1ST PLACE ISN'T EXACTLY THE BEST

-CHAPTER FOURTEEN-

Are we more than friends but less than lovers?

Sakura leaned closer to him and he went stiff.Her face was nearly half way to his when she reached out and fumbled with something at the back of his shirt.

"What did you do!"

Sakura sat back down.

"Oh…you're tag was showing."

"(asd)…oh."

"See how thoughtful I am?"

Sakura smiled and tilted her head to the side as if to make herself look cuter.

"Hn…"

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Before we begin…

I've noticed a spelling error in my last chapter thanks to one of my reviewers (whispers: thanks snakpak…tee hee).It's supposed to be the suffix -koi at the end of Temari's name when Sasuke addresses her.

!Let's begin the story!

A couple of weeks had passed from the day when the two friends had made up,but it seemed like they weren't friends at all.Instead,they were always with their lovers.Sasuke was with Temari and although Sakura wasn't really with Shikamaru before,they eventually decided to go out.After Sakura's little make-up with Sasuke,they didn't even talk to each other like they did before.Sasuke usually wouldn't try to talk to her when she said hi to him and it seemed like he was avoiding her.One day during third period,Sakura found herself brooding again.

'Me and Sasuke made up from our fight.But we're still not talking or anything.Why?'

-Hm…don't know.Maybe you scared him off when you fixed the tag of his shirt.He might've thought that we were trying to kiss him.-

'Hey,I'm really a perfectionist when it comes to nit-picky things,okay?'

-Whatever.Hey…Naruto's trying to talk to you.Better pay attention!-

Sakura was distracted as Naruto waved his hand in front of her face.

"Er…sorry Naruto-kun."

"Yeah,that's okay.But I was just asking if you and Sasuke-teme were still mad at each other.You used to argue a lot and now you're not even talking to each other!"

"Yup.We're friends…I think."

"Wow!Sasuke's never had a friend before!"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh.Even his old girlfriend was never really his friend.By the looks of it now,it doesn't even look like Temari's his friend either!"

"Naruto?"

"Yup?"

"You've grown up with Sasuke,right?Like you've been in his classes?"

"Uhh…yeah!"

"Then,aren't you his friend?"

"It's more like his acquaintance,ya know?"

Sakura looked over at Sasuke,who was still sitting beside Temari.He had refrained from even touching Temari ever since they made up.But Sasuke didn't really have his mind on his current girlfriend at all.Instead,he sometimes found himself in a daze because Sakura had actually admitted that Sasuke was her friend.He almost always was brooding,just like Sakura.

'Hm…I finally have a friend,eh?I've never really had one before.'

Sasuke sighed and slumped back in his seat.Their teacher was doing another boring lecture on advanced math again.

'What if Sakura-chan turns out to be more than a friend?I don't know what'll happen if we get together then break up.'

Temari looked over at him and blew him a kiss.

'Note to self: get rid of Temari somehow.Maybe I'll force her onto that dobe,Naruto.'

"Oh Sasuke-kuuuuuuun!"

'Damn…Temari wants me to compliment her.Better make it quick.'

Sasuke looked over at Temari and tried to look as innocent as possible,which proved difficult.

"You look so pretty today,Temari-koi."

"Thank you Sasuke-kun!"

She planted a kiss on Sasuke's cheek and went back to sleeping.

'Yuck!She left another lip print!'

Sasuke rubbed his cheek as if to try to rub off the essence of Temari from his face.

'I can't even believe that Sakura-chan was actually friends with this ditz before!'

While Sasuke was busy musing over Temari touching his 'perfect face',Sakura was in a deep conversation with her blonde seatmate.

"So,it's a fact that ramen is low in fat."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Naruto.

"Really?"

Naruto just beamed.

"Like I said,it's a fact!"

Sakura sighed and looked over at Sasuke.He was looking back at her,but they both turned away when their eyes met.

