Chapter 2: Things Are Too Close for Comfort.

It was early Tuesday morning when Sakura had gotten out of bed. Ruffled hair and droopy eyelids, Sakura slammed her alarm clock quiet and walked to the door to get her mail. She was a pretty tidy person so she didn't trip over anything on her way to her door.

Picking up and scanning her mail, she noticed an envelope with a fancy red seal on it. To her surprise it was an invitation to a company anniversary, one very close to her family's business too. She thought she had made it clear that she didn't want to do anything with the family business. Passing it down to one of the butlers or something was what she suggested.

She put on her uniform and grabbed the lunch she made the day before and dashed out the door. When she turned the corner she bumped into something really hard. Before she fell, two strong arms had caught her just in time. Opening her tightly shuteyes, yet again, she was staring into pure black eyes.

"Oh, hi Sakura. I was about to get you but I see," he stood them both up. "you already beat me to it." Sasuke smirked mischievously as he got her to blush again. 'Ha, I got her again. She's cute when she blushes.'

'Why is he here? He didn't tell my anything yesterday about picking me up.' Sakura's back was facing Sasuke in an attempt to calm herself down and wipe the blush off her face.

Sasuke didn't know why she was facing away from him. Was she mad? All he needed to do was pick her up since she didn't have any supervision on the way to school. He tapped her shoulder lightly, "Are you okay? I just came to pick you up; thought you needed some company, on the way to school I mean."

She turned around with a bright smile on her face. "Thanks Sasuke but really, I don't think I need a bodyguard. But you're here so might as well go to school together huh?" With that she walked past him towards the big glass doors that lead outside.

Another beautiful October morning and everything was peaceful. The apartment she lived in wasn't on a busy street so all that could be heard were birds chirping and the gust of wind coming from every direction.

They began to walk on the same boulevard as the day before. 'Ah, she remembered this place,' he thought with his hands stuffed into his pockets and looking up at the sakura trees. 'I love it here. It's so peaceful, away from all of the noise and trouble.'

He was snapped back to reality as he saw Sakura shiver. He noticed that she didn't bring a jacket. 'Probably thought it was hot today. Hmm,' Sasuke slipped his black school jacket off and draped it over Sakura's shoulders.

'Oh my gosh, it's so cold. I can't believe I forgot my jacket today. I should've checked the weather or som--' Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden warmth around her shoulders. "Huh?" She looked down at her shoulders and saw a black jacket. Her gaze fell upon the black-haired boy who had his hands stuffed into his pockets.

'Did he just…' she caught up to him and said, "Thank you," in a very soft voice. Sasuke just gave a small smile, nodding as if telling her, "You're welcome."

Sakura began to blush again at the sudden gesture. She suddenly became very interested in the sakura petals the floated gently down from the trees. She sighed a little bit, "Things couldn't get any better."

The school days went on normally. Sasuke picking Sakura up for school, him running away from his fan girls when they see him, Naruto beating his classmates in poker, yeah, that's how things went. Sakura also has her own little fan club as well. She made multiple attempts to get away but none of them really worked.

Thus Saturday came quickly as Kakashi had asked Sasuke to get a good look into the party that was happening on Sunday. He said there was a man there that had something to do with the sudden deaths of Sakura's parents. He had to go undercover though, so he pretended to be a business owner.

He dressed up in a slick black suit. His hair was left the same though since no one knew him. He put a pair of sunglasses on so that he could hide a bit of his identity and marched out into his convertible. All of this was provided by Kakashi but how Sasuke wished he could keep the car. He was really getting tired of walking all the time.

He drove to the party and parked his car a few blocks away. Watching until not many people were around, he got out of his car and walked towards the two guards guarding the gates.

"Hello Sir, may we see your invitation please?" One of the two large men asked. Sasuke got the fake invitation that Kakashi had given him. "Very well Sir, please come in and enjoy yourself." Sasuke walked speedily, headed for the front doors of a gorgeous mansion.

"Great, now I have to find a stupid moron who happens to have known something about a murder of two rich people. Yeah this is going to be very easy, seeing as all of these asses are rich and greedy for money." Sasuke mumbled to himself with sarcasm.

