"I'm losing my senses
I'm falling apart for us
And now I'm defenseless
I'm falling in endless love"

-Tegan and Sara

It was the day of prom and I was ready for a do-over. I had been going over my checklist in my head since I woke up that morning: nails - check (Ino and I had gotten ours done the day before to beat the prom rush), jewelry - check, corsage - check, shoes - check, etc. Despite running it through my head constantly, I was paranoid that I had forgotten something.

Even the event itself was covered - it was all up to the Dance Committee now. Ino had insisted that they knew what they were doing and that I wasn't allowed to plan anymore the day of prom. Still, it was hard for me not to send a few text reminding the committee to get certain things done.

"Have fun, sweetie!" My mom called, when it was time for me to go over to Ino's to get ready. "Take lots of pictures for me!" She had been fully aware of the plan after bugging it out of me the other night.

"Thanks, mom." I grinned. "I'll definitely send you a few." Unlike most parents, my mom didn't feel like she had to be completely involved in events like prom. She had even gotten rid of my curfew for the night since I was eighteen now. That surprised me, the first time around I still had one. Something told me that it was Konan's doing.

I met Tenten and Hinata over at Ino's house, where I promptly started on everyone's hair. Like we had decided at the sleepover, I curled Hinata's hair and neatly pinned it back to where it was up and out of her face. For Tenten, Ino helped me fashion her hair into an elegant up-do. Ino's hair was more simple - at her insistence. I had just curled it loosely and pinned half of it up with a silver barrette.

For me, I curled my hair and arranged it into a loose up-do. My makeup was minimal, but I did find a way to use the sparkly eyeshadow that Ino had given me for Christmas. It complimented the sliver of my dress nicely, I thought.

Getting ready for prom was almost as fun as going. It was definitely way better than the last time we had done this. For one, I was surrounded by friends and I wasn't going with the wrong guy this time.

When our dates arrived, I got nervous for a second. My desire to have a perfect night came back with a vengeance the second time around - especially since it had gone so horribly the first time. At the same time, I was almost anxious to get started. I wanted this to be a night my friends wouldn't forget either. It was really the last big event that we would have before graduation and I was going to take advantage of it while I could.

"They're here," Ino beamed. She left the room quickly to greet Shikamaru. We had decided that we would have Tenten and Hinata - aka, our masterpieces - walk out last. I had to say, they looked beautiful and we were both proud.

I followed Ino shortly after, trying to stifle the nervous feelings I was having. There was no time for that, I decided.

When we walked downstairs, it was almost deja vu from the first senior prom I had. I could see all of our friends waiting at the bottom of the stairs - this time Neji was there instead of Kiba - and when I made eye contact with Sasuke, it was like nothing had changed for a second. He was looking at me like I was the only person in the room.

"Surprise," I said once I reached the bottom. Why did I feel so shaky? "It's me." As if he didn't get it.

Sasuke's eyes, to my surprise, only opened wider. It looked like he was having a hard time saying anything. "So it was you all along," he replied finally. I guess it was time to come clean about my big plan. I had thought about setting him up with someone else, like the idiot that I am sometimes. It wasn't until our sleepover that I realized that the solution was obvious - I could set him up with myself.

"Not exactly," I laughed, suddenly feeling more like myself. "I really did look for someone... I just didn't think anyone was good enough." Everyone else was talking amongst themselves, thankfully. If Sasuke rejected me, at least they wouldn't be able to hear it. "Is this... okay?" That was the question that I had been dreading to ask.

He just smiled. "Yeah, I'm glad. I didn't want to go with anyone else." It felt like a weight was being lifted off my chest. The plan was going better than I thought. Of course, it wasn't specified if we were going as friends or not, but I wasn't questioning it. Sasuke was my date tonight, as far as I was concerned.

"Good," I grinned. "I couldn't imagine going with anyone else, to be honest." That was true.

"You look great," he told me.