"So,Naruto-kun!Have you ever considered going out with someone?"

Naruto's expression turned to one of confusion,but then he grinned at Sakura.

"Are you implying that you like meeeee,Sakura-chan?"

"No,Naruto-kun(asd).I'm saying that you can't live life just…alone."

Naruto scratched his head nervously.

"But who would I pick?"

Sakura scanned over all the girls in the class and her eyes stopped at Hinata.

"What about Hinata?She's cooled down from that little Gaara accident."

"But she's pregnant!"

Sakura looked at Naruto dumbly.But a plan struck her.

"I heard she likes you."

"Really?I kinda like her too!"

Inner Sakura: (asd)It's amazing how Naruto's perspective of someone can change when you say that they like him.

"Go for it Naruto.I heard that she might give her baby up for adoption anyway."

"I wouldn't care.She would take care of the baby and that's that."

"Naruto…you're so insensitive!"

Sakura punched Naruto and he pouted.

"I was just kidding,Sakura-chan!"

"Whatever,Naruto."

The bell rang and everyone got up to go to the cafeteria.Sakura automatically sat down with Shikamaru and the rest of her friends at their table in the cafeteria.Whilst Sasuke was sitting at his table with Temari and some other people that were Temari's new friends.

"Sakura-koi?"

Sakura looked over at Shikamaru.

"Eh?What is it Shika-kun?"

"I thought that you said that you and Sasuke made up.What's with the silence between you two?It's kinda weird."

"You mean kinda creepy and eerie and junk."

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto.

"Yeah,Naruto,whatever."

"I know,I know.I thought that we were going to actually be real friends too.I guess that the only types of friends that he looks forward to are girlfriends."

Ino grinned at Sakura.

"So maybe…"

"WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!"

It was normal for her friends to be asking her if she and Sasuke liked each other.Not a minute passed by during lunch and free periods without them mentioning that Sasuke looked extra lonely today or stuff like that.Sakura sighed again and looked over at Sasuke.He was eating cake while Temari was laughing very loudly with her friends.

'He usually eats cake now.I wonder if it's the only thing he eats!'

The rest of the day carried on like that.Sakura and Sasuke would be thinking of each other without the person they were thinking about knowing and they would sometimes smile at each other like they knew what either person was thinking.But one question had remained in their heads - are we just friends or more than friends?

It was the end of the day when Sasuke decided to talk to her.

Sasuke's head: If it's not now,when?I might as well just ask her out to see if she likes me or whatever…

Meanwhile,Sakura was packing up her bag and Shikamaru was waiting for her in the hall.

"Damn…better hurry up if he's going to walk me home…"

Sakura was hastily trying to get all of her books in her bag but…didn't succeed.Her books fell onto the floor as she attempted to get out the door in time.

"Whoops….I'm so clumsy(asd)."

Then,much to her surprise,Sasuke came over and helped her.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Yup?"

"Uh…nevermind."

She continued to pack her bag and pick up her books at the same time.When the last book was put into her book bag,Sasuke turned on her.

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura was about to turn around,but stopped upon hearing her name.

"Yeah,Sasuke-kun?"

"You wanna hang out later?You know…go to like a restaurant or something?"

Sakura hesitated for a bit.

'Hm…what will Shika-kun say?'

-Who cares!Sasuke's finally talking to you now!-

'I guess that it'd be okay…'

Sakura smiled at Sasuke and said,"Yeah,sure."

She headed out of the classroom and saw that Shikamaru wasn't there anymore.

"Dammit Shikamaru!You're so impatient!"

Sakura stormed out of the hallway,but when she opened the door of the school,she noticed that it was raining heavily.

"Damn…how am I going to get home now?"

The pink haired girl didn't notice Sasuke get into his car.It was only until he pulled up beside her that she recognized the same raven colored car that she had seen before.

"What does this person want now!"

Sakura was still fuming over her own boyfriend not waiting for her and she calmed down a little when she saw that Sasuke was in the driver's seat.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun?"

