Starting AN: Okay. Projects, studying for exams, three stories, and writer's block certainly do not mix. Honestly…

Disclaimer: Standard. But if I ever do meet Kishimoto Masashi-sensei, I'll shall tell him to get the writers of the anime to make a Team 7 Song! (Just for me…and PrincessChii of course XD)

Chapter 20
Moments

To say that he was walking on thin ice for a lengthy period of time was one of the biggest understatements of the year. For goodness sakes, it was the second day that everyone had spent at Ichiraku and already silent imitation Uchiha death glares were directed at one person in particular.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out and watched her turn around, but then glared. She was still mad? She went huffing towards Tenten and Ino, who both turned around when she'd informed them of his presence. They in turn also gave threatening looks.

What was everyone mad at him exactly? Well, it started (and ended for that matter) last night…

"Wah! It's so nice here," commented Ino, as she lay floating on her back.

"Well enjoy it while you can. We should probably get out in half an hour. The teachers will be making rounds shortly after. But we should be able to get back to our dorms in time," Tenten spoke, side-stoking towards the other end of the pool.

Meanwhile a little while down the road, a blond boy walked alongside on other. "Remind me again why I'm coming with you."

Naruto thought for a moment. "Uh, because I dragged you?"

Kiba just sighed. "I don't get it. What's so good about spying on the ladies? You aren't some kind of pervert are you?"

"No!" the other instantly replied, "but I just so happen to know that it's a perfect time for them to talk about things like gossip, or who they like…"

"And that amuses you…" the brunet spoke the line as more of a note to himself rather then a question. They were approaching the pool area, and faint voices were starting to be heard. "I still don't like this idea…I mean, if one of those girls ever finds you, you're dead."

"Shh!" Naruto scolded, and tried to listen through the bushes as to what was going on.

"…ha? I knew there was something going on between the two of you! So spill, what's happened?"

"Really nothing has. It's kind of complicated, but I don't know…I feel kind of different around him. You know?"

"Oh! I think our little friend has got a slight obsession over him now."

Naruto tried to place the voice to the person, but he was having trouble. The boy beside him stiffened, "Naruto, times up. Let's split."

"Shh, I'm still trying to figure this out. Someone likes someone big time and I wanna know!" Kiba shrugged and began to run off in the shadows by himself.

"And yourself, Temari-chan?"

There was nervous laughter, "Well…I…"

Naruto listened more carefully and forgot that he was totally noticeable on the side of the path like that. A voice made him jump and yell out in a start. "Hey, you!" He went flying further into the bushes.

A few of the teens in the pool tensed up, and silently got out of the water. "But you said not until 1!" Ino spoke softly, quickly drying off and heading to the pool change rooms.

"Sorry, that's what it was supposed to be," the brunette said frantically taking the pin out of her hair and thrusting it into a lock. It opened without much force, and they all slipped inside, and pressed their ears against the thin wall.

"Naruto! It's late, not to mention we have curfews. What in the world are you doing all the way out here?"

"I was…um…that is…"

One of the girls brought her hand and clamped it over her mouth with a gasp. Could he have heard her confession? "Naruto…" she growled, "you're so dead tomorrow!" The rest nodded, all frowning.

So cutting down on the story slightly, a handful of them had cornered Naruto the next morning in the breakfast hall and forced his story out. Basically they were still piping mad. But he hadn't spilled anything he'd heard (or Tenten might have had to kill him with her hockey stick).

"Hey, dead-last, let's get a move on," an all too famous Uchiha said with a wave of his hand, "short talk before the game. Wouldn't want Gai-sensei getting into his lecture on punctuality, now would we?"

"Hell no," the blond grumbled, taking one last glance towards the group of girls, who seemed to be nudging the pink haired woman. "Coming, coming…" maybe he'd apologize to Sakura after his game.

For a rather warm afternoon, it was surprising to find no one in or around the pool area. Maybe everyone just hated the water, or there was a bunch of games going on at once. Sakura was lucky that she'd gotten a break after a short practice. So now she took some time to relax in the sun by the poolside. Hey, Kurenai-sensei had told them to 'take it easy'.

