Chapter 21

Pleased To Make Your Acquaintance

Hello my fellow readers and writers! Here is another chapter that I promised you! Now, before I begin I have an announcement to make. I know that this story is turning out to be fairly long and since the chapters are short, in the near future, I plan to mesh the chapters together so this story doesn't seem to drag on! And also please review because, I get depressed when I read other stories that only have 10 chapters but have more reviews than me! It's juvenile I know but I need motivation! Now, I'm going to tell you what stories in my poll have been voted on, but I'm not going to tell you which one is in the lead:

Irresistible-Naruto Fanfic Crack Sleepovers-Naruto Fanfic Heaven Sent-Naruto Fanfic

Moving On-Naruto Fanfic 40 Days & 40 Nights-Naruto Fanfic The Break-up-Naruto Fanfic

So if you don't want one of these to win or if you do want one of these to win, head to my profile and vote! Summaries are at the top of my bio! Lastly, let me thank my reviewers from last chapter:

MusicAgainstTheHeart: Lol yeah, you're right! You're welcome, and thanks for the review!

MiMiSora4EVR23: You're welcome. Yeah, you got to keep in mind about the boys nicknames. Thanks for the review!

moonshine86: Thank you! And you don't have to wait any longer because, here it is! Thanks for the review!

Superstar1713: Gracias for your enthusiasm! Here's the update! Thanks for the review!

cherrysaki-chan: Yeah it was pretty messed up, but you'll see why he did it! Wait no longer! Thanks for the review!

I lurve you guys!

Boy's nicknames:

Sasuke=Sai Naruto=KeKe Shikamaru= Hulio Neji= Luis

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

-Recap-

Whatever" Sai concluded and then, to Sakura's and Ino's surprise, he drew his fist back and landed a blow on each of them knocking them out completely. The world spun out of sight and again, Sakura felt herself falling, and seeing the smirk play on the same Uchiha's lips.

-End Recap-

Day 5

She was having that dream again. Only this time, Sakura knew she was dreaming. This time, instead of being a character in the dream, she was watching it-- like she was watching herself in a movie at the big premier in Hollywood.

Sakura found herself outside of a familiar school—Suna Academy. Sakura watched herself run from the front doors all the way to Sand Cove Avenue never stopping to catch her breath or rehydrate herself at the nearest water fountain. No, Sakura watched as her body ran in front of every driveway until she reached the end of the block, where a good-sized beige-colored house with red accents stood motionless. The Sakura who had been watching the dream instead of partaking in it recognized the flat immediately. She tried to yell out a warning to herself who was slowly making her way to the front door. The time suddenly was moving in slow motion…every one of Sakura's movements toward the door seemed to scream a sound of grief at the Sakura observing the nightmare. "NO" She threatened to shout, only to find that no words came out of her mouth. She ran to where slow-motion Sakura was reaching for the door handle, and tried to push her own arm away, but the action did nothing. Observing Sakura could do nothing but watch herself as she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life. Tears threatened to fall as the door knob was twisted and Sakura saw her herself standing in the doorway, not allowing the scene she saw in the house to be real.

But it sadly and irrevocably was.

"GAHH!" Sakura shot-up from her over-sized King bed. Sakura found herself gasping for breath as sweat trickled down her face from her hairline to her chin. The pink-headed female looked around at the darkness surrounding her and thought she was yet again in the forest of death where the exact same scenario had happened to her just a couple days ago.

When Sakura's eyes finally adjusted to the lack of light, she noticed that she was in her bedroom…well her and Sai's bedroom that is. She was still wearing the same clothes she had been wearing yesterday when she had gone to the spa.

"Ohhh…the spa" Sakura groaned while rubbing her temples with her fore and middle fingers. Just thinking about yesterday's previous events made her head feel like it would split in two. Sakura hesitantly got out of her comfy mattress and found her way to the bathroom where she opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed two Tylenols from the bottle.

"I'm going to need water with this." Sakura noted referring to the headache killers in her hand. Sakura hadn't been at the mansion long, but she was pretty sure that she could find the kitchen…she wasn't bad with directions so it shouldn't take her any time at all.

The pinkette began to stroll towards the bedroom door when something caught her attention…Sai's empty bed.

Sakura rolled her eyes as she examined the tussled covers atop of the bed. "Does this boy ever sleep?" She asked herself before shaking her head and dismissing the topic of her roommate altogether.

