1ST PLACE ISN'T EXACTLY THE BEST

-CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR-

The end result…

Temari was cackling and Sasuke looked like he was double-crossed.Sakura,however,was fuming.

"Sasuke you teme!I loved this dress!...I never thought that you'd do this to me."

"But Sakura,I-"

"I can't even believe that I actually pitied you because you were getting slapped up by Temari!"

Sasuke sighed as Sakura gave him a punch to the face and stormed away.

"I really did like you,Sakura!"

It was too late,since Sakura was already out the door,and out of his life.

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"Are you sure you want to do this,Sakura?I mean,it's not like you'll choose Sasuke when you win."

Sakura was walking fast-paced to the arcade.Shikamaru tried to use his words as a means to stop his determined girlfriend.

"But…I need to win this."

Sakura was wearing her oversized cap and clothes that she had worn when she was acting like a boy.

"Who cares!We all already know that you're the best!"

"Well,Sasuke needs to know it too."

Sakura pushed past Shikamaru who had stood in her way.

"Sakuuuura-koi!"

Sakura walked even faster and took longer strides as her pink hair whipped in Shikamaru's face.Soon enough,Shikamaru had stopped trying to persuade Sakura and just walked silently behind her.As they neared the arcade,Shikamaru went deep into thought.

"Hey…why are you dressed up in guy's clothes again?"

Sakura had replied without even grinning.

"I have my reasons."

Sakura and Shikamaru made their way to the bar where a whole crowd was waiting to watch Sasuke and Sakura battle it out.

"Hey,Sakura-chan…"

Sakura saw Naruto approach her with an icepack on his head.

"What's wrong with you,Naruto-kun?"

"Ugh…too much…sake."

Hinata came up to him and helped sit him into a chair at a table where Lee was already sitting.

"Good going Naruto."

Sakura's classmates Shino and Kiba were there also.

"Eh…is that you,Kiba?"

Naruto tried to squint at Kiba and Shino as they sat down at their table.

"Yup.It's me and Shino."

"I see…"

Naruto took out a bottle of sake and drank from it.((tee hee.Naruto's like an alcoholic now…))

"No more sake for you Naruto-kun!"

Hinata snatched the bottle away as Ino and TenTen made their way over.They looked at Sakura's clothes with disgust.

"What happened to you,Haruno?"

Sakura stayed silent as TenTen hit Ino.

"Don't be like that to Sakura-chan!"

Then,Sakura caught a glimpse of where Sasuke and Temari were sitting.They were at the table all across the room and Temari was trying to get Sasuke to kiss her.

"It's going to start in about 10 minutes.You wanna go prep for it?"

TenTen had offered to go play shooting games with her and Lee asked her if she wanted to play ddr.Sakura accepted their challenges and had already beaten every single one of her friends in a game

"We're done prepping already,so can we stop playing ddr,Naruto-kun?"

Even though Naruto had a splitting headache,he had challenged Sakura to almost every game in the arcade twice and the build-up of people became overwhelming.

"Yeah…sure…"

"Ooooo!Look Sakura-chan!Look how many people are following you now!"

Ino indicated the crowd of people that was behind her.

"There's always some kind of crowd following me.I'm used to it."

Ino looked at her concerned.

"If your words sound so happy,how come the way you say them is so dead and monotone-ish?"

Sakura shrugged and went back to their table.

"Hey!We're starting over here forehead girl!"

Temari waved over at Sakura and she sat up form her chair.

"Good luck Sakura-chan!"

Ino was cheering as Sakura made her way over to Sasuke's table.

"Yeah!Don't let him beat you!"

Naruto was giving her the thumbs-up.

"That's right!He's a total jerk!"

TenTen and Hinata were yelling at the top of their lungs.

"…Thanks guys."

Inner Sakura: Do they know how to shut up or what?

As Sakura sat down at Temari's table,Sasuke immediately looked at her.Sakura however,refused to look at him.Temari caught Sasuke staring and immediately slapped him silly.

"Sasuke-kun!No looking at guys!"

Sakura growled and Temari stared at her with the essence of evil in her eyes.

"Look,the game that you'll play will have to be…"

Temari skimmed the games and her eyes finally rested on one.

"You'll play dsr!"

"(asd) You mean ddr?"

Temari slapped Sasuke as she crossed her arms.

"Whatever.Just don't correct me!"

Sasuke rubbed his cheek softly as Sakura looked at him with a concerned look.

"Aww…is poor Sasuke-kun okay?Why don't I give you something for your cheek?"