"So do you," I replied. He was wearing a well-fitting tuxedo and it looked incredible on him.

After everything was cleared up between us, I wasn't nervous at all. Ino and I got to have our big reveal of Hinata and Tenten to everyone before we left, which was totally worth it because it produced some excellent reactions from their boyfriends.

Once Ino and I were satisfied and, once we had taken a few pictures, we were finally ready to go.

We had to take two cars because there wasn't room for our entire group with just one (everyone agreed that renting a limo for prom was too cliché and expensive). I rode in Sasuke's car with Naruto and Hinata. Thankfully, Tenten and Ino were getting along really well since they had bonded over Truth or Dare, so I didn't have to worry about them going in the same car.

"Okay," I took a deep breath when we reached the convention center. "I'm ready to see the finished product." The prom, besides being one of the most important nights of my life apparently, had also turned into my baby after planning it all semester. I wanted to be blown away.

"You know," Sasuke said, "it's okay if it doesn't go exactly as planned."

"Not an option, Uchiha." I grinned. "We've worked too hard on this for it to be a failure." Some might say I was taking this way too seriously. I knew Sasuke understood that I just wanted it to go well, though.

Hinata, who had been laughing with Naruto in the backseat, added her input. "It's going to be great," she assured me.

We pulled up to the convention center where prom was being held. There was nothing noticeably different about the outside of the building. I wondered if that was a good or bad thing.

"Come on you guys!" Naruto was already out of the car, even though we had just pulled up. He was even more excited than I was. "Let's go!"

Once we were inside, I closed my eyes. "Tell me," I winced. "How is it?"

"It looks fine," Sasuke touched my shoulder, leading me to the door because my eyes were still closed. I could hear the muffled sound of music coming from the inside. "Open your eyes," he said, once we were by the entrance.

I did as he instructed, and suddenly felt relief. By the entrance, someone had placed a small version of the Eiffel Tower, along with some streamers over the door. I was suddenly antsy to go inside.

"Hey," I greeted one of the Dance Committee members who was stationed by the door. "This looks great."

She beamed at me. "Thanks! You look amazing, by the way."

We gave her our tickets and entered the room. Hinata was right, it was great. Better than great, even. It was the best prom I had ever seen. Inside, the room had been transformed into Paris - or how I always imagined Paris would be like. The committee had done a great job - the decorations that the Art Club had made were evenly spread out over the room, and I was pleased to see that they really added to the theme. On one side of the room, I could see tables laden with "authentic" French food. There were even Christmas lights around the walls and on the ceiling, tying everything together.

"It's perfect," I smiled.

"Good job." Sasuke removed his hand from my shoulder and, to my astonishment, took my hand. "Come on," he said, "let's go find the others."

I allowed Sasuke to lead me through the crowd of students that were already there. Some of them stopped to congratulate us on a great prom or just say hi, but I barely payed any attention. The feeling of Sasuke's hand was the only thing my brain could focus on.

"I'm very impressed," Tenten looked around the room in admiration. "They did a great job... we trained them well." She was talking about the committee like a proud parent. Of course, I felt the same way.

"I mean, obviously nothing can top this," I replied, "but at least they'll be prepared for the future." Sasuke had, disappointingly, let go of my hand once we found our friends, so I was able to talk again.

"You're right," Tenten agreed. "This tops all proms."

"We're going to dance," Ino informed me. She was already clutching a reluctant Shikamaru's arm. "But we'll see you later. Save me a dance, okay?" She grinned.

"Of course!" It was hard to hear over the music.

Hinata and Naruto followed them not long after. Sasuke and I stood with Tenten and Neji for a while longer, until a few members of the Dance Committee approached us. "I'm so sorry Sakura," one of them, a girl named Moegi, pleaded, "but we were wondering... Do you or Sasuke want to announce Prom King and Queen?" Sasuke and I had avoided the whole process by creating a rule that no one involved in planing prom (for instance, anyone in the Student Council who was directly involved with the event...) could be voted Prom King or Queen. We had said that it made everything more fair - after all, no one could tamper with the votes in their favor - but I'm not sure if anyone really bought it.

I shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. Do you guys want to do it?" Something told me that the underclassmen in the committee were terrified of speaking in front of this many people.

"We can do it," Sasuke reassured them. "It's not a big deal." I nodded, I was a little excited to be honest.

Moegi gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much! We'll let you know when it's time after we count the votes!" I watched her hurry off with the others.

"I wonder who's going to win," I grinned. Naruto and Hinata were on the ballot - so was Ino, now that I thought about it. It was funny, I thought, last year I would have been all over prom nominations. I had even been nominated the first time around, but ended up losing to Ino (which wasn't a big deal, but I had been disappointed).

Sasuke just shrugged. "Not me," he said. "Thank god."

I laughed. "I'm kind of excited to do the announcing, anyway. It's like I get to have a final input on the event I planned." I had to admit, I was pretty proud of myself for heading it up.

"So what do you want to do?" Sasuke asked.

I looked around the room where my peers were dancing. From where we were standing, I could see our friends dancing on the other side of the room - even Tenten and Neji were among them. Besides them, the room was filled with friendly faces. Karin, who had ended up going with Suigetsu, smiled at me when I caught her eye. I smiled back, feeling as though the universe had shifted or something. Even Ami, who usually jumped at the opportunity to be rude, couldn't find anything bad to say to me. It was such a dramatic change from the beginning of the year, it was hard for me to believe it.

"Sakura!" Choji, who I was pleased to see had come with a date, greeted me. "This is great!" Since he sat with us at lunch, I knew that Choji had been listening to me worry about how prom would go for weeks.

"Thanks, Choji!." I beamed. "How are you?" I thought back to when he had asked me to the football banquet and how great he had been about it.

"Awesome," he replied. "I got accepted into the culinary school I want to go to yesterday."

"That's great!" I was ecstatic for him.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm really excited."

"You're going to do great!" I really was excited for him. Choji was an awesome cook, and I knew he would do well in culinary school.

He left us shortly after that, but not after congratulating Sasuke and I again on the event. I watched him walk away, thinking to myself that if I had still been the person I was before I probably wouldn't have made as many friends the second time around. I was suddenly thankful that I had another chance, despite the circumstances.

We spent most of the time before the voting results talking with other students. As Student Body President and Vice President of the Student Council, it was sort of our job. Still, I had a good time. A lot of the people we talked to just wanted to compliment us on how well prom was going.

It felt right, spending the evening with Sasuke. He really seemed to be having a good time - I even managed to make him laugh a few times, which I was proud of. I was with him practically the whole time, until Ino pulled me onto the dance floor with her, Tenten, and Hinata. I had a lot of fun just being with everyone, honestly.

"It looks like the plan's working!" Ino shouted over the music.

"Yeah!" I agreed. "I mean... he didn't say anything against it, at least!"

"He totally loves you!" Ino was somehow managing to talk and dance at the same time. I totally lacked the coordination.

"Whatever!" I responded, but her words gave me hope.

"Having fun?" Konan's voice interrupted the sudden silence that was a result of her weird time-stopping abilities. I stared at the frozen students around me. I didn't think I would ever get used to that, even though she had done it before.

"Konan!" I beamed. "I haven't seen you in a while." That was true. The last time that we had talked had been that time in my room when I was sort of freaking out.

Konan nodded. I thought I saw a trace of a smile on her face, but it was hard to tell with her. "Your time is almost out," she told me. Was she required to say that or something? "It looks like you are making progress."

I shrugged. "I had to have some sort of plan. I'm not going down without a fight, I guess. Figuratively, of course."

"You are very close," she replied, not specifying if she meant close to graduation or to my goal. "You have improved, too."

"You don't have to tell me that," I thought back to how bitchy I had been. Back to the first night that I had talked to Konan. God, how could I have been so cocky? I hadn't known how much work everything would be, either. "Everything's changed, but in a good way. I'm actually really happy that I've been able to change, even if it is before I die."