He took out a photo of a man with a black beard and slick black hair accompanied by two large Men in Black type guys; clothed in black suits and sunglasses, the whole ensemble.

"It says he'll be wearing a white suit today. That's a good start, no one is wearing white today." He soon regretted what he said as soon as he got into the building. Almost every sophisticated looking man was wearing something that looked white. It was either beige, tan, or plain white.

Sasuke made a mental note, 'Kill Kakashi and Naruto. Kakashi's really making my job hell, and when I'm in a situation like this, it just reminds me that Naruto's a moron.' His eyebrow twitched slightly in annoyance. "Let the hunt begin.

Sakura had just arrived at the party with a beautiful white dress that showed off her slender curves. She came in her limousine accompanied by her family butler, Wilson.

"Um, Wil? I'm going to go in now, so meet you there." She smiled at the guards and headed into the mansion.

She saw so many people that it almost made her dizzy. She stood there for a while scanning the area. She still had to wait for Wilson after all.

From a far distance, she was being watched by a pair of sly eyes. Out of habit, he pushed his glasses up with his middle and index fingers. "Orochimaru," he spoke into his collar which a microphone was conveniently put there. "She's here."

"Good, keep an eye on her and don't let her see you." Was all Orochimaru said back to him through his headphones. "Roger."

Kabuto, Orochimaru's sidekick, understood perfectly but need to go up to her. That was the only way to get some information. 'Sorry Sir, but I need to do this for you. Look at the bright side, at least I'm making things easier.'

When he was about to step out to greet her, he spotted someone he was warned about. Black hair, black eyes, cold face, yes it was him. Uchiha Sasuke. Why was he there? Orochimaru had told him to watch out because he was an assassin. 'But he was merely a high school student, why would he be in a party like this? I've never heard of any family business with the name Uchiha.'

He withdrew from his plan and decided to follow orders. All of his plans were stopped as soon as he saw the Uchiha. For all he knew, Uchiha could have his whole profile with him. He couldn't' risk things this early in the battle plan just yet.

Sasuke was up to his fourteenth man with a white suit and he still didn't find him. 'Stupid descriptions! I hate this!' He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. This was taking way to long.

Then suddenly, the front doors opened and a beautiful woman in a white dress emerged from it. 'S-Sakura?' The pink hair was very visible against the white dress and Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. 'Wow, that's a nice dress, looks good on her too. Wait! What am I thinking? If she sees me here I'm never going to here the end of her questions.' Sasuke suddenly let his clenched fist loose and ducked a little bit so he wouldn't be seen.

'Damn! Why is she at this party? I can't walk around with her here! She's going to see me.' Sasuke was faking to be one of the men who owned a company in Tokyo, but he couldn't't do it while Sakura was there. If she saw him, he would be toast.

'Stupid! This is just great! I better find that guy fast before she spots me.' He spotted the man he was looking for in the halls and took two drinks off the tray of the butler there. 'Perfect. I'll just ask him to come out onto the balcony with me. Then it's all over and I can get back before something really wrong happens.' Sasuke walked swiftly and got a conversation starting with the man clad in a white suit.

Little did he know, Orochimaru's spy Kabuto was just around the corner and was watching his every move.

Wil had finally made it back and was standing right beside Sakura. "Miss, we need to find your aunt, she should be here somewhere. I'm pretty sure she would be near the table with all the sake." Wil smirked a little bit. He had known her aunt since a few years back and he still remembered her sake cravings.

"Oh speak of the devil," Wil said as he spotted Tsunade, Sakura's aunt.

"Sakura! Oh my gosh, how you've grown!" Tsunade came and hugged Sakura tightly. "You too old geezer, you've aged." Tsunade let go of Sakura and flicked a little bit of Wil's white hairs.

'Oh my gosh, hahah! Wil must really hate that, just seeing his face is enough.' Sakura tried to suppress a laugh. Wil's face was priceless. He didn't like being called old very often.

