Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

7 Days, Come What May

Chapter XXIV: Guinea Pigs

Sakura really, really couldn't stand the silence now.

"…Sasuke-kun! Why're you here?" the pink-haired girl finally decided to ask, standing up.

The Uchiha didn't even as much as take his eyes off of the books he was browsing.

"…To browse some books of course, you annoying girl," was his reply.

"Oh…"

Another long silence followed after that. Sakura tried unsuccessfully to continue reading her book. After reading a sentence over and over for three times, she closed the book and proceeded to walk out the door of the library.

'…Like I can even concentrate doing anything at all in that heavy atmosphere in the library!' She thought.

Sasuke did not want Sakura to think that he was indeed following her around (for the sole purpose of, of course, making sure that she wasn't going to flirt anywhere, like she said she would). So, he stayed where he was. The Uchiha heard another book close in the room. He narrowed his eyes to see that Gaara had closed his book, put it back on the shelf, and was now exiting the library door.

Sasuke fought the urge to follow suit. Somewhere in his head, his intuition told him that…Gaara was following Sakura?

'No, no, no way…' he shook his head to get rid of the absurd thought.

However, the Uchiha had to change his mind about that when he continued to observe Gaara from the window of the library. The redhead was walking right after Sakura!

O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.

In another place at the Konoha Hot Springs, the silence was also overwhelming. But not for long.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" Naruto said cheerfully. "…Ino told me you had something for me! What is it, what is it!"

"S-Something for you?" the Hyuuga girl stammered. "I-It's not that…S-Sorry, N-Naruto-kun…I-I don't have anything for you…"

Hinata lowered her head to look down at the water around the small boat, her face giving away how sorry she was about that.

"Oui, Hinata! That's totally fine, don't sweat it," Naruto reached over to squeeze her hand and give her a genuine smile.

It was at that moment that Hinata finally made it her final resolve to do what she had come here to do.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata didn't know why she was whispering.

"Hmm?"

"T-That day…a-at the tea house…y-you said…" she paused.

The red blush on her face was softened by the fog around them.

"Uhmmm…yea, that….I said I liked you, didn't I?" he quietly, (for once) finishing the sentence for her. "I was telling the truth, you know, Hinata-chan?"

She nodded. She knew to the bottom of her heart that he was indeed telling the truth.

"I-I-I…j-just also wanted to answer your q-question that time…"

F L A S H B A C K

"Hey, Hinata-chan…"

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you like me?" Naruto's suddenly asked. His eyes were serious this time, not joking like it was in the previous times.

"W-Why have you…" she trailed off, coloring.

She didn't answer the question.

"N-Naruto…I…Neji will be calling for me…" Hinata quickly got up, her face still red.

"Hinata-chan…you won't answer the question?"

F L A S H B A C K

Naruto squeezed her hand even tighter now.

"I'm listening, Hinata-chan…" he said softly.

There was a tint of pink on the fox-boy's cheeks. Hinata braced herself. Her heart was thumping way too loud for her own liking.

'T-This is it…N-Now or never…Naruto-kun…'

"N-Naruto-kun….I—"

At that moment, Hinata decided to lean on one edge of the boat a little bit too hard. The boat tipped over, sending both Hinata and Naruto into the water.

'T-This is so bad…I-I…just ruined my own chance for this!' Hinata thought when she realized what happened, slightly furious with herself. 'I-I-I…g-give up!"

However, the voices in her head wouldn't allow her to just give up for anything. Just like Sakura (who was already brutely strong) had an even stronger Inner Sakura, Hinata also found that she had a stronger inner self.

'Hinata, girl! You can't give up!' her Inner self told her.

'B-But…'

'Don't give up just because the boat fell over! That's a measly excuse for getting out of what needs to be done!'

'I-Isn't it going to be even harder this w-way? S-Shouldn't I wait some other t-time?'

'The harder, the better, my girl…and don't make it wait till next time…what if you don't get a chance to tell him? Do you remember what it felt like when he was captured?'

'Y-Yes…I remember everything…'

'Yea, so get your butt up there and do what you have to do! I have your back, Sakura has your back, and Ino has your back!'

