TK: For those readers who keep asking for scenes from the book.. I'm sorry! There's really not that much left of the book. I'm going to try to space it out between this chapter and next chapter, and then chapter 14 is ALL book. Seriously. It's like 8,000 words of just book Sakura and book Sasori. So bear with me until then! Hopefully you enjoy the AU scenes, too.

A Third Chance

TK Grimm

Chapter Twelve:

The Morning After

When Sakura awoke, the first thing she was aware of was the fact that, surprisingly, she was not hung-over. The light of the sun leaked into her room through the curtains, and she stretched comfortably. The sheets felt smooth against her naked body, and—

Wait, what?

Sakura's eyes widened. She lifted the sheet part of the way and peeked inside. Sure enough, she was not wearing any clothes. She lowered the sheet and shut her eyes tightly. Just how much did she drink last night? Wait, no, she had also smoked a vast amount of marijuana. Wasn't there a rule against mixing things?

Sakura slowly turned over to her other side, and to her immense shock, she saw Sasori. He was lying on his stomach with the sheet wrapped tightly around his waist. Judging by his bare back, he wasn't wearing any clothes either. Sakura gulped.

Sasori's arms were crossed, and his head was partially buried in them as a makeshift pillow, even though there were several pillows strewn about the floor. His eyes were closed, so he must have been asleep.

Sakura raised her hand and grabbed a chunk of her hair in the front, holding it against her forehead as she stared down at the bed in shock. She and Sasori had slept together! The thought alone was surreal enough. But it had happened, they'd both gotten completely drunk or high or both—whatever—and that happened.

She had a vague memory of him pressing her against the door and kissing her senseless, in a way that she never thought Sasori would ever do. She also remembered him carrying her up the stairs to the guest bedroom.

Guest bedroom?

Sakura's face contorted into a grimace. That's right. She wasn't even home. This was Pein and Konan's guest bedroom! And now, it was a complete mess.

Awkward.

As Sakura slowly rose up in the bed, Sasori woke from the movement. His eyes hesitantly opened, and he saw Sakura with her back to him. She clutched the sheet to her chest with one hand and stared at the other hand as if in a daze.

The memories of the previous night came back to him, and Sasori shut his eyes tight. If there was one way he did not want to wake up, it was this. As if his not-relationship with Sakura wasn't awkward enough with all the tiptoeing they've been doing since he very stupidly asked her to pretend to be his date for one night, one night.

It seemed a lot of mistakes can happen in one night's time.

Sasori bent his arm to rub his eyes, and the movement caught Sakura's attention. She looked at him, made a light squeaking noise, and hugged the sheet tighter around her body. Sasori barely moved. He rose up, looking extraordinarily groggy for someone who was usually so calm and serene. The sheet fell around his waist and legs, unused.

Sakura's face was burning with embarrassment. She didn't know if she should look at Sasori or away from him, so her eyes kind of darted back and forth in her indecision. If Sasori noticed, he didn't comment on it. Instead, he just yawned behind his hand and blinked several times.

Sakura tried to bite back a smile and failed. "You look so sleepy."

Sasori raised his hand to his mouth to cover another yawn. He looked at her for a moment and said, "I'm not much of a morning person."

"Do you think Pein and Konan are up?" she asked.

Sasori shrugged. He was probably too tired to care. "Pein wasn't nearly as drunk as I was last night."

"Konan was high as a kite," Sakura mused. She was, too, but she remembered having a ridiculous amount of fun. She vaguely wondered if she'd ever try it again. The answer that she came up with was maybe.

Sasori looked at her, and Sakura almost thought he looked concerned. "Are you all right, Sakura?"

She averted her gaze, feeling embarrassed once more. Had they been younger, teenagers even, Sakura could imagine the guy quickly running out of the room before she woke up in order to avoid an awkward confrontation. They were adults, though, and things are different when you're older.

"Yes, I'm all right," she said. She hesitated. "I think… things keep getting more and more complicated for us, though."

Sasori let out one of his usual sighs. "So it would seem."