Thinking that Wil had had enough torture, Sakura intervened. "Um, yeah auntie, maybe we should mingle a little bit, you know introduce me to some of your business partners." Sakura grabbed her aunt's arm and dragged her into the crowd.

Tsunade continued to walk along side her and said aloud, "Oh okay darling, let's do this thing!" Sakura stopped for a moment and giggled, 'Boy, she's drunk.' When she turned around again, a man in a black suit sped up the grand staircase.

'What? Was that Sasuke?But, how,' her thoughts were interrupted when Tsunade stopped. Tsunade had spotted one of her old friends and stopped to introduce Sakura. Sakura looked up at the staircase again looking for the man seemingly to be Sasuke. 'Must've been my imagination I guess. I mean, why would he be at a party like this? His parents aren't even in Tokyo. But still, he looked oddly familiar.'

On the balcony, Sasuke had gotten the man into a deep conversation. On the roof though, Kabuto was listening intently.

"So, I see you are a very young man. How old are you?" The man in the white suit began. "Oh I'm uh, twenty-three. I just finished my business course so my dad put me into his company." Sasuke answered. "Oh by the way, what was your name again?"

"Oh yes, we forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Mr. Kurogashi. I Own the Kuro Toy Company. And you?" 'Wow a toy company. Pfft. What would this guy know about a murder?'

"My name is," Sasuke paused for a moment trying to think of a name. "well, my name is quite long so just call me," 'Think hard Uchiha! Fast! He's getting onto you.' "Takehane. My father's company is uh," Before Sasuke could say anything, he noticed someone outside, watching, listening. 'Damn it, what the hell is this guy doing here? Is he drunk or something? It's a party and he's on the roof.' Sasuke didn't really like having someone listening so he thought of something else.

"Oh uh isn't it cold out here? Why don't we go back inside?" Sasuke suggested as they walked back into the mansion.

'So, Uchiha Sasuke, what are you trying to find out hmm? This could be fun, let's listen in now shall we?' Kabuto jumped back in through the window that he came out of and ran downstairs.

Back downstairs, Sakura was getting a bit anxious. She really wanted to find out who that was. Besides, that was the only form or entertainment she had at the time, all the people were doing were talking about money.

"Um, auntie, I'm going to use the washroom okay? Be right back." With that she headed up the stairs. 'Time to find out who our mystery black suited man is.'

Kabuto was coming down another flight of stairs when he notices Sakura from afar. "Hmm, this could be interesting. She's headed towards Uchiha and I don't think Uchiha wants to blow his cover." He said to himself and smiled evilly.

Kabuto headed for the area where Sasuke was, wanting to see what chaos would break loose when Sakura sees him.

Sakura headed up the flight of steps and was now walking down a long corridor. "Where could he be?" Suddenly she heard two men talking to each other. Before she got there though, she heard an ear piercing scream. She ran faster. When she turned the corner, she saw a man in a black suit looking over a dead body. She couldn't speak. She was too shocked.

'Damn, who the hell threw a kunai at him? I was about to find out what happened to Sakura's parents!' Suddenly, Sasuke heard someone gasp behind him. He was about to turn around when he heard the person say something.

"W-what happened here?" Sasuke gasped, 'That's Sakura's voice! Damn it! Not now!' He shot up and ran in the direction he was facing, leaving Sakura to stare at his back as he disappeared from her sight. "Hey! Where are you going?" she screamed as she took a long look at the dead man on the floor. "Oh my god, I need to call aunt Tsunade but, I'm so close to figuring out who that guy is."

She spotted a man with glasses in the corner. "Um, excuse me, there's a dead man there. Please see to it that someone is notified. Thank you." After she said that, she ran after Sasuke. 'He can't have gotten far.'

As she turned the corner, Kabuto looked over the dead man. "My, old man, what a waste it was to kill you. But hey, I can't let you spill the beans about the Harunos' deaths." With one last evil smile, Kabuto walked down the flight of steps and left the man dead on the marble floor.