Sitting in the sun made her rather drowsy. She'd been sitting there for quite some time, nor did she know how long. Ino along with two other girls from her tennis team had said they might come on down later. Then there was the guys, who had a basketball game that afternoon, so she wasn't sure if they'd come by at all. She wasn't sure about the rest of them.

Her emerald eyes fluttered closed, and she gave a yawn. She really meant to go swimming, but it would have been kind of boring by herself. So there she lay tiredly on the pool chair in her pale green string bikini. It wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone, but it was comfortable. (Plus everyone else her age had one…)

Her sunglasses lay on the small plastic table that she'd moved beside the chair. It lay next to a nearly empty bottle of sunscreen (the last thing she needed was noticeable freckles or a burn for that matter) and then her water.

Sitting in the hot sun really did make her more drowsy then usual, though. She felt her eyes slowly flutter shut, but still conscious enough to listen to the noise around her. There wasn't much. The sounds of the wind rustling gently through the trees or the constant bird chirping; even a cricket here and there. A group of students were talking loudly outside the pool perimeters, them laughing about nothing important.

Just as she was in the midst of slipping into a light slumber, the pool gate opened with a rather loud squeak, telling her she was no longer alone. Her senses were a tad more alert, but her eyes still remained shut, trying now to listen for the footsteps of the person. Her eyebrows unconsciously furrowed as she heard the almost silent footsteps approach.

The person had sat down on the pool chair on her left, the sound of a towel being set down as her clue. Plus there was the fact that whoever it was had stroked her cheek gently. That was all the influence she needed to force her emerald green orbs upon so said person.

"Sasuke-kun?" she said, immediately bolting upright, her heart pumping wildly in her chest. Speaking of which, she hugged herself self-consciously feeling rather naked in what she wore.

"Hey there," he said, sitting down on her left, as she predicted. He was wearing a plain white shirt that was rather large even for him. His navy swim trunks were underneath. There was also something faintly different about how he looked. Perhaps it was a slight more coloring to his usual pale face.

"Uh…well…what brings you here, alone?" she hadn't meant for the last word to come out, but it basically just rolled off her tongue.

"Our game finished," and before Sakura could ask, "we won."

"That's great! Who'd you play?"

"Oh…I think it was the Rock…don't remember exactly."

She eyed him quickly without him noticing. Maybe it was her…but his speech patterns were a little weird. Besides, he almost never brought up a conversation on his own free will. "How come you aren't swimming? The water isn't here for you to admire."

A scowl appeared on her features. "Well suppose I went in alone and I was casually floating around in the deep end and wham! I get this huge cramp and I can no longer swim! Then I'd drown and die. Tell me, what would I do then?"

"You wouldn't have died…because I'd have come along."

"Well, I've been here longer then just a few minutes. I'd have drowned by then."

"Okay, fine. But that doesn't stop you from going into the water now."

"Because! Because…" wow, he really wanted her to get in that pool, she thought, didn't he, "the water's too cold!"

He raised an eyebrow at this, a small smirk inching its way across his face. The wheels in his head began to turn. "Too cold?" She nodded, the frown still upon her features. She looked like a 5 year-old pouting. "I can fix that," he said softly, and watch her expression change.

"How's that possi—hey!" she protested as her body was lifted into the air, and the two of them were closer then ever to the pool's edge. "Put me down, you…you…"

"Gladly," he cooed, lowering her down towards the water's smooth, glistening surface.

"No, no, wait stop," she panicked frantically, and sighed in relief when he drew her back up. "What are you scheming now?" she asked, seeing that his smirk never faded.

"Why don't you join me in the water together?"

"I already said no!" she said securing her arms tightly around his neck. Then his actual words sunk in. "Wait a sec…together? Sasuke-kun…" she didn't have time to actually finish her sentence as the feeling of cold water seeped into her brain. The freezing water made her instantly want to move, and she squirmed herself free from her classmate's grasp. "C-c-c-cold!" she stuttered, climbing up the edge of the pool.