"Um…" Sakura wasn't quite sure how to word it. "I'm going to… get dressed. So, err, if you could…"

Sasori understood her meaning. He turned and faced the wall, giving her privacy to find her clothes. Sakura found her bra quickly enough and put that on first. She slipped her shirt over that. When she found her underwear, there was a large rip in the side. She had a vague memory of Sasori tearing them off rather than sliding them down, and she blushed. Sakura looked around for her capri pants. When she found them, she slipped them on without her torn panties. It was unfortunate, but there was no way she'd ever be able to wear them anymore, if they only clung to one leg. She crumpled them up and shoved them into her pocket to throw away later.

"I'm sorry, Sakura."

Sasori's words caught Sakura off-guard, and she nearly missed a button on her pants. She turned to look at him, but his back was still facing her.

"It was never my intention to…," he seemed to struggle for the right word, "…take advantage of you."

Sakura's embarrassment melted away. She thought for sure that, given her eager response last night, Sasori would be well aware of her feelings for him by now. But it seemed he had played all of that up as intoxication. And now, he was worried that she was angry with him.

Sakura crawled back onto the bed and over to the edge where Sasori was sitting. She lifted her hand and then hesitated. She wondered what was allowed in this situation. She wanted to wrap her arms around him in a hug, but she knew that, normally, Sasori didn't like to be touched.

Of course, his actions last night said otherwise, but that was a completely different situation.

She settled on a compromise and gently touched his shoulder. Sure enough, Sakura saw the muscles in his back tense for a moment. He relaxed, but the shift had been noticeable.

"It's all right," she told him, her voice soft. "I'm not mad. We were both drunk. And high. And… not in total control. It was… a mistake." Forcing that last word out hurt Sakura more than she ever thought a word could.

Sasori turned to face her. He propped himself up with his left hand and looked at Sakura, his face an emotionless mask. "You're very mature for your age."

Sakura pressed her lips into a thin line. "You're not that much older than me, Sasori."

A slight smile formed on his face at last. "Of course." He looked her over. "Finished getting dressed?"

"Yeah."

He nodded. And then, as if he had no shame in the world, Sasori stood up. Sakura made a squeaking noise and turned around to give him privacy while he looked for his clothes. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the floor.

She couldn't help it. She peeked.

His back was to her, but he was already pulling his belt through the loops of his jeans. What caught Sakura's attention, though, was the fact that his shoulders were shaking slightly.

He was silently laughing at her!

Sakura huffed and stood up as well. She began making the bed as Sasori slipped his shirt back on. Once Sasori was dressed, he helped Sakura return the guest room to its original state. Luckily, nothing was broken or ruined, and they were able to get the room in order with relative ease.

Sasori was waiting for her at the door. Sakura looked around for her purse, but she supposed she must have left it downstairs in the living room or the kitchen. She was beginning to smell things like bacon and eggs, and it made her hungry. She walked over to Sasori.

She wondered if things would be different between them now.

Sasori opened the door, and Sakura walked through it first. He closed it behind them, and the two of them headed downstairs. Sakura's jaw dropped at the scene that awaited her. Deidara was passed out with one leg and one arm hanging off the sofa. Hidan had his arms folded over the coffee table as a pillow, and he was snoring.

The wide archway let the kitchen be visible from the living room. Sakura saw Kisame leaning against the wall of the kitchen with a mug of coffee in his hand. He saw her and offered her a sleepy nod which she returned with an awkward smile.

Sakura and Sasori stepped into the kitchen and found Konan standing over the stove cooking breakfast. She was wearing a dark purple summer dress and a pair of bunny slippers, of all things. Her blue hair was pinned up in a messy bun with a white origami flower.

Pein was rummaging through the refrigerator, and when he emerged, he had a large carton of orange juice in his hand. He wasn't wearing anything save for a pair of black pajama pants that actually had the Akatsuki red cloud on them. If that wasn't funny enough, Sakura saw that Pein also had nipple piercings.

She tried not to laugh. It came out as a snicker.

Pein began pouring a glass of orange juice and said, "Something funny, princess?"

Sakura coughed into her hand. "So, uh, Pein, you were the leader of your little Akatsuki club, right?"

"Club?"

Konan replied for him, "Basically, yes." She smiled at Sakura and asked, "So, uh, how did you two sleep?"

Sakura and Sasori slowly turned their heads to look at each other. Sakura was only slightly relieved to note that Sasori looked a fraction as awkward as she did in that moment. She switched her gaze to Konan, but Pein was next to her with his glass of orange juice and an evil grin that put Sakura's to shame.

