Author Note: Do you guys prefer longer chapters or shorter ones? My boyfriend suggested maybe not writing so much per each chapter. This way I'm not stressing myself out with the word count each chapter and maybe I can write more often. This chapter is half the length of Chapter One.

Let me know which you prefer!

Sitting up, Sakura stretches her arms out and lets out a quiet yawn. The sheets pool around her waist and she notices that it's particularly colder than normal when she wakes up. Startled, her bleary eyes snap open and she takes in the bleak and plain grey room around her. It was Sasuke's room, her mind supplies, as she recalls last night. Her face turns cherry red and she buries her head in her hands.

"I can't believe that.. That we did that," she whispers and looks over to the side to see him laying down with one arm propped up and hand holding up his head. His onyx eyes were staring her down, a haze to them that was familiar to Sakura.

"Me either," he says in a deep raspy voice - not quite awake.

He sits up and comes closer to her, wrapping his arm around her waist, and leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. Sakura smiles, leaning into his touch. Looking over at his clock she is surprised to see that it was only 8 a.m. Still, she needed to get home. Her phone must have died during the night because when she reached for it and tried to turn it on, it remained as a black screen.

"I should probably get home soon, my mom is going to kill me," she laughs softly but she still felt a little bubble of anxiety in her chest at the thought of upsetting her mom.

"Can't you stay for breakfast at least?" He questions, raising an eyebrow and she lets out a sigh accompanied with a smile.

Sakura gets dressed in her outfit from last night while Sasuke steps in the shower. She really needed to find a charger for her phone to let her mom know that she's okay - just accidentally fell asleep. She figured that Itachi had one and if he didn't, then she could see if Sasuke had any. She doubted it because Sasuke had an iphone and she didn't. Quietly, she creeps out of his room and down the stairs to where she remembers the living room being. She could hear voices and she silently curses herself. None of them sounded like his brother, but they did sound a little familiar.

"Hey, who's the babe?"

Sakura stops mid-step off of the stairs and makes eye contact with a male who had striking ocean blue eyes and dirty blond hair that complimented his golden skin-tone.

"Sasuke's girlfriend, Sakura Haruno," Itachi supplies as he steps out of the kitchen with some dango on a plate.

"Hasn't anyone ever taught you the proper way to try and get someone's name," she huffs as she crosses her arms. She observes him one more time, trying to figure out where she knew him from but when her eyes meet the red-head with heavy lidded amber eyes sitting next to him, it finally clicks.

"Oh, so you still talk to your old bandmates, Itachi?" Sakura asks, curious and comes a little closer.

"Ha, I knew she had good taste in music," snorts the blond as he gives her a sly look. "Too bad her taste in men is questionable - ow!"

"Stop being an idiot, Deidara," mumbles the red head, Sasori she thinks, as Deidara rubs his rib where the redhead had elbowed him.

Sakura shakes her head, deciding to ask Itachi what she came down for.

"Hey, do you happen to have an android phone charger that I could borrow?" She asks, settling her gaze on him. He looks back at her, no sign of any kind of acknowledgement other than him nodding his head after a second and standing up to head upstairs. She stands there, awkwardly, waiting for him to come back either empty handed or with what she needs.

"Here," he says and gently hands it to her. Sakura gives him a bright smile in return with a quick, "Thank you!" before heading over to the island separating the kitchen from the living room. Plugging it into the wall, she quickly plugs in her phone and works on turning it on. Immediately, notification after notification goes off and dread fills her stomach. She didn't even notice a pair of charcoal eyes resting on her as she was too focused on her phone.

"Oh, there you are," Sasuke says and wraps his arms around her waist. "I thought maybe you decided to ditch me, but I see you've just come down to spend time with my brother and his goons," he says sharply.

"I actually came down to ask him for a charger, nothing else. My phone died and I knew that my phone would be blowing up," she responds with a clipped tone to her words. "See," she says and shows him her phone that was completely spazzing out from notifications from her mom and her friends. One or two are even from her dad. "I actually need to get home. I wasn't supposed to spend the night."

