1ST PLACE ISN'T EXACTLY THE BEST

-CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE-

Sakura's decision

"Naruto you baka!I have a boyfriend!"

Hinata glared at Naruto.

"Naruto-kun!You don't go around making girls angry!"

Naruto cowered under his girlfriend's glare.

"Hi-Hinata-chan.Gomen…"

"Now apologize to Sakura-chan."

"…gomen Sakura-chan…"

Every single person near Naruto laughed at his only weakness - his pregnant girlfriend.

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Sakura ruffled Naruto's hair playfully.

"It's okay Naruto-kun.As long as Hinata-chan doesn't mind me hitting you."

Everyone took a seat at the table as Naruto got beaten up by every girl within a ten foot radius.Just as Sakura sat down,Ino lifted her up off of her chair and dragged her away from the distracted group.Sakura forced Ino off her arm and looked at her confused.

"What is it,Ino-chan?"

Ino shifted her eyes to the right and to the left continually before she spoke.

"You have to tell me how you do it?"

A large sweat drop formed at the back of Sakura's head.

"Do…what…Ino-chan?"

Ino began to get irritated and tapped her foot impatiently.

"You know…!"

Sakura scratched the back of her head.

"No…I don't…"

"HOW DO YOU GET SASUKE-KUN TO BECOME YOUR BEST FRIEND!"

Almost every person in the mall had violently turned their heads to look at Ino.Ino was flushed and Sakura could've looked at her like she was crazy.

"Why do you want to be friends with Sasuke?"

Ino's voice was barely a whisper.

"Because I like him.Remember?"

"Yeah…but…"

Sakura was very confused.She couldn't really understand why her blonde friend would like a jerk like Sasuke.Sure…he was nice to look at,but his personality was quite flawed and he had the vocab of a bean,at least it seemed that way.But then,she could relate with her friend on so many different levels since she did used to like Sasuke….unless she still did now…

"But what?I like Sasuke and you shouldn't be allowed to hog all of him!"

"What are you talking about!Me and Sasuke-kun are just-"

"Friends?"

Sakura nodded.

"Well,there's no such things as guys and girls just being friends.There has to be some chemistry behind it all."

Sakura pondered Ino's statement as her friend walked back to the table defeated.

'She…she's right.'

The pink haired girl's head hung low as she made her way to the table again.Then she jumped as someone's hand rested on her shoulder.

"Hey,Sakura-chan."

She turned around and saw Sasuke.He didn't have his hostile look on today,but instead,he had the look of a lazy slacker.But there was something different in the way he looked and the way he carried himself.

"Sasuke-kun!Don't scare me like that!"

She hit him on the head and he shrugged it off.

'That's weird…he would've started an argument by now!'

Sakura inspected Sasuke briefly and found that he had a look of absentness shinning in his onyx eyes.She waved a hand in his face to try and catch his attention.

"Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!"

"Yes,Haruno Sakura?"

Sakura became aggravated.

She slapped him across the face and that seemed to wake him up.

"What was that for!"

"Because you were scaring me!"

"Were you that worried about me?"

"Stop being such a tease!Of course I'm worried if my best friend is acting all weird!"

Butterflies were fluttering in Sasuke's stomach at the mention of him being Sakura's best friend.

"I'm you're-"

"Best friend?Of course!"

Sakura smiled at him and his head started spinning.

'What the hell is wrong with me?Sakura's just a girl!'((Sasuke talking to himself.))

Sasuke's eyes redeemed their glazed look and Sakura cocked her head to the side as she smiled.

"You look so cute when you're acting stupid!"

She pinched his cheek harshly,but Sasuke didn't react.He was too busy 'acting stupid' to notice that his cheek was turning a very deep red where Sakura had pinched him.It was only when Sakura ruffled his hair did he advert back to his normal self.

"I told you not to touch my hair!"

"Well…you were scaring me again!"

"Hn…"

Sakura glared at him.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"Because I wanted to give you this."

The raven haired boy pulled his hand out of his jacket pocket and held up Sakura's locket.

"How…did you get this?"

Sasuke blushed as he told her how she had lost it when she fell asleep on his shoulder.

"Oh…thanks."

Inner Sakura: Boy do I look stupid!"

She took the locket from Sasuke's palm and instead of putting it in her pocket,she wore it around her neck.

"So…do you want to go get some ice cream?"

Sakura hesitated.She looked back at the table where her friends were.They were too distracted to notice her with Sasuke.