"Oh, I don't think there was much sleeping done at all," he said. He raised the orange juice to his lips and took a sip. "Not from what I heard."

Sakura's face turned bright red, and Sasori made a sigh as he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Awkward. So, so awkward.

Konan elbowed Pein lightly. "That's totally fine, because we didn't get much sleep either."

Pein rubbed his side where Konan had elbowed him, but he was still grinning. "It's true."

"Staying for breakfast?" Konan asked hopefully.

Actually, what Sakura wanted more than anything was to crawl under a rock and die. But she couldn't quite say that, and as Sasori was her ride home, she was sort of stuck with whatever he wanted. She looked at him, and he didn't seem too keen on replying, so Sakura switched her green eyes back to Konan. "Uh, sure. Do you need any help?"

Konan looked surprised, but then she smiled and said, "Thank you. I'm just not used to anyone asking."

"Cooking is the woman's job," Pein stated simply.

Konan shot him a very unimpressed stare. "Hey, you know that sex thing that happened last night? Wouldn't it be a shame if it didn't happen ever again?"

"Except it would, because you love it, too."

Konan flicked him in his nipple piercing.

Pein raised his free hand to cover it. "Ow. Evil cow."

"Sexist bastard."

They both grinned at each other as if they were the only two people in the whole world.

Sakura temporarily forgot about her awkward situation and smiled at them. She always wanted a relationship like that, where the two understood each other completely and could banter freely without offense. Konan and Pein matched each other perfectly. She hoped that one day, she matched someone, too.

The smells of food seemed to do the trick as far as waking Deidara and Hidan up. After a few minutes, they walked into the kitchen looking like zombies. Deidara went straight for Pein's fridge and grabbed himself a drink, but that was normal.

Breakfast was interesting. Sakura and Konan had to cook a huge amount of food because there were five hungry men to feed. Hidan seemed to be nursing a hangover, but after Kisame had his coffee, he was pleasant enough. Deidara was his usual chatterbox self, but he did send Sakura and Sasori a few glances that, in Sakura's eyes, seemed suspicious.

When they were finished with their meal, they lingered in the dining room for a while and talked about whatever subjects came up.

During that time, Sakura made a very quick realization. "Oh no," she said, looking at Sasori. "We were supposed to work today. I might have missed calls to the office and appointments for you!"

"It's all right," said Sasori. He took a sip of his hot cup of tea. Then, he set it down and looked at her. "You can take the day off, if you like."

Sakura considered. "Are you and Deidara taking today off, too?"

Deidara looked hopeful and even smiled until Sasori said a short, resounding, "No." Deidara looked crushed.

Sakura gave a little chuckle. "Then I can come in, too. Someone has to take calls while you two lock yourselves in your art room."

"Some things never change," Pein dryly mused.

Hidan spoke next, "Bangin' your receptionist, eh? Hot."

Sakura and Sasori's eyes widened, and the latter took another sip of his tea to prevent himself from having to answer.

"Shut up, Hidan," said Konan.

"What'd I say? Shit," he added at the end, as if everyone always gave him a hard time for no reason. "Y'know, I've got a porno with that same premise, if you want—"

"No thank you," Sakura said, very quickly.

Hidan gave a half-hearted shrug. "Just tryin' to help you out."

As Konan began clearing the table, Sasori decided it was probably time to make his escape. He and Sakura said their goodbyes. Deidara promised that he would be at work within the hour, though he made certain to complain about having to work after a night of partying.

Sasori started up his car as Sakura adjusted her seatbelt. He backed out of the driveway and began the short drive to Sakura's house.

It was the first time they'd been alone together since that morning, and the awkward atmosphere seemed to have only increased over time, rather than decreased.

Finally, Sakura managed to ask the question that had been on both of their minds for a couple hours. "Are things going to be different between us now?"

Sasori was quiet for a while, and he kept his eyes on the road as he drove. "Hopefully not," he told her. He glanced at her, seeing her expression. Sakura looked embarrassed, and she was fidgeting with the end of her shirt. He switched his gaze back to the road. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He really hoped she didn't. He wasn't sure he could handle that conversation quite yet.

"Not really," Sakura admitted. "But um… the reason I ask is…" she sighed. "You're one of my best friends, Sasori, and I really love my job working for you. I just… I don't want last night to jeopardize either of those things."