"Can't it wait for after we eat?" He whines and she shakes her head. She was feeling anxious to get home and to calm her mom down. She didn't like being in trouble.

"No, I need to go," she breaks away from his embrace only for him to hold on a little tighter. "Sasuke, I need to go," she says sternly and he just huffs. He was about to retort a comment but Itachi beat him to it.

"Let her go, she needs to get home. Besides, mother and father will be home soon. It wouldn't be a good idea for them to see her here this early." He pauses, settling an intense stare on Sasuke as he continues, "Besides.. You wouldn't want them to know that you let her sleep over, would you?"

Sakura removes herself from Sasuke's grip, watching his nostrils flare a little. He didn't like not getting his way, she noted, and that would need to change. Instantly, the anger is wiped from his face as he pulls Sakura towards him by the hand and presses a kiss to her forehead.

"Fine. Be safe," he grunts out and Sakura offers him a small, forced smile.

"Always."

"Sakura Haruno, where the hell have you been?!"

Sakura's ears were assaulted as soon as she stepped through the front door. She hugs her arms to her body, looking at her mom sheepishly.

"I lost track of time and fell asleep at his house after the date," she mumbles out.

"And you didn't think to text me?" Her mother grits out and Sakura shakes her head no before continuing to dig herself a deeper hole.

"I forgot my charger and my phone died…."

"Unbelievable.." her mother mutters and sighs out. "If you were any other girl or teenager, you would be grounded for a lifetime. As is, I know you would never do it on purpose so I will let it slide this time. Do not let it happen again."

"Yes, ma'am.."

There is a beat of silence before her mother develops a coy smile and Sakura experiences a new type of dread in her stomach.

"Now, tell me, how'd it go? Did you guys kiss? Maybe make out a little?"

"Mom!" She screeches out, mortified. "You can't ask me things like that!"

The elder woman only chuckled in response and insisted that she tell her everything. Naturally, Sakura left out the details about her and him going all the way. Her mother didn't need to know that her little baby isn't much of a baby anymore.

"Oh. my. God!" Screeches Ino, shock written all over her face. "I can't believe it!" She swoons, falling backwards on Sakura's bed. "My little girl is all grown up - losing her innocence to devilishly handsome boys!" Ino fake sobs and Sakura playfully shoves her.

"Hush! My family will hear you," Sakura hisses and Ino only laughs maniacally.

After a while they calm down and Ino gives her a smile.

"It's nice to be able to see you outside of the hallway."

"I know. I've just been so busy," Sakura sighs out and plops down backwards next to her. "Not that being busy is an excuse. I've just never had to balance a boyfriend before. I'm sure I'll figure it out," she hums out.

"Well, let me know if he ever does something wrong - I'll get him for ya," Ino playfully punches the air and Sakura rolls her eyes before knocking her off the bed.

"Like I would need help from a pig like you," she laughs out and Ino lets out a loud oof as she hits the ground.

"How rude!" Ino laughs out.

It was moments like this that made Sakura forget all about the bad times or about the sometimes less than perfect moments. She knew that she would always have Ino.

"So.. Who are you?" Naruto squints, squatting in front of Sasuke so that he is eye level with the male that is sitting down on the beach towel next to Sakura.

"Sasuke-"

"Aye, idiot, knock it off!" Sakura shouts and shoves him over. "Stop trying to intimidate him. This is the exact reason why I wasn't going to let him tag along," she sighs out before looking at Sasuke. "I'm sorry about him, he's just a little over protective."

"It's fine," Sasuke shrugs and levels Naruto with a stare. Naruto groans from the ground and slowly stands up before looking over towards his girlfriend, Hinata, and crawling over towards her towel dramatically.

"Sakura is so mean to me," he sniffs and practically crawls into her lap. The petite girls face turns scarlet and she lightly rubs his head, her small fingers combing through his short, spiky strands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure she didn't mean it that way," Hinata whispers softly and Naruto only sniffs loudly before looking towards Sakura and blowing a raspberry.

