1ST PLACE ISN'T EXACTLY THE BEST

-CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO-

Counting down the days…

"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!

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"Ino-chan!Don't tell me that you're going to wimp out now!"

"I…I can't do it!"

Sakura slapped her friend on the head.

"We've been prepping for two whole days!Don't tell me that my effort was in vain!"

Ino gulped loudly and started wringing her hands.

"Okay…I won't."

When Sakura accepted Ino's request,she didn't expect her friend to be acting so gutless.They were hiding behind a corner in the school hallway and Sasuke was standing right in front of them.Sakura attempted to push Ino out in the open.

"Hey!Stop pushing!Sasuke-kun might actually see us!"

Sakura doubled her efforts.

"That's the point you spineless swine!"

With a final push,Ino had been forced out of hiding and Sasuke had taken notice of her.

"…This better work..."

Sakura watched silently as Ino approached the obviously annoyed raven haired boy and struck up a conversation.All seemed to be going well,until Temari appeared.Temari had slapped Ino and Ino came back with a punch to the gut.Sasuke just stood there in an effort to not be noticed at all.Sakura had slunk back on the wall,slapping her forehead.

'Mission…not so complete.'

-What made you think that it would work in the first place?-

Then,Naruto came skipping into the hall with his very cheery smile.Then all hope for him was lost when the devastated Ino spotted him.

"Naruto you baka teme!You ruined everything!"

"What?What did I ruin?"

Sakura slapped her forehead again as she watched Ino tear the poor,benign Naruto apart.

"Hey…Sakura-chan."

Sakura saw Sasuke as he approached her from across the hall.

"Poor attempt of getting me to befriend Ino."

He pointed at the fuming Ino who was smacking Naruto to kingdom come.

"(sigh) At least I tried."

Sasuke just laughed as he made his way down the hall.

"Two more days,Sakura nee-chan,two more days."

Sakura punched the wall aggravated.

'Baka Sasuke-kun…he didn't even apologize from before!'

"Why are you so mad at the wall for?"

Sakura turned around and saw the disheveled Naruto.

"Eh…no reason.Did Ino give you a beating again?"

Naruto nodded and rubbed a large bruise on his arm.

"For an overgrown pig,she sure can punch…"

Sakura chuckled and headed to their homeroom with Naruto.It was a weird school day since they weren't doing anything in class at all.All their teacher did was pour over his 'Itcha Itcha Paradise' books and chuckle as he turned the pages.While everyone was sleeping in class or wandering around,Sakura watched Sasuke and Temari from the corner of her eye.They were both talking,but their voices were barely audible.

Temari and Sasuke's conversation…

"Why not Sasuke-kun!"

Temari was whining about some insignificant detail.

"I said no!"

Temari was close to tears.

"Why don't you want to dance with me at the school dance?"

Sasuke sighed and glared at her with his ice cold eyes.

"Because I don't want to!"

"I bet that you want to go dance with that baka Sakura girl!"

"It's not like that!"

"Then what is it like,Uchiha Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke needed to end this conversation quick before someone would overhear what they were saying.

"Maybe I will go on ahead and ask that baka Sakura!"

"But Sasuke-"

"But if you're quiet,I won't.Got it?"

Temari nodded anxiously and finally shut her mouth.

…

Sakura was watching the arguing couple with anxiety.She could just tell that Sasuke and Temari were talking bad about her.

' What did I ever do to get myself on Sasuke's bad side?'

-Hellooooo!You became friends with him!-

'Hardy-har-har…'

Sakura sat upright in her chair as Sasuke and Temari passed by.Temari stuck her tongue out at her and Sasuke avoided eye contact with her whatsoever.

"Sakura-chan?Are you listening?"

The pink haired girl spun around to see that her blonde seatmate was looking at her through narrowed eyes.

"Uh…yeah."

"Then what did I say?"

"Why?You weren't listening either?"

"Hahaha,Sakura-chan."

Naruto continued their conversation further as Sakura waited for the final bell to ring so she could get home.

'Come on…come on!'

The end of the day was her last chance to get Ino off her back about getting her and Sasuke together.

-Personally,I never wanted to get involved with Ino's diabolical plans to get Sasuke within ten feet of her.-

'Oh hush!Ino-chan's got her good traits…and good uses!'

