Chapter Two: Dreams

Haruno Sakura stuffed her hands deeply into her pockets, the morning air biting at her unprotected ears and nose. It had been two days since the placid boy had somehow wound his way into her mind, and to tell the truth, she was quite annoyed with it. Her thoughts kept reeling from one scenario that she encountered with him to the next, scanning her behavior as if she yearned to be accepted by him and she was just making sure she made a good impression. Sighing angrily at her nonsense, the girl pushed all thoughts of Uchiha Sasuke to the back of her mind as she sat on the old swing and swung lazily back and forth. Her eyes fluttered closed as she picked up momentum, and a grin of relaxation coming onto her features.

"You know, if you keep that stupid grin on your face, you'll have to get plastic surgery to get your cheeks back to normal." Sakura opened her eyes but widened her grin at Ino. "And that's not going to help it either. Better get those plastic cards out ready and handy." The blonde's tone was sardonic, but nevertheless friendly at the same time.

"Nice to see you too, Ino." The pink haired girl's feet made scraping sounds as she slowed herself down. "And trust me, I wouldn't have enough money in my bank account for plastic surgery." She shook her head in mock sadness.

"That's horrible." Ino smirked and came to lean on the swing-set's metal bar. "How have you been, Sakura? Meet anyone that is even remotely interesting?" Her blue eyes lit up, "But wait," She paused for an effect, "there are no single males that are decent enough to come by in this city, is there?" Sakura replied with a negative. "Exactly. And that's why," Ino prompted the other girl to say the next phrase with her; "men are the scum of the Earth as we know it." Her blonde tresses bobbed with her head in a nod.

"Who broke your heart this week?" The swing moved the girl back and forth as the wind picked up, causing Sakura to shiver and cross her arms in an attempt to save heat. The rusted teeter totter squeaked as it moved back and forth, the wind playing its own game with the device. Dead trees and their falling leaves swayed with the wind but then became still as the whistling gust calmed down.

"No one in particular." Muttered Ino bitterly as she leaned up off the pole.

Sakura swing had stopped swinging without the momentum of the wind. "Ino-chan, you can tell me." She said softly before turning her gaze towards the flaxen haired girl.

"If you must know," Ino said idly, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, "his name was Sasuke."

The bristling rosy haired girl stood impatiently before Naruto's apartment door. Her eyebrow twitched and she audibly swore she would knock down the door if he did not answer in less than ten seconds. The door rapidly opened to a fuming Sakura, who pushed aside a sleepy looking Naruto violently. "I-He-" She cut herself off furiously and ran a hand through her hair, "Sasuke. Number?" Sakura couldn't snarl out any more words as she expected her friend to answer her question with an excellent intuition. "Address?"

"Hold on." Naruto muttered, fear sprinkled into his words. He disappeared into a shadowed room while she impatiently rocked back and forth on her heels. A disgruntled looking blonde haired boy came back into the room. "I think this is it…" Sakura eagerly snatched up the letter and muttering a curse, realized that his house was in the woods, and the season was December, and…her head quickly popped from the messy handwriting to the window showing cloudy skies. It was probably going to snow in the forest, but Ino's bitter laugh came back to her, and she resumed her earlier determined expression. With a muttered thanks to Naruto, and as the latter said something about going back to bed, Sakura started off on the long road to Sasuke's house.

He stood leaning against a tree, his hands stuffed deep within the confinements of his pockets. Why did no girl seem enough to the youngest of the Uchiha brothers? That girl…the one with the blonde hair and blue eyes. His onyx eyes squinted in memory as the girl's name seemed forgotten on his lips. Ino. That was it. But the girl with the frustratingly pink hair, the girl that was annoying, Sasuke could tell anyone who wanted to know her name in a heartbeat. Haruno Sakura, the girl that was always there when he didn't want her to be. A scowl slowly wove its threads into the normally placid lips as a car drove at an alarming rate towards his small cottage. He had gotten his own house separately from Itashi; the younger sibling couldn't stand his elder, deciding to get his own place and live on his own as soon as he was legal. As like he had done in all the plans he made, Sasuke followed through with it, having the finished papers actually done a week after his birthday. The car was parked by his meticulously hidden house, and the annoying girl that had somehow plastered her smile into his brain revved the engine before stepping out carefully.

"You," She pointed an accusing finger much like the one at the flower shop, only this one was followed by a pair of infuriated jade eyes. "How could you do such a thing to Ino?" Sasuke remained with his hands in his pockets, his eyebrow raised in slight alarm. "You bastard!" The girl came closer to him and poked him hard in the forehead. "I can't believe-" She was cut off by a sharp stinging erupting from the tip of her finger where it slowly seeped into every nerve cell in her body. Her ears were ringing and her body seemed to be pulsating to a nonexistent beat. "What-" Sakura whispered weakly as she crashed onto the forest ground limply.