He opened the door to the passenger's seat and motioned for her to sit down.Sakura hopped in and couldn't help but laugh.

"What the hell are you laughing about?"

Sakura stopped and sheepishly looked over at Sasuke.

"Uh…you'd look funny in a hat?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her and continued to speak.

"Hey.You wanna go to this restaurant place.It's pretty cool.They make really good spaghetti and-"

"Yeah,sure."

Sasuke never felt so stupid in his life.Upon being the top of the class,he never felt like he was about to slip to the ranks of Naruto,who was the stupidest person he ever knew.Now,he was acting so stupid because of a normal girl.He had seen and met girls before,so he didn't know why he was acting so weird.

Sasuke's head: The stupid things I do for love!...(asd)What the hell am I saying!

When they arrived at the restaurant,Sakura was pretty shocked to see only couples seated at the tables.

'Ugh…another make-out place!'

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"Are there always couples here(asd)."

Sasuke seemed as surprised as her.

"No…"

They sat down at an empty table and ordered two plates of spaghetti.But when the waiter came to their table,he came with only one plate,and they both had to share.

"What's with the bad service?"

"Hn…"

They both dug into the spaghetti and began to finish it.And even though they were both sharing a romantic meal with each other,Sakura refused to look at Sasuke and just looked in the other direction.It was only when they had both picked up the same strand of spaghetti that they had finally looked at each other.Sasuke closed his eyes as he slowly inched towards Sakura.Sakura was panicking…again.

'What the hell is with this Uchiha and kissing girls!'

As if it were instinct,Sakura bit down on her end of the spaghetti noodle and Sasuke ate up the rest of it.

-Real smooth Sakura!-

Sasuke,however,was looking as if he did the most embarrassing thing in the world.He was blushing heavily and was avoiding eye contact with her.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn…?"

"You wanna go over to the arcade?We can fit in a couple of games before 5."

He nodded without looking up still and Sakura's inner self was going crazy.

-There?You see!He tried to kiss us and then you refused to.But when you did,he was humiliated!-

'Yeah,thanks for making me feel bad!'

When they had finished off the rest of the spaghetti,they went to the arcade.There were even more people in there that Sakura didn't know from last week.After her little unveiling,every male in the arcade had asked her out.It didn't matter to her though since she had turned them all down.She had a good reason too.Almost all of the people that asked her out had bullied her before when she pretended to be a guy.She just found it pretty stupid.

"Hey…Sasuke!You going out with the girl that beat you?"

Sakura turned around to see a tall boy with a look of pure evil on his face..But Sakura found it funny that his fingernails were painted.She couldn't help but laugh as Sasuke looked at the person.

"What do you want,Itachi?"

"Nothing,little brother."

Sakura's jaw fell.

"He…is…your brother!"

Sasuke nodded as she examined Itachi further.He had weird lines on his face that were probably the result of loss of sleep…or some kind of weird bone formation on his face.

'If the people from fashion magazine saw this guy,they'd faint from such weird things that he did to his nails!'

Sakura chuckled to herself as the two brothers continued their heated discussion.

"I thought I told you to leave that Temari girl alone."

"Why!"

"Because I don't like her.What if you end up marrying that bitch?"

"What do you care?"

"We're the last surviving members of our whole Uchiha lineage!We were lucky that we inherited mother and father's money!"

"Is that all you care about?"

"YES!"

Itachi just left them alone and Sasuke let out a sight of relief.

"I thought that jerk was never going to leave…"

"Huh?That's you're brother?"

Sasuke nodded…and Sakura burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?(sigh)You're so annoying."

Sakura stopped laughing and gave a playful punch to Sasuke's arm.

"Hey!No saying that I'm annoying is allowed!"

"Why?It's the truth."

'At least he's actually talking to me now…no more of those 'hns' or single word replies anymore.(sigh)'