'N-Neji…d-doesn't have m-my back…'

'Err…yea, but who cares? Right?'

And, for once, Hinata agreed. The next moment, she found that was spluttering out water on the bank of the lake. Naruto was rubbing her back.

"Hinata-chan! Are you okay?" he leaned down to look at her worried.

Hinata didn't even address the question. She was going to tell him, now.

"….Y-Yes!" well, that was short for a 'confession.'

Naruto looked confused. "Eh? Yes for what?"

Hinata gulped. "…Y-Yes! I-I-I-I….do like you too!"

Naruto's eyes widened. His grin multiplied. "Really!"

Hinata nodded, her eyes determined, for once.

"You know what, Hinata-chan! I like you too, even though I told you that already!"

They hugged, wetness and all. Then, when the irony of it all hit them, they burst out laughing.

O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.

"Sakura."

Sakura turned around to the voice that called her. The person she least expected was standing there.

"G-Gaara! Good morning!" the pink-haired girl burst out, a little too quickly.

"I have a favor to ask of you, Sakura."

'Very straight to the point…' she thought.

"Oh, yes, of course! What is it?" she smiled at him (mainly so that he wouldn't see that she was a bit freaked out by him talking to her).

"…You shouldn't agree to a favor unless you know what it is first."

"Uhh…Oh, yea, I guess so…then, what's the favor then, Gaara?"

"…But you can't back out of it now, since you already agreed."

Sakura sweatdropped. 'Then what was the whole point of informing me to agree to the favor after I know what it is! Weird guy…'

Of course, Sakura dared not say that out loud. She wished to live a little longer than that.

"Yes, I guess so…." She said sheepishly.

"Today, I read a book on social customs," the redhead started. "…Then, I realized, I would need to experience some on the things mentioned in the book first-handedly."

"Uhmm…Hm…." Sakura didn't quite grasp at what he was getting at, but stayed silent.

"So, I would need a guinea pig to test my social skills."

Realization hit on Sakura. Her green eyes widened. "M-Me? Y-You want me to be t-the guinea pig?"

Gaara nodded. "I presume that is fine with you, since you already agreed."

Again, Sakura sweatdropped. 'T-Tricky guy!' Gaara was not one to waste time. He went directly to the matter at hand.

"Sakura, the first social skill I must learn is something that I already saw a lot of people do," the redhead stated, his face devoid of emotion. "Kissing. I saw my sister and the Nara do it, and Neji and Ten Ten do it. I presume that I must also know how to do it."

Sakura couldn't do anything but stare at the redhead and his freaky panda eyes.

"You mean. You want ME. To. Kiss. With. You," Sakura was exasperated.

Gaara nodded, strode over in a swift second and grabbed her waist. Now, the two were super close and getting closer…and still, Gaara's face was still unemotional. Sakura was just too shocked to move.

'Oh. My. Goodness. This is GAARA we're talking about…'

"Hey, what're you doing with my girl?" a voice edged with dangerous rage came from behind them.

It was (of course) Sasuke, who had indeed stalked after the two. Sakura, remembering what happened last time with Jiro (when Sasuke became deathly jealous), decided to quickly explain what had really happened, so the Uchiha wouldn't be overeacting again.

"Sasuke, this isn't what it looks like—"

Gaara placed a light finger on Sakura's lips. "…Sakura is your girl?"

"Yea, so get your hands off her now," Sasuke remarked coldly.

'S-Stupid Sasuke! Don't provoke Gaara! He's SABAKU NO GAARA! He can kill you!' Sakura thought, looking up, frightened, into Gaara's face.

To her surprise, Gaara did let go of Sakura.

"I apologize. I didn't know that you," at this, the redhead looked at Sakura. "…was the Uchiha's property. I will got find other guinea pigs."

The redhead simply walked off, leaving Sakura and Sasuke somewhat stunned. Slowly, Sakura got what Gaara had said.

'How dare…he call me PROPERTY!'

"Hey, wait, Gaara!" Sakura called. "…Just so you know, I'm not his property."

