Chapter Twenty-Five; The Party

Sasuke drove his car into the school parking lot before parking it there and then turning off the engine before he turned his head around and looked at his daughter. "You know, of all the places to choose where you want to have your twelfth birthday party I'm surprised you chose to have it here." He said.

"I know but they have a great auditorium. That's where we have all of our junior high school dances." She replied before taking off her seatbelt as Sasuke pulled his keys out of the ignition before removing his own and then all three of the Uchihas climbed out of the car before slamming their doors tightly behind them. That's when all of a sudden a young girl with raven hair darker than Sasuke's, tanned skin, and amber eyes started waving over to them.

"Hey Sasame over here!" she exclaimed before Sasame quickly hurried over to her.

"Hey Misaki. Is Samuru here yet?" Sasame asked her.

"Yeah he's inside. I'm not sure whether you'll be able to see him though since there's a bunch of girls surrounding him." She replied as Sasuke and Sakura started walking over to them. Misaki glanced up at them and smiled. "Oh hello Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha." She said.

"Hi." Sasuke began. "I hope that I'm not sounding too rude, but do you mind if I have a moment alone with Sasame?" he questioned her.

"No. The only reason that I'm out here instead of in there is because I was waiting for her to show up. I really want to show Samuru my new outfit. I sure hope that he likes it. I heard that he loves girls in miniskirts." She replied.

"Yeah, I've noticed." Sasame groaned.

"Well, see you guys later!" the other girl cried before giving a wave and dashing inside.

"Wow, it's the ninja academy all over again." Sasuke thought to himself before he took a deep breath and then turned to his wife. "Sakura, why don't you go ahead and join her. I'll meet you inside later." He told her.

"Alright." Sakura said with a nod before she turned around and followed Misaki inside.

"So, Dad what's up? What did you want to talk to me about?" Sasame asked him.

"You and Samuru." He replied. "Listen, I know you think that if you try to be popular and attractive that he'll like you but that's where you're wrong. You're already very beautiful and being popular is vastly overrated." He told her.

"But what about you? Mom said that you were the most popular guy in school back when you were a kid." She said.

"I know, and that's because I was. That didn't mean that I liked it though." He told her.

"Why not? Didn't you like all the attention that you were getting?" she asked him.

"No. I found it rather annoying actually. I already know that you probably won't believe me when tell you this but I used to hate your mother since she was just like everyone else. However, as time grew by she started loving me for who I was instead of who I appeared to be. That's what ended up attracting me to her." He explained. "You see Sasame, if a guy doesn't like you for who you really are then he isn't worth it." He told her. "Sure there might be times when you screw up and you wind up hating yourself for it."

"What are you saying? Were you one of those people or something?" she asked him before he took a deep breath and sighed.

"Let's just say that there are things that I have done in this life that I'm not proud of." He replied. "But luckily I had your mother and the rest of my friends there by my side. I grew stronger and wiser because of them and I never forgot about it. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" he asked her.

"Yes,.. I think so." Sasame began. "I think that you're saying that if I want Samuru to like me all I have to do is be myself. And then if he really is a good person he'll accept me no matter what. Is that right?" she questioned him as he smiled back at her.

"Yep, you hit the nail right on the head." He told her before bending over and poking her forehead with two of his fingers.

"Ouch!" Sasame exclaimed before she started rubbing it. "I don't get why you do that you know? You're always going around poking my forehead but you never have actually told me why. And it hurts!" she cried before Sasuke laughed.

"Well, love hurts sometimes." He told her. "Why don't you go inside and get back to your party. You are the birthday girl after all." He said while smiling warmly at her.

"Alright, but aren't you coming too?" she asked him.

"I'll meet you inside in a few minutes." He replied as she nodded at him and grinned before turning back around and running inside. Sasuke heaved a heavy sigh as he slowly rose to his feet again before tilting his head back up to look at the moon having the image of Naruto's smiling face flashing through his mind. "Yep, love definitely hurts." He said before he turned back around and walked inside.

….

As Sasuke walked inside the auditorium he found Sakura over by the refreshment table drinking a cup of orange pop while everyone else danced around her. "Hey, I was wondering where you were." She said. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

"Relax, I'm fine. I just needed a bit of fresh air." He told her.

"Well you're just in time. The party's just begun." She said.

"No. I don't think so." He told her while he stifled a laugh and shook his head. "Don't you remember that Halloween party that you and I and Naruto went to that one year? Or has it really been that long of a time ago that you've forgotten that I don't dance? Besides, I wouldn't want to embarrass my daughter on her special day." He said.

"Uh Sasuke," Sakura began. "I think it's a little too late for that. Look." She told him as she pointed towards the doorway where Sasame was running out of the building in tears.

"Uh oh. I'm guessing that this has something to do with Samuru." He began. "I'll go talk to her." He said as he started walking away.

"No." Sakura began making him stop dead in his tracks before turning to look at her. "Let me. After all, no offense or anything but I think this is a girl thing. She probably just needs another woman to talk to her." She told him.

"Well, alright." He began. "But if you need anything I want you to come back and get me." He told her before she nodded at him and sat her cup back on top of the table. "Watch my drink for me." She told him before she ran away. Meanwhile Sasame was sitting out on the bench sobbing inside her arms. Sakura stopped a few feet in front of her and watched her before breathing a deep and heavy sad sigh. Then she slowly approached the bench. "What happened did somebody make fun of your forehead again?" she wondered before sitting down beside her but Sasame simply just shook her head.

"No it's worse than that, much worse." She sobbed before turning her head over to look at her mother. "I made a complete fool of myself in front of Samuru. He told me that he liked my skirt and I was so happy that I didn't watch where I was going and I fell right inside the punchbowl." She explained.

"Oh, I see." Sakura began. "I know how you feel." She told her sympathetically but Sasame just shook her head again.

"No you don't! You might have always had a crush on Dad but at least you didn't humiliate yourself in front of him!" she snapped before giving a rather large sniff.

"Oh, you'd be surprised." Sakura told her with a grin.

"And the worst part is that I saw it coming." She began as Sakura raised her eyebrows and then widened her eyes at her.

"What? Are you telling me that you knew that this was going to happen?" she asked her with a gasp of astonishment.

"Yes, I guess I sort of did but I just didn't understand it at the time." She told her with another sniff. "Although I was really sort of hoping that I would be able to prevent it from happening." She said as Sakura gasped again.

"Uh Sasame, wait here for a second. I have to go use the ladies room." She said before quickly leaping to her feet and rushing back inside where Sasuke was there to meet her at the door.

"What's going on? Is she alright?" he asked her.

"Sasame can see the future!" Sakura blurted out breathing heavily.

"What?" Sasuke questioned her with bewilderment. "But that's impossible." He said.

"She just told me that she knew that she was going to embarrass herself tonight, she just didn't know how or why. Sasuke, I think that our daughter is physic." She told him before they stared at each other in silence.