"Uhh…sure."

They both walked to the nearby ice cream parlor and Sasuke sat down as Sakura made her way toward the counter to buy their ice cream.

'It's so typical for Sasuke to order something weird like 'green tea ice cream.'

-That's what you get for being friends with a psychopath!"

'(chuckle)Yup!"

When she reached the counter,the owner asked her what she wanted.

"Hm…I'll have a strawberry ice cream and a rocky road."

-I hope you're satisfied with yourself.Sasuke will probably start bitching when he sees that you ordered something different.-

'Oh calm down!'

When the owner gave her two bowlfuls of ice cream,Sakura took them and set them down on their table.Sakura instantly started eating her ice cream and Sasuke just stared at his,wondering how this was his green tea ice cream.

"Hey,pinky.Are you sure that this is what I ordered."

Sakura looked up at him with a grin.

"Well,green tea ice cream is for senile people,so I thought that you'd like rocky road."

Sasuke glared at the simple minded pink haired girl in front of him.

"Do I look senile to you,Sakura?"

"Nope."

"Then why didn't you get my green tea ice cream!"

Sakura pouted.

"Well,Sasuke nii-chan…there are more better flavors then green tea."

Sasuke was not fazed by her pouting like he was last time and glared at her more viciously.

"Oh here,come on!Try it!"

Sakura attempted to try and force feed Sasuke,but to no avail.

"Sasuke-kun!Stop being so difficult!"

Sakura leaned over to cram the spoon of ice cream down his throat,and then an idea struck her.Finally,as a last resort,she put a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth and leaned over to Sasuke.Their lips had come in contact and Sasuke was turning very red as the seconds passed by.When Sakura pulled away,Sasuke was already the color of her hair and a faint taste of rocky road had remained in his mouth.He was now satisfied with himself.

"There.You see?Isn't rocky road good?"

Sasuke grinned.

"But don't you dare get the wrong ideas,Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura chuckled as she got back to eating her strawberry ice cream.

Sasuke was still blushing as he picked up the spoon and started eating his new-found favorite flavor of ice cream.

"Hey…calm down!"

Sasuke was wolfing his ice cream down a little too fast and got a brain freeze.He clutched the side if his head and massaged it while Sakura just sat there laughing.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Oh…nothing,Sasuke-kun."

Sakura waited until Sasuke stopped massaging his head before she spoke.

"I've been thinking,Sasuke-kun."

"Hn."

"We're friends,right?"

Sasuke nodded absentmindedly.

"So it won't matter who we pick when either of us wins at the little competition thing,right?"

If Sasuke was very worried,his facial expression didn't show it.

"What do you mean 'if either of us wins'?I'm obviously going to win!"

Sakura glared at him.

"Sasuke!Be serious!"

"I am!"

"But if you're serious,how come I can tell that you're going to burst out laughing anytime?"

"I am not going to laugh!"

Sakura sighed.

"Never mind Sasuke-kunJust promise me that we'll still be friends!"

Sasuke hesitated.

"I don't make any promises!"

"Fine you jerk!"

"You're so annoying."

Sakura sat up from the table and stormed off,but not before she sucker-punched Sasuke.

…

'Sasuke's such a jerk!'

-He definitely is!-

'After all this time that we were friends!'

-Yeah!-

Sakura had finally located her friends near the mall's fountain.When she took her normal seat beside Shikamaru,everyone looked at her weird.

"Where were you,Sakura-chan?"

"Oh,I just had to go to the washroom,Naruto-kun."

Even though Naruto had heard her answer,he prodded further.

"For what?"

Sakura hit him on the head.

"It's none of your business!"

"Naruto-kun!You shouldn't ask girls why they go to the washroom!"

"…gomen Hinata-koi…"

Hinata smiled at her boyfriend.

"Now apologize to Sakura-chan."

Naruto turned to Sakura.

"Gomen Sakura-chan."

"Thank you Naruto-kun."

Sakura ruffled the blonde boy's hair.Then Ino turned to her.

"Are you going to tell me or what?"

Sakura paused.

"Yeah,I will."

Inner Sakura: Who would want that stupid jerk besides Ino and Temari anyway?

Ino smiled mischievously.

"You're the best Sakura-chan!"

Ino caught Sakura in a tight embrace as she danced around.

'Hey,at least Sasuke'll stop being an ass with Ino around to annoy him!'