"Neither do I," Sasori told her truthfully. He hesitated. "But it might be a good idea to stop lying about being in a relationship."

Sakura stopped fidgeting and looked at him. Her face showed her surprise. "What will we tell the others?"

He gave a half-hearted shrug with his right shoulder. "That we decided to stay friends and professional co-workers, I suppose."

Sakura looked down at her lap again. "I see."

Sasori noticed her change in mood immediately. He glanced at her, but he couldn't determine what it was that had her looking quite so… sad. "Sakura," he said. "Are you all right?"

She managed to nod her head a couple of times. How could she tell him how she felt now? They'd accidentally slept together, and if she said something like that, surely Sasori would see that she was in too deep and tell her to take some time off, if not temporarily then permanently. Things would never be the same between them again.

"I'm okay," she said, forcing a smile for him. "Just glad we both still want to be friends after all this."

We've been through a lot.

Sasori nodded. He pulled into the driveway at Sakura's house and parked his car, but he didn't turn the engine off. "I'm going to go home and shower. I'll head to work after that."

"I'll do the same," said Sakura.

There was a pause. Sasori said, "Sakura." She looked at him. He struggled to word his next sentence. "I'm… quite positive we didn't use any…" his voice trailed off, and Sasori sighed. "I realize it isn't any of my business, but are you using any form of birth control right now?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Oh, um… that's… a very good point. I will, uh, stop at the pharmacy on my way to work. I'll get a morning after pill."

Sasori reached for his wallet and handed Sakura his scorpion credit card. "Then let me pay for it."

"Sasori, really, it's—"

"No big deal?" Sasori finished at the same time as Sakura. "Then it's no big deal if I pay for it. We were both consenting adults." He hesitated. "Mostly. So we'll handle this like adults."

Sakura pressed her lips together, considering. Finally, she accepted his card. "Okay. I'll bring it to you when I come to work."

Sasori nodded. "I'll see you then."

Sakura watched Sasori leave. Her mind was still reeling from the previous night's activities. She didn't remember all of it, but what she did remember was wonderful. She hoped Sasori was right when he said that nothing would change between them. She didn't know if she could handle it if she never spoke to him again.

Sakura got her mail and entered her small house. She made sure to refill her cat's water bowl and food, and then she went straight for the shower. After a quick examination, she saw a couple small bruises on her thighs that she was sure would match Sasori's fingers and thumbs, but she was otherwise no worse for wear.

She showered, brushed her teeth, and fixed her hair. When she was dressed and ready to go, Sakura got in her car and headed for the pharmacy. She'd never taken a morning after pill before—Sakura was a good girl—and was very surprised to hear just how expensive they were. She made sure to keep the receipt to give to Sasori when she saw him.

Sakura parked her rusty old '80s yellow Mustang in the back of Akatsuki studios, as usual, and locked it. She saw Sasori's red Ferrari as well as Deidara's black Trans Am, so both of them were already inside. She walked around to the front and headed in as well.

Deidara was sitting at her computer desk with a lollypop in his mouth. Sasori was leaning against the desk looking over the contents of a beige file folder.

"Hey, Cherry Chick," said Deidara. His words came out a little funny because of the sucker. It had also turned his tongue very orange.

"Playing games on my computer again, Dei?" Sakura asked. She hung up her white coat on the coat rack and walked over to them.

"No!" Deidara insisted. "Just, uh, booting up the computer for you… yeah."

"M-hmm, sure." She looked at Sasori, wondering if it would be appropriate if she gave him his credit card and the receipt from the pharmacy with Deidara sitting right there. She glanced at Deidara, but before she could say anything, he beat her to it.

"Sasori tells me you two have, uh," he snickered a bit, "broken up."

Deidara thought their pretend relationship was a bit of a joke, and if Sakura didn't have feelings for Sasori, she probably would, too. Her misery must have shown on her face, because the smile slipped from Deidara's.

"Hey, uh, are you okay? …Yeah."

Sakura quickly forced a smile. "Hm? Oh yes, of course. Yeah, it's probably better this way. I felt bad lying."