"Sasuke-kun." She yawned out and stretched her arms. Sakura watched as the only male awake turned towards her, a bored expression on his face. "Where are you going?" Her whisper ricocheted off the walls as she winced, not wanting to wake any one else up. The said male shook his head sadly at the rosy haired female and made his way outside into the dry night air. Trying to keep the growl that wanted to rise up at the back of her throat, the curious girl slipped on her sandals and joined him outside. The stars were hidden behind a cloak of black, making the moon the only source for Sakura's much needed light. "Sasuke?" She whispered into the empty air.

"Sakura." He murmured her name, making the female start and turn to her right swiftly. Motioning with his hand to follow her, he said, "Come on." A wave of excitement rose up in her that he would even invite her somewhere, but she shook her head defiantly.

"We need to rest for tomorrow's mission." Sakura put her hands on her hips and put her weight on her right leg. "Go back to sleep, Sasuke-kun." A yawn erupted from her mouth in the middle of her sentence. "This is our last mission before the Jounin exams, but we have to be in top shape." She tried to persuade the placid look on his face and almost threw a tantrum right then and there. "Listen; just go to bed, okay?" She said, moving to go back into the tiny house before a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Sakura." Sasuke whispered again, but this time his tone was more urgent. "I can't-" He was obviously having a hard time with saying something as he ran a hurried hand through his already disheveled hair. "I can't sleep." He finally concluded and released her wrist.

A worried frown creased her face. "Why not?" She bit her lip and cocked her head to the side. His gaze slowly fixated on nothing but memories still tumbled within them. "Sasuke-kun?" She whispered into the silent breeze. "Is everything alright?" If she pressed down any harder on her bottom lip, it would start to bleed. She gingerly reached out to touch his shoulder, but he winced when she made contact. Quickly, the confused girl pulled her hand back, sighed, and started to wring her hands together, a habit that had started when she was finally trying to get over the male before her.

"Why are you not at ease?" His cold gaze was back on her as she darted her eyes between the ground and Sasuke's face. "Do I really influence you that much, even after all these years?" Her jaw opened to speak, but clicked shut and remained unopened until the male spoke, "I do; don't I?" She wanted to shake her head no, but instead she just sighed and ran a hand on her face tiredly.

"Can we not talk about this right now? I'm really tired and we have a big day ahead of us." She murmured softly and shifted her weight. Her jade eyes flicked to Sasuke momentarily, and then flicked to their normal target when he was near, the ground, but this time, surprised and off guard, her gaze flicked back to the empty space where Sasuke had once been. Puzzled, she turned back towards the small house, but no sign of movement was heard from within. With dipped eyebrows, the teen walked quietly back into the small house, coal black eyes following her every move from above on the rooftop of the house.

Her eyes opened wide as she sprang up from the bed, her body shaking and the sheets on the bed clinging to her every limb from sweat. A hand flew to her forehead and she batted it away before it was lazily drawn back in by it's owner. "Gah," She muttered and tried to merge together all the colors her eyes were blasting through her vision. "Ouch." When the colors subsided, Sakura shook her head lightly and looked at the offending hand's owner. "What did you do to me?" She quickly stood up and raised to her full height of 5'7" before getting light headed again. With a groan, the female plopped back down onto the comfortable, warm bed.

"I didn't do anything." Sasuke haughtily replied, leaned against the wooden wall, and crossed his arms. His eyes were closed, and a slight frown creased his forehead, making him look like he was lost in thought. After a few moments, his black gaze had snapped open and was looking at her stare. For a reason unknown to him, the recipient of the gaze colored slightly before a scowl replaced it. He looked at her with slight uneasiness, as if he had just felt the same dream she had, but from his point of view. "What did you do to me?" He finally shot back at her with a glare.

Letting out a air load of frustration, she threw up her hands and met his glare. "I didn't do anything!" He snorted dryly and resumed his normal stance. "And-" She noticed her surroundings were alien to her. The light oak wood guarded the two from the cold chilling breeze of snow. The room was sparsely decorated, only a bed, lamp, and a dresser stood tall and proud amongst the emptiness. "Great." A silent smack filled the warm air of the house as the rosy haired girl in front of him growled in annoyance. "The snow! I've been asleep that long?" Sasuke didn't even need to answer her as she threw up her arms and glared at the ceiling as if it was going to make all her problems go away. He narrowed his eyes at her; as if she had any problems to deal with. She rubbed a hand over her face and wrung her hands together. His glare became more venom-filled as he remembered she had done the same action in his dream. Her gaze was too engrossed in the ceiling to notice the murderous looks coming her way. "I'll take that as a yes." The female sighed through her nose and hit the bed with her fist.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't hit my possessions." Sasuke calmly said, but an angry undertone was hidden in his voice. Sakura scoffed and let out another growl. "Or make obscene noises. How annoying." Without waiting for her reply, the dark haired boy started to cross the room, and with a click of the door he was gone.

