Thirteen

"Okay, Sakura, you can do this," Sakura muttered to herself outside of Naruto's door. "It's just Naruto."

"Yo, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's muffled voice came through the thin wood of the door. "Come in and stop mumbling outside my door like a stalker, will ya?"

"Damn it," Sakura cringed, pushing the door open dejectedly. "Hey, buddy."

"Sup?" Naruto looked over his shoulder at her, pausing his video game. "You okay?"

"Yeah, bro, totally chill," Sakura rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. This already wasn't going well. Totally chill?

"Um, okay, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you have food poisoning or something?" Naruto stood from his beanbag chair, approaching Sakura to place the back of his hand to her forehead.

"I'm fine, Naruto," Sakura sighed, gently removing his hand from her head. "I just kinda need a favor…"

"Well, what is it? No offense, Sakura-chan, but you're kind of acting like a freak."

"Says you," Sakura replied, sticking her tongue out at the boy. "I need you to badge someone into the building for me. Please."

"Um, why?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Not that I won't do it, obviously, but why do you need me to? Is there something wrong with your card?"

"No…" Sakura worried her lower lip, trying to decide how much to tell Naruto. She had no doubts about his loyalty and trustworthiness, she just wasn't sure if she'd be able to tell him the truth without passing out.

"Okay, you're starting to freak me out here. What's going on?" Naruto asked sternly, uncharacteristic for him. "You need to tell me or I can't help."

"Well," Sakura swallowed heavily, trying to buy herself a few extra seconds. "There's this guy…"

"Guy?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes into foxlike slits. "Is he giving you problems?"

"No, no!" Sakura waved her hands back and forth. "Nothing like that. I just need your help getting him into the building and on to our floor, that's all."

"Okay, but why can't you just bring him up?" Naruto asked again, his expression relaxing somewhat.

"Umm, I guess because it might be problematic if people see us together?" Sakura tried for a sheepish grin (and was sure that she failed miserably.)

"Why?"

"Uh…"

"Sakura-chan."

"There's a chance that, maybe, possibly, hypothetically speaking of course…he's one of my professors."

Naruto was uncharacteristically silent for a beat. "I'm sorry," he paused. "You're dating your professor? You're dating?"

"We're not dating," Sakura clarified quickly. "Just getting to know each other, that's all."

"Mmmhhhmm," Naruto folded his arms over his chest. "I know what that means."

"Naruto!" Sakura felt a blush staining her cheeks. "It's not like that!"

Liar.

Narrowing his eyes once again, Naruto sighed. "So you just want me to go downstairs and let him in? How old is this guy, anyway?"

"He's twenty-five," Sakura answered. "And yeah. Ino's visiting home for the weekend so she can't let him in for me. Please?"

"Ugh, fine," Naruto rolled his eyes. "But I don't like this. You're still coming with me to the game tonight, right?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world," Sakura smiled sweetly up at the blonde boy.

"Don't try to suck up to me just because I'm going downstairs to let your new boyfriend in, you little troll," Naruto said, ruffling Sakura's hair as he so often did. "I'll need to chaperone the two of you."

"He's not my boyfriend, and thanks but no thanks."

"Whatever," Naruto shrugged. "If he's anything other than a perfect gentleman, Imma knock his lights out. Just so we're clear."

"Do what you must, Naruto," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Can you just go down and bring him to my room, please?"

"Gross, fine," Naruto grumbled. "But don't expect me to be happy about this."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Sakura opened the door to two very uncomfortable looking men.

"Here's her room," Naruto said curtly.

"Thanks," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Call me if you need anything, Sakura," Naruto mumbled, reaching out and pulling her into a one-armed hug and planting a kiss on the top of her head. He did all of this without breaking eye-contact with Sasuke.

"Okay, thanks, Dad," Sakura blushed beneath Naruto's lips. "Go back to your video game."

"In time, Sakura-chan, in time," Naruto spoke slowly, still not taking his eyes off of Sasuke's face.

Sasuke was glaring right back at him, with a fire in his eyes that Sakura had not yet seen. It was almost like they…

"Um, should I go?" Sakura pointed out the door with her thumb. "You guys seem like you need some alone time."

"Tch."

"Vomit, I'm out," Naruto shook his head, quickly retreating back to his own room. "I'll be back later to get you for the game. Be good."

The first ten seconds after the door shut behind Naruto were tense and awkward.

