Disclaimer: I own nothing. SO DON'T SUE ME OR I SHALL KILL YOU ALL!!!
Title: Within My Grasp
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: NaruHina, possible NejiSasu
Warnings: Slight Sakura bashing along with slight NaruSaku
Author's Note: Umm, I realize that I made Sasuke kinda bitchy in the last chapter. I want everyone to know it's not supposed to be like that. It starts out with people trying to break Naruto and Sakura up, but soon they stop because they feel guilty. Sakura is actually the protagonist in this fic. And also, if you want NejiSasu in the fic, then tell me. Polls will be open up to chapter 7
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The sun shone over Konoha brightly that fine spring morning. Birds chirped, insects buzzed, and people couldn't help but be cheerful on such a fine morning. Unless, of course, your name is Uchiha Sasuke. Then a morning like this makes you grumpier than a bear. Why? Because that damn sun is waking you before noon goddamnit!
Sasuke swore loudly as the sun filtered through his blinds and onto his face. Why the hell wouldn't it leave?! He growled and buried his face into his pillow. He relaxed when it blocked out the sun, but then an unfortunate little bird decided to sing it's song right outside Sasuke window.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!! SHUT THE FUCK UP GODDAMNIT!!!" Sasuke screamed at the bird and he chucked his alarm clock at it.
Fortunately, the bird flew away fast enough and the clock missed. Most people would wonder how the great Uchiha Sasuke could miss, but Sasuke isn't really a morning person, so his aim stinks. And he wasn't really trying to hurt the bird. Just scaring it into never disturbing his sleep before noon again.
The Uchiha growled as he realized it was futile to try and get back to sleep. He sat up and glanced at the clock wall, which he had because he broke a lot of alarm clocks and need someway to tell the time in his room. When he realized the time he swore loudly.
"It's fucking eight in the morning! Stupid sun... Stupid bird... Stupid morning...," he grumbled as he groggily climbed out of bed. He stretched his legs and yelled as his right leg gave away in a Charlie Horse (a really nasty leg cramp that really, really hurts).
"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!! SYUPID LEG!!! STUPID MORNING!! STUPID BIRD THAT WOKE ME UP BEFORE NOON!!!" Sasuke screamed. Yes, poor Sasuke is having a bad day so far.
Making his way toward the shower (after getting rid of his Charlie Horse), Sasuke turned the water onto hot. Stepping into the shower, Sasuske sighed and reached for the shampoo...
Only to discover there wasn't any.
Up in the northern most part of Earth County (Home to Stone Village), Itachi blinked. Did he just hear Sasuke scream?
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Naruto smiled as he made his way down the street. He was going to meet Sakura for breakfast. It had been awhile since they had been anywhere besides Ichiraku lately. He hoped Sakura licked the restaurant he picked.
Stopping in front of the Haruno house, Naruto stopped to straighten his clothing and checked himself over. When he was satisfied with how he looked, he rang the doorbell. Mrs. Haruno answered a few moments later.
"Ohayou gozaimas, Naruto-san! How are you today?" she asked in a sickly and falsely sweet voice. Naruto was oblivious.
"I'm fine! Is Sakura-chan here?" he asked.
"Hold on, I'll go get her," Mrs. Haruno said. She left to go find her daughter.
Naruto waited quietly for a few moments. When he heard approaching footsteps, he poked his head around the doorframe and called, "Sakura-chan?"
"Coming, Naruto-kun!" a feminine voice answered.
A moment later, Sakura appeared in the doorway. She looked happy. Naruto took her hand and led her out of the yard and onto the sidewalk. Then they began making their way downtown.
"Thank you for taking me out to breakfast, Naruto-kun. Where are we going?" Sakura asked cheerfully. 'Please let it be some place fancy...' she thought desperately.
"We're going to a little Dim Sum place I found," Naruto said (Dim Sum is like Chinese brunch).
Sakura's face fell. "Dim Sum?" she repeated.
"Hai, nande?" Naruto said confused.
"Nothing..." Sakura replied, not able to keep the disappointment from her voice.
"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked worridly.
"I was just hoping we could go some place fancy..."
Naruto frowned. "Gomen ne, Sakura-chan. Demo... I don't have that kind of money."
"Then why don't you make some?" Sakura snapped.
"I've been helping Iruka-sensei out at the academy lately!" Naruto said, shocked at Sakura's sudden outburst.
"So Iruka-sensei's more important than me?" Sakura asked.
"No! But I owe him a lot, and it's the least I can do to repay him!"
"So he is more important than me!"
"No! I just owe him and this is my repay!" Naruto said angrily.
"It's the same thing! You should be paying attention to your girlfriend, not an old school teacher!" she hissed.
Naruto stiffened. "Iruka-sensei's been like a father to me," he growled.
"So?"
"So I owe him! Why can't you understand that?!"
"You know what?! Forget! I'm going home!" Sakura yelled as she turned around and stalked off.
"You do that!" Naruto yelled back and he turned to go home.
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Ino hummed softly as she opened up the flower shop. It was always open early, for those who had last minute gift shopping that they needed to get done. Going behind the counter she picked up a magazine and began reading. 10 minutes later, she heard someone come in. She looked up and gasped.
"Uchiha Sasuke? Up at 8:10 in the morning? Is the world coming to an end? She teased as he came up to the counter.
Sasuke glared at her. "Ha ha. You'd he awake too if you went though what I did," he commented dryly.