Sakura rolls her eyes, standing up and holding her hand out to Sasuke.

"Come on, we came here to swim, remember?" She smiles and Sasuke stands up along with her. Together they trek towards the water, hand in hand.

"I don't like him. There's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way," Naruto comments and Kiba nods along.

"He seems kind of like an asshole," Kiba agrees and Ino rolls her eyes from her position on her towel where Shikamaru was lazily rubbing sunscreen on her back.

"You two be nice. She is happy, just be happy for her." Ino watches Sakura's and Sasuke's backs from her spot but is pulled away when Shikamaru stops moving. "Hey! You aren't done yet, if I get a sunburn it is on you!"

"Troublesome woman," he rolls his eyes and continues.

"How do you two still act like an old married couple even when you aren't together anymore?" Groans out Kiba and Ino throws her flip flop at him.

"You're just mad because this lazy ass got a piece of all this," she puckers her lips and tries to put herself in a sexy pose only to lose balance on her one arm and tip over into the sand where Shikamaru just applied fresh sunscreen.

"That's it, I'm not doing this anymore. If you need me, I will be over in the shade watching the clouds." Shikamaru places his hands in his pockets after wiping them off on her towel and walks away to the sound of Kiba's howling laughter, Naruto's contagious snorts, and Hinata's soft giggles.

"It's not funny!" Whines Ino but she's smiling anyway.

Pretty soon, the whole crew minus Shikamaru is in the water.

"Nice of you guys to finally join us," comments Sakura as she floats on her back. A dangerous position to be in with two mischievous boys around. One stolen glance between Kiba and Naruto, only a second to prepare, and both boys are ducking under the water and grabbing her by the ankles. Naturally, she flails and lets out a shout of surprise.

"What the hell?!" Her elbows come down roughly on both of their heads causing unison groans to escape them as they resurfaced. Hinata was forced to not let her amusement show as she catered to Naruto's whining and Sakura only shook her head in anguish.

"You guys deserved that," Ino said and both boys only nod.

"We know, but that doesn't make it hurt any less," whines Kiba and Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Do you have a problem with something I said?" He asks, his eyes narrowing towards him. Sasuke only shrugs before turning to Sakura.

"Do you want to grab something to eat?" He asks her and she ponders it for a moment before nodding.

"Sure! Come on guys, let's go grab something from the ice cream shack."

She completely misses the look of dread and annoyance that flashes through Sasuke's eyes, but Hinata didn't. Since her cousin's death, she has become even more vigilant in taking notice of things. Maybe the boys were onto something earlier?

They quickly find themselves down at the shack at a round table. Together they joked around with each other and had fun. At least, Sakura hoped that was the case. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Sasuke wasn't really engaging in any conversation. He seemed detached. Did he not like her friends?

"I'll be right back, I'm just going to run to the bathroom real quick!" Sakura says and stands up with Ino and Hinata following her after the two other girls share a look.

"Us, too. We'll be back," Ino says and the three of them head towards the bathroom.

"Is he always like this?" Ino immediately skips beating around the bush.

"Ino! You need to have some tact," Hinata admonishes and Sakura seems a little caught off guard.

"No! He's normally super sweet. I think it's just because he doesn't know you guys that well yet. Just give it time," Sakura says immediately. In her heart, she herself didn't think this was the case but she was holding onto a little bit of hope that this was the case. She didn't know what she would do if the boy she was growing feelings for didn't like her friend group.

The silence at the table between the boys was stifling when the girls came back. Nerves started making their way up Sakura's spine and into her mind. She just wanted them all to work out.

"Hey, Sasuke."

Sakura's head snaps up at the same time Sasuke groans and Ino stops breathing.

"What do you want-" Sasuke is caught off by Ino letting out an ungodly high pitched squeal.

"Oh my god! It's him- It's, it's-" she rambles and bounces up and down in her seat. Sakura grimaces as the blonde attaches herself to her arm. She forgot that Ino never quite got over her Akatsuki phase as much as she claimed she did. She still had pictures of Crow and the Puppet in her closet.