She looked a little sad then, but I was in too good of a mood to care. "I am glad you feel that way, Sakura."

"It was good to see you again," I said. "Come back soon, okay?"

She nodded and then she was gone.

"I love this song!" Ino's voice was loud again, compensating for the music that had started playing mid-song.

"Are you ready?" Sasuke asked me. Principal Tsunade, who looked extremely unhappy to be there, had come to fetch us to announce Prom King and Queen.

"Just read out the names," Tsunade instructed to me. She handed us an envelope that contained the lucky winners. It was decided that Sasuke, being the Student Body President, would have to give a small speech about the titles and I would read the names. Something told me that it was supposed to be the Principal's job, but I was kind of scared to question her.

It was easy for Sasuke to get everyone's attention. After all, everyone wanted to listen to him. He was just that great. "Good evening," he began. "It's time to announce the winner of this year's Prom King and Queen." There was a small amount of applause and cheers after he said that. Sasuke patiently waited for the noise to die down before he continued. "The tradition of electing a King and Queen goes back to the days of..." I sort of stopped paying attention then. I was actually pretty excited to read the results out. Thankfully, Sasuke's speech wasn't very long. I could tell that he was mostly just making it up on the spot.

"And now," he said, "it's time to announce the winners... Sakura?" He looked at me.

"Okay," I moved so I was closer to the microphone. "The winners are..." I opened the envelope and read the piece of paper inside, which was written on a piece of stationary with the Eiffel Tower on it. "Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka!"

Our two friends came up to accept their cheesy crowns, given to them by a terrified Moegi (I guess she wasn't too keen on being on stage in front of everyone).

I gave Ino a quick hug in congratulations. "Your Majesty," I teased.

"Hey," Ino grinned and adjusted the plastic tiara on her head. "This is serious."

Then, it was time for the traditional dance. I watched as Naruto offered Ino his hand in a very exaggerated manner. Ino, playing along, haughtily accepted it. The dance between them lasted about thirty seconds, where they were mostly just goofing off before switching back to their actual dates. Sometimes I forgot how silly they could be.

I thought back to last year's prom. It had been the same results (Sasuke had managed to avoid being on the ballot the first time around too), but there was less joking when they danced. Naruto had still been dating Ami at the time and had been trying not to seem like he was having too much fun, especially since Ami hadn't won. In comparison, my friends were so much happier now.

I watched everyone, feeling a little wistful. I hadn't asked Sasuke to dance with me because I knew he hated it and I didn't want to be too pushy like I usually was last year. Still, it would have been nice.

"Come on," Sasuke took my hand and began to lead me to the dance floor. I guess he noticed the look on my face.

"You don't have to do this," I insisted, but I was sort of distracted because he was touching me again.

"I know you want to," he gave me a wry look. I shrugged, but my smile gave it all away.

It was a slow song, so I got to put my arms on his shoulders. My body gave a shiver of delight when he placed his hands on my waist. It had been so long since we had danced like this, I hadn't realized how much I missed his touch.

"I'm glad it was you," Sasuke told me. "That you're my date, I mean."

I grinned at him, despite being suddenly able to think clearly. "That's good," I beamed. "I was wondering if you thought of it as a date. It's okay if you don't..." I trailed off, feeling stupid.

Sasuke brushed a lock of hair that had fallen out of it's place off my cheek. My skin burned where he touched me. It was like we were frozen in time, but without Konan's help. All I could do was meet his gaze - his hand was still on my cheek.

"I do," Sasuke said. And then he kissed me.

If I had thought that the feeling of his hand on mine was anything, it was nothing compared to the feeling of his kiss. My arms, already around his neck from the dancing, pulled him closer to me so that there was barely any space left between us. Sasuke responded by tangling his hand into my hair, the other holding me closer to him. If he didn't remember me, I thought, his body totally did.