"Oh really? Tell me, what in the seven hells could possible make Uchiha Sasuke wake up before noon?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "And don't say Itachi came because I won't believe it."
"I wasn't going to say that. But anyway, first the stupid sun came and filtered through my blinds and woke me up, and then this stupid bird came and was chirping really loudly outside my window, then I got a really bad Charlie horse and then when I went to take a shower and I got in and I didn't have any shampoo!" he yelled.
Ino blinked. "Then why did you come here?" she asked.
"Because you always steal the shampoo's and crap from hotels. And I need to use one," he said.
"Why couldn't you just get one from the store?"
"Because no stores are open at this hour of the morning, baka."
Ino sighed. "Fine..." she said as she left the counter to go get a hotel shampoo.
Sasuke leaned his back against the counter and looked at all the flowers the Yamanaka's had. There was a large variety, both common and rare. They had everything from roses to hibiscus. Sasuke vaguely wondered what kind was most popular when he heard someone in the doorway. He looked up and saw Naruto.
"Hey," the kitsune said.
Sasuke grinned, "Hey, Naruto. What's up?"
Naruto sighed. "Sakura-chan and I had another fight."
Sasuke frowned. "Again? Naruto that makes three times this month. Are you sure you guys still like each other?"
Naruto nodded quickly. "We still like each other! Our relationship is just a little rocky right now!" he protested.
Ino came back. "what's going on?" she asked.
"Naruto and Sakura had another fight," Sasuke told her.
"Again? That's, what? Three this month? Are you sure you guys are ok?" she said.
"We're fine! Besides, it's my fault. I haven't been treating her well enough. I don't spend enough time with her," Naruto said defensively.
"Ok, what ever you say Naruto..." Sasuke said. But he was still worried. He hoped Naruto was right. He didn't want to see Naruto have a heartbreak to Sakura dumping him. 'Although that would leave him open for Hinata...' a small part of his mind pointed out. 'But he's happy with Sakura. I shouldn't wish ill fortune on them!'
Ino, unlike the Uchiha, was not so quick to drop the matter. "Naruto, you spend plenty of time with Sakura," she said. "Why don't you think that?"
"Well, I haven't had money to take her out to any fancy place for a meal. That's my fault," Naruto pointed out.
"Why do you need to take her some place fancy?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, girls like to go fancy places," Naruto replied simply.
"I'm a girl, and I don't like fancy places," Ino said. "In fact, I downright hate them. Evil pricks... Gah..." she shivered a bit at the thought of those evil, evil pricks eating all fancy like and... yeah. Back on track here...
"Everyone's different," Naruto shrugged.
"But you don't have enough money to take Sakura out to a fancy place. And I know that you can't make a lot of money because you've been helping Iruka-sensei out at the academy. Sakura should know that too," Ino said crossly. She didn't like the way Sakura was treating Naruto right now...
"A girl needs special treatment," Naruto growled. "Sasuke, what do you make out of all this?"
Silence.
"Sasuke?"
The two blondes looked over at Sasuke to find he had fallen asleep on the counter. There was a pause and then Ino said:
"That's sad..."
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Sasuke opened his eyes and immediately noticed that he was NOT in his room. Of course, even a baby could tell this. I mean, how many boys do you know that have purple and orange walls? And scented candles and oils? And two dressers? Well, maybe a gay guy, but Sasuke isn't gay (at least not that he'll admit).
"Welcome back to the world, sleep head," Ino said with a laugh. "Did you enjoy your nap?"
Sasuke blinked. "When did I fall asleep?"
"About four hours ago, on the counter. Please don't do it again. It's very bad for business," she scolded.
"I'll try. Where's Naruto?"
"He left for the academy," Ino said. "I'm worried about him. What if Sakura starts using him?"
Sasuke sighed. "I feared this from the beginning. Sakura is probably only using him as a form of comfort, since the time they started going out was soon after I had rejected her again," he said. "She'll break his heart."
"Well then we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, "Ino said brightly as she stood up and walked over towards the phone.
"How? By making Sakura realize what a good partner is?" Sasuke said hopefully.
"No, silly. By making him fall in love with someone else."
"Ah, that's a very good- NANI?!?! Ino, you can't do that! It's completely disrespectful! And Naruto is happy with Sakura!" he cried.
"You wanna see Naruto suffer of a broken heart?"
"No..."
"Then you'll do it." She picked up the phone and dialed. "Shikamaru? Meet me at Sasuke's house in five. Never mind why, just do it!" she snapped. Sasuke winced at her tone them realized...
"HEY!! Why my house?!" he demanded.
"Because you have the best security," she retorted. "Anyone else that should come?"
Sasuke thought for a moment. "How about Neji? He's good friends with Naruto."
"Good idea!" she dialed the Hyuuga household. "Hanabi? Is Neji there? He's not? Where is he?" There was a pause. "Going to Sasuke's? Perfect! Ok, thanks!" She hung up. "Now, who are we going to make Naruto fall in love with?..."
"Hinata."
Ino looked at Sasuke. "Nani?"
"Hinata. He should fall for Hinata."
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Author's Notes: Yup. Jinxed myself. I'm SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER!!! (Dodges array of pointy objects) I didn't mean for it do take this long! Really! Things just... Happened... PLEASE FORGIVE ME!! Runs away screaming as random death objects get thrown at her)