"Jerk." The offended girl susurrated to the empty air before her eyelids fluttered closed.

His normal blank stared was filled with-emotion? "You're showing emotion." Sakura lazily whispered in his ear as they sat staring at the river. At his annoyed look, she giggled and softly patted his shoulder. "It's okay. I won't tell anyone." His scowl only deepened and this caused the amused girl to laugh again. "Don't look so down."

The scowl deepened more. "Why do you care?" He looked from her white teeth biting her lip to her dancing jade eyes and back again. Huffing in mock annoyance, the teen realized she was being more of a distraction than he needed right now. His only answer was silence broken by a small laugh. Sasuke laid back on the green grass, his arms still folded across his chest and his eyes shut. It almost looked like he was sleeping, but she knew better than that. "What?" He said, annoyance flashing in his eyes as he opened one eye to look from her lip to her eyes and back again. When he got nothing in return, Sasuke let out a breath of frustration and turned to his side to look away from the laughing Jounin.

"You know why." She replied in a soft voice. His hand stopped in mid-task to run it through his dark hair. "You know why I care." Sakura laid back, her arms flailing out to the side and her rosy hair spewing everywhere. The male Jounin propped himself on his elbow, looking down at the soft gaze of the girl below him.

"Yeah. I know." The wind carried his voice as she smiled softly at him, her eyelids lazily floating on top of her green eyes.

Sasuke's head was throbbing as he grasped the couch for support. The image of the pink haired girl biting her lip came to his mind, but that only caused more colors to flash before his eyes. With a murmur of fatigue, the boy finally managed to push himself off the ground and stumble towards the girl's door. Without waiting for a decent reply to his hurried knock, he slammed open the door and stumbled into the room, still light-headed from the dream. It had happened the oddest way, too. He had been walking towards his own room when his body had gone limp and fell to the floor. "You!" Sasuke pointed to the girl who was holding her head in pain. "What did you do!"

"What did I do?" She angrily yelled back, uncovering her face from her hands. "What did I do?" The female repeated, her anger building up. "It wasn't until I poked you on the forehead that this started happening! What is wrong with you! Are you like, some kind of sorcerer or something that puts a spell to have weird dreams about the one that touched you and yourself to haunt the poor girl who actually was stupid enough to do it?" Her hands created animated motions as her voice slowly picked up speed. "And then you barge in here and tell me it's my fault? My fault! I don't know what you are, but you had better tell me right now or I'm going to just-" She let out an angry huff. "Just-" What could she really do to a famous billion dollar businessman? "Kick your ass!" That seemed about right. "God, you're an idiot!" She yelled, hopped off the bed, and in her furry poked his forehead again. Silence crept over the two as Sasuke slowly got a smug grin on his face. "What?" She asked angrily, crossing her arms in annoyance. "What are you giving me that grin for?" The smug grin only grew wider at her oblivious face. "Look, Mr. Whatever You Are, you had better tell me right now, or-" She stopped mid-sentence and did a double take on her actions… When her memory finally served her correctly, the young woman buried her face into her hands and pursed her lips. "I poked you again, didn't I?" Came her muffled question.

"Glad your brain works." Came the amused reply. Incoherent words spilled from her mouth as she shifted her weight from one foot to another.

"So," Sakura started and glanced up from her hands to give the male a scared glance, "Does this mean that I'm going to be cursed for the rest of my life?" She squeaked out and buried her face into her hands. "Stupid boy. Stupid-" She stopped again; what else could she call him when didn't even know what exactly he was? "thing." Good enough. "Stupid brain for making me be put under a stupid curse. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"You forgot stupid girl, but that's okay." The nervous girl twitched in anger. "Yeah. I gave you a curse to nullify your brain cells." He paused in mock thought as his gaze flicked towards Sakura. "But they weren't working anyways." Sasuke shrugged casually, making the female bristle, just like he had wanted her to.

A/N: And chapter two is up! You guys like, you guys dislike? BY THE WAY! AND YES, YOU SCROLLING DOWN, READ THIS! Do you guys have any suggestions for the summary? Because I've been trying to come up with a good one, but alas, it 'tis a difficult deed indeed. Until next chapter! (Which will probably be up soon since it is already typed, but it depends on my reviewers how fast I post...)

This story will be Sasuke/Sakura, and I'm sorry if that disappoints some of you. :(

Thank you to my lovely reviewers:

-neu chi no nai u

-Fiona McKinnon

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