Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

7 Days, Come What May

Chapter VI: Gain One, Lose One

Sakura tossed and turned in her bed. 'I am in the same room as Sasuke-kun! The SAME room! This is so exciting!...urm...even if he isn't really doing anything much…but this is like, a LIFE experience for me!' Sakura thought happily, almost letting out an excited squeal. She turned her body to face Sasuke on the other bed. Sasuke, unfortunately, was faced away from her.

Sakura watched Sasuke's body went up and down, indicating of his gentle breathing. 'Ahh…he's even cute from behind…is it wrong to think that we're destiny? I mean, he doesn't seem to like me much but…first we've been put in the same team…then, we accidentally get the same rooms…ahh…I'm hopeless at this!' A dreamy smile crept onto Sakura's face and she stared at Sasuke's back for a few more minutes.

"It's getting annoying, Sakura."

The dreamy smile was instantly wiped off of Sakura's face. Inner Sakura: 'What! He knew! THIS IS SO EXCITING! Okay, wait, that's not the point. Oh, right, HE KNEW! I guess I'll just pretend I don't know anything then!' Sakura quickly rolled onto her other side to pretend that she was sleeping. To perfect her acting, she even tried to breathe slowly up and down to give the impression that she was really sleeping. Only, her heart was still beating fast at the nervousness of being discovered.

Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to where she had been looking before. Sakura (with a blushing face) knew it was Sasuke but she pretended to groggily open her eyes.

"Wazzup, Sasuke-kun?" she asked sleepily, looking up at Sasuke's face above hers.

"I can see through your bad acting, Sakura," he raised her eyebrows impatiently.

Inner Sakura: 'WHAT! MY LIFE IS OVVVVERRR!'

"I-I…I….I…." Sakura stammered, trying to look away.

She was quite unsuccessful because Sasuke's face was right above hers and there was no where else she could avert her eyes to.

"Do I bother you that much?" Sasuke suddenly asked out of the blue. "That you can't even sleep?"

Inner Sakura: 'YES! YES, EXACTLY! YOU BOTHER ME SO MUCH! BECAUSE I LIKE YOU SO MUCH! WHO CARES ABOUT SLEEPING!'

In reality: "No, Sasuke-kun…you don't bother me. It's nice being around you," Sakura gave a small, shy smile.

Sasuke looked a bit taken aback that that last statement but quickly turn it into a self-satisfied smirk.

"You like me, don't you Sakura?" he asked emotionlessly, sitting on her bed.

Sakura didn't answer. Of course Sakura liked him. But what was she supposed to say? Yes? She just reddened and sat up. Inner Sakura: 'Why, oh, why do you have to ask the obvious? You know the answer, Sasuke-kun! Even though this is a romantic moment…but anything could go wrong!'

"Why do you keep on trying? I always ignore you anyway. Don't you ever get it into you head that you're really annoying?" Sasuke looked at her with emotionless eyes.

This time, Sakura did sigh. She'd refrained herself from sighing many times before when he said that she was annoying, but this time, she couldn't hold it back. This time, the things Sasuke was telling her were too…straightforward. Basically, he was telling her honestly to just fuck off and never mess with him ever again. And, it was making her heart break. She never knew that it would make her so sad all of a sudden. She thought that the thing she had for Sasuke was just puppy love…something that'll go away in a few month's time. Unfortunately, Sakura was wrong, and it hurt.

"I-I get it Sasuke. Sorry for wasting your time all this time…I promise…I'll never annoy you again," Sakura whispered softly.

Her face was down and her hair was covering her eyes. Sasuke couldn't see what her face was like. Sakura quickly got up from her bed, keeping her head down all the time. She walked to the door, opened it, and left. Now, the room was quiet. Sasuke sat there on her bed, staring at the door that Sakura that just exited. It might have been a trick of the light, but Sasuke's eyes did look kind of sad.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I only did the best for you," Sasuke whispered to himself in the darkness of the night.

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"Sasuke-kun, do you love me?" Ino asked sweetly, holding hands with the Uchiha.