At least, that was the only explanation I could come up with later, when I could actually think. In the moment, all I could focus on was keeping him as close to me as possible. Now that it was happening, I never wanted it to stop. It could have been seconds or minutes, or even days - I could have kissed Sasuke for the rest of my life and I wouldn't have minded.

He was the one who pulled away first. "Does that answer your question?" He was smiling.

I just gaped at him. "Yeah," I responded. Why was it so hard to think?

"Was that okay?" The smile was still on his face. I never wanted to stop looking at him.

"It was perfect," I finally found my voice. My head was starting to clear - any feeling of confusion that I had before was quickly replaced with elation.

I touched my hair, and was pleased that it was still intact. Behind me, the people around us were staring. For a second, I wondered if we had been too conspicuous. Then, I decided that I didn't care. A few people away, Ino was staring with a wide-eyed expression that turned in to a grin. "I told you so," she mouthed, looking gleeful. I knew that she was going to ask me for details later.

Sasuke was still looking at me. It was like nothing else existed in the world. In that moment, it was like he remembered me. "I've been wanting to do that all night," he confessed.

I responded by kissing him again. This time, it was shorter but still just as good as the first time. When we pulled away, we were both smiling.

The rest of the night went perfectly. It really was one of the best nights of my life. Sasuke and I ended up spending the rest of the night dancing and talking. It was so much like old times that I wanted to cry - in happiness, this time. When I wasn't dancing with Sasuke, I was dancing with my other friends. It was so great that I couldn't even feel worried about graduation.

After prom, we went to a restaurant that was open all night. I don't think anyone was ready to end the night, not yet. We stayed for a couple of hours, just talking. No one said anything about Sasuke and me kissing, but I could tell Ino was dying to hear about it.

"Guys," Ino said. She was still wearing her plastic tiara from prom. "What are we going to do next year?"

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru said. "We're going to college."

"No," Ino shook her head. "When are we going to see each other?"

"We'll make it work," Hinata reassured our friend. "Even if it's just on the holidays."

"It's almost over," Tenten said. "In a month, everything we know is going to be over." It was already two o' clock in the morning. I wondered if that had something to do with how sentimental my friends were starting to sound.

"That's a little dramatic," I laughed, even though I knew that it applied to me more than anyone. Still, I couldn't be upset about that now. I was too happy.

Tenten just shrugged. "It's true though, isn't it?"

I listened to my friends debate over how the school year was ending. I knew those feelings well - after all, this was my second time to experience them. It made me wonder how different everything would be after graduation. Even if I was living a normal life, I would probably still be freaking out.

At the end of the night, after we had said our goodbyes to everyone at prom, Sasuke dropped Naruto and Hinata back off at Ino's house (where Hinata's car was) and took me home.

"Thanks for taking me home," I gave Sasuke a tired smile. I couldn't believe how late we had stayed out. I guess it was good that I didn't have a curfew.

He nodded. "Thank you, Sakura." He didn't tell me what it was for, but I was too tired to ask.

He kissed me again, before I went inside my house. I never wanted it to end.

I walked into my house, feeling like I was in some sort of dream. There was no way that this night could have gone so perfectly, I thought, and yet it had. Being the coward that I was, I hadn't asked Sasuke if what had happened meant anything for us, relationship-wise. How could I say "I love you" when everything was still so new between us? I don't think I wanted to spoil anything when it was going so well. I would ask him later, I decided, when everything wasn't so fragile. After all, I could wait. I had waited all year for anything like this to happen.

When I fell asleep that night, there were no nightmares.

Author's Note: I'm not sure what to say right now, except that I feel like everything sort of got away from me and took up a mind of its own. :P Also, to those of you who guessed Sakura's plan, good job! I know it was pretty obvious, but really, what else did you expect?

I hope that I did this chapter justice, I've been trying to perfect it over the past few days! Please let me know what you think, I really appreciate all of your awesome reviews. :)