"Well at least you're in," she could hear his voice from the other side of the pool. Turning around, she could see his appearance also looked different when wet. His raven hair no longer held in that upright and spiky position that it did normally, but fell downwards to his shoulders. Not to mention he was shirtless. Her eyes instantly tore away, almost like they'd be burned.

"You idiot, I could have died!" and she added a small squeak when she found him right up to her. He sure could swim fast.

"No you couldn't have," his onyx eyes gazed into hers, the devilish grin appearing once again, seeing her face color. "Because…" he grabbed her bare waist and dragged her close, whispering the last part in her ear, "I wouldn't have let you."

"Someone's…err…touchy-feely today," she commented, glancing sideways towards the pool gates, wondering if anyone was going to walk in at the moment. How she wished that someone would, but then again, how many other girls could say they'd gotten so much out of Sasuke?

"Hmm? I wouldn't call it that…" he practically purred, fiddling with a loose strand of her pink hair. The usual sent of flowers was now drowned out by chlorine.

"Come on now. Sasuke-kun…" it sounded like she was almost whining. Sakura placed a hand against his chest, ignoring every single fan-girl-like comment that buzzed through her head. She'd tried that only to distance herself slightly (since it was kind of hard to breath, sharing the same air like that).

"Oi, oi, oi!" a new voice piped up from the deck. He immediately noted the position of the two and scowled. "Sasuke, you bastard, you can't go into the water on alcohol. Jeez, you know that."

"Just shut up," he replied coolly, letting go of the girl and climbing out of the pool. He glared once more at Naruto before sitting down.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura started, still slightly flustered on what had recently happened, "what do you mean 'on alcohol?'"

"Well, I'll let you in on a little secret, Sakura-chan," the blond winked, leaning close to the pool so only she could hear. "When it comes to drinking, Sasuke can't stand a single drop. It goes to his head. We won the game today, so Gai-sensei brought some champagne."

"So…wait…he's drunk?"

"No not really," he said, "it's like he's looser, with less worries or something. He's 100 conscious, just doesn't really think things through."

The pink haired girl was still slightly confused on certain matters, like why a teacher would be allowed to bring stuff like that in the first place. But it sort of explained his irrational behavior, not to mention the tint of pink that remained on his face. "Whatever," she shrugged, also getting out of the cold water, and ran to get her towel.

The threesome were interrupted once again after that, as everyone seemed to come at once. It was Ino who came in first, followed by a couple girls from the swim team. After that was Tenten dragging the Hyuuga siblings, plus yelling at Kiba to hurry up. Behind them were Shikamaru, actually conversing with Temari. 'It's a party…' Sakura thought dryly.

"Now here I am thinking you'd be all sad and alone here, but you have two other men to keep you company," Ino spoke with a mock sigh, "after all the trouble I went through to gathering everyone here too…"

"Yeah, sure," Kiba said with a wave of his hand, "we were already on our way here, you big attention-seeker."

"What did you call me?" the blonde asked enraged.

"You heard me, or might I have to spell it out for ya? A-t-t-e-n-t-i-o-n s-e—" before he was finished spelling out the last word, she'd pushed him into the pool. Luckily for him, he was already wearing solely his swim trunks. "Bitch!"

A fair amount of the people now on the pool deck stopped what they were doing and laughed. "Dude. You got owned by a girl!" Naruto managed to cough in between laughter, before he was also kicked into the cold water.

"Well you just got owned by this girl too, dipstick!" her baby blue eyes were now turning red, as she began to snap at everyone who happened to glance her way. Finally letting everything go with a deep exhale, she walked over to where her best friend plus the new Sand girl sat, still in deep conversation. "Shika, wanna test how cold the water is for me?" she asked sweetly.

The brunette rubbed his head, muttering something along the lines of troublesome. The blonde sitting next to him, though, answered aloud for him. "Can't you see he's in the middle of talking to me? Ask one of those people," Temari said motioning to the now group of five that were floating around in the water. The two were caught in a fierce staring contest, Ino's expression cross, while the other's was smug.