"Of course, Ino. I always have. That stupid big forehead Sakura means nothing to me," Sasuke replied and leaned in for a kiss.

Ino's and Sasuke's face got closer and closer…

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Ino jolted out of her sleep. She groaned in annoyance. 'Who the hell has just interrupted my quality dream time about Sasuke-kun! I NEED my beauty sleep!'

The blonde got up from her bed and dragged herself to the door. Ino opened it to find Sakura, the forever-enemy that she'd just dreamt about.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING-" Ino stopped when she saw Sakura's crying face.

Oh, yes, Ino had dreamt of this moment. Exactly this moment, where Sakura would be in tears and begging for her mercy. Strangely, Ino could not find it in her heart to happily dwell in her triumph. Victory was not as sweet as Ino thought it would be. Actually, it was just the opposite. Ino was shocked to see her ex-best friend crying at her door.

"C-Come in, Sakura-chan!" Ino gently led the sobbing Sakura into her room and closed the door behind them. "What happened to you? Tell me."

Ino opened the lights and led Sakura to sit on her sofa. Sakura was still crying. Ino felt so sorry for Sakura that she felt like she was going to cry too. So, Ino leaned over and gave Sakura a hug and patted Sakura's back.

"There, there, Sakura-chan…take your time…cry it all out first then tell me," Ino said in a soothing voice.

It was just like the old days when the two were best friends. Sakura would always be the one crying and running over to Ino and Ino would always be the one who stood by Sakura and comforted her. Somehow, the thought gave Ino a pang in her heart. Ino's comforting words only made Sakura cry harder. Ino continued to pat Sakura on the back and went to get some tea.

When Ino came back, Sakura's crying was getting less. Ino smiled and handed Sakura the cup of tea.

"T-Thank you…" Sakura said in a teary voice.

"No need, Sakura…" Ino sat beside the pink-haired girl and continued to pat her back.

"S-Sasuke…h-he told me…" Sakura let out a sob and cried a little before she continued. "H-He…doesn't want me to mess with him anymore…H-He hates me a lot…H-He said…."

Sakura couldn't finish her sentence and burst out crying. Ino gave Sakura another hug and patted her back.

"Calm down, Sakura-chan, everything'll be alright…what did he tell you, Sakura?" Ino asked gently.

"H-He said…H-He said…I was annoying," Sakura replied in between her sobs.

"What! That bastard Uchiha! You're not annoying, Sakura-chan, don't listen to him!" Ino said hotly in defense of Sakura.

Sakura stopped crying a little and then looked at Ino.

"B-But…Ino-chan, I t-thought you liked him?" Sakura asked with tearful hiccups.

Ino shook her head with a furious expression on her face.

"I won't like any bastard that insults my best friend, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's eyes widened. "F-Friends, Ino?"

Ino hadn't realized that she'd blurted the words "Best friend" out in front of Sakura. Ino reddened a little.

"Y-Yea, Sakura-chan!" Ino said a little too loudly. "…If you want to, that is…" Ino added in a softer voice.

Sakura's sad face slowly turned into a big smile. "I-I'd LOVE to be your best friend, Ino-chan!"

Ino grinned back as widely as Sakura had. The two girls hugged each other for a long time. Then, Sakura whispered softly into Ino's ear.

"Ino-chan…you don't have to do this for me, you know…you can still continue to like Sasuke if you want…I promise that this time, it won't affect our friendship…Because my friendship with you is what I value most, over some guy that doesn't even care about me…"

Ino pulled away from the hug and looked into Sakura's green eyes, filled to the rim with tears of both happiness and sadness.

"Sorry to disappoint you girlie, but a guy with that kind of attitude…I'm not interested," Ino said confidently.

Sakura smiled gratefully at her friend.

"Thank you, Ino…if you weren't here…I wouldn't know where to go and what to do at all…thank you for everything."

"That's what best friends are for, right Sakura-chan? Who cares about that bastard?" Ino remarked cheerily.