Gaara halted and turned around.

"Never mind her, Gaara, she is my property," Sasuke remarked coolly.

"Wha—" She was shushed by the Uchiha.

The redhead nodded in reply to Sasuke's remark and continued to walk off. Once Gaara had gone, Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief.

"That…was weird…" she said. "…And, Sasuke-kun, I'm not your property, you know that right?"

"No."

"…"

"…"

"Whatever, I'm too tired of arguing you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura let out a kind of I-give-up smile. "...I'll just say I'm your girlfriend, okay? Anyways, you should have enough faith in me to trust that I won't cheat on you!"

She continuously poked at his chest.

"Aa…" of course, the Uchiha's reply didn't really clarify stuff.

So, Sakura decided to change topics just for the sake of it.

"Sasuke-kun, let's go to the hot springs together, it should be fun!" she glanced up at him hopefully.

"Hm," again, no clarification.

'What the HECK is that supposed to mean!' Inner Sakura thought.

"Urm…so are we going or not?" Sakura ventured to ask again.

"Don't be annoying, Sakura. Just go change."

'Ahh, NOW I got clarification…'

O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.O.0.

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet!" Lee recited.

Earlier, the Green Beast of Konoha had been reading this book called Romeo and Juliet in the library. Apparently, he was fascinated by the plot of the story, along with all of its quotes. He really couldn't resist the urge to recite the quotes when relaxing so nicely in a hot spring such as this…

"…Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?" a voice came from behind him.

Startled, Lee whirled around to see…Shino!

"You…read that book too?" Lee asked.

The bug-guy impassively nodded. "I have read and studied all the works of Shakespeare."

"Wow…that's very cool!" Lee gave Shino a wink and a thumbs-up.

Shino just nodded in acceptance.

"Hey, guys! Did I just here someone reciting Shakespeare?" Ino's voice sounded throughout the hot spring.

From behind her came Kiba, Kankurou, Temari, Chouji and Shikamaru. They all got themselves settled nicely in the pool.

"I can recite Shakespeare too…" the Nara spoke up.

Temari turned to him and poked his arm. "Really, genius? Recite it to me, then!"

"Yes, Nara, that is an order from my sister you hear? You better recite it all very accurately or the water will turn very red from your blood very soon…" Kankurou added, just for the sake of threatening Shikamaru.

The Nara sighed. "Fine, Fine…

There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls,
Doing more murders in this loathsome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell…"

"Whoa, Temari, your genius boyfriend really is a genius…" Ino remarked.

"Yea, I know!" Temari said, grinning and poking the Nara in the arm again.

Joyce: Lol, yea, the Shakespeare idea was totally random..:D..I just thought that it was funny, so I put it in…and, by the way, I think Romeo and Juliet is totally a legendary piece of work..:)….and second thing, thank you for all the suggestions on how to handle the Peter stalker:D I think he's stopped now! YAY! CHEERS:D THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I really really love you guys:D Now…I'll answer some reviews, since I haven't in so long:D

To Kyonkichi13: Wow, your review is really sweet! I'm very glad you think that I can make every relationship special! I'm eternally grateful that I can even change your mind about SasuSaku fics:)

To HarunoSakura's tears: Lol, ya, the 'Social Customs' book was funny..lol:D Glad you liked! Hope you liked the teeny tiny bit of GaaraSakuraSasuke u asked for:)

To minoko-chan: Yes! I love the 'Sasuke likes to tease Sakura' thing too:D

To Sharisha-chan: Wooohooooo! Thanks for rating my fic an A:)

To Dragon Man 180: YAY! You know what:D You're the only person who's totally figured that out! I really did have The Little Mermaid in mind when I wrote that! And, it's still in my mind, lol, for some weird reason:D You're a mind reader! ;) I'm glad you got it figured out:D

To Latouya: Lol, TRIBAL social customs! That would be really funny, hahahaha!

…Well, that's all for this time:D I've got to go call some people…'cause I'm holding a farewell party for my friend tomorrow (she's going as an exchange student to Minnesota)!...I'm so excited for the party:)