Deidara gave her a look that said he wasn't entirely convinced. He glanced at Sasori, who was staring at the folder, but as his eyes weren't moving, he couldn't actually be reading anything. If there was ever a moment for Deidara to read the atmosphere, this would be it.

"Right, uh, I'm going to go… do some work… yeah." Deidara tip-toed out of the room and headed upstairs.

Sakura groaned. Now even Deidara was acting suspiciously. Why couldn't she just be a better actress and convince everyone around her that everything was fine?

"Deidara is nosy," said Sasori. He lowered the folder he was holding and closed it before setting it on the desk.

Sakura handed him his credit card and the receipt for the pill. "It was a bit more expensive than I thought, but it was the only one they had."

Sasori nodded. "That's fine. Did you take it?"

"I did, yeah."

There was a moment of silence in which both of them continued to look at each other but neither seemed to know what to say. Sakura opened her mouth at one point, but she thought better of it and closed it. After a little over a minute went by, Sasori broke the silence.

"I'll be upstairs with Deidara if you need either of us."

"Okay."

He left her then and headed up to the workroom. Deidara was in there sitting on the floor with his half-finished clay bird. It was turning out to be a lot bigger and more detailed than Sasori thought it would be. The bird was taking the shape of a hawk.

Sasori wondered if Sakura was truly alright with what had happened the night before. He had to have been completely intoxicated to even—but he'd enjoyed it.

Immensely.

"When I'm done with this," Deidara commented, "I think I'm going to drop it from the roof of a very tall building. The splatter it makes will be true art."

Sasori leaned against the closed door and sighed. He wasn't really listening to Deidara, so all he said was, "All right."

Sasori liked to consider himself mature and even wise—arrogant was probably pushing it, but he knew he had his moments. There was a part of him that even he had to admit was a bit of a spoiled brat.

Chiyo's fault, he was certain.

But that spoiled brat part of Sasori almost… relished what he'd done with Sakura. It was enticing, it was fun, it was exciting… and it made him want to do it again. Sasori raised his hand to his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was actually having those thoughts.

Deidara stopped molding the clay and looked at his partner. "That's it? No argument? No lecture on what art really is?"

"Hm?" Sasori said, pulled from his thoughts. "Oh, I was just thinking."

"Ah, what a novel concept," said Deidara.

"Indeed," Sasori mused. "You should try it sometime."

Deidara shot him a look. "Oh, ha-ha. That joke's as old as you are."

"Shut up, Deidara."

In the main lobby downstairs, Sakura was finding it very difficult to get anything done. She had a few calls on the answering machine that they had missed this morning, and the process of inputting them on the computer didn't take long, but after that, she felt drained.

Sakura glanced at her phone. She really wanted to talk to someone about everything that was going on. Normally, she would talk to Ino, but Ino was still mad at her, and they hadn't spoken since. Sakura was sure Konan would have talked to her about it, but Konan wasn't aware that she and Sasori weren't an actual relationship.

Sakura sighed, wondering when her life became so complicated. Still, she supposed that after everything she and Ino had been through, there had to be some way to salvage their friendship.

Sakura scrolled down to Ino's name and sent her a text message.

Ino, it's Sakura. Please talk to me. I need your help.

She waited for a while, but when there seemed to be no reply, Sakura set her phone down. She had some free time, so she reached into the drawer of her desk and pulled out the book A Third Chance. She hoped that reading would at least distract her from the troubles of her real life, at least for a short time.

The journey from Konoha to Suna took the Book-Sakura and her teammates three days, and when they got here, they found Gaara's brother Kankuro, who was in fact Temari's middle sibling in real life as well, sick with poison. Sakura had read in the previous chapter that the Book-Sasori was the one who had struck Kankuro down with his puppets and poisoned him.

Book

The poison coursing through Kankuro's veins was unlike any Sakura had ever seen. By the time they arrived, she knew he had only a few precious hours to live. She had to think fast and act faster.

She gave her list of commands to the assembled medical staff. The procedure was daunting, but the pain Kankuro was suffering made it seem like a walk in the park. Using only her specially formulated solution and her own chakra, Sakura pulled out bits of poison by the milliliter.

Chiyo stared at Sakura with the eyes of someone who had just seen a ghost. "Sa…ku…ra…"

"Excuse me, ma'am," said Sakura, completely businesslike. She brushed past Chiyo as if she hadn't a clue in the world who the old woman was and continued pulling poison from Kankuro's body.

