Act 12: The Beginning of redemption
"I can't believe I agreed to this…" Sasuke thought to himself as Naruto piled on him more and more ideas for his soon-to-be wedding.
"What do you think Sasuke!" The blonde male asked his friend.
"I think you're nuts! Does Hinata have the slightest clue what she's getting into? Marring a dumb ass like you." Sasuke snapped chucking his words at Naruto.
"At least I'm getting married" Naruto smirked at his best man. "When are you going to propose to Sakura?"
He expected Sasuke to go on a rant on how there was nothing between him and the Pink Konouchi. But instead he was faced with an uncomfortable silence. He glanced at Sasuke and was shocked to see the prodigy's face overcome with a worried emotion.
"What happened?" Naruto asked concerned.
"We slept in the same bed."
"WHAT! AWSOME! So you're going out now neh!" Naruto cried with joy. Sasuke knocked him in the head with a fist.
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT! SHE WOULD… she would never start something like that." Sasuke said controlling himself.
"Neh?" Naruto took a seat next to Sasuke. "How do you know that?"
"Because… I know…"
"Oh?" Naruto cocked an eyebrow.
"I know her ok! Better than Jin will ever know her."
"Are you…perhaps… jealous?" He replied grinning.
"JEALOUS!" Sasuke scoffed. "Of what! A low level ANBU that I could whop with my pinky finger!"
Naruto looked at his friend, eyes closed as if imparting wisdom… a look he was well known for.
"Maybe, but he's still 'a low level ANBU' who is this close to getting Sakura's hand." He made a small hand gesture with his fingers about an inch apart. "Which is much closer than you've gotten in your entire life."
"Shut up dobe!" Sasuke snapped.
"So what happened last night?" He asked again. Being more serious this time.
"I was sick… and she took care of me. She must have fallen asleep, and I'm not sure, but I think I was the one who placed her on the bed next to me. When I woke up I realized I was shirtless."
"Way to go…" Smack, Naruto got hit again.
"Anyway… I don't think I did anything, I hope I didn't do anything. Things are awkward between us as it is. Waking up next to her, I don't know, I was… I was…"
"Scared?"
Silence.
"I could have done something, made a move" He paused. It wasn't like Sasuke to feel like this. He had never experienced anything like this before… even then he wouldn't admit it. But it helped saying it out loud; he didn't mind confiding in Naruto.
Awkward silence.
"I'll admit that… and so help me God, NARUTO! If you say ANYTHING to ANYONE about this NARUTO! I'll kill you before you get to marry Hinata!"
--
"WHAT!" Ino screeched.
"Yeah it was weird" Sakura said rubbing her ears. She had forgotten how Ino reacts whenever she told her anything about the Uchiha. And Sakura had made the mistake of telling her best friend about the events that occurred between her and Sasuke within the course of the last 15 hours.
"Did he say anything about it in the morning?"
"No..."
"Well did you guys… you know, do something?" Ino asked blushing and curious. Sakura turned red.
"NO!" She screamed. "Well, I don't think so… he wouldn't. Sasuke would never do that!"
"He wouldn't… but did you?" Ino teased.
The rosy-haired nin blushed even more.
"WHAT! WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? DO I LOOK LIKE YOU?"
Sakura threw miscellaneous objects in Ino's room at her blonde friend who was laughing so hard she was holding her gut and rolling on the floor.
"INO!"
--
"I won't say anything… continue." There was no trace of a playful tone in Naruto's voice even though in his mind he was amused that the Uchiha was rambling and a total mess. Sasuke continued, feeling confident that this conversation stayed between them and no one else.
"I'll admit… I was tempted. She's attractive, and the only woman I've ever really been attracted too. And I wanted to… err…"
"You wanted to sleep with her."
Silence.
Sasuke hesitated. This wasn't something he would normally do.
"I was tempted too…"
"So…"
"So?"
"SO THIS IS A GOOD THING!" Naruto yelped.
"What? How?" Sasuke was astounded. He couldn't possibly comprehend what Naruto was thinking.
"You could have done something. You could have slept with her…"
"I know that!"
"BUT YOU DIDN'T!"
--
"You should talk to him…" Ino said much calmer now.
