A/N: Good evening! (the time this is updated) I'm ecstatic that you all love this story, I do too. It's such a blessing, to actually have a bunch of readers enjoy reading the same stuff as I do. I tend to pay more attention to the littlest stuff because they are the most important in life, in my opinion. Anyway, I'm in a jumpy mood right now. "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Foundations is hitting up my player right now. I am an Oldies fan, so you can't fight the TEMPTATIONS and BEATLES. Yes, all of you who enjoy Oldies should understand. XD If you haven't heard of the song, try hearing it sometime. It's such an adorable song. Anyway, let me just cut to the chase…

Previously On Dangerously Sixteen: Kaede is getting sick of helping Kaiya for "whatever reason she is hiding" and sends her home. Meanwhile, Neji gets a taste of his own medicine when his parents irritate him about his plans after high school. Upstairs, Hinata overhears the conversation and tries to study until the phone rings. Naruto tries to ask Hinata out but gets interrupted by Neji and his mom. And also, Sakura is getting worried about Ino because she hasn't seen her friend lately so she calls her home but her mom answers the phone saying that Ino hasn't been home. So, she calls Neji to ask where Sasuke is and he says that he is at this park. Before she leaves, his father calls her downstairs and tells him that she will have an arranged marriage with this young man from England! Furthermore, Kaiya finishes a morning jog and hears her phone ringing and finds out that it is Sasuke. Sasuke tells her to meet him at the park near her place. When they meet, Kaiya breaks down admitting her feelings about Sakura and Sasuke tries to comfort her. Sakura finally arrives at the park and catches Sasuke at the wrong place and the wrong time, with Kaiya in his arms, and Kaiya…herself.

(Doesn't this sound like a soap opera?)

Disclaimer: Do we really need this? I probably have posted 60 of these in all of my stories.

Title: Chapter 19

It was a clear afternoon. The neighborhood was silent and a neighbor was walking his dog as he took an afternoon walk under the warm sun. Everything was perfect.

A blonde teenage girl was strolling down the opposite sidewalk with her arms crossed over her chest. Her once high ponytail was held loose in her hair and her tears left a black trail under her eyes, from the mascara.

"Why my coach? GOD, anyone but my fucking coach!" Ino shuddered at the distant memory of her coach planting a French kiss on her mother.

Ino didn't know what she should do now. She left home, and her mother was probably having a hangover with her vodka by now. Yes, probably.

She knew her mother had a drinking problem, she always thought that it was the only reason there was a divorce, but no, she was wrong. Ino was WAY off.

However, even thinking about her coach and her mother together makes Ino's skin crawl.

In the distance, a black motorcycle was zooming by slowly. It finally caught up to Ino, and the familiar young man stopped and took off his black shades.

"Need a ride, babe?" Shikamaru turned off the ignition of the motorbike.

Ino glanced at her friend, and shook her head.

"No, I need some time to myself, Shikamaru. Maybe some other time," Ino kept on walking and Shikamaru followed beside her on his bike.

Ino stared at him and took one step further, and Shikamaru moved one step further also.

"Are you following me?" Ino curiously asked, as she wiped some of her black tears.

"Were you crying Ino?" Shikamaru's long sleek black hair glistened in the sunny light. He was dressed in a white crispy shirt with a black leather jacket with silver studs near the zip.

"Go away, it's none of your business," Ino turned away from Shikamaru and continued walking. No matter what, Shikamaru kept on following Ino.

Irritated, she twirled herself to Shikamaru with an upset expression displayed over her face.

"Will you knock it off? I'm not in the mood,"

"Aw Ino, come on, hop on," Shikamaru laughed lightheartedly.

"It's not funny," Ino glared at him.

"I didn't say it was funny," Shikamaru adjusted himself on the motorcycle.

"Go away," Ino sighed.

"I will go, if you will smile for me, it'll make my day," Shikamaru made a flirtatious smirk at her.

Outraged by his remark, Ino felt red in the cheeks.

"No, just go away,"

"Blondie won't smile for me? Bummer, I always thought you had the most beautiful smile," Shikamaru puts his black shades back on.

"Shut up. You're just saying that because you pity me." Ino retorted.

"Oh? You want to play hardball?" Shikamaru leaned back on his bike.

"Ugh, for the last time, please go away. I'm seriously not in the mood to talk to you right now,"

"Come on, what's bothering you?" Shikamaru asked.

"Nothing,"

"Come on, tell me,"

"No,"

"You can tell me anything, Ino,"

"Fuck off," Ino starts to walk off.

"Ino, you know that your sassiness won't drive me away, come on, enlighten me. What's up with you this afternoon? Come on you little minx, hop on my bike," Shikamaru playfully teased her.

Ino smiled and turned to take a look at Shikamaru.

"You won't give up, won't you?" Ino curled up a smile.

"See? See? You're smiling! Now, you make me feel so sexy," Shikamaru chuckled.

"I know, so go along now. I smiled," Ino put her hands on her hips.