"Come on, Hinata. You didn't buy and wear a swimsuit to the pool, just so you could leave your shirt on and sit on the side," the brunette with buns folded her arms, sitting on Neji's chair, swim attire on. She was busy watching the shy girl's hands fiddle with the edge of her Tee, as if she was contemplating whether or not to pick A or B on her chemistry exam.

"Tenten-chan is right, you know," Sakura said, abandoning the now quiet Sasuke, and walking over towards the three. "You've got nothing to hide, I mean, we're all friends, right?"

"B-but sometimes it isn't that simple!" she protested rather firmly. "I just don't feel comfortable wearing this out in public and—ah! S-stop, Tenten-chan! Sakura-chan!"

"Oh quit your whining," Tenten said, still trying to get her shirt off by means of force. "Neji, don't you dare think of interfering. Your cousin is perfectly fine." However, he new better then to get involved with women and their fights.

"Ah!" she managed to squeak slightly, before the two had managed to get her black shirt off from over her head. Underneath was a rather low-cut tankini top, black in color. It didn't reveal much of her stomach, but Hinata had managed to cover up the top of her chest by means of the discarded shirt. Her face resembled a tomato.

"Aww, that looks so cute on you," the pink haired one gushed, pulling her to her feet. "Come on you guys, let's not let them have all the fun!" Back in the pool, they were having what many called 'chicken fights', Naruto and Kiba being the bases, and the two girls from the swim team, Asagi and Ai on their shoulders, in attempt to push the other off.

"Okay, you too," Tenten extended her hand to Neji, not budging until he got up from the chair. Resisting the great urge to roll his lavender eyes, he got up on his own, and refused to touch her in any sort of way. "Fine, then I guess I'll have to pull and Ino." That was the time when she decided to push him into the water, but the male Hyuuga was quicker then the other's had, dragging her into the water as well. "Oh my…God."

There plastered upon his face, was his signature smirk. "You were asking for it."

"I was not! Hey! Don't swim away from me, Hyuuga Neji!"

All screaming and laughing muted out, Uchiha Sasuke still sat in the corner, watching the events unfold. He was never one to be actively involved with everyone, even if he could consider everyone here a friend. Hell. Why was he here in the first place? Right…because of a certain woman, who was currently trying to drag Hinata into the water that earlier she'd complained as way too cold.

Since when had he started to care? Actually, he knew the answer deep down. It was ever since she'd come back from her old town. No matter how hard he'd tried to push the nagging feeling towards the back of his head, he was always watching her, someway or another. It was almost becoming routine.

"Sasuke-kun?" her voiced echoed loudly through his ears. The raven-haired boy flinched, and rubbed his head. His tolerance level was really, way too low. "Oh, sorry," she apologized, briefly, "anyway, a lot of us are going to that party thing down at the mess hall at the end of the week; you wanna join me?"

He looked mildly interested, but maybe that was because he was still slightly smashed. "Do I?"

"Yeah," she answered for him, "you do."

"Match!" the ref called, signaling the final point. Whatever crowd was there cheered, some groaned. Sakura was one of them, slowly sinking to her knees. Her racket was tossed to the side.

"Damn…" she said, as Ino helped her to her feet with a tiny shrug. "Guess I'm still not good enough to beat my sempai, huh?"

"Well, you kept me on my feet for once," Temari replied, shaking her hand, along with Ino's. But her handshake seemed a bit more hostile. "Anyway, I'd love to stick around, but I have a hockey match to win. Come join me later if you wanna see your school get beaten again."

Once one blonde left, she turned to the other, walking off the courts. "Is there something between you two?"

"Who two?" she asked looking away. Sakura sighed, knowing she was just playing dumb. "No, why would you think that?"

"Nothing…" she gave up. Perhaps she would watch that hockey match.

The basketball courts were overly crowded the next day, with the four remaining teams left in the tournament. They'd decided to squish all the semis and final matches into one big event. Almost all the students from each of the four respected schools had shown up. It turned out to be the main event.