Was it her? Could it be? Chiyo had already confused one of the Leaf ninja as someone else. Perhaps she was just going senile… That had to be it. Sasori had told her that Sakura was killed by the previous Kazekage.

And that he'd been the one to kill him.

But… "Have you always been a Leaf shinobi, girl?" Chiyo asked. She narrowed her eyes at Sakura, taking in her posture and mannerisms. She wasn't as smiley and bubbly as the Sakura of Sand had been. She was older, too, but not old enough.

Sakura of Sand would have been in her mid-thirties, just under Sasori's age. This girl could not have been more than fifteen or sixteen years old.

"Yes, ma'am," said Sakura. She didn't even look at Chiyo. She stayed focused on her work.

Chiyo frowned. It couldn't be her.

The poison was a dark purple color that stood out in the solution. Extracting it from Kankuro's veins and organs was one thing, but creating an antidote was something else entirely. Even going through the Sand Village's entire supply of herbs would not be enough to create a vaccine for everyone.

When Kankuro's life was no longer in any immediate danger, Sakura started working on the antidote. It took nine straight hours testing various combinations in the greenhouse. By the time it was complete, night had fallen on the Sand Village, and Sakura only had enough for three doses.

The first of those doses she gave to Kankuro. It removed the lingering traces of the poison in his veins and saved his life. But there were only two vials left. Sakura didn't have the time nor the resources to prepare more.

She only hoped it would be enough.

End Book

Sakura's phone buzzed with a text message, drawing her out of A Third Chance with a startled jump.

Come 2 v

Ino was asking her to go to Vollenden, Ino's salon and spa. Sakura glanced at the clock. She wasn't off work for another two hours. But at the same time, Ino was actually willing to talk to her, so she didn't really want to make her wait.

She also didn't really want to go upstairs and see Sasori again. She feared she might break.

It was immensely childish, but Sakura picked up her phone and called Deidara.

"Uh… Sakura?" He sounded confused, probably wondering why she didn't just come upstairs.

"Hey, um… is it okay if I take the rest of the day off?"

"Huh? Sure, I guess… yeah. Why?"

Sakura hesitated. "Oh, you know, just still feeling a little 'blah' and stuff, and thought I might try to make up with Ino after our fight, and it's pretty dead here, and I was just sorta, you know… A-anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, okay Dei? Bye!"

The call ended. Upstairs, Deidara looked down at his phone with a baffled expression.

"What did Sakura say?" Sasori asked.

Deidara looked at him. "A lot of it didn't make any sense… yeah."

Sasori sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like her."

Sakura made it to Vollenden in good time. She was both relieved and apprehensive that Ino was willing to talk to her. She liked to think that friendship was stronger than a silly fight, even if the fight was her fault for not telling Ino about the dinner party in the first place.

When she stepped inside, Ino was standing near the front desk with her arms crossed over her chest. She looked very impatient, but she was currently looking at a man who appeared to be operating switches that controlled some sort of power supply for the salon.

"Can't you do this any faster, Shikamaru?"

"Probably, if you weren't hovering over my shoulder nagging," he replied. "Troublesome hag."

"Shikamaru?" She hardly recognized him, but he still kept his hair pulled back in a spiky ponytail. He was wearing a green jacket and a pair of dark jeans.

He stopped what he was doing and glanced at her. "Oh, hey Sakura." Shikamaru went back to work.

"Our power keeps going out in the outlets for the hair salon," Ino said by way of explanation. He switched her teal eyes from Shikamaru to Sakura and said, "So I've got some time before I can actually get back to work. I had to cancel a few appointments for this electrical mumbo-jumbo."

Sakura nodded. She looked around the room. Aside from Shikamaru, they were alone. Still, she would prefer to have this conversation with Ino privately. It seemed Ino had no qualms about privacy, though.

"So… you and Sasori, huh?"

Sakura didn't miss how Shikamaru's arm faltered as he unscrewed the top of the power box. He didn't turn around to look at them, but she had no doubt in her mind that he was listening in. She sighed and looked at Ino. "Technically, no."

Ino's eyes widened. "You're friends with benefits with Akasuna no Sasori?" The way she said his title made her disbelief evident.