Sasuke had been expecting a kiss,but instead,Sakura's fist collided with his already red cheek.

"Ow!"

Sakura smiled contently and stepped onto the platform.

"You ready to lose,Haruno?"

"…"

The game had started and both enemies had a look of great concentration.Sakura was executing the commands with ease while Sasuke was struggling a bit as the steps poured onto the screen.Sakura was smirking as she looked over at Sasuke.He had already missed two steps and was on the verge of missing even more.

"I guess that you should have trained harder,Uchiha."

"Guh…shut up Haruno!"

Sasuke struggled to keep up a conversation with Sakura while concentrating at the same time.

'Why's Sasuke-kun so mean to me?'

-Shut up and just concentrate!-

Sakura missed two steps.

'I'm serious,really.Why's he so mad at me?'

-Don't know.-

Sakura missed even more steps.

-Concentrate Sakura!-

'I…am!'

Sasuke had already caught up to her speed and was grinning stupidly.

'(sigh) It's no use…'

Sakura stopped stepping and Sasuke took the last minutes of commands to bring up his score.The pink haired girl stared blankly into the screen in front of her.It read, 'player one - 80 and player 2 - 79'.

"I-I…lost."

"Hey Haruno!You actually lost to that punk?"

The cap fell off Sakura's head as she fell onto her knees.Her messy hair covered her face as tears fell down her pale cheeks.

"Sakura!I can't believe you lost!"

Naruto knelt beside her and she looked up at him.

"I'm so mad at you for losing!How could you lose to a jerk?"

Sakura sniffled as she shed the oversized clothing.Her favorite jacket covered her white tank top and her skirt was folded under her knees.

"Hey!Come on!Why'd you lose?"

Sakura wiped away her tears and smiled at Naruto.

"Sorry Naruto nii-chan…but I thought that you had a hangover."

Naruto grinned.

"Apparently,Ino knew a recipe to help get rid of a hangover.You'd be surprised at how many times she got drunk!"

She gave a little chuckle and Naruto helped her up.

"Sake,anyone?"

Naruto pulled out a bottle and Sakura hit him upside the head.

"Naruto!"

"I want one you idiot!"

Temari pushed Sakura over and grabbed the bottle from Naruto.She had already finished the bottle before Sasuke stepped in.

"Temari…maybe you shouldn't drink so much sa-"

Temari's hand collided with Sasuke's face.

"I'll drink as much as…mmm…I want!"

Temari was tripping over herself and was hiccoughing a lot.

"Choose who you want now Sasuke-kooooooooon!"

Sasuke hesitated.

'Who should I pick?Well,it's pretty obvious who I should pick.I should pick-'

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's jaw fell.

"Huh?"

Temari stopped dancing around.

"WHAT?"

Naruto dropped a bottle of sake and it shattered to pieces.

"That's right."

Sasuke walked up to Sakura and gave her a lazy kiss on the cheek.

"I pick…Sakura!"

Temari stared at Sakura furiously.Sakura just shrugged.

"How could you do this,Sasuke-kun?"

"I just…don't like you."

"Yay Sakura-chan!"

Naruto began cheering and the rest of her friends followed up.Sakura blushed and looked at the floor.Then she turned to look into Sasuke's onyx eyes.

"Why,Sasuke-kun?"

"I really like you Sakura.I liked you from the first time we met."

Sakura cocked her head to the side.

"The first time I met you…I was dressed as a guy."

Sasuke shivered uneasily.

"Ew…I meant like the first time I met you when you were dressed as a girl."

"Oh…okay."

Sakura smiled as they sat down at a table.

"Hey.Look at Temari and Shikamaru over there."

Sasuke pointed at a corner of the room where Temari was flirting non-stop with the lazy nara.

"How cute."

Sakura smiled and Sasuke returned her smile with an even broader one.

"Whoa…calm down there.You're going to bust your jaw."

Sakura laughed.

"Shut up forehead girl."

She hit him on the head and he glared at her.

'If it wasn't for me losing.I probably wouldn't be with Sasuke right now.I guess that I'm pretty lucky for coming up as second best.'

"I hate you!"

The pink haired girl sighed.

"Yeah,yeah.I love you too."

Sakura gave the unexpecting Sasuke a kiss and he blushed.

"I guess the old saying's right."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you talking about,Haruno?"

"First place isn't exactly the best."

THE END…?

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Author's final note…

Well,this is the end of my sasusaku fic.I hope you enjoyed it!I'll have other fics in the works soon .