that?" she looks at my dress. "It doesn't really look good on you, sweety. Maybe you can try something of mine?"

"Thanks, but I like this," I say. Sai would be so, oh so offended. And actually, I don't think it looks too bad. I just wanted to pull Sai's leg saying it was ugly. But Sai did know how to make me look great. Obviously, Kate's definition of beauty consisted of a boat load of makeup and revealing a lot of cleavage. Just an hour of this, then freedom. Oh wait, then it's Sasuke's date. I feel a little excited for it. But I needed to make Sasuke see how horrible I am and whiny I sometimes can be. Sai disagreed on me doing that, but I had to make Sasuke back off from me. Part of me didn't want that, but I knew it was for the best. But every day, the more I get to talk to him, I feel myself falling for him, and that's bad. Really bad.

"But- oh," Kate sighs, and then looks away. "And make sure you don't really talk much, okay? Make sure they're happy and refill their cups."

"Got it," I say. Like I'm some servant.

It was finally passed an hour after I served, and clean the dishes, pretending to be Cinderella, and I went to tell Kate that I was leaving. But she was laughing with some of her friends. "Yes, yes, whatever," she says to me, and I know she's barely paying attention. She went back to her friend's conversation. "I was thinking another room bigger for the baby…"

Okay then.

I went to find my dad. He was also talking to people. "Sakura, not now," he told me, glancing at his friends, and then completely ignoring me.

I hated it. Every time they had a party, one time every two weeks, they would ignore me. Then when I would leave, they wouldn't care. Once, I went to Sai's over night, came back, and they didn't even notice I was gone. Another time I went out, and they figured out when they needed me to do something, I was grounded even though I did ask for their permission and they did say yes.

I walked outside when I checked the time- seven o'clock so Sasuke wouldn't have to ring the doorbell. He was making his way to the door when he saw me.

The look he gave me, kind of left me breathless. It wasn't lust, but like I was kind of like a movie star or something. He seriously needed to stop having this affect on me. "I didn't know true beauty till you walked out that door," he tells me, stepping towards me. "Should I go inside to meet-"

"Nope," I grab his arm, hearing my heart pound. "No need, they're busy." He looks a little perplexed, but goes with me, thankfully. "And can you take a break from cheesyville?" But what he just said was just…hot. Really, really hot. In fact, I wouldn't mind if a guy told me that every day.

"I'm serious," he says, looking at me intently and I swallow. His gaze never wavered.

"Thanks. You look…rather nice too," I manage to say. It was that or he looked freakin' hot. He cleaned up really, really nicely. He was wearing a black polo shirt and jeans, but on him it looked like he wasn't even trying and he looked too hot.

"I know," he gives me a megawatt smile and then it's gone as he opens the car door for me. I roll my eyes, conceited jerk. Then notice that he had a regular, nice ordinary Toyota Camry car. Not his motorcycle, thank goodness.

"What happened to the motorcycle?" I ask him.

"You wanted to ride that?" Sasuke asks me, raising an eyebrow. "This is Itachi's ride, and so we traded off." For some reason, I can actually picture Sasuke's brother, the one I met at the basketball game, riding his motorcycle.

"So, where are going?" I ask him.

"That's a secret," Sasuke answers.

"You should know that I have a right to have a hint," I say.

"I think you'll like it," he says.

"You have no idea what I like," I retort.

"I know you like me," he says.

"Ha ha ha," I say. This guy.

Sasuke only grins at me.

Our first stop was at this really casual diner place, one that Sai always was talking to me about.

When we walk in, Sasuke says, a little enthusiastically, "They have the best burgers."

"I'm a vegetarian," I look at him when he seats me. So far, so not awkward. That's a very good thing, considering the fact that I'm actually really awkward.

"Really?" he asks. "So is my sister-in-law, well for a short amount of time." That guy I met in the game had a wife? Oh yeah, I remember. That was how I thought Itachi looked familiar. How I met Sasuke. His brother's wedding! Sometimes, I'm so stupid. I wouldn't mind seeing them again. And that thought is actually really weird.

"Fortunately, they have a wide variety of everything- even vegetarian options," he says. So much for that.

I look over at the stupid vegetarian options and want to punch myself in the face. I did not want to eat baked eggplant, which I ordered, and Sasuke ordered a burger with fried and a milkshake. I had water.

I really wanted to try the other options because what Sasuke had right now, a big juicy burger was looking so, so good. I swear it was calling out my name.

"Are you not hungry?" he asks me.

Time to play the part. "Well, I really don't like to eat in front of guys. I mean, can you imagine all the calories this has?"

Sasuke looks at the eggplant skeptically.

Truth was, I ate everything. Sai told me I ate like a pig, which may be true. I wasn't neat at eating and I could devour a burger. But Sasuke didn't need to know that. After this date, he was going to regret taking me out.

"I didn't take you for one of those girls," he says. "Ino did the same thing."

Wait. He went out with Ino?