"Already? Come on, one last time Ino. I'll take you for a ride; something's bothering you. Just tell me what it is." Shikamaru held out his hand.

"No," Ino declined his offer.

"Ino, tell me, what's ticking you off?"

"You…and everything!" Ino wasn't sure about Shikamaru being one of the reasons she is ticked off, but she just blurted out his name.

"Well, if that's the case. Get on," Shikamaru showed Ino that he had an empty seat behind him.

"No,"

"Ride with me, girl,"

"No,"

"Ride with me,"

"No!"

"Just one ride!"

"No!"

"I'll make you forget everything that's horrible,"

Ino hesitated and then took a clear look at Shikamaru's face.

"How?" Ino seemed intrigued.

"Hop on, and I'll show you," Shikamaru threw back his head telling her to get on his bike.

"You'd better, or I'll kick your ass," Ino laughed as she got on behind Shikamaru.

"Anything to give you a ride, babe," Shikamaru turned on the ignition. He handed Ino a helmet and she put it on.

"Let's take this baby for a ride, Ino," Shikamaru put his hands on the handles and Ino put her arms around Shikamaru from the back.

Shikamaru felt pink in the cheeks inside the helmet, and then drove off.

"Sasuke?" Sakura greeted the young man with Kaiya in his arms.

Sasuke turned around and acknowledged her with a slight nod. He let go of Kaiya, who still held onto him, and walked toward Sakura.

"Hey, what's up?" Sakura felt herself going red in the cheeks. She held her hands up to her face and smiled.

Kaiya, who was beside, Sasuke, stared at the two of them, back and forth.

"Yeah, Sakura, what are you doing here?" Kaiya held Sasuke's hand.

Sakura saw the two holding hands and placed her hands in her jean pockets.

"Oh, um, nothing. I just wanted to have a chat with Sasuke," Sakura cheerfully smiled. Kaiya eyed Sakura and raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

Looking at Kaiya, Sakura gazed at Sasuke, "Well, um, now that I talked to you, see ya," the pink-haired girl turned on her heel and started walking back to where she had come from.

Sasuke let go of Kaiya's hand and ran toward Sakura.

"Wait!"

Sakura didn't know what was wrong with her. All of a sudden, a rush of her past emotions came to the surface. She heard Sasuke's voice calling out to her.

Tears welled up and Sakura continued walking away.

"Sakura!"

Sakura ignored Sasuke and kept on running.

Sasuke stood near the sidewalk as Kaiya walked up from behind him.

"She probably needs some time to herself," Kaiya embraced Sasuke behind him and placed her small head against his back.

Sasuke turned around and broke from her hug.

"Look, Kaiya, I don't want to give any mixed signals here ok?" Sasuke took a step away from her.

"I know, suddenly everything became clear to me," Kaiya grinned and walked a few steps toward him.

"Kaiya, I just want everything to be clear ok? About my feelings and your feelings, because clearly I don't have any feelings for…" Sasuke was cut off when Kaiya leapt for him and Sasuke caught her in his arms.

"…you," Sasuke finished but Kaiya took no notice of what he said.

Sakura kept on running and running. Her long silky crimson hair trailed behind her in the cool afternoon breeze. She began to run out of breath, and went to a bench to cool down. She took off her red leather jacket to reveal a sparkly pink tieback halter.

She pulled her hair back and tried to catch her breath.

Sakura thought of what she saw back at the park. She should've known. That summer when Kaiya and Sasuke met, they were "perfect" together.

"I should be happy for them," Sakura thought to herself, but a hint of doubt was hanging in the back of her mind, "but why can't I be happy for them?"

A few seconds, Sakura's mind was absorbed with Sasuke and Kaiya.

"Stop it, Sakura," she thought to herself again, "Sasuke doesn't have feelings for her, you know that…or does he?"

Sakura got up and held her jacket in her left arm. She continued to walk down the sidewalk and passed by some two-story houses on the way.

An unusual emotion went through Sakura. She hasn't felt this way before in such a long time, for as long as she could remember.

Sakura tried to ignore it, she didn't want any distractions.

"Distractions for what?" Sakura said to herself.

Right now, things are not going exactly the way she thought it would be.

For once, Sakura felt that the world had just passed her by, and she didn't notice.

Did she misinterpret Sasuke's signs? Did he really have feelings for Kaiya?

Sakura thought of the smile Kaiya gave her when she went over to the park. An idea popped into her mind, but Sakura shook it off.

"No way, she wouldn't," Sakura knew that Kaiya wouldn't still have feelings for Sasuke.

Sakura remembered that one summer. She had just had her birthday and Sakura forgot why she got mad at Sasuke, but somehow, Kaiya fit into the picture. She always visited him at the shop where Sasuke worked part-time in the summer.

"Either way, it's too late," Sakura whispered in her mind.

The sixteen-year-old teenager practically grew up with him. From childhood to now, Sakura is still trying to find out what it was that still stuck Sasuke and her friendship together throughout all these years.