The first match was the Sand against the Rock, followed by Konoha and the Sound. The stadium was filled with cheering as both teams made their way to the floor, captains shaking hands, but didn't seem at all friendly. "Woo! Go Gaara!" the pink haired girl yelled from the second row.

The redhead captain nodded his head in acknowledgement and walked slowly over to where the coach was already briefing the other players.

"My, aren't we spirited?" Temari remarked, but she was also cheering on her both brothers. "What about these guys? They're rather quiet."

Hinata just shrugged, but she was never that loud (or loud at all for that matter) to begin with. Ino would only cheer on her school, and Tenten sat there with her arms folded, still scowling. "She's still miffed," Sakura explained, "ever since your slim victory yesterday."

"That check should have been a penalty and you know it!" the brunette finally snapped at the Sand student.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down there Miss. It's not my call, whether I think so or not. Just lighten up. It was only a game."

The brunette growled slightly and returned to her original position. The game had been well underway at this point, the Sand dominating already with a 10-2 score. All she could hear throughout the whole game was Sakura's shouts of "Go Gaara!" and the like. 'I knew I should have gone to watch Neji's hockey game…' she thought, but remembered how he said he'd most likely show up for the finals.

The game seemed to end just as soon as it had started, the Sand winning with a sweeping victory of 72-48. "Good job, brothers," Temari congratulated as both Gaara and Kankuro walked back over to their bench, and then walked off to the locker rooms to rest up for the finals.

"Yay! Go Sasuke-kun!" Ino finally perked up, shouting as loud as she could, over other girls who were saying similar cheers. Hinata was silently wishing her team good luck, and Sakura was drinking some water, replenishing her throat since it had gone dry from yelling so much last game.

Her emerald eyes landed on the Sound's bench. It was those two students who'd so crazily hunted her down that time after her tennis match. "Naruto! Lee-san! Sasuke-kun! You beat those kids good, you hear?"

"Yosh! Anything for my beautiful flower!" Rock Lee gave her and whoever else was sitting there a thumbs-up.

"Hurry up fuzzy-brows! The game's about to start!" Naruto beckoned, and Lee immediately took his position behind Sasuke, who was waiting for the jump ball.

As the game progressed, things weren't looking too good for Konoha. The Sound team was surprisingly well trained, as they seemed to like weaving in and out of the other players. At half time, the score was 35-28.

"What in the world is wrong with you all today?" Gai-sensei waved his arms frantically in the locker room, where his gloomy-looking team sat. "You all play much better then this." There was no noise amongst the team members. "I really hoped it wouldn't have to come to this but…drastic times call for drastic measures. Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Yes, sensei?"

"If we loose today, you're treating the team to a nice big barbecue when we get back home!"

"Wha? But! But…I don't have that much money!" the blond complained, looking at how serious his coach's face was.

"Which is why we won't loose! Inuzuka Kiba! If we loose today, we're sending you to an orthodontist and you're fixing those vampire teeth of yours!"

"They aren't vampire teeth!" he roared, clearly offended, "They're just overly pointed!"

"Well when we win, we won't need to discuss the matter any longer. Rock Lee, Uchiha Sasuke! If we loose today, next practice consists of 1000 push ups and sit ups, and 300 suicides!"

The raved haired teen said nothing while the Gai replication exclaimed, "Yes, sensei! We won't loose!"

The coach had gone through every single team member before half time was up. Somehow it only made the players more miserable, but somehow lifted their spirits as well. "Oi, Naruto," Kiba said, as they lined up on the court once more, "whoever gets the most points this game gets to take out Hinata-chan on a date."

"Heh," he laughed, "I won't loose to you, or anyone. That's a promise!"

Naruto had kept that promise, dominating the second half. He wasn't quite sure if it was because of Hinata, or he didn't want to be in debt for the next five years to Sasuke, who would end up paying, had they lost the game and forced to treat everyone to a barbecue.

"Hey, Shikamaru! You just missed the semis," Ino waved over her classmate, who was standing behind Hyuuga Neji. They both had just come from the hockey game. "How'd you do?"