"No!" Sakura said quickly. "It's complicated…"

Ino put her hands on her hips. She frowned and said, "Okay… what's going on?"

"Well…" Sakura took a breath. "About a week ago, Sasori asked me to go to a dinner party with him. Not as a date. Well, he sort of asked if I would pretend to be his date for the night so that his friend Konan would get off his back about getting a girlfriend. But Shizune was there, so…"

Comprehension dawned on Ino's face. "So… Shizune thought you were with Sasori because you two were pretending at the dinner party?"

"Yes," Sakura said with a massive amount of relief.

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"I wanted to," said Sakura. "But Shizune was right there! And then Sasuke came over to us, and… it was a mess. I should have told you right after the party, but I forgot. I'm really sorry, Ino. I never meant for something like this to get in the way of our friendship."

Shikamaru paused his screwdriver and glanced at Ino from the corner of his eyes, but without even looking at him, she held out her hand to his face in a stopping motion. "Keep working," she said. Ino lowered her hand and looked at Sakura. "I guess I can understand. Still, it sure took you a long time to talk to me."

"It did," Sakura admitted. "And I'm sorry for that, too."

Ino sighed. "I guess it's okay."

She looked placated, and her posture went from stiff to relaxed fairly quickly. She gestured to one of the comfy salon chairs. Sakura sat down in it, leaning back into the plush, and Ino took the seat next to her.

"Try the outlet, Ino," said Shikamaru.

Ino reached over and plugged in a hair dryer. She flipped the 'on' switch, but nothing happened. She flicked it off, and Shikamaru continued tweaking the electrical box.

"So, that must have been awkward," Ino said. She spun her chair so that she was facing Sakura, and Sakura did the same. "I mean, what with your crush on Sasori and all."

Sakura grimaced and glanced behind her where Shikamaru was working. He was deliberately looking anywhere but at her. Sakura shifted her gaze back to Ino. "Well… yeah. Honestly, Ino, awkward doesn't begin to cover my last couple of days."

"That's normal, for you," Ino said.

"No, it's not."

"Seriously?" Ino shook her head. "Dude, if you wrote a biography, it would be called Sakura Haruno: All Awkward, All the Time."

Sakura's lips formed a pout. "No, it wouldn't! And wouldn't that be an autobiography?"

Ino waved her hand in dismissal. "Same difference. So what happened at this dinner party?" Sakura glanced at Shikamaru again, and Ino said, "Don't mind him; he's just a nosy dork. He doesn't actually repeat any gossip he hears."

Shikamaru muttered a quiet, "Troublesome," under his breath.

Sakura turned back around to face Ino once more. "Well, I met Sasori and Deidara's friends. They were pretty cool. You would like Konan—her sense of humor is about as dry as a martini."

"Sounds like my kind of girl," Ino commented. "But you're stalling. What happened with Sasori?"

"Nothing happened," Sakura insisted. "Not really. Well, not that time." Ino gave her an exasperated look, and Sakura tried to clarify. "Okay, well, the dinner party was completely innocent. We hung out, had dinner, and Sasori took me home. Totally normal. Then yesterday, she called me and invited us over again. And I had such a good time last time that I said, sure, why not, you know?"

For her part, Ino looked very pleased. "Good. About time you stop being such a homebody and get out more."

Sakura gave her a meager smile. "Yeah, well…" she trailed off. She really didn't want to go into details about the previous night with Shikamaru right there.

"Oh, c'mon," said Ino. "Spill the beans."

Shikamaru's voice came as a lazy drawl. "You know, maybe Sakura would feel more comfortable talking about it if she was alone with her best friend. And then you could give her better advice on her love life or whatever it is you two are talking about because she'll have given you more details."

Ino shot him a withering look. "What, are you some kind of love expert? No? Then shut the hell up."

Sometimes, Sakura forgot just how bossy Ino could be. "Ino, he's got a point. No offense, Shikamaru."

"None taken," he said. Shikamaru had grown up with Ino and their friend Chouji because of how close their dads all were. He was used to Ino's attitude. She didn't mean anything by it; it was just how she was. Shikamaru closed the lid on the electricity box and began screwing it shut. "Not like I wanna hear your girly talk anyway."

Sakura brought her palm up to her forehead. "Right."

"Try it now," said Shikamaru.