Sakura weaved her way amongst the many corridors and, just like she'd predicted, found her way to the extravagant kitchen. She pulled bottled water from the fridge and took her painkillers gratefully. When Sakura finished the refreshment she didn't feel like heading back upstairs to her bed. So instead, she located the backyard and decided to stay out there until about six (which she guessed was about an hour from now). At that time she would start preparing breakfast for everyone. She felt generous today. The backyard was very beautiful and, if given the choice, Sakura would choose to live in this backyard rather than her own house. The grass was actually green instead of the decaying kind she had in her backyard, and there was a huge fountain that had a statue of an angel completely made out of marble placed on top that shot water out of his mouth in a most appeasing way. There was a pool that probably had more square footage than Sakura's house including the front and back yards. There was a diving board, water slide, and a Jacuzzi that was all part of the oversized pond. After marveling the details of the granite rock surrounding the pool and the grotto, Sakura went over to the lone swing by the enormous apple tree. The swing looked ancient but elegant so it matched the house perfectly. The swing was nothing but a long rectangular board with two pieces of rope attached to either short end that led up to a jutting-out branch and was tied securely. Sakura sat awkwardly on the swing, not wanting to break it.

She sat unmoving on the swing for what seemed like hours which was actually only 10 minutes. The wind gently pushed the swing occasionally as Sakura sat there thinking about the dream or rather nightmare she had just arose from.

'It was so real…-sigh- why am I having these dreams? I-I promised myself that I would forget him and all the pain he caused me. So why am I still hurt?' Sakura asked herself.

'Well isn't it obvious?' Her inner replied. 'You still like him! Sure, you broke it off with him but that doesn't mean you wanted too…you had too. You have dreams about him, you say his name in your sleep…face it Sakura! You're still madly in love with him!'

Sakura sighed as she knew what her conscience was saying was true. She didn't want to believe it, but it was time to face facts…the spot she had made for him was still there and it would probably be there forever. Sakura cursed her ex under her breath for making her feel this way. So many years she had gone without a boyfriend, telling herself that she wasn't ready to give her heart away. Then finally, when she did give it away, it was ironic that she had given it to the boy who would steal it. Way to go Sakura! She had so many boys at Suna Academy standing in line ready to treat her right and she just had to go for the one that didn't seem like a fan boy! Fan boys annoyed her so she went with someone who wasn't one of those stalkers. But that was the mistake Sakura had made. At Suna Academy, either you were a fan boy/girl or you just weren't interested. He had proven to Sakura that there was no in between.

Sakura sighed once more, as she stared at the forest-colored grass.

"Gaara." She whispered into the wind.

-With Sasuke-

Lying in a king-sized bed was a male about 6'2 with raven colored hair and deep onyx eyes in which you could get lost in. Sasuke was in his bed arms behind his head, and Air Force One's still tightly tied on his feet. He stared at the bland ceiling, bored out of his mind, but not wanting to fall asleep. Surprisingly, after the previous night's events, he wasn't at all drowsy, but he did have a headache after dealing with the noisiest and most annoying girl you could ever dream up. Sasuke listened intently to his roommates steady breathes. He rolled his eyes as he thought of the whole scenario he was in. Here he was, an Uchiha…the most dignified member of the most feared and rare clan, babysitting a girl who he felt no protectiveness over whatsoever. Who cared about what happened to this girl? Surely he wouldn't feel guilty. He got into the ANBU Black Ops to improve his fighting techniques and strategies…not to watch over a bipolar teen who probably didn't appreciate his help anyway.

Sasuke closed his eyes and watched in his mind, the intent images playing through his head. He saw glimpses of his big brother Itachi as he killed their parents and clan. Itachi was so powerful and so strong that Sasuke couldn't help but feel envious of his strength. But then again, Sasuke wouldn't be lusting for such power if Itachi hadn't generated it in the first place.

Suddenly feeling the urge to clear his mind of all things that had happened between now and the time he was seven, Sasuke stood up from his bed and began to walk towards the bedroom door. Before exiting the room, he caught a glimpse of the alarm clock by his bed and noticed that it was 4:50 in the morning. Sasuke was pleased by this because that meant he had approximately more than an hour to clear his mind before everyone got up.

Once Sasuke left out the front door of Neji's estate, he began the familiar path down the street of Destiny Drive. He had walked the path many times before to clear his head whether it was to get away from his idiot of a best friend, Naruto…or to just think over what had happened previously. The onyx-eyed man stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked up at the sky. The sky was still dark with some stars dotting it but he could see that there was a fainter and lighter part of the sky. Sasuke was just about to round the corner of the long street, when he realized that he didn't have his cell phone. Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. He wanted to keep walking, but he knew he was to have his cell phone at all times, just in case Kakashi needed to contact him quickly if ever there was an emergency mission to be dealt with. Sasuke turned around and began the 5 minute walk back towards his friend's house. Before walking in though, he decided to go through the door in the backyard since he didn't want to risk being caught by Yumi who usually mopped the foyer early in the morning.