"Now, where could Sakura be? She's taking quite a while to come back." It was Tsunade who suddenly spoke up out of the blue. 'Damn it Uchiha, are you done your job yet? She might find you!' "Sorry men, I need to check up on my niece. Thank you for the talk though." She left Wil, and three other men to talk about their own subjects.

As soon as Tsunade got onto the top steps, she spotted a man dead on the ground and immediately got out of her fake drunken state. "Uchiha! This was the man, what the hell happened?" she said to herself. She started running down the hall looking for Sakura.

'Uchiha don't screw this up! Your cover must not be blown.'

When she turned the corner, she saw two teenagers and one obviously was her "niece." 'Okay, now that I've spotted you two, just hope nothing went wrong.'

Both of the teenagers stopped in the middle of the hallway. Sakura bent over trying to catch her breath. "W-wait. I j-just want to know w-who you are," She said between breaths. 'Damn, I can't let her see me. Just don't turn around Uchiha. What ever you do, don't turn around. I can't blow this up now.'

He heard her footsteps come closer. "S-Sasuke?" Sasuke jolt up a bit. 'Does she already know it's me?' "Is it really you? What the hell are you d--" Unexpectedly, she heard someone yell her name out.

"Sakura! Oh I've found you! You took so long I thought I might just as well look for you." 'Thank god Tsunade. Great timing.' Sasuke thought. He took a quick glance at Sakura who had her head turned towards Tsunade. 'Good, now's my chance.'

He sprinted as quietly and as quickly as he could down the hall and out the window. He did all of this without being noticed.

"Oh, sorry auntie, I just well," she turned around to where she left Sasuke but didn't see him. 'What the hell?' She frantically looked around trying to find the mysterious man. 'Damn I didn't even get to find out who he was.'

"Come let's get downstairs, everyone's waiting for you." Tsunade extended her hand towards Sakura. "Okay," She took her aunt's hand and walked slowly back down to the main hall. Still, the man haunted her, she really felt like she knew him, and he was standing over the dead man. She didn't know if he was the one who killed him either.

She looked back at where she last saw the mysterious man but saw someone else. The man with the glasses she talked to before was there looking at her intently with an evil smirk on his face.

When she disappeared from his sight, Kabuto began to talk again. "Orochimaru," he began. "I can't get to her now, but I know that Uchiha didn't get any information whatsoever. I will cease for today but will try again tomorrow."

Sasuke was breathing hard just outside a window trying to get his mind together. "Phew, that was really close. Oh my god, I'm starting to hate this job." He heard his stomach grumble. "Damn and I didn't even eat yet." He sat there for a while, covered in sweat from the last encounter. "That damn Kabuto, I knew I saw him before. He's the one who killed Mr. Kurogashi, but why?" He lay his head down on the wall behind him and closed his eyes. "Now what."

Preview for Chapter 3:

Sasuke and Tsunade were sitting next to the window of a café that was just a couple blocks away from the school. They were talking about what to do next since they almost blew their cover back at the party.

"Uchiha you little ass. You almost got our cover blown. Well your cover." Tsunade stared ferociously at Sasuke. "Sorry old lady, but I really couldn't get away. Your 'niece' is really good at running." He took a sip of his coffee.

"Well of course, she plays sports, actually volleyball. Wait wait, that's not the point here." She glared at her coffee and then stared outside. "I've grown attached to the girl. I've known her since she was very young. I can't let anything happen to her." She looked back at Sasuke. "It's your job to keep her safe. I'm entrusting her to you for the time being. I need to go to Kakashi and explain this."

On the other side of the café, Sakura along with Naruto and Hinata were talking about the mysterious man at the party. Sakura took a quick glance around and saw her aunt with Sasuke. 'What the hell?' she said with much surprise. 'What's going on? I didn't even introduce him to my aunt yet.'

­REVIEWS AGAIN PLEASE! Omg, that took long. It was so confusing. I didn't know where I was for most of it. Well I hope you guys understand it XP. Oh and thanks for the reviews, glad you guys liked the first chapter. Oh and uh, Sasuke really wasn't in two places. He was just, I duno remembering his meeting with Kakashi the day before when he killed that rich guy…yeah that's how it goes.

- --writingzeaL