"Ino, you need to calm down. You are going to scare the poor man into never leaving his house again," Sakura teases and Ino rolls her eyes but takes a deep breath. Everyone else looks a little confused. Sakura didn't know if it was because they had no idea who the Crow is or about how he knows Sasuke. To Sakura it was kind of obvious, they both looked a lot alike.

"I'm Ino," the blonde purrs and pushes her arms together to show off some more of her cleavage as she puts on what she assumes is a flirty face. Sakura notices Itachi looking anywhere but her as he answers.

"I'm Itachi-"

"He's no one important. What do you want," Sasuke grouches and Ino shoots him a glare but a look from Sakura has her just pouting in her seat instead. She would get the tea by herself later.

"Father and Mother would like you to come home now. They have something important to discuss," he says.

Sasuke rolls his eyes but stands up. He leans down and presses a soft kiss to Sakura's forehead and they exchange quick goodbyes. Sakura is left lovestruck and everyone else is left in a confused daze. Who knew such an asshole could be related to someone that godly? At least, that's what Ino was thinking.

"So, you've been keeping Sasuke and his eye-candy brother all to yourself?" Ino teases, snapping Sakura out of her daze.

Shikamaru groans, not ready for what is about to take place.

"Excuse me! You would have eye raped him if I ever told you and tried to break into his house!" Sakura shouts and Ino snorts.

"I have standards forehead. Not many high ones, but not that low."

Hinata sighs, placing a hand on each girl.

"Come on guys, our ice cream is melting. We can discuss this later." The dark haired girl reasons and everyone just agrees. No point in arguing with the soft spoken girl.

That night the girls were all gathered on Sakura's bedroom floor.

"How are you holding up?" Sakura asks after a moment and Hinata lets out a soft sigh as she turns on her side.

"It still doesn't make sense, but I'm not constantly thinking about it anymore," she replies softly. She had missed a week of school to cope with the whole incident with her cousin Neji. Sakura felt terrible for not being there for her.

"Have you heard from Ten Ten?" Ino asks from where she was painting her toe-nails an obnoxious fuschia.

"No, she isn't answering phone calls," Hinata shakes her head.

"I've tried, too. Maybe she just needs some time to herself…" Sakura says softly and the other two girls nod, hoping that was the case and that their friend would come talk to them in due time.

"So, have you guys decided on a school yet?" Sakura asks, deciding that they needed a new subject. It wouldn't be right to have their girls night be in a constant depressive funk.

"I think I'm going to go to the same business school my father went to in the next town over. It's close enough that I can just drive there from my house," Hinata hums out as she sits up and starts combing her long hair. It was about waist length and she lets out a grunt of frustration when it doesn't brush out all of the way.

"I'm going to the top University a state or two up," Ino hums out and Sakura's eyebrow raises up. "It's going to be so cold up there, I'm definitely going to miss the beach," Ino pouts.

"So you're moving?" Sakura asks and Hinata stops brushing her hair to look at Ino as well. This was news to the both of them. They thought she would attend the university in their home town and help her parents flower shop in the meantime.

"Yeah, I figured that if I'm going to do the whole physcology thing right then I needed to have the best education possible," she explains and the other two girls nod in acceptance.

"You'll have to talk to us often or we may go crazy without you," Sakura says and Ino rolls her eyes.

"With the amount I will be calling both of you, you guys are going to have my number blocked by day two!" She laughs out. "Enough about me though, what about you Sakura?"

"I'm going to get my undergraduates here at the University. Then I'm going to work my way up to the medical school in the city," Sakura hums out.

"Man, look at us, being all grown up with plans and shit," Ino snorts out and Hinata gasps.

"Language!" She says and Sakura grins.

"You know better, Hinata. No filter here!" And the three girls engage in a tickle fight that ends up with all three of them passed out on the floor by 3 a.m.

All night, Sakura didn't look at her phone once.

"Why didn't you answer your phone," grunts Sasuke as he watches her climb into his truck.

