The heat from the sun was on her back, and a gentle breeze momentarily pushed the warmth aside. Sasuke's stern voice rang in her ears, "how do you know Naruto?"

She blankly stared. How did teenagers usually meet other than school? 'I must've misheard him.' She leaned her ear over, "what?"

"Naruto..," his eyebrow twitched, "how do you know him?"

'There is no way he pulled me aside just for this, right?' She leaned back and crossed her arms. "We went to school together."

"Tch... That doesn't explain how he knows your house." He dropped his hands into his pockets and loosely slumped his shoulders back.

Sakura sighed at his interrogation. "My parents throw parties all the time, practically everyone knows where I... Live." She brought her hand to her mouth.

She didn't know how many seconds passed before he leaned toward her; his jet black irises transformed to a slate grey by the sunlight. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, um... M-hm!" She shook off the worry with nodding and a fake smile. "So, why did you want to know about me and Naruto?"

He cocked back. "Uh, that's not what I..," he looked off to the side and his hand appeared at his neck.

She eyed him wearily, 'this better not be one of Naruto's pranks...'

He cleared his throat into his fist: "I'd like to move in with you."

She blinked out her surprise, then frowned. 'Why didn't he ask that earlier?! But no, he had to make me feel like an idiot!' Plus, how was she supposed to move in with a random guy when the stranger who tried to rape her was still on the loose? "Um, well..." What if Sasuke was the guy? She just couldn't-

A sigh broke her concentration. "Then why did you offer?" He shook his head and turned away. It was sad to see him go; a more naive version of herself would've jumped at the opportunity. Heck, she had herself believing that they were soul mates, and now he was walking out of her life forever. She wasn't sure how, but she knew that once he was out of sight she would never see the mysteriously captivating Sasuke Uchiha again.

When suddenly he stopped and looked back at her, straight into her eyes. 'Why did he stop?' He raised an eyebrow at her, and she wondered if maybe she had said his name during her musing. He then gestured at the hands clasped around his wrist; they were hers.

"Oh! Hehe, sorry..." What did this mean? Was her body telling her to go ahead with it? Her instincts had never guided her wrong, countless times of ignoring them had shown her that much. She searched for an answer within his eyes: there was a small light, as if he was nearing the end of a long and dark tunnel. "...I've changed my mind," she mumbled.

"You'd better not be jerking me around." He swung to face her fully. She smiled before shaking her head, "I almost wish I was."

His fingers slid onto her wrist and she couldn't repress her blush. He was beginning to pry her hand off when Naruto slyly appeared beside them. "What're you two up to?" He eyed their hands suspiciously and Sakura released her grip. She cusped her hands behind her back and laughed nervously.

"It doesn't concern you, Dolt." They both looked at Sasuke, who had replaced his hands into his pockets. He nodded professionally to her before swerving around again.

This time she felt accomplished; the air left was completely opposite from before. 'Score another point for instincts.'

She tapped her fingers on her bare knees. Sasuke had said was moving in, but failed to specify when. He had taken off again before giving her any details. It was dark outside, and she was actually hoping he'd be moved in already. 'It's not like he could have that much to move, his furniture is still in that dusty lot.'

There came a knock at the door and she hopped up. She looked back at Kaiser, his ears were perked but his eyes displayed a curiosity. She calmly walked to the door and reached for the handle. 'What if it's not Sasuke?' She pulled back and was about to look through the window when the knuckles rapped harder on the wood. She smirked at his impatience and opened the door.

"Do you always wait for people to knock twice, or are you just slow?" He pushed passed her and she narrowed her eyes at him. 'Maybe my instincts aren't so great after all...' He stood in the livingroom and observed the layout.

"And what's your deal, huh? What kind of person moves into a place in the middle of the night? I could've been happily asleep!" She tasted the lie on her lips.

"Heh, sure, it's perfectly normal to sleep with every light on." He looked over his shoulder to her, wearing a taunting smirk.

"Hmph, I was waiting for you." She threw her arms together over her chest.

"Alright, since I'm here now... Where am I sleeping?" He turned attentively to her.

Even she wasn't allowed in her parents' room, so there was no way he was staying there. He'd have to make do with what she could give. "On the couch, right here." She gestured her arm to the furniture and fluffed a pillow for effect.

He dropped his bag on the floor against the fabric, and she couldn't take her sights off of how out of place it was. If her mother knew about this she would kill her. Ino was the only visitor allowed, and she squirmed at the idea of a forbidden guest's belongings in plain sight, "I can probably find a place for your things in the garage..."

He gave her an incredulous look, "am I actually allowed to stay here?"

She gawked at his insight. 'How does he do that? I can't hide anything from this guy! He leaves me no choice, I have to tell the truth.' She swallowed hard, "don't be ridiculous! Of course you can stay here! You think I'm so foolish that I'd invite someone to live with me if they weren't allowed?" His eyebrow scaled up as she talked, "my parent's are on vacation and said I could have anyone over! It's just that I'm a major neatfreak! Y'know what, you might as well use my parents room since they're not here! Just keep it clean and tidy, okay? Hahahahaha! They don't like people using it!"

"Okay, I get it, you can shut up now. No guests are usually allowed, so I'll put my stuff in the garage and sleep on the couch." He grinned, "you're a terrible liar."

She grumbled that she was tired and slumped her way to bed, defeated for now.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

"What're you two up to?" Naruto's eyes slinked from their hands to their eyes, and Sakura ripped her hands away. She forced out a laugh and he wasn't sure why she was so embarrassed; it's not like they were secretly holding hands. However, it still bugged him that Naruto was shoving his nose in where it didn't belong. "It doesn't concern you, Dolt." They looked at him with surprise and he decided that he was done socializing. He gave a nod to Sakura to resolve their business before taking his leave.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Naruto's feet thudded close behind.