Finally, Sasuke spoke. "It won't be in that moron's best interest to kiss you again."

"Oh, please," Sakura rolled her eyes with a light chuckle. "That doesn't count as a kiss. And Naruto isn't a moron!"

Sasuke frowned, very clearly clenching and unclenching his teeth as he eyed her. "I'd say that it does. And that he is."

"Come here," Sakura motioned for him to come closer. "And kiss my head."

A light blush immediately stained Sasuke's cheeks and she almost died at the sight of it. A blushing Sasuke was a rare treat indeed.

"Tch. Why would I kiss your head?" he finally grumbled.

"Just do it."

"Fine."

Sasuke leaned down and placed a brief kiss to the top of her head, pulling back slightly to see what she was getting at.

"Now," she breathed, gently placing her hands on his sweater-clad chest and rising slightly onto her tiptoes. "Kiss me."

He didn't ask for a reason that time. Sasuke immediately bent down to press his lips to hers, igniting a flame in Sakura's stomach and an aching in her chest. It took all she had to pull back from him and shoot him a sheepish look. "See what I mean?" she asked. "It's different."

"Hn," Sasuke mumbled, cheeks still decidedly pink. "I still don't want his mouth within ten feet of you."

Sakura simply rolled her eyes, turning to clear the stack of books off of her desk chair to give Sasuke somewhere to sit. Once she was done, she retreated to her perch on her lofted bed, folding her legs beneath her and waiting for Sasuke to sit down.

"It's kind of risky for you to come here, so I definitely don't think we should do this again, but I wanted to be able to talk to you today and this was the easiest way. It helps that this is a freshman dorm and most of your students are seniors," Sakura started, already struggling with her own urges as she watched Sasuke sit down backwards on the chair, resting one arm on the chair back and tipping his head into his hand.

"Hn," was all Sasuke said as he nodded for her to continue.

"I know you said you don't like being patient - "

"I don't."

Sakura frowned at him for cutting her off. "But I think you're going to have to be. I mean, there are less than two months of classes left. About five weeks, actually. I'm not saying we can't talk but, we should be careful. Right?"

Sasuke had pressed his lips together into a firm line. "I suppose."

"It'll be around Christmas time, it'll be like a present," Sakura smiled.

(Let it be known that Sasuke's mind was assaulted with images of Sakura wearing nothing but Christmas stockings and a bow on her head.)

"I suppose," he mumbled a second time.

She hadn't expected him to pout so much.

"Well," Sakura tilted her head to the side and popped her neck before climbing down from her bed. "Now that we've talked about that, I've got to get ready to go to the stupid game tonight. You can stay and hang out though, if you want."

"Go to the game with Naruto?" came Sasuke's clipped voice from behind her as she moved to find some warmer clothes to wear. "Like a date?"

"Not like a date," Sakura scoffed. "He has a girlfriend, anyway, and Naruto is as loyal as they come."

"Men always have an ulterior motive."

"God, Sasuke, don't say things like that. You literally sound exactly like my dad," Sakura shivered, totally grossed out by the comparison.

"Your father sounds like a smart man," Sasuke replied, seemingly unbothered.

"It's not true, though, men don't always have an ulterior motive."

"I did."

"What?"

"I had an ulterior motive."

"When?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Since the first night I met you."

"Really?"

"I should think it was obvious."

"It really wasn't."

"Sakura, you can't go through life being so naïve," Sasuke chided. "If you would have invited me into your dorm room that night, I would've gone without a second thought. Later on, when I bought you drinks at the bar, I wanted your attention. I showed up to the Inuzaka party and hung around outside and downstairs hoping you'd show up in something…revealing."

Sakura was blushing so furiously her face felt sunburnt. Why did he have to say things like that? Was he trying to drive her crazy?

"My point being, men always have ulterior motives."

"Just because you do doesn't mean that Naruto does," Sakura all but squeaked. His little speech had done quite the number on her. "I mean, are you saying that every time you talk to a woman you have ulterior motives?"

"No," Sasuke snapped. "Obviously not. But talking is much different than kissing and going to football games."

Sakura turned to look at Sasuke then, and she immediately softened. He was honestly pretty cute when he was being jealous. "Sasuke, Naruto is my best friend. As much as you don't trust him, I need you to just try to trust me when I tell you things aren't like that between us. He loves his girlfriend, I swear."

Sasuke didn't say anything, but had begun fidgeting with the collection of mini anime characters that Sakura had sitting on her desk. She took that as a silent victory.