"Oh sorry, I was just caught up with Hinata and Ino." Sakura smiles, thinking back to the night before. She had so much fun. She's really going to miss being able to do that with them whenever she pleases.

"Whatever."

"Is something wrong?" She asks, eyebrow raised. Sakura wasn't sure what was starting to make him act like this, but she was growing concerned.

"No," Sasuke says and starts pulling out into the road. "Let's just get to school."

"Okay.." She drops the conversation, but it was still bugging her.

Athletics was one of her favorite classes.

She is one of the fastest runners at the school with the exception of Naruto, Kiba, and, now, Sasuke.

Running through her warm ups, she smiles and jogs in place. Today they were practicing the relay race. The coach for the track team was Mr. Guy and he was an energetic man despite his age. His self-proclaimed rival is the volleyball coach Mr. Hatake. Their bickering never failed to amuse Sakura and today was no different.

"What did you drink this morning? Three expresso shots of princesses, unicorns, and rainbows. It's too early for this," groans Mr. Hatake.

"No, just the passion of youth! Which is something you have never understood!"

Sakura and Ino had a bet placed to see how much longer the two could last before the whole school knew that the two of them were actually married.

"You look good in that uniform," Sasuke says lowly in her ear and Sakura lightly pushes him away with her face flushed.

"Behave," she teases and he lets out a playful growl before the two of them get into their positions. First spot is Kiba, then her, Sasuke, and then Naruto. They were mixing up the line-up a little bit for the upcoming track season.

It wasn't long after school that Sakura found herself pressed into the seat of his truck, parked behind some trees at a nearby park - not very far from the school.

"Do you realize how hard it is to control myself around you?" He growls out into her ear and Sakura's face blushes bright red as she looks up at him through her thick lashes. She wasn't entirely sure about their predicament. She really enjoyed what she was feeling, but she also didn't want to risk getting caught.

As he starts moving down and kissing her neck, tugging at her shirt and pants, she finally snaps out of it.

"No, stop," she says and he ignores her as he continues. His hand was bringing up her top and she pushes him away, pulling her shirt down. "No, Sasuke. We're at a park for god's sake. There are children and other people that could see."

It was almost easy to miss the angry glint in his eyes. Almost.

"Fine," he pulls off of her and buckles up his seat belt. He revs up the engine of the truck and doesn't say another word. Sakura doesn't either, instead situating herself and looking out the window. They were supposed to hang out at his house today, but she is confused when they drive by his house and instead stop at hers. She looks at him questioningly but he is already talking before she can say anything.

"I'll be back at 7:50 p.m. Be ready because my parents don't like it when people are late."

Nodding, she leans forwards to kiss him but only manages to get his cheek. Feeling a little hurt, she pulls away and grabs her school bag on her way out of the truck. Turning around to say goodbye before heading inside, she notes that he is already rolling up the window and pulling away. Hurt crosses her face before anger overruns it and she stomps into her house.

"Sakura, honey, what's wrong?" Her mother calls from the kitchen, the scent of brownies wafting through the air.

"Nothing mom! Just school," she shouts back and hurries up towards her room.

"Stupid boys," she grumbles and starts gathering clothes to go take a shower. She had two hours to get ready and she was going to dress to impress. Even if Sasuke acted cold towards her sometimes, she wanted to give him another chance and she needed to be on good terms with his parents in case it all works out.

Even so, she had half the mind to not even go.

7:50 rolls around and Sakura is dolled up. She wears light pink lip gloss, neutral eye shadow with a tinge of pink at the crease, and light mascara with some rose blush. Her clothes of choice was a cute floral shirt that hung loosely to the shoulders and flared out slightly at the bottom of the sleeves and the shirt itself. Sakura chose some light blue jeans and some light pink wedges. She looked damn good if she did say so herself as she pulled her hair into a cute bun.

"Sakura! There's a cute gentleman here to see you," sing-songed her mother.

Excitement despite all of the earlier issues bubbled up in her chest and she hurried downstairs, nearly forgetting her purse.

The excitement immediately dies when she sees Itachi in the living room instead of Sasuke.