"Yeah? And what would I say?"
The girls were putting the miscellaneous objects back into place in Ino's room.
"I don't know." Ino shrugged sweeping up a broken frame. "Just say something!"
Sakura paused for a moment, and then proceeded to place the books back on the shelves.
"I'm scared too…"
"What?" Ino looked at her. "Why?"
"I don't know… it's not like I would go up to some guy and say 'Hey! Why didn't you make a move on me last night? You could have but you didn't! What's up with that!' My GOD Ino… If I did that, I'd be a slut."
"But he ISN'T SOME GUY!" Ino scolded. "This is Sasuke we're talking about!"
"I KNOW THAT!"
--
"I KNOW THAT!" Sasuke scolded.
"THAT'S A GOOD THING!"
Sasuke blinked… totally clueless. Naruto sighed.
"It's a good thing… that means you respect her and don't want to do anything that will scar her or degrade her or make her feel uncomfortable. You didn't want to do anything she might not have wanted you to do."
"I see…"
"You could have taken advantage of her and you didn't." Naruto looked at the dark man who seemed to now understand what he meant. "Did she say anything about it in the morning?"
"No."
"Ahh… try talking to her." Naruto rubbed the back of his head thinking of what advice to give to his friend. "There may be hope for you yet Sasuke-bastard!"
"I never thought I'd here this from you…" Sasuke thought to himself, and he grinned at his friend.
--
Ino sighed.
"He's not going to reject you Sakura…"
"How do you know that?"
"I know…"
"HOW!"
"Because he loves you!"
Sakura stayed silent.
"I don't believe you…"
"Who not!"
"Because…because…"
"Because he hasn't proposed to you?"
Sakura was silent again.
"He's not Jin… He's not a player…" Ino sighed again.
"Jin isn't a player!" Sakura took a seat on the couch, Ino sat beside her.
"Sasuke really cares about you Sakura… Don't you see? Just talk to him…"
--
"What the hell is Ino talking about?" Sakura thought. She picked at her sushi with a chopstick. Her eyes flickered a little bit from her food to Sasuke who was eating across from her. "Sasuke doesn't think anything of me…"
"Damn Naruto… he makes things sound so easy…" He caught a few glimpses of Sakura who was picking at her food across the table. He thought desperately of something to say. To him Sakura had changed significantly, and now he knew she was not the type to start a conversation.
"Are you planning to go to the festival?" He asked.
"It's not for a little bit… but yeah, I guess I'm going to go." She didn't look up at him. "Are you going?"
"I don't usually…"
"I see…" Sakura was quick to reply. "I knew he wouldn't…" she thought.
"But this year I think I will."
Sakura looked up at him confused.
"Really?"
"Yeah I figured why not." He looked up at her and smirked.
"I see…" She looked down again and resumed eating her dinner. She poked at her sushi again. Silence fell upon them. She began fidgeting with her chopsticks.
"Something wrong?" Sasuke asked noting her fidgeting.
"No, nothing" She lied.
He knew she was lying…
"Is it about this morning?"
She froze. Sasuke bit his lip and mentally kicked himself for saying something like that without thinking. Silence was bestowed on them once more.
"Yes…" She finally answered.
"I see… it was…"
"Weird." She cut him off.
"Yeah…"
"Did you… you know…" She didn't make any eye contact with him.
"I would never do that to you." He looked upon her intently.
She looked him in the eyes as he repeated himself.
"I would never, never, do something like that."
She smiled relieved.
"Then… what happened?"
"I'm not entirely sure…" Sasuke replied his gaze uplifting. "Did you do something?"
She threw a chopstick at him which he evaded easily.
"DO I LOOK LIKE INO?"
An unfamiliar sound echoed in Sakura's ears. Something she found to be beautiful and foreign and enchanting. She looked upon the Uchiha astounded. He was laughing. His laughter enveloped the room. It was sweet, deep and something so rare. He looked at her smiling. He was smiling! A sight for sore eyes. Uchiha Sasuke was laughing and smiling! He calmed down a bit and looked upon his frazzled ex-teammate.
"I needed that laugh…" He said softly almost like a whisper. He continued smiling at her. And Sakura found herself smiling back.