Still, now something was bothering her.

"Sasuke…"

"Hm?"

"You don't…you don't have an ulterior motive now…do you? You do like me, right?" Sakura asked the question while facing her closet, too embarrassed to say the words to his face.

He was behind her before she had even heard him move. She was positive that she would never figure out how he moved so quietly and quickly.

"I've told you how I feel and I meant it," came Sasuke's soft-spoken reply.

"Okay," Sakura breathed out. "I'm sorry, I'm just not used to this."

"I'm going to move to an apartment off campus soon," Sasuke's voice had moved farther away again. "I've been meaning to get off campus for awhile now, and then that way you'll be free to come and go without having to worry about going in to the faculty building all the time."

"That does sound nice, actually," Sakura smiled at the thought, pulling a sweater and a pair of jeans from her wardrobe. "Um, I'm going to change my clothes real quick…so…"

Sasuke made it a point to look very irritated as he covered his eyes with his hands. "Happy?"

(Let it be known that Sasuke was not happy.)

"Yes, thanks," Sakura replied. She knew it was silly, but somehow she didn't think that changing in front of him would be very conducive to the plan of holding off on their relationship until the end of the semester.

Sakura slid into her pants, but then realized she couldn't decide on her sweater. The red one that she was holding was warmer, but the dark green one was cuter and her favorite color. "Ugh, whatever. Open your eyes and tell me which sweater I should wear."

Sasuke dropped his hands immediately. He was not, however,looking at the sweaters.

"Hey!" Sakura frowned, covering her bra-clad chest with the two sweaters she was holding.

"Sakura, you can't ask for help picking a shirt while topless and expect me to look at the sweaters."

Sakura was sure she was blushing as red as the sweater in her right hand. "Fine!" she conceded, throwing the green sweater over her head quickly, not missing the way Sasuke's eyes followed every inch of exposed skin until she was covered again. "There. I am now ogle proof."

"Tch. No."

"Whatever."

Sasuke spent another hour or so in her room, just sitting there casually in her desk chair looking like a model with his stupid, crazy hair and enticing, bored expression. He watched her as she put her books away and as she filled out a homework assignment for her history class. Usually that kind of close scrutiny would have made her feel uncomfortable, but his eyes following her everywhere actually comforted her in a way. Sure, it brought a blush to her cheeks, but glancing over her shoulder to see Sasuke's dark eyes on her made her smile nonetheless.

"Sakura-chan," came Naruto's loud voice as he banged on the door. "You ready?"

"Jesus!" Sakura gasped, pressing a hand over her rapidly beating heart. "How many times do I have to tell you not to hammer on my door like that, you scared me, asshole!"

Sasuke had stood up and was glaring at the door like it had personally wronged him.

"Will you calm down, drama queen?" Sakura rolled her eyes at him.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan! Just open up!" Naruto's raspy voice yelled again.

Sakura pulled her door open to see Naruto standing there with a handful of clothes. "What's that?" she asked.

"I just thought I should bring you back your clothes, you know, the ones from when you spilled that drink on yourself," Naruto shrugged, obviously trying to seem casual.

Uh oh. Sakura didn't even dare turn around to catch the look on Sasuke's face.

"Um, Naruto, I got those clothes back from you like a week ago," Sakura frowned at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Those look like Hinata's clothes."

"Oh," Naruto pretended to act surprised. "I guess they are. Whoops!"

"Naruto," Sakura's tone was dripping with false sweetness. "Go put your girlfriend's clothes back in your room and then come back here and play nice. Okay?"

Naruto only hesitated for a moment, before a pointed look from Sakura sent him running back down the hall.

Cautiously, Sakura turned to find Sasuke with a broken pencil from her desk in his hand and a nasty scowl on his face. He wasn't looking at her, just staring out her open door at a fixed point on the wall.

"Um, Sasuke? Just ignore Naruto. He's just trying to get at you," Sakura approached him slowly, placing a hand gently on his arm. "He's just being hesitant about you because he doesn't know you and probably because of our…situation. Can you blame him?"

Sasuke didn't speak, just continued scowling out the door. His expression had softened a bit, though, and his hand came up to brush hers softly. Sakura had a feeling managing Sasuke and Naruto was going to prove extremely interesting in the future.

"Okay, sorry, Sakura-chan, I'm ba – " Naruto faltered when he saw them standing together. "Bleh."