Sasuke let himself in the back gate quietly, but he was surprised at who he saw in the backyard. There on the lone antique-like swing, sat his roommate. Her head was down and she was staring at the grass intently. She was obviously oblivious to the fact that Sasuke had just entered into the yard because, she showed no sign of recognition that she wasn't the only one alone.

The dazzling Uchiha rolled his eyes, but he knew that he had to go see what was up. Nobody got up this early in the morning to go watch grass die…literally. As he approached the pinkette stealthily he heard her whisper something that got lost in the cool breeze. Ganta? Was that what she had said? Or maybe Jaara? Sasuke dismissed the name as none other than an annoying mystery sent to cause him havoc. He crept behind the unknowing girl and decided catch her by surprise.

"Look, I know you're very abnormal with your pink hair, big forehead, and balloon-eyes, but even you have to sleep sometime, ne?" Sasuke taunted, the corners of his mouth turning to reveal none other than a smirk! He forgot about his much-needed phone and found that antagonizing his housemate might be interesting.

"Huh?" Sakura flinched as the new voice joined in, completely ruining her train of thought. She looked to the source of the voice to find Sai, her roommate staring down at her, those onyx eyes boring into her skull. She barely noticed the insult…in fact the only think she did notice was that he was actually talking to her, and making eye contact.

Maybe he wasn't gay after all!?!

"Ano…Gomen Sai did I wake you?" Sakura said politely but she didn't know why she was being so nice to him. He literally watched her almost die and didn't he just punch her no more than eight hours ago? She also knew that asking the question did I wake you was irrelevant because she already knew the answer. He hadn't been there when she had left. The only reason she was playing dumb was so that she seemed innocent. She didn't want Sai to think that she had been trying to escape.

"Hn. Hardly I left before you did." He replied.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but she quickly closed it again. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, yet she didn't know how to ask them or in what order. She wasn't even sure that Sai was really there. Why was he talking to her again? Did he have a reason or did he enjoy tantalizing her? Sakura assumed the latter.

"What," Sakura began but she decided to change her wording. "Where's that Akatsuki member?" She asked shakily expecting the worse to escape out of Sai's mouth. She looked up at the tall male who was leaning against the same apple tree that was carrying the swing.

"We took care of her." Was all he said, but Sakura knew there was more to the story than what he was willing to share. But she decided that it was too early in the morning to be pestering for information.

"A-and…Ino?" Sakura asked again. She averted her eyes from the figure of Sai to the dew on the green grass grazing the bottom of her bare feet. She could read faces, and she'd rather hear disappointment than read it. Even though Ino had been fine the last time she was with her, Sai did deliver a blow to each of them and Ino was a lot more fragile and delicate than Sakura.

"She's fine. But that technique she used is probably gonna' give her a headache." Sai replied.

Sakura smiled delicately. At least her best friend made it out okay. She didn't want to annoy Sai with anymore interrogations, but she had to ask at least this one question. It had been bothering her ever since she had woken up from her nightmare. "Why'd you hit us?"

Sai sighed and closed his eyes slowly. Sakura could tell he was getting annoyed with her, but she didn't care. She had every right to know why she had been physically abused by her roommate!

(A/N Bring out Jerry Springer)!

"Well?" Sakura urged when Sai didn't answer her important question at once. Sai looked at her and noticed the desperation in her voice and the questioning in her eyes. He mentally rolled his eyes.

"Well your story wasn't exactly believable." Sai simply answered with a simple, nonchalant shrug of his masculine shoulders. He didn't seem to care at all about his actions or the fact that he had hit a girl…two girls to be exact!

"WTH is that supposed to mean?" Sakura yelled finally losing her patients with this man. He was so blank and he expected that by saying something that had nothing to do with the present topic that she was supposed to understand exactly what he meant. Who could ever understand this guy at all! Who would want to?

Sai shook his head, but still smirked. He liked toying with this broad. She was so easily irked, it was ridiculous. But nevertheless, he answered the question truthfully and quickly. Her yelling would wake everyone up and only add to the migraine slowly working out its effect on Sai's brain. "Look, you didn't see the scene from an outsider's point of view. The way we saw it was that Konan had knocked out Ino and was holding you hostage. Even though you put out an explanation, it was highly unlikely. I had to knock you out and examine you at the house to make sure you were really who you said you were and not an enemy making up a story." Explained Sai which was a really odd thing for him to do.

Sakura redirected her attention back to the grass and smiled more. "Makes sense." She concluded. She then redirected her eyes back to the Uchiha who was thinking how it was possible for a person to be that bipolar. "Don't worry," The jade-eyed female began ", I forgive you!"