"Right!" Sakura enthusiastically replied with a big smiled on her face.

Inside, however, Sakura knew that letting go would be very, very hard.

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The next morning was bright and shining, just like the day before. Ten Ten woke up to the song of the door opening. She opened her eyes to see Gaara grabbing his gourd and preparing to go out the door.

"Why up so early?" Ten Ten asked sleepily.

"…things to do…" Gaara murmured darkly before slamming the door behind him.

'Weirdo…' Ten Ten thought to herself.

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Gaara, apparently, had a very important business to finish. Although he might seem a lot like a party pooper at first, he somehow did manage to remember that tomorrow was Naruto's official birthday party. He appeared in the meadow field behind the horse stables ten minutes later, still carrying his gourd.

Then, the redhead walked over to a nearby tree and leaned on it. Temari's words flashed through his head.

F L A S H B A C K

"What activities do they do at a birthday party, Temari?" Gaara asked, sitting on the kitchen table, staring at his food.

"Well…I'm not exactly experienced in social issues but…" Temari paused, thinking. "I think you have to give Naruto-kun something, as a present."

Gaara raised his eyebrows. "A present? Why?"

"As a celebration for his birthday, of course…you might want to give him something he likes…"

E N D O F F L A S H B A C K

"Something Naruto likes…" the sand shinobi wondered out loud.

Gaara was thinking so hard that he did not hear someone come up behind him.

"Yo, Gaara, my bro! What business brings you here?" Kankurou greeted him cheerfully.

Chouji was behind Kankurou and hesitantly nodded, in a bit of fear of Gaara.

"..just…thinking…" Gaara murmured.

Kankurou raised his eyebrows and looked over at Chouji, who just shrugged.

"Ehh..then, Gaara…we won't interrupt your..eh…thinkin' then. We'll just get going…" Kankurou said and then started to walk off with Chouji.

"Wait, Kankurou, Chouji," Gaara suddenly said.

Kankurou stopped and turned around. "What is it, Gaara?"

As for Chouji, he was quite confused as to why Gaara wanted him to stay too, not just Kankurou.

"What does Naruto like?" Gaara asked, is face void of emotion.

"Eh? What? Why do you want to know that, Gaara?" Kankurou asked, giving his brother a weird look.

"Birthday," Gaara simply replied.

"O-Oh, I know…he likes…ramen…I think," Chouji ventured to speak.

"Hey man, but Gaara can't give Naruto a bowl of ramen as a present!" Kankurou said, trying to think of what else Naruto liked.

"Why not?"

"Because, brother…I don't quite think it's a social thing to do…" Kankurou explained. "But you can if you wanna, I mean…I think Naruto will like anything you give him."

"Then help me think of more things he likes," Gaara leaned back on the tree again to think.

"Hmm…Naruto likes ramen…fighting…urm…I can't think of anymore," Chouji rubbed his head.

Gaara closed his eyes awhile, as if he was thinking very hard. Kankurou and Chouji curiously stared at the redhead all the while. When Gaara finally opened his eyes, both Kankurou and Chouji gave the redhead questioning looks.

"Chouji, what jutsu does Naruto like using?" Gaara questioned, crossing his arms seriously.

"Well…I'm not that close to him but I know that…he likes using the Sexy no jutsu in front of Iruka-sensei," Chouji replied.

"Hmm…okay…I know what to give him…" Gaara stated with a now confident look on his face.

Kankurou and Chouji looked at each other with weird looks on their faces.

"Whatever my brother has planned, it's gonna be super weird," Kankurou whispered into Chouji's ear as Chouji sheepishly smiled in reply.

Gaara was now rubbing his hands together, a very curious plan forming inside his red head.

Joyce: Yes, again, I'm very sorry about the delay! School projects and all..:( Exams comin' up too..but I will try to update as soon as I can!XDAnd yea, that Neji X Ten Ten stuff is coming along...urm...I think...as soon as I get any ideas about them and can put them into words :D Well, I'm VERY grateful for all your encouraging reviews and please keep them coming in! Thank you! XD