"Oh my god, you're twelve," Sakura rolled her eyes, taking her hand off Sasuke nonetheless. "Are you ready to go now, dipshit?"

"Yes, Sakura-chan, sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, putting on his cutest set of puppy-dog eyes and directed them at her with blinding force. "Can we go?"

"Fine," Sakura sighed. "You wanna go to the game Sasuke?"

"I don't think that would be wise," Sasuke mumbled from beside her, grabbing his coat off of the back of her chair and putting it on. "I'll just head back to my place."

"Okay, Sakura, grab your lousy excuse for a coat and let's go!" Naruto looked far too happy to be leaving Sasuke behind.

Sakura picked up her "coat", which was nothing more than a thick old fall jacket with patches on the elbows. They were cute patches, but they were still patches. She hadn't grown for so long that she'd had the thing for about six years – and she had gotten it from a thrift shop.

Sasuke apparently noticed, as he trailed the edge of one of the patches with his finger as he walked past her. "That doesn't look overly warm," he muttered.

"It is," Sakura reassured him. "Don't worry."

Naruto frowned. "It's not."

Sasuke just scowled.

"I'll see you later?" Sakura tried weakly as Sasuke headed for the door.

Sasuke merely nodded at her in parting as he basically pushed past Naruto and headed out the door. Naruto scowled after him.

"Wipe that look off your face, will you?" Sakura swatted Naruto on the arm as they left her room and she turned to lock the door behind her. "It looks weird when you're not smiling."

"I just don't know if I like that guy, Sakura," Naruto grumbled. "He seems like an asshole."

Sakura shrugged. "He kind of is, but it's just his exterior. He's sweet to me, for the most part, I promise."

"Fine, whatever," Naruto sighed, putting an arm around Sakura's shoulder and squeezing as they walked down the hallway. "Just tell me if you ever need me to get rid of him, okay?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, but let a smile tug at her lips anyway. "Okay. Dork."

"Thanks for coming with me to the game, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura squinted up at the tall, blonde boy sitting next to her on the bleachers. "Sure thing, Naruto. Although, you did kinda make it sound like you'd be here by yourself. You could've told me he would be here."

"Aw, Sakura-chan, Lee means well! You can't really blame him for being infatuated with you, can you?" Naruto grinned cheerily and pinched Sakura's cheek. "Besides, that's why I'm sitting between you two!"

"Where did he go, anyway?" Sakura sighed, looking around for the enthusiastic boy. "He's been gone for like, ten minutes."

"Eh, I don't know," Naruto replied, scratching the back of his head absentmindedly. "I think he went to get a snack or something."

"Ah."

"Hey, Sakura-chan?"

"Hey, Naruto."

"Why don't you give Lee a chance?"

Sakura spluttered. "What?!"

"Come on!" Naruto wheedled. "He's a really nice guy and he likes you a lot! He'd be a really good boyfriend, I'm sure of it!"

"Naruto…" Sakura warned.

"What's the harm in giving him his shot?"

"The harm is I'm already sort of seeing someone and you know that!" Sakura hissed, still too nervous to say it out loud. "Can't you just accept it, for me? Please, Naruto. Lee is nice but I'm just not interested in dating him."

"Fine," Naruto sighed, looking deflated. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I just want you to be happy. If this Sasuke freak makes you happy, I'll let it be for now. As long as he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Thank you, Naruto. I – "

"Cotton candy!" Lee announced loudly, returning to his seat beside Naruto. "Blue for the gentleman and pink for the lady," he added, handing Sakura and Naruto a bag of cotton candy each.

"Thanks, Lee!" Sakura and Naruto said in unison.

"So, loveliest Sakura, I was thinking," Lee began leaning across Naruto to be heard over the din of the crowd. "Maybe next weekend we could – "

"Lee, did you see that?" Naruto shouted, drawing the boy's attention back out to the football field and subtly pushing him back into his seat. "That dude just got annihilated!"

Sakura cast him a secret smile.

People could say what they wanted about Uzumaki Naruto, but he was one hell of a best friend.

AN: Sorry this isn't the longest chapter, but I wanted to get something out for you guys since I was gone for so long between 11 and 12! I hope you guys liked this chapter, please leave me a review and let me know what you think :) I have some very interesting things planned for future chapters...mwahahaha. Also, isn't Naruto just too sweet for this world? *cue tears*

Also, we made it to 300 reviews! Yayayayay!