-Hm…good point!-

Just as Naruto had wrapped up his mini lecture on the carbs in ramen,the bell rang and Sakura sprang up from her seat as she slung her already-packed bag over her shoulder.

'I hope Ino's in a cheery mood.Sasuke will be putty in her hands once I get the finer points of my plan down.'

-If you say so…-

Sakura dashed over to Ino and forced her to accompany her while she talked to Sasuke.

"But Sakura-chan I can't!"

"Of course you can!"

Ino stomped her foot on the ground impatiently.

"Sakura-chan!I'm going to cry right here,right now and cause a scene!"

"Don't!"

Ino took in a deep breath and got the wind knocked out of her by Sakura.

"You idiot…I guess blondes are dumber sometimes!"((no offense meant to blondes…heh heh…))

Sakura dragged her blonde friend by the arm to where Sasuke was.

"Sakura-chan!I-"

"HUSH!"

The pink haired girl hit her companion on the back of the head as they approached the unaware Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke turned around to see the cheerful Sakura trying desperately to shut Ino up and at the same time,try to get him to talk

"Hn…"

"You know Ino-chan,right?"

Sasuke nodded as he glared at Ino.

"You make me sick,Ino."

Ino froze up.

"Yuh-You…don't mean that Sasuke-kun!"

"Yup,I do,Ino."

Ino's eyes started accumulating tears as the seconds passed.Sakura hit Sasuke on the head.

"You are so insensitive Sasuke-teme!"

Sakura glared at the raven haired boy as he rubbed the area in which Sakura had hit.

"I hate you Haruno…"

"Thank you!Now apologize to Ino."

Sasuke refused to apologize to some 'overgrown pig'.Ino burst into tears and Sakura attempted to comfort her sobbing friend.

"Sasuke nii-chan!"

"Don't call me that!"

Sakura answered back defiantly with anger seeping from every word.

"Why not?"

Sasuke looked at her more irritated than ever.

"Because I don't have any brothers or sisters and we were never friends!"

Sakura's eyes expanded in shock at Sasuke's answer.

"Sa-Sasuke…-kun."

Sasuke had noticed that he had finally broke the mental wall of power that was Sakura's feelings.Sakura held onto her right arm as she looked down at her shoes.

"Sakura…I'm sorry I said that it's just-"

"No…no.I guess that we weren't friends in the first place anyway…"

Sakura's voice was hoarse and she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.She grabbed Ino's arm and dragged her away as she fought back the urge to cry.

-He's such a lowlife jerk!-

'(sigh) Yeah,he was…'

"Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Sakura stopped in her tracks as she saw Sasuke running to catch up to them.

"Sasuke,stop it."

Sasuke had grabbed her hand in his as Ino ran away terrified.

"Huh?No more calling me 'Sasuke-kun'?"

Sakura's emerald eyes dug into his skin.

"We were never friends,I can recall that you said that just a couple of seconds ago."

Sasuke held onto her hand more tightly.

"Oh come on…I didn't mean it!"

"Yeah,right."

Sakura tried to pry her hand form his,but he kept on being persistent.

"Hey,come on.Look at me."

The pink haired girl kept her head bowed down as they stood face-to-face.Sasuke was very determined to get Sakura's attention.

"Hey,come on!I'm sorry…"

The 'human ice cube' was quite shocked himself by his abnormal actions.He never apologized to any regular person in his life and he was never really loud and talkative around anyone.

"Leave me alone,Uchiha."

Sasuke cupped her chin in his hand and forced Sakura to look up at him.He was looking at her with a grin and she couldn't help but hit him upside the head.

"Why are you so violent for?"

Sakura just walked away as the very confused Sasuke tried to ease the pain on his head.

…

"I mean like,why does he have to annoy me like that,Shika-kun?"

"I don't know."

"I'm lucky that your walking me home today.I could've sworn that he was going to stalk me or something."

Sakura looked over at the smiling Shikamaru.

"Well,if he was stalking you,I would've beat him up for you anyway."

Sakura leaned over and gave Shikamaru a little peck on the cheek.

"Thanks Shika-kun."

Her boyfriend nodded and waved goodbye as Sakura opened the door to her suite.

"Two more days…just two more days…"