Sai was a bit taken aback by the girl's forwardness, but he of course didn't show it. He just let a small smirk form on his lips. "Who said I was sorry?' Sai replied as he began stalking his way away from the fruit tree with a peeved looking Sakura sitting on the swing dumbstruck. If it were possible, there would be steam erupting from her ears, and her face would've been flushed red with anger.

"WHERE DO YOU GET OFF TELLING ME THAT YOU AREN'T SORRY, YOU CHICKEN-BUTT HAIRED UGLY MAN? OH YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT I CALLED YOU UGLY! UH-HUH I WENT THERE AND I TOOK YO MAMA WITH ME!" Sakura yelled furiously from her spot on the swing, but by the time she had finished, Sai had already disappeared into the mansion. Sakura planned to confront him so she hopped off the swing and stomped her way into the house.

When Sakura reentered the estate, she noticed that not only was Sai nowhere to be seen, but a delicious smell floated in the air and taunted Sakura's taste buds. "Oh, that's right," Sakura remembered. "I was supposed to cook breakfast. I spent so much time outside that I completely forgot." Sakura followed the smell to the kitchen where she saw a maid stirring mixed substances in a skillet. The maid was humming quietly to herself until she turned and saw Sakura standing in the doorway…this made the servant nearly have a heartache.

"AHH!" The housekeeper screamed when she realized she wasn't alone. The maid clutched the spot above her heart and gasped for breath. "Oh…Sakura-Sama…it's you." The maid realized in between pants.

"Ai…ano, gomen for startling you."Sakura apologized quickly as she placed a reassuring palm on the maids shoulder.

"Oh that's quite alright…it's not your fault anyway. Ever since this whole mission started, I've been jumping out of my wits!" The maid explained with a shake of her head. She regained and smiled at Sakura who in return smiled a cheery grin back. "Thank you dear, for your consideration though. Is there anything I can help you with? Oh, I'm Yumi by the way…I'm the head servant."

Sakura pondered over Yumi's words. She seemed very worried over the mission…like a worried mother leaving her child with a babysitter, or a lonely child leaving their puppy in a kennel for the first time. "No problem Yumi-Chan. I'm Sakura." She replied with a cheery smile threatening to crack the sun. She held out a hand for Yumi to shake, which she obliged.

"Ah, yes…I know who you are." Yumi chuckled quietly. "Well is there anything I can do for you Sakura-Sama?" she asked.

"Sakura-chan." Sakura politely corrected. "And yes there actually is something I needed. I was wondering if I could help you with anything. You see, I wanted to cook breakfast for everyone, but you beat me to it!."

Yumi smiled politely but shook her head. "Well that's really nice of you, but as the head servant I am required to make all meals or else." Yumi made a WOO sound before she said anything else "There goes my job."

"Well maybe I can help set the table." Sakura suggested hoping to be of the slightest assistance. But she was disappointed to find that Yumi shook her head once again.

"It's already been set. Look, Sakura-chan…if you really want to help…Why don't you go tell everyone breakfast is ready." Yumi pointed out, seeing the sadness well up in her housemates eyes. Sakura felt like such a burden to everyone, and she wanted to at least help with something!

So Sakura turned on her happy mode and began skipping up the many stairs towards everyone's rooms. She was going to prove that she wasn't just some lazy teenager who counted on everyone to protect her and care for her. No, it was time to step up to the plate and get a home run!

The pink-headed beauty went to the first door in the hall where everyone's rooms were located. This happened to be her own room where she was meshed with Sai. She knocked quietly on the door before opening it. It was her room so she felt silly knocking, but she still felt that maybe Sai needed privacy for something.

She walked over the threshold and observed a sleeping Sai sprawled out on the couch with black headphones placed in his ears. In his limp hand, there was a black Ipod and from what Sakura could see, he was listening to Kevin Rudolf's Let It Rock. She smiled as she watched the sleeping man snore lightly, his features were so beautiful when his eyes weren't glaring at anyone or anything. He seemed like a sleeping angel, and Sakura felt like crawling on the couch at laying there with him, but she resisted the powerful temptation. She backed out of the room quietly and proceeded to the next door which was Ino's. She smiled softly and shook her head remembering the past 24 hours. It was amazing the things that can happen when fate takes over.

Author's Box :D!

Yes, I did it! I finished another chapter! Okay, now I'm not making any promises but I might upload another chapter tomorrow! This was a very long chapter that took me all day to write but I did it. Over 3 thousand words! I'm not going to post another chapter until I get at least 6 more reviews, and 5 more votes in the poll!

With muchos Koi

..Heart.