Suddenly, I really didn't have an appetite. Why did that make me irritated? Of course Sasuke would have girls fling themselves in front of him. He probably had like a hundred different girlfriends. Let's not forget the beautiful Karin. And above all, Ino pig? Of course Ino. She was gorgeous, the typical blonde haired cheerleader that had every guy wrapped around her fingers. I want to say that I thought Sasuke was different. But he's a guy. So of course he would flirt with Ino at one point.

"…Are you okay?" he asks me, looking worried. There was a weird sensation in my stomach. Crap. It was bad sushi. My stomach is churning, and feeling really weird all of a sudden.

"I-" I got up and ran to the bathroom. I threw up all over the sink. Great. Here I was unintentionally ruining our date. No, wait- that was a good thing.

I must have been out for a while because I heard a voice. "Sakura?" Sasuke was out the door, his voice laced with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I called, wiping my mouth and looking at myself. I took a deep breath, looked through my purse and popped a mint. I walked out. Sasuke's worried face was making me feel a little warm inside.

"If you weren't feeling good, you should have told me," he says earnestly. "I'll take you home."

"No," I say. I did not want to go home right now. That was the last place I wanted to go.

He looks at me, looking confused. "Then my house."

OO

My house didn't compare to Sakura's at all. But at this moment, I couldn't worry about that. I was glancing at Sakura, making sure she wasn't going to puke again. I don't know why she didn't want to go back to her house, but if she didn't, then I wouldn't take her there. This wasn't even half the date I planned, but right now, my only concern was taking care of Sakura.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask her, probably for the hundredth time. I had to stop myself from looking at her all night. She looked just absolutely beautiful. Why was she hiding herself from all those frumpy clothes? Did she not know the beauty she had?

"Yeah, I just feel a little dizzy," she replies.

When we got to the driveway, she didn't look disgusted, and I wondered why I even cared what she thought of my house. I wanted to impress her, but my one story, two bedroom house wouldn't do the job.

I entered with her, and I was so glad my mom wasn't home. She would take this situation wrong. Completely wrong. Maybe go a little beserk until I calm her down because anyone knows she always hounded me and Itachi on being careful. My mom got pregnant with Itachi at 16, and she told us if we got a girl pregnant, she'd have our heads and put them in a platter. "Here, sit," I gestured at the couch. "I'll give you some ginger ale."

"Okay," she says, sitting down. I walk into the kitchen thinking, Sakura is in my house. Because she was sick.

I poured a glass of ginger ale, something my mom always had in storage for in case of things like these. When I went to see her, she wasn't there.

"Sakura?" I called, wondering where she could have gone. Then I see a flash of pink in front of my bedroom door.

"Wow, I got to say, I thought your room would be a pigsty," she tells me, getting the glass and waltzing in my room. "It's…neat. I didn't know you had it in you. I couldn't really get a chance to fully look at your room when I came that one time."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me," I tell her, and our eyes meet. Her vibrant, beautiful green eyes were staring into me, innocently and it was all I could do to not stare at them all day. Or to kiss her right then and there. My eyes travel down to her lips and then back to her eyes.

"So it seems," she murmurs, looking away and quickly sits on my bed. I close my eye for a brief millisecond. This meant that she trusted me not to do anything to her. That she thought I wouldn't do anything to her, even though she's tempting me by sitting on my bed. I could easily do something, but this trust thing? Karin never trusted me. She even told me that she had to gain my trust. And I didn't even trust Karin either.

I wondered how I even got her to come on a date with me. Thinking back to Kiba, I feel myself getting angry again. Like he had some control over Sakura. That pissed me off to no end. I wanted to punch something, preferably his face, when he said that Sakura was his. And I know Sakura is totally unaware what her loser ex-boyfriend was doing. "She still likes me."

Sakura snorts, bringing me back to reality, "No pictures of bikini clad women…"

"What kind of person do you take me for?" I ask her, sitting next to her on my bed. She smiles, and that's what I also notice her not doing much, smiling. But she can light up this entire room.

"A person who gives bad boy a whole new meaning," she tells me. I couldn't help but laugh. "But…" she looks at me. "I think I trust you."

XX

I was with Sasuke. Next to his bed. For some bizarre reason, I trusted Sasuke not to do anything funny. He truly, sincerely seemed to care for my health. And he didn't even look pissed off that I ruined the long awaited date. He was a really patient person, unlike me. Totally unlike me. And I needed that. Someone who could be patient with me. Okay, was I just thinking about how Sasuke is a potential…oh I don't even want to go there. But right now, my heart is pounding really loud. And it didn't hurt that his laugh and smile is contagious and hot. How can a laugh be hot? Only on Sasuke Uchiha.

"You trust me," Sasuke states, his hand is grazing mine and it feels like there is electricity running through my hand. I bite my lip.

"Yeah, I do," I tell him. "I don't know why, but I trust you." Our eyes lock and we don't say anything. To break the silence and whatever we were about to do, I have to say something that had been on my mind since we got to his house. "Sasuke…" I look at him, half smiling. "Sorry I ruined our date." And I truly was.

Sasuke just shakes his head. "This isn't so bad, and do you know why?" Sasuke asks me.

"Why?" I ask, curious.

"Because I'm with you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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