Sakura remembers when she was a little girl, Sasuke would always sneak into her backyard and throw rocks at her window, to wake her up. She then would open the sliding window, and go out into the balcony and help Sasuke climb up. The two would sit together on the balcony and just stare at the stars.

She missed that, well not recently.

Sasuke "did" sneak into her backyard after she was raped.

Sakura shuddered at the memory that scarred her for life. To this day, she still wondered at the back of her head, the identity of the man who raped her.

"Forget it Sakura, it's been too long, just forget it," Sakura thought to herself.

Suddenly, Sakura felt light-headed. Sakura's emerald eyes gaped open and went to the other side of the bench and vomited onto the grass.

The pink-haired teenager groaned and held her hand up to her forehead to check her temperature. It was normal.

She did notice that she is usually sick in the daytime, it must've been her long run, she thought.

Sakura got up and cleared her throat. She continued to walk down the sidewalk until she saw two familiar faces riding up down the street.

"Hey Sakura!" Ino called out from behind Shikamaru.

Shikamaru pulled up in front of Sakura and stopped the motor from running.

Sakura was surprised and covered her smile with her hand. She looked at Ino, who was pink in the cheeks. Her green eyes were full of wonder and curiosity.

"Don't worry, I just took your blonde friend for a joy ride," Shikamaru took off his helmet and placed it on his lap.

Ino went over and hugged her best friend.

"How are you? I haven't seen you in days!" Ino said in Sakura's ear. When they pulled apart, Ino sniffed the air.

"Did you throw up?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, I had a long run," Sakura shrugged.

"Well, anyway, Shikamaru and I were going for a ride, are you doing anything today?" Ino's eyes lit up.

Sakura opened her mouth and couldn't say anything.

"Actually, why don't you two go on together, maybe next time," Sakura went over and winked at Ino.

Ino winked back at her friend, and hopped back onto Shikamaru's motorcycle. She put on her helmet and waved Sakura as Shikamaru and Ino cruised down the street.

"Bye!" Sakura happily waved after her friend.

When the two disappeared into the distance, Sakura stopped waving.

She was glad that Ino was happy, after everything she's gone through. Sakura smiled at the thought of Ino and Shikamaru finally getting together. She held onto her jacket and carried on her walk down the cement sidewalk.

Kaiya joyfully skipped to her bedroom and immediately picked up the phone and called Kaede.

"Hello?" Kaede answered the phone.

"Guess what?" Kaiya playfully asked.

"Kaiya, the last person I want to hear on the phone," there was a sound of dismay in Kaede's voice.

"Kaede, do you not like me?" Kaiya pouted.

"No," Kaede rolled her eyes, "what do you want?"

"Well, I just want to tell you that Sasuke and I are back together! I'm so happy!" Kaiya literally jumped up with the phone by her ear.

"Great, what does Sakura think?" Kaede asked.

Kaiya stopped being hyper and had a glaring look on her face, "Sakura?"

"Well, yeah, if you two got back together, the one who'll take the news more seriously is obviously Sakura," Kaede tried to hide her yawn.

"Why?" Kaiya went over to her bedroom and got out her yearbook from last year.

"Kaiya, you should know that those two had some history. Sasuke knew her longer than you," Kaede honestly replied.

"Shut up, Sasuke loves ME, not that slut," Kaiya flipped the pages in her yearbook and smiled when she got to the page she wanted.

"Kaiya, this whole 'obsession' you have for Sasuke has to end ok? You're scaring me, and what are you doing right now?" Kaede asked.

"None of your business," Kaiya went up to her desk and got out a red pen and went back to the carpet and clicked off the red cap and started drawing on her yearbook page.

"…Kaiya," Kaede started to get worried.

"Yes?" Kaiya clicked her pen cap back on and closed the yearbook.

"You need help, you really do. Do your parents know what you've been up to lately?" Kaede replied.

"They died, Kaede. I killed them," Kaiya laughed.

"WHAT?" Kaede pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it.

"I'm kidding, dork. They're downstairs in the living room, why do you ask?" Kaiya got up and put the yearbook back into her bookshelf.

"I'm worried, Kaiya." Kaede's tone turned serious.

"About what?" Kaiya curiously asked.

"What you're going to do next…?" Kaede answered.

"Oh, silly, you'll just have to find out! Anyway, I'll talk to you later, bye!" Kaiya clicked on the "talk" button on the phone and hung up.

Kaede looked at her phone and placed it on her bed. She stared out at the window and wondered what Kaiya will do next.
Kaiya got up and smiled.

Kaiya went on top of her bed and smiled at what she drew in her yearbook.

"I want to see it again," she got up and went over to the bookshelf and pulled out her yearbook. She went back to her bed and flipped the pages.

"Beautiful," Kaiya laughed. Kaiya stroked her fingers around Sakura's picture that was colored with Kaiya's red pen. Underneath Sakura's picture, the red pen wrote 1988-2005.

Kaiya smiled and closed the book and placed it under her pillow and drifted off to an afternoon nap.

A/N: Please review! xD