"We won," he gave her a tired and small smile, sitting next to her on the end. "It was pretty close there, for awhile." He was the second coach of the team. There was Asuma, who was the teacher-coach, then himself, who was mainly in charge of plays and strategies. It was like a game of Go, or something like it.

There was a thirty-minute break, to give the Konoha team a rest before the final match. A few spectators had walked onto the court, talking to members of the team. "Hey, Hinata!" the blond basketball player waved over. She was following Sakura who'd run over to the Sand bench, then their own school's bench.

"Y-yes, what is it? Oh, and you were great out there, Naruto-kun," she said shyly, looking away.

"Thanks," he grinned childishly. "Hey, I'm taking you out for ramen when we get back home, okay?"

"W…what?" she nearly fell over, her face bright red.

"Well, you see, Kiba and me had this bet during the game about who could score the most points and the winner had to take you out on a date, basically. I won't take no for an answer, kay?" and with that he ran off to brag to the Inuzuka once again. Hinata, on the other hand, stood there still dazed. Sakura had come over and was saying something to her, dragging her off the court and back to their seats, but she didn't quite catch anything she said.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The moment you've all been waiting for is here! It's the Ichiraku basketball tournament finals!" the announcer boomed over the loudspeaker. "Captains please shake hands!"

Sasuke walked on to meet the Sand's redhead captain. An unmistakable voice from the crowed yelled: "Go Gaara-nii-chan! Go Sasuke-kun!" Both green and onyx eyes locked, both pairs narrowing. They took each other's hand, and shook it tightly as they could. It looked like more of who could break the other's hand first, rather then an all-friendly handshake.

Just before the two broke apart, Sasuke whispered something. "We won't loose to you."

"Funny," Gaara replied, "neither will we."

As fast as the trip to Ichiraku had come, tomorrow would mark the end of the one-week trip. On that day, the so-called 'closing ceremony' would be held, where they'd award the top school with an award, as well as individual awards. No one was really looking forward to that, though. It was this moment, the party in the mess hall, which was the most anticipated.

It was around seven and the dining area had been cleared, leaving a large space for dancing and the like, plus their very own DJ. The party wasn't in full swing yet, but people were slowly making their way from milling in the large entranceway.

"Well, see you in a bit, okay?" the brunette with buns excused herself from Kaori, who tried to squeeze in one final sentence but to avail. She was already out the doors.

"Hey, Kaori!" Sakura ran up to the redhead, and followed her gaze to the doors, "what was that about? Where'd she go in such a hurry?"

"Dunno, something about trying to convince Neji-kun in coming down tonight. She said that earlier he declined her invitation to join her…or something."

Her body tensed up. There was a reason he (and Hinata) didn't participate in nightly activities. This, could get very ugly. Perhaps she'd run off and catch before they met. After standing there in thought once again, maybe it was best if she found out. The Hyuuga siblings didn't seem to be as friendly or open to people who didn't know their secret. She could hear Tenten now, saying, "Oh my God! Those eyes are so cool!"

She smirked at the thought, when a hand cut her from her amusing thoughts. "Hey, where's your boyfriend?" Temari asked, her two brothers trailing behind. At the mention of 'boyfriend', the redhead's eyes narrowed.

"Huh?" it took her a moment to figure out what the other girl was talking about, before her mouth formed an o. "Oh, well, I'm not sure if he'll show up. He's not a great fan of crowds."

"Well that's jerky of him," the blonde seemed offended for her friend's sake, "next time I see him, I'll punch him!"

"Please…don't…" she replied faintly, "anyway, let's go inside." They four of them made their way towards the blaring music. "Looks good," Sakura raised her voice to be heard.

"Here, let's grab a table," Kankuro suggested, and they found something as far away as possible from the speakers. It was a corner table, barely visible from the dim lighting. That's where they'd be spending most of the night, by the looks of it.