Ino flipped the switch on the hair dryer again, and this time, it came on. "Okay, it's working. I'll send you a check in the mail."

Shikamaru gave Ino a mock salute and took his leave.

Ino faced Sakura. "So?"

Sakura sighed. "Well… first of all, I had a lot to drink. And I mixed. Had a martini, a daiquiri, Sex on the Beach, and I think I had some of Deidara's beer at one point."

"Yikes," said Ino. "First rule of drinking is, don't mix."

"Yeah. And on top of that, um, we kind of all smoked pot."

It was one of those moments where the shock was just too much to show on someone's face, and Ino's jaw fell open, unable to contain it. "You?" She shook her head. "Whoa. I mean, I expect that from Shikamaru and Chouji, but I never thought you'd try it."

Surprise covered Sakura's face. "You have?"

"Of course I have," Ino replied. "My dad, Shikamaru's dad, and Chouji's dad smoke together all the time. You think you can grow up with that and never at least try it once?"

"What did you think of it?"

"It was okay," Ino said with a shrug. "It made me ridiculously hungry, though. I couldn't stop eating."

"Deidara was the same way," said Sakura. "I think he went through an entire jar of peanut butter."

"I had four corn dogs."

Sakura tried not to laugh. She failed.

"Shut up, Forehead," Ino said, though she started laughing, too. "They were the best corn dogs I've ever had in my life."

"Because you were high, Ino-pig!"

"That is neither here nor there!" Ino replied quickly. "So, you were drunk and high. That's an even worse combination."

"You're telling me," Sakura said miserably. "But um… Sasori and I… we sort of… ended up in the same room. In the same bed."

The same look of stone-cold shock crossed Ino's face. "You slept with Akasuna no Sasori?"

Sakura looked around quickly to see if anyone had heart Ino's exclamation, but they were the only ones in the salon. She snapped her head back toward Ino and said, "Um, yeah, say it a little louder, will you?"

"Oh my god," said Ino. "Oh my GOD."

Desperation tinged Sakura's voice. "Ino! Come on, I really need some help here!"

"How was he? I bet he was amazing."

"INO!"

"What?" Ino asked. "I was just wondering… So what happened? Was the morning after awkward? Did he stumble out and say he'll call you but never did?"

Sakura shook her head. "I have a hard time imagining Sasori ever stumbling. But no, we both just sort of brushed it aside. Then Sasori said later that it might be a good idea to say we weren't pretend-dating anymore so we wouldn't have to keep lying to people. And I said okay…"

Ino's face slowly changed into one of sympathy. "Oh," she said, finally understanding. "And of course, that upset you, because you're in love with him."

"I'm not in love with Sasori," Sakura told her. "I just… you know."

Ino didn't look entirely convinced. Still, she said, "Well, what's that saying? 'There's truth in wine' or something? I mean, you had a bit more than wine that night, but the meaning still stands. If both of you were drunk off your asses and still wanted to get it on, then there must be something there, right?"

"Uh, I don't think it works like that," said Sakura. "I've seen too many movies where someone gets drunk and ends up sleeping with someone either ugly or they have no feelings for them whatsoever."

"I see your point," said Ino. "Then… I guess the next step would be to find out how he feels about you. You could always ask to date him for real."

Sakura's face heated up. "No way!"

Ino rolled her eyes. "We're not in high school anymore. You're allowed to ask a man on a date."

Sakura grimaced and covered her face with her hands. "I don't think I could ever ask Sasori out on a date."

"Well, you could always ask Deidara," Ino said simply. Seeing Sakura's appalled look, she decided to elaborate. "I mean, ask Deidara if Sasori has a thing for you. You don't ask just anyone to be your pretend-date for a night. Or a couple nights, as the case may be."

"But what if I ask Deidara that, and he tells Sasori I asked him?"

Ino groaned loudly. "Oh my god, you are such a girl, Sakura. Where are your lady balls? Seriously!"

Sakura made a whining noise in the back of her throat. "I don' t have any!"

"Apparently! Look, either you've got to be the grown up here and say something, or you'll end up Friend Zone for life. And that is not a fun place to be."

"I guess you're right…" Sakura said.

Ino nodded. "Of course I am. Seriously, though, how big was it?"

"Ino!"

She spread her hands apart several inches. "This big?"

"INO!"