'Again with the nose...' He wasn't about to let on that he was moving in with a girl he barely knew. "None of your business."

Sasuke's shirt was grasped at the shoulder and yanked backward, "what's that about, Sasuke? I helped you find her, ya know!"

"Yes," he didn't bother to look at Naruto as he brushed off the hand, "now go away, loser. I don't want to hear your voice anymore."

"You can't say that! We had a deal, remember? You said we'd be friends again!" It was obvious that he was grinning, thinking his redemption would be so easy.

Sasuke stopped and glared into the shimmering blue eyes. "If you cleaned out your ears every once in a while then you'd know I didn't say that."

Naruto squinted his eyelids so they appeared to be closed, and there was finally silence. Sasuke resumed walking, 'now he just needs to go away.'

An annoying jingle burst through the quiet followed by an "Oh shit!" He heard Naruto pat down his pockets, then find his phone and flip it open. "Mom! I'm almost home, I swear!" The screeching of the feminine voice even reached Sasuke's ears, and Naruto quickly bolted down the street.

"Huh..," he smirked at his fortune.

By the time he reached his boss's house the sky was painted orange. He opened the door and the musty smell quickly encased him. "Ah, Sasuke!" The words crawled from the androgynous lips, "I was wondering where you've been."

He looked up to see Orochimaru and Kabuto huddled together under the blanket. Orochimaru's unclothed arm wiggled out and waved him over, "come join us, my Sasuke~". Kabuto rolled his eyes, and Sasuke noticed that he wasn't wearing his glasses.

A shudder rose up his back like an earthquake and he had to swallow down the vomit. "U-gh..." He couldn't even dignify a response, and went to gather his belongings. 'As if I needed another reason to leave...'

He could feel the yellow eyes sucking in his movements, tracing the outlines of his clothes as he packed. Ready to pounce at any sign of weakness. "My living arrangements are in order, I'm getting my things and leaving."

"Ohh?" Orochimaru drawled, "so it wasn't a lie."

"Bah." He quickly stepped to the exit.

"But Sasuke," he glanced at him and regretted it immediately; his boss was wearing a bra on his naked torso. "You need to clean up the place before you leave."

"Heh, there's no reason for me to do that. You're big boys, you can clean up your own mess." He swung the door open and observed the setting sun, and the peach light that it spread across the rooftops and road.

His foot stepped out, and Orochimaru intervened. "If you don't clean the apartment before you leave you shouldn't bother coming to work on Monday."

Sasuke whipped around, "you can't fire me, this has nothing to do with work!"

"I think you'll find that he can," Kabuto sniggered from behind the boss. Sasuke scowled and dropped his bag on the floor.

"Ah, good! The hiring process is so undesirable." Orochimaru flung his hair back with a flick of his wrist, and Kabuto sneered as he slid on his glasses.

'Okay, the quicker it's done the sooner I'll be out of here for good.' He snapped on a pair of pink rubber gloves that reached his elbows. He also found a mouth covering that he hooked on his ears. Who knew what was in this place?

The moon had steadily climbed the sky as he swept, vacuumed, scrubbed, and patted.

Sasuke opened the door to the basement and descended the dark stairs. The only illumination was provided by a dozen heating lamps, each to a different glass tank. Various types of plants were entangled in themselves beneath the lights and drew odd figures across the room in shadow.

He inched his way closer, looking for any inhabitants inside the tanks. There seemed to be different cultures of plant within each enclosure; most were green and leafy but there were some white sprouts and red blooms along the path, even some berries. He peered in through all sides but there were too many leaves and condensation to see any creatures.

Sasuke's eye was caught by movement on the back wall. 'Cold-blooded animals... How appropriate.' Different coloured leaves were bursting from the tops of these containments. His fingers stretched toward the nearest leaf- "What are you doing down here?! You're not allowed, get out!" Kabuto tore him away and shoved him toward the stairs.

"What-" Kabuto shoved and shoved until they were back at the top of the stairs. Sasuke smacked his hands away, "what are those for; in the basement?"

Kabuto's eyes glinted with malice as he adjusted his glasses, Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but long fingers slid around his collarbone to rest on his chest. Sasuke gripped the wrists and pulled them with the full length of his arms as he ducked his head and curved his back. Orochimaru crashed into Kabuto.

"I'm outta here." He tore off his safety equipment and tossed it to the ground. He made his way to the door and Orochimaru spoke again, "you should stay here for the night. It's already gotten so dark outside."

He opened the door, "I'll be surprised if it stays clean in here for more than a day."

The moonlight reflected in Orochimaru's eye and shined like a wolf cornering it's prey. "We wouldn't want any accidents to happen to you on those streets, my little Sasuke."

Sasuke smirked and lifted his bag from the floor, "see you Monday."

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I was helping my sister with her decision to quit her job, and then I had to work 13 days in a row when I normally work 5 days a week. Needless to say it's been a busy time. Also, this chapter wouldn't stop arguing with me and all-in-all just didn't want to work for the longest time. I'm hoping future chapters will be more co-operative. :P

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Special mentions to OREI for the wonderful review! I loved it :) Also to Raikiri80 and LadyMartel4000 for their frequent input, it seriously helps! And another thanks to Yunata for the request of more SasuSaku moments and for TheGirlWhoIsInLoveWithJapan way back in the beginning for requesting character description, because I didn't realize how important it would be to the story haha.

I'll try to update the next chapter sooner this time, thanks everyone for your patience!