Kiba and Naruto had appeared later, and joined in a conversation between the two females. Ino followed by an annoyed looking Shikamaru also appeared, she, however, ignoring the Sand's student. Lee had also come about, and surprisingly managed to start a small conversation with Gaara.

Around an hour later, Sakura excused herself from the table and went over to the refreshments. She scooped a bit of red punch into a Styrofoam cup, and was about to sip it, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Sasuke. He had come after all. "It's spiked," he said simply, "very slightly."

Cautiously, she brought the cup to her lips. "You're right…hey, you drank some of it?"

"No, I just saw some wise-guy slip it in."

She brought her hand up and brushed some long strands of raven hair to the side. "Really? Your face tells me otherwise."

He smirked slightly, "That was that idiot Naruto's fault. Not my idea this time." Her eyes cast a disapproving glance back to where the blond sat laughing away. "Anyway," he was also looking to the rather content group in the corner, "since it's your invite that originally prompted me to come, you going to dance?"

She looked at him surprised. "You dance?"

He pointed to his eyes, which were still black, or so it seemed. "Did I mention the sharingan can copy things as well? Besides, your crazy Sand friend is currently making her way over here to pester you."

Indeed, Temari followed by Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Kiba were all waltzing over, skillfully avoiding dancing couples. "So your boyfriend showed up after all. Good thing, because I was ready to pound your face in if you hadn't," she shot a nasty look at the Uchiha.

That statement sent the others shocked. Sakura mentally slapped herself. This was going downhill fast, this conversation. This would certainly be all over school by the time this was over. "W-what?" Ino said like she didn't hear properly.

"Sakura-chan…Sasuke…bastard…" Naruto said, blue eyes wide in shock.

'Figures,' both Shikamaru and Kiba thought simultaneously.

"Hey, hey, why does everyone look shocked?" Temari asked Sakura, who was busy hiding behind Sasuke. She was ready to die now…in complete humiliation. Only God knew what he was thinking as well. "And more importantly, aren't you two supposed to be dancing? Get on with it!"

Five pairs of eyes were on the two, and the pink haired teen turned a dark shade of red. "Not with everyone watching! Go away!" Slowly and quite reluctantly, they all drifted away, only Temari, Shikamaru and Ino returning to the table. "Oh…God, this is bad," she informed the obvious.

"It doesn't matter really, in the scheme of things," he replied, his eyes (which were covered by onyx contacts) were scanning the crowd, picking up yet more moves from various others. "Anyway," he extended his pale hand, "care to test out how good my blood limit is?"

"Sure," she smiled at how uncaring he was at the moment. Alcohol sure did weird things to him. "Why the sudden urge to get close?" She took up his offer and placed her smaller hand on his.

"Don't know really," Sasuke shrugged, "maybe it's my reward for winning the tournament."

"Ha, you hardly won it! It was double overtime, and Naruto scored the winning basket!"

"So? It still counts as winning doesn't it?"

It was then that Sakura remembered what she liked the most about this new, yet slowly changing Sasuke. It was that faint smile, somewhere between a smirk and a grin. Sasuke truly was an interesting person. An idea popped into her mind. Perhaps being his boyfriend (for the time being and playing it for what it was worth of course) wasn't such a bad thing after all.

AN: Omg. What a relief it was to get this chapter done. (It's been a month to this day!) I didn't like the beginning part, but I wasn't about to go rewrite it. I know I could have done it a lot better though. There was just too much stuff happening at the pool.

I really don't know what came over me when I decided to make Sasuke alcohol intolerant. It's an amusing thought. Not to the same extent as Rock Lee who goes on a rampage from a drop. So is the extent of a semi-drunken Uchiha. -Hinata-hime rolls eyes at her own stupidity- This may come into play again…a few chapters from now.

Well now that you're all brilliantly satisfied with me because I've updated after forever, chapter 21 might be late (not a month mind you). Final exams still aren't done for me. They're next week. So I'll be preoccupied with that for now. For those of you on semester systems who have their exams (and a couple people mentioned their EQAO…for those of you that live in Ontario) good luck! I'll need such luck to pass my Canadian History exam :)